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Author Topic: The Cry of Wind and Death - Phoenix Lord Competition  (Read 1172 times)

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Offline Ciliano

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The Cry of Wind and Death - Phoenix Lord Competition
« on: August 24, 2015, 03:41:23 PM »
Thus, to take a long and circuitous route, after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him, to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation. (Sunzi VII, 4)


Living Legends: Eldar
***************  1 HQ *************** 
Baharroth

Heroes of the Craftworlds: Eldar
***************  1 HQ *************** 
Autarch, Swooping Hawk Wings, Banshee Mask
+ 1 x Fusion Gun, Shard of Anaris
 - - - > 140 Pts.

Guardian Stormhost: Eldar
***************  1 HQ *************** 
Farseer
+ Shuriken Pistol, Singing Spear, Spirit Stones of Anath'lan
 - - - > 120 Pts.

***************  3 Troops *************** 
10 Guardians, 2 x Flamer, 2 x Power Swords
 - - - > 90 Pts.

10 Guardians, 2 x Fusion Guns, 2 x Power Swords
+ Warlock, Singing Spear
 - - - > 130 Pts.

10 Guardians, 2 x Fusion Guns, 2 x Power Swords
+ Warlock, Singing Spear
 - - - > 130 Pts.

***************  1 Fast Attack *************** 
2 Vypers, 4 x Shuriken Cannons
 - - - > 100 Pts.

***************  2 Heavy Support *************** 
2 War Walkers, 4 x Bright Lances
 - - - > 140 Pts.

1 Support Battery, 1 x D-Cannon
 - - - > 55 Pts.

Aspect Host: Eldar
***************  1 Elite *************** 
8 Banshees, Exarch, Executioner
 - - - > 124 Pts.

***************  2 Fast Attack *************** 
8 Swooping Hawks, Exarch, Sunrifle
 - - - > 153 Pts.

8 Swooping Hawks, Exarch, Hawks Talon
 - - - > 148 Pts.

Total: 1500 Pts.

Overview: Hello, throwing my hat in the ring as well this time. Obviously, a list including Baharroth will not support the high-voltage pressure, neither did I intend to mitigate the list's weaknesses with recruiting some of the more obscene unit choices. So I went to create an army which has its strong points around speed and maneuverability. Besides jetbikes and vehicles of all kind, two aspects stick out in the comparison of Eldar units: Swooping Hawks and Banshees. I hear you screaming: "Warp Spiders!" and it's true. However, I decided to sport at least a bit of power in the melee combats, because I opted to run the Guardian Stormhost for two reasons:

1.)
Speed - being the absolute critical centrepiece of this army - has to be maxed out as far as possible. Yesterday I had a glorious battle vs. Chaos Daemons, where I could run my War Walkers and the Seer Council nine inches, the latter one gating around the battlefield as well. The fluidity of a composition around speed goes best with units, which derive some of their inherent strengths from that aspect. So instead of the somewhat more flexible CAD, I decided to field an all-out Eldar Warhost which does hurt me in maelstrom missions, indeed, but benefits almost all of the units immensely, being such fragile warriors.

2.) Sensibility of the composition. There is a certain aspect of continuity through the fixed backbone of an Eldar army, which I like. Sure, it's a game and you are free to field whatever you desire, but I ask myself almost always when building a list, if the army can be viewed as a (halfway) accurate depiction of an Eldar force of some kind - there is a huge variance as well after all, which I don't deny, just not the gameplay-orientated armies for me, please. I'm not very fond of the Farseer being an auto-include in the Guardian Hosts (especially because I want an Autarch who combines the two aspects within himself), but in this case I'm desperately in the need of Doom.

Using the force: Baharroth and the Autarch both accompany the unit with the sunrifled Exarch. Both units of Hawks skyleap in turn one in order to deepstrike in turn two. All units of Guardians press forward depending on the cover and preferably on one flank, the Banshees as well. The three Vypers act as a light screen/decoy to guarantee the "safe" passage for the four units of light infantry in turn one. War Walkers and D-Cannon move as well towards the flank attacked from the Guardians but naturally a bit behind them. From turn two it's a matter of terrain, maneuverability of your as well as your opponents force and toughness of your opponents' units. Of course, if there is an exotic mission to be played, one has to invest some time to plan accordingly.

