entityreign wrote:
Not sure if there's already a thread for this.

But in any case,

I've started to build an Eldar army and I've been reading the fluff in the codex as well.. The concept of the Aspect Warrior really interested me,
so far what I understand is that they're all specialized units. Low toughness but they pack a punch. Plus, they can also get Wave Serpent transports.
Now, I'm an Eldar noob.. What is the strength of the Wave Serpent anyway? Been reading around and I kept on seeing the Dire Avenger + WS combo. I know that it's the "cheapest" unit to
be able to unlock the WS, but is it really worth it? Let's say for a 1000 pt army. Won't the purchase for the Dire Avengers be too taxing? Another thing, in what way the Striking Scorpions stronger or more useful
in a certain way as compared to the Howling Banshees? What looks to me is that the Banshees basically rip any MEQ in CC, but again they have low toughness.. so does SS but I guess they're the same in that sense.

I'd appreciate any feedback from the players.

Peace!

 entityreign wrote:


On the matter of Dark Reapers, why wouldn't you take them? Good range, AP 3 is good against most units. The Exarch's Tempest launcher seems pretty strong, too. Plus, they are Slow and Purposeful so even if they do move, they'll fire a full BS.
I've come across some posts that mention of them not being so useful or optimal, in a sense. Is this because of their pointage? 30pts/model is really taxing, but it's not like people go about with a 10-man Reapers squad footslogging. And they can always be supported by a Farseer,
or am I looking at this the wrong way?

 Erik_Morkai wrote:

 entityreign wrote:


On the matter of Dark Reapers, why wouldn't you take them? Good range, AP 3 is good against most units. The Exarch's Tempest launcher seems pretty strong, too. Plus, they are Slow and Purposeful so even if they do move, they'll fire a full BS.
I've come across some posts that mention of them not being so useful or optimal, in a sense. Is this because of their pointage? 30pts/model is really taxing, but it's not like people go about with a 10-man Reapers squad footslogging. And they can always be supported by a Farseer,
or am I looking at this the wrong way?

Here are some tips on Dark Reapers:

- Always take fast shot and night vision on the Exarch.
- Upgrade the squad with Starshot missiles
- Upgrade the Exarch with Starshot missiles
- Tempest is nice but too expensive

The Reapers can work wonders with Warlocks on jetbikes. I like to run a mini-council, 3-4 warlocks on jetbikes. If you can get Jinx you can turn any 2+ armor in 3+ which your reapers will devastate.

10-man is overkill. 5 man with Exarch is ok for most situation. If you want more? 6-7 to give you some extra bodies/shots but 10 is too much. Remember that while Reapers rule ranged combat they are vulnerablein assault because Slow and Purposeful denies them Overwatch.

Reapers behind an Aegis line with the Exarch manning the lascannon can be pretty scary. 3+ Armor 4+ cover Skyfire/interceptor S9 AP2 Heavy 2 (Thanks to Fast shot), ignores Jink (thanks to Reaper rangefinder).

kryczek wrote:I don't own any banshee's as i didn't upgrade them the last time the model's were released and I'm glad i didn't. They are at the bottom of the list for assault with the eldar now we have wraith-blades and harlequin's, even scorpion's are better than them, again IMHO. But still lovely model's and if you like them then i say go get them if you don't already.

Bharring wrote:
Not the most competitive options, sure.

Yeah, footdar. A Boltgun scares me more than a Lascannon, it seems. LOS, target saturation, and concentrated application. Most other forces would drop you easily if you try to line up across from them and duke it out.

Reapers have good range.
Hawks can deep strike anywhere. No fear of mishap or anything. And with 24" range, can stay away from threats. Haywiring a Land Raider is a powerful threat, but will almost never actually happen. Useful for dictating what they do with their high AVs.
Spiders can usually get to wherever they want to be.
Scorpions infiltrate or outflank to about where they want to be. And have to burn a turn before charging anyways.
Fire Dragons get the transport. Another useful threat to force the opponent's positioning.
Shining Spears will flat out for a turn, then charge the next.

That really just leaves Avengers and Banshees.
Avengers have short range compared to most other armies (18"), but that's long range for Eldar infantry. Get them just in range to shoot. And try to divide your opponent.
Banshees can be an OK melee threat, or a decent countercharger. Frequently, they charge in at a turning point, frequently with a bunch of DAs and a Hawk or Spider squad. The point isn't that your melee threat will kill them - its that you've whittled them down, and so your 4 or so squads of 5 each charge the remaining 10 or so Boys, before the Boys get FC, and taking out the unit on your terms instead of letting him charge all his units into you.

Set them up, whittle them down, always try to engage single units with multiple. Pick your targets.

