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I've ran seerstar and plenty of serpent spam, we're challenging ourselves. Here is the challenge, make a non-spam list that can still compete, utilizing no more than two of the same unit (troops excluded), with an emphasis on variety. I'm looking to pack mobility, durability, plenty of punch in the anti-infantry and anti-tank departments, and perhaps most importantly, doing it in style - Eldar have some of the best looking units, I'm tired of seeing only wave serpents and wraithknights on our tables. Below is the list, some commentary provided in parenthesis on what I perceive are under-utilized units or builds, as well as possible pitfalls. Would love to get plenty of feedback on everything here - but please keep in mind, there is no need for "just run seerstar or spent spam," that's a given, we aren't max/min here, we're trying to simultaneously field a fun, stylish, AND competitive force.


HQ - Farseer w/ Jetbike & Singing Spear
(I want a jetseer to guide/prescience my hornets and war walkers, he would basically be kept behind them for buffing, possible pitfall is only having one psyker and having your few buffs denied, if this happens regularly would switch to a low cost autarch for better reserve rolls)

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannon
(Great mobility and dakka, I love how monofilament and bladestorm just insanely reward your 6's that you'll always get a few of, I would probably run them like 3 units of 6 to make them actual hit and run threats against opposing scoring units, built them as 6 units of 3 so that when needed can all separate to grab objectives on last turns)

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannon

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannon

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannon

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannon

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannon

Elites - 5x Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent w/ TL-Scatter Laser & Shuriken Cannon
(Basically at the end of the day the wave serpent is probably the best thing Eldar can do, I wanted at lease two of them, I wanted them to transport a punch and I think fragons or wraithguard are the way to go, with fragons being cheaper and more reliable anti-AV, the units fulfilled my want of serpents and anti-AV nicely)

Elites - 5x Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent w/ TL-Scatter Laser & Shuriken Cannon

Fast Attack - 10x Swooping Hawks
(with the exception of playing a table of all space marines / necrons / bikes without any accompanying tanks, these guys should always have a great target to auto-annihilate. With the full 10 they are going to land on target, drop a cover ignoring pie plate then pump 30 rounds into something, dip into some cover, and follow up next turn with a haywire charge which will drop any armor including a land raider or imperial knight. Ideally you want them to take out a soft unit on arrival and a tank the following turn, will that always be the case, of course not, will it sometimes be the case, of course. I took 10 so that I could truly dakka something on arrival, sustain some wounds between then and the charge, and still reliably drop something with 4 hull points with 5-6 guys left. Yes warp spiders are just better all around, but they cant touch AV 14, and the hawks bring some nice flare)

Fast Attack - 10x Warp Spiders
(No brainer include, deep strike them in and destroy anything from terminators to light/medium vehicles, another of Eldar's top units)

Fast Attack - 3x Hornets w/ Pulse Laser & Bright Lance
(one of the best cost friendly forge world units on offer, I think these are just strictly better than war walkers across the board. For me it's about super speed, jinkability, and crazy punch; I went with the pulse/bright split so that I can reliably go after elite squads, medium vehicles, or AV 14 effectively, combing enough lance to drop AV 14 without sacrificing volume, they still put out 9 total str 8 AP1/2 shots, 3 of witch lance, and I think that's the perfect balance for a dynamic unit. Also, they are just gorgeous models)

Heavy Support - 2x War Walkers w/ 2x Bright Lance
(these guys are vulnerable and will die easily, however, they are also a very cheap way to put lance shots on the board and have the hugely significant benefits of battle focus and scout. I wanted a little more anti-AV for this meta, and with a unit of 2 I get 4 great lance shots without sacrificing too many points or putting out a very large, very expensive, very flimsy unit)

Heavy Support - Wraithknight w/ Scatter Laser, Suncannon & Scattershield
(I think it's never wrong, and almost always right, to run at least one knight. Even if these guys couldn't shoot, they offer an invaluable asset in their board control and distractive/fire soaking utility. That said, when running one I like to give it the super dakka load out, twin linking there 3 plasma blasts with a scatter laser gives you one of the best anti-infantry units in the game, the 5++ is very relevant, and if needed can charge a land raider with 5 str 10 hits + 1 str 10 HoW)

Looks great, but a couple points.
A) Your farseer will just die to easily. I would much prefer either a mantle seer, or a autarch in a wave serpent with a melta gun.
B) Dont take swooping hawks for their damage output. Thats a big no-no. Take them because they can score objectives in mealstrom missions well and have a decent damage output. The best way to run hawks is in squads of 6. I would recomend 2 squads of 6 for you. Sadly, this would put your out of force org so you would either need another autarch in a serpent for double force org, or just have 1 6 man squad.

Im not much a fan of lance walkers, especially when you already have 6 strength 8 shots, 3 lance shots, 10(6) hawire grenades, 5 strength 10 attacks against rear armor in CC, and best of all, 10 strength 8 melta guns.

You really have no need of extra anti armor.

Another thing to note is that your fire dragon serpents can be focused down and killed pretty easily. I would recommend holo fields, and ghost walk matrix.

The jet bikes are their mostly for their scoring potential, so the shuiken cannon points can be spent better other places.

If you drop the war walkers (+140) , the farseers singing spear (+5) and a shuiken cannons from the jet bikes (+60) you can have a mantle seer (-40), an autrach with melta gun (-80), make the hawks 2 6 man squads (-32), and add holo feilds on the 2 dragon serpents (-30) and ghost walk matrix on them (-20) leaving you with a few points left over.

And your golden

Love those suggestions, would definitely rock those alterations.

