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Good morning everyone!

Interested in hearing my idea of a 2k pts "ambush" themed Alaitoc (Eldar) list that I came up with - inspired by blogger 40KUnorthodoxy's own attempt. I would love to hear feedback from the members of this online community and hope that you find it an interesting list.

My essential criteria for unit selection are that Illic had to be used & each unit has to have either the scouts/infiltrate/outflank/deepstrike special rules. HQ choices without the second qualification would be valid but only with the Relic sniper rifle.

The other requirements are that the list has to make the enemy feel like they are being ambushed, has to be take-all-comers, has to have a reasonable chance at beating other lists - competitive or otherwise -, and, most importantly, has to be both fun and tactical in play. Also, the list being different from the standard Eldar lists online these days is a must.

HQ
Karandras (Warlord) - ~230
Illic Nightspear - 140

TROOP
Pathfinders (6) - 150
Pathfinders (6) - 150
Rangers (6) - 72
Rangers (6) - 72
Rangers (6) - 72
Rangers (6) - 72

ELITE
Striking Scorpions + Exarch with Scorpion Claw (6) - 142
Striking Scorpions + Exarch with Scorpion Claw (6) - 142
Striking Scorpions + Exarch with Scorpion Claw (6) - 142

FAST ATTACK
Warp Spiders (6) - 114
Warp Spiders (6) - 114
Warp Spiders (6) - 114

HEAVY SUPPORT
War Walker with 2x Brightlance & Star Engines - 85
War Walker with 2x Brightlance & Star Engines - 85
War Walker with 2x Brightlance & Star Engines - 85

TOTAL - ~1981

The list is essentially a phased build. It is going to outclass most other lists in the deployment phase of the game* and will have a strong movement phase through deepstriking, outflanking**, and battle focus***. This early advantage of fighting each game on my terms should compensate for weaknesses in the other phases. Weapons have been brought that can harm any unit. Admittedly, this list would likely give up first blood most games. This should be made up for by slaying enemy warlords with the snipers.

VS. Air
War Walkers can take pot-shots with their lances while Warp Spiders can spray S7 shots into the rear armor.

VS. High AV
War Walkers will shear through high AV with their lances.

VS. Low AV
War Walkers again can fire those AP2 S8 shots, Warp Spiders can spray S7, and Striking Scorpion Exarchs are rocking S6 power fist attacks****

VS. TEQ & MEQ
In close combat Karandras & the Scorpion Exarchs will attack first with S8 & S6 attacks, both AP 2, respectively. At range all shots fired, from the pistols to the sniper rifles, have the potential to ignore armor.

VS GEQ
In close combat the Scorpions have a multitude of S4 attacks as well as free S3 attacks at I10 from their mandiblasters. Ranged firepower is plentiful from the warp spiders.

VS Monstrous Creatures
Sniper Rifles are plentiful in this list and will bring them down without too much trouble. Also, Karandras and the Striking Scorpion Exarchs will give them hell in CC.

VS Challenges
Striking Scorpion Exarchs & Karandras love challenges. BRING THEM ON. Also all Pathfinder shots + shots from Illic are precision shots so good bye enemy characters & heavy/special weapons.

* Illic can infiltrate anywhere on the board except in impassible terrain - Easily forgotten is the fact that he can assault T1 reliably if you go first! Think about what this can do to Devastator Centurions!

** Ranger & Pathfinder units that are outflanking can arrive on the board within 6 inches of Illic as though deep striking - no scatter.

***War Walkers, which have Fleet and Battle Focus, gain an additional 3 inches to their run moves from Star Engines.

****Scorpion Claws strike at initiative unlike other power fists.

I really like this list. Very fluffy and competitive.

 Feasible wrote:
I really like this list. Very fluffy and competitive.

Thank-you Feasible

I like it! Very fluffy, also like the heavy presence of warp spiders and scorpions.

A few things ton consider adding would be monster hunter to each of your scorpion exarch's. Not that you would have a problem with MC's, but you have the points.

