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Schepp himself wrote:The tempest launchers effectiveness depends on the army you are using. Is your army so shooty that the enemy will try to come to you? Then the 36' range won't be a huge drawback. An ork horde will struggle against two S4 blasts with rerollable to-wound roll and BS5. Not so much against a eml. It is true, though that the eml has proven very effective in my dark reaper squad. I always take fast shot because crack shot is better used against vehicles and vehicles shouldn't be the primary target of the squad.

I'm a huge proponent of the tempest launcher. The weapon does such huge amounts of damage, I can't see how you could not take it. While I must admit that the reduced range over the other weapon options is a bit of a draw back when your targets are in the 37-48 range bracket, if you just deploy the squad a bit farther forward (or wait for the enemy to start comming to you) it really isn't an issue. That asside, it fires 2 blast templates, doesn't require line of sight, scatters 2d6-5 inches when it doesn't hit directly, is S4 with reroll to wound, ignores cover saves, and is AP3. How can you pass such a weapon up? On average rounds my exarch will kill 5-6 guys himself. I've seen him kill as many as 10 but that involved tightly packed targets. In general, between the tempest launcher exarch and the rest of the squad, if I can see an enemy MEQ squad within 36", the are dead, all of them. I can't see how the missile launcher can stack up to that. 2 shots at S4 (with no rerolls to wound) and only ap4 doesn't seem to be anywhere near as powerful (and its more expensive). That or you can fire 2 single shots that hit on 2+ with S8 and AP3. While I guess that may be better against a few targets, they are going to be targets that the rest of the squad isn't likely to be well suited to killing. In either case, if you are shooting a missile launcher, your targets are going to be entitled to cover saves which is not the case if you go with the tempest launcher and crack shot.

IIRC

The hawks deep striked some distance out, dropped a plate onto a doomed squad of Ork Lootas. This killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 6ish

The Exarch 5 by himself

The squad dropped 13

Leaving only a few behind, they then failed their pinning test and sat their next turn

awesome tactica faq man seriously. Sure everyone may have their own ideas about what works best but overall this is a great job. Gave me allot to think about. One question though where does it say that Jain Zar gives FA to her squad? I dont' see that anywhere in the book or faq. thanks

dumplingman wrote:awesome tactica faq man seriously. Sure everyone may have their own ideas about what works best but overall this is a great job. Gave me allot to think about. One question though where does it say that Jain Zar gives FA to her squad? I dont' see that anywhere in the book or faq. thanks

She doesn't and I thought I fixed that, ill take another look.

Eml with fast shot is as expensive as Tempest launcher with crack shot... Imo, the tempest launcher only shines with crack shot due to re-roll wound, the eml only shines with fast shot, maxing out the BS of 5 of the exarch.

Greets
Schepp himself

Ragewind wrote:IIRC
The hawks deep striked some distance out, dropped a plate onto a doomed squad of Ork Lootas. This killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 6ish
The Exarch 5 by himself
The squad dropped 13
Leaving only a few behind, they then failed their pinning test and sat their next turn

What are the stats on the exarch's gun? S3, assault 6, AP6? If so, there's only an 8% chance of him killing 5 orcs (that are doomed). That goes up to 27% if the gun happens to be strength 4. So not an extremely likely outcome in either case. Having the remaining hawks kill 13 orcs is extremely unlikely. With doom, the chance is .26% (yes the decimal is in the correct place and that number is a percentage). Killing 13 orcs with that set up will happen in about 1 out of every 384 times you try it. Without doom, that chance goes down to almost nil (.0009%). So while you may have seen something like this happen, the chances of it occurring again are very very low.

