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So I picked up 40k this year, for the first time since I was 10 or 11. Eldar have always been cool to me, and I like the Phoenix Lords in particular, and wanted to try and fit them into a list. The army basically aims to shoot everything to oblivion before they can close in/respond, the Swooping Hawks working on troop lines while the Dark Reapers huddle around the Farseer + Maugan Ra and try and pick off the nastiest targets first. The Farseer is there for the Forewarned stratagem (some protection against deep strikes), to prevent my Dark Reapers from falling to morale tests, and of course to act as a force multiplier to make sure whatever I target doesn't stick around. Two squads of rangers start off on the board to start pinging/moving towards objectives, while Illic and the rest deploy wherever they'll get in the way. The entire army is Alaitoc, to protect myself from enemy fire.

Of course it's my first list so I'd imagine it has glaring flaws, but I'd at least like to keep Maugan Ra and some of his reapers. Any suggestions? Could it put up a decent fight in casual games with friends/entry level tournaments? I'm unfamiliar with what is strong/useful in a typical game so any advice is welcome.

(P.S. - I'll mostly be playing against Orcs, Tau, Dark Eldar and Necrons, occasional IG/Imp Knights)

Craftworld Eldar – Alaitoc (2000 Points Total)

Battalion Detachment (+3 CP, 480 Points)
HQ
-Farseer (Warlord – Puritanical Leader, Shiftshroud of Alanssair) (100)
-Illic Nightspear (80)
Troops
-5x Rangers (60)
-5x Rangers (60)
-5x Rangers (60)
-5x Rangers (60)
-5x Rangers (60)

Outrider Detachment (+1 CP, 435 Points)
HQ
-Baharroth (110)
Fast Attack
-9x Swooping Hawks + Exarch (130)
-9x Swooping Hawks + Exarch (130)
-4x Swooping Hawks + Exarch (65)

Spearhead Detachment (+1 CP, 1085 Points)
HQ
-Maugan Ra (140)
Heavy Support
-9x Dark Reapers + Exarch (270)
-9x Dark Reapers + Exarch (270)
-9x Dark Reapers + Exarch (270)
-4x Dark Reapers + Exarch (135)

The list is very strong, with a nice twist with the Phoenix lord’s. If you’re going to smaller local events the list looks fine, competitive yes, but not optimised which is what you want. Obviously comparing Eldar to other codexes rather than comparing the Codex internally, the list is very strong, so you may or may not want to tone it down. If you decide to take it to larger events, then I would suggest dropping the hawks down to 3 squads of 5, the reapers down to 4 squad of 5, drop some rangers down to 3 x 5, and take some serpents (2 or 3) to hide the reapers and characters in to protect them from turn 1 alpha
strikes. It also reduces your number of deployment drops. Hope this helps

Having played against similar style lists that looks horrifyingly scary. The key is to screen properly with those rangers but has all the right pieces.

Good to see I'm on the right track here then. I think I'll retain the core, but might fiddle around with unit sizes and numbers. Will definitely consider the Wave Serpent as well, though I am skeptical as to how much use it provides after dropping my troops. As for Ranger screening, I suppose that's something I'll need to practice and learn. This is a new ball game for me though, so I'll see to testing it out. Thanks a bunch for the advice!

Are the point totals for the Dark Reapers right? I'm still working from the Index but that would be a pretty big price drop for them. And yea, as a Marine player, that list looks pretty scary. Hate me some Dark Reapers en masse Eldar in general to be honest.

Well this looks absolutely terrifying.

Maybe drop the smaller reaper squad to fill out the third swooping hawk squad, then with the leftovers you could grab a warlock (or 2 if you can do some points finagling).

This is a mean list though, would probably work just fine as is

Dark Reapers are 5 points a model, the Launchers themselves being 22, for 27 total. Exarchs are free.

As for warlocks, I was actually considering them originally for conceal, but when you have 3 full DR squads, your opponent can just pick the ones not protected. I'd ideally like to keep the death ball out of smite/reveal range as well. Of course that likely won't work out in practice. Do warlocks have any other advantages that I'm missing?

 FruityRollEmUps wrote:
Dark Reapers are 5 points a model, the Launchers themselves being 22, for 27 total. Exarchs are free.

