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Hi Guys,

So I just attended my first tournament at my local game store and got a general sense of what parts of my army seemed to be working and which weren't. The list I brought is listed below. I'm currently trying to decide how to switch things up to address the issues that seemed to come into play. Any suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreciated. In particular i'm tempted to swap out my Swooping Hawks for something else.

So things I noticed in the games I played. (Faced an Imp Guard, a Space Wolves, and a Space Marine Steel Tide army, won against the 1st one barely, 2nd one fairly easily by killing his land raiders and then kiting his assault units, and then was absolutely destroyed by the Steel Tide Army).
1. Dark reapers were some of my MVPs this tournament, lots of people were using Space marines or other 3+ save creatures, as well as bikes, and these were very useful for that.
2. I think I need more antitank, as there was a IMP Guard full armored company formation and an Space Marine Steel Tide Formation that really screwed me up.
3. Does anyone have any recommendations on ways to make myself more able to survive going 2nd? When I faced the steel tide army, he was able to drop pod centurions and eliminate my Wraithknight round 1, and force leadership tests to get 3 of 4 of my bike squads off the back of the map before I could go.
4. I was having lots of trouble dealing with cover saves, as the Imp guard player I went against was able to get squads on a couple of objectives and then get them 2+ cover saves, and I just couldn't get them out.
5. My swooping hawks disappointed me in this tourney, they either came in too late to affect anything, or tended to not do make damage and get shot up when I didn't deep strike them.

So without any further ado here is the list I brought:

CAD:
Skyrunner Warlock w/singing spear

Scatter Laser bike Squad 1 x5
Scatter Laser bike Squad 2 x3
Scatter Laser Bike Squad 3 x3
Scatter Laser Bike Squad 4 x3

Wraith knight w/cannons, and 2 scatter lasers

Swooping Hawks x5 + exarch

Aspect Host 1
Fire Dragons x4 +exarch, w/Wave Serpent with Bright Lance
Warp Spiders x5 + exarch
Warp Spiders x5 + exarch

Aspect Host 2
Dark Reapers x4 + exarch w/Missile Launcher
Dark Reapers x4 + exarch w/Missile Launcher
Swooping Hawks x5 + exarch

Total: 1838

I am far from an eldar expert, Played against them more then I would like thought! lol I know the success my friends who play them have had, is by Abusing the psychic phase on me.
- warlocks and Sears on bikes buffing units with rerolls can be really hard to deal with.
- I know they stopped running their WK with the cannons and went sword and board with him. Always making sure to try to give it rerolls on saves ( i forget the powers name).

Swooping hawks haven't really ever done much for their points that other things cant do better from what i have seen. They are just... ok. Good in other armies but your playing elder... so you have other options. lol.
-I know that warp spider spam can be abusive as well.
-I have never actually faced Dark reapers, I was under the impression they where like swooping hawks and just ok. but i don't really know.

I don't know if this is helpful or not. I don't know if your tourney allows more then one WK or not, but you might think about more bikes and another WK, as abusive as it all is.. if not then I think FW has some abusive Eldar models the LINX is really crazy good if your looking for more high powered shooting.

One option would be to keep your WK in reserve and try to guarantee it coming on ASAP with a Autarch.

SM grav alpha strikes are particularly nasty, I totally agree. What tree do you roll with on your farseer? You might be able to get some defensive powers with fortune + cover on it.

In my opinion, missile launchers are junk on the reaper exarchs. You have a ton of bikes that you can use to overwhelm a flyer if needed (Each squad of 3 will wound AV12 1.33 times on average). I also think the odd group of swooping hawks outside of the aspect is redundant. I'd tweak your list to this:

HQ:
Jetseer x 1

Troop:
Scatbike x 4
Scatbike x 3
Scatbike x 3
Scatbike x 3

Fast Attack:
Crimson Hunter Exarch

Lord of War:
WraithKnight with 2 x Wraithcannon and 2 x Scat Laser

Formations:
Aspect Host 1:
Dark Reaper x 3 with Starswarm + Exarch with starswarm
Dark Reaper x 3 with Starswarm + Exarch with starswarm
Swooping Hawk x 7 + Exarch

Aspect Host 2:
Fire Dragon x 5 + Exarch + Waveserpent with Bright lance
Warp Spider x 4 + Exarch
Warp Spider x 4 + Exarch

Also, you left 12 points on the table last time. You should rarely leave excess points, and when you do, it should be as minimal as possible. If I end up with more than 5, I rework my list to squeeze something else in.

