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So I played my Eldar against a buddy of mine who's been playing 40K since 2002. Unfortunately I have no pictures, but all in all it was a fantastic game and a solid learning experience for me. It was my first time playing a Swarm army (mostly played MEQ/Tau up to this point), and I have to say I was terrified at first, but I ended up having a ton of fun.

My army composition was:

-Farseer with Stones, Eldritch Storm, and Guide
-Wave Serpent w/ TL Bright Lance and ShuriCannon
-7x Dire Avengers, Exarch with Bladestorm
-10x Guardians w/EML
-5x Striking Scorpions, Exarch with Scorpion Claw (inside the WS)
-War Walker with 2x Scatter Laser
-5x Rangers with Pathfinder

His setup was:

-2 units of 30 Boyz
-1 unit Rokkit Boyz
-Warboss with Power Klaw
-Nob with Power Klaw
-Big Mek with Kustom Force Field


Round 1:
First round was mostly positioning, I scouted my Rangers into a building, scouted and moved my Walker in range, and moved my Guardians as far away from him as range on the EML would allow, as well as positioned my WS to get some shots off as well. In my first shooting round, I knocked out 2 Boyz and 1 of the Rokkit Boyz with my EML. My Scatter Laser also picked off another of the Rokkit Boyz. The Rokkit Boyz failed a morale check, fell back and were destroyed.

He moved and ran towards me. Squad 1 has 28 Boyz, Squad 2 has 30.

Round 2:

My next round I picked off a few more Boyz, while positioning my Farseer and Dire Avengers behind a wall to intercept the first of his units with a withering fire. Walker's Scatter Lasers nailed 2 more Boyz, the Bright Lance killed one, and a Guided Guardian Squad's EML blew up 5 more Boyz. Rangers picked off 2 more. They kept coming.

He ran towards me again in his second round. Squad 1 has 20 Boyz, Squad 2 has 28.

Round 3:

At this point I should have done a bit better on positioning by running instead of shooting, but I lit him up with my Guided Dire Avengers and Farseer. With the Bladestorm flurry I killed a total of 3 Boyz and the Eldritch Storm dinged another 2. Wave Serpent's BL and Cannon knocked off 2 from the second squad, and my EML killed another 2 from the second squad. War Walker dinged 2 more from Squad 2.

This time he was in good positioning after moving, he spread his second squad so my Guardians had no chance of escaping, and assaulted my Dire Avengers with his first squad. His 15 Boyz and Warboss completely annihilated my Dire Avengers, (I killed 2 Boyz in the assault, he killed 4 Avengers). Farseer and Dire Avengers fell back, and were destroyed.
Squad 1 has 13 Boyz, Squad 2 has 22.

Round 4:

At this point I had almost given up, because he was in perfect positioning to wipe out my Guardians as well as my Wave Serpent. I disembarked my Scorpions, and moved my WS farther away. I fired with the Scorpions and knocked off 2 more Boyz, plus one more with the WS. Fired with the Guardians into his second squad and killed 3 from that unit. Rangers were in a bad position inside their building (~5 inches from his first squad) but I tried to pick off a few more before I assaulted with the Scorpions, and rolled 5 ones.

Assaulted squad 1, killed 3 boyz and wounded the Boss once. He countered and wiped out my Scorpions in a single move.

On his turn he fired at my guardians, killing only 2, but assaulted and wiped the other 8 out. I scored 2 kills against his squad 2. He also moved his first squad into base contact with my Rangers' building, but couldn't roll high enough on his difficult terrain test to assault.
Squad 1 has 7 Boyz, Squad 2 has 19.

Round 5:

My Final Stand--Rangers picked off another 2 Boyz, and my Walker killed another one. WS completely missed, and I know that this is the end of the line for me.

His Boyz pass all morale checks and assault my Rangers, killing them all easily and suffering no casualties.

Squad 1 has 4 Boyz, Squad 2 has 19.


After round 5, we rolled a 1 and the game ended then and there.

It was a very fun game all things considered, and I probably could have kited his last 2 squads around and may have been able to pull out a victory, but I don't think I did too bad. Kind of disappointed in myself for not taking pictures though, we had a very nice board set up courtesy of our 8-year veteran, and everyone watching had a blast.

Thanks for reading, Dakka. Any feedback appreciated, and I will post pictures next week in my game against either CSM or Blood Angels!