Mathhammering out the hawk bombs is more difficult, but you can assume that since you need 4's to wound with it, you'll kill half of the orcs you hit with it. In general, I haven't had too much luck with it, but since it is difficult to miss orc mobs of 30 with a pie plate, you can assume you will kill something with it. 6 seems like it’s a bit above average but not by much. The other down side of the hawk bombs is that their pinning ability is lost on orcs. Any orc mob with more than 10 members is fearless. Hawk bombs are dropped in the movement phase when the hawks deep strike. Pinning checks are taken in the same phase as they are caused. Combine all these rules and you find that you drop the bombs, kill however many you kill, and then the orcs count up how many of them are left. If that number is over 10 (aka your bombs killed less than 20 of them) then they are fearless and don't have to make a pin check. So unless you are dropping the bombs on a squad that's already low on models, you're not likely to reduce their numbers to a point where you can even make them roll dice to check for pinning. Then in the shooting phase, you can open fire and actually shoot them.

Schepp himself wrote:Eml with fast shot is as expensive as Tempest launcher with crack shot... Imo, the tempest launcher only shines with crack shot due to re-roll wound, the eml only shines with fast shot, maxing out the BS of 5 of the exarch.

I was under the impression that the fast shot + missile launcher combo was a bit more expensive than the tempest launcher + crack shot combo, but I don't have a codex in front of me to check so you may be correct. I also must agree that those two combos are the only options that are worth doing with an exarch. However I I'm having difficulty coming up with targets against which a squad of reapers with an exarch with a missile launcher would be better at killing than one with a tempest launcher. The only ones I can think of are targets that the normal reapers can't hurt (vehicles or monstrous creatures) and these seem like very poor targets for you to be wasting the incredible fire power of the rest of the squad on.

Could anyone propose some commonly seen targets against which the missile launcher would be a better option for the squad?



Note: also don't forget that crack shot makes is so the exarch's shooting ignores cover saves in addition to allowing re-rolls to wound.

Pheonix wrote:Note: also don't forget that crack shot makes is so the exarch's shooting ignores cover saves in addition to allowing re-rolls to wound.

Oh, I forgot that. Sometimes I mix up the crack ahot ability on a Fire Dragon exarch where only the re-roll counts and others. You are indeed correct and it's well worth the price tag.

I made good use of the eml exarch as I fought full-mech sisters. There weren't any 3+AS targets so I went for the rhinos and while the reapers produced some glancing hits the exarch usually nailed it. The squad was good for a backup if the exarch failed to do much damage.

I always thought that the eml exarch could be quite good against montrous creatures for example elite carnifexes. The squads fire wouldn't be wasted and the exarch could really put a dent on the big ones. Only work for 3+ saves though and the tempest launcher would also come in handy against tyranids. If my math is correct a squad of 4 Reapers would inflict 2 wounds against a carnifex while the exarch inflicts 1,39 wounds with a fast shooting eml. The tempest launcher would only inflict 0,62 wounds if i calculated correctly (considering hits with both blasts).

Greets
Schepp himself

Being able to give a vehicle a str8 hit that ignores cover is just very awesome. If you invest in a squad w/ a exarch & EML, id easilly say get both exarch powers as the reapers alone (esp the exarch) are such an investement neways.

For everything else, a str 8 reaper cannon. no Cover save on one shot vs two shots + cover save. My monies on two shots...

So conversely I think two use of the powers are swapped when the EML is taken.

Schepp himself wrote:Oh, I forgot that. Sometimes I mix up the crack ahot ability on a Fire Dragon exarch where only the re-roll counts...

Ignoring cover could be quite useful for the fire dragon exarch as well. A dragon shooting at a tank in cover is going to have his hits wasted 50% of the time unless he has crack shot. Of course, you could always just buy 2 dragons, but that is a different argument all together.

I think you just hate Swooping Hawks!

Anyway my point is that they are useful, I have run them myself and they never failed to disappoint (well except for this one time I deep striked and a Defiler dropped a pie plate hitting and wounding the entire unit, I blame the internet though)

heh if only stelek could post here..