And fear the boltgun. It does good damage to footdar.

 entityreign wrote:


You compared them to Pathfinders, how come?
This Illic + Reapers combo sounds decent. I guess it's not "competitive" because at maximum range, avoiding LOS can be a breeze. With all the cover saves from terrain + buffs.
Is there a way to get Reapers Ignores Cover? If so, I believe that would definitely boost them.
With an ADL, would it be worth it to pay the extra points for a Quad-Gun? Considering the already high price for each Reaper. Are you going to spend 30(?) points on one Reaper just to get to fire that 50pt(?) QuadGun?

locarno24 wrote:You tend to find that each aspect has a 'primary' job - one they're really good at, and a secondary job - one they can do if they need to.

The trick is taking a good mix of aspects so you have everything covered by multiple units. There are few things better at doing what they love than aspect warriors, but if you delegate a critical job to a single unit, it can cost you the game, because a single unit of aspect warriors isn't hard to kill.

Psykers and other non-aspect units are good - Farseers and Warlocks are a key part of a lot of tournament-ey eldar lists - but you don't "need" them. An autarch or a phoenix lord is a perfectly acceptable army commander.


Things to note about the various aspects:

Dire Avengers: Two real uses - either defensive 'skirmish line' infantry, or as a minimum sized crew for a Wave Serpent. I prefer the former, because I like Eldar Armies that follow a theme (aspect shrines) rather than just spam a unit that is currently seen as very powerful for its cost. Dire Avengers work well as defensive infantry because of the extended range of their avenger catapults plus Battle Focus - this allows you to shoot at someone 18" away, then fall back 4-5" with a Fleet run move. Rinse and repeat and footslogging assault troops won't catch you for several turns. Add in the punch of bladestorm shuriken weapons and you can chop up anything with a toughness value very quickly. The exarch abilities are mostly about keeping the squad alive - which isn't the same as actually winning a combat, but should give time for a more melee inclined aspect to intervene.

Fire Dragons: Need no introduction. They kill monsters, superheavy infantry, and tanks. Very, very well. Their only downside is their range - so you really need a transport to get them into range without being slaughtered, because anyone with a tank will take one look at them and point masses of firepower at them.

Dark Reapers: Marine-butchers. Reaper launchers go through marines like stombolters go through guardsmen. Ignoring jink makes them even more lethal against the tournament-git-preferred marine bike squad. Cover and supporting units are important, as they're fragile for their cost and can't fire overwatch. Starshot missiles are expensive but a nice item in the toolbox, giving you a long-ranged antiarmour threat for killing skimmers and speeders - anything AV10-12, especially if it normally expects to use jink to survive. If you're lucky enough to get a skyfire nexus, they make for scary-ass flak.

Swooming Hawks: Slaughter light infantry (at range) or heavy tanks (with haywire grenades). Lasblasters are lethal against guard, orks, etc - especially since you can fire at the edge of range then battle focus out of range. Terrifying to players who don't register what Haywire grenades can do - a full hawk unit can quite realistically bring down an undamaged Imperial Knight in a single assaut phase.

Striking Scorpions: Generic melee aspect - scorpion chainswords and mandiblasters cut up most foes point-for-point in a melee, and infiltrate gives tactical flexibility. The Exarch has one of the most lethal non-unique melee weapons in the game - a power fist which is neither unwieldy nor a specialist weapon, and which has a 2 shot rending pistol strapped to it for good measure. The main weakness is that even the claw isn't quite powerful enough to threaten a walker or T8 monstrous creature, so you can find them stuck facing something they can't hurt.

Howling Banshees: AP3 swords are nice, but the S3 is a problem. Firstly, if going into a melee, make sure you get your pistol shots in first - never underestimate a volley of shuriken fire for causing the odd kill. Secondly, as noted, they work best as counter-assaulters; footslogging isn't a big deal with acrobatic - they're not much slower than jump infantry at the run, so you can move them to intercept an incoming assault threat. Their real speciality is one that isn't to do with their power swords - it's to do with their banshee masks. Their real expertise is killing high initiative melee killers - harlequins, incubi, wyches, daemonettes, genestealers and so on. These units are lethal in combat but really don't like being hit first because it doesn't take too much melee power to really cut their damage capacity (the same reason people complain when units of this type lack grenades).

Shining Spears: All about that lance. They do a tolerable second string as antitank, but are good shock assault units too.

Warp Spiders: Massed S6 firepower. Not especially impressive in an eldar army laden with scatter lasers and shuriken cannon, but in a pure aspect force they are mobile and tactically flexible - able to handle infantry mobs, elite tough monsters and light-to-medium tanks.

Crimson Hunters: Not bad at killing tanks on the ground, but their real job is antiaircraft - with an aircraft-specific version of Tank Hunter, and vector dancer, they are one of the best dogfighters currently in the game.