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I am interested in starting a Saim-Hann Eldar army....
I have my book on order...but i do not know where to begin...
I do not know...now with 5th edition rules changes what squads i should look to collect and which squads i should avoid.
I am looking to put a 1500 point force together...
any help would be greatly appreciated...

Well if you are looking at SAim-Hann you are talking jetbikes. Therefore you'd want to get some jetbikes, whihc at 17ish a pop should eat up some funds. So yeah, bikes, lots of bikes.

Buying the windrider host is the way to go to cheapen the bike price.

Jetbikes as troops are going to be cool. Think about getting a bike warlock for each squad too (these will be conversions) as they can really boost the versaatility of the jetbike squads, adding a heavy flamer or cover saves with the power, and tankbusting with the singing spear. Must haves for Saim-Hann.

Vypers are a bit nerfed, but cheap ones with one long range gun should still pay off.

I would avoid shining spears, as I think they are overpriced in points.

Grav tanks can carry whatever other kinds of guys that you want. I would seriously consider at least one full squad of dire avengers in a wave serpent.

As for HQ, the jetbike autarch or a bike mounted or grav tank mounted farseer seem to fit the bill.

To contradict biztheclown, I love my Autarch led shining spears. The exarch gives them hit and run, and the autarch adds some extra punch. That is a nasty group of flying death.

I would buy the windrider host immediatly though. It's $100+$5 shipping from www.thewarstore.com and you get $220 worth of stuff that is all pretty much a must in a Siam-Hann army. I'd supplement it with some shuriken cannon armed jetbikes and perhaps pick up the warlock with shuriken pistol and witchblade (the one with his sword's point in the ground). He is the easiest to saw in half.

The windrider host is still available? I thought it was out of production.

By the way, shining spears are nice. They may be expensive, but they are actually usable now.

Druthu wrote:I am interested in starting a Saim-Hann Eldar army....

Sorry, you're about one Codex too late.

But with the new and Improved Eldar Codex you can take lots of Jetbikes and pretend you're playing Saim-Hann.

BYE

I would disagree even with that. While saim Hann armies are no longer unique, just a style of build it also means you dont suffer the idiotic one tank rule.

Yeah, if any of the Craftworlds got a boost in the new book it was Saim Hann. They lost Vypers and Spears as troops, but gained 2 extra heavies, and Spears are actually worth taking now. IMO the Autarch is better than the Wild Rider Cheif, and the price drop for Jetbikes is a really nice bonus. Admittedly, it sucks to lose Skilled Riders, but the pendulem has swung from nearly everybody getting it to nobody getting it, not even Ravenwing.

I know you rue the loss of sub-lists, but IMO this is one of the times that GW got it right.

Sublists existed not to simply provide rules for existing background, but to open up new ways to play. Some of these were good ideas (Elysian drop troops, Biel-Tan, Emperor's Children) while others needed some fixing(Alaitoc, Iron Warriors). I lament the loss of syles of play that can't be replicated in any way, but this simply isn't the case. I don't see how a modern Eldar army build around an Autarch, shining spears, fire prisms, Vypers and Jetbikes is any less a Saim-Hann army then the one from Craftworld Eldar.

I have to agree. The 4th ed eldar codex emulates craftworld play to a more than reasonable extent.

The only thing I think was lost that might be lamented by many was Black Guardians losing their BS4.

Otherwise, the I believe the changes were for the better overall.

Polonius wrote:Yeah, if any of the Craftworlds got a boost in the new book it was Saim Hann. They lost Vypers and Spears as troops, but gained 2 extra heavies, and Spears are actually worth taking now. IMO the Autarch is better than the Wild Rider Cheif, and the price drop for Jetbikes is a really nice bonus. Admittedly, it sucks to lose Skilled Riders, but the pendulem has swung from nearly everybody getting it to nobody getting it, not even Ravenwing.

Greetings Polonius,

I was curious - is there someplace that I can view all of the specific racial/faction changes for 5th ed? Or are these changes listed in the actual 5th edition book itself?

