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.

For those that don't know what the Solitaire is, I'm referring to this:

Autarch - 140 points
Heavy Aspect Armor, Shruiken Pistol, Haywire Grenades, Plasma Grenades, Forceshield, Eldar Jetbike, Banshee Mask, Laser Lance, Mantle of the Laughing God

...and hilarity ensues...

Path of Strategy lets you modify Reserve rolls by +1 or -1, so you don't have to worry about a Comm and can stick with the Quad Gun and it opens up the alternative deployment options for this guy.

You can Deep Strike instead of deploying normally.

12" movement ignoring terrain except to take a Dangerous Terrain test if you land/take off from Difficult/Dangerous Terrain.

Your choice of (Relentless) Twin-Linked Shruiken Catapult or Shruiken Pistol if you decide to shoot.

Turbo Boost up to 36" if you want instead of shooting.

Jink gives you a 5+ Cover Save just for moving in the Movement Phase, but the Mantle gives you Stealth and Shrouded so that becomes a 2+ Cover Save, and the Mantle lets you re-roll all failed Cover Saves. You aren't likely to die to enemy shooting...

You cannot be Pinned.

Hammer of Wrath for free hit at Strength 3 and Initiative 10.

You are Initiative 6 and thanks to the Banshee Mask the highest an opponent will ever be is Initiative 5, with most of them being Initiative 1, for the turn you charged.

On the turn you charged you get 5 Weapon Skill 6 Strength 6 Initiative 6 AP 3 attacks that treat AV 13 and 14 as AV 12. Just incase being able to make a Haywire attack isn't worrysome enough for enemy vehicles.

Hit & Run, so after you've charged the enemy you can force an Initiative test (remember: they are likely Initiative 1 and you are Initiative 6 so you almost always win) in order to move 3D6" in a direction of your choice, again ignoring all terrain unless you land/take off from it.

If you don't want to charge you can move 2D6" in the Assault Phase, even in the turn you Deep Striked in.

Oh and since you lose the ability to be an Independent Character, that means you are no longer a Character for the purposes of Challenges so you never have to worry about being stuck facing only the big scary and getting stuck in combat.

So. This guy/gal is dirt cheap and exceedingly nasty to a large swathe of enemy units. The hard part is using him/her correctly. I personally have done so-so in a few proxy games, and it generally seems to be my fault for that. Using this guy to support your other units by poking units that aren't hard CC machines (mainly Lightning Claw and TH/SS TDA and things with lots of AP 3 close combat attacks) seems to be key. Sending him alone at units with a lot of attacks also seems to be a bad idea, even with 3 Wounds, but if one of your units is already in combat or you've been able to do some damage in your Shooting Phase it seems a no brainer. He also is perfect for grabbing Linebreaker on the last turn or suddenly contesting an Objective from basically anywhere on the table. Being able to move 50"-60" (12" + 36" + 2D6") in a single turn is just an attractive thought (why hello there Eldar Windriders!).

Anyways, has anyone else been running this configuration? I'm curious to see what tips and problems others have been running into. I know what the opinion of my local group is, but what's yours?

I tried to run him in a tournament, and he got demolished by Tau. Easy first blood if facing them. Deep striking him is generally bad. Good at assaut but better with shard of anaris.

An autarch is not a solitare. A solitare is a harlequin who can play the role of Slaanesh in the great dance. They have their soul already given over in order to gain insight into the great deceiver's plans.

Mantle autarch is effective, but you really have to run him with the crystal spear from the Iyanden codex. Sure its 25 points more, but AP2 is worth it. The whole making characters explode is hilarious, but not really relevant. Crystal spear+ melta gun is probably the best loadout for weapons since that allows you to deal with everything.

VS tau you can hide him behind a wave serpent. If they cant see him, they cant shoot him with marker lights. They can sms him, but with a 3+ armor and the possibility of the reroll 1s for saves trait its still resilant (or the 1d3 reroll or reroll all saves from Iyanden codex).

 zephoid wrote:
An autarch is not a solitare. A solitare is a harlequin who can play the role of Slaanesh in the great dance. They have their soul already given over in order to gain insight into the great deceiver's plans.

Yes, Yes.... we DO realize this.... he's just called a Solit-arch. Climb off your "Fluff box".

 zephoid wrote:
Mantle autarch is effective, but you really have to run him with the crystal spear from the Iyanden codex.....

