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Hi Dakka,


I joined the 40k community maybe half a year ago. I started with Tyranids but rapidly quit them again. Although I like them, they are not able to compete with the lists I am facing so I swichted to eldar.

I got myself quiet a good start

17 jetbikes, 1 farseer on jetbike
2 Nightspinners
2 serpents
2x5 Warpspiders
6 firedragons
5 Dark Reapers
1 Wraithknight

+ a fair amount of jetbikes mostly to field the falchous blade as formation detachment

Most of the time I am facing Deathwatch + SM allies + AM allies + IK allies (differs each game)
and TAU

I am loosing my games against Deathwatch but they are very close and my opponent is a very experienced player so thats fine for me and I think I will get him soon. I kind of understand SM and Deathwatch.

Last weekend I had my fist game against Tau. It was a 1k points game and I fielded

CAD
Farseer on jetbike
3 Scatter bikes
4 TL shuriken catapult bikes
1 Night Spinner

Aspect Host
5 Dark Reapers + Wave Serpent w scatters
5 Fire Dragons + Wave Serpent w bright lance
6 Warp Spiders

I lost 9-11 Objectives in Round 5. So not too bad but I felt a lack of control against Tau. He was actively outrunning my army ( not the scatter bikes) but the Aspect warriors and the Farseer felt kinda useless.

Any tipps?

Well the main offenders and the backbone of any competitive Eldar list are scatterbikes and Wraithknights followed closely by Warpspiders.

Those three things can be accompanied by formations or units that fill a gap in your playstyle.

Bikes. I field bikes in units of three all armed with scatlasers. On lower point games you need 3 units or 9 bikes and in bigger games 5-6 units. The more comfortable you get with your list and eldar as a whole you will be able to do with less bikes.

Wraithknights. If you field one then usually two wraithcannons will do the job and if you field two then one is ranged and one is melee. People can and they will ignore a single Wraithknight, especially if they field MSU, but they can't do so with two. They should be used as agressively as possible since they act as a huge fire magnet.

Warpspiders. Those buggers are extremely mobile and they can wreck havoc with their weapons. Problem is you need to field more than one squad for them to be effective and be really careful since their weapons are close ranged risking an incoming assault. People know that the way to deal with them is to assault them so they avoid shooting them before assault. If you manage them correctly they are sick.

Regarding HQ I tend to favor a Farseer always on bike or an Autarch on bike.

Now for heavy support consider two options. Falcons and D cannon platforms. The first is a mobile gunship with quite some firepower and the second is a dirty cheap D weapon that creates a no go zone and huge problems in your opponent advance against you.

Finally one forgeworld unit you need to get your hands on is the Hornet. Hornets are upgraded Vipers with 11 armor scout, acute sences, a special ability that allows them to snap shot after moving flat out and two pulse lasers! They cost one point less than a unit of 3 scat bikes and they deliver sooo much. Get two or even better three You will use them no matter how many you have.

The above mentioned units will lead to and TAC army around 1500 to 1850 points.

After that you can look to some flyers. Both of them are very effective and even stronger in formation.

Ok thanks alot that is helpful.

I was thinking about my Farseer lately. In my recent games it often got outranged by my oponents so I couldnt use my psychic powers effectively.
As the jetbike should out maneuver almost everything it might have been a too defensive use of him. How to you bring your farseer into play?

I am a veteran fantasy player and my urge to defend my warlord is strong. maybe thats a bad reflex in 40k?

Well, you already got good advice.
A Jetseer is almost mandatory in an Eldar army. If you put pressure on the enemy, he will hardly be able to target the Farseer who should stay in the backfield. On a jetbike he/she should be rather save as the jetbike can move after shooting.

 Brujah wrote:
Ok thanks alot that is helpful.

I was thinking about my Farseer lately. In my recent games it often got outranged by my oponents so I couldnt use my psychic powers effectively.
As the jetbike should out maneuver almost everything it might have been a too defensive use of him. How to you bring your farseer into play?

I am a veteran fantasy player and my urge to defend my warlord is strong. maybe thats a bad reflex in 40k?

There aren't many single HQ's that can stand against anything in 40k (Draigo and Abaddon maybe are the case) so this is like you say a bad reflex from fantasy .

Seer on bike is almost mandatory but his role isn't to be on the head of any assault or something. Most of his powers have a 24" range which combined with the assault move of the bike are enough to keep him out of trouble and in cover after he casts his powers.

You keep him back and buff your army or cast a power or two on the enemy (depending on what you rolled) and then retreat. If he has a spear he can take a pot shot on an enemy vehicle but don't expect anything drastic.

What I have done in my army is have an autach on bike with Laser Lance and banshee mask, a unit of 3 Shinning spears + Exarch with Starlance and the Farseer all joined in the same squad. They get skilled rider, so when they jink they have +3 cover and they can assault without fear of overwatch almost anything besides terminators. They also go though vehicles in assault like butter since their weapons have the lance rule and they are Str 6 for spears and Str8 for Exarch. This is like a small Eldar death star that can have the use you are thinking about buff staff but also smash things .

 Brujah wrote:
Ok thanks alot that is helpful.

I was thinking about my Farseer lately. In my recent games it often got outranged by my oponents so I couldnt use my psychic powers effectively.
As the jetbike should out maneuver almost everything it might have been a too defensive use of him. How to you bring your farseer into play?

I am a veteran fantasy player and my urge to defend my warlord is strong. maybe thats a bad reflex in 40k?

a Jetseer can move 12, often powers have a range of 24. This gives a threat range of 36.

don't shoot, instead turbo 36 to hide or set up for next turn.

If you play the jetseer correctly it is very hard to see how they are outranged (apart from by 48 inch guns where there is no LOS blocking terrain).

I'm not a true Eldar player (yet) but I have been slowly collecting enough to make a decent CAD-as-ally. Specifically I've been focusing on making scat bikes, farseers on bikes and warlocks on bikes. Up until now I've been playing 3man msu bike squads with so-so results. I played a real Eldar player last Monday and he showed me how it was done - as it were

For sh*ts and giggles I played my usual Eldar scat bike msu with a farseer and a Tau Farsight bomb. His scatbike units were 4 bikes plus a warlock. And every turn those warlocks would cast conceal. Suddenly the light bulb went off. While my 5x 3bike squads got shot the board his 3x 5bike units were enjoying 2+ jink saves in cover! And if I killed one he didn't have to test where as I tested every time I lost someone. My only moment of joy in that game was terrifying his farseer and his bike unit off the table. Other than that it was down hill all the way. And the flip side of conceal? Reveal! He could have easily stripped my farsight bomb of it's 2+ cover save if he wanted to and decimated the entire unit.

So it was a very informative game - I learned a lot.