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Does anyone find themselves trying to avoid the really popular units in codices? Recently it feels like every Eldar list thread I go into is just another variation of 'fit as many Wave Serpents in as possible' It seems boring as hell to me!

So far I've only used one Wave Serpent in one battle out of 5 battles and I've won all of them (this isn't a boast or a 'look at me' just saying the codex offers so many options and it feels like everyone is just doing the same thing pretty much.

Is this just a problem with internet lists? What are your experiences with playing with and against the new Eldar or other lists? Does anyone else try to avoid (or limit) the really popular units in their lists?

I play what units I feel like taking. I have never fielded a single guardian in my army. I don't use warwalkers. I don't use vypers. Anything guardian based - although I have taken serpents before I can't really see the drivers so I'm happier.

I hate guardians.

I even got away with taking aspect Footdar in 5th - when everyone was expecting wraithwall...

The main thing I like about 6th ed eldar is the various 'what should I take threads'.
There isn't a clear consensus on the best units - even Hawks are seen as viable now. The WS is just the most obvious 'good unit'.

I play Nids and I really love Warriors, but noone uses them really.

My gaming group is largely focussed on having enjoyable games luckily, and isnt too competitive. We all like to win, but not by just using the 'best' units available all the time. It makes things stale.

My current lists includes no Tyrants (flying or walking) and no Tervigons.

Its 2 primes with 6 warriors each, a couple of Dakkafex's (one podded), deathleaper, Raveners (RC and DS, deep striking) and some Ymgarls.

Not a very competitive list by a long shot, but it uses the models I like, so its all good.

On the internet, when giving advice or theroycrafting, we don't have to worry about what models people own. So advice tends to be on "optimal" builds, or sticking with the good stuff. This is a sweeping generalization, but mostly holds.

Once you hit the real world, things change. You get personal opinions, and random collections. To use my own example, I'm re-booting my eldar army. I own two falcons. They are what made me pick up the army in the first place. I acknowledge that I'd be better off using serpents to move troops, and other HS picks for firepower, but I love the darn things, and already have them build and painted. So they find their way into my lists.

I also mix up my list every time I play. The last game I decided I was leaning on my librarian/sternguard a little too much, so I left them on the shelf. Gave someone else some table time. Was it as min/max effective? Nope. Was it fun? Yup.

My prioritization when building an army: Looks good, and fits into an easy to transport case. Once those requirements are met I will fine tune it into a competitive list.

I play a game once every week or 2, so most the time the army is on my shelf. Since it spends most of its life there, I want to look at units that I actually like - not too worried about what others are using.

I can't stand most vehicles. For Eldar, it is because they're so ubiquitously used and the first-thing people mention.

"Oh, you play eldar, I hate waveserpents". Yes. boring. But other vehicles are boring too - all of those *marine dexes with their box vehicles - boring.

I'll take vypers, war walkers, dreads, etc - those have character. Most vehicles don't.

Been taking wraithwall since the start of 5th, not going to change now.

Gwyidion wrote:
I can't stand most vehicles. For Eldar, it is because they're so ubiquitously used and the first-thing people mention.

"Oh, you play eldar, I hate waveserpents". Yes. boring. But other vehicles are boring too - all of those *marine dexes with their box vehicles - boring.

I'll take vypers, war walkers, dreads, etc - those have character. Most vehicles don't.

Been taking wraithwall since the start of 5th, not going to change now.

Thats why I like my nids so much. All my tanks are alive, and seriously pissed off

My two ork buddies play with almost no vehicles at all. Green tide of nobs. My other buddy plays armies with units universally panned here on Dakka and still wins. I play my nids with no Tervigons.

I do play a couple of less-than-popular units, but not taking any of the popular units with Tyranids is an open invitation to lose every game you have.

 shamikebab wrote:
Does anyone find themselves trying to avoid the really popular units in codices? Recently it feels like every Eldar list thread I go into is just another variation of 'fit as many Wave Serpents in as possible' It seems boring as hell to me!

So far I've only used one Wave Serpent in one battle out of 5 battles and I've won all of them (this isn't a boast or a 'look at me' just saying the codex offers so many options and it feels like everyone is just doing the same thing pretty much.

Is this just a problem with internet lists? What are your experiences with playing with and against the new Eldar or other lists? Does anyone else try to avoid (or limit) the really popular units in their lists?

How offten did you play against armies with dual-tripple drakes or drakes as ally ?

I play with whatever I like, for example I use Warp talons, yes everyone thinks they suck but I tried them against gunline Tau once and I won with the army list

Other units I use which others think are crap are Forgefiends, big cultist blob with Autoguns behind an ADL, terminators with power mauls, normal 10-man CSM squads, Hellbrutes, the only popular unit I do not avoid is Helldrakes but its not because of the power it has, its because I like the idea of an mechanically possessed daemon dragon.

Granted currently I am struggling against the Eldar atm but all I need is to think about an all corners list that will have some output on Eldar and I think I will be fixed up

I don't avoid units because of their popularity. I tend to use what I like, so in my chaos army I will never use heldrakes because I loathe the model and the rules, and I will always use plague marines because I like the models and the fluff. I have enjoyed plague marines since chaos 3.5 ( my first chaos codex) and I will probably always use plague marines no matter what happens.

The only really prevalent units I tend to avoid are Vendettas and psykers in general. Psychic/magic stuff doesn't really interest me, regardless of the game, and Vendettas just seem unsporting. Come to think of it, I don't use a ton of flyers either, but I think that's mostly because I don't own a ton and haven't brought myself to buy a Thunderbolt yet.

