Topic: Tactica: The Logistics Of Eldar

[Lazarus]

TACTICA: THE LOGISTICS OF ELDAR

Compilers note: In order to form a cohesive structure, I have cannibalized everyone’s posts in the thread in order to create a complete Tactica. Thus, passages attributed to others have changes to either add conditions for when it works or doesn’t work and flesh out assumptions made by the original posters.
-Interpretivechaos

Introduction:
The Eldar are elusive, aloof, capricious, and arrogant. These very same traits can be embodied as an Eldar player- elusive enough to deny them victory points, aloof enough to foil their plans, capricious enough for them not to guess your plan, and arrogant enough to believe that the firepower you have brought to bear is enough to annihilate your quarry.

Indeed, the Eldar are a powerful force for far more than their advanced xenos technology. Their mobility, specialization, and flexibility make for a fun, interesting, and ultimately powerful force.

Terrain Placement

Placement of terrain is essential for the survival of your army. Unlike other lists who can happily sit in the open your army is relatively fragile and will do much better with appropriate blocking terrain & cover.

When placing terrain try to have several pieces of level 3 terrain to block LOS to your skimmers on that important first turn until you get SMF (skimmer moving fast) into effect. You will want terrain at intervals that will allow you to come to grips with the enemy without taking too much fire. If you like playing on completely barren tables then Eldar is not really the army for you. 

Each particular list will have different needs so there is no real "standard" terrain rule other than you need a good ammount of it and to be thinking of your game plan as you place it.
-Lazarus

Deployment:

In regards to deployment of your army- Basic Setup for refused flank:
 I see many times a player will deploy a tank for example to the far right of the board. The opposing player always seems obligated to deploy his next unit across from this tank. Set up is nearly mirrored everywhere.

Please, feel free to not mirror your opponent's deployment. Refuse a flank and you'll find that your higher speed and overall mobility will truly shine. If you leave some of his stuff out in no-man's land with nothing to do it will make your target priorities that much easier for you to decide on. Of course, mission objectives may dictate differently.
-Lazarus

The Feint- Active creation of a refused flank:

This can be done with various armies to varying degrees of success (Indeed it has been mentioned in this thread). I play Alaitoc so I will describe a starting scenario all to common.

You and your opponent start deploying. You throw a Falcon behind cover; he throws a heavy tank opposite it. You throw your next choice down; he picks a place with good line of sight and firing lanes for his next big gun. As troops go down you concentrate your forces behind this piece of cover. As he starts to realize, he likely threw a couple units off to the other side when troops went down. Don't be afraid to throw a skimmer or two on another side to throw things off.

Then, you infiltrate/place your last choices on the opposite side of all your skimmers. The first turn, the skimmers (and anything else deployed with the skimmers) hug cover and move 24" to the other side. The rest of the army starts to snipe the exposed flank. Presto, an easy denied flank, and if they castle to avoid it, you earned yourself a free reign with your mobility (and easier control of objectives).
-Interpretivechaos

Safe and Sound- Time Control before the Game Starts and the Choice of Going Second

If most of your army is hidden (or at least the skimmers are, as they should be), the first round will likely be a total waste for your slow moving opponent as he has nothing to shoot at with the bulk of his ranged weapons. You will in effect gain an extra turn on him.

Occasions when this should not be used is when your opponent has a sufficient threat to your hidden units (such as multiple basilisks and other guess weapons ready to blast your skimmers before they get skimmers moving fast), or when your opponent has a lot to loose if you strike first (For example against armies with static skimmers in line of sight, or a Rhino rush where stranding your opponent by destroying the Rhinos before they can drop smoke is a very good thing. Also, if you field a lot of vulnerable non-move shoot units (like dark reapers), or if the opponent is in a bad position that a turn of movement could fix, you may want to consider going first.

Going second is highly desirable as well against deepstriking and armies starting mostly in reserve, since it gives you an extra turn to shoot them once they arrive.

In missions with area-based objectives, use the last round of the game to turbo boost your army to each of the objectives. If you went second, your opponent will not be able to react, and the game will end with all his heavy weapons staring uselessly at your army.
-Srintaur

Defense
Most players naturally begin to focus on offensive play. Because of this, the game devolves into a slugfest, the army with the most offensive power winning. The Eldar are experts at playing defensively, playing defensively requires a little bit of foresight, and thus should be your primary consideration as you weigh risk vs. profit of your stratagem.

