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Hi there, I've collected Eldar for a while but haven't actually put them on the table. I know they aren't in the best spot right now, but I figured I'd switch it up from my usual CSM. I have a fairly large collection at the moment(I can field at least 1 unit of everything except for Falcons, FW units, Windriders, Striking Scorpions, and named characters(minus Eldarad and Illic)). So this is my first attempt at a 2,000pt pure Craftworld list. I don't have Harlies or Drukhari to soup with. I plan on playing a game on Sunday with this list, I'll most likely be playing against either Blood Angels or Astra Militarum(my buddy likes to switch it up). Any constructive criticism or helpful do's and don'ts would be greatly appreciated.


Custom Craftworlds
Expert Crafters/Masters of Concealment
2,000pts

HQs: 3

Farseer Skyrunner 140pts
Singing Spear
Fortune/Doom

Warlock Skyrunner 65pts
Protect/Jinx

Spiritseer 60pts
Quicken/Restrain

Troops: 3

5 Dire Avengers 55pts
Exarch with 2x Avenger Catapults

5 Dire Avengers 55pts
Exarch with 2x Avenger Catapults

5 Dire Avengers 55pts
Exarch with 2x Avenger Catapults

Elites: 1

5 Wraithblades 200pts
Ghost Axes/Forceshields

Fast Attack: 2

5 Warp Spiders 90pts
Exarch Power: Web of Deceit

5 Shining Spears 175pts

Heavy Support: 3

5 Dark Reapers 175pts

Night Spinner 145pts

Night Spinner 145pts

Transports: 4
Wave Serpent 160pts
Twin Starcannons
Shuriken Catapult

Wave Serpent 160pts
Twin Starcannons
Shuriken Catapult

Wave Serpent 160pts
Twin Starcannons
Shuriken Catapult

Wave Serpent 160pts
Twin Starcannons
Shurkien Catapult

The idea is to keep the Dire Avengers in transports and zip to objectives. Stuff the Wraithblades and Spiritseer in the 4th Wave Serpent and send them out to engage heavy infantry. Shining Spears are buffed by the Farseer and Warlock. Meanwhile the Warpspiders drop in on turn 2 or 3 in the opponent's deployment zone to deploy scramblers, then use Web of Deceit to gtfo. For the secondaries I'll be picking Deploy Scramblers, Engage on all Fronts, and Grind Them Down. I'm also thinking of dropping the Wraithblades, Spiritseer, and a Wave Serpent and adding a Crimson Hunter Exarch, and another 5 Shining Spears with 45pts for upgrades. Though I think I should add some anti tank in case he brings AM, even if he plays BA he usually brings at least 1 Storm Raven and maybe a Baal Predator Any help would be great thanks in advance!

Working with what Craftworlds have, your list is similar to what many are fielding with some degree of success (It is still quite lopsided against Craftworld lists as the codex is quite dated for 9th). The secondary objectives work, although I would debate Grind Them Down until seeing the other army prior to choosing.

I tend to bring more Starcannons, Pulse Lasers, and/or Hornet Pulse Lasers for more anti MEQ. With that in mind, I've actually had positive results with a Crimson Hunter Exarch with Starcannon and Evade. Don't be afraid of using Cloudstrike if you think you could lose the model on turn one. I have not had much luck with 5 Wraithblades and that would be where I would make the change, but others have stated they fared ok with Wraithblades.

I think Nightspinners work ok in 9th, but I've found for they need Masterful Shots (ignore cover) to be of use. Marines in cover with a 2+ or even a 1+ save shuts down Nightspinner.

There is debate between Masterful Shots or Master of Concealment. I preferred Masterful Shots as my opponents had no way to mitigate it as opposed getting within 12" range to mitigate Masters of Concealment.

The latest FAQ allows for Dark Reapers to utilize Fire and Fade to embark into the Wave Serpent.

Last note is I always use Spirit Stones on Wave Serpents. YMMV, but I generally run three and opponents are challenged every game to mitigate them.

Good luck and let us know how it fares.

The list looks really good for what we can do right now. My only advice is to find the points to put spirit stones on all the wave serpents. They are super annoying to kill if you make 3 or 4 saves on 6’s. And if you can maybe bring a twin bright lance on a wave serpent it can push some good damage vs high toughness targets.

To get the points I would probably just drop 2 reapers

Thanks for the responses! How about if I drop the Wraithblades and Spiritseer to free up 260pts. Then add a Crimson Hunter Exarch with Starcannons, upgrade a Wave Serpent to have Twin Bright Lances, and add Spirit Stones to all 4 Wave Serpents?

Yea that’ll work well, I don’t think the wraith guard synergize well with the rest of the list anyway

 Helvost wrote:
Yea that’ll work well, I don’t think the wraith guard synergize well with the rest of the list anyway

They were to be a tie up unit for things like Death Company or Sanguinary Guard, or at the very least a durable unit to camp a point. They might do well in bigger units/multiple units. Though I think the best option is to try and play keep out of CC.

Yea use your wave serpents as speed bumps to slow down assault armies and move block your opponent

 Helvost wrote:
Yea use your wave serpents as speed bumps to slow down assault armies and move block your opponent

Yeah, then if the Serpents aren't going to survive I can fire the shield off once or twice before they pop.

So played a game today. Definitely didn't go well lol. My buddy ran a more mechanized blood angels list than he usually runs. He had 2 5 man assault intercessors, a 5 man regular marine squad, 5 Sanguinary Guard, 5 Death Company w/ jump packs, 1 Storm Raven, 1 Librarian Dread, 1 Furiouso Dread, 1 Ball Predator, a Vindicare Assassin, Dante, and Astorath. He went first and focused a wave serpent down and took it out. The Night Spinners did well and took out a squad of Assault Intercessors camping an objective. I put a couple of wounds on his Storm Raven. His 2nd turn his Sanguinary Guard came in and wiped my Shining Spears before they could attack. His death company disembarked from his Storm Raven and stomped a squad of Dire Avengers that had disembarked from the dead Serpent. It was pretty downhill from there. My 2nd turn I dropped in my Warp spiders and deployed scramblers. My Crimson Hunter came in and blew most of the death company out. He was able to knock me off objectives and keep me off, then kept me penned in my deployment zone. I was really not impressed at all with Shining Spears, thought they didn't get to make any charges. He ran more mech than I thought he would so I wasn't able to bring down the storm raven fast enough and it just went around popping tanks.