Eldar 1850 Tournament List

I've never really been all that interested in tournaments.  Usually there are 2-5 decent ones in my neck of the woods a year.  I've gone only to watch other players but never felt the desire to play myself.  That's all changed though with the recent Eldar codex.  I've had great success with my games to date and really want to start playing at a more competitive level.  Anyway,  1850 is becoming standard in my parts so I've come up with the following list that I think is very strong in the current meta and can take on all sorts of opposing lists.  Here we go:

HQ:
Autarch

Troops:
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers
2 x 5 Jet Bikes - shuriken cannons

Fast:
3 x 5 Warp Spiders

Heavy:
2 Fire Prisms - spirit stones
1 Wraith Knight

Total: 1850

The 3 Avenger wave serpents have been simply amazing.  Backed up by a wraith knight and 2 fire prisms, I can dish out heaps long range fire power.  The farseer has not been that great for me so I figure the stock ability of the autarch would provide more utility by helping keep my jetbikes off the table as well as deep striking my warp spiders should I choose to do that.  Its the warp spiders though that really bring this list together.  Having hit and run really buys my tanks some breathing room.  Turn 2 assaults are a lot less scary as I can set up my bladestorm turn one then move my spiders into position to block assaults thereby allowing me an unmolested turn 2 bladestorm.

Tau are a big problem, but my list does out-range tau and I can focus my first turn on taking out marker lights.  No flyers means any given tau has wasted points on skyfire/intercept.  Storm ravens are a problem, but they are expensive so they come in limited numbers and I think I have enough volume of shots to glance them to death.  Five flying MC's can wreak my face but every gun in my list from little to big can bring the pain.  Necrons on Eldar is a bloody affair but I think both armies match up fairly well against each other so a win would come down to game play rather than lists.

In my opinion Eldar have changed the meta.  Not as obviously as the Tau but the rise of our hover tanks will require other armies to rethink their builds.  I suspect when Marines come along we will see some cheep hard counters to Eldar with twin linked melta shots aplenty but that is mere conjecture.  As it stands Eldar are a very strong army and I plan to revel in it for as long as it lasts.

An alternate list using same principles as above is as follows:

HQ:
Autarch - banshee mask, avenger gun, scorpion sword

Troops:
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers
2 x 3 Jet Bikes

Fast:
2 x 10 Warp Spiders

Heavy:
2 Fire Prisms
1 Wraith Knight

Total: 1850

Points shaved to add more spiders.  The autarch now can combi assault with the wraith knight to drop opponents initiative (handy against deamon princes allowing the wraith knight to get a strength 10 hit in a pinch).  I like the first list more though.

Dreaming of Iyanden

I started putting my unit of wraithguard together and have instantly fell in love with the models.  Very dynamic and individual.  I'm giving some serious thought to starting an Iyanden army.  Painting wise I think If I use the same blue and yellow colours as on my tanks but reverse the priority (ie body yellow head blue) that I would not be looking at painting a completely new scheme.  Just awesome looking models that are really imposing on the table top.  To provide a sense of scale matched a model up with a couple of regular sized models below.

Not sure how a pure army would play on the table.  Seems that there is a lot of poison and plasma in the game right now.  But the rule of cool is calling me: 5 spirit seers, 30 wraith guard, 2 wraith lords and a wraith knight would look spectacular on the table.  I'll pick up the codex supplement and see if any of the fluff grabs my attention.

Game 3 with Eldar

Got my third game in with my 1250 Eldar list.  Did not make changes with Rangers as I forgot to pack the models.  Played another Raven Wing army (different player).  The above photo is his 1250 list.  He is also a strong player at my local game store so I was glad for the challenge.  Off my memory he had:

Samuel
Command Squad with FnP banner
2 full squads of bikes with 4 plasma guns and 2 multi melta attack bikes.
6 bike strong of black knights

I had:

Farseer - spear (rolled mind war, guide, eldritch storm, warlord power 12 in bubble reroll wound rolls)
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, laser
5 Avengers

