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Not sure if there's already a thread for this.

But in any case,

I've started to build an Eldar army and I've been reading the fluff in the codex as well.. The concept of the Aspect Warrior really interested me,
so far what I understand is that they're all specialized units. Low toughness but they pack a punch. Plus, they can also get Wave Serpent transports.
Now, I'm an Eldar noob.. What is the strength of the Wave Serpent anyway? Been reading around and I kept on seeing the Dire Avenger + WS combo. I know that it's the "cheapest" unit to
be able to unlock the WS, but is it really worth it? Let's say for a 1000 pt army. Won't the purchase for the Dire Avengers be too taxing? Another thing, in what way the Striking Scorpions stronger or more useful
in a certain way as compared to the Howling Banshees? What looks to me is that the Banshees basically rip any MEQ in CC, but again they have low toughness.. so does SS but I guess they're the same in that sense.

I'd appreciate any feedback from the players.

Any questions and follow-up input/output from people are welcome as well!

Peace!

Banshees are not that good due to Str 3, I would rather have scorpions with Mandiblasters, 3+ armor, infiltrate and Str 4. I've been playing eldar for 3 years now and they have become my main army. Eldar are a lightning strike and float away army. They pack a punch but cannot take one. You have to look and see what synergies you have with your units. Everyone in an eldar army has a specific job to do and you have to really maximize that potential.

Wave serpets are survivable because they can get a 3+ cover on the move by jinxing with holo fields. They also have a powerful ignores cover weapon and with the amount of twin linked weapons we have available, snap shots are less of a problem for us.

Another thing that hurts the banshees is we have no assault vehicle. Now this does not mean that they do not have a place, but most people see ap 3 and go I have to charge them at all the marines I see... This is wrong. I use banshees as a counter assault unit hiding until it is time to strike. I will also use them in cohesion with dire avengers. I play a lot of footdar and avengers are surviveable.

I infiltrate SS to distract my opponent and run my DA and HB up in a way that the banshees get cover from the DA but are bubble wrapped so they won't get charged. Usually the the SS can distract the shooting and take a charge and then my other units come in and mop up.

Sorry for the rant lol hope it helps

 entityreign wrote:
Not sure if there's already a thread for this.

But in any case,

I've started to build an Eldar army and I've been reading the fluff in the codex as well.. The concept of the Aspect Warrior really interested me,
so far what I understand is that they're all specialized units. Low toughness but they pack a punch. Plus, they can also get Wave Serpent transports.
Now, I'm an Eldar noob.. What is the strength of the Wave Serpent anyway? Been reading around and I kept on seeing the Dire Avenger + WS combo. I know that it's the "cheapest" unit to
be able to unlock the WS, but is it really worth it? Let's say for a 1000 pt army. Won't the purchase for the Dire Avengers be too taxing? Another thing, in what way the Striking Scorpions stronger or more useful
in a certain way as compared to the Howling Banshees? What looks to me is that the Banshees basically rip any MEQ in CC, but again they have low toughness.. so does SS but I guess they're the same in that sense.

I'd appreciate any feedback from the players.

Peace!

Wave Serpents put forth a large amount of S6/S7 firepower. The standard loadout is twin-linked Scatter Lasers up top, and Holofields. Some also add the Shuriken Cannon. If you hit with just one Scatter Laser shot, all of your other weaponry becomes twinlinked, including the shield if you choose to fire it. D6+1 S7, Ignores Cover, Pinning shots at 60" is a freaking death machine. Twin Linking it is just gravy. Another perk of taking the serpent for Avengers is that it gains Objective Secured as it is a DT for a troops choice. Taking a Serpent for other units is not bad by any means, its is just less optimal. At 115 points base (135-145 after upgrades), The Wave Serpent is too expensive to be taken as a throw away transport, only used to get a unit from A to B. Using it with Fire Dragons, Banshees, and Scorpions requires you to move the Serpent so close to the enemy, it becomes vulernable to rear armour shots, melta, and assualt. Because the main strength of the Serpent is massed medium/long range S6/7 firepower, it performs better when kept between 24"-36" away from the enemy. Since Banshees, Scorps, and Fragons, require you to be close, the Avenegers win out for most people.

