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I played an 1850 tournament this weekend with my Saim-Hann list and did a tad better (top 3rd of rankings compared to mid-range) than I normally had using almost the same army that I had used with the 4e codex:

Farseer on bike w/ spear
Autarch on bike w/ Banshee Mask, Laser lance, Fusion Gun, Mantle, Shard of Anaris
6-man warlocks on bikes w/ spears
6-man Windriders w/ 2 cannons
3-man Windriders w/ 1 cannon
3-man Windriders w/ 1 cannon
6-man Dire Avengers in a Holo/Scatter/Cannon Serpent
6-man Swooping Hawks w/ Sunrifle Exarch
5-man Shining Spears w/ Star Lance/Hit & Run Exarch
Nightwing
Holofield/Cannon Fire Prism
Holofield/Cannon Fire Prism

Hardly an optimized list, although the Autarch is 190 points of awesomesauce, but more about that later.

First, the option of keeping my council at full strength or splitting off 'locks to support the Windriders was very helpful. If the small squads weren't going to be doing more than offering up kill points, I didn't bother assigning a warlock to them, but giving the smaller squads Conceal kept them alive on more than one occasion. I did have issues getting powers off from time to time, but since they weren't something I relied on, using them as convenient buffs/debuffs. Perils removed a 'lock from the board only once for the entire tournament. I had more trouble with a nearby Rune Priest than I did making my tests. Dropping Horrify on an Inquisition psyker squad and watching the opponent gnash his teeth when he realized they were useless for a turn was pretty awesome, but for the most part they weren't a core part of my strategy.

Windrider squads haven't changed a lot, but Bladestorm coming from the three squads I had put the hurt on TMC's that got a little too close for comfort, drop podding grey hunters attacking my back line, and Immortals that moved out of cover. Twin linked helped the volume of fire and BS 4 cannons are better than BS 3.

Same goes for Dire Avengers, which stayed in the Serpent for most of three battles, taking shots at anything that got in range: another squad of grey hunters that melta'd the Serpent, a Tervigon spewing gaunts nearby, Wraiths and their Destroyer Lord escort. I used Prescience or Guide as often as I could on them, whenever a Prism wasn't in range.

Their Serpent ride was taken out from early fire in all three the games I played, one from a drop podded melta, another from hive guard, and the last from assaulting wraiths. While it was on the board, it performed well enough and having several of them instead of just one would see an up-tick in effectiveness. Serpent Shield worked magic, but only reduced multiple pens to glances to keep it from exploding.

Hawks are my new favorite side dish in this list. No scatter deep striking was assisted by a lack of Interceptor fire in two of the games I played and the fact that I was able to place them behind LOS-blocking terrain in the one game that had an aegis. They were a nice, relatively cheap unit that dropped bombs on gaunts, IG, and Necron Warriors in cover, then went on to harass with high-volume long-range fire and Move-Shoot-Move. The Sunrifle was an amazing bit of synergy paired to my Seer Council, Autarch, or Shining Spears, dropping Imhotek, and a Tyranid Prime to WS1 before my Autarch called them out in challenge.

I made use of the Spear's new Outflank in two games, garnering them a Chimera, a Psyflemen Dread, and a squad of Immortals with a Cryptek. They also managed to shoot a Tervigon down to two wounds, allowing the Autarch to finish it off with his melta and an assault.

The Prisms were, quite literally, hit or miss. I lost one of them very early in my game against Inquisition/Space Wolves, but the other one managed to perform decently once it got moving. S5 AP3 Large Blast saw a lot of use, but I used the Lance to great effect against the Necron Barges. I think I might try War Walkers next time, but the grav tanks pair well with my bikes.

I've been a fan of the Nightwing for the last few months, converting a DE Razorwing to fit the look of my Corsairs. It's an affordable (145 points) air unit that has remarkable durability and puts out fair amounts of damage. Removed a Barge from the game, using lances to get a pen, then cannons to plink away hull points. I didn't fight any opponents that had air units and only one with anti-air, so this guy got a free pass to blow stuff up.