Guarding Victory Points- Stopping your Foe from making his points back once destroyed

Take a squad of 4 rangers in a forest. Your marine opponent fires his min-maxed bolters at the squad, causing two casualties. You are now at half strength. Often, these 2 rangers will be used to take an ineffective pot shot at the marines, the odds of killing even one being very low. However, if you move and fleet back more than 6" into the forest, your opponent cannot get any victory points for the squad.

A lot of players focus on the killing aspect without the (quite Eldarly) survival aspect. The idea is to kill more than it's points before dying, but it is often hard to remember if it kills half its points without dying, it is a much greater gain.
-Interpretivechaos

Target Denial: Defensive Placement

Eldar, despite their firepower that just exceeds their arrogance, are well played as mysterious and elusive. As will be covered later in Phantom Mobility, denying line of sight to you and your opponent can allow to shave off bits and pieces of their force with the fast and ranged elements of your force, you can suffer few losses at the expense of their slight to moderate losses. Especially if you can grab an objective, you can force a win without bringing any of the big guns to bear. (On a side note, I presume this is how Saim-Hann is effectively played...)

One of the important parts of Target Denial is the offensive part of it. It is near impossible to save your force from guess weapons, drop pods, and highly mobile or deepstriking forces. It is very rare that you will have to face the entire army of these forces at once (Even all drop pod armies come in piecemeal, and if you can react quickly enough, destroyed piecemeal as well). The key to surviving is to have the reach to bring elements of legendary Eldar firepower to bear.

Fast units are ideal in this role, as an intelligent foe can use line of sight blocking terrain (or drop pods) to limit ranged attacks. Ranged attacks also suffer problems with artillery, Stealthsuits, and the fragile ones the very same units they are trying to eliminate. A squad of Firedragons in a Waveserpent, a Falcon or two, Warpspiders, or even Howling Banshees in a serpent work in this role. All of these can move at least 12" a turn, and bring a fearsome amount of closer range firepower to bear. A squad of Firedragons can eliminate an average of 3-4 terminators in a single volley, and a falcon can mop up the rest (note: overkill is necessary, since not only is being assaulted undesirable often, but you may be called elsewhere the next turn. Thus, a full squad of Firedragons may be necessary to take out a tank (for the 60% chance to kill the Hammerhead).

Remember the first point as well. A Waveserpent with Firedragons in it cost over 300 pts. Thus, worrying about getting a shot w/ twin-linked Brightlances is seldom a good trade off for allowing a lascannon line of sight to the serpent, even while staring at a juicy Leman Russ or Landraider. He who lives to drop of his cargo lives to get fire support when he eyes the juicy meat tempting him in the first place.
-Interpretivechaos

Defensive Maneuver Warfare Doctrines- Little notes to keep in mind

Target Saturation
When enemy heavy weapons are going to be presented targets, the hardest target should be closest,
to force target priority checks, and you should always present far more targets that he can hope to
destroy at once. Even if you have to hide some of your army waiting for the right moment to pounce,
it is better to appear before the opponent all at once rather than piecemeal.

Mobile firebase:
Do not present a static position on the map for the enemy to concentrate on. If the enemy shifts resources
into a map zone or firing lane, it is often better to turbo boost out of the area than try to oppose his firepower directly.

Zone Control w/ Deepstrikers
Always keep an eye out for ideal deep strike locations when the opponent has deep striking units (clearings of 12 inches diameter are often ideal). Use the map edge or impassable terrain to prevent deep striking units from getting to rear armor and arrange hiding firepower units so that they can cover each other from deep striking opponents.
-Srintaur

Offensive-
Once you have considered all matters defensive (and the objectives), it is time to consider destroying the enemy. Keeping defensive matters in mind, it is important to choose well where you bring your army to bear and how to cripple your opponent’s efforts to destroy you.