My initial post was irrelevant.

How far away was your farseer from the Dire Avengers when they shot?

Well, if you don't mind some feedback on your tactica...

First a comment on your list...a brightlance at 750 points is unnecessary. Get EML next time, it'll serve you better. And a full DA squad + Pathfinders are more than enough troops. There's better things out there to get than Defender Guardians. Namely, more Walkers. 3 of them at 750 is overwhelming firepower.

And last, but definitely not least...take Doom instead of Eldritch Storm. It is by far the best power in the Farseer arsenal.

And for the tactics...have your Avengers in a Serpent. Scorpions can do well on foot and they can't assault out of the Serpent. Avengers can still shoot when they disembark after moving less than 12 inches. This way, you will never have to worry about range or positioning of your squad, just the Serpent.

With these changes, I believe you would've given his list a great deal of trouble.

Cool, but take into account what Araenion said, it will help you in the lower point games.

Diffidently loose the Storm Guardians imo. I've never had any sort of luck with them, and points can be put elsewhere. I do like lances though, and there have been people round here that use Land Raiders in 750 point lists.
That's not to say I wouldn't look into the EML though.

Thanks for the replies guys.

ArcSoll wrote:How far away was your farseer from the Dire Avengers when they shot?

Farseer and DA were actually grouped, I attached the Farseer with the DA, just something I've been trying with him recently. I'm assuming you are talking about Guide, which I used on the DA before I shot. I just failed a lot of rolls.


I'll drop the guardians next time, although they did way better for me in this game than previous games. As for the Bright Lance, I thought he'd bring his Trukk into the game, or at least a vehicle. That and my (good looking) wave serpent has Bright Lances, its the one I use the most due to playing a Blood Angels player who fields a lot of Land Raiders or Razorbacks at low points.

I tallied up 3 Walkers with Scatter Lasers at only 180 points, so I'll definitely look into fielding more of them next time. This was also my first time testing out Eldritch Storm...had I known it would have only killed so few models I probably would have preferred Doom (as you said) or Mind War to take out the Warboss or Kustom Forcefield. I'll also set my DA in the Serpent next time. It was also my first time fielding Scorpions, so I had no idea what to expect. They didn't do terrible, they just got wiped out by the Warboss and sheer number of wounds, mostly.

Thanks a bunch for the feedback!

See I thought you said that you guided the Wave Serpent. It was this line in Round 3 -"and Guided my Wave Serpent." With my initial post I was actually wondering why you Guided it, lol.

ArcSoll wrote:See I thought you said that you guided the Wave Serpent. It was this line in Round 3 -"and Guided my Wave Serpent." With my initial post I was actually wondering why you Guided it, lol.

Derp. Mis-typed that. lol

lol, yea, like i said my first post was asking why you'd Guide something that already had a twin linked BL shooting, but then I realized maybe you did it for the cannons, lol.

Hologram wrote:As for the Bright Lance, I thought he'd bring his Trukk into the game, or at least a vehicle.

Unless it's a 13+ AV vehicle, Brightlance does exactly the same thing as EML, except that EML has a better range and a small blast template against hordes. And costs 15 less points.

Hologram wrote:This was also my first time testing out Eldritch Storm...had I known it would have only killed so few models I probably would have preferred Doom (as you said) or Mind War to take out the Warboss or Kustom Forcefield.

The problem with Mind War is that it is highly unreliable. Doom can double the amount of wounds you do with your Avengers. Coupled with Guide, it is an amazing combo. Also, if you have 3 War walkers nearby, well, there's no better way to spend that Guide than on War walkers.

Hologram wrote:I'll also set my DA in the Serpent next time. It was also my first time fielding Scorpions, so I had no idea what to expect. They didn't do terrible, they just got wiped out by the Warboss and sheer number of wounds, mostly.

Scorpions are decent against small squads like Lootas and Devastators. Vs a large Ork Boyz mob they stand no chance. Vs a large Ork Boyz mob with a PK Nob, they are completely useless. So be careful where you aim them at.

I ignored the comments on the choice of powers...I wouldn't touch Mind War because as Araenion said, it is completely unreliable, and there is no point take it over Doom/Guide.