I would try to get some more war walkers. 3 walkers is easy picking for every AT gun your opponent fields. With lack of a better target, every lance,lascannon,krak missile, autocannon etc is going their way. You want more, so drop some rangers/spiders here and there to get at least 2 more, maybe 3. Star engines are also nice, but you need more walkers.


Helldrakes are your absolute worst nightmare, and a multi drake list will probably destroy you. Otherwise, you have a decent chance against most builds.

I appreciate your feedback Dr. Serling.

I agree with you on Monster-Hunter. It would add that extra bit of OOMPH to the list when facing the big beasts.

I agree too War Walkers are vulnerable - they can pretty much be killed by any and all firepower. I know that they'll die. Its inevitable. As long as they kill any AV 14 I'll be happy tho! I have two plans to keep them going to do that:

1) put them in reserves/outflank - delaying their arrival to the board gives me more time to remove or tie up anything that would wipe them out instantly

2) move -> shoot -> run - The reason I have them as separate squads is so that I can abuse LOS terrain. All 3 can be in a line behind the terrain. All three can be moved out of that terrain in the movement phase. Then one-by-one, from front to back, I can fire their guns and retreat to the comfort of LOS blocking terrain since they are all separate squads.

However, if I were to find that they are failing in their goals, then I would be quick to drop star engines & monster hunter for at least one more walker. Maybe other drops if they are badly needed.

Helldrakes will be horrible. I would seriously be hoping that they arrive on different turns & that the majority of my units are in combat. I would have two main plans against them.

(1) Sacrifice that first squad and then turn all weapons on them in hopes of killing them. Realistically, the only things they should be killing in a turn are worth less than the drake. Hopefully that helps the sacrifice part.

(2) Keep as many units in reserve as possible so that I can get the drop on them after they arrive.

Either way, it is going to be a rough time.

I would drop the both pathfinder squads x6 and take walkers squads of x2 each and some spare points left over to add to normal ranger squads.

I really love this list theme it is better then serpent spam (which craftworld has only serpents?) and its better then the triple wraithknight list (again where did those eldar wraith knight heros come from?).

 Arbiter wrote:
I would drop the both pathfinder squads x6 and take walkers squads of x2 each and some spare points left over to add to normal ranger squads.

I really love this list theme it is better then serpent spam (which craftworld has only serpents?) and its better then the triple wraithknight list (again where did those eldar wraith knight heros come from?).

I would be failing the theme of the list if I dropped the pathfinders.

Something to bear in mind about the Pathfinders is that they can still precision fire their shuriken Pistols on the turn that they "deepstrike" in.

Have you considered dropping some scorpions/spiders for a Wraithknight? They can deepstrike after all and it might add some survivability to your army

I know you state that the list must be different from other Eldar lists online but I don't believe all that many rely on deepstriking in their WKs

I have actually considered the possibility of including Wraithknight(s).

It would still be fluffy (see reference in C:E to 12 Alaitoc outcasts using WKs to secure stones from Crone world) and it would add a lot. I would use two since that is the optimal number and probably drop all the war walkers, as well as some of my close combat force (karandras too might get cut), since they bring a lot of anti-tank and CC potential.

In the meantime I'll hold off for financial reasons but it is a legit possibility.

That said, deep striking a WK is not something I would too. It is just plain too dangerous.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thank-you all for the good feedback. I appreciate it.

so, while i see the point of illic in fluff, hes not good. just making sure your aware of that.
i woudnt use so many rangers in your troops slot, also while fluffy, not that great. path finders are so expensive, i woudnt get them.

heres somehting that ive been thinking of..... striking scorp sqauds with serpents as dedicated transports, then outflank them. that would be fun.

I would take away star engines from war walkers, so expensive.

over all its very fluffy, but its going to be very hard to "take all comers" as you want. Because other not fluffy lists will tear this apart. war walekrs are easily killed, and then there goes the majority of your hard hitting units. next spiders, and your done.
fluffy and fun, but not competitive :(

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
so, while i see the point of illic in fluff, hes not good. just making sure your aware of that.
i woudnt use so many rangers in your troops slot, also while fluffy, not that great. path finders are so expensive, i woudnt get them.

heres somehting that ive been thinking of..... striking scorp sqauds with serpents as dedicated transports, then outflank them. that would be fun.

