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I'm heading to a good sized ITC format tourney later in the year and wanted to bring my Eldar. I'm not traditionally a tourney player but wanted to try my hand at competitive Eldar. Please let me know how I could best optimise my list. I would prefer suggestions beyond, "drop everything that isn't scatbikes, Knights, and spiders. Preferably keeping or working with the mech feel. Let me know what you think, thanks.

CAD

Autarch - fusion gun (w/ avengers)

Guardians - scatter laser platform. Wave Serpent with lasers and chin cannon.

Dire Avengers - Exarch (in Falcon)

Windriders - 3x with lasers

Wraithguard - d-scythes, Wave Serpent with lasers and chin cannon.

Crimson Hunter - Exarch, lances

Warp Spiders - x10, exarch

Falcon - starcannon, chin cannon

Wraithknight - sword and board, 2x lasers

Total = 1649

Colgado wrote:
I would prefer suggestions beyond, "drop everything that isn't scatbikes, Knights, and spiders. Preferably keeping or working with the mech feel. Let me know what you think, thanks.

I'm a regular tourney guy.

You're losing a lot of gun power points in the Wave Serpents that will really cut into being 'competitive', or at least matching enemy lists with the amount of gun dice you roll. The serpents have become pricey transports that you could spend on Dark Reapers, WarWalkers or Hawks (depending on how your TO decides to deal with the recent Grenade FAQ response from the FaceBook Warhhammer 40k clowns ).

'Course, WG need a delivery system. Which begs to including Dark Eldar for a Raider. "Meh" in my opinion. You may as well stay with the WaveS.

Why an Autarch? 10 Spiders are better starting on the table and the Crimson Hunter comes from Reserve, okay ... but a farseer buffs your list far better. If you had loads of spiders, or WarWalkers Outflanking, then his Reserve boost would make sense.

If you're not gonna go in "Whole Hog" with what's winning GTs and leading ITC in points, then go for fun, play your list. Go 0-3 or 1-2. I do.

Good suggestions. I know what you mean about serpents. I still think they do a lot of things well, but they lost what made them the backbone of lists. What about dropping the Guardians and some points elsewhere so the Serpent could ferry something dangerous like more Wraithguard (cannons) or fire dragons?

The Autarch was for the Hunter and price. I could swap for a spiritseer for the guard, or just go with a farseer.

I get its not the best anymore, but how would you do competitive mech eldar in the current environment (for perhaps that 1-2 record)? Thanks.

Colgado wrote:
Good suggestions. I know what you mean about serpents. I still think they do a lot of things well, but they lost what made them the backbone of lists. What about dropping the Guardians and some points elsewhere so the Serpent could ferry something dangerous like more Wraithguard (cannons) or fire dragons?

Make use of an Aspect Host detachment by having 3 of those eligible units, so FireDs, your spiders (you could split them into 5 and 5), etc.

Colgado wrote:
The Autarch was for the Hunter and price. I could swap for a spiritseer for the guard, or just go with a farseer.

Well, a Warlock can give an automatic Removes cover, if you're looking for a cheaper HQ.

Colgado wrote:
I get its not the best anymore, but how would you do competitive mech eldar in the current environment (for perhaps that 1-2 record)? Thanks.

I wouldn't.

Maybe a full load of Crimson Hunters or Wasps (Hornets?), those Forge World skimmers, but I do not own any of them.

To match enemy lists with fire power, you gotta put more boots, elvish boots on the ground. Battle & Demi Co. get free rhinos, which are dirt cheap comparatively anyway, and the rest of a SM player's points are in GROPOS.

My Bob and Fred comic (link in the signature) has a funeral episode for Wave Serpents on ... second to last page?

More bikes, Less Serpents, Falcon replaced by Hornets or Crimson Hunter.

As Brothererekose says, it's really not the most competitive list around at them moment and his advice is solid (especially using an aspect host and splitting the spiders into 2 squads of 5.

That said, I thought I'd challenge myself to make a strong Mech list which includes the serpents...

Eldar CAD (1650)
Autarch Fusion gun
Dire Avengers (5)
Dedicated Wave Serpent Underslung Shuriken Cannon
Dire Avengers (5)
Dedicated Wave Serpent Underslung Shuriken Cannon
Dire Avengers (5)
Dedicated Wave Serpent Underslung Shuriken Cannon
Hornet 2 Pulse lasers
Hornet 2 Pulse lasers
Hornet 2 Pulse lasers
Nightspinners (3) Underslung Shuriken Cannons

Crimson Death Formation
Crimson Hunter Exarch
Crimson Hunter
Crimson Hunter

Wave Serpents can be quite spongy with the amount of fire they can take, so having them as objective secured is never a bad thing...
The Nightspinners will be shooting 3 S9 large blast barrage shots with monofilement as standard with the squadron rules it gets. I'd prefer Warp Hunters honestly but at the points limit I thought the Hunters + Nightspinners would be a better investment in my humble opinion.
You could also use a squadron of 3 Falcons and use their cloudstike rule to have them deep strike and disembark an aspect host of fire dragons instead, your choice.

So yeah - that would be my interpretation of the armoured column theme without going to the standard Wraithknight/Spider/Scatterbike/Void Shield combo we see everyday. Mechanized is not the cheesiest but it's fun to use and has many different variations.