Look on the bright side, when you get to higher point games you can start fielding Eldrad. He allows you access to all of the Farseer powers, and allows you to use 3, while repeating 1 if you want. I like him so much I try to fit him in at 1500 points.

nice report! i wont comment on the lists as that belongs in another forum.. I'd be careful if you don't want this thread moved.

stompydakka wrote:nice report! i wont comment on the lists as that belongs in another forum.. I'd be careful if you don't want this thread moved.

Thanks! Hopefully I'll be doing another one next week against BA or IG, so I'll definitely provide pictures. My group of friends all started playing in October, and we're gearing for 1250 already. We just play small games like 750s because of time constraints.

fun. enjoy!

Even without Doom, 14-16 shots, rerolling misses, needing at worst just 3s or better to hit, and then 3s to wound, and you only get 3?
Ouch.

My sugjestions is at 750pts versing orks get something a little less hulking then scorpions. i would scrap them get some banchies. also when versing orks its not the bigger the wepon the better its the more shots the better. aka scatter laser galore. i liked your pick for gaurdian heave weapons and dire anvengers blade storm but a good tactic for dire avengers is to blade storm then hide in wave searpant and drive away over and over again i will take down the enimie pritty fast expesholy orks or nids nice game though

I played a 600 pts eldar v orks yesterday.
2 words: warp spiders. I only had 7, but thats 16 shots with str 6. Thats 2s to wound and you get to laugh at the ork player trying to roll 6s on his boys.

Of course big mek will give them a 5+ save, but that'll happen no matter what AP weapon you have.

They don't suck in melee either with the exarch dealing 4 attacks normally and their 3+ armor saves, and they can leave combat with the withdraw ability.

And with only a 12" range, they're gonna provide the ork player with something to run after. You can use that to get them in range of your DAs that are set up in a building or something.

I haven't played many other eldar units, but I'm definately liking WSs.

Warp Spiders are my favorite harassment unit in the game so far.

I've heard a lot about Warp Spiders being very useful as general mayhem creators, because of their Jump Packs, but they're really tricky to use right. Jumping them near enemies, drawing fire, and popping back out of LoS so you can set up other troops. I'll probably pick up a set to test out sometime soon.

I also REALLY like the look and feel of the Striking Scorpions, but I wonder why they fared so terribly in melee? Its possible I played them wrong, but they got absolutely demolished against a squad of ~10 Boyz. I am still on the fence about them, but will try them out against SW soon to see whether I like them or not.

I wouldn't scrap the Scorpions so early. They have a LOT of attacks and a good armor save... which is exactly what you need to kill Boys. Frankly I'm surprised you didn't take out more when you charged with them. Double check your rules and make sure you've got the correct number of attacks for them, taking into accout their Mandiblasters, two CCWs, AND charging. I feel like they get 5 attacks each on the charge, so 20 attacks SHOULD have killed more than 3 boys. If anything, I'd try and run a slightly larger squad of them... where they really shine in just obliterating enemy units with their high initiative before they even get to swing back.

Warp Spiders are nasty, but against Orks can get caught by a good WAAGH roll if your opponent decides that you're annoying enough. They would be a helpful harassment unit though, and possibly a better choice than the Guardians you had.

And not to tailor your list for your opponent, but Mind War against Orks is actually fairly reliable.... and if you kill his Nob, Mek, or Warboss out of his squads of Boys, well, he doesn't really have anything with remotely high LD left or with any antitank ability.

Take a serpent for the DA instead of Rangers. Good rep!

i would scrap the scorpions to get another dire avenger squad Pvt you do bring up a good point. All in all balde storm recks orks. Also i do have to agrea with savior rangers unneaded in this match

You must have been insanely unlucky. 7 Dire Avengers guided gives you at least 21 shots (thats 17.5 hits with guide and 8 wounds which get no armour saves), and the Scorpions should have torn it up against boyz. Make sure there's no rule shinnanagins going on. Boyz are S3 and have paper plates for armour. Sometimes the dice decide to abandon you, try the list out again and see how it fares.

Guardians do suck though. If nothing else get some Jetbikes for objective capture.

Furious charge bumps it up to S4 remember.

Even at 2,000 points I still take 6 warwalkers with scatter lasers. Way better than prisms.

Scorpions can outflank, and like a lot of assault units, should assault units not geared for assault. (Long fangs, lootas, rangers, fire warriors, etc.]

Glad you've joined the ranks of the space elves.

More glad that you had a blast, good luck in the future.