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The base 2k wasnt really my idea. I got it from talking to Stelek. I tried to make it a bit different, but every list I made was inferior in some way or another. I thought about taking the Eldrad Yriel unit in a serpent (which is arguably harder for the points) but I already had one council.

For the 2.5 mark I figured two units of harlies fit the bill. Fast, hard to kill with shooting and hard hitting in CC.

Let me know what you think.

2500 Pts - Eldar Roster - Unnamed

HQ: Farseer (1#, 160 Pts)
1 Farseer @ 160 Pts
Unit Type: Jetbike Infantry; Psyker; Doom ; Fortune ; Turbo-boosters; Ghost Helm (GH); Rune Armour (RAmr); Spirit Stones (P:SpStn); Eldar Jetbike (EJB); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Witchblade (WB); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat) (x1)

HQ: Farseer (1#, 160 Pts)
1 Farseer @ 160 Pts
Unit Type: Jetbike Infantry; Psyker; Doom ; Fortune ; Turbo-boosters; Ghost Helm (GH); Rune Armour (RAmr); Spirit Stones (P:SpStn); Eldar Jetbike (EJB); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Witchblade (WB); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat) (x1)

HQ: Warlock Unit (8#, 390 Pts)
8 Warlocks, 1 Embolden, 1 Enhance, 1 destructor

HQ: Warlock Unit (8#, 380 Pts)
8 Warlocks, 1 Embolden, 1 Enhance,

Troops: Guardian Jetbike Squadron (10#, 278 Pts)
9 Guardian Jetbike Squadron @ 278 Pts
Unit Type: Jetbike Infantry; Turbo-boosters; Eldar Jetbike (EJB); Shuriken Cannon (SCan) (x3); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat) (x6)
1 Warlock @ [50] Pts
Unit Type: Jetbike Infantry; Psyker; Embolden

Troops: Guardian Jetbike Squadron (10#, 278 Pts)
9 Guardian Jetbike Squadron @ 278 Pts
Unit Type: Jetbike Infantry; Turbo-boosters; Eldar Jetbike (EJB); Shuriken Cannon (SCan) (x3); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat) (x6)
1 Warlock @ [50] Pts
Unit Type: Jetbike Infantry; Psyker; Embolden


Heavy Support: Fire Prism (1#, 115 Pts)
1 Fire Prism @ 115 Pts
TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat); Prism Cannon (PC)

Heavy Support: Fire Prism (1#, 115 Pts)
1 Fire Prism @ 115 Pts
TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat); Prism Cannon (PC)

Heavy Support: Fire Prism (1#, 115 Pts)
1 Fire Prism @ 115 Pts
TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat); Prism Cannon (PC)

Elite: Harlequin Troupe (10#, 254 Pts)
8 Harlequin Troupe @ 254 Pts
Fleet; Flip Belts; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Holo-Suit (H-S); Close Combat Weapon (x3); Harlequins Kiss (Hkiss) (x5); Shuriken Pistol (x8); Hallucinogen Grenades
1 Harle Shadow Seer @ [52] Pts
Psyker; Veil Of Tears ; Fleet; Flip Belts; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Holo-Suit (H-S); Harlequins Kiss (Hkiss); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Hallucinogen Grenades
1 Harle Troupe Master @ [38] Pts
Fleet; Flip Belts; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Holo-Suit (H-S); Harlequins Kiss (Hkiss); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Hallucinogen Grenades

Elite: Harlequin Troupe (10#, 254 Pts)
8 Harlequin Troupe @ 254 Pts
Fleet; Flip Belts; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Holo-Suit (H-S); Close Combat Weapon (x3); Harlequins Kiss (Hkiss) (x5); Shuriken Pistol (x8)
1 Harle Shadow Seer @ [52] Pts
Psyker; Veil Of Tears ; Fleet; Flip Belts; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Holo-Suit (H-S); Harlequins Kiss (Hkiss); Shuriken Pistol (Sp)
1 Harle Troupe Master @ [38] Pts
Fleet; Flip Belts; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Holo-Suit (H-S); Harlequins Kiss (Hkiss); Shuriken Pistol (Sp)

Total Roster Cost: 2499

Thanks guys!

Edited for ease of reading

i not usually interested in pure bike armies, but i like this one, nice solid force, lacks tank killing a little, but would look nice on the table too.


if i had to fight this i would sit back with a shooty nidzilla force and fire as many templates as possible.

Well, thanks for the advice but Im going to have to disagree.

First they are fairly large so you wont get many under one template. Also you will only have one turn to shoot before I assault. Each jetbike council puts out ~35 hits, always wounding on 2+ rerolling.

Also all those attacks are st.9 vs vehicles back armor.

In all honesty I would be happy to face nids.

Fear the GK's!!!!!!!! But seriously, if you unlucky enough to pull one you might be done for but otherwise it's a pretty sweet list.

Oh, also don't forget with the massive spike lately in psychic powers that any army that can mount a defense (all imperials) will be bring a psychic hood to the brawl which means you won't always get that re-roll.

The model count is also light if you run into high firepower armies.