Banshees are currently terrible. They dont even do well against their "intended" targets (MEQ). With S3, they need a 5 to wound. They also do not have grenades, so they are striking at the same time with marines in cover, who are wounding the banshees on a 3+ and giving them only a 4+ save. This doesnt even factor in losses from overwatch. If the marine player has bikes, GG, you are wounding on 6s. Scorpions are so much better in every way. (S4, more attacks, mandiblasters, 3+ saves, exarch can get a S7 AP2 Claw).

Solid tip on the distance factor when it comes to the Wave Serpents. Makes me re-think about the list I have in mind.

You did say that WS is too expensive to simply just give away, but how does that work for units like Fire Dragons, Scorpions and Banshees?

Would it necessarily mean that a DA +WS would generally perform better than a unit of FD + WS?

With Eldar not having an Assault Vehicle, doesn't it put them at a certain disadvantage? Or does that issue die down to strategy/luck?

Disappointing to know that the Banshees aren't getting much love. I really do like the models, and the whole Banshee mask concept is pretty cool, too.
Good tip on the "counter-assault" tactic, Khorvahn. Their low Str, low T really doesn't suit them for flipping across the battlefield on foot, charging head on. From what you've said, it looks to me that they must perform a very specific task.
And you play footdar, you say? How does that work? Which Aspect Warriors do you take?

On the matter of Dark Reapers, why wouldn't you take them? Good range, AP 3 is good against most units. The Exarch's Tempest launcher seems pretty strong, too. Plus, they are Slow and Purposeful so even if they do move, they'll fire a full BS.
I've come across some posts that mention of them not being so useful or optimal, in a sense. Is this because of their pointage? 30pts/model is really taxing, but it's not like people go about with a 10-man Reapers squad footslogging. And they can always be supported by a Farseer,
or am I looking at this the wrong way?

Hi and good choice for a thread. Not many eldar one's about these day's.

Aspect's don't get much love these day's except for dire avenger's, warp spider's and occasionally swooping hawk's as far as i can tell. Which is a shame as the idea behind and the aesthetic's for them all are both cool IMHO. Even in my own army the aspect's are a minimum influence these day's. The one i will never leave home without is the crimson hunter as i love the model and it always' performs well for me in the tank hunting role i have for it. Also everyone need's a flyer.

I don't own any banshee's as i didn't upgrade them the last time the model's were released and I'm glad i didn't. They are at the bottom of the list for assault with the eldar now we have wraith-blades and harlequin's, even scorpion's are better than them, again IMHO. But still lovely model's and if you like them then i say go get them if you don't already.

The fact we have no assault vehicle's mean's we just don't put assault unit's in vehicle's. It's as straight forward as that for me. The WS's role is fire support with all those gun's and I've never even used the shield as a gun since it got that rule. That 2+ has saved my butt so many time's i would happily lose the gun option and all the moaning that goes with it.

I have just got myself 5 reaper's and I'm just away to start using them so I'll be interested to see what anyone has to say about them as well.

 entityreign wrote:


On the matter of Dark Reapers, why wouldn't you take them? Good range, AP 3 is good against most units. The Exarch's Tempest launcher seems pretty strong, too. Plus, they are Slow and Purposeful so even if they do move, they'll fire a full BS.
I've come across some posts that mention of them not being so useful or optimal, in a sense. Is this because of their pointage? 30pts/model is really taxing, but it's not like people go about with a 10-man Reapers squad footslogging. And they can always be supported by a Farseer,
or am I looking at this the wrong way?

Here are some tips on Dark Reapers:

- Always take fast shot and night vision on the Exarch.
- Upgrade the squad with Starshot missiles
- Upgrade the Exarch with Starshot missiles
- Tempest is nice but too expensive

The Reapers can work wonders with Warlocks on jetbikes. I like to run a mini-council, 3-4 warlocks on jetbikes. If you can get Jinx you can turn any 2+ armor in 3+ which your reapers will devastate.

