Topic: Tentative 1500 pt. Mech Army for tournies

[vladmech]

Hey all, just wanted to get your thoughts on an Eldar army I'm trying to refine.  I just started Eldar recently and have lost most of the games I've played so far due to being in the I.G. mentality of brute forcing, which just doesn't work for my frail little space elves

This new army is more in the style of "deploy in cover, check out their side, jet everyone over to one area to exploit a weakness."  So without further ado, here is my current list:

(108) Farseer on a jetbike with Eldritch Storm & Singing Spear

(76) 3 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 Shuricannon
(76) 3 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 Shuricannon

(108) 9 Dire Avengers
(135) Waveserpent w/TL Shuricannon, underslung Shuricannon.  Star Engines & Spirit Stones
(96) 8 Dire Avengers
(135) Waveserpent w/TL Shuricannon, underslung Shuricannon.  Star Engines & Spirit Stones

(176) 8 Harliquins w/Kisses
(135) (135) Waveserpent w/TL Shuricannon, underslung Shuricannon.  Star Engines & Spirit Stones

(175) Fireprism w/Holo-Field, Star Engines, Spirit Stones
(175) Fireprism w/Holo-Field, Star Engines, Spirit Stones

(105) 5 Swooping Hawks

(1500 points exactly)
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Thoughts behind the army:
Farseer- Mobile, cheap, Storm can decimate weaker units or flip a tank around to expose side or rear armor.  Has the spear because I had 3 points left over.

Guardian Jetbikes- Fast scoring units.  In most games would probably keep them back and then zip out in the last turn or two to claim objectives.  Can pop out and shoot units from cover in relative safety.

Dire Avengers in Waveserpents- Firebase.  Will travel together, hop out and unleash on same or close together units.

Harliquins in Waveserpent- CC as needed.  Can deploy on the far side of cover, sit in there, and then disembark and flip through cover on the next turn.  Potential 18" charge through the cover.

Fireprisms-  The workhorses.  Will try to stay far back, keeping minimal enemy units in view at one time.

Swooping Hawks-  Anti-tank role.  Deepstrike them in then mess up enemy vehicles in the back of their deployment.

Played a trial game against orks last night and everything went off pretty smoothly.  There was enough terrain to deploy all my tanks in reletive safety, orks took the first turn, then on my first turn used star engines to fly everyone over to one side of the table.  Only had to deal with 1/3 to 1/2 of his army at a time.

Can anyone offer any insight or suggestions?  I feel like I am a bit light on the anti-tank.  Maybe should scrap up some points and get a bright-lance or two in here?  Thanks for any help/ideas!

[Ragnarog]

you could change one unit of dire avengers to fire prism and mount them in a falcon. Also adding a warloch to the jetbikes with a singing spear gives you good anti armour.

I would drop the swooping hawks or find points to get a farseer with skyleap to make em worthwhile.. otherwise with the points gained if you drop em, you could get vypers with brightlances or something like that.

[uniqueness]

are you sure harlequins can go in a wave sperpent... cause iv been to 3 local GW and asked the people and they all say you cant because its a dedicated transport to those with the transport description on their profiles. iv also phone GW help line for rules clarification and they say that exact same thing...do most people fallow this because the local GWs are strict on rules.

[Ragnarog]

Ah, missed the wave-serpent part. No, it is not possible to take a wave serpent of it is not an option for dedicated transport, better exchange it for a falcon, also good anti tank!

[vladmech]

are you sure harlequins can go in a wave sperpent... cause iv been to 3 local GW and asked the people and they all say you cant because its a dedicated transport to those with the transport description on their profiles. iv also phone GW help line for rules clarification and they say that exact same thing...do most people fallow this because the local GWs are strict on rules.

Well crud, that craps on my plans a little bit.

What about dropping to 6, put them in a Falcon instead, perhaps with a Brightlance for some anti-armor.  The 44 less points there should cover the increase in cost, hopefully.

I like having 2 units of Dire Avengers just to have a bit of redundency on shooting, but perhaps dropping the Swooping Hawks for a unit of Fire Dragons or to add the Warlocks with spears would be good.  I do definitely feel like I'm a bit light on anti-armor.

[Mordekiem]

I think your plans for the hawks need to be more thought out.  I'd drop them and get the harlies a falcon.  No lance, though.  stick with the scatter laser on it.

After that you should have a few more points to fill out those avenger squads.  Get them up to 10 and get an exarch with bladestorm.  When you do hop out you want to unleash ceartain death.

