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So I've been messing around with a Night Spinner in my Eldar army for as long as its been out now and I must say I enjoy it, it doesn't kill like a Fire Prism or War walkers but the headache it causes I feel is well worth it. So I've got to thinking how to take full advantage of the Difficult/Dangerous terrain it creates. Sure the blast is Str6 but I've found the real power is in its ability to clip 2 units forcing each to take those tests.

So my real question or theme for discussion is how to build an army around the Night Spinner?

It is such a unique weapon it warrants a list that can take full advantage of its quirky rules.

What leaps to my mind is running a pair and supporting it with an all mech army. using Guardian jetbikes with Warlocks for the Singing Spear or full DA squads in serpents with BL. both of these give you tough fast troops that can harass armor neutralizing it and letting the spinners go to town.

I also think fire dragons are a good fit, put them in a serpent and you have some pretty reliable un meching you enemy.

Another thing the spinner does is force the enemy to spread out, so the key would be to take units that would allow me to deny a flank or isolate pockets so I can leverage 100% of my army against a portion of theirs

So taking 2 spinners into account leaves a lot of the army to pick and choose so with a set 230 points what units are good pairs for the Night Spinner?

I use two and go all mech aside from two vypers.

I play flank denial often and it works quite well.

You do need something to deal with heavy armor, I typically use fire dragons. I run all SL on my wave serpents so infantry and light armor, if concentrated on, goes down effectively.

By taking 2 Spinners you shoot yourself in the foot as far as anti tank goes as you don't have Prisms or Falcons. If you really want to use them then you would need to really load up the rest of your list with anti tank firepower. Fire Dragons are obviously going to be helpful, but it will also help if you take a decent number of Bright Lances to replace the long ranged anti tank firepower you removed.

Powerguy wrote:By taking 2 Spinners you shoot yourself in the foot as far as anti tank goes as you don't have Prisms or Falcons. If you really want to use them then you would need to really load up the rest of your list with anti tank firepower. Fire Dragons are obviously going to be helpful, but it will also help if you take a decent number of Bright Lances to replace the long ranged anti tank firepower you removed.

Not true. You still have the ability to field 3 cheap squads of fire dragons in serpents and serpents with your dire avengers/storm guardians that can all equip bright lances or EMLs.

augustus5 is correct.

Falcons and Prisms are simply unreliable for anti heavy tank and masses scatter laser wave serpents/war walkers/vypers chew through light armor pretty easily.

Ya I've never really had the issue that keeps getting trumpeted as lack of ant tank. When I run Prisms the last thing I want to do is fire the condensed shot 230pts for a single Str10 AP1 shot seems excessive I'd much rather have them baking infantry, which I feel the spinner does better with a higher accuracy.

If it matter I always take dragons in my lists along with EMLs or BLs on my serpents for my anti tank and have never thought I needed more

I did pretty well with 2x night spinner, 3x war walkers and a bike heavy army. Slowing my opponent magnified my speed advantage, and let me concentrate hitting power, and get out of trouble before help could arrive.

Plus, the look on somebodies face when you place 2 full units of shining spears is great. That unit is so under-used, people have no idea what they do.

-Matt

Yes I have found the same thing I use a bike heavy army as well with mixed mech elements added in, I tend to use a seer council but im sure shining spears fulfill the same role.

I also love the 2 spinners for dealing with death star units I frequently fight nob bikers or marine land raiders full of TH/SS termies with a libby. Being able to to force those dangerous terrain checks on such an expensive unit has paid off time and time again.

augustus5 wrote:

Powerguy wrote:By taking 2 Spinners you shoot yourself in the foot as far as anti tank goes as you don't have Prisms or Falcons. If you really want to use them then you would need to really load up the rest of your list with anti tank firepower. Fire Dragons are obviously going to be helpful, but it will also help if you take a decent number of Bright Lances to replace the long ranged anti tank firepower you removed.

Not true. You still have the ability to field 3 cheap squads of fire dragons in serpents and serpents with your dire avengers/storm guardians that can all equip bright lances or EMLs.

You are shooting yourself in the foot because most lists already have this anyway, you are losing out on Prisms who offer you better anti tank and are flexible, and Falcons which are probably the best Heavy option available.

If you think you have enough anti tank firepower I would ask how often you play against competitive fully mech lists (as in the most common type of competitive list there is). Against even partially mech Guard, mech Marines (of any variety) and mech Orks I tend to need as much anti tank firepower as I can squeeze in.

Masses str6 from Eldar heavy weapons have better odds of downing AV 10-11 then the quantity of str 8 available to Eldar

A Scatter laser has a better chance at popping a rhino/ razorback than an EML or BL.

I use my scatter lasers for anti transport and dragons for AV 13-14 vehicles which I normally don't run into more than 3 in a list. Along with the issue of being all mech allows me to reliably hit side armor further lessens any anti armor woes.

Not saying anti armor isnt an issue and I miraculously have all tanks off the table end of turn 2 but I feel I have a comfortable amount not taking prisms which are unreliable anti armor weapons at best

Quite interesting idea, to build a list around the Night Spinner. With proper redundancy towards AV and "horde-control" you might just be onto something.

Do discuss moar!

Basically my idea revolves around the idea of using Eldar mobility and them widening that gap using the Nighspinner special rule.

I just got in my head one game, how many armies could really beat me if their 2-4 most vital units were always moving through difficult and dangerous terrain. The only thing you give up is 2 heavy support slots, granted that is a hefty price when talking about Eldar. But I just thought the idea warranted some discussion.

My initial thought was to pair it up with common "Mech Eldar units" and play the deny the flank game Eldar do so well' but with the twist that you are now fast and any relocating of resources to the flank you are pressuring the enemy tries will have to slog through difficult/dangerous terrain.

Combine with De-meching units and it just gets better since the power of the spinner rule grows based on the number of models in the unit.

You will get the best effect from the Night Spinner when the enemy moves. If they play a list that outshoots you, they don't have to move. Your list will need to make them move. You either have to outshoot them or threaten them with something in assault that they want to run from.

I think Harlequins and Bike Councils are the best things to threaten someone else with in assault and force the enemy to move. I also think some lists, like Orks and Bugs, will always want to move to assault you and Dire Avengers can take advantage of the difficult terrain rolls the enemy has to make and shoot them up as they cross the board. Warp Spiders can do the same thing to. By always making the enemy horde move slowly through difficult terrain, those units can pelt them with shots and safely stay away from assaults.

I have to say 2 night spinners are a must if you are planning a list based around the diff/dang terrain aspect. With 2 you can reliably lockdown a great deal of key targets.

And yes having something to rush at them that's scary in assault to force them to move is a must.
In my list I usually run a jetbike council with autarch, 2x bike troops for easy objective grabbing, 2x serpents with Da 3x serpents with dragons, and 2x nightspinners and a 3x walker squad outflanking

I usually keep everything offthe board, and this army has done very well vs mech ig and BA.

I feel prisms are good but over priced and have lost the true damage from the huge amount of cover.. Night spinner is barrage and rending so it can hit AV 15 while catching the squad next to it lol.

Thats sounds like a solid list and game plan huge_eldar

One thing I have noticed is that the Night Spinner does not pair well with storm guardians, I love to run a squad with a warlock with destructor. But when running 2 spinners everything that hits the table tries to spread out to 2" and this makes the flamers much less effective.

On the contrary I've found it helps DAs out a lot since you are bailing out and Bladestorming a unit it doesn't matter how spread out it is and if you wipe it there is rarely anything withing assault range since the units were spread out to avoid the spinner plate.

Just some observations regarding Mech Eldar troop choices when paired up with a Night Spinner