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I have been toying with the idea of a shooty eldar list for a while now. I know that it is deffinately not the most optimized Eldar list, but i would use it mostly to be different and for a bit of a challenge. I was wondering what the Dakka minds thought about it, and if it had any merrit at all.

 

HQ:

Eldrad      210

Avatar       155

Troops:

Gaurdian Squad x 5   (10 man, Brightlance)       110 each

Dire Avengers   (Exarch, Bladestorm, Defend, Shimmershield)        177

Elites:

Harlequins    (Shadowseer, H.Kiss)        250

Heavy:

Wraithlord    (B.Lance, M.Launcher)        155

War Walkers x 3   (Scatter Lasers x 2 each walker)        180

Heavy Support Platforms x 3 (Either D.Cannons or Vibro Cannons)        150

Fast:

Vyper x 2   (S.Cannon x 2)        60 each

Vyper (S.Cannon)        50

 

Total: 1997 points

Model Count:  85

The concept is this: The army forms a gunline all with one model within 12 inches of the Avatar so as to become fearless. Eldrad hides among the gaurdians to guide, fortune and doom. The Dire Avengers are on the front line to absorb any incoming enemy charges while the Avatar and Wraithlord provide some powerful counter charge. The Gaurdians and WL are the priamary ranged tank / MC busters while the war walkers and DA's provide anti horde fire power.  The Vypers are for harrasing enemy units and for objective seizing / contesting. The nice thing about the army is that the entire thing is mobile and can reposition if needed unlike most shooty armies. The heavy support battery is in the list mostly because no one uses them but also because a vibro cannon can be great for hitting hidden units and stunning vehicles, and the D-cannons can be a huge deterant to anything coming within 24" of the gunline. Also, i dont have my codex, but guide lets you reroll the scatter dice for guess weapons, correct? that would make the d-cannons pretty damn accurate.

For the final points I chose a unit of Harlies with a shadowseer as for one, I love the models, and for two, they are brutal on the charge. And, if facing another shooty army, they can advance and avoid a great deal of incoming fire due to the veil of teers ability of the shadowseer. However, i was wondering if anyone could think of another shooty unit to add here as the only i could really think of would be warp spiders. Also, the third Vyper may not be neccesary but what else to spend the 53 points on? I was thinking a warlock or two with conceal as getting tha tmany models into cover and within 12" of the Avatar will doubtlessly be difficult. Suggestions on the last 250 to 300 points would be welcome.

The main drawback i can see is if this list were to face a really optimized MEQ shooty list as they would just plain be outgunned. the list relies heavily on Eldrad to boost the guns they do have, and to keep the shooters alive with fortune, and a libby could really foul that up. In a pinch, the avengers, WL, Avatar and Harlies could advance on enemy lines and provide some support to my gunline. A drop pod army would be tough, but with the fearlessness caused by the avatar at least fear wouldnt send them all packing and the bucket loads of gaurdians could form a nice wagon wheel to keep double tapping pods away from your more valuable units.

At any rate, any suggestions would really be appreciated, i am seriosuly considering making the purchase and any advice would be great. Thanks.

You could do dark reapers instead of the support platforms.
You could shave some points by taking a few EML instead of lances.
EML"s would be better against GEQ's.

That's not a bad idea, the bright lances are deffinately over priced, and the EML's are just as good against anything not armor 13 or higher, plus they can serve as effective crowd control.

What do you think about a few warlocks to give the gaurdian squads that dont make it into cover a conceal save? Maybe even throw a spear on the warlock to give them a decent counter assault punch.

Or how about just taking 2 Vypers and giving them EML's for side armor shots? They are just not all that reliable and 6 shots at str 6 is often more effective against medium and light armor than one at str 8.

and the Harlies? Worth it in this kind of list or not? The eldar list has some limitations in terms of the long ranged fire support squads they have to offer, and i am trying to avoid skimmers (despite their obvious superiority) in order to do something different. Maybe a squad of Spiders? Or even some Spears for a more mobile assault unit?

Hidden enemies like bassies and defilers could prove to be a real headache, any ideas on countering these? A deepstriking spider squad would do the trick, as would hawks.

thanks for the feedback.

Drop the Vypers - way too expensive for their usefulness

Drop the Wraithlord and Support Weapons - again too expensive for their usefulness and too fragile for HS choices (even for Eldar)

Increase the Guardian Squad size (too fragile as is) or take another unit of DAs instead

Consider either Dark Reapers, Prisms (my fav - 115pts [same as a basic Falcon] with BS4 [better than Falcon], full weapons included in cost, ability to fire on enemy armour and units, and ability to link fire with other Prisms), or Falcons

A better "shooty" FA choice would be Swooping Hawks.

I appreciate the input ancietsociety, but i was actually trying to see if it were possible to build a good eldar list without skimmers, which honestly may be a futile effort. However, I like to be different and enjoy a challenege, but at the same time, i dont want to put together a totally worthless list as losing is not fun.

At any rate, the Vypers at 60 points with two Shuriken cannons are a pretty good value for last turn objective seizing, and they are farily good at taking out medium and light armor with 6 str 6 shots apiece. My SM army has won many a game with a last turn move by the Speeder, and there is nothing else as fast in the list to grap objectives.

Here is a revised list after some input, what do you guys think about this? It may be a bit more resiliant.

HQ:

Eldrad 210

Avatar 155

Troops:

Gaurdian Squad x 4 (10 man, Star Cannon) 105 each

Dire Avengers x 2 (10 man Exarch, Bladestorm, Defend, Shimmershield) 177 each


Heavy:

Wraithlord x 3 (B.Lance, M.Launcher) 155 each


Fast:

Vyper x 2 (Sh.Cannon x 2) 60 each

Warp Spiders (10 man Exarch, Withdraw, Suprise Assault, Double spinner) 272



Total: 1996 points

Model Count: 77

This is a bit more of a Godzilla list where the WL's are just as much shooty as assault.

But what about the warpspiders? do you all think they are best in this role? they can deepstrike and take out hidden targets if neccesary, or provide mobile fire support and anti infantry firepower. Or would some spears or hawks be better in this role?


thanks for any input.

Id drop Eldrad for another unit of Spiders.