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I've used Maugan Ra with a unit of harlequins (like Guitardian describes) pretty regularly. But no death jester--too expensive for what he does.

In a footslogging list, the harlequins are a counter-charge unit, so they spend a lot of time lurking around behind the lines waiting for some kind of assault threat to come close. Maugan Ra gives them something to do (shooting at light armor with his gun) while they protect him from shooting with veil of tears. When the time for countercharge comes, I often wind up splitting them to assault two different things.

Asurmen's biggest limitation is that he's only str4. He's very survivable compared with the other PLs, but if you have trouble rolling better than a 2 or 3 on a d6 (like I do), he won't do a lot of damage.

Also I never use PLs with their aspects. Too restrictive, and fearlessness is bad for most aspect warriors. I either put PLs with harlequins or storm guardians, or with a foot council, or send them off on their own.

Thaylen wrote:Guitardian was talking about using the 10man harlie squad in a wave serpent and using the star engines to move 36" and charge. I thought that you could not assault out of eldar vehicles unless they didn't move. The strategy of the 900pt assault squad falls kinda flat when you have to stand it in front of the enemy for a turn before charging. And should I somehow manage to blow up an AV 12 vehicle that is less than 12" away from me (not all that hard).

If the vehicle has a WS energy field or holofield (falcons can also move 36" and transport assault troops) and a cover save from moving fast (sometimes rerollable from fortune), they're much harder to blow up than you'd think. Especially if there are 3 or 4 of them 1" from your lines, filled with all kinds of fleeting, terrain-ignoring assault troops and you're backed up against your own table edge with no place to run. Something is going to get assaulted the next turn.

It's not the best strategy available in 5th edition--it worked much better in editions 3.5 and 4--and not dependable enough IMO for tournament play. But it still works a fair amount of the time in my experience.

tedurur wrote:

Flavius Infernus wrote:

Thaylen wrote:Guitardian was talking about using the 10man harlie squad in a wave serpent and using the star engines to move 36" and charge. I thought that you could not assault out of eldar vehicles unless they didn't move. The strategy of the 900pt assault squad falls kinda flat when you have to stand it in front of the enemy for a turn before charging. And should I somehow manage to blow up an AV 12 vehicle that is less than 12" away from me (not all that hard).

If the vehicle has a WS energy field or holofield (falcons can also move 36" and transport assault troops) and a cover save from moving fast (sometimes rerollable from fortune), they're much harder to blow up than you'd think. Especially if there are 3 or 4 of them 1" from your lines, filled with all kinds of fleeting, terrain-ignoring assault troops and you're backed up against your own table edge with no place to run. Something is going to get assaulted the next turn.
It's not the best strategy available in 5th edition--it worked much better in editions 3.5 and 4--and not dependable enough IMO for tournament play. But it still works a fair amount of the time in my experience.

Until they simply block the only access point of the serpent, no assaulting for you

Oy, why does everybody always say this as if I hadn't thought of it? I played this army for years, but even before I put it down on the table I knew that you gotta pivot the transports and screen your hatches with a vehicle to prevent them being blocked off. A fullsize grav tank is best, but even a vyper or two will do it. Jetbikes not so much, because they can be assaulted and if you lose then the hatches do get blocked, but will sometimes do in a pinch.

But in actual gameplay most people don't even try to block the hatches. If you pivot the transports correctly at the end of the move so that they're screening each others' hatches partly, the 1" rule makes it impossible for regular infantry to get far enough to block them, while still leaving you close enough to assault next turn.

tedurur wrote:
Automatically Appended Next Post:
btw, how many pts would that be?

It's a lot of points--really most of the army, in my case, plus some long-range fire support. Talking about 3-4 assaulting units here, mix of banshees, scorpions, harlequins, and a foot council for the 4th one depending on points because of the limit of 3 elites. Building an Eldar assault problem has issues similar to using phoenix lord--they're overpriced for what they do, so it doesn't allow enough redundancy for 5th edition. It's effective when it works, but if it fails then there's nothing to pick up the slack.

Tri wrote:I'm more a fan of stuffing him with wraithguard. You have to wound T6, then ether a 4+ cover save or 3+ armour save (2+ if you shove it on ra). Hit that unit with fortune and I've been know to walk 6 man (5 + warlock) units a cross the board (only real threat is CC).

And don't forget fearless too.

Too bad he's not a psyker for the wraithsight-sitting.

The wraithguard are fearless. Any character who joins a fearless squad also becomes fearless.

Lord Harrab wrote:in regards to the PL in a unit of harliquins to take advantage of their ablilty to hide from shooting, couldn't the opponent just hit them with a barrage weapon, no LOS means no test to see them right?

Veil of tears works against "any unit that wishes to target" the harlequin unit. A barrage weapon still has to "target" the unit, so it's still affected; LoS doesn't matter.

The only thing that bypasses veil of tears is the Daemonhunters null rod (according to the GW DH FAQ).