I hate hate HATE spam lists. They are just so boring to me. To look at, to play etc. If Eldar had more than just serpents as transports, I'd only have 1 of each instead of 2. I don't even have identical troop choices. Guardians, Avengers, Bikes and Wraithguard. All a different role and play-style.

I plan on getting necrons, whos 'net-list' is spam night scythes and barges, but I prefer some fun and variety in my game, rather than 'I take this, and lots of it. So I win'

Von Chogg

This thread makes me so happy. I complain to my wife about how bland "competitive" units/lists are all the time. I use what I like because I like them. Every time I see a cookie cutter list I just want to post "yawn". It makes me really sad when I see newbies post a list they saw and say "Is this a good list? And everybody is like "YEAH, that's the most competitive build, you'll totally win with that." I enjoy this hobby because you make things your own.

Sometimes the lists I build also happen to have competitive elements, but when people bring that up I just shrug. I'm not really playing to win. Win or lose, I play to have a good time.

A prime example of a competitive unit that I use because I like it is the Tervigon. I love the model. It's so big and has little Gaunts crawling out of it. It's great. And it happens to be really good. But I had two of them and 2 Flyrants and that's what every boring list has. So I took the wings off of one of my flyrants, put the wings on a fex to make a harpy conversion and have the Tyrant with STs and a barbed strangler instead. My other Tervigon is now a T-Fex.

For my Grey Knights, I love to use Purgation Squads with Incinerators. None of this Psycannon spam bs. When I read the Purgation Squad's entry in the codex and saw the quote, which is my signature, I fell in love with the unit. And now I will run always run at least 1 squad of them.

I have plenty of fun lists and srsbsness comp lists used depending on my mood.

I prefer to take the things that I enjoy using or enjoy the background for. What got me into Marines was the dreadnoughts in DOW 1, the thought of a warrior fighting eternally onward in a second life just seemed badass.

Plus Dreadnoughts, they look awesome, so even though there not that great in 6th I still love using them, and will fit them in any list I can.

On top of that I really dont like any Marine SC other than Vulkan, and hes run so much in Marine armies that I never run a named SC like Sicarius.

I try and use a different ork list every time I take them. Typically I'll pick a theme and then build a list around it. For example, Kan Wall, Battlewagon Bash, Green Tide, Deffwing, Speed Freaks, etc.
This leads to a nice shuffling of who I use.

i run orks and, while we've not got that many 'powerful' units (as in, gamebreaking ones) i do try to avoid loota spam, and whenever i use battlewagons i try and bring some other, squishier things to the field as well, so the opponent isn't finding themselves with a battery of useless guns, which are now being charged.

I say use what ever you want. You paid for the minis, you paid for the codex, who cares what anyone else says.

Why should other people's opinions dictate how you should have fun.

I used to play the heck out of chaos. My army had all four chaos powers represented. I had Nurgle troops, zerkers, sorcerers and noise marines.
Now the current codex is "Play nurgle and hellturkey or go home!"
Even though I love Nurgle, I won't play them because everyone does. I've given up on playing Chaos until they can figure out how to write a good dex. My brother plays them now, so he's not as upset about the dex as I am.

I also play sisters of Battle...so, yeah.
A also run the Cannoness with command squad. Not very competitive but adds a ton of flavor to the army.
And my Imperial Fists run a lot of dreads. Not optimal but I love those guys.

I don't understand why people say that Plague Marines and Heldrakes are the only good things in the Chaos Space Marine codex. I do fine without either. Heldrakes are too cheap, but you won't automatically lose if you don't use them.

Makumba wrote:

 shamikebab wrote:
Does anyone find themselves trying to avoid the really popular units in codices? Recently it feels like every Eldar list thread I go into is just another variation of 'fit as many Wave Serpents in as possible' It seems boring as hell to me!

So far I've only used one Wave Serpent in one battle out of 5 battles and I've won all of them (this isn't a boast or a 'look at me' just saying the codex offers so many options and it feels like everyone is just doing the same thing pretty much.

Is this just a problem with internet lists? What are your experiences with playing with and against the new Eldar or other lists? Does anyone else try to avoid (or limit) the really popular units in their lists?

How offten did you play against armies with dual-tripple drakes or drakes as ally ?

Fortunately I don't, my group don't play flyers at all.

 shamikebab wrote:
Does anyone find themselves trying to avoid the really popular units in codices?

Nope, I like popular units. Popular units are usually good units, and why would I avoid things that will help me win?

 shamikebab wrote:


Fortunately I don't, my group don't play flyers at all.

Then it probably doesn't matter what you pick and it ain't a bad thing , considering what you say about your enviroment.

Makumba wrote:

 shamikebab wrote:


Fortunately I don't, my group don't play flyers at all.

Then it probably doesn't matter what you pick and it ain't a bad thing , considering what you say about your enviroment.

Oh flierless armies can still be brutal, ask the Tau.

I use pyrovores in fun games.

They are amazing.

Raveners and a Tyrannofex are in my Tourney lists.....

My Ork army has 2 units of 10 boys... Then every vehicle and wacky machine I can take.

It has no synergy or tactic. I just take the things that are fun to build and paint.

My Eldar on the other hand are all about the Wave Serpents. Not because they are badass but because I just happened to buy a few of them before the codex came out.

Nefrugle wrote:
I use pyrovores in fun games.

They are amazing.

Raveners and a Tyrannofex are in my Tourney lists.....

The first bit of that post made me do a double take.

I like using a variety of units, but Pyrovores have no redeeming qualities.

Raveners I like and use often. Ive not used a Tyrannofex yet though!

 Kain wrote:


Then it probably doesn't matter what you pick and it ain't a bad thing , considering what you say about your enviroment.

Oh flierless armies can still be brutal, ask the Tau.