However; If you read your Iyanden supplement, you cant take items from both.

Furthermore; he can still challenge and must accept challenges (as all single model character squads must) This is the only way the Shard is worthwhile. (I used to run him this way)

I now take Banshee mask, Lance, Mantle, and Fusion gun. Its been my experience this guy is better at tank popping and generally giving your enemy fits. Not really all that great for challenge combat though.

 zephoid wrote:
An autarch is not a solitare. A solitare is a harlequin who can play the role of Slaanesh in the great dance. They have their soul already given over in order to gain insight into the great deceiver's plans.

We get that its not the ACTUAL solitaire, but it is the name given to the unit he described for which there have been multiple article written on the uses. I don't mean to sound chippy but I don't know of any codex that has an actual solitaire to confuse it with and this is the closest approximation I have heard of in 6th Ed. It should be unnecessary for either of us to have said anything so i hope this ends here.

Personally I have only ever heard of him run with the firesabre in addition to the jetbike, mask, and mantle. AP3 + Soulblaze is good in a lot of situations and often better than the laser lance unless there is something particularly tough to wound (MC or Walker). Run him at almost any troop unit and succeed in beating them and sucessfully breaking morale, which the soulblaze helps at times especially against T3 majority armies. However when it comes to maker-lights or anything that shoots a flamer template he is in trouble. On the other hand if you can get him into CC quickly and use your hit and run at the end of his turn, then you are in business. As long as he doesn't try to go head to head with TEQs he will do pretty well though he might still do alright given his invul save and any occasional 2+ save fail. I don't think he can claim line breaker as I believe it needs to be a scoring unit, but without the BRB in front of me I cant say for certain.

A few points:
- Comms Relay is still helpful if you are heavy on fliers, since you can re-roll successful reserve rolls to keep them off the board to get that vital first strike on enemy fliers.
- Hit and Run is an Initiative test, not an Initative roll off. They work the same as any characteristic test, you have to roll under the characteristic on 1D6 (with 6's auto failing).
- Its perfectly possible for a model to be a character but not have the IC rule. Challenges simply require you to be a character (which is why Squad Leaders can challenge) so he can still be forced into challenges.

Powerguy wrote:
A few points:
- Its perfectly possible for a model to be a character but not have the IC rule. Challenges simply require you to be a character (which is why Squad Leaders can challenge) so he can still be forced into challenges.

Very true, however, my question would then have to be (something FAQ will have to address) does the fact that the Mantle says the posessor loses his status as an IC mean that he gains the character rule? I'm not saying your wrong but I don't know how this would play out in the errata given the wording.

 Farseer14 wrote:
Very true, however, my question would then have to be (something FAQ will have to address) does the fact that the Mantle says the posessor loses his status as an IC mean that he gains the character rule? I'm not saying your wrong but I don't know how this would play out in the errata given the wording.

If you read in the codex, the Autarch's unit type is "Infantry (Character)". "Independent Character" is a special rule. This is the case for every character model in the game.

The two are completely different and entirely unrelated (except insofar as you can't get the Independent Character USR without being a Character first).

I've had this guy in a last for my previous two games, in the lead-up to a tournament. I must be playing him wrong, as so far I have killed the total of a single strike squad member. I've dropped him from my list until I can figure out how to use him.

I'd just recommend premeasuring your average movement+charge distance and use that to protect yourself against getting charged. He relies on his Laser Lance and extra attack to kill units. Use your movement to avoid "ignores cover" weapons and draw fire away from the rest of your army. He can kill whole units by himself if he's not dealt with, so he may do well by distracting the enemy. Also take a fusion gun because you can put yourself in dangerous places that other units can't get to safely. Turbo-boosting into the backfield next to heavy long-ranged firepower (like LRBTs) with him is likely to make your opponent react. Just try and pressure him to react in a way that is still statistically favorable.

gregor_xenos wrote:Furthermore; he can still challenge and must accept challenges (as all single model character squads must) This is the only way the Shard is worthwhile. (I used to run him this way)

I thought his unit type was just "Infantry" and not Infantry (Character) and that he followed the Character rules simply because he had the Independent Character rule. Time to thumb through the Codex again!

Powerguy wrote:Hit and Run is an Initiative test, not an Initative roll off. They work the same as any characteristic test, you have to roll under the characteristic on 1D6 (with 6's auto failing).

