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Okay, so this past weekend, I had a game at my local club. We modified an old 4th ed scenario (Breakout, I think it was) where I was in the middle with 2500pts of Eldar with Grey Knight Allies, and I had 2 marines players with 1250 each coming from the short edges.

Now, while I technically lost due to not getting enough of my units off, I claimed a moral victory due tot he fact that we were on an 8' table, so I had an extra 2 turns of walking, and the fact that the only survivor was Sicarius who just wouldn't be Daemonhammere to death by Coteaz.

So the men of the match for me were my Dark Reapers. Backed up by a Farseer with Doom, Fortune and Guide. Between them they took out 2 Dreadnoughts, almost a full 10 man tactical squad (in 1 volley. . They were the only target I doomed all game. One flurry of missiles, sarge was left all on his lonesome) and a stragglling Attack Bike that kept Jinking Prism Cannon shots (I had no other targets :( ). I run 5, all with Starshot missiles, with a Fast Shot EML Exarch.

now, I did the mathhammer, and I reckon that with the help of Guide, these guys could even pose a threat to flyers. So I have a few options, and wondered if anyone had any experience with any of them:

Should I boot them to a full 10 man squad, or is this just crazy? Does anyone have any experience with a full squad of Reapers? Or should I run a second unit of 5 to get the second Exarch on the table? The Farseer can always take Prescience as well as Guide and stand in between to aid them both. Or is 10 Reapers on the same battlefield akin to overkill? (although I always argue that there's no kill like overkill, so that last question is probably a 'no'! )

And then there's the age old question of are Flakk Missiles worth it?

Questions, comments?

You can't take them on normal Reapers, and one Exarch shot won't make that much difference and means the rest of the squad's shooting is wasted.

 Daba wrote:
You can't take them on normal Reapers, and one Exarch shot won't make that much difference and means the rest of the squad's shooting is wasted.

That was my thinking as well, but with everyone else firing S8 Guided shots, they might still have an impact. And thanks to Fast Shot, it would be 2 Flakk Missiles. Might just be something I burn the points on if I'm a few short at the end of a list and have nothing better to use them on...

Local Meta here has a number of flyers in almost every Tournament, so i always give him Flakk missiles. I only run 5 as that is all i have, but with guide/prescience, even the other reapers can take down flyers.

And for added fun/irritating your opponent, reapers ignore Jink.

I've never use them like that before. I always give them starswarm missiles with an exarch (tempest launcher, fast shot). This works really well-thy take out about one tactixal squad per turn.

Wel in today's meta, with Jetbikes, Bikes, Flyers etc... It is nice to have something in Eldar that takes Jink away.

A squad of 5 with exarch can put out 6 strength 8 shots, or 8 strength 5 and 2 strength 8, with AP3. This can still kill a number of marines either way with guide or prescience, But has the added benefit of being able to kill av 13 and flyers if needed. and since they won't get a jink save, any pens can be taken full advantage of or glances even.

If you like them a lot, you could take two squads and kit them out differently. One squad with Starshot missiles and an Exarch with Flakk for your AA and anti-armor. You could keep a second squad with just Starswarm and a Tempest Launcher for anti-infantry purposes. The best thing about Eldar is if you can match up our specialist units against the thing they're designed to kill, they rarely fail to kill it.

Keep in mind that you give them krak missles in addition to their tempest launchers, which means each reaper has a S8 AP3 H1 R48 fire mode and a S5 AP3 H2 R48 mode.

Redundancy is always good. if you have the models and can afford the slots, a full set of 2x5 reapers with starshots is death to all AV12- and marines. Very nasty. Make sure to give them the support they need, because savvy individuals will identify them for the threat they are.

Reapers rule. The squad sized that's worked best for me is 7 models and that includes the exarch. Fast Shot and Nightvision are must haves. I give my exarch both of those, but do not upgrade his weapon beyond giving him and the unit krak missiles. Having a unit that has nightvision that can reach as far as Reapers can is really helpful. Ignoring jink saves is sweet too as a guided/prescienced unit can be a threat to flyers.