Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey folks.

Lately I've been playing 1,000 point games with my friend, using my Blood Angels against his Eldar.

He usually brings the following

3x5 units of windriders with scatter lasers

Farseer on Jetbike (just to get Guide)

5 Wraithguard with flamers in a serpent.

Fire Prism

I've tried a few lists. I'm not an extremely competitive player, but generally it isn't even a close game, I get tabled by turn 3, even with decent amounts of cover.

The games usually turn out with his windriders popping all of my transports turn 1-2 (generally any razorbacks or rhinos are just wastes of points). They use their JSJ abilities to dance around my assault troops (death company or whatever else I try to bring) and ultimately I never even get to him. I've tried bringing vindicators to force them to jink, but the other two units of jetbikes are able to get side arc on any tank I bring it and glance it to death. And any decent unit I get into combat (Sanguinary Guard from the golden host or what not) end up getting flamed by the wraithguard after they kill one unit of bikes.

Anybody have any suggestions on how to deal with this? I'm not even looking to have a reliable crushing on him (although that would be nice, I owe it to him). Ultimately I just want the games to be decent and not get tabled by turns 2-4.

Thanks!

Cover means nothing vs scatterlasers. That's part of the problem. You need actual LOS blocking terrain to be meaningful.

BA have no viable death stars. Almost all units are T4, except bikes.

Vindicators have to get to close to do anything, which exposes their AV 11 sides. That's why I never use them in general.

After all my games, I don't think there's a super good answer to this problem. If you try alpha strike he can reserve the bikes, leaving only the tanks.

As Martel says, BAs really don't have good answers for Eldar.
As best you could try an all Drop Pod list. Sure they may reserve the Bikes, but that can be good for you.
If you go first and drop in to kill both his tanks and all the WG, you just won.
If at least 1 model survives, which is likely, than you might be able to fit it out IF not all the bikes come in at once.

Your best bet is to keep all your Pods in Reserve and give the Eldar play the first turn.
His first turn his tanks do nothing but move.
Your first turn 3+ Drop Pods come down and hopefully pop the tanks and some WG.
His turn 2, som of his bikes come in and proably kill a unit or so of yours
Your turn 2 more Drop Pod come in and so on.

You could always discuss with him that you just don't have adequate counters and ask him to drop a few scatter lasers.

A jinking waveserpent is almost impossible to alpha strike at 1K points.

Another thing to consider is a squadron of fast dakka preds. They fit easily into 1K, and can shoot from a good distance against the bikes and can even hurt the tanks with tank hunting autocannons.

If you can take allies then grab some sternguard or deathwatch veterans and use the special ammo that ignores cover which also ignores jink saves. The deathwatch stalker pattern rifles are like 30 or 36" range.

Also an onager dunecrawler with icarus array can blast skimmers at full bs.

Ceann wrote:
If you can take allies then grab some sternguard or deathwatch veterans and use the special ammo that ignores cover which also ignores jink saves. The deathwatch stalker pattern rifles are like 30 or 36" range.

That doesn't help. Jetbikes have 3+ armor. If you can tag a 5 man squad with a drop pod fragnought, you will probably massacre all of them.

They also have poison rounds that wound on a 2+.

Yeah, that helps a little. But they also are just T4 3+ if I recall and cost considerably more than a tactical marine. That's honestly more useful vs the wraithguard.

Chapter Ancients formation? 3 Furioso Dreadnoughts with Frag Cannons that can fire twice should do a number on the bikes if you can get them into the right place.

Sicaran? 13 font armour (immune to jetbikes), Jink-ignoring six-shot rending autocannon (to wreck the tanks), Fast (hard to hide from), and the IA1 printing hasn't had the price hike the 30k rules have so you're looking at 135pts for all that (or 155pts with extra heavy bolters to help volume out the bikes).

Drop some Fragioso dreads on him.

Had your marines not be BA but vanilla SM, I'd suggest you take a full Skyhammer Annilation force. That massed alpha strike would likely cripple this Eldar army, no matter they go reserve or not, as long as it is Scatbike spam not Warp Spider Spam

You could use the ds+charge formation against them. It's not a guaranteed victory by any means but it's at least a chance.
Droppod fragioso are also quite effective. Especially in combination with DS-Charge guyz.

 koooaei wrote:
You could use the ds+charge formation against them. It's not a guaranteed victory by any means but it's at least a chance.
Droppod fragioso are also quite effective. Especially in combination with DS-Charge guyz.

Isn't that formation like 1020 points? If so, it's not much use for him in a 1k game and even then you automatically lose 1/3rd off your games when the ravens fail to arrive turn 1 since he won't have the points for anything else on the board IIRC.

Martel732 wrote:
A jinking waveserpent is almost impossible to alpha strike at 1K points.

Another thing to consider is a squadron of fast dakka preds. They fit easily into 1K, and can shoot from a good distance against the bikes and can even hurt the tanks with tank hunting autocannons.

This is why you charge it on turn 1 - it cant jink.

My mistake didn't see the point level. can't run that at 1k.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Drop pods are the answer to all problems eldar.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Sicaran? 13 font armour (immune to jetbikes), Jink-ignoring six-shot rending autocannon (to wreck the tanks), Fast (hard to hide from), and the IA1 printing hasn't had the price hike the 30k rules have so you're looking at 135pts for all that (or 155pts with extra heavy bolters to help volume out the bikes).

Another great option.

Honestly, If I were a Blood Angels player, I'd still use Skyhammer even though it isn't a BA formation. It SHOULD be a BA formation and all you need to do is paint them Red and call them BAs.

You'll still have to use a Codex:SM chapter tactic, but after that who cares? A Space Marine is a Space Marine, just use the appropriate rules and call them what you want.

 Drasius wrote:

 koooaei wrote:
You could use the ds+charge formation against them. It's not a guaranteed victory by any means but it's at least a chance.
Droppod fragioso are also quite effective. Especially in combination with DS-Charge guyz.

Isn't that formation like 1020 points? If so, it's not much use for him in a 1k game and even then you automatically lose 1/3rd off your games when the ravens fail to arrive turn 1 since he won't have the points for anything else on the board IIRC.

3 squads of termies would be 675 pts

Leaves you with 325 pts to spare.