Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I have recently received some Eldar from an uncle. It is a very basic composition and so very flexible.

4 Howling Banshees, 1 exarch w/ Executioner, War shout
7 Dire Avengers, 1 exarch w/ Diresword/Shuriken Pistol
12 Guardians
12 Guardians

There are no HQs, though I could get my hands on his Avatar. With thte addition of a farseer w/ singing spear, eldric Storm, and Doom would bring the force to ~500pts

Tactics:
The Dire avengers accompanied by the Farseer would group in the middle flanked by the guardians. These troop choices will then proceed to advance while unleashing fire upon the enemy, with guardians, well guarding, the Avangers/Farseer. The farseer can bolster the firepower while unleashing his own. The howling Banshees can enact a counter-charge after te guardians get charged, or they can hop ans skip over and pin down MEQs and TEQs.

Expansion:
For expanding the force to higher points I am considering Pathfinder/Artillery support, Falcon/Wave Serpent Assault, or Swooping Hawk-based relocate/deepstrike bananza.

I use Imperial Guard and Orks, so I may have work to do to adjust to these pretty-face tactics.

The diresword is probably the worst exarch upgrade you can give to a DA exarch, and at this low of points I'd recommend not running a DA exarch at all.

The Banshees are extremely fragile, so try and keep them out of line of sight or in cover for as long as possible, or else they will die before they see a combat.

The Avatar is an absolute monster in 500 pt games, so I whole heartedly recommend him as an HQ.

Guardians have to take a special weapons platform with them, which one are you planning on using?

In regards to expanding your list pathfinders are good if you often play small elite armies, but against orks and IG on foot they are pretty useless. I have never used any of the heavy weapon batteries, but they seem very underwhelming on paper compared to other Eldar heavy support options. Swooping Hawks are decent against hordes of infantry, but if you are planning on yo-yoing them (deepstriking, putting back in reserves, and deepstriking again) you are likely to be disappointed when they fail to come in from reserves for multiple turns. As a side note if they are in reserves when the game ends they also give up a kill point.

I'd recommend getting some wave serpents. They are awesome. Falcons are ok, I always run one, but never anymore than that. Fire Prisms are also the bees knees, especially against orks and IG on foot. I would also recommend trying to get 10 Striking Scorpions to replace your banshees. Banshees are good against space marines, and only then if you have a farseer with doom, but Scorpions on their own are amazing against hordes of lower armor models (Orks and IG).

Hope this helps

Yeah, Wave Serpents are what you need next. You'll also need something that can deal with tanks, so I'd advise Fire Dragons in a wave serpent to be the next purchase

Oh I am sorry, when I said "play Imps and Orks" I meant I PLAY them, they are my other armies that I have. Sorry for confusion!
(The armies I normally face are: Space marines, Necrons, Chaos Marines, Tyranids, and Grey Knights)
Basically I face MEQ armies with the Tyranids fielding hybrid force of Monsterous Creatures (Mawloc, Carnifex, Hive Guard) Gaunts, gargoyles, stealers, and Zoanthrope/Malanti death

I have the DA Exarch Model with the stated equipment, but I can easily convert that.
DAs I am not gonna take any exarch powers, I just find the Bladestorm redundant and the defend nice but points could be elswhere.
I like the idea of transports, but so many people do that.
I would like this to be a small elite force.
I like the idea of Warlocks leading my guardians with conceal.
As far as faction of Eldar I am tossing up between Ulthwe or Custom with a feel of rags/robes over armour, greys and browns for armour.
would Wave serpents with Bright lances work? I would think not as they are gonna be riding up pretty close being unable to shoot at maximum efficiency.
Weapon platform? I would say the Shuriken Cannon, it seems really nice for the points (Str 6 and three assault shots? Amazing!)
I suggested the Yo-Yo because I wanted to try a mass deepstrike army (almost nothing deployed first turn)

you might also want to consider scatter lasers for your wep platforms.

and if you are going to yo yo them swoops around need an autarch to help with that
and doom with banshees is the best.

this is stuff i have been told when i asked help with a eldar list

I like my banshees, real swell meq-openers.
I really love the idea of Psyker-ness in this list, so having a farseer is a must and warlocks are fluffy and pretty potent.

For kitting the Farseer.
I know I need to obviously give him psychic powers that are relevant to his role. and to keep him around 100pts I should only give him either 2 psychic attacks or a psyker attack and one upgrade. Are the runes really worth it? the only time I can think of having the warding would be against Eldar, Doom, GK, and psyker battle squads, Is the Rune of witnessing overkill? He already has the ghosthelm.

The runes of warding are always a good idea.

BaneGuard wrote:The runes of warding are always a good idea.

Well, except if you are up against an army with no psykers!

Considering grey knights are a common army these, days, your likely to come across some armies with them. Any eldar you verse will most likely have seers. There are many smaller armies of marines with librarians as hq's.

Runes of warding re a must for you. Tyranids use lots of psychic powers and can just ruin their day for 15 points for 500 point games I would just go with one power (Doom or guide) and runes of warding

I see the advantages of using Doom, but is the crazy eldritch storm useful? It has the chance of taking out tanks and spinning them out of control (And then it is a Looted wagon that DontPressDats ahead). Against flesh it is only a pie plate of pinning lasguns, so I can see why it normally getsshut down. (Probably only useful against Mechanized armies). So instead of Eldritch Storm I have the Singing Spear.