Alternatives: The Banshees cost the exact same points like six Warp Spiders with Exarch. I could swap them out but I want to give the Banshees a try and practice with the melee whirlwind of sorrows. They are a very interesting choice for relatively low budget and compliment nicely the utter defenselessness of the Hawks in close combat while being absolutely mobile.

Do you have criticism, feedback, cookies? Feel free to comment here :) Thanks in advance!


He who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven. (Sunzi IV, 7 - Chiasmus there!)
« Last Edit: August 28, 2015, 08:20:10 PM by Ciliano »

Offline dog_of_war

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Re: The Cry of Wind and Death - Phoenix Lord Competition
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2015, 10:08:15 PM »
I like where you are going with this. There are only a few tweaks I might suggest.

1. The jetbike farseer seems out of place. Being the lone bike in the army may make him an easy target unless he's joining a unit on foot, then his jetbike only gives him and extra toughness and none of the other benefits of speed, range, jinking, etc... I may consider dropping the bike and throwing him with the storm guardians or with a larger support battery or keep the bike and switch to a windrider host. I'd prefer keeping the storm host myself, as it fits with your quick, footdar style list composition that your banshees and hawks emulate.

2. power weapon and shard seems redundant, as you can only use one in close combat. The shard is far superior and you can keep the pistol just to add the extra attack. Saves you 15 points.

3. Think about adding either warlocks into the storm guardians or finding points for an avatar. Those storm guardians need as much buffing as they can get and don't get the re-roll benefits the aspects get from the host for those all important tests.

Offline Ciliano

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Re: The Cry of Wind and Death - Phoenix Lord Competition
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2015, 04:40:46 PM »
Hello, dog_of_war,

thank you for reply and ideas. Ironically, someone else advises me to field the Farseer without the Jetbike - but you are absolutely right. I had no clear-cut plan in my mind, hence the bike reflex. I think he might work best in the Fusion Gun squad bringing the Singing Spear along with a Warlock also equipped with a Spear. With your points I could save the points for the Power Axe, the Jetbike and apart from that maybe one Vyper and invest in a Warlock (with Spear), three Storm Guardians and another Banshee, if I haven't miscalculated. How would that sound? Looking forward to other opinions as well :) Cheers!

Offline dog_of_war

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Re: The Cry of Wind and Death - Phoenix Lord Competition
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2015, 10:49:22 PM »
I'd drop the power axe on the autarch, drop the jetbike on the farseer and the stones, as you want him to keep the save on his rune armour, especially since he's going to be on foot with the troops. I'd switch all the flamers for fusion guns to take advantage of the free upgrades and add a warlock to 2 of 3 storm guardian units, the farseer going with the third unit. Skip the spears on the warlock as they have 2 fusion guns per unit now. I'd also switch your D-cannon for 2 shadow weavers, they have much better range and since you are getting more fusion guns, you can deal with the armour/high T up close and the shadow weavers can take care of the hordes that your flamers would have done. You have the same effective range with the storm guardians battle focus, as you would with the Dcannon anyways. And I would drop the extra shuriken cannons on each of the vypers instead of dropping one vyper all together. With the switches it should all work out to the same points.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2015, 10:51:18 PM by dog_of_war »

Offline Ciliano

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Re: The Cry of Wind and Death - Phoenix Lord Competition
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2015, 08:26:46 PM »
Alright, thanks again for the detailed input :) I have adjusted the list slightly in respect to some but not all of your ideas. Mainly - the D-Cannon instead of the Weavers because I don't intend to use artillery too much here if it's more than a bit of area denial. Secondly, I could not get over the Spirit Stone on the Farseer, it's a very powerful tool which can influence the whole battle under some circumstances. The loss of the invulnerable save is huge, but in an unit of shrouded Guardians I think it's halfway reasonable to bank on a fairly decent chance of using the stones effectively.

 


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