Thank you!

Mort: there is going to be much discussion about each factions gain/loss with 5th edition, but I was actually talking about the switch from the 3rd edition eldar Codex as supplemented by Codex: Craftworld Eldar to the current 4th edition Eldar Codex.

None of the codices are altered by the new edition in terms of new/altered rules, points costs, etc. All that changes is the environment in which the current codexes are played.

Polonius wrote:Mort: there is going to be much discussion about each factions gain/loss with 5th edition, but I was actually talking about the switch from the 3rd edition eldar Codex as supplemented by Codex: Craftworld Eldar to the current 4th edition Eldar Codex.

None of the codices are altered by the new edition in terms of new/altered rules, points costs, etc. All that changes is the environment in which the current codexes are played.

Ah, I see now! Thank you for the info!

Anyone have any sample lists to post or a link to some I could take a look at?

I am trying to find and fund the windrider host box. hehe

Avoid using vipers from that warhost. Too fragile!

Until they make viper have stats like attack bike for SM's leave in garage.

I agree, use shining spears. They have good HTH ability and "hit and run". Nice way to wipe out units after shooting with bikes.

CrimsonTurkey wrote:I love my Autarch led shining spears. The exarch gives them hit and run, and the autarch adds some extra punch.

You might want to check the universal special rules section, but I though a unit with hit and run lost the ability if they were joined by an IC that didn't have it. I could be wrong here, but it's worth looking up.

I, personaly, am not sold on shining spears either, but do what works for you.

As far as building up a Saim-Hann army, its fairly simple. Start out with a base of 1 bike mounted HQ (I like farseers more than Autarchs but that's just my personal prefrence). Then add on 2 squads of bikes to fill out your troops. After that, you can add on some vypers and grav tanks (falcons, prisms, and/or wave serpents) to fill out the remainder of the army. Feel free to add in some aspect squads (I'm fond of fire dragons and banshees) as needed but make sure you buy wave serpents for them. If you decide that bikes are not doing it for you for troops, you could use mounted dire avengers. One thing to keep in mind when playing and when building your army is that Saim-Hann tends to be fairly weak in the hand to hand department. The only real options it has there are shining spears, mounted banshees, and mounted striking scorpions. So you'll probably want to bring at least one unit of them (take your pick) to make sure you don't get destroyed if the enemy gets close to you.

Things to avoid
1) Farseers in wave serpents...they can't use their powers from inside and most are used at the beginning of the turn, before they have a chance to disembark
2) Foot units...its just not fluffy for Saim-Hann
3) Swooping hawks...they suck.
4) Bike squads without a warlock...they are just too good to pass up
5) Bike mounted HQ units without a unit to join (or a good place to hide)...they'll just get singled out and shot early.

Having missed pretty much all of 3rd and 4th edition myself, I am really curious...

It appears during one of those editions, there was a "Craftworld" Codex, which separated the major craftworlds (similar to the Marine chapters).

I assume this Craftworld codex is no longer valid for 4th or 5th edition?

If so, has GW ever explained why?

And is there some chance we might see a Craftworld codex again in the future?

Just curious.

Thanks.

Mort wrote:It appears during one of those editions, there was a "Craftworld" Codex, which separated the major craftworlds (similar to the Marine chapters).

In 3rd edition there was a separate Craftworld Eldar Codex that eldar could make use of. It was one of the worst books GW has ever put out. All it did was switch up which force org slots different units took and provide some broken special rules for certain units/armies. It was an epic fail because it didn't really give you any options you couldn't do with the original Eldar Codex and it introduced a bunch of silly broken rules and totally unbalanced army builds.

I assume this Craftworld codex is no longer valid for 4th or 5th edition?

Yes, thank goodness.

And is there some chance we might see a Craftworld codex again in the future?

I certainly hope not. There really isn't any need for one. The current eldar codex allows for just about any kind of craftworld army you could want to play without introducing any horrible balance issues.