10-man is overkill. 5 man with Exarch is ok for most situation. If you want more? 6-7 to give you some extra bodies/shots but 10 is too much. Remember that while Reapers rule ranged combat they are vulnerablein assault because Slow and Purposeful denies them Overwatch.

Reapers behind an Aegis line with the Exarch manning the lascannon can be pretty scary. 3+ Armor 4+ cover Skyfire/interceptor S9 AP2 Heavy 2 (Thanks to Fast shot), ignores Jink (thanks to Reaper rangefinder).

 Erik_Morkai wrote:

 entityreign wrote:


On the matter of Dark Reapers, why wouldn't you take them? Good range, AP 3 is good against most units. The Exarch's Tempest launcher seems pretty strong, too. Plus, they are Slow and Purposeful so even if they do move, they'll fire a full BS.
I've come across some posts that mention of them not being so useful or optimal, in a sense. Is this because of their pointage? 30pts/model is really taxing, but it's not like people go about with a 10-man Reapers squad footslogging. And they can always be supported by a Farseer,
or am I looking at this the wrong way?

Here are some tips on Dark Reapers:

- Always take fast shot and night vision on the Exarch.
- Upgrade the squad with Starshot missiles
- Upgrade the Exarch with Starshot missiles
- Tempest is nice but too expensive

The Reapers can work wonders with Warlocks on jetbikes. I like to run a mini-council, 3-4 warlocks on jetbikes. If you can get Jinx you can turn any 2+ armor in 3+ which your reapers will devastate.

10-man is overkill. 5 man with Exarch is ok for most situation. If you want more? 6-7 to give you some extra bodies/shots but 10 is too much. Remember that while Reapers rule ranged combat they are vulnerablein assault because Slow and Purposeful denies them Overwatch.

Reapers behind an Aegis line with the Exarch manning the lascannon can be pretty scary. 3+ Armor 4+ cover Skyfire/interceptor S9 AP2 Heavy 2 (Thanks to Fast shot), ignores Jink (thanks to Reaper rangefinder).

ADL + DR does seem strong, but won't it render your Slow and Purposeful USR useless? I believe they should be roaming around, moving and firing shots from cover to cover. And I guess aligning your strategy to keeping a 5-man DR + exarch alive with Psykers is a good plan.. That Warlock Jetbike, I will have to try that eventually.. How does that apply, though? When a JB Jinks attached to a unit on foot? It simple tanks the shots with his cover saves?

With the SS and HB's footslogging.... Am I to rely on my Psykers for support? And WS + DA for suppressing fire?

The Reapers can still move around inside the Ageis Line to get better lines of fire.

The Warlock is not attached to the squad as Warlocks are not allowed to join Aspects. I use the Warlock as a seperate unit and force multipler. The Warlock's job is to use their psychic powers to make everyone else,s job easier.

Another thing with the Reapers that isn not used often because it is 'Not competitive' is to use Illic Nightspear with them.

Why?

- Illic's shrouded will give the Reapers a 2+ cover behind the Aegis line.
- The Reaper's 3+ armor are way more reliable than Pathfinder's 5+ in case you need to 'Look Out Sir'
- Illic and the Reapers have the same threat range.
- Illic's Warlord trait is split fire meaning you do not need to waste shots from him on the same targets.
- Illic will benefit from the Exarch's night vision AND Reaper rangefinder meaning units cannot jink against Illic.

This is the exemple of synergy between Eldar units. Competitive? Probably not. Useful and fun in a pick-up game? Sure! Half the fun is trying out new combos.

Dark Reapers are Swordwind's Devestator equivalents. A little better dakka against things with Jink, but more expensive per body, and t3, meaning a handful of boltguns will hurt them. Keep them back. Keep them shooting. Good times

A big problem with Swordwind is that it becomes Mechdar if youre not careful. If you take Serpents to get your guys into place, you quickly learn that the Serpent dwarfs the squad inside's firepower. While at range, and much more survivable. And Falcons cost even more than Serpents (but are a lot of fun). I try to limit my Swordwind to one transport (Falcon if I have the points) for my Fire Dragons.

Banshees slightly outperform Striking Scorpions against MEQ, provided you're not charging into cover. Otherwise, Scorpions simply do better. While rocking a 3+ and stealth. That said, if they are set up, they can do some work.