HuskyWarhammer wrote:
One option would be to keep your WK in reserve and try to guarantee it coming on ASAP with a Autarch.

SM grav alpha strikes are particularly nasty, I totally agree. What tree do you roll with on your farseer? You might be able to get some defensive powers with fortune + cover on it.

I roll on the telepathy tree and try to get invisibility which I've been sticking on my WK. Unfortunately the SM hit before I was able to put up any defensive powers, which seems like a danger with relying on any sort of psych buff to keep units alive.

 Dyslexican32 wrote:
I am far from an eldar expert, Played against them more then I would like thought! lol I know the success my friends who play them have had, is by Abusing the psychic phase on me.
- warlocks and Sears on bikes buffing units with rerolls can be really hard to deal with.
- I know they stopped running their WK with the cannons and went sword and board with him. Always making sure to try to give it rerolls on saves ( i forget the powers name).

Swooping hawks haven't really ever done much for their points that other things cant do better from what i have seen. They are just... ok. Good in other armies but your playing elder... so you have other options. lol.
-I know that warp spider spam can be abusive as well.
-I have never actually faced Dark reapers, I was under the impression they where like swooping hawks and just ok. but i don't really know.

I don't know if this is helpful or not. I don't know if your tourney allows more then one WK or not, but you might think about more bikes and another WK, as abusive as it all is.. if not then I think FW has some abusive Eldar models the LINX is really crazy good if your looking for more high powered shooting.

So my LGS enforces a strict one LOW limit. However I do like the Lynx idea you mentioned since they are a heavy support choice. What do you guys think of this altered version?

1846 Points:
CAD

HQ
Windrider Farseer

Troops
Scatbike x3
Scatbike x3
Scatbike x3
Scatbike x3

LOW
Wraith knight w/2 wraith cannon and x2 scatlaser

HS
Lynx w/holo-fields for 5+ invul. save

Aspect Host
Warp Spiders x4 + exarch
Warp Spiders x4 + exarch
Warp Spiders x4 + exarch

Aspect Host
Dark Reapers x3 + exarch
Dark Reapers x3 + exarch all w/starshot missiles
Fire Dragons x4 + exarch w/Wave Serpent w/twin linked bright lance

Without trying to alter your list too much, the ways I found to handle cover and anti armor.

Skathach Wraithknight with Deathshroud Cannons.

Warp Hunters. I run two separately as Heavy Support Choices in an Eldar CAD. Fantastic piece against a litany of units in the game.

Both are in the FW Doom of Mymeara 2nd edition book.

I like having an Autarch in my lists to give me added flexibility for things like Drop Pod Grav Spam. I play in an area where we are allowed 0-1 Super Heavy or Gargantuan creatures. I can't afford to lose a 300+ point model turn 1 of any game.

 Sarigar wrote:
Without trying to alter your list too much, the ways I found to handle cover and anti armor.

Skathach Wraithknight with Deathshroud Cannons.

Warp Hunters. I run two separately as Heavy Support Choices in an Eldar CAD. Fantastic piece against a litany of units in the game.

Both are in the FW Doom of Mymeara 2nd edition book.

I like having an Autarch in my lists to give me added flexibility for things like Drop Pod Grav Spam. I play in an area where we are allowed 0-1 Super Heavy or Gargantuan creatures. I can't afford to lose a 300+ point model turn 1 of any game.

