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Right, so thanks to anyone who helped with the Wave Serpent Loadout thread, I'm playing the first game with her this evening.

I have just purchased 3 War Walkers, and plan to run them as one squad of anti-armour walkers.
Thus my planned loadout for them is EML and Bright Lance.

Do you think this is ok? Is mixing the weapons going to mix with the synergy too much?
The plan was 'decent anti-tank on a budget', thus mixing the two. 2 BLs (though awesome) is more points than 2 EMLS, however EMLS won't do jack to the dreaded Land Raider.

I figure mixing the two, over a unit of 3 Walkers will still do the job? 3 BLs, 3 EMLS should give me enough flexibility against vehicles without sacrificing too much in terms of points. Agreed?

My anti-infantry squadron will be all about 2 Scatter Lasers on each, no questions asked.

Although it is a massive amount of points for three models, if you're planning on using them solely as an anti armour unit; i would go for 2xBL on each walker. Eldar units are meant to be specialised, mixing and matching lacks efficiency.

Personally i prefer a WS full of dragons for killing tanks and give my walkers an anti-infantry loadout.

Different weapons will dilute shooting effectivity.
The best allround weapon is the scatterlaser, high strength and decent range. Therefore, I'd give the Warwalker scatterlasers. That's 24 shots per round, possibly guided by a Farseer. Dooming the target unit is not necessary if the unit is wounded at 2+.

If you want to use them as anti tank i like your thought (pretty versitile) but my dad uses them as anti everything but tanks and puts 6 scatter lasers....32 strenght 6 shots + follow them with a farseer and cast guide on them.thats what he does and it is unreal.i know there AP 6 but they still work amaizing. He puts bright lances in his gaurdian sguads because you have to kill about 10 models before he removes the crew that can fire it. He uses 3 squads too so you have to kill 30 models to destroy the bright lances.

Go for 6 eml's. Keep them in cover all the time (deploy them near cover & move them with thier scout move & subsequent 1st turn move if need be, if the terrain is outside your DZ) As they can engage at long range & concealed walkers = 4+ cover save

6 eml's will punch through most tanks, 3 hitting & one rolling a 5-6 to pen (i think..) per volley and allows for a hideous amount of str 4 (and this is important) ap4 pinning blast templates. 6 will actually butcher most squads.. 6 templates placed from the centre of a tactical squad will put some serious hurt.. as will TEQ's although they are usually smaller in squad size so scatter is a larger factor. Multi-tasking & eldar. Welcome

Comment aimed at other people rather than the OP, but..

3 War Walkers + 2 Shuriken Cannons each = 120 points.
2 War Walkers + 2 scatter lasers each costs... 120 points.

You get more shots and a better armour save for your points from shuriken cannons, plus more models to soak up the hits. You lose 12" of range, so in some lists it is not worth it, but against IG armies or lists running lots of guardians, the AP5 will also be useful.

Not saying SC > SL, but depending on the situation, it is worth good consideration.

Fifty wrote:
Not saying SC > SL, but depending on the situation, it is worth good consideration.

The range is the most important factor here; at 36" the SL can stay out of range of most light-arms fire (at AV10 even bolters can wreak havoc) and still deliver shooty death. The shorter range of the SC really hamstrings the walkers ability to provide a consistent volume of shots. The extra AP and points saving is nice (plus, like you say, it depends on the situation) but for a generic 'not sure who i'll be playing against tonight' list, i'd have to go with the SL.

Although SC's are the best loadout for outflanking war-walkers.. the unit is fairly cheap and exspendable while its abiliy to come in on a board egde allows you to be in range of most things, compared to the backfield.

Against short-range Eldar or puny lasgun-toting IG, SC is the way forward. I'd agree that 36" is important against many folks though.

J.Black wrote:Personally i prefer a WS full of dragons for killing tanks

That's usually how I approach tanks as well.

For the War Walkers, unless you expect to see a ton of Armor 13/14, go with 6 EML. If you run into Orks or a light tank list you can fire off a bunch of templates instead of just sniping a few infantry models.

SL are superior to SC due to longer range.
Warwalkers better keep out of bolter range.

I think all the weapons work for Warwalkers except Bright Lances. They can cheaply fulfill any shooting role you need.

I always run eith SCs or SLs, depending on my list.

In my more Mech list, I use SLs and keep them back as fire support for my advancing army.

In my Elfzilla list with 2 WLs and the Avvy, I run them with SCs, because their primary job is to screen my 2 Wraithlords, givng them a cover save. For that role, I want them as cheap as possible. SCs work great because I can give cover to my WLs while still fireing 18 shots a turn. Since they get a scout move before the game starts, I usualy get a couple of turns before the WLS actually pass them and lose the cover save.

Brightlances on WWs are not ineffective- the problem is that they are TOO effective. You're bound to waste a few shots after having blown any tank to smithereens. It's better to split anti-tank weapons up, allowing you to fire one, see what damage you cause, then fire the next unit if you need to, or split off to a different armored target. Splitting fire efficiently is what sets a good shooty army apart from a poor one. Unlike infantry, against vehicles there is no torrent effect, so splitting is always good.

Instead of BL WWs, consider the aforementioned mounted Dragons. TL BLs on Serpents are also good, as they can maneuver to get side and rear shots. Vypers with BLs are fragile, and single BLs in Guardian squads are both low-accuracy and easy to outmaneuver. A BL/EML combo on a Wraithlord or two will help if you're running an advancing foot list.

And scatterlasers are never worth it IMO: Walkers eat plasma and bolter fire way too easily at low ranges.

I'm with the EML crowd on this one. Been a proponent of that build for a while.

Reason I like it? Helps compensate for the major Eldar weakness of inflexibility. EMLs let you handle Tank,SM,and horde. All with a 48" range and 6 lances aren't any better against monliths or LR with blessed hull.
Anything else, front or back armour, a guided walkers squadron w/EMLs is gonna eat its targets

Kinda good at several things only works well with resilient forces IMO, and AV10 Warwalkers are not in that category at all.

Now the 48" range is a good point.

The moral is: magnetize, and change to suit your taste (which will alter after a few dozen games with the unit).

They don't have to be that resillient when you out-flank with them and shoot the rear end outta their tanks.

That kinda good at several thing is a godsend in tournament, also. Especially when the target has been doomed and/or the walkers have been guided.

How about EML ? 48" is nice to keep out of range of stuff like 36" ranged weaponry that can easily kill walkers.

I've been using WWs with EMLs and they're very nice. The fact that they can pin infantry and bust open transports make them quite good at multiple roles, and the range makes them more durable than their AV 10 would suggest.

I would not suggest outflanking war walkers unless you have a very vital and very specific plan for them that you need it for. Every time I've outflanked my walkers, I've kicked myself for not simply keeping them on the table at the beginning of the battle.

Dual Scatters or Dual EML's

These typically work best and can cover any situation. Although if you find yourself with a LOT of extra points then Dual Bright Lances would be great. Just you will never see it happen.

Outflanking war-walkers, with shuriken cannons... With mind to charge a squad after it shoots it?

Seriously, three AV10 vehicles are at risk from str 4 a lil bit & the occasional powerfist but after the intial volley.. they could bog down a unit quite effectively, I think...

My friend uses EML Warwalkers a lot, and I must point out that they just SCRAPE a lot of things. All you do is put them out of site if you don't have first turn, move 6", and then blow something important up. He uses them in 2 groups of 2 so they can kill 2 tanks or 2 guardian squads, or 2 whatever. He also sometimes keeps one in reserve or flank-marches 1 unit and not the other. I hate EML warwalkers, so you should love them and take them!

-A.