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Currently, I own the following models (I'll sum up the luck I'm having with them, too):

2 Farseers - I occasionally run one of these as Eldrad, but he seems to be nerfed quite a bit, and you can get 2 seers for just about a 50 points increase, and you can even outfit them to do better than him.. Plus, they made all the powers random, so it's much less likely you'll get the loadout you want, which is for me, a seer with fortune, doom and guide, or misfortune there somewhere.

Autarch - The only reason for taking him is the +1 or -1 to reserve rolls, unless of course you give him a jetbike, fusion gun and mantle of the laughing god , in which case he becomes a flying bullet sponge of death, who's pretty great at blowing up vehicles, and generally being an donkey-cave to the other team. This also works fairly well on the farseer, only trying for more offensive powers.

Guardians - I have about 30 of these, and they're only really good if you set them in cover, but they can put out a very good amount of firepower at close range.. but then they get charged and completely demolished the turn after. They're still only objective sitters.

Dire Avengers - It seems that they're only okaaay, I mean, GW literally doubling their price per model is ridiculous, because they're not good enough to warrant that. Luckily I got 20 of them beforehand. I usually outfit them with the exarch with the shimmershield and power sword.

Illic Nightspear - Why did I even buy this guy.. The model is actually really cool, but he suuuucks, I mean, 140 points for a sniper that puts out one shot a turn and does some weird thing where he can deep strike rangers, who you wouldn't want to deep strike anyway because you'd always want them as far away from the enemy as possible. This instant killing thing on a six to wound is nice but extremly unlikely that you'd get it when not targeting a space marine sergeant or something..

Rangers - For 120 points for 10 of them, you can't complain. It sucks that you can't get pathfinders now without paying the so called "Illic Tax", and currently I'm contemplating if that's even remotely worth it. They're pretty good as a support unit, but I think they're not as good as they were in the previous edition.

Crimson Hunter - It pops flyers extremely well, but can be shot down by BOLTERS. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, I never make my points back with this thing, and then it just gets popped way too easily. Not worth 160 points if you ask me.

I say this all because yesterday I had a game against a Chaos Marine and Daemon list, which was heavily combat oriented, and they completely demolished my guys. I even proxied Warp Spiders and it didn't help that much.

I also played against a Tau Farsight "Bomb" List, and had 3 Units of proxied Warp Spiders in reserve, but by the time they all came on (Turn 2!!), I had nothing but one Farseer on 1 wound left! Then they came on, destroyed 2 Hammerheads, gunned into the side of the massive riptide's unit with what must have been about 12 marker lights, did very little and then got charged by Farsight's battle suit squad and the riptide himself. The reason I got so badly owned in the first turn was because my army relies so heavily on cover saves at the moment.. I can't think of a counter to this kind of list. Striking Scorpions? More Vehicles?

Thanks for any replies, guys.

From the sounds of things, you're running a FootDar list, but lack the durability to do so effectively. Judging by your army composition, 3-4 Wave Serpents would help you immensely in any match-up.

At the 1500pt range, very few armies will have the necessary firepower to down 3-4 Wave Serpents before they've really taken their toll. Against the daemon list you mentioned they would give you far-superior mobility, allowing you to avoid his CC oriented beasties whilst whittling them down.

In my experience, Wave Serpents are just plain necessary against Tau lists. The Serpent Shield really is the best counter to Pathfinders/Fire Warriors behind a Defence Line etc. because it forces the Tau player to use his sub-par armour rather than a 2+/3+ cover save and will usually kill enough to force both a Morale and a Pinning check. I've found that the key to dealing with Tau is to force them to G2G, pin them or make them flee. That way, their amazing shooting is neutered to an extent.

Iranna.

 Iranna wrote:
From the sounds of things, you're running a FootDar list, but lack the durability to do so effectively. Judging by your army composition, 3-4 Wave Serpents would help you immensely in any match-up.

At the 1500pt range, very few armies will have the necessary firepower to down 3-4 Wave Serpents before they've really taken their toll. Against the daemon list you mentioned they would give you far-superior mobility, allowing you to avoid his CC oriented beasties whilst whittling them down.

In my experience, Wave Serpents are just plain necessary against Tau lists. The Serpent Shield really is the best counter to Pathfinders/Fire Warriors behind a Defence Line etc. because it forces the Tau player to use his sub-par armour rather than a 2+/3+ cover save and will usually kill enough to force both a Morale and a Pinning check. I've found that the key to dealing with Tau is to force them to G2G, pin them or make them flee. That way, their amazing shooting is neutered to an extent.

Iranna.

Thanks for the reply! What units should I be putting inside of the wave serpents? Dire Avengers? I also forgot to mention that I have a unit of 6 fire dragons.

 SpartanHedgey wrote:

Thanks for the reply! What units should I be putting inside of the wave serpents? Dire Avengers? I also forgot to mention that I have a unit of 6 fire dragons.

Most of what can be really.

From what you've got, I'd try this:

1. Farseer - 120pts.
w/ Singing Spear, Runes of Witnessing.

2. Farseer - 120pts.
w/ Singing Spear, Runes of Witnessing.

3. Fire Dragon Squad - 110pts.
w/ 5 x Members.

- Wave Serpent - 145pts.
w/ TL Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-fields.

4. Guardian Squad - 90pts.
w/ 10 x Members.

- Wave Serpent - 145pts.
w/ TL Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-fields.

5. Guardian Squad - 90pts.
w/ 10 x Members.

- Wave Serpent - 145pts.
w/ TL Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-fields.

6. Guardian Squad - 90pts.
w/ 10 x Members.

- Wave Serpent - 145pts.
w/ TL Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-fields.

7. Ranger Squad - 120pts.
w/ 10 x Members.

8. Crimson Hunter - 180pts.
w/ Crimson Hunter Exarch.

Total = 1500pts.

This list has an abundance of long-range S6+ weaponry in the Wave Serpents which will form the brunt of your Firepower. Personally, I use serpent Shields aggressively and rarely rely on them for the 2+ past turn 1. Don't underestimate the durability that the shield gives you however, sometimes the added sturdiness is far more preferable than the S7 shots.

1 Farseer should go with the Fire Dragons and try for 3 x Divination. You're aiming to get the Prescience and Perfect Timing combo on them which will ensure that any AV13+ vehicle you hit, or MEQ unit, will die. The other Farseer can go with one of the Guardian squads and has a choice of any combination of powers you'd like. I'd recommend having at least Guide or Prescience on him to buff the squad he's with however.

The 3 x Guardian Squads can really put out the hurt against enemy units. Use the Wave Serpents to deploy them close enough for them to shoot and then Battle Focus into cover or out of LoS.

The Crimson Hunter may rarely make back his points, true. However, with Eldar a unit will rarely make back its points, you instead have to look at what the unit brings your army as a whole. The Crimson Hunter Exarch in this case, gives you possibly the best Anti-Flyer in the game which can also function as a solid tank-hunter. Just because it's fragile doesn't mean it isn't durable - Vector Dancer can allow you to place yourself out of LoS of your enemies but still allow you to shoot at another target. Obviously, Squad guns and the like are top priority in a list with this bad boy.

Hope this helps,

Iranna.

Iranna, solid list. You could split the Rangers into 2 units of 5 men and leave them (partly) in reserve.