I think units of 4 jetbikes are rather misguided. If you can spare the points they should always have an embolden warlock and if not they should come in packs of 6 with 2 cannons. Combine those multiple units of 4 into bigger units of 6.

Wraith Guard : These guys seem great on paper but ITS A LIE! Wraith sight is really not all that bad, in fact you don't even have to run a psyker with them as it will almost never come up, what makes this Awesome unit merely average is the fact they cost 35 points each. Remember the Wraith Cannon? Yes of course you do that IS why you are taking them right? Well with a BS of 4 a good chuck of them will miss only doing light to moderate damage to whatever they shot at...and then get promptly stuck in CC where their T6 and St5 3+ save will only prolong their agony. This is a tough unit don't get me wrong but they Seriously need support like from Yirel. If you stick Yirel in a squad of these guys he shores up their major weakness (Close combat) and they shore up his (Toughness 3) Everyone is happy! It is worth noting however that a 10 man unit w/ a Lock is counted as a Troop choice and a full squad sitting on a objective is bloody difficult to remove not to mention intimidating.. This will generally capture you 1 objective guaranteed, however since the unit is so expensive you shouldn't take more than one as this will draw resources from the rest of your army weakening it overall.

I don't agree with the above bit at all - BS4 Isn't bad, that's a 66 percent hitting rate. That's about 6 out of 10 hitting, usually wounding as well due to the 2+. Like you mention in the beginning of your guide they are best used in conjunction with other units. If you have a farseer with Fortune with them they become the ultimate fire magnet. Run the avatar with them and that sorts out the CC problems as well as providing the enemy ANOTHER tough target to take down. Add perhaps a wraithlord or 2 and now you have a massive wall of tough units you can maneuver your army around as well as absolutely annihilte anything stupid enough to come close enough to shoot or CC. Wraithlords can have 48" range with their weapon options, while still providing CC options.

If you are not gonna use your wraith units as a fire magnet then enhance makes them even better at kicking arse in CC. Sure termies and anything strong enough to wound them while ignoring saves will destroy them, but honestly they can usually hold atleast a turn allowing banshees or another unit to annihilate whatever is assaulting them.

Wraith units are awesome. You have to build a army around them, they give up killpoints difficultly - but in the right home they are alot better than mediocre - they absolutely rock.

heh if only stelek could post here..

Why isn't he posting anymore anyway?

Greets
Schepp himself

A dragon, usually in a serpent, shouldnt have too much trouble with being able to hit a tank out of cover unless it has parked in a building.. then yes, two would be better.

One of this special weapons, the dragons breath ignores cover neways (re-roll to wound is okay but its only half-used) where-as Im not quite sure why tank-hunters isnt used more with dragon squads as Im pretty sure AP1 + tank hunters = glancing hits I.e just as good as a normal penetrating hit. The power never seems to come up.

Being able to ignore cover (with a tempest vs troops.. or that EML vs anything) at the long (and longer) ranges of those weapons is the key thing.

Wraithguard.. I dont think they can be useful (for thier points) in very small squads, perhaps 5man squads in serpents.. if you go for a full 10 squad you have to really capitolise and structure the army around them or at the very least invest a good chunk to providing surviveability (fortuneseer) and CC support.

Wraithlords can only ever have one shot at 48'', then thier firepower drops down to 36'' where it is arguably the most power (e.g Scatter laser & brightlance although I like the plasma missile too much)

...(OT) Umm whats the differance between e.g and i.e. I think I might know but I wouldnt mind being told

Razerous wrote:One of this special weapons, the dragons breath ignores cover neways (re-roll to wound is okay but its only half-used) where-as Im not quite sure why tank-hunters isnt used more with dragon squads as Im pretty sure AP1 + tank hunters = glancing hits I.e just as good as a normal penetrating hit. The power never seems to come up.

There is a very good reason that tank hunter is never used on fire dragons...they all have melta guns. If you use them correctly, they are within 6" of any tank they are trying to kill and thus are rolling 2d6+8 for armor penetration. Why would you bother paying for the exarch upgrade and tank hunter to bring that up to 2d6+9? It simply isn't worth it. Looking at the math...