I would take away star engines from war walkers, so expensive.

over all its very fluffy, but its going to be very hard to "take all comers" as you want. Because other not fluffy lists will tear this apart. war walekrs are easily killed, and then there goes the majority of your hard hitting units. next spiders, and your done.
fluffy and fun, but not competitive :(

Maybe you could spend a little more time explaining why you feel that way?

Why is Illic bad? The Internet has certainly said so, but that doesn't necessarily make it true.

Why remove the 150 point pathfinder units? Their function in this list is to pull down key units. Why is that a bad choice in the context of this list?

Why does putting striking scorpions in a wave serpent to outflank, which may be cool but stops them from assaulting until turn 3 at the soonest, make more sense than getting them into th assault at the start of the game?

Illic isn't really that bad for a 150 point IC that can ID or auto pen on a 6 (doesn't happen often but when it does its a game changer) and the fact hes got 4 attacks base (3+1 2 CCW) that are I 7 at ap 3 not to bad.

I only said drop pathfinders because they costs twice as much as normal rangers and all the precision shots don't really matter as much when you have so many normal already.

Also serpents do not fit your surprise theme so just scout or infiltrate the scorpions.

Yay! Fluffly list for the win! At least there are others out there that don't just fall in line with what the Internet says and drop things because it says so. I think that is the ultimate curveball when it comes to playing competitively. "Wait, why do you have so many rangers? What? What are these green.. you brought Scorpions?"

While I don't think the list is ULTRA competitive, I think that in the right hands, and honed properly anything is dangerous.

What is your plan against the Taudar / O'vesastar with this baby??

I'm not entirely familiar with O'vesa-Star... describing how it works may help.

Given that it is Tau, though, the CC elements of my force should make short work if they can engage right off the bat. Riptides fail combats easily enough and Exarch's will be able to catch them when they run.

This is regarding fluff only.
The Eldar codex does best at making Ulthwé, Saim-Hann or Iyanden. It fairs worse at making good Biel-Tan*, lesser craftworlds*, Yme-Loc** or the more complicated Alaitoc*. Alaitoc is complicated because it's not as straightforward as most people think.

Is it Alaitoc that's currently scheming in Tau space?

* Because most Craftworlds use aspect warriors exclusively for their skirmishes and smaller engagements, not seldom with an Exarch leading, this is why it's the three aberrant craftworlds that are easy to build with this codex...
** Yme-Loc are different - they would use almost no infantry, but instead extensive use of artillery, walkers, tanks and super heavies even for smaller battles.

Thanks for the fluff input! I agree that it does not favor my craftworld. Are there any list-changes that you feel would make it more fluffy?

Alaitoc has a high number of exarch's, so having spider exarchs would be fluffy. The rangers/pathfinders come from the strict martial nature of Alaitoc, which also creates a fair number of corsairs. Could always strip it down and add corsair allies for a super fluff army(and corsairs are pretty good).

Alaitoc also has ties with harlequins more than the other major craftworlds, so a squad of those could stand in for a warp spider squad, but I like the idea that if Karandras has shown up, plenty of scorpions have come as well.

 Dr. Serling wrote:
Alaitoc has a high number of exarch's, so having spider exarchs would be fluffy. The rangers/pathfinders come from the strict martial nature of Alaitoc, which also creates a fair number of corsairs. Could always strip it down and add corsair allies for a super fluff army(and corsairs are pretty good).

Alaitoc also has ties with harlequins more than the other major craftworlds, so a squad of those could stand in for a warp spider squad, but I like the idea that if Karandras has shown up, plenty of scorpions have come as well.

That gives me a lot to think about. Harlequins could fit in. They would be a sort of "final wave" assault unit, though they would cut into the scorpions numbers, but those squads could be increased in size too.

