Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi All,

I'm new to Warhammer 40k universe so to get used to the game I've lined up a couple of 500-600 point games with friends over the next few weeks. I have gone with the classic Dire Avenger + Wave Serpent combo but I can't decide which HQ to take. List is:-

5 x Dire Avenger Sqaud
w/ Wave Serpent - TL Scatter Laser + Shuriken Cannon + Holo fields
210 points

5 x Dire Avenger Sqaud
w/ Wave Serpent - TL Scatter Laser + Shuriken Cannon + Holo fields
210 points

The problem is I don't know which HQ to take, I'm thinking Farseer on a Jetbike + singing spear. However in my last game he was targeted from the start and wiped out in phase 2. Should I camp him out and send him to where he is needed? Or should i pick another more effective HQ for this build?

Next game is against Necrons so I'll have to deal with that invul save and wraiths

Any suggestions would be great!

What do you have for anti armor? You're Wave Serpents will be more than enough for any amount of infantry brought to the fight but what would you do to counter something like a Command Barge?

HQ wise with this build anything you put outside your Serpents will either have to be sitting behind cover out of sight somewhere or get shot to pieces by the warriors and immortals. So I'd just go for a Farseer and stick them inside. Then again I'm not super great at Eldar Tactica.

Also just thought it a bit ironic that you built a Serpent spam list in a 500 point game but are talking about some other armies "cheese".

Fair point on the comment, Ignatius!

I was going to originally field a footdar list with heavy weapons platforms and warlocks but couldn't get a convincing list. My main concern was keeping the list alive as long possible, hence the wave serpents as I know when Wraiths get near me it will be over very quickly.

Alternative builds focused around Eldar jetbikes; move fast but don't pack a punch, Wraithlords plod and will be the necrons main target. Wave serpents have the benefit of being a tank and transport so can drop of avengers and patrol around, but could be considered as cheesy.

Like I said, I'm still very new to warhammer and learning the ropes so I'm experimenting with what works.

The problem with a jetbike farseer in this list is he doesn't synergize with the rest of the list. His main support power is guide/prescience and that is wasted on a wave serpent. The only way for him to be effective is for him deal direct damage to the enemy, which he isn't really great at.

For a small game like this I wouldn't use 2 Wave Serpents. War Walkers are very effective in small point games like this, and they'd be especially helpful at shooting down Wraiths. AND they're a very good target for a Farseer's guide power. You won't be able to cast much else with 3 Warp Charges.

The rest of your army can consist of guardians with heavy weapons platforms for extra firepower, or minimum dire avengers in order to cram another unit in.

Something like this:
Farseer
5x DA
Wave Serpent w/ SL
10x Gaurdians w/ Shur. Cannon
3x War Walkers w/ SL, SL

600 pts exactly.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You can attach the Farseer to the Guardians and cast Guide/Prescience on the War Walkers and the Gaurdains. Use Fleet and Battle Focus to keep moving in cover and shooting what you can. The Wave Serpent will provide extra firepower and mobility to capture objectives.

In case you have to worry about vehicles, you can swap a scatter laser for a brightlance on each war walker and not change the pts cost. Though this reduces the effectiveness of the unit against any particular target, it does give them more versatility.

At 600 points...

Autarch - 70

2x DA +WS SL 370

160 points for war walkers with bright lances, so you would only get two of them and then 40 points to play with, in this case probably just adding the holofields to the wave serpents.

Holofields are absolutely not mandatory and are really auto-include only when you don't have *many* Wave Serpents for your point level. 2 Serpents at 600 points is probably close to "many". If we had a 45 point HQ, you could stick three though, and be utterly defenseless against AV14.

The goggles, they do nothing against the Serpent's real threats, like ignores cover and assault, so they tend to be vastly overrated.

Morgoth a vanilla autarch is a points sink.. dead weight... without weapons he is just useless... spiritseer at least has fleshbane as well as a chance on some good buffs

@ConanMan, it's not just a point sink, it's a reserve manipulation tool, which happens to be often useful.

But I agree, when I say Autarch, what I mean is naked 70 points HQ, take spiritseer if you want +2 DTW dice and if you do intend to offer slay the warlord you can even consider casting powers (I have on occasion trolled for invisibility and used it with JSJ against armies that couldn't kill my warlord of course), or take Autarch if you want reserves manipulation.

One isn't strictly better than the other and there are many cases where a naked autarch outperforms a naked spiritseer and vice versa.