Soo for 500pts I can field:
Farseer w/ Doom, Runes of Warding, Singing Spear
4 Howling Banshees, 1 exarch w/ Executioner, War shout
7 Dire Avengers, 1 exarch w/ Diresword/Shuriken Pistol
12 Guardians
12 Guardians

With the suggested adjustments I should ditch the DA Diresword and the entire exarch in a whole. What is so bad about a model that makes the enemy hold their ground or die?

Something you should know, the guardian platform will convert the type of gun on it to assault. So for example the scatter laser or EML (a personal favorite since plasma missiles ruin my tau opponents day xD) will count as assault weapons for purposes of moving and shooting and assaulting.

Thought I would tell you that because its friggen amazing!


Oh and btw welcome young eldar to the war for survival^^

At this point level, investing in a few warlocks might be sound. Your farseer adds Fortune to the mix and you run a mini council 1 enhance, 1 embolden and 2 destructors should do quite nicely. A lot of HTH wounding goodness with exceptional survivability and add to that some pretty good anti-tank.

Gar'Ang wrote:Something you should know, the guardian platform will convert the type of gun on it to assault. So for example the scatter laser or EML (a personal favorite since plasma missiles ruin my tau opponents day xD) will count as assault weapons for purposes of moving and shooting and assaulting.

Thought I would tell you that because its friggen amazing!


Oh and btw welcome young eldar to the war for survival^^

Oh really? That is a cool perk! Thanks for the welcome!

I really like the idea of warlocks, when leading guardians, they seem quite point-efficient and deadly.
I am thinking when/if I expand that I do a wave serpent assault with warlocks leading guardians, banshees, and dire avenger spearheads.

No problem

I think you should put embolden on those warlocks, cheap and effective. This is just my oppinion though

Hey, I was thinking that they may be a good way to go. Thank you for the reassurance.
Embolden seems to be a cheap effective way to make sure your troops hold their ground. (With a small elite force that is crucial)

A few things I've learned over the years playing Eldar.

Banshees- I have a very soft spot in my heart for these girls. But if you play them aggressively- IE sling shotting into enemy lines and trying to charge as early as possible... you are going to be sorely disappointing.

More specifically:
1) On foot they are worthless. You've essentially got a unit that is frail (toughness 3 and 4+ armor) and incredibly scary in assault (initiative 10 power weapons) This basically means that opponents are going to, you guessed it, shoot them into a bloody hole in the ground, and they'll do it easily. If you want a close combat support for a mostly foot army look at harlequins. They have great initiative (6), more base attacks, furious charge, and rending. The main advantage that harlies have is the shadow seer who makes them almost untargetable from long range. And the fact that they ignore difficult terrain means they can more reliably charge longer distances.

2) So Banshees need to be in a Serpent, but they work better as a counter charge unit instead of an assault unit. This is because they cannot charge out of a Wave Serpent that has moved AT ALL- including pivoting. This means that the only way they can charge out of a Serpent is to get out before the serpent has moved, then 6 move + d6 fleet + 6 inch charge. If you face front armor to the enemy they'll move back and you'll be out of charge range, if you face rear armor to the enemy they'll probably blow up the tank, or they'll assault it and block your entrance hatch. Either way you're not assaulting.

Banshees work best as a counter assault unit in a mechanized army. You keep their wave serpent with the rest of your fleet, and you use them to wipe out threatening things that come too close to your fleet for your liking- such as fnp blood angels, genestealers, intercepters, etc. Generally if you aren't aggressively trying to get into assault something will come into their charge bubble, and you can wipe it out.

Guardians I like guardians, more specifically Storm Guardians with 2 flamers and a Warlock with Destructor, BUT I would be hesitant to advice them if you are going for a small elite force. They are the cheapest unit that Eldar can put on the table, and they are individually about as effective as an Imperial Guardsmen. Generally Guardian Defenders work best as a swarmy unit, advancing fearlessly in an Avatar's bubble. I would stick with Aspect Warriors if you are going for an Elite feel, guardians will never feel particularly elite. Unless you are going for Jetbikes, at which point the raw speed they possess makes them fell more elite.

Thanks much for all that good advice!

I love the fluff and idea of harlequins, and they seem to have good stats, but I also love the fluff and class of the Banshees. To get cheap harlequins I can kitbash with DE wych parts (heresy!).
I know that Banshees are a counter-charge unit (at least IMHO). Using them to hang behind the rest of the force and poke their heads out to kill.
Guardian models are what I have the most of, but when expanding, I am only expanding with aspect warriors for ground infantry. (to keep the numbers low as with cost$).
The warlocks are to be led by warlocks with embolden, forming a sort of screen/bubble wrap for my aspects. The DA are right now, at this present time, my spearhead.
I am going to take wave serpents. 1:3 wave serpents are gonna be fitted with AT weaponry, the rest with Anti-personnel.

If I want to go DA instead of guardians, I will just order some DA heads and do some surgery with my guardians giving me a good amount of the buggers (31+Exarch)