My Swordwind is basically 1 box worth of each Aspect I want, one transport (for FDragons), and some more Avengers for troops (1x10, 2x5 usually). It gives me a little bit of everything. Its all about picking the right matchup, getting into place, and using the hell out of LOS and cover.

One unit each because spam is no fun for either player. One box instead of 10, because 5-6 of most aspects can do whatever 10 can. And anything that can kill 5-6 can usually kill 10 just about as easily. Except for Hawks. Always 6.

I, personally, spam Exarchs. Numbers have been run and most people say no Exarch, but I love the feel and character they bring to each unit.

kryczek wrote:I don't own any banshee's as i didn't upgrade them the last time the model's were released and I'm glad i didn't. They are at the bottom of the list for assault with the eldar now we have wraith-blades and harlequin's, even scorpion's are better than them, again IMHO. But still lovely model's and if you like them then i say go get them if you don't already.

How are the Wraithblades stronger? I understand they have high T but points-wise? WBlades don't seem too efficient for me footslogging, even with a Spiritseer. I can only see them in my list in a WS and that's a little cost heavy. (I may be wrong, I have never tried.. Only in theory I speak of this.)

Erik_Morkai wrote:The Reapers can still move around inside the Ageis Line to get better lines of fire.

The Warlock is not attached to the squad as Warlocks are not allowed to join Aspects. I use the Warlock as a seperate unit and force multipler. The Warlock's job is to use their psychic powers to make everyone else,s job easier.

Another thing with the Reapers that isn not used often because it is 'Not competitive' is to use Illic Nightspear with them.

Why?

- Illic's shrouded will give the Reapers a 2+ cover behind the Aegis line.
- The Reaper's 3+ armor are way more reliable than Pathfinder's 5+ in case you need to 'Look Out Sir'
- Illic and the Reapers have the same threat range.
- Illic's Warlord trait is split fire meaning you do not need to waste shots from him on the same targets.
- Illic will benefit from the Exarch's night vision AND Reaper rangefinder meaning units cannot jink against Illic.

This is the exemple of synergy between Eldar units. Competitive? Probably not. Useful and fun in a pick-up game? Sure! Half the fun is trying out new combos.

You compared them to Pathfinders, how come?
This Illic + Reapers combo sounds decent. I guess it's not "competitive" because at maximum range, avoiding LOS can be a breeze. With all the cover saves from terrain + buffs.
Is there a way to get Reapers Ignores Cover? If so, I believe that would definitely boost them.
With an ADL, would it be worth it to pay the extra points for a Quad-Gun? Considering the already high price for each Reaper. Are you going to spend 30(?) points on one Reaper just to get to fire that 50pt(?) QuadGun?

Bharring wrote:Dark Reapers are Swordwind's Devestator equivalents. A little better dakka against things with Jink, but more expensive per body, and t3, meaning a handful of boltguns will hurt them. Keep them back. Keep them shooting. Good times

A big problem with Swordwind is that it becomes Mechdar if youre not careful. If you take Serpents to get your guys into place, you quickly learn that the Serpent dwarfs the squad inside's firepower. While at range, and much more survivable. And Falcons cost even more than Serpents (but are a lot of fun). I try to limit my Swordwind to one transport (Falcon if I have the points) for my Fire Dragons.

Banshees slightly outperform Striking Scorpions against MEQ, provided you're not charging into cover. Otherwise, Scorpions simply do better. While rocking a 3+ and stealth. That said, if they are set up, they can do some work.

My Swordwind is basically 1 box worth of each Aspect I want, one transport (for FDragons), and some more Avengers for troops (1x10, 2x5 usually). It gives me a little bit of everything. Its all about picking the right matchup, getting into place, and using the hell out of LOS and cover.

One unit each because spam is no fun for either player. One box instead of 10, because 5-6 of most aspects can do whatever 10 can. And anything that can kill 5-6 can usually kill 10 just about as easily. Except for Hawks. Always 6.

I, personally, spam Exarchs. Numbers have been run and most people say no Exarch, but I love the feel and character they bring to each unit.