The Farseer has gone from a must-have to a nice-to-have unit. I rolled Fate twice, shooting for Fortune which I got one game out of three. Never got a chance to use Eldritch Storm, which I got for two out of three. I took Guide in all three games and rolled on the Divination with my spare roll, taking Prescience twice and Forewarning once. Definitely a force multiplier, giving to-hit re-rolls to the Prisms, the Dire Avengers, and the Hawks. Still a force multiplier, but not a powerhouse. Mastery 3 and Fortune did help with Deny the Witch against Rune Priests and Psyker Squads.

Finally, the Autarch was the star of the show, much to the dismay of my opponents. Jaws dropped at the amount of fire he soaked up, freeing my more squishy units from their foe's wrath. I used him as a sledgehammer, a 900-pound gorilla that they had to either focus on entirely or allow to wreck whatever he came up against. He removed two termagaunt squads, a tervigon, three hive guard, a psyker squad and a half, a squad of grey hunters with a Rune Priest, Imhotek, a Cryptek, and a Dreadnought all on his lonesome. He died only in one game, giving up a kill point to the Tyranid player at the bottom of the final round, but at the cost of shooting everything his army had at him. Buddies that played in the tournament against or at an adjacent table to my first two opponents said they were still complaining about it two rounds later. He didn't catch quite as much heat as the guy who ran Eldrad, 10 Wraithguard, and Baron Sathonyx in a Deathstar unit, though. That player earned 2nd place overall, losing to a 5x FMC Daemons list, but the amount of helplessness he inflicted resonated even after the prizes were given out.

Of the three Eldar players in attendance (myself included), all of us have been playing our armies for 7 or more years and the other two guys are regionally competitive players finishing in the top 3 in most local events. I think the new codex gave us an edge, not one that was so keen it provides an auto-win, but one that puts Eldar a little further ahead than it was before.

Great write up. Seems like its definitely fun to play eldar now too, which is the real win.

I've been debating what to fill my heavy support with. Fire prisms seem great on paper, but I haven't been reading great things about them. Everyone seems to say hit or miss or not worth it. What are your thoughts on swapping them out for a couple dire avenger min squad falcons with lances?

More points I know, but you could save on a couple wave serpents and it fills out two of your troop spots.

Nice work and sweet list!

Actually, I've been wondering about the 'lance & shard' loltarch build, do you think it was worth the points, having both?

I honestly forgot to use the lance and used the Shard in every assault. The lance would have netted me some better initial results against 3+ models and if challenges lasted more than a turn, switching to the Shard for ID goodness would end things quick. It certainly did against Imotek - one Rend and one failed invulnerable is all it took. I thought about taking the Firesabre instead of the Lance and Shard and using the Autarch as a solo squad muncher, throwing out Soulblaze all over the place.

@ racta: I played a 1k test game against another Eldar player as an introduction to the new book, each of us taking different units. I took a Prism and he took a Scatter/Cannon Falcon. The Falcon underperformed in our game, doing almost no damage to the Serpent I used to ferry Wraithguard, but that may have had more to do with Holofields and the Serpent Shield than the Falcon itself.

Without taking up a Heavy slot, I can take Serpents and get up to 14 (minimum 9, average 11) S6 & S7 shots compared to the 9 shots a Scatter/Cannon Falcon gets. Taking a Bright Lance adds range to the Falcon and effectiveness against AV13/14, but you'd need 2-3 of them to make it reliable, even with BS 4. I'm not knocking it, but for anti-light vehicle, I'd rather rely on the Serpent than the Falcon for sheer glancing power on AV12, not to mention the fact it can carry up to 12 models. I'll let the Prisms (or the Nightwing) deal with AV13/14 until I decide if I want War Walkers.

Now I'm wondering if it's still viable to run Corsair allies alongside my "Craftworld" Exodites. Deep striking Wraithguard with D-Scythes? Hmmmmm...

Two things that I do like about the Falcon: 1) You can start guys inside that didn't buy it. That makes it possible to protect Rangers and the like. 2) You don't need to buy a squad to unlock it, so it's cheaper to get in the list. A Holo/Scatter/Cannon Serpent is 145+65 with minimal DAs, or 210. A Falcon is 155 with the same set up. I think the Serpent is better in most regards, but sometimes I don't have the room for both the tank and the infantry to go in it.

Neat write up by the way. I want to try a Laughing Jetarch now. Giving him both a Shard and a Lance is pretty funny. I expect my group to be pretty surprised when I tell them what he does in challenges hehe.