Heavy:
Fire Prism - holo
Falcon - holo, star

He had first turn and scouted real close.  It was really daunting looking at his army to tell the truth.  In fact the most important die I rolled was to seize the initiative of which I did.  Tables completely turned at this point.  I was able to unload my army into his bikes and set up my jink saves.  So, I moved my tanks up 6 inches and disembarked my avengers and farseer.  Battle focused my infantry into 18 inch shuriken range.  Then poped my warlord power and tore into him.  Killed Samuel, 8 bikes, attack bike and the dark shroud.  I really crippled his momentum.  I must say though the kill tally likely would have had an extra 4 or 5 bikes but for his FnP banner.  Picture bellow shows the kill tally from my turn one shooting.

Picture below shows the bottom of turn 2 after my opponent moved.  He did quit a bit of damage he blew up some avengers and the fire prism.  Then charged into my lines.  Assault result he blew up tank and broke 2 of my avenger units.  The avengers rally and fall back right to my board edge.  I managed to kill another 6 bikes or so.





Photo bellow shows bottom of turn three before he moved or shot.  He charges into my Avengers once again.  I killed the assault bike in overwatch.  Last bike squad charges avengers and farseer.  One avenger dies to hammer of wraith and my squad kills 2 bikes.  He kills remaining avengers and farseer is down to one wound.  Farseer breaks and runs off board.

Top of turn 4 he only had 2 bikes left on the table.  I had everything above but for the farseer and his squad.  We called the game here and shook hands.  It was a fun game.  Could have easily gone the other way if I had not seized initiative.  Big plus for the warlord power that lets me reroll 1's to wound for one turn of shooting.  Those first two warlord powers really work with my list as I tend to set up a big volley once per game.  Re-rolling those ones easily accounted for 3 extra bikes dead on the first turn.

I'm absolutely loving ten avengers in a serpent.  It is so versatile and can really handle anything thrown at it.  I don't know why anyone would run min squads of avengers.  The extra 6 inch range, leadership 9 counter attack and the 4+ armour save is totally worth spending an extra 4 points a model.

After the game had a good chat with opponent over the pro's and con's of my list.  In his opinion Tau and Necrons could cause me some grief.  He also figured falcon was weakest link and he is right.  Not ready to give up on it yet as I've yet to face any real number of MC's with it.  I have a feeling if I'm facing chaos or even tau MC's that those 4 AP2 shots a turn will come in handy combined with my rending light avengers.  Anyway another game under my belt with the new Eldar.  Thanks for reading.

Refining my Eldar list

As always I've got the Eldar on my mind these days.  With a couple of games under my belt I thought I would turn my mind to fine tuning the list at 1500 points.  The place where I think I should change up the army is with the falcon.  There is a lot of hate right now for the falcon: some of it justified, some of it not.  There is also no question in my mind that the wave serpent is probably the best tank in the new codex.  But it does not help when a unit cannot take it as a squad upgrade.  Enter the falcon then, for units such as rangers, harlequins and warlocks, they do not get the privilege of selecting a wave serpent for a dedicated transport.  So with that in mind I decided to rethink my 5 man avenger unit that acted as a body guard for the farseer in the falcon.

Five avengers by themselves seems like a great waste to me.  The strength of the avenger is in the maxed out squad.  In order to take advantage of their rules you need to be rolling lots of dice.  Bladestorm loses its luster when you only have 10 shots being pumped out.  Also items such as grenades on rear armour ten or counter attack don't really seem worth it when you have only 5 models.  The biggest draw back, however, is giving up the option of a wave serpent.  Does not make sense lol.  So I've decided to replace the avengers with rangers.

