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So I'm prepping to run a list with a jetcouncil (jetseer + 5 jetlocks). I've been told that they should assault, but I was wondering if others have used their 'Eldar jet bike assault move' to keep them out of danger (my intention). Which way have you had more success. Am I missing an obvious advantage that comes with assault?

-j

Don't use Singing Spears, on the Warlocks ever, perhaps one on the Farseer, but thats iffy.

The Counsel is good in Close Combat, and it cant be shot at, so you want to stay there and be as effective as possible, having that extra CC attack helps a lot.

In assault your more often than not hitting on 3's and wounding on 2's against infantry which even without Power Weapons, is good. And in assault with vehicles your S9, against more often than not, AV 10. Meaning as long as you can hit, your doing something. Combined with Fortuned 3+/4++ saves, thats what makes the counsel so good in assault,

If you were to throw the spears on everyone you could hit 1 tank, maybe kill it, then maybe assault the guys inside, but at only 2 attacks your not putting a huge dent in anything. However if you forego that and multi assault, you may not be able to hit whats inside, but you can de-mech a huge portion of people armies, thats why this army can do very well against mech guard, because if they bunch up in a parking lot their exposing themselves to multi assaults, if they spread out their leaving their AV 10 sides to your Scatter Lasers.

I've only really used the jetbike move to advance up the field since you dont want to turbo boost when the enemy has a majority of their army on the table. I've heard of people running up to hordes and dropping 4 templates on them, then scooting back 6", but your still opening yourself up to assault since hordes are generally together.

I'll have to go dig up the mathhammer I did a while back, but I'm pretty sure it proved pretty comfortably that sticking with the Witchblade is almost always better.

First off its important to clarify that Singing Spears are anti tank weapons, if you are on a Jetbike you already have T/L Catapults (and possibly Destructor) which are going to be far better against infantry due to the volume of wounds they can generate. If we ignore the range element (which you largely can on such a mobile unit) then essentially you have a tradeoff between a single S9 attack hitting on 3+ against front or side armour (so AV11-14 most of the time), or a single S9 attack which can hit on 6's, 4+ or automatically but is going to be hitting AV10 most of the time. Obviously there are a few variable to figure out there, but essentially the two weapons options work out pretty similar against fast moving vehicles (I'm assuming you shoot and charge in both cases btw), but the extra attack of the Witchblade means it ends up well in front if you are hitting on 4's or auto hitting since you are usually punching straight through rear armour.

This ignores the fact that JetCouncils need as many attacks as they can get against infantry, since they rely on dumping huge numbers of wounds on people. Witchblades are clearly superior against infantry. Considering you have to pay points to get Singing Spears (yes its only 3 points, but its 3 points you could spend on something which is actually an upgrade rather than a slightly change in functionality) I really wouldn't ever bother taking them.

In the vast majority of cases locking yourself in assault is going to be much safer for a Council, they are one of the hardest units to drop in the game, only a few units are going to reliably beat them in assault in any meaningful length of time (quite a few can beat them, but it will take them a while) so most armies rely on dropping them with massed small arms fire which you can avoid if you get into assault quickly.

I guess I have to wrap my brain around this (since it's pretty common advice). I've assumed that other than banshees and scorpions, eldar should stay out of CC and so I've just been averse to having them in CC. I guess that assumption may be wrong. I took the singspears to basically make the council an AT unit. The locks have destructor (4 of the 5) and enhance (1 of the 5). I figured that would give them a better anti-inf (shooting) way to go than the spear. I just planned to try to avoid CC with free assault phase move. Anyway, I'd love to see the mathhammer on it.

Just to make sure I am understanding:
1 jetseer + 5 jetlocks w/spears
shoot: 5x S9 or 2+ spears OR 2x pistol and 4 destructor
assault: 5x S9 or 2+ attacks
OR
1 jetseer + 5 jetlocks w/blades (saving 18pts)
shoot: 2x pistol and 4 destructor
assault: 10x S9 or 2+ attacks

In CC the farseer can still cast (non-shooty) as well as the warlocks (again, non-shooty), right?

You are welcome to do the Mathhammer yourself or try and find somewhere where it has been posted, but there are multiple variables you have to consider so its going to take a while. I've given you the rough breakdown already, the Spears are marginally better against light vehicles which moved at cruising speed (not Flat Out) but in every other situation (including against infantry) the Witchblades are far better.

Destructor is range 9" (but realistically you need to be within 6" to get a meaningful number of hits), Singing Spears are range 12". After a jump back move you are going to be somewhere between 13-17" away. This leaves you well within the threat range of a huge number of units, any mech unit is going to be able to move and rapid fire you, anything on foot that isn't standard infantry (i.e it has Fleet, is Cav or has Jump Packs) is going to easily still assault you and anything from an assault vehicle (Land Raiders, Raiders) is easily going to catch you.

In a competitive environment Banshees and Scorpions barely get used (see the thread about Dealing with a Seer Council for the reasons why), JetCouncils aren't so amazing that you want them in every list and they have some serious flaws which keep them from being part of TAC lists, but their durability and particularly their effectiveness against vehicles make them one of the two viable assault units in the codex (Harlies being the other). In general for units that can do at least some damage and are unlike to run assault is actually the safest place for them, shooting is a far more devastating force than assault when you can focus on a single unit.

Seers can still cast in assault, but Warlocks don't cast powers in the first place, Enhance, Embolden and Conceal are always on and Destructor just acts like a standard heavy flamer you just fire in the shooting phase as normal.

So I played this weekend and (surprise, surprise) you guys were right. I didn't have a ton of kills, but I managed to tarpit 3 5-man squads and keep my opponent from winning. Didn't lose a single bike (although, my saves were on fire).

Thanks!