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Hi all. Got my first WH40K list here that I intend to buy and get battle ready. Would appreciate any criticism. I will mostly be playing against space marines but sometimes necrons and tau!

Windrider host army

HQ
Windrider seer council, all with spears (2 farseers, 3 locks) - 405

Troops
3 × 3 Windrider with scatter lasers – 243

Fast attack
2 vypers with Bright Lance – 100
10 swooping hawks, exarch with sun rifle – 185
5 warp spiders, exarch with Twin-linked death spinner – 110
6 shining Spears, exarch with star Lance – 170
(Aspect host for +1 BS)

Heavy support
Falcon with holofields fields and star cannon - 145
Fire prism with holofields – 140

1498 points

I chose 2 vypers because I had to take at least 1 for the Windrider host and I figured 2 could possibly survive longer than 1. I've read bad things about them and not much positive stuff so any advice on this would be great.

I intend to run the shining spears as sort of a bodyguard for the seer council, engaging things that get too close. Not sure how effective this would be but love the idea of using them as they look great.

I love the idea of swooping hawks and seems to me that the only way they'll cause proper damage to anything (other than grenade packs and haywire grenades) is through sheer number of shots, hence the full squad.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Overall I like where you are going, but I have to point out that your list is not Battle Forged. The Seer Council, while counting a HQ for their battlefield role, is actually a formation and would not count as the required Combined Arms detachment HQ, nor does it fill the Winrider Host Farseer & Warlock requirement .
Second, your Seer council is not legal either as its restrictions start that you must take at least 5 Warlocks

You need to look up the rules for detachments, including formations, decide whether you want a CAD or Warhost, then make sure you have a legal list.
If you aren't using Shuricannons for the Windrider bonus, or using the WarHost detachment to get more WKs, then you are better off using a CAD + Aspect Host.
It would look like this:

HQ
2 Farseer Skyrunners

Troops
3 × 3 Windrider with scatter lasers each with Warlock – 393

Fast attack
2 vypers with Bright Lance – 100

Heavy support
Falcon with holofields fields and star cannon - 145
Fire prism with holofields – 140

Aspect Host (+1 BS):
10 swooping hawks, exarch with sun rifle – 185
5 warp spiders, exarch with Twin-linked death spinner – 110
6 shining Spears, exarch with star Lance – 170

1498 points
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I don't really recommend Warlocks in small units of bikes, but that is the only way to make the list legal using all the models you listed

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Ah I see. That's very helpful! I think I need to revise the detachment rules. I'm sorry to ask you questions that would be obvious to you, but I'm still learning! If I was to run a CAD + aspect host, would my units still benefit from matchless agility?

Also would it be better to swap my scatter lasers for Shuricannons and take away a farseer to use the points to increase the size of the Windriders?

Thanks for all your help


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Don't feel bad about asking questions, that is what we are here for.

In order to get Matchless agility, you'll need to use a Warhost detachment that requires a Guardian Core + Auxiliary choice (so in your case, a Windrider host + Aspect Host). But in general, D6 Run with a re-roll from Fleet is good enough. No need to give up Objective Secured (which is the reason to run the bikes in a CAD)

As for Shuricannons, no, I think the vast, VAST majority of players agree that Scatter lasers are by far the best choice. It is just sad that the Wndrider host bonus for Shuriken weapons isn't good enough to change this opinion. Personally, I like Shuricannons a lot and often run mixed units with 2 Shuricannons & 1 Scatter laser, but I am the only player I have even seen do this.

I would drop the Warlocks for more Bikes. You don't want to over-do it on characters. 2 Farseers are usually more than you need to buff your guys.
If you drop 2 Warlocks, you can get another unit of 4 Bikes, making your last Warlock ideal as an upgrade to that unit.
That would look like this:

Farseer Skyrunner
Farseer Skyrunner
4 Scatter bikes with 1 Warlock
3 Scatter bikes
3 Scatter bikes
3 Scatter bikes

At least 1 of your Farseers (or both) can join the larger unit of bikes with the Warlock. This can be use like a "mini" seer council. Always leave dice to cast conceal on them. That 2+ Jink save will come in handy.

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That's great advice, thanks! I'll be sure to swap things around. Looks like a CAD is the way forward for me.

Much appreciated


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Also I wonder if I give one of the farseers the shard of anraris and put him in the shining spears, rolling on the telepathy table for psychic shriek, would this be an effective combination?

What I might suggest for the vypers is to run them duel shuricannons. That way all the guns on them work together. With the brightlances, you are never going to use the chin guns. And I think there are better ways of getting the brightlances on the table. Running them on the falcon to pair with the pulse laser works well IMHO.

One reason you don’t see more people taking vypers is because jetbikes are just that good. Not that they can’t bring a reasonable amount of firepower for their points.

Welcome to Dakka, by the way.

Ah okay. The reason I put a star cannon on the falcon is so I could use it to pick off high armoured targets like terminator squads as I think I'm lacking AP2 anywhere else and I thought it would pair well with the pulse laser against these targets. I planned to use it as sort of a secondary tank killer as I also plan to field a fire prism.

I think you're right about the vypers having Shuricannons. It would be a waste not to use the second gun on them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

This is my new list that I've tweaked according to your good advice.

HQ
Windrider farseer with shard of anaris – 155 (goes with shining spears)
Windrider farseer – 115 (goes with Windriders and warlock)

Troops
4 scatter bikes with warlock – 158
4 scatter bikes – 108
8 dire avengers in serpent with Shuricannon + holofields – 229

Heavy support
Fire prism with holofields – 140
Falcon with holofields fields and Bright Lance – 145

Aspect host (+1 BS)
10 swooping hawks, exarch with sun rifle – 185
5 warp spiders - 95
6 shining Spears, exarch with star Lance – 170

1500 points

Avengers are good but keep in mind that nothing matches the effectiveness of bikes point for point. The amount of firepower they dish out combined with their mobility is just amazing. I suggest you play both lists (bikes and avengers) and make up you own mind regarding which troops fit your style but most of the time people tend to lean toward bikes.

At 1500 points games one farseer is enough to buff things up. What I suggest is remove the second one and add an autarch on bike. Give him a Laser lance, a Banshee mask and join him with the Shinning spears. You don't need 6 spears 4 (3+Exarch) will be enough to trample units and vehicles in assault when joined by the autarch and possibly the FS to buff them.

Hi there,

One thing I see with your list is that it is very mobile. Do not forget to use the assault move for your jetbikes. I often forget to use it to hide them after shooting, and get them killed.

I would use more Farseers and leave the Autarch out, to get more psychic dice to play with.
Autarchs are nice in non-Psyker armies, though.

6 Spears might do well against groups of vehicles, as you are not getting Overwatched much by splitting the assault. I have not used them at all myself, though.

With the sneakiness of a mobile Eldar army, expect to get calls of cheese. Eldar do have a habit of winding up an opponent with and the shoot-and-hide.

I decided on the avengers because I decided to use the yme-loc colour scheme and the avengers in a serpent sort of matches background story in the codex haha! I will be buying both and trying them out though. I agree that bikes will probably be more effective, so we'll see!

I was gonna roll on the telepathy table for the farseer with the shining spears. I thought psyhcic scream and invisibility/shroud would be very effective with the spears. Again I'll just have to buy both HQ choices and try them out!