2d6+8 = 13 only 11% of the time and is >13 72% of the time.
2d6+9 = 13 only 8% of the time and is >13 83% of the time.

So you gain 3% more glancing hits and 11% more penetrating hits. That's a rather slim margin there.

If your target is av 14 then there is a bit more gain
2d6+8 = 14 only 14% of the time and is >14 58% of the time.
2d6+9 = 14 only 11% of the time and is >14 72% of the time.

Now tank hunter is very useful if you are bad at judging distances and find that you end up putting your fire dragons out of melta range all the time. However I don't find this to be a common problem for myself so I don't invest points into assuming that I'll mess up.

Monolith.

Effective at 12''.

Two reasons for a dedicated anti-tank team.

BUMP : New section coming soon, if anyone has advice for some competitive tactics or winning army ideas please send me a PM, with your help I can get it up quick!~

Razerous wrote:Monolith.

Effective at 12''.

Two reasons for a dedicated anti-tank team.

unless it was recently un-updated, the necron FAQ stated that tank hunters had no effect on the monolith. However, I am too lazy to look it up now to confirm.

0ldsk00l wrote:

Razerous wrote:Monolith.

Effective at 12''.

Two reasons for a dedicated anti-tank team.

unless it was recently un-updated, the necron FAQ stated that tank hunters had no effect on the monolith. However, I am too lazy to look it up now to confirm.

When the 5th FAQs came out this was removed. Tank hunters adds +1 to the damage roll, which is not what Living Metal protects aganst. I have had good luck with using Firedragons and Tank hunters. More bad than good against a Monolith (Gauss Fluxx Projector /cry) but it still works. In effect it makes all the Fusion guns 12' Lascannons.

Disclaimer: Once again this is just a quick helping hand to those who may lack it, not meant to be a end all user guide.

Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without disaster.'" - The Art of War

If you ask ten people what makes a competitive army competitive, you will receive 10 different answers, obviously the goal is to “win” but how can that be achieved in 40k consistently. Sure there are a few “top” armies such as the Nob Bikers or the Land Raider Spam that seem to just steamroll their opponents consistently. This , I believe, is simply because the person who got steamrolled did not take that army into account, not because the army is “too powerful” or “cheesy” as Chaplin Swordwind is fond of saying “CHEESE! is the battle cry of the unprepared”

In the last few days I circulated a few different army setups (all for Eldar) to a few people who consistently amaze me with their insight. To quote one person “ WOW Rage! This army is insane I can’t see it losing especially with a seasoned general behind it, Good job on the versatility”, take this Exact Same Army and allow me to quote someone else “ I don’t Like it, it doesn’t seem to know what's it's doing, is it Anti-GEQ? Anti-MEQ? I don’t even think it would perform well in CC since you only have 2 units in the entire army remotely capable in it. I think you should think back on what you did and get back to me when you actually get a good idea”

Thinking Ahead

Basically any army can be good no matter what the setup, throw in the random dice chances and you can win big or lose hard. What it really comes down to is experience, and a natural understanding of Tactics and what your army is capable of. Take myself for example, I can look at a setup for any army and immediately tell how it is supposed to be played and what armies it truly shines against. I can also take a look at a list and go ‘If this is changed to this, then it will work”. I am the type of person who can beat you with your own list if you took over running mine, while this all sounds well and good what happens when I run across someone with the exact same ability…perhaps with it much more refined than myself?