What to rangers bring to the table you might ask.  Well first of all a savings of 5 points.  That 5 points goes a long way as I now have room to give my farseer spirit stones (to reduce warp charge 2 to 1).  This is a great bit of kit for any farseer as you can reliable get 3 powers off any given turn.  Now with mechdar you are somewhat limited with the utility of the farseer.  The line of site changes to 6th edition really suck.  So the farseer (when embarked) is limited to only buffing the unit he is attached to and the tank he is ridding in.  Seeing as 2 guides are primaris powers for the farseer, they seem redundant when he is in a wave serpent.  In fact, part of the reason I like the falcon is that the farseer can buff it up tremendously.  Re-rollable 4+ cover save and 4 twin linked AP 2 shots a turn makes for a solid battle tank.  Especially when you consider it is protecting 5 squishy troop models for late game when they need to seize objectives.

To be fair, 6th edition mech lists do not play like they did in 5th.  The most important change is the inability for troops to score when embarked (a close second is the introduction of hull points).  So you must at times during any given game extract your models from the transport.  The 5th edition mantra 'never leave your tanks' just does not fly anymore.  This then provides another reason to max out your Avenger squads.  You have a better chance of surviving when you have numbers on your side.

I suggest it is also to your advantage to bring your farseer out of your transports regularly through out the game as well.  Being able to spreed 2 guide spells is a huge benefit to a BS 4 army.  The avengers do not really help protect the farseer but for soaking up wounds.  Also when using the spirit stones, your farseer forgoes his rune armour protection for a turn.  This cost to using the stone is strongly mitigated when you have rangers escorting your farseer.  With the rangers your farseer gains stealth that now provides a decent save when he draws on the spirit stone (up to a 2+ going to ground in ruins).  The rangers provide your farseer with more durability than the avengers ever (at least at range).

Of course deciding to bring your farseer outside of the protective confines of the falcon is subject to the particulars of any given game.  If your opponent is bringing tau; helldrakes; whirlwinds or the like you likely will start the game with your farseer embarked (not so much with helldrakes).  But if you have first turn and you are not facing a lot of ignore firepower, then there likely will be many times when your farseer should start out the game outside but in arms length of the transport.  Providing you the ability to twin link 2 more items in your list at least for the first turn.

So with all that confusing nonsense done with here is the new 1500 point list I am thinking of.

HQ:
Farseer - spirit stone

Troops:
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers
5 Rangers

Heavy:
Falcon - holo, laser
Fire Prism - holo
Wraith Knight

Minor changes to the list but I think it will perform better now.  All things being perfect (ie first turn, you rolled fortune, guide, prescience) I can start the game with all my long range guns twin linked.  The farseer and rangers try and find ruins to start out in with the falcon and wraith knight (with one toe standing in the ruins as well or best cover available)  close by.  My fire prism needs to then be within 24 inches of the farseer on my set up to get the benefit of guide.  I can be more flexable with the starting arrangement of my wave serpents as they act independently to the other elements of my list.  Finally the falcon upgrades the starcannon to a scatter laser to twin link the pulse laser (miss the star cannon though)  This set up allows me to bring to bear on my first turn the following twin linked BS 4 shots:

2 strength 10 AP shots at 36 inch range
1 strength 9 lance AP 1 shot at 60 inch range (plus the other 2 blast versions of gun)
2 strength 8 AP 2 shots 36 inch range (twin linked range is reduced due to scatter laser)
3d6+3 strength 7 AP - shots at 36 inch range that pin and ignore cover (the bread and butter of list)
12 strength 6 shots (and 4 non twin linked for total of 18) AP 6 at 36 inch range

It is important to note that I can effectively add 12 inches to all of the above ranges with the movement of all of my units with out sacrificing any fire power.  At 1500 points that is a lot of guns for any opponent to deal with.  Thats 28 to 43 pin point accurate shots coming off the top first turn.  Priority targets being an opponents anti tank then poison/sniper shots.  Second turn then my avengers will be in a position to pounce with 60 rending light shots.  As mentioned in an earlier post, the wraith knight acts as a utility character shooting or blocking in coming assaults et al.

I'm thinking that swapping out the avengers for rangers is a good idea.  Bringing my list up to 1850 I'm planning to add another avenger serpent and 5 jet bikes to allow me some late game shenanigans.  Wow what a wall of text.  If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read.

