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Hi. I'll soon be getting a pair of Eldar Falcons, and was advised that they'd be great to use with 5 Dire Avengers in the back of each. My question is the following. Isn't it a bit risky to do this, as the back hatch would be down and the skimmer would still be exposed to enemy fire after my shooting phase (was advised to keep the DA's on board the Falcon & fire out the back hatch), or am I allowed to "close the hatch", rotate and face the enemy again after my shooting phase? As well, if the back hatch has to remain down, doesn't my rear armor drop below a 10? This will be the first time I'm using the skimmers like this (only have a Serpent & a Prism right now), and I need advice on how to properly use these Falcons. Thanks in advance, everybody!

Well first you cant fire out of eldar skimmers of any kind because they don't have any firepoints, second your armor value is always the number listed on the tank profile unless a weapon reduces it ( I cant think of any that do this), lastly I would suggest reading the rules about using skimmers.

Well first, according to the rules, you can't move a transport, disembark troops, then move the transport again in the same movement phase. Pivoting in place counts as moving for purposes of this rule.

The hatch has no effect on the rules as far as armor or anything else--it's always just AR10 from the rear. Opening and closing hatches is just an aesthetic thing--the hatches on my falcons are glued shut and won't even open.

But most importantly from a tactical standpoint, you don't want to do what you're talking about doing anyway. It will almost never be worthwhile to zoom a falcon up to something, turn the back armor toward the enemy, disembark 5 dire avengers and have them shoot (as Farseer Jenkins mentioned above, you can't shoot out of a falcon--the troops have to disembark in order to shoot). The dire avengers are unlikely to do any significant damage, and you're effectively throwing away both units since the infantry will get shot to death and the falcon destroyed next turn.

The best use for 5 dire avengers in a falcon is to sit back in your deployment zone on top of an objective and snipe things at long range with the pulse laser (and missile launcher if you add one). I equip my falcons with only missile launcher and holofield and use them as long-range str8 fire support units that can score because of the avenger unit inside.

Gotcha. That makes MUCH more sense. Is it better to keep the Falcon in reserve if it's gonna be used for jumping on objectives? Thanks for the thorough explanation, I'm still learning how to play Eldar and have had no experience with the Falcon before. Seems as though it would be an expensive option for grabbing objectives, but still a useable unit. The combo of pulse laser & EML looks really good, too...

Going second and starting everything in reserve is generally a good strat for Eldar armies, especially if you have an Autarch as one of your HQs.

If you have first turn, there's no advantage to starting all in reserve.

A falcon with a holofield is extremely resistant to long-range antitank fire. Especially if you get some cover, most shots will shake it at the most. So it's generally better to deploy falcons with your army so you can benefit from their shooting. They're durable enough to take a pounding, and if your opponent gets a lucky shot and kills one, the dire avengers can hide behind the wreck and still claim a nearby objective (or deny a kill point).

Long-ranged str8 shooting is really important in a mechanized Eldar, since most of your best weapons are str6 (scatterlasers and shuriken cannons) or are very short-ranged (fire dragon fusion guns). So if you need to stop an AR12 vehicle that's a huge long-range threat to your skimmers--like a hydra, autocannon dread, vendetta or storm raven for example--you can usually do it from long range with a falcon's 3 shots.

Which wepon should you have? Brightlance? EML? Scatterlaser?

MrTau wrote:Which wepon should you have? Brightlance? EML? Scatterlaser?

Take the Eldar Missile Launcher to launch Krak Missiles with the same strength and range as the pulse laser. Better synergy for your sniper boat

I usually choose EML for the same reason, and - when long range S8 shots were the most needed thing - I guided it as well.

You can't fire out the hatch, the Falcon have 0 firepoints. You should indeed intend to keep your dire avengers in the falcon, (making it scoring). If the Falcon is needed elsewhere just disembark the avengers and take the falcon to where it's needed.

the most normal use on a falcon is a scatterlaser, to make it alot more flexilble!

Searth wrote:
the most normal use on a falcon is a scatterlaser, to make it alot more flexilble!

I disagree with that. If you shoot on something where you need pulse laser strength the scatter laser won't do much. And if you shoot on a horde where the scatter laser is good the 2 high str shots are kinda waste. You use the falcon usually as a sniper boat, so the EML with krak missile matches the pulse lase well and still gives you some flexibility with a plasma missile against e.g. genestealers which are closing in on you.