Interesting, they both seem like very good units. The one thing that worries me is them both being FW. How often do you find Forgeworld being banned?
Back when I played previously a lot of people and places banning them, but I'm not sure how accepted they are nowadays.

I know in my area most of the time forge world isn't an issue. Some people I play pickup games with still frown on that, but Most are good. my only suggestion is maybe not running your WK with the cannons, I know from having to play against them, they are MUCh scarier when they are running in to melee you with D in melle cus you can choose what your fighting as opposed to getting shot at with the things that can deal with you. Plus invuln save.

FW is pretty much fully accepted wherever I play. It has gained a lot more acceptance in tourneys that I have attended.

Try tempest launchers on your reaper exarchs. Very underrated for dealing with Scatterbikes, marine stars etc. Pick out the apothecary etc. Also, try the Helstorm torrent on your Lynx for ignores cover. Or the Skathnach WK from Forgeworld. Or take a mobile combat Seercouncil. Or try Wraithguard with D Scythes (bit pricey but very Killy - you need a wave serpent or allied DE Archon to really get the juice out of them).

Swooping Hawks.
1. First, start them on the board, and *then* they take off to On-Going Reserves, and automatically come in Turn 2 and they can bounce again at the beginning of 3 and return auto on Turn 4, etc. Try that and they're more reliable.

They DeepStrike in no scatter. Drop the Grenade Pack where effective (soft footers), and you might even Battle Focus them away to shoot a more appropriate target for their sissy guns, or just use BF to hide 'em after shooting. They're resilient for all that. Use them for their speed and Haywires, not for taking out footers. Sacrifice them for ImpKs, and maybe a rhino with an HQ like Khan or the GravGun crew with the Eye of the Hunter.

2. Their ability to take out fliers is awesome, especially when the opponent goes "Oh, they can do that?" Cue the sad panda.
3. They're a delicate, but effective unit, used to deal with enemy scouts, Fire Warriors, all guardsman and vehicles. Imperial Knight crews poop pants. With an 18" jump, their assault range to surround a rhino/chimera, assault it and hold elvish marshmellows over the burning screams of imperials is just ... wonderful.


Did you have more than just the Hawks in Reserve?

I am still running two units of them, for over a year. I still win barely 50% of my tourney games, but these birds seem to get a lot done. Glad to see you have two of them in this last incarnation.

Dark Reapers
I've swapped them out for more spiders, but the S8 upgrade is worth it. Facing a VSG? Reapers knock it out in one salvo. I was running two units of 5 for a long time, but I'm trying the Warp Spider fad (45+ of those).

WK
Mitigating the Ignores Cover GravGuns is really tough. Unless you go first and Super Sayan him up with Invis or Fortune, he's going to soak up wounds and die. That's one reason why mine has been Sword and Board, as Dyslexican32 said his friends have done.

Surviving the Alpha Strike (going second):
More often, it seems that getting to go second seems to give me an auto Win with ObSec bikes snagging the Objectives at game's end. However, as you've said, surviving the Alpha Strike is the problem. One long time Eldar veteran deploys a few reslient units (Reapers, the WK, a farseer led unit of whatever and spiders ). Most of surviving for the Turn 2 Reserve Rush is have some really resilient units on the table. Outside your own ImpK or Stormsurge, I go with volume, my whole army.


My list has been mostly like yours (no WaveS with FireDs) and when Drop Pods get the Seize on me it's rough, but you can just deploy with everything as far forward was you can. I also heavily favor the Strategic Warlord chart, often hoping for that 1/3 chance of getting Master of Ambush. Then you can get those Ld8 bikes much further on the table.

Also, the Warlock could be upgraded for the Farseer's leadership, Psy-powers and more Wounds.

Two wins and a Round 3 loss is a good first tourney performance.

If your worried about vehicles pull out an aspect host for a pair of warp hunters and/or some hornets... Warp Hunter on average can almost kill a knight Titan in one shot.... Tanks will be scared to death. Honets can slaughter lighter tanks, riptides, and that sorta thing