Ugh, 'loltarch' and 'laughing Jetarch' are seriously annoying.

Good idea running Laser Lance and Shard of Anaris though. Why no Banshee mask?

Halfpast_Yellow wrote:
Ugh, 'loltarch' and 'laughing Jetarch' are seriously annoying.

Good idea running Laser Lance and Shard of Anaris though. Why no Banshee mask?

He does, he just hasn't listed it. Well, if the 190 pts is correct

That's right, Banshee Mask included. Never came into play, though. The Autarch's I6 was sufficient to go first every time. In my 1k point game, against another Eldar player, it made a huge difference when my wraithguard assaulted a unit of spiders.

 Gavin Thorne wrote:
That's right, Banshee Mask included. Never came into play, though. The Autarch's I6 was sufficient to go first every time. In my 1k point game, against another Eldar player, it made a huge difference when my wraithguard assaulted a unit of spiders.

As far as I know and understand, and until an FAQ says otherwise, the -5 to initiative lasts till the end of the phase meaning that if the opponent has to take a sweeping advance check, they suffer the penalty making it impossible for I6 and lower enemies to run away. Maybe this never came up, but it is certainly a merit to the mask on the autarch.

Sweeping Advance is unmodified Initiative.

Quark wrote:
Sweeping Advance is unmodified Initiative.

Just remembered that, my bad.

but against most army's Eldar usually sweep them...if we some how kill units in melee.

Finally, the Autarch was the star of the show, much to the dismay of my opponents. Jaws dropped at the amount of fire he soaked up, freeing my more squishy units from their foe's wrath. I used him as a sledgehammer, a 900-pound gorilla that they had to either focus on entirely or allow to wreck whatever he came up against. He removed two termagaunt squads, a tervigon, three hive guard, a psyker squad and a half, a squad of grey hunters with a Rune Priest, Imhotek, a Cryptek, and a Dreadnought all on his lonesome. He died only in one game, giving up a kill point to the Tyranid player at the bottom of the final round, but at the cost of shooting everything his army had at him. Buddies that played in the tournament against or at an adjacent table to my first two opponents said they were still complaining about it two rounds later. He didn't catch quite as much heat as the guy who ran Eldrad, 10 Wraithguard, and Baron Sathonyx in a Deathstar unit, though. That player earned 2nd place overall, losing to a 5x FMC Daemons list, but the amount of helplessness he inflicted resonated even after the prizes were given out.

Calling a Laughing God Autarch a "900-point gorilla" is a bit extreme. I used the character in a number of games, and found "hit or miss" to be more apt. At best, the Autarch is a solid scalpel--when used correctly, it can make some key cuts that cripple the opponent. However, there are plenty of armies that care very little about it. Tau laugh (no pun intended) as they use two markelight hits to remove the cover bonus. Assault armies equally don't care. Daemons expend little effort to kill a 3 wound MEQ. Vector strikes (Drakes included) make short work of the Autarch. Even Eldar can pump a Serpent or two into taking him out.

I also think that spending 190 points on the Autarch is far too much. At 150, one can get the Mantle, a Fusion Gun, Laser Lance, and Banshee mask. This loadout provides a solid punch.

Considering he's not gonna be your warlord in higher point games, I agree a 145-150pt autarch is best. Still gonna draw way more fire than it's worth, or tie up the opponent's army. Every unit has weaknesses. Sure. But this 145pt guy or 150pt gal is a good buy, especially if you have bikes or fliers or hawks or spiders or wanna deep strike that knight for some reason.

Considering he's not gonna be your warlord in higher point games, I agree a 145-150pt autarch is best. Still gonna draw way more fire than it's worth, or tie up the opponent's army. Every unit has weaknesses. Sure. But this 145pt guy or 150pt gal is a good buy, especially if you have bikes or fliers or hawks or spiders or wanna deep strike that knight for some reason.

I agree that every unit has weaknesses. At the same time, I doubt the Autarch will draw fire from competent opponents. Armies are either capable of easily shooting the Autarch down, or they aren't. Those who aren't often have ways to deal with him/her in close combat.

Again, not saying the unit is bad, just that it is VERY hit or miss. I would wager that 2 Seers will give one a far more consistent and potent output in the majority of games.