You only bring one WS? Hmm.. So are you saying that you run them on foot? Or maybe you and your local gamers play with heavy terrain.. Otherwise, won't that put them at a huge disadvantage with heavy stuff hitting you.. Not to mention small arms fire, a large volume of las guns might force a Morale check. If you are running them on foot, how do you make sure they get to where they're supposed to be? Which units do you use to support your Aspect Warriors? I can see Reapers in there somewhere, given their lengthy range.
Thanks for that one box for all tip. It might save me a couple of bucks.

Not the most competitive options, sure.

Yeah, footdar. A Boltgun scares me more than a Lascannon, it seems. LOS, target saturation, and concentrated application. Most other forces would drop you easily if you try to line up across from them and duke it out.

Reapers have good range.
Hawks can deep strike anywhere. No fear of mishap or anything. And with 24" range, can stay away from threats. Haywiring a Land Raider is a powerful threat, but will almost never actually happen. Useful for dictating what they do with their high AVs.
Spiders can usually get to wherever they want to be.
Scorpions infiltrate or outflank to about where they want to be. And have to burn a turn before charging anyways.
Fire Dragons get the transport. Another useful threat to force the opponent's positioning.
Shining Spears will flat out for a turn, then charge the next.

That really just leaves Avengers and Banshees.
Avengers have short range compared to most other armies (18"), but that's long range for Eldar infantry. Get them just in range to shoot. And try to divide your opponent.
Banshees can be an OK melee threat, or a decent countercharger. Frequently, they charge in at a turning point, frequently with a bunch of DAs and a Hawk or Spider squad. The point isn't that your melee threat will kill them - its that you've whittled them down, and so your 4 or so squads of 5 each charge the remaining 10 or so Boys, before the Boys get FC, and taking out the unit on your terms instead of letting him charge all his units into you.

Set them up, whittle them down, always try to engage single units with multiple. Pick your targets.

And fear the boltgun. It does good damage to footdar.

Bharring wrote:
Not the most competitive options, sure.

Yeah, footdar. A Boltgun scares me more than a Lascannon, it seems. LOS, target saturation, and concentrated application. Most other forces would drop you easily if you try to line up across from them and duke it out.

Reapers have good range.
Hawks can deep strike anywhere. No fear of mishap or anything. And with 24" range, can stay away from threats. Haywiring a Land Raider is a powerful threat, but will almost never actually happen. Useful for dictating what they do with their high AVs.
Spiders can usually get to wherever they want to be.
Scorpions infiltrate or outflank to about where they want to be. And have to burn a turn before charging anyways.
Fire Dragons get the transport. Another useful threat to force the opponent's positioning.
Shining Spears will flat out for a turn, then charge the next.

That really just leaves Avengers and Banshees.
Avengers have short range compared to most other armies (18"), but that's long range for Eldar infantry. Get them just in range to shoot. And try to divide your opponent.
Banshees can be an OK melee threat, or a decent countercharger. Frequently, they charge in at a turning point, frequently with a bunch of DAs and a Hawk or Spider squad. The point isn't that your melee threat will kill them - its that you've whittled them down, and so your 4 or so squads of 5 each charge the remaining 10 or so Boys, before the Boys get FC, and taking out the unit on your terms instead of letting him charge all his units into you.

Set them up, whittle them down, always try to engage single units with multiple. Pick your targets.

And fear the boltgun. It does good damage to footdar.

I like the concept of your army. Warriors of the Shrine.
Hmm. Your Aspect Warriors get into position, wait for a turn, shoot then.. do you assault right away?
In my opinion it runs as an opportunist/snowball kind of list. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think that if you don't get First Blood, your army will have a hard time.
Immediately, if your Warp Spiders make a wrong move and fail a morale check or get killed off.. That will really take a huge toll on your army. Speed will be reduced greatly.
Isn't it a bit risky? Like what you said, fear the boltguns. Going against any SM army will be too tough. Wouldn't it be too difficult to avoid/handle that much bolter rounds?