In this instance it becomes like a chess match, just by moving this tank “Here” or that unit “There” we can be exchanging numerous imagined attacks, invisible to the naked eye. The ability to see where a certain path will take you is invaluable in this game. It also, incidentally, is not nearly as hard as you would like to imagine. It can be as simple as looking one turn ahead and going “If I move my Wave Serpent next to that hill I will be in range of three Las Cannons, with the hill as cover I believe I can make it” It can also be as complicated as “By moving my Striking Scorpions on this objective, I can contest it for the next three turns with only a few shots heading their way. As long as I go to ground, I can make sure they will be in fighting condition when those Assault marines charge me turn 4 after killing my Guardian Defenders”

Everyone can do this to one degree or another, the trick is being able to “see” farther than your opponent. Then you have the gifted individuals who don’t even need to do this, these people “play it by ear” reacting only after you have made your move, typically the “prize” for them changes turn by turn to whatever poses the most threat. These are the hardest to play against because they are generally very skilled and put together their army with the precision of a brain surgeon. It's worth noting that these types are players are either very good, or very bad. I have seen little middle ground, the very bad players are usually the ones who just started out, not having confidence in their skill and not knowing what your army does. You could tell them the Ork KFF gives a 4+ cover save with a +1 bonus if the unit is in cover and they will believe you! The Very good player might chuckle and insist you take your 5+ save while sending 30+ shots into it.

Army groundwork

How do you build your army? If you are like me it goes something like this…

1) HQ
2) Heavy Support
3) Troops
4) Fast attack
5) Elites

As you can see I start with selecting my HQ’s first as This will decide (for me) in what direction my army goes, followed quickly with Heavy Support, and then the minimum 2 troops I need to make it legal. After that I look at fast attack and then if I have any points left delve into Elites (Typically Fire Dragons) to finish up any weak spots I may perceive.
A good friend of mine constantly calls me crazy since he builds his army

1) Troops
2) Elites
3) HQ
4) Fast Attack
5) Heavy Support

He plays Necron BTW , My never ending goal is simply to wipe my opponent from the table and for this reason I need my Crazy HQ’s and my Powerful Heavy Support, this however doesn’t always work in 5th. I am pretty absent minded getting distracted easily and its sometimes the bottom of turn 4 when I realize I have over extended myself and for me these games end in a Draw. Figuring out what type of setup you usually go for when building a army is IMHO vital when considering what you want to do with it.

It is worth noting "redundancy", ever heard the phrase "Two heads are better than one"? This is very true and useful in 40k. Having one squad that focuses on Anti-Tank, only to have it killed/gimped turn 1 can seriously put the hurt on your game plan. However if you have more than one suddenly it does not become that bad. Careful though as Redundancy can quickly turn into Overkill, which is a waste of points and talent in a army not designed around it. This is also partly why 'Spam" lists are so good, give your opponent a overwhelming number of high priority targets (or a bunch of low) and watch his head explode due to Target Saturation. Keeping a cool head and knowing what your "real" targets are is the key to overcoming these lists.

Target Priority

Another thing that can simply ruin a game is Target priority, the Eldar are blessed with a variety of powerful long range weapons. Knowing what to shoot at (or charge) is very important to your survival. If you are playing a completely Mech army against a railgun heavy Tau force and choose to shoot at the Fire Warriors because “They are scoring” then you deserve the utter defeat you will experience in about 2 turns
Knowing what affects your army setup the most and looking out for it can win you the game far more often than building a “invincible setup”. To this end I highly suggest you go and read up on the other armies codex’s. You don’t need to memorize them, just being aware that a Obliterater can Fire a Heavy flamer can be the difference between winning and losing. Next time you see them you will know to keep your valuable 4+ armor aspect warriors away from them. A great example is how a knowledgeable Ork Horde player will simply Laugh at the 27 Dark Lances that Dark Eldar player is fielding, but will think twice if they were 27 Disenigrators.