Second Game in With Eldar

Thursdays at my local game store are 1250 point games.  So I brought the following:

HQ:
Farseer - singing spear

Troops:
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers
5 Avengers

Heavy:
Falcon - holo, star
Fire Prism - holo

1250 points on the nose

I got one game in today, played another Eldar player.  Adding up the points for the blog post I realize he was about 210 points over the limit lol.  He had a footdar list with the following:

HQ:
Illic

Elite:
5 Fire Dragons - exarch, fire pike

Troops:
10 Guardians - EML
9 Avengers - wave serpent, lances
5 path finders

Fast Attack:
Crimson Hunter - Exarch

Heavy:
Wraith Knight
6 Reapers - Exarch, EML, Star missles
War Walker

He got first turn and took out my fire prism with his reapers.  He poured quite a bit of fire power into my tanks but they held up for the most part (lost about 3 hull points across 2 tanks).  After I got my turn the game swung completely in my favour.  Was able to get my 4+ jink saves up.  also had rolled fortune, death mission and guide on my farseer so the falcon was fortuned and guided for most of the game (lost one wound on far seer turn 3 with a peril).  I simply just skirted the edges and focused on killing all his fire power that could touch my tanks.  The Falcon put 3 wounds on the wraith knight that was ultimately taken down by 2 squads of blade storming Avengers.  The Crimson Hunter went down as well to the volume of fire power of the serpents.  I had tabled him on my turn 4.  Stoked that my list did so well with the 200 point difference.  Need to get some more games in.

First Game With Eldar 1500 points

I posted this up on the 11th company forum after my first game today.  Figured I could repost it here as I don't really want to type it up again.

Just had my first game with the new book. Brought mostly my 5th edition list along with the wraith knight stock. I had the following 1500 point army.

HQ:

Farseer - spear

Troops:

3x10 avengers - ws, holo, laser
5 avengers

Heavy:
wraith knight
fire prism - holo
falcon - star cannon, holo, spirit stone

I played against raven wing with guard allies. Not sure exactly what he had in his list but it was lead by samuel. I could not believe the fire power my list put out. I shot 2/3rds of my army turn one and nearly tabled him before we called it quits (had 5 marines left on the table). The wave serpent is simply amazing. The army is a lot like a mech guard army from 5th edition. The closer you get to it the more fire power it puts out. 10 blade storming avengers does a lot of damage to mec. Also the 18 inch range was crucial. Allowed me to run some of my Avengers to squeeze out a few more inchs so they could fire (on the first turn to boot).

It was only one game and it was a bad match up for my buddy (and in all fairness had no clue what to expect) but I don't think there is much in the game right now that can handle mech Eldar. AV 13 Necrons would likely be a challenge but what else? Hell Drakes don't really pose a problem. Missile spam always gave me grief in 5th edition and I would imagine that if it was still prevalent it would be a concern. But at the end of the day its the d6+1 shots that ignore cover that makes mechdar strong. Nothing is safe from those shots at 60 inch range. They certainly would take out entrenched long fangs and the like turn one. The are absolutely brutal for someone to deal with.

Another strong point for the mechdar list I suspect is the ability to pick up secondary objectives. First blood is not something that mechdar will give up easily. Also, with the mobility offered by the fast tanks, line breaker is not to hard to grab either.

Anyway, my list is not even optimized so you could get more fire power into a competitive list. One thing though, I don't think the min davu upgrade is the way to go. At least from my one game, the massed anti-infantry shots that shuriken catapults bring really round out the list.
In 5th edition I exchanged volume of fire for durable fast tanks. It was the trade off that made Eldar an army that had to be very careful with how it moved. But now the army puts out a metric ton of fire power at the cost of hull points. Its a trade off I can live with.

Amazing Asurmen and His Flying Circus

1500 Points or so

HQ:
Asurmen

4+1 Avengers + Exarch - wave serpent, holo, lasers, vectored engines

Troops: 3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers, vectored engines

Heavy:

Fire Prism - holo

Falcon - holo, star, vectored engines

Probably the most awesome list ever.