On the hawks: how do you fell about the exarch with the rifle? I read the rules to mean that I can drop my hawks (6+1 to stay over the magic number by 2 wounds), drop a large blast and then blind a vehicle (init 1). Does that seem like a valid secondary usage aside from objective grabbing?

I don't think the hawk exarch setup is without merit, just can become a point sink for a unit that is mainly meant to be a distraction rather than a hammer.

ninety0ne wrote:
On the hawks: how do you fell about the exarch with the rifle? I read the rules to mean that I can drop my hawks (6+1 to stay over the magic number by 2 wounds), drop a large blast and then blind a vehicle (init 1). Does that seem like a valid secondary usage aside from objective grabbing?

I dont think you can blind a vehicle

just reread blind, you are corect: it doesnt apply to things without an intiative value

Take what you like - don't worry about accusations of spam. Haters are gonna hate and everyone else will be fine. You'll get robble robble serpent OP and wraithknight OP complaints, along with whining about jetbikes as troops and "Basic guns Rend? OP!" accusation from some people no matter what.

I like hawks too, a pair of 6 man squads is good for cleaning 4+ guys out of cover and can serve as AV in a pinch, even with a throw emp grenade if you get lucky. Blind is worse in 7th, as you only get 1 blind attempt, not one per hit. If Hornets are allowed, then they're superior to Vypers and walkers and may be better than the warp spiders depending on the terrain you run. You can think about dropping the WWBL's for guardian squads with BL's.

Unlike NJF, I like the cannons. Keep in mind 3 man squads tend to run off the table without an Avatar around if you don't keep them out of sight.

I like the cannons also, they are actually pretty powerful, might throw a few in.

3 man squads are vulnerable, but that is the nature of running MSU, which is an established and successful tactic if piloted correctly; everything has a weakness, it's almost like saying don't run tanks because their weak to melta =P.

With that said, if there was ever a 3 man unit to survive, the windriders are one of them, super fast, have jink and battle focus, if you want to protect them, you can.

I would swap the Lances on the Hornets out for Pulselasers, you already have 2x fire dragon squads and 2x lance walkers.

I would also, drop the Sun Cannon on the WK. With propper 2 inch spread, a small blast only hits one model. kind of a waste for 60 points. S10 shooting is never bad really.

Give your farseer the Mantle of the Laughing God. Much more survivable than hanging with 3 bikers.

10 Hawks is a bit overboard I would drop them down to ~7 just to keep the large blast.

10 spiders is also a bit overboard. I like to take 7-8 including an exarch with a Spineret Rifle + Fast Shot. 3 BS5 S6/7 AP1 shots is juicy.

Give holofields to the Wave Serpents. Those Dragons need to make it up the field to be effective. 3+ Jink is just too good to pass up.

This is the list currently:


HQ - Autarch w/ Fusion Gun (Fire Dragons)

HQ - Autarch w/ Fusion Gun (Fire Dragons)

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Elites - 5x Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent w/ TL-Scatter Laser & Shuriken Cannon, Holo Fields

Elites - 5x Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent w/ TL-Scatter Laser & Shuriken Cannon, Holo Fields

Fast Attack - 7x Swooping Hawks, Exarch w/ Sunrifle

Fast Attack - 7x Swooping Hawks, Exarch w/ Sunrifle

Fast Attack - 10x Warp Spiders, Exarch w/ Spinneret Rifle & Fast Shot

Fast Attack - 3x Hornets w/ Pulse Laser & Bright Lance

Heavy Support - Wraithknight w/ 2x Heavy Wraithcannon

Well your not going double force org, so both fragtarches arent needed. Take one, and if you drop swooping hawks down to 6 men each, you should be able to make a mantle seer.

4 Fast attack choices, so needed double force org, plus I think the autarchs add a nice punch to the fire dragons.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
If you want to take 2 CADs do you need a minimum 2000 point game still?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just read if its the same codex you can have multiple CADs, which is sweet because for the same point cost I can drop the wraithknight for another squad of 3 hornets, 9 anti-armor shots VS 2 seems very nice, though at that point I do need to get the mantle Jetseer back in for guide/prescience on the two hornet squads.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Updated:


HQ – Farseer w/ Jetbike & Mantle of the Laughing God (Prescience / Guide for the two Hornet Squads)

HQ - Autarch w/ Fusion Gun (Fire Dragons)

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Troops - 3x Windrider Jetbikes

Elites - 5x Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent w/ TL-Scatter Laser & Shuriken Cannon, Holo Fields

Elites - 5x Fire Dragons
Wave Serpent w/ TL-Scatter Laser & Shuriken Cannon, Holo Fields

Fast Attack - 7x Swooping Hawks, Exarch w/ Sunrifle

(the more I think about it, I feel the Sunrifle needs to be an auto-include for this unit tactically. Swooping hawks are undoubtedly amazing against light infantry or heavy armor, especially with a no-scatter deep strike, there one main weakness is there turn of vulnerability after the deep strike before they can charge. With the Sunrifle you can always land a hit on a unit that might dakka or charge you the next turn rendering it useless; the caveat to this is traditional vehicles, however they are much easier to plan on avoiding when you deep strike in the first place (less maneuverability).

Fast Attack - 7x Swooping Hawks, Exarch w/ Sunrifle

Fast Attack - 10x Warp Spiders, Exarch w/ Spinneret Rifle & Fast Shot

Fast Attack - 3x Hornets w/ Pulse Laser & Bright Lance

Fast Attack - 3x Hornets w/ Pulse Laser & Bright Lance