The possibility of using the spider exarchs does have some interesting potential. I have not yet used them this edition... so it would be something to check out. The dual spinners on most models would actually increase their ability to hit fliers. Powerblades + stalker both fits the profile and may be useful in a pinch assault, as this army is built to burn turns.

I am not sure where to find information on corsairs. They are in IA11 right? Have the rules been updated?

It all gives me a lot to think about!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mahtamori wrote:
This is regarding fluff only.
The Eldar codex does best at making Ulthwé, Saim-Hann or Iyanden. It fairs worse at making good Biel-Tan*, lesser craftworlds*, Yme-Loc** or the more complicated Alaitoc*. Alaitoc is complicated because it's not as straightforward as most people think.

Is it Alaitoc that's currently scheming in Tau space?

* Because most Craftworlds use aspect warriors exclusively for their skirmishes and smaller engagements, not seldom with an Exarch leading, this is why it's the three aberrant craftworlds that are easy to build with this codex...
** Yme-Loc are different - they would use almost no infantry, but instead extensive use of artillery, walkers, tanks and super heavies even for smaller battles.

My hope is that the Alaitoc supplement, when it eventually comes out, will add the necessary changes to make a list that truly feels worthy of the craftworld.

It's not that, precisely, it's that Alaitoc are extreme traditionalists, what you'd see from a craftworld force (such as their fairly common punitive forces) follow Eldar doctrine from the days of yore. Guardians are the codex' bastard and really should have a move-to-troop mechanic similar to Wraithguard to simulate either Saim-Hann or Ulthwé. I got the feeling that the Farseers do not really trust Rangers enough to device plans that rely on them.

Buuut, yeah. With the exception of a tad too many Spiders, you've got yourself an external Alaitoc-themed raid/pirate force.

Also, clowns.

--

I think you may have to consider what it is you are going to do if the opponent fields 2 or more Helldrakes or equivalents. Helldrakes especially since they tend to roast Spiders and War Walkers with laughable ease. Expect to lose one squad of Warp Spiders and/or one War Walker each time a Helldrake comes in from reserve. The numbers are also fairly depressing when you try to kill 12/12/10 or 12/12/12 fliers with what you've got.

Allying Tau for anti-air or bringing Crimson Hunters (2 or 3, mind you, one is never enough!) may be necessary. If you're playing 2000 points (and not 1999 as is common for people to play) you may even need as many as 4 Crimson Hunters.

O'vesa-star is basically 3 regular ripties, then O'vesa (A character Riptide from the Farsight Enclaves book). So you have the buff-mander joined to O'Vesa, joined to another Riptide, then 2 other riptides wandering. Then you have a spackling of Kroot and Random Battlesuits to score with.

The list varies slightly from this, but it's the general idea, also adding re-rolls to nova charge with the Air Caste pilots.

Anywho, I am doing something similar to your list with my Tau alliance, but I am running Iybraesil as my craftworld, with a female Autrarch, some Banshees (Yeah, I know how horrible they are) and now am trying to figure the points to put a Banshee-esque Wraithknight in there.) These sorts of lists are truly more inspiring then the common 'net' lists. Get some games in with this, I want to see some reports. Nice.

 Mahtamori wrote:
It's not that, precisely, it's that Alaitoc are extreme traditionalists, what you'd see from a craftworld force (such as their fairly common punitive forces) follow Eldar doctrine from the days of yore. Guardians are the codex' bastard and really should have a move-to-troop mechanic similar to Wraithguard to simulate either Saim-Hann or Ulthwé. I got the feeling that the Farseers do not really trust Rangers enough to device plans that rely on them.

Buuut, yeah. With the exception of a tad too many Spiders, you've got yourself an external Alaitoc-themed raid/pirate force.

Also, clowns.

--

I think you may have to consider what it is you are going to do if the opponent fields 2 or more Helldrakes or equivalents. Helldrakes especially since they tend to roast Spiders and War Walkers with laughable ease. Expect to lose one squad of Warp Spiders and/or one War Walker each time a Helldrake comes in from reserve. The numbers are also fairly depressing when you try to kill 12/12/10 or 12/12/12 fliers with what you've got.