So you have built yourself the “perfect” army and based on the possibilities you have run through your head it can beat just about anything, before you even bought the models you are positive this will win hands down. Don’t take this the wrong way but you are not nearly as smart as you think you are, you see that guy across the table? Chances are he has considered a possibly you never even dreamed of and will make you pay for failing to do so. My heartfelt suggestion is to take your army and play it at LEAST 10 times, against a minimum of 4 different armies. This will empower you to see how your army truly plays out against a variety of opponents and allow you to notice a small detail you maybe missed when you thought up your strategy. Maybe you forget by including Eldrad in that squad of Banshees they loose the ability to Fleet, or that if Asurman joins the Harlequins they cannot go through cover nearly as effectively as before . These little things can make or break you, which is why I suggest you try it out before hand.

Thinking outside the Box

Cleverness…this is also something that can play a huge factor in winning a game. When I look at my Wave Serpent/ Falcon/ Fire Prism I see a possible STR 10 ramming hit against a vehicle I need dead. If someone else looks at them they might see a invaluable tank that they need to keep alive at all costs. That’s right, I am talking about unit Attachment. In its simplest form this can be something innocent like naming the Exarch running your squad, “Mr. Fantastic here has survived the last 3 games even killing a Hive Warrior all by himself” or it can be a bit more extreme like “ You CAN’T use your Wave serpent as a guided missile! Not only is this against the fluff but its something the Eldar would never do /hiss”
These type of attachments can seriously hinder the way you play, I am not talking about becoming a unfeeling Necron Warrior who only cares about winning and will sacrifice his unique named character so Faceless soldier # 409589078 can capture that objective. I am simply saying that you need to keep your options open and be aware of what you can do with cretin units and not be afraid to get the job done should the need arise. Did you know I have killed 3 Land Raiders turn 1 no less then 4 times by simply slamming my 125 point transports into them from across the board? Once I was even lucky enough to get a destroyed result on my tank which allowed me to Melta down a nearby Land Raider with the Fire Dragons that popped out. It was quite simply the most beautiful thing I had ever seen!

Being Clever and being Aware of what your units can do can turn a seemingly impossible situation into a Win/Win. Being Clever however can take different forms, did you know that by buying 5 Dire Avengers (for less than 3 Jetbikes!) you can stick them inside of a Falcon thereby granting incredible resilience, immunity to things like Lash of Submission, and turns your Heavy Support choice into a scoring unit. Well I didn’t until two days ago!~ I was floored…Why hadn't >I< thought of that! Not only does this give you more points to spend elsewhere it also makes your Falcon into a Priority target, drawing fire from other, vulnerable, units.

Army refinement


One thing I see a lot is people saying "That would never fly in a GT" or something along those lines. In these cases the people have been to a few and have been playing a long time, I sometimes get the feeling they are reading from a textbook on how to paint a beautiful picture, but never actually get around to the painting! What I am trying to say is instead of going out and buying a "Winning Setup" you can simply make a few adjustments to a list you already have. 9 out of 10 times you can play a list you built better than someone copying you. This gives you a unique perspective and instead of copy/pasting something else try going off of what you built. Here is a example...

HQ -
Farseer w/ Guide and Runes of Warding = 90
Farseer w/ Guide =75
Warlocks x5 w/ Spears x5 =140
Warlocks x5 w/ Spears x5 =140

Elites -
Fire Dragons x8 w/ Exarch + Tank Hunter = 155

Troops -
Storm Guardians x10 w/ Flamer x2 (or Fusion Gun) = 92
Storm Guardians x10 w/ Flamer x2 (or Fusion Gun) = 92
Storm Guardians x10 w/ Flamer x2 (or Fusion Gun) = 92

Heavy Support -
Fire Prism w/ Holo Field = 150
Falcon w/ EML + Holo Field = 185
Falcon w/ EML + Holo Field = 185

Transport -
Wave Serpent w/ TL Scatter Laser + Shurican =115
Wave Serpent w/ TL Scatter Laser + Shurican =115
Wave Serpent w/ TL Scatter Laser + Shurican =115
Wave Serpent w/ TL Shurican + Star Engines = 115

= 1850

Can be played at
1750
Subtract...
Fire Dragon x1
Star Engines
Warlock x1
Flamer x1

I thought to myself, what could I build quickly that deviates from the way I normally think, I need sometimes obviously "good" but not Tourney "good". This army will have to have the capability to be good with just a few minor changes to the overall structure.
Hence the above army was born, something capable of handling a variety of opponents' with anti-MEG/GEQ being at the top of the list. This list ,I believed, would be the perfect example and so sent it out to a few people. Out of around 6ish I got into a conversation with 3 about life, the universe, and everything that did not actually focus on the army at hand but the rest helped me out wonderfully and this is what came out.