Your attack count on number of hits is way off unless both those squads are charging a single unit then i stand corrected, otherwise your only looking at 18 hits if they are weapons skill 3 (unbeefed carni's) or ws4 against other armies.

My main thing that i need to point out is that you only have 2 units capable of taking an objective and they aren't tough units at all so i'd look at maybe breaking them into slightly smaller units and increasing your total number.

All in all have fun man, my buddy runs a saim hain list and loves it.

God I would hate playing against 2 bike councils, that is a major ouch. I dont have the warlocks modeled for a council yet.

thats all good, but what would that do to a unit of 3 fex's?
S10
T7
2+ Sv
a stupid number of attacks
get to make attacks on the turn they die (if theres a bonesword near)
regenerate lost wounds

No Holo-Fields? Harlies? Hmm...

Jet Councils are a good anvil, but not a very good hammer. Neither are the Harlies, really. You can't expect the Prisms to live very long, not when they're the only tanks you have on a 2500 board. What you lack is firepower, and what you lack in firepower you don't make up for in combat. The Harlies will get left in the dust, and the Jet Councils will probably break the unit they charge just to get lit by 2500 points of enemy shooting. They're no more resilient than Terminators (with Fortune), really, they're just faster.

JD - all the witchblades wound carnies on a 2+ reroll usually.

Burning star - I dont like holo fields on fire prisms. It would be another 105 points for something that doesnt do me any good. I keep my prisms back and in terrain, not moving. If they get a weapon destroyed result they are dead to me anyway. Its 345 points for 3 of them in a 2000 point game. I cant really think of a better selection of heavy support choices for this army. If the enemy is shooting at my three prisms with anti tank, great! They arent shooting at my bikes the one turn they will have to shoot at them. Like I said, prisms are sitting deep in cover, never moving. so they will have a 4+ save. If they cant see anything they just boost another prism.

Also, two councils are a hammer that doesnt ever die. Harlies arent a hammer? What are they then?

And yeah GK are a big weakness but I dont see me running up against them anytime soon.

the biggest thing i see in this list, is what has been stated before. you only have 2 objective grabbing units. in any objective based mission, after turn 3 maybe 4 all you will be able to do is contest objectives-so then youre hoping for a draw..

we eldar dont have strong troops. bikes are some of the better ones, but they're not pathfinders. they wont take more than 2 dedicated rounds of fire, and where i play, if objectives come up killing troops is almost always #1 or #2 on what to kill lists....



edited once on account of my stupidity

JD - all the witchblades wound carnies on a 2+ reroll usually.

i know that mate, great weps.
but if they dont kill the fex then he will rip through the whole squad, instant death and no armour saves to all.
and with toxin miasma they are at -1 to hit.

its ok, they all have 4+ inv saves that will be re-rollable. but witchblades dont take down heavy fexs at all. i know, ive tried....

my fex's are usually kitted out around 340 or so points, so they will have allmost every bio available.
and can throw out a scary number of attacks.

and all i need to do is pick on the guard bikes and you have no scoring units in objectives.

things like genestealers will really make a mess due to thier high speed and thier lovely WS of 6
with a broodlord it will be chaos.
even a kitted out flyrant could ruin plans for that army.

and whres the anti tank element?
3 prisms wont take out much if it cant see any vehices and once again a flyrant can run through all 3 since with your fast moving army i doubt you will keep any units with them for protection.

If your heavy fexes are "kitted out" at 340 points or so, you are an opponent I would love to draw with any army.

No offense intended, but a common error Nid players make is "overupgrading" with biomorphs, and a 340 point fex is nothing more than a walking point pinyata. He only moves 6, can run, probably has no guns if you've combat specced him, even if he does he's only a couple shots with a bad bs who is easily avoidable, and at the end of the day, only about as tough as 5 terminators (with a higher T value, true, but still).

The best hands down carnifex is the dakka build, for 113 points getting a dakka fex with 8 twin linked, reroll wound, str 6 shots and still being an MC for combat, having a good save, a good toughness, and a bunch of wounds is the biggest deal in 40k.

And lets say Heavy fex versus Council (some back of the envelope calculations for it).

Assuming council charges, as it has an 18 inch charge range and the fex has a 12 inch, this is the usual case.
I'm giving the council all -1 to hit due to toxic miasma.
Also using 1 farseer and 8 warlocks, as he has listed above.

9 Witchblades swinging, 3 attacks per, 27 attacks.

Hitting on 3's, but with a -1 on 4's, ~13.5 hits.
Wounding on 2's always, 12 wounds.
2 Wounds on the Carnifex.

Carnifex attacks back - need a nids player to help as I dont know how many they get without the charge, but lets just assume 10, and I know its not nearly that many without the charge.

10 attacks, hitting on 4's.
5 hits, wounding on 2's.
4 wounds.

4 wounds on the council, 2 will save the first roll, 1 will save the second fortune re-roll, 1 warlock dead, on average.

2 wounds to the fex, 1 warlock dead. This is assuming average rolling. However, with 12 wounds on the fex, thats enough dice for the averages to begin to break down (in my experience) and have a quite a few more 1's pop up.