Remember- it is nearly always easier to win from objectives than just elimination, so never let your eye off of the objectives. Never. (OK…. Maybe if you have a decent chance at forcing Necrons to phase out but…)


Target Priority/ Threat management- Who to send to the Immaterium

Target priority / Threat management is dealing with units on the battlefield in a way that ensures your survival by reducing the enemy's capacity to cause you damage.

I like to pick out units that are relatively easy to kill that also boast some good firepower.

Examples of units like these:
Dark Reapers
War walkers
Vypers
Minimum sized Heavy weapons Teams
Light vehicles w/ Big guns
Heavy Infantry w/ big guns who have little defense from your big guns (Broadsides w/o a lot of shield drones vs. Brightlances)

Each of these units share a common trait of fragility backed by awesome firepower. For very little effort on my part I can silence a great deal of fire power which reduces the damage I will be receiving and nets me easy VP's.

Many times your opponent will rely on "distracting" you with a much tougher unit like a Falcon or Wraithlord that is actually designed to soak up your fire. Do not fall for these sorts of tactics. You will still have time to deal with these type units. I have had games where my opponent split his fire between a falcon and Wraithlord (in cover) and succeeded in only wounding the lord once and doing nothing to the falcon...he ignored my Vypers completely. Needles to say I poured a ton of firepower into him on my turn...downhill from there.

Some things are purely situational. If you have a tank heavy force and notice the opponent only has 3 units with tank busting capability at range then guess what your top priority will be?

If the opponent’s seer fails to get fortune on the council, you had best pound it good.

Avoid "revenge" type shooting. Sometimes we may loose something and we will go out of our way to kill the offending unit that did the damage. Make sure that you are still being optimal in your target selection.

When selecting a target for termination, make sure you bring enough firepower to bear. Make it a statistical probability if possible. Do not expect 3 shots of your Starcannon to kill the three terminators that are left.

Knowing what is a priority and what is not is extremely important and can be the difference between winning and loosing. All of the top players in tournaments certainly have this knowledge down. Target priority will be different from list to list depending on the makeup of your particular list. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of your list and learn how to identify those of your opponents.

Do not rely on your opponent being uniformed or stupid when it comes to protecting your units. It may work on noobs to point out your big scary Avatar (bullet catcher) to distract them from your reapers.... but a vet will eat you up over that sort of thing. It's best to play smart as it keeps you in good practice.
-Lazarus

Threat management & creative targetting

Another part of threat management is creating clever ways of dealing with specific targets that your opponent thought was relatively safe. You can sometimes posistion troops in a way that will enable you to kill a heavy weapon trooper (or other important model) easier than it would normally be. The opponet was fairly confident that his 10 tactical marines in the ruins were going to keep that lascannon firing for some time to come....he was wrong. 

Casualties must be within range of the weapon firing. I am often able to guess max range and hit from the side or area where the heavy weapon trooper is sitting. If I do 4 casualties to his 10 man squad but only 2 are actually in range (The heavy weapon trooper & a normal one) then he loses the prime model! I'll give up the extra casualties to achieve battle field supremecy for my tanks.

You can also do this using line of sight methods.....this is viewed as a bit more shady to some though. Use something that blocks line of sight to nearly everything in that unit but what you are really trying to kill. This can be either some terrain or a monstrous creature or even a vehicle (non skimmer).
-Lazarus

[Lazarus]

Units not so Worthy to Shoot at
Monoliths
Maxed out Carnifexes, especially Gun Carifexes in Hard Cover
Large Devastator Squads in hard cover
Whirlwinds*
Basilisks*
Obliterators
Defilers*
Hive Tyrants w/ Tyrant Guard

The amount of punishment these units can take or the difficulty in digging these units out is so high it far exceeds any VP they are worth.  It is a hard lesson for Eldar because of their glass jaw, but it's one every Eldar player must learn.

Note- Artillery is often worth shooting at because 1) It doesn’t care much how you dart around cover and cleverly limit line of sight, making it a constant threat, 2) Because they can often destroy more than their points in a game easily, and 3) Once you get a falcon pointed at a lot of them, they are as good as dead, even if it does take half the game to get line of sight to them. Remember even if more accessible victory points are available, defensive playing may mandate killing them.
-Greg 23

Logistics and Tools for your aims-
There are many parts of an army that are neither defensive nor offensive- yet they are essential to both of these areas. It is these things that create the “feel” of an army. Movement, general encompassing strategies, disruption, forcing your opponent to make bad choices- each of these form a backbone that lets your army move, live, and succeed on the battlefield.