Allying Tau for anti-air or bringing Crimson Hunters (2 or 3, mind you, one is never enough!) may be necessary. If you're playing 2000 points (and not 1999 as is common for people to play) you may even need as many as 4 Crimson Hunters.

I mean 1,999 +1 you know how it is. I want to keep it fluffy-ish, the feel of an ambush/raider attack has to be there, and as competitive as possible.

I agree that the drakes will make short work of those squads. Still, I don't really care of my squads die if I can burn enough enemy turns to get that 1 point advantage FTW.

A way to keep the warp spiders alive may be to hide them in CC with a weak opposing unit the turn that the dragons arrive. Since I have to play around with the Exarchs anyways for fluffiness reasons I may as well see if I could get their special rules + built in unit hit & run to work for that purpose. It would give them a chance to dodge the attack, bounce out, and then spray firepower into their rear end.






Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Matt1785 wrote:
O'vesa-star is basically 3 regular ripties, then O'vesa (A character Riptide from the Farsight Enclaves book). So you have the buff-mander joined to O'Vesa, joined to another Riptide, then 2 other riptides wandering. Then you have a spackling of Kroot and Random Battlesuits to score with.

The list varies slightly from this, but it's the general idea, also adding re-rolls to nova charge with the Air Caste pilots.

Anywho, I am doing something similar to your list with my Tau alliance, but I am running Iybraesil as my craftworld, with a female Autrarch, some Banshees (Yeah, I know how horrible they are) and now am trying to figure the points to put a Banshee-esque Wraithknight in there.) These sorts of lists are truly more inspiring then the common 'net' lists. Get some games in with this, I want to see some reports. Nice.

They would have to include Farsight as well wouldn't they? That is a massive number of points invested in a small number of troops.

All it takes for a riptide to go down is to get it in CC. The scorpion exarches WILL, on average, score a couple of wounds and they will likely get more than the Riptide. If it fails its morale test, then it will run and they will catch it - on average - for the kill.

The same goes for O'Vesa vs. Karandras - which is the matchup I'll be shooting for.

It may not turn out all apple pie, but I just want to burn game turns so that I can win the objective portion of the game.

Plus, snipers love facing monstrous creatures & low model count forces.

 warpspider89 wrote:

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
so, while i see the point of illic in fluff, hes not good. just making sure your aware of that.
i woudnt use so many rangers in your troops slot, also while fluffy, not that great. path finders are so expensive, i woudnt get them.

heres somehting that ive been thinking of..... striking scorp sqauds with serpents as dedicated transports, then outflank them. that would be fun.

I would take away star engines from war walkers, so expensive.

over all its very fluffy, but its going to be very hard to "take all comers" as you want. Because other not fluffy lists will tear this apart. war walekrs are easily killed, and then there goes the majority of your hard hitting units. next spiders, and your done.
fluffy and fun, but not competitive :(

Maybe you could spend a little more time explaining why you feel that way?

Why is Illic bad? The Internet has certainly said so, but that doesn't necessarily make it true.

Why remove the 150 point pathfinder units? Their function in this list is to pull down key units. Why is that a bad choice in the context of this list?

Why does putting striking scorpions in a wave serpent to outflank, which may be cool but stops them from assaulting until turn 3 at the soonest, make more sense than getting them into th assault at the start of the game?

sorry, hadnt seen this brought up again.

fisrt off, i dont want it to sound like im a jerk and your lsit is stupid and your dumb. No. i like fluff lists, but this one just needs some changes.

illic isnt good because he will hit every time, BUT will only wound half the time. so in a 6 turn game, he will kill 3 models with 1 wound. And thats not at a independent character because they will just look out sir it. 150 points for a guy that wounds half the times he shoots? not great.

the pathfinder units are just crazy expensive for what they get. yes, they will snipe out more than just 5 reguler rangers, but considering you could make that ranger unit a 10 man squad for cheaper, makes it not worth it. also m sure you can find better units to deal with the key units, ie war walkers and warp spiders.