How will you go about fighting MC and FMC's, for example? Heldrakes? Or like 2 Dreadknights? How will Aspect Warriors handle them?
Considering the whole of the Eldar force. (Units that compliment their strengths, units that compensate for their weaknesses, extra cheese, etc.)

 entityreign wrote:


You compared them to Pathfinders, how come?
This Illic + Reapers combo sounds decent. I guess it's not "competitive" because at maximum range, avoiding LOS can be a breeze. With all the cover saves from terrain + buffs.
Is there a way to get Reapers Ignores Cover? If so, I believe that would definitely boost them.
With an ADL, would it be worth it to pay the extra points for a Quad-Gun? Considering the already high price for each Reaper. Are you going to spend 30(?) points on one Reaper just to get to fire that 50pt(?) QuadGun?

I compared them to Pathfinders because whenever someone wants to field Illic they tend to field him in a fluffy setting with a squad of Pathfinder which is the worst idea ever. I know I tried when the Codex first came out. Tau took all our cover away and 5+ did not do squat.

A Farseer could grant ignore cover to the Reapers. I am not a believer in the quad-gun with Reapers. I prefer the Lascannon. Better range, Higher S, better AP and the Exarch gives you an extra shot. Much more reliable against AV 12.

I ran the guns in the Mathhammer and basically the Quad-Gun will give you 0.81 Pen, 0.81 Glances, 1.6 Hull points, but since it has bad AP no chance of one shotting a flyer.
The Lasgun will give you 0.83 Pens, 0.27 Glances, 1.1 Hull Points, 16% of one shotting the flyer.

AHH How silly of me, I thought you mean the Tau Pathfinders.. Yeah, I think naturally people will have Illic with a unit of Rangers/Pathfinders.
Exactly my thoughts, as to why they currently don't have a place in my army. For a troops choice slot, I'd rather have 3 jetbikes.

Noted! All things Dark Repears, now I'll have grab a box of each Aspect Warrior.

HMM.. Watched a BatRep recently and Shining Spears didn't really perform well.. (Or at least how I thought they were supposed to perform)

They can Outflank, which can get them nearer their target (hoping you get them on the side where they're supposed to come out from..)
Their Lance weapons are decent, applied both in the Shooting Phase and the Assault Phase.

Now what are the drawbacks of the Shining Spears? Honestly, to me they look okay. The look pretty good riding their bike with the Lances.
But startegy/tactics wise? Are Fire Dragons + WS better? More expensive, yes, but better...?

You tend to find that each aspect has a 'primary' job - one they're really good at, and a secondary job - one they can do if they need to.

The trick is taking a good mix of aspects so you have everything covered by multiple units. There are few things better at doing what they love than aspect warriors, but if you delegate a critical job to a single unit, it can cost you the game, because a single unit of aspect warriors isn't hard to kill.

Psykers and other non-aspect units are good - Farseers and Warlocks are a key part of a lot of tournament-ey eldar lists - but you don't "need" them. An autarch or a phoenix lord is a perfectly acceptable army commander.


Things to note about the various aspects:

Dire Avengers: Two real uses - either defensive 'skirmish line' infantry, or as a minimum sized crew for a Wave Serpent. I prefer the former, because I like Eldar Armies that follow a theme (aspect shrines) rather than just spam a unit that is currently seen as very powerful for its cost. Dire Avengers work well as defensive infantry because of the extended range of their avenger catapults plus Battle Focus - this allows you to shoot at someone 18" away, then fall back 4-5" with a Fleet run move. Rinse and repeat and footslogging assault troops won't catch you for several turns. Add in the punch of bladestorm shuriken weapons and you can chop up anything with a toughness value very quickly. The exarch abilities are mostly about keeping the squad alive - which isn't the same as actually winning a combat, but should give time for a more melee inclined aspect to intervene.

Fire Dragons: Need no introduction. They kill monsters, superheavy infantry, and tanks. Very, very well. Their only downside is their range - so you really need a transport to get them into range without being slaughtered, because anyone with a tank will take one look at them and point masses of firepower at them.

