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I had a bit of a think about how to deploy Maugan Ra. I love the model, and I think he can do a job both at range and in CC, so I like to use him. I'm sure I've forgotten some points below, but what do people think?

Warlocks - They pack a punch and will share there cool abilities with Maugan Ra, but they have a 12" range with their spears. The Maugetar is 36", so that is not a good match.

Wraithguard - They pack a hell of a punch and are hard as nails for soaking up the shots. And they can come with their own warlock for one cool ability. Trouble is, once again, short range. Either your Wraithcannons can't reach, or the Maugetar is not taking advantage of its range.

Harlequins - Interesting idea... 5 Harlequins, including a Death Jester and Shadow Seer. A mobile cool ability assaulty-shooter platform that people can't shoot back at... Hmmm... You'd need to think about the fact that, RaW, you might lose your harlequins flip-belt ability, but there is something intriguing about the idea. Shrieker Cannons, IIRC, are 24" range, so that is a better match. For a small unit that is quite a chunk of mobile firepower and a hell of a CC punch, but low on numbers.

Rangers - The range of 36" matches, but you aren't likely to want to be shooting at the same things. You might have him join mid-battle, but you'll not be able to infiltrate your Rangers if you have him with them at the start. There may be useful situations for this, but it seems odd.

Guardians - The nice thing about this is that the weapon platform makes its heavy weapons count as assault, so you can move and fire. The range is 36" too, and you have a nice range of weapons to pick from. You've got 8 guardians poncing around uselessly with shuriken catapults for quite a while, but eventually they'll get in range. 10 models makes them hard to get in cover and manouvre, however.

Dark Reapers - These guys carry heavy weapons, so Maugan Ra will be a static platform too if he joins them. Is that what you want? 'cos that's what'll 'appen.

Solo - more manouvreable, but more susceptible if he gets shot at or targetted in CC.

Sadly, he can't join other Aspect Warrior Units. He could join a jetbike unit, but why would he. Would anyone pair him with another HQ character? Maybe put both in one unit? I don't think I like the idea, but I am open to being convinced.

I have seen him run with wraithguard. It seems to make a lot of sense in that he gains the majority toughness of the WG against shooting, as well as being the only of the available options (besides when he joinds other dark reapers) that allows him to retain his fearless ability. The attached warlock can also give him +1 init and WS, though it's not much of a benefit. In CC, you have a very tough unit facing against most of the unit you are engaged with, and they won't generally give up wounds easily.

If you're using Reapers, put him there - unless your enemy has light vehicles (transports or Speeders) that you must destroy, in which case he should separate out. Yes, he'll be static, but if you're using Reapers you already have a static firebase.

Otherwise, he's best with guardians. Coupled with a scatter laser, that's a good chunk of shooting and a serious reason for the enemy to come and get 'em. Ont the downside, you need to field larger numbers of Guardians to avoid both running on a flubbed roll and getting wounds allocated to Ra.

Where you put him really depends on what the rest of your army is. If you have an army that's dedicated to moving forward (either into hand to hand or just close range shooting) then putting him in a squad like the wraithguard is probably a good idea. Keeps him very safe and he boosts the squads power once they end up in hand to hand (where they can get stuck for a while). The only down side is that the squad can't run if you want to make use of his shooting. You could put him in with guardians if this is a problem (since they will probably be shooting their platform every turn, but then he ends up in a squad that's much more prone to getting killed.

If you are playing a more static shooting style army (or at least something more like a gunline) then the best place for him is in a squad of quins (I know it sounds odd, but hear me out here). If you put him in a squad of harlequins, you can have the unit stand out in the open in front of your army. The enemy can then sit back and trade shots with you or move up towards you. If they sit back, then you probably have the advantage (it's really hard to outshoot shooty eldar). If he tries to close the distance, not only does he have to weather the incomming fire, but then he has to deal with a brutal hand to hand unit waiting for him.

I would never actually put him with a squad of reapers. Sure they become fearless and gain a boost in hand to hand, but how often do you find either of those to be useful? I can't think of many times that my reapers have run away and I don't think they've ever been in hand to hand with anything other than a caladus assasin. So his abilities are not really needed there.

Maugan Ra with the Wraithguard doesn't sound bad at all. He makes them a bigger threat at long range, and provides the CC punch that Wraithguard desperately need. Considering his HtH strength (lack of an invul notwithstanding) and points cost, it seems a waste to use him just for his glorified assault cannon.

Aside from asurmen, the phoenix lords are a bit poor in CC due to the lack of INV saves. That aside they generally kick ass and maguen raa is no exception (a str 6 I7 with 4 attacks, 5 on a charge is nothing to sniff at)..

Stick him with a relatively cheap unit of harlies, 5man with a seer & jester - that unit now puts out a fairly decent amount of str 6 attacks at range (with pinning, over 1/2 rending). That unit can happily sit at range and pew things, near-totally invunerable to enemy fire at 24'' and if anything does get close... that glass-hammer of a unit, the harlies becomes pretty deadly as nothing should be left standing after the combined firepower and rending/strt6 power attack hitting power of that squad. Definetly the harlies as it compliments his abilities the most..

I just wanted to point out that Singing Spears have a range of 18 inches, combined with a 6 inch move means they threaten a 24 inch zone.

Ragewind wrote:I just wanted to point out that Singing Spears have a range of 18 inches, combined with a 6 inch move means they threaten a 24 inch zone.

Eldar codex p.27 Singing spear :- Range:12"

You can move on foot 6'' or 12'' on a bike. So they can have a 24'' threat range with jetseers/warlocks.

Razerous wrote:

Ragewind wrote:I just wanted to point out that Singing Spears have a range of 18 inches, combined with a 6 inch move means they threaten a 24 inch zone.

Eldar codex p.27 Singing spear :- Range:12"

You can move on foot 6'' or 12'' on a bike. So they can have a 24'' threat range with jetseers/warlocks.

In my defense I might have been including the 6' move twice

The Ra/Harly combo is something that Im goign to be trying out at somepoint.

Sticking them >24" from the enemy, in front of your own troops make them invulnerable, and gives your dudes behine a 4+ cover also, right?

Or maugen can just sit behind another unit and shoot through it - with crack shot, hell ignore the coverr save granted by your own troops.

Xenith wrote:The Ra/Harly combo is something that Im goign to be trying out at somepoint.

Sticking them >24" from the enemy, in front of your own troops make them invulnerable, and gives your dudes behine a 4+ cover also, right?

Or maugen can just sit behind another unit and shoot through it - with crack shot, hell ignore the coverr save granted by your own troops.

you are correct on both points

Xenith wrote:Or maugen can just sit behind another unit and shoot through it - with crack shot, hell ignore the coverr save granted by your own troops.

That had not even occurred to me!!

So, bear with me on this one.. a big long line of harlequins (with a shadowseer so they can use VoT0) can give cover to anything trying to shoot through the unit? Mr. Ra can obviously sit with them too to pew but that could be a glorious way to give alot of things cover.

Razerous wrote:So, bear with me on this one.. a big long line of harlequins (with a shadowseer so they can use VoT0) can give cover to anything trying to shoot through the unit? Mr. Ra can obviously sit with them too to pew but that could be a glorious way to give alot of things cover.

Yes VoT simply prevents the Harli unit from being targeted, it does not make them magically disappear when you try to shoot past them.