Phantom Mobility-
The Eldar are masters of true mobility, with the amount of fast troops and tanks available. The ultimate goal of mobility is to choose your battles and threaten a large area. A Waveserpent with a squad of Firedragons in it can set a squad of deepstriking terminators or Tau battlesuits avoiding a 24" zone in fear, though the gun is only 12" range. A Vyper can make itself invisible to all but one flank, knocking out the tanks on the flank before they can shoot it down.

However, there are ways of choosing your battles without having speed. Often a large piece of line of sight blocking terrain can force your opponent to battle on your terms, negating his reach or forcing him to walk. For example deploying with your forces opposite a squad of bolter toting marines with a large block of line of sight blocking terrain may mean that your forces will be unable to fire while they close to dangerous rapid-fire range, but in also forces your opponent to do so, allowing you to sweep around and attack the devastators with a squad of Firedragons with little retaliation. The same tactic can be used to force a slow moving foe between choosing whether to attack your troops or grab an objective. I've gained several victorious slaughters where my foe committed forces to advance on my force behind a hill and found that by the end of the game I had negated his faster units with my heavy hitters, leaving all of the objectives in my hands.

A similar tactic can be used to gain the initiative on a foe. Since most infantry have to choose between moving and firing, deploying out of line of sight can give you the first shot as they move into your line of sight, possibly with a deadlier weight of fire.   A favorite strategy is to force them to move to get line of sight around a large forest for example, and then move everyone to get line of sight with one flank.
-Interpretivechaos

Simple Chess Tactics as applied to Warhammer 40K

The Pin - Forcing your opponent to keep a powerful unit in an unprofitable place in order to protect an even more important unit behind-
Eldar players seem to do this voluntarily by using a Wraithlord to guard units of Rangers and Reapers.... losing the Wraithlord's potent close combat attacks on the front line.

The Fork - Using a maneuverable unit to potentially attack at more than one point in your opponent’s battle line.
If the enemy is forced into redeployment to counter the looming presence of the Falcon then this is a minor victory in itself. You may be denied your choice target (perhaps the whirlwind has driven off around the trees).... but you can pick a new target at your leisure and you have potentially diminished the firepower of said whirlwind.

Supporting Units

You don't put a powerful (but ultimately fragile) piece like the queen (or Vyper) deep into enemy territory without making sure that it is backed up by the rest of the army.
Conversely, your important pieces in your own set up must be guarded by their neighbors from incursions by the enemy.
How does this translate?

Well consider the humble Vyper.
Fast and deadly, but oh so easy prey to almost any basic weapon on the board
Solution?
Never field them in squadrons, but only singly. This may take more fast attack slots (or elite) but gives you flexibility and survivability.
The enemy may deep strike his expensive terminator squad down on the hill you were hiding behind.... but he can only target one 50+ point Vyper...leaving himself open to a potential 6 strength 6 shots from the other one.
Queen takes Knight
Knight takes Queen.
People are very afraid of deep striking units.... but remember; a deep striking unit is often an unsupported unit. Take the punch on the chin and then smother the threat before it can link up with the rest of its army.
-The Dizzy Dinosaur

General Wisdom:
I would feel guilty cutting up Roy’s post, as it has a very concise and concentrated drop of wisdom. Thus, I leave it as a couple tips to keep in mind, as well as a recap of several important things. As well

Roy's General Wisdom and Advice
Never ever, rely on your enemy making a tactical mistake. Never base your strategy on underestimating your opponent. Even if it is a noob, there is always a chance a more experienced player will give him heads up on things.

Always assume the worst, and plan for it. That way, all your surprises will be pleasant ones.

Always give yourself a way out. If something doesn't work as expected, have a backup plan. Even the best plan of battle rarely survives initial contact with the enemy.

Don't take on the entire enemy's army all at once. Pick and choose your targets. First the fragile units with high output, like Lazarus detailed. But also choose your targets for what you want to achieve the following round. With Eldar, the best plan is often to outflank the opponent. We are highly mobile, so use that to your advantage. If his army is spread all across the line, focus your army on a small part of it. Hit hard, and hit fast.