So, even against a 340 point fex that I gave too many attacks to, the council wins.

Genestealers -> Dead slow compared to that eldar army. Move 6, fleet 3. 9 inch move, 15 inch charge range, on average.

Bikes move 12, and have another 6 in the assault phase, assaulting or not. If genestealers catch a bike army, the bike army player has done something very wrong.

This breaks down further if you plan on having that heavy uber fex trying to chase down bikes. He'll never catch them.

Flyrants wont take out any skimmers, unless once again, the eldar player is a very bad one. With eldar skimmers having a move of 24 inches, the flyrant will never, ever, be able to catch them, providing they don't stand still and let him charge once he gets close.

Will those slow, combat fexes ever reach the councils if the eldar player doesn't want them to? Probably not. Even if they did, the fex will likely take somewhere around 20-25 wounds, which is about 3-4 through the armor, if not more due to bad luck. You'll get about 8 back, 4 hit/wound, one dies from the 4++ rerolled. That's 3 more wounds from NR. Even if the fex lives through that, he's more than likely going to drop in the next round.

Stealers mostly bounce off fortuned councils. Sure, they get to strike first, but regular wounds are saved on rerolled 3s, rends on rerolled 4s, which means that roughly 1/4 rending wounds will get through - that's not that many. Also, councils are very, very good at taking out tanks - that many S9 hits will wreck most any vehicles.

Lastly, keep in mind that the jetbike council is very, very mobile, and able to strike where and when they want for the most part. If you're getting off a charge on them, even with flyrants, then either the council was already locked in combat or the eldar player made a mistake. More likely, that stealer squad will get shot to bits first, then mopped up by the council.

Woah I left for a couple days, didnt even notice all this action until now.


Yeah a 340 point nid would give me some fits, but then again at that cost, what else is in that army.

Would anyone be for dropping the size of the troop bikes down for either shining spears or pathfinders?

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

GMMStudios wrote:
Also, two councils are a hammer that doesnt ever die. Harlies arent a hammer? What are they then?

Two councils on bikes do die. They're about as survivable as Terminators when Fortuned, and as survivable as MEQs when they aren't.

And no, Harlies are not a hammer. Harlies are a waste of points in anything but footslogging lists, and still then it's a stretch. Their only real advantage is the Shadowseer--the absolute impunity from shooting outside of 24", and realistically outside of 14". In combat, they're not that great, especially with the new rending rules. They have just as many attacks as Striking Scorpions, but they're only S3, and the rending isn't worth the points you pay. They're not immune to a charge, and if they do get charged, they're dead. If they charge, that's only 8 more attacks, if you haven't gotten shot, and that's not real great. Any unit with a considerable amount of attacks (say, SM Assault Squads, Crusader Squads, Berzerkers, any MEQ assault squad) will waste the Harlies in CC, despite the I disadvantage. They're T3, and have 5++ saves. Not all that impressive.

Id like to see your take on the saves mathammered (Im terrible at math). I think that fortuned they are much better than termies. 3++ is better than 2+ vs. normal shooting. They *may* have a 3+ cover save but if they don't, their cover saves are better because they reroll. Against Ap1 and 2 weapons councils get a 4++ vs...5+

And they are much harder then MEQs when not fortuned (why wouldnt they be fortuned though?) 3+ save, $+ invul is more survivable than a marine.

As for harlies, I agree on some points. The thing is you are pointing out their weaknesses, which all Eldar elite units have. There is no "this is it for power lists" choice in the elite slot, it all has to do with what you face. Scorpions are worthless against anything but hordes. Banshees arent worth their points vs. anything but MEQs. I like to think Harlies are somewhere in the middle, and they don't require a wave serpent to get to their lines. Not only that, because of move through cover I will most likely be charging first. No, of course they arent immune to being charged, no one is, but if you play it smart I think MTC and the veil will get you there.

My .02. What do you suggest I replace the harlies with?

Agreed. Harlequins are terrible anvils. Even guardsmen hit back and wound at a 4+ - now that casualties are removed from the back, Harlequins got a LOT less great.

Bike council saves are slightly better than MEQs without fortune, and you can't template as many. Otherwise the same, except they all have a 4+ invul and are faster. 'More easily shot' in general doesn't help though.

Taking the bike squads down to 6+warlock should be okay - the obvious advantage is their lack, and it depends on what you intend to do with the points. At least one of the bike councils could do with 2+ Destructors - another big point for 5th ed especially, denying cover saves on a S5 hit.

Okay, well I can drop the harlies to take maybe some banshees or scorpions but they will require a serpent, and there arent any other tanks leaving my deployment zone.

I could also bulk up on troops, either pathfinders or guardians. Or both.

Thanks for the help guys!

Banshees are about as bad as Harles, but I prefer them in general. Scorpions can use exarch powers to infiltrate and move through cover, so you have 3+/4+ cover saves, S4 attacks, and you're not sticking a lone Wave Serpent on the field. I vote for Scorpions.