Joysticko wrote:So my friend is fielding 2 units of 3 Eldar Jetbikes, 1 joined by a Fareseer and 1 joined by a Warlock, a Fire Prism, and then I know he fields an Engines of Vaul formation of 3 Falcons wich carry a Dire Avenger Shrine formation (also an Autarch). Im just wondering if that's legal since I read some stuff about a Craftworld Warhost and how Engines of Vaul are an auxilary choice...
If it is or isn't legal I would also greatly appreciate pointing out why.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm mostly looking for holes in his list since I've been getting my butt handed to me consistently by this formation ever since I started playing
(I play Skitarii). Once the falcons deep strike on a 2+ and they always direct hit, and the Avengers immediately disembark, the combined fire of the Avengers and Falcons decimates pretty much half of my army on turn 2, I'm pretty salty. Wouldn't mind some advice if it turns out to be legal
Could be a
CAD + Shrine, but the models used make me think that he took...
*The starting eldar kit formation (comes with a prism, farseer on bike, and some jetbikes; he would have bought the warlock separately as a squad upgrade for the bikes)
* A pale court of avengers lead by an autarch (Which is actually one of the fluffiest, least-competitive uses for the pale court)
* An Engines of Vaul auxiliary choice unlocked by the pale court.
So the last two items count as a craftworld warhost (lose obsec, but gain the ability to automatically run 6"), and the getting started formation would just be slapped onto that. As mentioned above, the deepstriking falcons thing is a squadron benefit. Sort of like when you have 3 vindicators in a squad and can plop an enormous cover-ignoring blast as a result.
As for how to defeat his list... The options he's bringing are actually pretty casual/non-competitive for the most part. A few questions for you:
* How many points is this?
* Does he put scatter lasers/shuriken cannons on the bikes, or does he stick to the little shuriken catapults?
*He's only sticking 6 or less models in each falcon right? They only have a transport capacity of 6.
* What exactly do you run with your skitarii?
I'm surprised to hear you're having trouble with the avengers. At most, he has 18 avengers coming out of those falcons. Probably more like 15 given the way avenger kits are sold and that he's probably sticking his autarch in one of the falcons. In other words, you're facing the equivalent of less than two tactical marine squads armed exclusively with bolters. Rending bolters, granted, but skitarii are usually pretty comfortably hiding in cover thanks to move through cover and so forth. Dire avengers should be a fantastic target for your rangers' strength 4
AP 4 guns. You'll ignore his armor, he probably won't have a cover save as he'll want to avoid landing on terrain pieces, and you'll wound him on 3s. They'll also lose close combat against any of your melee units. Basically, just don't stand out in the open on the turn they come in from reserves. If you're really having trouble, spread your forces out a bit. You have solid range on your guns, and he'll have to group up a bit due to the deepstrike. But again, 15ish avengers only hit about as hard as 15 non-upgraded marines and die a lot faster.
The farseer is a really solid
HQ with some very powerful psychic abilities. My guess is that he's hanging out with the jetbike unit because they all have the same mobility. The jetbikes themselves are either top-tier and amazingly good if they're each equipped with a heavy weapon, or just good-but-not-ridiculous if they don't each have a heavy weapon. If the latter, just... shoot them a little. They're basically only as tough as a regular space marine, and their non-heavy weapons only have 12" range. If they're equpiped with lots of long-ranged guns, they're much scarier. You'll need long ranged weapons or multiple assault units that can come at t hem from a couple angles to pincer them in. They die fast enough, but they're really shooty for their points (if given the heavy weapons). So the key is to find a way to get in range to attack them. If you can assault them, they'll die. If you can shoot them, they'll die. The trick is getting in range of a unit that can jump, shoot, jump from 36" away.
The autarch is... fine. A solid B+ or A- unit. He's also only slightly more durable than three of your rangers or vanguard model. He isn't a melee monster most of the time, he won't jive with the avengers as well if he brings an anti-tank gun, and he isn't going to be equpped with a bike, wings, or spider pack if he's riding with the avengers. His reserves manipulation will only really benefit the falcons. Just shoot him a little. Or stab him a little. He shouldn't be a problem.
The fire prism is another B+ unit. It's definitely not bad, but it is pretty expensive for what is basically a single shot that doesn't ignore cover. The falcons are really solid, but also very expensive for the amount of firepower they bring. His tanks are probably the scariest thing in the list, largely because there are just so many of them. AV12 is proof against lots of weapons out there. However, skitarii should be perfectly capable of bringing tools to deal with them.
* Onager Dune Crawlers have several weapons that will work just fine against these tanks. Remember, skyfire weapons hit skimmers using normal
BS, and your blast weapons might be able to hit multiple falcons considering they have to stay within 4" of each other if taken as a single unit. Which they are. Because cloudstrike.
* Rangers with arc rifles laugh at
AV 12 and force the tanks to jink or die. Plasma calivers are less scary, but still effective. The transauranic arquebus (spelling?) is probably your worst bet, but it can reach out and threaten jetbikes and tanks from a distance. Your squad leader can take that one piece of wargear to make the eldar jink saves worse.
* Your melee units are perfectly capable of ripping through eldar tanks in close combat.
So basically, I recommend that you simply stay in cover until his falcons arrive, then murder the falcons and everyone inside on the following turn. Then you can deal with the bikes and f ire prism at your leisure.