Always remember cover. If you attack a flank, and expect it to go down easily, make sure he has to rearrange his army a lot, because your units are hidden. The best way to avoid damage is to make sure you can't possibly be hit by anything after all.

Be very aware of deepstriking units. These units do a lot of damage when they arrive, but you can avoid that by being smart about your moves. Even if you cannot avoid damage, you can make sure the offending unit isn't in a good position anymore. Often, when faced with deepstrikers, the opponent will have to reevaluate their placement when you have troops ready to react to them. A good way to do this is to keep units in transports, especially units like Firedragons and Banshees.

Be aware of rapid-fire ranges. Many an Eldar player has lost a game because he didn't remember to stay out of potential rapid-fire ranges.

There is much more to strategy of course, and no tactic is foolproof. In the end, what makes a good player is adaptation and improvisation.
-Roy


More General Wisdom


Apply your Strength to your enemy's Weakness: Eldar are particularly suited to this with our mobility
Concentrate Firepower: Decide what will die each turn and bring enough hitting power for the job.  Your target squad should be the only one with LOS to your squads.  As was said, make their elimination a statistical probability.
One Squad, One Job: Have a clear idea of each unit's job and keep them at it until achieved or dead. Equip them appropriately with no "fat".
Well Painted Models Roll Better: Just kidding 
Combine Arms and Abilities: Keep complimentary units near by. The tyranid warriors would love to assault your guardian squad.  Keeping a Wraithlord near by will make them think twice.  Same goes for the infiltrating rangers.  Send some scorpions along with them.  Same goes for shooting. 20 Black Defender Guardians will only kill 4.3 marines in a round of shooting.  The two twinlinked starcannons on the Serpents they rode in on will boost that to ~8.
-McComas

Tips: Basic Missions

Cleanse-
Since opponents often lack mobility, I generally play to control the two adjacent quarters and contest my own. Anything mobile or that advances is shot and destroyed, while heavy weapons are generally let be.

My favorite tactic for this is to place a large piece of terrain in the center, and establish firing lines to the two adjacent quarters. Thus, the static units won't be able to see me (or I them), but anything wishing to claim quarters will be shot at mercilessly. Thus, they are forced to advance into my line of sight, while I can just pop a skimmer into the quarters at the end.

Secure and Control-
When placing loot counters, make sure they are all in the open. A slower opponent will then have to sit in the open when trying to procure them, while you can zoom over in the last instant to claim it.

As well, closer to you is better, if only because your opponent has to go further to claim it. Play offensively when placing, making him deploy his counters in better spots for you by covering the good spots by the 12" exclusion zone.

Again, getting firelines to the loot counters and the area surrounding them will make it easier to claim them by popping forward, while making it harder to kill you. Use your ability to quickly snatch counters to your advantage.

Seek and Destroy- I play this defensively, picking one or two high point units of my enemy and making sure they die. Remember, you only need to destroy 800 points more of their army to get a Victorius slaughter. Thus, I find quickly descending upon 3 or four of their most expensive units (Landraider, Terminator, HQ, Tanks) with Falcons and aspect warriors can net me enough effect to then retreat and hide as it become progressively harder to get easy points.

An Ironic part about Seek and Destroy is that for survivability, the things that tend to run at you also are easier to destroy. Thus, a squad of bikers that turboboost right next to you also can get destroyed easily enough.

Once I feel confident with the amount I'm winning by I usually either completely hide or let my Falcons take potshots at exposed flanks.

Enemy Lines- This one is incredibly easy to win, though harder to get a Victorius Slaughter. Last turn you can turboboost your skimmers to the other side, getting you 500+ victory points with no effort (My force could actually pull a good 1100 in a 1750 pt game.)

Thus, if you blow up their fast stuff this is perhaps the easiest mission.

Take and Hold- This one is played very similarly to Enemy lines and Loot counters. Set up LOS to the center of the board. Force your enemy to go their, and then shoot them when they arive.