Dark Reapers: Marine-butchers. Reaper launchers go through marines like stombolters go through guardsmen. Ignoring jink makes them even more lethal against the tournament-git-preferred marine bike squad. Cover and supporting units are important, as they're fragile for their cost and can't fire overwatch. Starshot missiles are expensive but a nice item in the toolbox, giving you a long-ranged antiarmour threat for killing skimmers and speeders - anything AV10-12, especially if it normally expects to use jink to survive. If you're lucky enough to get a skyfire nexus, they make for scary-ass flak.

Swooming Hawks: Slaughter light infantry (at range) or heavy tanks (with haywire grenades). Lasblasters are lethal against guard, orks, etc - especially since you can fire at the edge of range then battle focus out of range. Terrifying to players who don't register what Haywire grenades can do - a full hawk unit can quite realistically bring down an undamaged Imperial Knight in a single assaut phase.

Striking Scorpions: Generic melee aspect - scorpion chainswords and mandiblasters cut up most foes point-for-point in a melee, and infiltrate gives tactical flexibility. The Exarch has one of the most lethal non-unique melee weapons in the game - a power fist which is neither unwieldy nor a specialist weapon, and which has a 2 shot rending pistol strapped to it for good measure. The main weakness is that even the claw isn't quite powerful enough to threaten a walker or T8 monstrous creature, so you can find them stuck facing something they can't hurt.

Howling Banshees: AP3 swords are nice, but the S3 is a problem. Firstly, if going into a melee, make sure you get your pistol shots in first - never underestimate a volley of shuriken fire for causing the odd kill. Secondly, as noted, they work best as counter-assaulters; footslogging isn't a big deal with acrobatic - they're not much slower than jump infantry at the run, so you can move them to intercept an incoming assault threat. Their real speciality is one that isn't to do with their power swords - it's to do with their banshee masks. Their real expertise is killing high initiative melee killers - harlequins, incubi, wyches, daemonettes, genestealers and so on. These units are lethal in combat but really don't like being hit first because it doesn't take too much melee power to really cut their damage capacity (the same reason people complain when units of this type lack grenades).

Shining Spears: All about that lance. They do a tolerable second string as antitank, but are good shock assault units too.

Warp Spiders: Massed S6 firepower. Not especially impressive in an eldar army laden with scatter lasers and shuriken cannon, but in a pure aspect force they are mobile and tactically flexible - able to handle infantry mobs, elite tough monsters and light-to-medium tanks.

Crimson Hunters: Not bad at killing tanks on the ground, but their real job is antiaircraft - with an aircraft-specific version of Tank Hunter, and vector dancer, they are one of the best dogfighters currently in the game.

Warp Spiders put a lot of hurt on the things Swooping Hawks don't. A very fun tag team.

Shining Spears are just too expensive for what they do (25 ppm). But are fun to convert, and very enjoyable on the tabletop.

Remember that your scorpions are bullies, not a CC threat. If they bump heads with a CC threat, they're in trouble. But they don't need to match up to Termies on the other side of the table when there is a Dev squad in front of them... Think of them as ASM equivalents.

locarno24 wrote:You tend to find that each aspect has a 'primary' job - one they're really good at, and a secondary job - one they can do if they need to.

The trick is taking a good mix of aspects so you have everything covered by multiple units. There are few things better at doing what they love than aspect warriors, but if you delegate a critical job to a single unit, it can cost you the game, because a single unit of aspect warriors isn't hard to kill.

Psykers and other non-aspect units are good - Farseers and Warlocks are a key part of a lot of tournament-ey eldar lists - but you don't "need" them. An autarch or a phoenix lord is a perfectly acceptable army commander.


Things to note about the various aspects:

Dire Avengers: Two real uses - either defensive 'skirmish line' infantry, or as a minimum sized crew for a Wave Serpent. I prefer the former, because I like Eldar Armies that follow a theme (aspect shrines) rather than just spam a unit that is currently seen as very powerful for its cost. Dire Avengers work well as defensive infantry because of the extended range of their avenger catapults plus Battle Focus - this allows you to shoot at someone 18" away, then fall back 4-5" with a Fleet run move. Rinse and repeat and footslogging assault troops won't catch you for several turns. Add in the punch of bladestorm shuriken weapons and you can chop up anything with a toughness value very quickly. The exarch abilities are mostly about keeping the squad alive - which isn't the same as actually winning a combat, but should give time for a more melee inclined aspect to intervene.