Remove the guardians and replace them all with Dire Avengers x5 (x3) this comes out to a 96 point savings we can turn around and get... Bright Lance x3 on the Wave serpents. This will enable you to not rely on the Fire Dragons for everything and not suicide (lol) your tanks into enemy armor. I believe this is a waste so let's see...we are still a few points shy so...take off the two Shrunken Cannons on the serpents as the Fire Prisms can deal with Hordes well enough, this will give us enough points. Your Warlocks seem very confused as to their purpose in life, I assume you want them to go tank hunting with the spears? Try taking the spears away and the two Holo-fields on the Prisms this will allow you to have 7 Heavy Flamers against Hordes and a Embolden for your Farseer. Much more useful than relying on the Serpents to provide back up. You don't actually need the H. Fields on the Prisms (or two falcons) as I have found that people are much more likely to pay attention to the other tanks running at them than worry about something 48+ inches away from them. Even when its killing them lol!
Take out the two Farseers and put in Eldrad, Remove a falcon and put in a naked Prism, reduce the Warlock size to 8..and BAM you get..

HQ-
Eldrad
Warlocks x8 w/ Destructor x7, Embolden x1

Troops-
Dire Avengers x5 (Serpent)
Dire Avengers x5 (Serpent)
Dire Avengers x5 (Falcon)

Heavy Support-
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
Falcon w/ EML + Holo-Fields + Stones

Elites-
Fire Dragons x8 w/ Exarch + Tank Hunter

Transport-
Wave Serpent x3 w/ TL-Bright Lance
Wave Serpent x1 w/ TL-Shurican (Dragons)

Note: This is just a sample of upgrading, not intended to say its a perfect Tourney list.

This grabs you 1750 exactly, and doesn't stray too far from the play style I got when looking at the list. It's a little more "Hit and Run" than the previous list but still provides a large amount of vehicles to focus on and deals with Hordes MUCH better, while still being versatile on the Anti-Tank...and yes you can Ram if you need to. Just be careful about Nob Bikers, use the Locks as a Speed bump while focusing on one squad at a time and you should be fine.

Knowing what does what in your army is useful for making informed decisions. Why a Bright Lance and not a Eldar Missile Launcher I asked (even knowing the answer) "well with the prevalence of 2+ saves nowadays and of course Land Raiders, I believe it was a better choice even though the EML is cheaper and has a second firing mode. Good for those Tyrants and Terminators alike, remember they can't always be in cover, and even a 4+ is better than a 2+"

Be Prepared

A lot of times I see arguments because one or all of the people involved do not actually know the rules. This happened a lot to me when 5th came out because I am the type of person that reads something once or twice and goes off of memory after that. Because of this the 4th ed rules and the 5th ed rules kind of blended together and caused me a lot of problems until I started putting tabs in my rulebook to remind me. A good suggestions is to print all the up to date FAQ's, get the Rulebook and Codex's you need, and make sure you have plenty of paper for notes. This will not only help the game flow much smoother but in a tourney setting where you need a ruling NOW< it can make all the difference when time is running out.

