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Hey, I'm not sure if this has been covered or not, but has anyone tried using eldar vehicles to ram other vehicles? It seems like a great idea, especially with those engine upgrades that add an additional 12 inches onto the move range, making it so most eldar vehicles can move 36 inches, creating AT LEAST a S12 hit (the book does not say that the strength of this hit can't go above 10), before adding in "tank" or "armor of 10+" rules. Running Eldrad nearby in a wave serpent will keep the units alive, and a 2-man vyper squad with those engines can be made cheaply (~130pts) and can wipe out a Monolith in 1 hit, while being unlikely to dying at the same time! One of my friends and I came up with that idea last night, and I wanted opinions on it (both of us have only been playing 40K since 5th edition came out, and many of our friends taught us incorrect rules, so if any information is wrong, please let me know)


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Never mind, looks like I found the topic. Can be closed as I have my answer. Sad face that vypers are crappy after all, other than smashing into transport ships

They can't get a S12 hit, it was clarified in the official errata/FAQ for the rulebook.

They can ram twice in the same turn using the star engines however, by RaW. A normal ram in the movement phase, then ramming again during the shooting phase (the star engines movement takes place during the shooting phase, it is not 'tacked on' to the regular move).

What's more, I believe the second ram during the shooting phase also adds the distance travellled during the movement phase to it's damage modifier, even if you rammed in the movement phase. It's how the rules are worded (the damage is calculated using the distance travelled that turn, not travelled that phase!). So you can get two S10 rams per turn, assuming the Waveserpent survives!

Vypers arent tanks so cant ram...

Yea, I realized that later, I misread that only tanks could ram-nobody in my group rams. Thanks though

It's funny and sometimes fruitful, but vehicles are better off doing the normal delivery/mobile terrain stuff for the competitive minded.

Once in a blue moon though...
Well, unless you are orks with Deff-rollas...*grumble*

I've heard that Ork Deff-rollas are great, but I haven't had to deal with them yet-haven't had any games against orks. But one of my main opponents plays necrons, and he's pretty smug about his monoliths always surviving (until he gets phased out) so the idea of ramming a WS right through his monolith and blowing it sky-high on turn one gives me a warm tingly feeling inside...

Given the cost of Eldar tanks and the fact that you take a strong hit BACK, I don't see this as a particularly viable tactic.

Deffrollas, on the other hand, are good but unreliable... like most ork technology.

Would a waveserpent's energy field reduce the strength of the hit it receives to 8, though?
If so, ramming with one is not quite as suicidal as it seems. And if it's delivered its cargo already, against necrons a brightlance doesn't do all that much, especially against the monolith.

I think it only works vs shooting attacks.

Correct, the energy field does not work against the hits that ramming generates, as it is not a shooting or CC attack.

Holofields on the other hand is a nice upgrade to have if you are raming

Ramming is a good idea for tanks that have lost their main gun and/or are no longer needed to transport troops. Prisms sans cannon are particularly useful for this. Since spirit stones are pretty much mandatory on Eldar vehicles, it's an always-viable Plan B. If an enenmy vehicle really, really has to die, ram. However, also consider what your skimmer could be doing a turn or two in the future. If you would be tank-shocking enemy infantry off objectives, save the dents in your hull for that instead.

I've had terrible luck doing it in practice, though. My own tanks always seem to get the shaft while I bounce off the enemy.

Not sure it's legal to attempt to re-ram using Star Engines. IIRC, ramming must be done in the movement phase, under a very strict sequence. Attempting to ramint he shooting phase might go against the wording of Ramming.

Well, in the GT final 2008, I battled Necrons with 3 Monoliths.
One got immobilized by entering difficult terrain, another was unharmed, and the third got rammed to death by one of my Serpents.
It works.