As for warlocks, I was actually considering them originally for conceal, but when you have 3 full DR squads, your opponent can just pick the ones not protected. I'd ideally like to keep the death ball out of smite/reveal range as well. Of course that likely won't work out in practice. Do warlocks have any other advantages that I'm missing?

Good lord even at the old price they were scary, and now they cost 25% less. Nothing makes me want to take all the Plasma Pistol geared Jump troops I can afford to Deep Strike more than the thought of a few big posses of Dark Reapers running around. Not even sure what else to do against them when they come up. Best of luck with the list, and know that of all the Xenos I hate Eldar least of all.

For the warlocks, protect/jinx works beautifully with reapers and hawks, plus an extra "deny" attempt in case you face psyker spam. Also opens up the seer council stratagem for +1 to casting attempts. Really it comes down to more shots vs more buffs, so whatever works best for your meta!

Strong, but mind-numbingly boring (which I suspect is not a consideration here).

Just played against a similar list although he ran 3x 9 reapers, a hemlock fighter and some sort of fortification (held 20 dudes, 20 model capacity, 10 firing ports, 10 more on top with cover, protected 20 reapers from turn 1 alpha, 150ish points, fire and fade back into it for extra salty tears.)

The hemlock was great for finishing up anything the reapers almost killed.

Drop 2 ranger squads, one swooping hawk and the unit of 4 reapers? Would cost you a CP (roll outriders into brigade) but those hemlocks are nasty AF.

I was running guilliman parking lot and turn 1 he popped 4 razorbacks with alpha, killed scout squad objective campers with the no LOS autarchs and sniped the hell out my primaris psychers with rangers. It didn't end well for me.

Yeah, I guess it's likely a boring list, far more so to play against than to play, at least from my perspective (I dislike melee and like spam + consistency in both the way it looks on the table and operates mechanically). I didn't realize it was such a strong list, in more casual games I'll try playing more fun units like Shining Spears, or maybe a Wraithlord or Fire Prisms. The Tau and Necron players will face the full 30-35 Reapers though, they deserve it.

The points for Warlocks are good ones. I'm definitely going to test them out, maybe stick them in Wave Serpents as well (though that might neuter my damage too much for my tastes). I overlooked the other spells for conceal, but the 18" range is still concerning. Against the armies I'll be facing, I don't want to be in range, or want to decimate them by the time I am. Dark Eldar and Tau deep strike exist however, and Death Guard seems popular now, an army which looks like they'll brush off Hawks like flies.

tl;dr, Warlocks are another good suggestion I'll play with + the realization that my "casual" list might be unfun for a casual group. Lots of insight here for a new player, thanks again!

The funny thing is that the best counter to this list is probably dark reapers themselves as they ignore the -1 to hit.

What's the point of the swooping hawks by the way? didnt think that they were good in an Eldar list but they seem pretty popular.

Echo other posters' sentiments about the power of dark reapers and hemlocks.

Nidzrule! wrote:


What's the point of the swooping hawks by the way? didnt think that they were good in an Eldar list but they seem pretty popular.

Horde control, especially now with the massive nerf to shadow specters.

Nidzrule! wrote:
The funny thing is that the best counter to this list is probably dark reapers themselves as they ignore the -1 to hit.

What's the point of the swooping hawks by the way? didnt think that they were good in an Eldar list but they seem pretty popular.

Echo other posters' sentiments about the power of dark reapers and hemlocks.

Dark Archon said it best. Fairly cheap, and able to drop by units and deal a reasonable amount of mortal wounds, which feths with anything with a high model count. Their gun is only STR 3, but is Assault 4. Hitting on 3's, rerolling on 1's with Baharroth will chew through weaker units, and can rack up a few wounds through luck on something heavier. Plus, 14" move, ability to redeploy, and of the course the mortal wound spreading ability can be used multiple times.

The most important thing though is that their wings look really fantastic painted in interchanging neon pink and blue.

Ooooh i don't know how i forgot hemlocks, yeah super synergy with this army, plus they'll be able to get close enough for jynx while being significantly tougher than warlocks. Adding my vote to shoe in a hemlock!