One of the best ways to do this is last turn boost in with your skimmers and aspects and shoot with them. Even if you never fire a shot with your falcons, Firedragons, Waveserpents and Vypers for the rest of the game, you should be able to remove scoring unit status from a lot of stuff there, and you are pretty safe.

General Tips for missions

Note that rarely, if ever, is it worth it to blow up the static stuff that sits in the deployment zone. Indeed, except seek and destroy, you can achieve a victorius slaughter without a single shot being fired (theoretically- in practice firing shots is a good way to stop them from achieving objectives).

The easiest way to win a game is through the objectives. A lot of people don't realize that, and when you solely contest all three loot counters and get a victorius slaughter without knocking out 2/3 of their army and suffering much heavier losses, some opponents have a tendency to be surprised. If your opponent is like that, be sure to surprise them.
-Interpretivechaos

Thank you to all the posters who shared their tactical knowledge as well as Interpretivechaos who compiled it all for us to share.

Lazarus.

[Algavinn of the Many Paths]

I don't have full time to run over this now, but it looks great laz.  After any public critique lets get it put in the eldar project forum, as it is now a dedicated eldar tactica.  I'll add my own comments when i get to work.  Thanks for putting this together inter, and laz.


It looks great guys, i even spent some time reanalyzing my anti MEQ list and decided a few things which i think makes my army much more efficient and let me take advantage of the best aspects of the eldar army.  Those namely being;

If a unit does not threaten you, ignore it, avoid it, use your superior mobility and specialization to attack it when it suits YOU.  do not frontal assault, take targets on your terms and the lesser of the threatening targets can be left untill the terminators and raptor squads are dead. 

I love getting a new perspective and chaning how i run things.  Lets you know that no matter how long you play you can learn better methods.

[interpretivechaos]

I'm glad it has been helpful, even to more veteran players.

A lot of the stuff I "knew" and promptly marginalized- for example the point that sucess should be aranged that it is a statistical probability. When I made my current list, I forgot for example that I had placed anti-tank components merely to ensure that enemy armor would be damaged each turn and unable to shoot. To designate both shots (two TL Brightlances) on the same target let me plan my movement on the tank being unable to fire.

All in all it was a pretty good refresher when I read them over.

[Seth the Dark]

I would like to add my two cents by saying that this is very helpful. I will be participating in a tournament at the end of the month and will plan to include these tips when re-arranging my Biel-Tan force. Last time around I finished 4th out of 9 and I only won 1 game. This time around I plan on getting into the top 3.

[Algavinn of the Many Paths]

It's these kinds of comments that makes me wish tacticas and other articles could be put on the front page faster, but they indeed must be given enough face time to be absorbed into the community.

[Xodiac]

Excellent article. I've started looking over my list already after this - removing the fat, thinking who does what.

I've never really had great tactics and I learned a lot from this article. I've printed it out so I can re-read it a couple of times. I'm sure there's much more I can learn, but this is a good start.

[Seth the Dark]

I can verify the "Feint" tactic. I managed to pull this one on a Black Legion player with my Biel-Tan list. I placed my two Wave Serpents on one side with my two Falcons on the right side. On the left side I placed two units of Guardians along with my Scorpions and Farseer. His Daemon Prince spent the whole game going in a L shaped chase after my vehicles. The one bad thing about this tactic is that you can only use it once in a while against your regular since it will be easy to catch on.

[Redlion]

This is a must read to grasp basic ideas on tactics and strategy concerning 40k IMHO. It also has some advanced tactics/strategies as well, and it will give people that are new a lot of very good ideas to build/think on.

This is without a doubt the best post on overall tactics/strategy I've read to date, and I've read numerous. I especially like the way the chess part was intergrated into this article, that really shows how similar tactics and strategies can be used in this game.

Excellent post.