the scorpions in the wave serpent are really there for the wave serpent, not the wave serpent for the scorpions. If that makes any sense. You could run scorpions in just 5 man squads, maybe with an exarch in the serpents. Wave serpents are so good that taking even 2 will make your list a good amount better, and outflanking them makes it even cooler (and fits your theme). If the scorpions inside assult thats just an added bonus.

heres a list you could try

hq
mantle sear with spear (has hit and run so maybe that counts)

troop
5 rangers 55
5 rangers 55
5 rangers 55
5 rangers 55

elites:
scorpions with exarch and claw 142 wave serpent with tl scatter lasers shuiken cannon, holo feilds 145
scorpions with exarch and claw 142 wave serpent with tl scatter lasers shuiken cannon, holo feilds 145
scorpions with exarch and claw 142 wave serpent with tl scatter lasers shuiken cannon, holo feilds 145

fast attack
5 warp spiders one is exarch 105
5 warp spiders one is exarch 105
5 warp spiders one is exarch 105

heavy support
war walkers x2 with bright lances 140
war walkers x2 with bright lances 140
war walekrs x2 with bright lances 140

i think that list would actually do quite well.
and i believe is pretty fluffy.

Oh yes, a trick to keep stuff alive against the Hellturkey is to sit them on floor 2+ of a ruin. Flame templates can only hit one floor higher, same floor or one floor lower than the base of the shooting model is standing on. This means that the turkey can only hit the bottom and first floor (I'm European, that would be first and second floor for Americans) of a ruin.
Ghost Walker Matrix applied to Vypers can help keep them safe in a similar manner.

 Mahtamori wrote:
Oh yes, a trick to keep stuff alive against the Hellturkey is to sit them on floor 2+ of a ruin. Flame templates can only hit one floor higher, same floor or one floor lower than the base of the shooting model is standing on. This means that the turkey can only hit the bottom and first floor (I'm European, that would be first and second floor for Americans) of a ruin.
Ghost Walker Matrix applied to Vypers can help keep them safe in a similar manner.

Thank-you for the excellent input. That will be a very effective trick to protect my units.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ninjafiredragon wrote:


illic isnt good because he will hit every time, BUT will only wound half the time. so in a 6 turn game, he will kill 3 models with 1 wound. And thats not at a independent character because they will just look out sir it. 150 points for a guy that wounds half the times he shoots? not great.

If they sole basis of your evaluation of Illic is his sniper rifle, then you may want to broaden the scope of your analysis. There is a lot more to Illic than a sniper rifle.

the pathfinder units are just crazy expensive for what they get. yes, they will snipe out more than just 5 reguler rangers, but considering you could make that ranger unit a 10 man squad for cheaper, makes it not worth it. also m sure you can find better units to deal with the key units, ie war walkers and warp spiders.

Rangers do not provide the same level of quality for special and heavy weapon removal nor does any other unit.

the scorpions in the wave serpent are really there for the wave serpent, not the wave serpent for the scorpions. If that makes any sense. You could run scorpions in just 5 man squads, maybe with an exarch in the serpents. Wave serpents are so good that taking even 2 will make your list a good amount better, and outflanking them makes it even cooler (and fits your theme). If the scorpions inside assult thats just an added bonus.

The argument of "take the best unit because it is the best unit" ignores the majority of my original post. I use wave serpents regularly enough. Just because I have them, doesn't mean I have to use them. I WANT to assault. Bear that in mind. It WILL allow me to burn my enemies game turns. It is important to understand that that is the fundamental style of this type of list.

One thing that I think people miss when considering Illic is that he can assault on Turn 1. This can be particularly useful for tying up strong shooting elements if you get the first turn; it denies them use of higher points and can force the enemy to divert forces to bail their shooty unit out of a fight.

no, because you cant assult the first turn. if you get second turn you can, but then the chances he is already dead or out of range is pretty high.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
no, because you cant assult the first turn. if you get second turn you can, but then the chances he is already dead or out of range is pretty high.