I'd also drop the star engines on the prisms to take care of those avengers.  I am not even convinced the avenger serpents need them, either.  You are not trying to get into CC ASAP so 24" should be plenty of movement.  I am also a huge advocate of shuricannons on prisms.  It works well with the prism cannon and gives you an ofensive and defensive weapon.

I'd give the farseer a usefull power like doom or guide.  Maybe even both with spirit stones.  I have found that to be a brutal combo.  You don't need to harass light infantry.  You have a ton of other stuff to do that.  Spear is very good though.  Keep it.

If you do find yourself wanting more anti-tank consider EMLs for the serpents.

[Deadspace]

are you sure harlequins can go in a wave sperpent... cause iv been to 3 local GW and asked the people and they all say you cant because its a dedicated transport to those with the transport description on their profiles. iv also phone GW help line for rules clarification and they say that exact same thing...do most people fallow this because the local GWs are strict on rules.

Well crud, that craps on my plans a little bit.

What about dropping to 6, put them in a Falcon instead, perhaps with a Brightlance for some anti-armor.  The 44 less points there should cover the increase in cost, hopefully.

I like having 2 units of Dire Avengers just to have a bit of redundency on shooting, but perhaps dropping the Swooping Hawks for a unit of Fire Dragons or to add the Warlocks with spears would be good.  I do definitely feel like I'm a bit light on anti-armor.

Please don't give the Falcon a Brightlance.  Scatter Laser or Starcannon, or Shuriken if you're feeling cheap, but please, a 'lance or EML is just wasted points.

I would also consider swapping Eldritch Storm on your Farseer for Doom.  It will really help out your Avenger squads.

::edit:: bah, Mordekeim beat me to my own thoughts.

[vladmech]

What about something like this:

Farseer on bike, singing speer, doom


3 Guardian Jetbikes w/Shuricannon
3 Guardian Jetbikes w/Shuricannon
3 Guardian Jetbikes w/Shuricannon

9 Dire Avengers
Waveserpent w/TL Brightlance, Star Engines, Spirit Stones
9 Dire Avengers
Waveserpent w/TL Brightlance, Star Engines, Spirit Stones

Fireprism w/Holofield & Spirit Stones
Fireprism w/Holofield & Spirit Stones

Falcon w/Holofield, Spirit Stones, Star Engine

6 Fire Dragons (In falcon)


Considering dropping CC completely, go for a shooty army that manuevers around the enemy, never getting too close.  Third unit of jetbikes gives me more zippy objective capturers.  Switching to brightlances on the waveserpents and adding fire dragons gives a much needed boost in anti-tank.

[Satanic Joker Jester]

dont think you need star engines on the falcon..i'd go for vectored instead, just incase u get popped you dont want your firedragons getting messed up, otherwise not a bad list, i like it.  actually, its just about identical to my 1k list...except you expanded my list to 1500 and added 2 dire avenger squads,

 my seer has fortune but rest is just about the same.. lol cool, good luck with it.

[vladmech]

Played vs a 'Nid army today and mopped the floor with him.  I've been trying to play Eldar like my IG and apparently they just dont have the staying power of a line of Leman Russ's

Played a lot more defensivly this time.  It was a 'take-n-hold' mission so we deployed along the long edges.  He was pretty well spread out along the line, so on my first turn I just shuffled everything down toward the right and was able to concentrate firepower and just work my way down his line.

[CheeEEEse]

That second list has a LOT of anti-tank for 1500 points.  2 TL Brightlances, 2 Prism cannons, a Singing Spear and a squad of FD.  I don't think you need both (or either) of the Lances.  What weaponry did you pick for the Falcon?

Also, don't blindly switch out Eldritch Storm, while I do prefer Doom, some people really like Eldritch Storm because you can spin vehicles with it, which can reduce the amount of AT weaponry you need.  Plus, ES has a secondary use against (very) light infantry.

I actually think your first list wasn't too bad, sure Harlies can't have a WS, but that's easy to fix.  If you want to give them a Falcon, keep in mind that some opponents might frown at you fielding 3 Holofielded tanks in anything below ~2k points.  Usually people don't complain as much about Prisms, but be prepared for it.  The Hawks are a fine anti-tank unit, but to make them a universal vehicle hunting unit think about fitting an exarch with intercept in there, then the mirror match and mech Tau will be a little easier.

The only other thing I would say is that for tank hunting duties, I prefer to not Deep Strike Hawks.  You take the risks of Deep Strike without any real benefit since they have jump packs and FoF.  I usually place them behind cover and then use their 12" move + FoF to try to get up close without losing the unit.  You should be able to position yourself for a charge on a juicy target by turn 2, 3 at the latest.  But if you rely on reserves rolls you only have a 50% chance to charge on turn 3 and an 83% chance on turn 4.