Keeping Quiet

All warfare is based on deception - The Art of War

Another thing to remember when heading into a competitive environment is no one is your friend. Remember (Insert Friend name here) who helped you build your army and is playing (Insert Army here) at the same Tourney...yea...he did you no favors. He now most likely holds the key to your defeat. I personally, when someo0ne messes up, will inform them of the mistake. "No you can't target the Harlequins from 30 inches out, but you can still choose another target if you like" other people will just smile and let them roll before informing them of the Veilf of Tears and how it works exactly. This type of mindset is prevalent in Tourneys, I mean after all if you even CAME then its assumed you KNOW the rules after all. They are not going to be giving you any favors while crushing you utterly at the same time. Be aware and try practicing it yourself, as it can also be the difference between winning or losing.

With 'Ard Boyz around the corner, I figured a bump was in order

/cast raise thread!

I agree with pretty much everything you said.

One thing I disagreed with is the effectiveness of the wraithlord.

He can take a massive beating, and is great at taking out tanks (BS of 4, the only thing with BS of 4 that can carry a bright lance). Also, he will wreck the slow-moving, ponderous Monolith in CC. His usefulness increases in apocalypse, when he becomes a secondary target instead of a primary one.

I also think that Guardian Defenders are worth it because of their resilience. Seriously, these guys will not die. When combined with a farseer, a guided bright lance is very effective at tankbusting. They can also be unmoveable on close-to-home objectives. When the enemy gets close, they can unload upon them with massive amounts of firepwoer, and the Warlock can do some damage in CC (especially against tanks), though I would never charge.

Exarch_Nektel wrote:I agree with pretty much everything you said.

One thing I disagreed with is the effectiveness of the wraithlord.

He can take a massive beating, and is great at taking out tanks (BS of 4, the only thing with BS of 4 that can carry a bright lance). Also, he will wreck the slow-moving, ponderous Monolith in CC. His usefulness increases in apocalypse, when he becomes a secondary target instead of a primary one.

I also think that Guardian Defenders are worth it because of their resilience. Seriously, these guys will not die. When combined with a farseer, a guided bright lance is very effective at tankbusting. They can also be unmoveable on close-to-home objectives. When the enemy gets close, they can unload upon them with massive amounts of firepwoer, and the Warlock can do some damage in CC (especially against tanks), though I would never charge.

I remember a game back in....1999 when my wraithlord was charged by 10 genestealers, and was promptly dropped hard. After that I stopped thinking they were so crazy good. Don't get me wrong they are awesome to the max, but the problem is they are too easily counterable compared to one of the tanks.

Aya Defenders can be great, but just like the HS slots the troops complete amongst themselves with a few clear winners IMO

Excellent bit of guidance! I don't play Eldar, but have often knocked the idea around, and have really found this interesting.

Thank you sir!

As the victim of a tempest launcher, I have to argue that it is the ONLY choice for a Dark Reaper Exarch.

BS 5 means that it scatters 1" or less 50% of the time. Denying MEQs their 3+ and any cover saves they have, plus rerolling wounds is absolutely insane. There is no reason to take anything else.

I wish I'd read this before I lost 10 CSMs to Dark Reapers in one round of shooting.

Very helpful guide. Nice insight into the minds of the space elves.

Bump - new info

EDIT 7: Cleaned up Wording and added extra Tips/Tricks. Beefed up unit descriptions
EDIT 8: Added PDF Version

NOTE: PDF on top of first post

Well, I have not yet read the guide, but I will.

However, I encountered three basic problems playing Eldar in the 5th edition:
1. Random game length.
2. Durability of troop units to hold objectives.
3. Skimmer nerf.

Are this problems somehow reflected in the guide?

wuestenfux wrote:Well, I have not yet read the guide, but I will.

However, I encountered three basic problems playing Eldar in the 5th edition:
1. Random game length.
2. Durability of troop units to hold objectives.
3. Skimmer nerf.

Are this problems somehow reflected in the guide?

1) As this is now a core game mechanic I did not include it in the guide as it affects all armies and is dealt with in each players own way.
2) Touched upon, and further clarified when talking about the Avatar and Meching up.
3) Also talked about but not a focus