Why do you say that you can't assault first turn?

I've played an Alaitoc Ranger Battalion since I got to roll on the disruption table before the game and frankly... Rangers aren't all that anymore. Pathfinders definitely not. I always take twenty, because that is the background for my list but they just kinda suck. Do the math against a MC. It's not as good as you think. Then against a FMC, which are way more common. Yeah, grim.

I agree with a few other posters here that you need more vehicle hulls and should consider allies. I think actually the ally opportunity is a great way to show the background of a group of Alaitoc outcasts- they are always dealing with shady characters like Rogue Traders or random xenos smugglers-- they are the eyes and ears of Alaitoc, and really of the whole Eldar race. There are a lot of cool ways you could run with a small ally detachment fluffwise. I think the idea of modeling an Imperial detachment as a Rogue Trader and his bodyguard is pretty cool but I'm sure you can think of something that appeals to you.

It would be worth your while to consider taking the Corsairs as primary and Alaitoc as the ally since you could still get 20 rangers, the mantle seer (who is better than Illic and not and less fluffy... most Alaitoc warbands don't have Illic or his much cooler older brother Hoec running around with them) squad of Scorpions, and other stuff.

Think about using them as an ally

HQ--mantle seer

Elite-- Scorpions, Exarch

Fast-- Crimson Hunter

Troops-- 20 Rangers

Heavy-- Wraith Knight

Then Primary-- Corsairs

HQ
Pirate Prince

Fast-- Nightwing, HORNETS!

Elite-- I think you can take another unit of Scorpions here but I can't remember the IA codex exactly

Troops-- MSU Jetpack corsairs with 2x rocket launchers

Heavy-- Every Warp Hunter you can afford.

That looks like it would be a pretty heavy-duty list. Almost a perfect representation of a raiding party from an Eldar pirate ship and it doesn't fall down the first time someone looks at it crosswise. The Nightwing and the Crimson together should be enough to keep the Drakes off of you.

 Silverthorne wrote:
I've played an Alaitoc Ranger Battalion since I got to roll on the disruption table before the game and frankly... Rangers aren't all that anymore. Pathfinders definitely not. I always take twenty, because that is the background for my list but they just kinda suck. Do the math against a MC. It's not as good as you think. Then against a FMC, which are way more common. Yeah, grim.

I agree with a few other posters here that you need more vehicle hulls and should consider allies. I think actually the ally opportunity is a great way to show the background of a group of Alaitoc outcasts- they are always dealing with shady characters like Rogue Traders or random xenos smugglers-- they are the eyes and ears of Alaitoc, and really of the whole Eldar race. There are a lot of cool ways you could run with a small ally detachment fluffwise. I think the idea of modeling an Imperial detachment as a Rogue Trader and his bodyguard is pretty cool but I'm sure you can think of something that appeals to you.

It would be worth your while to consider taking the Corsairs as primary and Alaitoc as the ally since you could still get 20 rangers, the mantle seer (who is better than Illic and not and less fluffy... most Alaitoc warbands don't have Illic or his much cooler older brother Hoec running around with them) squad of Scorpions, and other stuff.

Think about using them as an ally

HQ--mantle seer

Elite-- Scorpions, Exarch

Fast-- Crimson Hunter

Troops-- 20 Rangers

Heavy-- Wraith Knight

Then Primary-- Corsairs

HQ
Pirate Prince

Fast-- Nightwing, HORNETS!

Elite-- I think you can take another unit of Scorpions here but I can't remember the IA codex exactly

Troops-- MSU Jetpack corsairs with 2x rocket launchers

Heavy-- Every Warp Hunter you can afford.

That looks like it would be a pretty heavy-duty list. Almost a perfect representation of a raiding party from an Eldar pirate ship and it doesn't fall down the first time someone looks at it crosswise. The Nightwing and the Crimson together should be enough to keep the Drakes off of you.

I was under the impression that Warp Hunters have been severely nerfed. Is that true? Is that mantle seer on a bike or not on a bike? Is it not the case that only one rocket launcher can be taken per unit?