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I have around 500 points of Jetbikes that I'm still tinkering with (Farseer, 6 Guardians, 2 Vypers) - and I've come up with a 1'000 point list to buy/build toward. I'd appreciate thoughts before I start buying and converting things that will later turn out to be worthless.

the only cast iron thing is: Nothing that's not a Jetbike. (Vypers have the word 'jetbike' on the box, that's close enough for me).

HQ

Farseer (Jetbike, Signing Spear, Runes of Witnissing, Spirit stones)
Powers: Guide, Mind War
:148

Autarch (Jetbike, Laser Lance, Reaper Launcher, Mandiblasters)
:155

TROOPS

Jetbike wing 1
Warlock (Jetbike, Singing Spear)
Powers: Destructor
4 Guardians w/ Jetbikes
1x Shuriken Cannon
:156

Jetbike wing 2
Warlock (Jetbike, Singing Spear)
Powers: Destructor
4 Guardians w/ Jetbikes
1x Shuriken Cannon
:156

FAST ATTACK

Shining Spear wing
Exarch (Starlance & Shuriken Cannon)
Powers: Skilled Rider, Withdraw
4 Shining Spears
:252

Vyper w/ Scatter Laser
:60

Vyper w/ Scatter Laser
:60

987 Points

This list requires:
2 boxes of Shining Spears (one of the six spears will be turned into the Autarch)
4 Aditional Guardian Jetbikes (Two will be turned into Warlocks)

Thoughts? That missing thirteen points bother me. I could slap a Shuriken Cannon on one Vyper.

Your jetbike Eldar are going to suck a fat one at 1000 points. Eldar generally do because their Troops are expensive and are not very good without a lot of support. It's only at higher points, when you can back up your Troops with lots of Elites and Heavy Support that you stop sucking.

Here's what I've found with jetbikes:

Large jetbike squads with Fortune are cool. They bring good firepower (especially with Doom), and are very hard to bring down without AP3 firepower. 10 jetbikes + Destructor Warlock w/Spear + Farseer w/Spear is good at anti-tank, amazing at anti-troop, and great at survival. It's also a highly mobile brick of a unit for claiming quarters. It just sucks in combat, it needs some Howling Banshees or something to bail it out if it gets charged.

Jetbike warlocks RULE. They are pretty much my favorite unit in 40k. They are limited, and they're certainly not invincible, but used properly they swing games by themselves. A jetlock multi-charge can blow up half an enemy's transports or lock down half their infantry units. They are pure awesome sauce. Of course, you probably can't have enough to make it worthwhile at 1000 points, yet another reason not to play such a wimpy points level.

Shining Spear SUCK. They are just made of fail. The #1 problem is that they're very expensive and easy to kill. They certainly pack a punch, but with only 1 attack each and WS4, they stand a high chance of whiffing on the charge. And if they whiff on the charge, they're going to get their butts kicked. Not to mention that they have no plasma grenades, so if the enemy's in cover their effectiveness plummets. They are kinda sorta OK with psychic support because they might survive with Fortune, but with so few models in the squad, it's really not even worth it. They are lame lame LAME. I can't say how lame they are enough times.

Jetbike armies can be good, but you need some tanks for backup. Fire Dragons and/or Howling Banshees are pretty much obligatory. Fire Prisms and/or Falcons are also pretty helpful. You don't want to have your army's entire firepower be shuriken catapults + cannons. That's what you'd call a versatility fail.

Anyway, don't pin too many hopes on 1000 point Eldar. Unless your competition is really weak, you're going to get pwned in the face. This is especially true if you try to make a jetbike based army. Save the themed jetbike lists for the 2000 point games unless you don't mind losing.

Yeah have to agree with Ixe, unfortunately you will find that EJB make a great Troop choice, but can not be fully relied on. If they are caught in CC they are dead, and not much with stop that from happening.

Shining spears are terrible... simply terrible. If they are caught of guard they are 35pt guadians, and even when they do get the charge they only get the special attacks for one round, they they are back to wet noodles.

Council or bust.
Jetbike squads who are primary troops need to be at least 6 models for the two cannons and then the Embolden lock as their Ld is rubbish.

Then supporting elements from FA and HVY. I'm not a fan of vypers, but they bring utility rather than offensive strength most of the time.