[Phantomime]

I just want to say 1 thing about maneuvers in general that include skimmers.

you live and die by terrain.

the same can be said for aspects too, but they can hide behind most terrain and deny LoS. skimmers, not so. you need Lv3 terrain even for the smallest vyper.

it comes to terrain placement.. where are those 2-4 bricks of lv3 terrain going to go? this is where 'tactics' starts. Learning to get terrain somewhere USEFUL. (ie in your deployment zone, and maybe even somewhere near the middle of the board!) If your opponent has any idea how hard to kill and evil your skimmers can be, you need to be on your toes to be sure that the only option left to you isnt to sit in your deployment zone and pray he's dumb enough to come too close, as there is no way fro you to relocate without taking 4+ lascannon blasts into your transports and main tanks before they even get to shoot (oh the joy of having to go first on top of it all! )

Yes people talk about target saturation but there are armies where that is simply a BAD idea. and if you are playing a list (dare I say most eldar lists) that abhores casualties, then getting your troops into position can be hell depending on what the board looks like and where you are deploying from. Keep in mind this isnt to say that its not a valid tactic, but timing (where your models are and where they they will be next turn), and reading your opponent (what is he afraid of losing, what damage does he/she know you have inflicted) are CRITICAL when doing this.

Ive read a fair few tactica's that deal with formations and movements and what not, but seriously, when you dont have terrain in the right places on the board, your job becomes harder to boarding on simply impossible.

I read a mech tau (fish of fury) tactica a while back that dealt well with this issue (im sorry, I dont have the link) to an extent - how to deal with 'Planet Bowling Ball' ie, the WORST case scenario where there are a couple sand bags in the middle, a tiny hill and not a lick of type 3 terrain in sight. Tau dont like this, but their basic weapons are decent at 30" which gives them flexibility and ranged shootyness with most of their army (duh). Eldar, on the other hand, tend to rely on ~10man guardian squads for hv weapons platform support (Im sorry, I HATE these units, and so Im stuck playing Biel-Tan), or vehicles for fire support. with no, or next to no, cover for vehicles, you have your work cut out for you.

What I would like to see is some simple advice about terrain placement, since it is CRITICAL for most eldar units and important in that it decides what kind of battle its going to be (slug fest, shooty, hide and seek, ect).

[Lazarus]

Terrain placement shall be covered later today. You are right in the fact that it is indeed important for players to know. (I'll do it at work lol) - unless someone beats me to it.

Lazarus.

[lobachevskii]

First off, there's a lot of good stuff here.

However, some of this bit is debatable:

Safe and Sound- Time Control before the Game Starts and the Choice of Going Second

If most of your army is hidden (or at least the skimmers are, as they should be), the first round will likely be a total waste for your slow moving opponent as he has nothing to shoot at with the bulk of his ranged weapons. You will in effect gain an extra turn on him.

Occasions when this should not be used is when your opponent has a sufficient threat to your hidden units (such as multiple basilisks and other guess weapons ready to blast your skimmers before they get skimmers moving fast), or when your opponent has a lot to loose if you strike first (For example against armies with static skimmers in line of sight, or a Rhino rush where stranding your opponent by destroying the Rhinos before they can drop smoke is a very good thing. Also, if you field a lot of vulnerable non-move shoot units (like dark reapers), or if the opponent is in a bad position that a turn of movement could fix, you may want to consider going first.

Going second is highly desirable as well against deepstriking and armies starting mostly in reserve, since it gives you an extra turn to shoot them once they arrive.

In missions with area-based objectives, use the last round of the game to turbo boost your army to each of the objectives. If you went second, your opponent will not be able to react, and the game will end with all his heavy weapons staring uselessly at your army.
-Srintaur

Specifically going second against a deepstriker.

Going second may gain you a bit of time shooting at the deepstrikers but it loses you time in which you can concentrate on the units which didn't deepstrike.

Defeat in detail is your aim against this sort of opponent.

However, a sane opponent will deploy a significant section of his army to cover his deepstrikers. Thus you need to clear away this section of his army before the deepstrikers arrive. The extra turn you gain by going first (assuming you will be able to attack the deployed force) can be vital.

[Lazarus]

Since most deepstriking armies want to go 2nd it only seems natural that you should take that away from them.

Obviously each game situation will be different and it is up to the player to analyze the situation and apply the right tactic.


Lazarus.

[srintuar]

Since most deepstriking armies want to go 2nd it only seems natural that you should take that away from them.

Obviously each game situation will be different and it is up to the player to analyze the situation and apply the right tactic.

The only reason not to go first is vs those armies that have nothing on the field, like an all drop pod army. He wants to
go second so he can rob you of two rounds.