And here I thought it worked like Sweeping Advances. Still, 5/6 chance to pass is fantastic. I'll have to re-read the Hit & Run rules. I don't use it often enough myself (or even face it that often anymore) outside these proxy games so I don't have it down as well as some other rules. I'm surprised I haven't been corrected by someone eager to prove me wrong, but I shouldn't be surprised since I'm the only one that tries to read the rules it feels like...

dnanoodle wrote:Also take a fusion gun because you can put yourself in dangerous places that other units can't get to safely. Turbo-boosting into the backfield next to heavy long-ranged firepower (like LRBTs) with him is likely to make your opponent react. Just try and pressure him to react in a way that is still statistically favorable.

Good point. Your other points were good too actually, but I already figured that on my own I'll have to give the Fusion Gun a shot. I got too focused on his Assault abilities that I ignored what advantages having that fast of a Melta weapon exist! Big oversight there.

Glad others have been having some fun with this build. It's nice to have something ridiculous like this in a Codex. Hope more of the newer Codexes have similar combos that offer a lot.

Regarding Hit&run - can it be used from a won combat, ie;

If I wipe out my opponents in combat, can I hit & run instead of using my normal d6 consolidation move?

If I win combat and eliminate my opponent in a sweeping advance, can I then hit & run?

Finally, when i hit & run, I have to declare the direction before I roll distance. what happens if I hit & run off the table, onto impassable terrain, or something like that?

I might be confused here. What is this model's Toughness? Is it susceptible to Instant Death? You mention that it's intended purpose is to hit TH/SS units? That seems...rather suicidal. How does it survive such a reckless endeavor? Forgive me, I don't know Eldar as well as I'd like.

 Jimsolo wrote:
I might be confused here. What is this model's Toughness? Is it susceptible to Instant Death? You mention that it's intended purpose is to hit TH/SS units? That seems...rather suicidal. How does it survive such a reckless endeavor? Forgive me, I don't know Eldar as well as I'd like.

Iirc they are t4 so I don't think taking on even 5 TH/SS termis is a good idea, normal termis sure but TH/SS will survive a 6 attack character even at ap2.

Well, I'd take her in fun games but not in competitive play. She's too squishy if she's on her own. Hands down.

I think an Autarch like this is more durable in almost any game than 2 War Walkers and it costs only 10 more points. It may actually do more damage and soak enough fire to help you win. I know 150 is a lot for one guy, but look at what they can do against basically anyone but Tau or horde armies like Green Tide.

But still, any competitive list will factor in ignores cover with something at least, then it is only a t4 model with 3 wounds and 3 plus save its not that hard to shoot down. I have two perfect ways to deal with them in shooting, let alone combat.

Only tau and other eldar have a solution to cover that is effective at taking out mantle autarchs. Even then you can do stuff like hiding it behind WS and other tactics to keep them from killing him until you take out most of the things that ignore cover. If he gets into melee combat, he will probably wipe most MEQ or worse squads in 1-2 turns.

Never a fan of the Shard since it requires him to be in a challenge to get flesh bane and S4 is pretty weak for a 180 point model. Lance and fusion gun are still my go-to choices to make him a threat to everything. One of the few anti-high AV that can realistically see multiple shots

I had not noticed you could not take Iyanden wargear and Codex Eldar. I thought it was worded like the rest of the codex in that you could only use one supplement. Pretty much makes most of the Iyanden warger not worthwhile since most of it is overpriced or not very effective. The helm is just about the only thing useful and even then.....

Vector strikes? I would say they are better then tau or eldar for killing single models.

MarkyMark wrote:Vector strikes? I would say they are better then tau or eldar for killing single models.

MarkyMark wrote:But still, any competitive list will factor in ignores cover with something at least, then it is only a t4 model with 3 wounds and 3 plus save its not that hard to shoot down. I have two perfect ways to deal with them in shooting, let alone combat.

He also has a 4+ invulnerable, and with T4 you aren't going to one shot him. Have fun flying multiple Heldrakes over a single model that can move faster than you with no turning issues, or wasting an entire template for less than 50/50 chance of a wound. In practice there really isn't much which threatens him from shooting, Barrage is pretty common, but outright ignore cover weapons that actually have a high enough strength and/or volume of shots and pretty rare outside of Tau. Against Tau you obviously target the Markerlights first (which you do anyway) and hopefully use terrain to block LOS, which isn't that hard for a single model.

