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Well, for one the model is drop dead gorgeous, there is simply no denying that. But i was wondering if this has a use to replace one of my standard Ravagers, 3 Ravagers is simply boring sometimes. For those who don't know the Reaper is a Ravager that swaps 3 Dark Lances for a WTFTHATISSBIG Haywire blaster which can fire in 2 separate modes, either a large blast of strength 5 AP 4 Pinning Haywire goodness or a single shot of Str 7 AP3 Haywire but instead of causing a single haywire glance it causes D3 as well as instant death-ing on 6's. So in essence it is swapping the penetrating power of the Dark Lance for the more assured damage of Haywire, but has the disadvantage of having a single shot.

In my list this would be mitigated by having a Mantleseer handing out Guide and Prescience like a Pedo in an Ice Cream Truck so the single shot is likely to hit so i thought in a time so very full of Knight's and Baneblades haywire is a very good option to have and it even comes with a quite good anti-horde shot and even has a chance to pop a 3+ Sv MC if it gets lucky.

What do you think, can this replace a Ravager? Would this work as the Heavy Support in an allied Dark Eldar detachment to an Eldar army even as they do have problems with high AV due to the prevalence of Str 6/7 shooting.

Pardon me for being behind - just getting back in after 3 years out... Where is the Reaper found?

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/r/Reaper.pdf -Rules

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Dark_Eldar/DARK_ELDAR_REAPER.html -Model

Probably should of put this in the first post. Also, my store is perfectly fine with Forge World so that isn't a problem. You have to admit that model is simply sexy!

Its ok. I tend to miss when I fire beam shot but I have managed to kill a Riptide with a single shot before(Only beam hit I got with it all game). I think the Ravager is still better but it is the only large blast we get besides missiles, its pretty worth while. Especially against Tau and their 4+ saves. Useful for insta stripping drones from suit squads. If you are already fielding 2 Ravagers or a ravager and a Tantalus its pretty cool to mix things up. Oh and until your opponent figures out you have better stuff elsewhere it attracts fire by simply being a FW model.

It is pretty good if you can guide it so you don't suffer one shot syndrome. It costs a bit more, and lances are going to usually do more damage, but it can easily 1 shot any armor with the beam. The blast would be better if it had the 3' range, but that is a HUGE loss, as it puts you into range of most things...
Aethersails out the gate is decent but it is still expensive. One of the best things is the discount to night shields, which are required to field the thing. Overall, it is nothing amazing, but it is certainly playable, particularly in the way you want to use it.

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:
a Mantleseer handing out Guide and Prescience like a Pedo in an Ice Cream Truck

This made me laugh, paint "free candy" on the side of the reaper.

My question to those that have used the Reaper or know the rules well: does the "beam" firing mode actually fire as a beam? It didn't seem so to me, thus requiring a to hit roll. If so, it makes an otherwise great firing mode pretty "meh".

It's pretty, fun, and fluffy, but sadly it will hurt your game a bit to take it.

 Exergy wrote:
It's pretty, fun, and fluffy, but sadly it will hurt your game a bit to take it.

Why? It seems only very slightly more expensive then the Ravager (Includes the discounted Nightshields) and has the potential to be far more reliably dangerous to AV 12 which Dark Lances have considerable trouble with. The way I see it, if i am all but assured re-rolls to hit then it seems like an effective weapon vs certain things such as Knights and Serpents where it is capable of doing up to 4 glances with a single shot while most Lances would simply bounce off, all the while having a surprisingly powerful large blast and a fancy distort rule which can put the scare into certain MC's. Apart from being a few points more, where do you see the downside?

With Guide I can see this easily taking the place of one Ravager in a list- it seems slightly more versatile than a stock Darklance Ravager which is always a plus in my book.

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:

 Exergy wrote:
It's pretty, fun, and fluffy, but sadly it will hurt your game a bit to take it.

Why? It seems only very slightly more expensive then the Ravager (Includes the discounted Nightshields) and has the potential to be far more reliably dangerous to AV 12 which Dark Lances have considerable trouble with. The way I see it, if i am all but assured re-rolls to hit then it seems like an effective weapon vs certain things such as Knights and Serpents where it is capable of doing up to 4 glances with a single shot while most Lances would simply bounce off, all the while having a surprisingly powerful large blast and a fancy distort rule which can put the scare into certain MC's. Apart from being a few points more, where do you see the downside?

I may be missing something here, but at best wouldn't it do 3 pens? It gets D3 hits with the "beam" firing mode, otherwise just one Haywire hit with the small blast. So most likely, even if you don't miss with the beam, you are doing 2 glances. That sounds pretty much on par with a Ravager. Only a Ravager costs less money. But doesn't have a gigantic gun on the front. I could see throwing one into a list, but I don't think they're better by any means.

It's also possible to get a glance with the strength 7 shot that accompanies the Haywire hits. Not a huge chance but it means that it's possible to do 4 glances a turn to AV 13 and below.f you look at the stats for the Ravager vs AV 12 you would be disappointed, to do 3 glances/pens to AV 12 it needs 9 Dark Lance Shots (You need 6 hits, meaning you need 9 shots) while theoretically it only needs one of Reaper shot if the gods are nice, although more likely he is only going to do 2 hull points. The only downside i see is less chance of an explosion in exchange for more reliable glancing.

Ah yes, I did discount the S7 shot.