If he leaves a nice little weak/expensive unit, yeah, go get it.


Another army that likes going second is necrons. the reason is that if they go first it robs them of a whole round of WBB rolls.
Definitely force the necrons to go first whenever you can.

[Lazarus]

Posted by: srintuar

The only reason not to go first is vs those armies that have nothing on the field, like an all drop pod army. He wants to
go second so he can rob you of two rounds.

If the enemy cannot see my forces then I will almost always go second. His first turn is likely wasted while my army will get the last say without fear of reprisal which is quite a big deal especially in a tournament game.

However, there are small exceptions where the opponent has carelessly deployed juicy targets that I just simply can't pass up.



Note: Terrain placemet added to article.



Lazarus.

[Seth the Dark]

What about the situations in which there are little to no viable pieces of terrain that you can hide behind? I have this problems at the tournaments that I go to.

[Lazarus]

sadly, this will happen from time to time.

In the event of poor terrain you will be forced to make choices as to what needs protection the most. (this will very from list to list)

You should also hope you go first (lol) 


There are certainly guidlines for the appropriate amount of terrain that should be on the table. Perhaps your club should work on making more so that the game can be played as it was meant to be played. 

Lazarus.

[srintuar]

What about the situations in which there are little to no viable pieces of terrain that you can hide behind? I have this problems at the tournaments that I go to.

If you play on wide open maps with no cover, you absolutely need first turn or the game is over.

I have generally insisted upon 25% terrain, just like the BGB says there should be, so this has not been
a problem for me.

[Xodiac]

When you talked about each unit having a job and no fat, do you mean getting rid of multi-tasking? e.g. Giving a fire dragon exarch Burning Fists "just in case they get assaulted".

Do you decide what a unit's job is in general as in the scorpions are in my army to deal with tanks or hordes, or when you take the field do you decide "The scorpions' job is get THAT tank"? Maybe you do both. I tend to do the first but when a battle comes just see what comes my may. I don't think that is a good strategy.

I don't read the other codecies much and don't know all the ins and outs of other armies. Is it beyond the scope of your article to give general advice for each opposition, or their most common configurations?

Will this article be going over to the Eldar projects? I'm more than happy to spelling / grammar fix it, but I can't here. (There aren't many, it's very well written)

[Lazarus]

Posted by: Xodiac

When you talked about each unit having a job and no fat, do you mean getting rid of multi-tasking? e.g. Giving a fire dragon exarch Burning Fists "just in case they get assaulted".

For the most part but there are exceptions. In your above example it is highly likely that the fire draogns will end up in close combat at some point. Burning fist is not a bad option if you have already fulfilled your other needs in the list. 
I usually won't take it only because I simply do not have the points to do it....sometimes not even the points to put the exarch in the squad.

Do you decide what a unit's job is in general as in the scorpions are in my army to deal with tanks or hordes, or when you take the field do you decide "The scorpions' job is get THAT tank"? Maybe you do both. I tend to do the first but when a battle comes just see what comes my may. I don't think that is a good strategy.

Eldar are an army of specialists. However, any time that you have a unit that can be used for multiple roles you should keep their flexibility in mind. Obviously your scorpions main role would be close combat but they can also deal with a tank if given the opportunity which may free up a dedicated anti-tank unit to choose another target. This is decided on a case by case basis as opportunity presents itself. The claw is such an automatic upgrade on the exarch for this very reason (versatility).

I don't read the other codecies much and don't know all the ins and outs of other armies. Is it beyond the scope of your article to give general advice for each opposition, or their most common configurations?

I believe there are already articles dealing with individual army lists. However, I'm sure we can add to this as time goes by. As far as going beyond scope it went waaay beyond what I was originally writting about. 
Too much good stuff was added and we were forced into a mucg bigger tactica covering a multitude of subjects. Overall, an excellent article I think. 

Will this article be going over to the Eldar projects? I'm more than happy to spelling / grammar fix it, but I can't here. (There aren't many, it's very well written)

I certainly hope something happens with it. If you have some pull there and want to do something with it fell free to copy / paste and start editing. I'm sure as a community project no one will have a problem with their contributions ending up helping others on a different board.

Lazarus.