A GumyBear wrote:

 Jimsolo wrote:
I might be confused here. What is this model's Toughness? Is it susceptible to Instant Death? You mention that it's intended purpose is to hit TH/SS units? That seems...rather suicidal. How does it survive such a reckless endeavor? Forgive me, I don't know Eldar as well as I'd like.

Iirc they are t4 so I don't think taking on even 5 TH/SS termis is a good idea, normal termis sure but TH/SS will survive a 6 attack character even at ap2.

Anyone who suggests putting a Mantle Autarch into a squad of TH/SS Terminators has no idea what they are doing. At best you could get a S4 rending weapon against them, and then they just squash you. He is a scalpel not a beatstick, you use him to deal with weak backfield units and bounce around peoples backfield causing havoc. You can move 48" per turn and can premeasure, so put yourself into threat range turn 1 but outside charge range of your opponents assault units. Target fire support units like Lootas and vehicles that sit back like Manticores (which is why you bring a Fusion gun as well) and you should do fine

Sorry if im being noobish here, but how does the Autarch deepstrike. I've seen a couple of posts suggesting it, but I just cannot find any ruling on the matter.

No worries man. Nothing noobish about that. I pulled a double take too. As far as I know, they can't DS if they're on a Jetbike.

 dnanoodle wrote:
No worries man. Nothing noobish about that. I pulled a double take too. As far as I know, they can't DS if they're on a Jetbike.

Sadly they can't, but hey, 36" Turbo Boost, who needs Deep Strike?

 zephoid wrote:
Never a fan of the Shard since it requires him to be in a challenge to get flesh bane and S4 is pretty weak for a 180 point model.

He is S5 actually and not just in challenges. He also gets fearless standard and in a challenge grabs flesh bane AND instant death. Well worth it IMO

As to the mantle causing him to lose the IC special rule, I figured all it basically did was prevent him/her from joining other units (like JBG's), he can still be challenged and what not just acts more like a Space Wolf Lone Wolf. I'm going to give this loadout a try pretty soon I think, just need to get a game in.

I would still posit that the firesabre would be preferable to the laser lance for not too many more points if you can spare them. This way whether you are assaulted or assaulting you still get the AP3. This guy should not be going after termies though he theoretically could. The best way to use him would be to charge into a TAC squad, raptors, small ork boyz mob, tau pathfinders or fire warrior blobs, DE kabalite warriors or incubi, or anything else with a 3+ or worse that relies either on a first strike or numbers you can reliably thin before them given the autarch's I7, plasma grenades, and banshee mask. I prefer the firesabre, but a lance will do equally well using hit and run.

Soul blaze is bad though. 50% chance of D3 wounds that dont ignore armor is pretty bleh. For the difference between S6 and S4 thats pretty big. You lose 1.4 AP3 wounds on the charge with the firesabre. Id rather that than the possibilty of a bit of AP- wounds.

Also S6 destroys vehicles where S4 doesent. If a melta gun dosent pop it, you have to rely on a haywire grenade then...

Yeah I think Laser Lances are awesome now that they finally have the lance rule in melee as well. He won't need it against a lot of targets, but against the ones with AV10 in the back ill be glad to have the S6.

I think the Firesabre is best used in combination with Jinx if you really need to kill Terminators. Can't rely on it tho.

If you can afford it, a Firesabre is a nice backup for when Hit and Run fails. So is a normal Power Sword, but then you couldn't take a Fusion Gun as well.

I've only tried a similar build once so far, and while fun he eventually got bogged down because I failed an early cover save, then I failed the Hit and Run and lost the last 2 wounds after I couldn't punch through 3+ armor. My opponent could only laugh because it was right after I baited him into shooting at the Autarch that I rolled snake eyes.

The "Solitarch" is decent in game, but has quickly become overrated due to theory-hammer. The unit is a scalpel--it works well if it makes precision cuts and bullies small units with little CC ability. However, newer armies will absolutely obliterate it. Tau can easily spend 2 markerlights to make sure it dies. Eldar can similarly ignore cover. Just about any list with fast close combat ability can take the Autarch down easily as well.

For the 150+ points, one can get other Eldar units that will have a far more consistent output. Perhaps a lower ceiling, but unquestionably a higher floor than the Autarch.