Fire Dragons: Need no introduction. They kill monsters, superheavy infantry, and tanks. Very, very well. Their only downside is their range - so you really need a transport to get them into range without being slaughtered, because anyone with a tank will take one look at them and point masses of firepower at them.

Dark Reapers: Marine-butchers. Reaper launchers go through marines like stombolters go through guardsmen. Ignoring jink makes them even more lethal against the tournament-git-preferred marine bike squad. Cover and supporting units are important, as they're fragile for their cost and can't fire overwatch. Starshot missiles are expensive but a nice item in the toolbox, giving you a long-ranged antiarmour threat for killing skimmers and speeders - anything AV10-12, especially if it normally expects to use jink to survive. If you're lucky enough to get a skyfire nexus, they make for scary-ass flak.

Swooming Hawks: Slaughter light infantry (at range) or heavy tanks (with haywire grenades). Lasblasters are lethal against guard, orks, etc - especially since you can fire at the edge of range then battle focus out of range. Terrifying to players who don't register what Haywire grenades can do - a full hawk unit can quite realistically bring down an undamaged Imperial Knight in a single assaut phase.

Striking Scorpions: Generic melee aspect - scorpion chainswords and mandiblasters cut up most foes point-for-point in a melee, and infiltrate gives tactical flexibility. The Exarch has one of the most lethal non-unique melee weapons in the game - a power fist which is neither unwieldy nor a specialist weapon, and which has a 2 shot rending pistol strapped to it for good measure. The main weakness is that even the claw isn't quite powerful enough to threaten a walker or T8 monstrous creature, so you can find them stuck facing something they can't hurt.

Howling Banshees: AP3 swords are nice, but the S3 is a problem. Firstly, if going into a melee, make sure you get your pistol shots in first - never underestimate a volley of shuriken fire for causing the odd kill. Secondly, as noted, they work best as counter-assaulters; footslogging isn't a big deal with acrobatic - they're not much slower than jump infantry at the run, so you can move them to intercept an incoming assault threat. Their real speciality is one that isn't to do with their power swords - it's to do with their banshee masks. Their real expertise is killing high initiative melee killers - harlequins, incubi, wyches, daemonettes, genestealers and so on. These units are lethal in combat but really don't like being hit first because it doesn't take too much melee power to really cut their damage capacity (the same reason people complain when units of this type lack grenades).

Shining Spears: All about that lance. They do a tolerable second string as antitank, but are good shock assault units too.

Warp Spiders: Massed S6 firepower. Not especially impressive in an eldar army laden with scatter lasers and shuriken cannon, but in a pure aspect force they are mobile and tactically flexible - able to handle infantry mobs, elite tough monsters and light-to-medium tanks.

Crimson Hunters: Not bad at killing tanks on the ground, but their real job is antiaircraft - with an aircraft-specific version of Tank Hunter, and vector dancer, they are one of the best dogfighters currently in the game.

Amazing easy-to-understand breakdown for who the Warriors are!
Thank you very much, good sir!
How would you suggest I bring down the Nids horde and their FMC and MC's with the Aspects Warriors? In my group there are about 2-3 Nid players who spam Flyers.. With my DA, I find it hard to go up against them.
Hoping that my Eldar force will be able to handle them better.

You also convinced to finally grab a box of Banshees.. I've always wondered what exactly were they about, and somehow overlooked their most special perk, which is the Mask.

Bharring wrote:Warp Spiders put a lot of hurt on the things Swooping Hawks don't. A very fun tag team.

Shining Spears are just too expensive for what they do (25 ppm). But are fun to convert, and very enjoyable on the tabletop.

Remember that your scorpions are bullies, not a CC threat. If they bump heads with a CC threat, they're in trouble. But they don't need to match up to Termies on the other side of the table when there is a Dev squad in front of them... Think of them as ASM equivalents.

Ahh.. Eldar : Marine analogies. That would work well for me to understand. Hahah although statlines must be in consideration. Maybe SS would rather go up against supporting units rather the vanguard, unless a tarpit/intercept is in order.