I miscalculated the points of the hawks (again) and actually had 7 more points so with these and dropping the AML on the reaper exarch I could fit Eldrad. While Eldrad is old and slow, I can potentially cast quicken on him to get him where he needs to be.
While will of asuryan is easy to cast, I don't think I will need it that much for morale, nor have I had any concern other than range for denying the witches.
Guide is of course also of little use just as fortune, so there is only Mind War left, and it can under the right circumstances be deadly, even though I don't have any LD de-buffs.
I also noted that the Ulthwé attribute is not entirely wasted on eldrad, because the ghosthelm does not work against normal wounds AFAIK.
EDIT: I've also reconsidered the deployment, since I am likely to go second (even if I managed to cease in both my games so far)
I will try to deploy something like this:
______________<-fray/front
BBbBBBBBqQQQQQ
B
WS SsS
WS Q
B
WS WEA
WS q
GGGGGGPGGGG
|<-less than 9" between guardians and table edge to prevent drops.
|__________<-table edge
B = howling banshee
b = howling banshee exarch
Q = Storm guardians
q = storm guardians with flamers
WS
WS = Wave serpent
S = Shining spear
s = Shining spear exarch
W = warlock
E = Eldrad
A = Autarch
G = Guardian
P = anti-grav platform
One serpent contains Fire dragons and Avengers while the other contains reapers and avengers, the remaining units will arrive turn one by various means. This should give me 9 units on the table (not counting the embarked 5 units) and 6 units in reserves.
Thoughts?
Edit: I've redone the list a bit, got a normal farseer now, and the Autarch will be on foot with only the F-wing. I went for spiritseer because it has normal smite and has more wounds. I also do not think the seer council stratagem is worth it without more psykers or other buffs in the list.
Reapers have been joined to benefit from forewarned, while the walkers have been split up so the wounds they receive won't spill over, they still et the same buff when staying close to the Autarch, I also get the possibility of outflanking one or two of them instead of all or nothing. You might also have noticed I managed to cram in a third war walker.
The 11th ranger is just a points filler, so if you have any ideas of where else to put them, please tell.
I'd also like to point out some neat combos that can be done with this list:
Doom from the black guardians:Guardians can deploy through the webway, arriving in nice rang of a target, preferrably a doomed target, then make them hit on 2+ with the stratagem. If the Autarch can join in, they will land even more hits. (that's 7 dead MEQ not counting the cannon)
When retaliated upon they can then cast a celestial shield, which in combination with the Ulthwé 6+++ makes them quite sturdy.
Banshee pummeling:If the spiritseer manages to cast quicken on them, they are likely to make a first turn charge, 16 +2D6 +2d6+3 = 33". This will allow shining spears and/or scorpions to join in unmolested from overwatch. In some cases it might be neat to just have the warp spiders join them, this way removing models from the back of the unit can be prevented if they can get into a pincher formation. Banshees are also a great target for the feigned retreat, should say the scorpions fail to join them in melee.
Not so invulnerable:If facing a unit who's main defence is invulnerable saves, which makes a lot of eldars penetrating nature of weapons useless. Say necron wraiths, seer council, harlequins, chaos daemons etc.
Except for using snipers, serpent shield and smite, I can just throw in the scorpions and the hawks.
Both these units can deal mortal wounds, and can then stack a bunch of AP0 wounds on them.
Tanks are not welcome:The main anti-tank is actually the fire dragons, they should be able to smoke any vehicle in range, they will of course be backed up from the walkers, but walkers tend to not survive past turn 2, neither does the fire dragons once they are out of their serpent.
This is why fire dragons and shining spears need to get into a canon rhythm, with fire dragons smoking the transport and the spears attacking the contents,or simply finishing off a vehicle or monster. Dark reapers can of course join the party but their main target should be multiwound units, anti-tank or anti-monster is secondary.
I'm currently considering Will of Asuryan over Executioner though, as it can help the reapers which the farseer should stay close to anyway, or even the guardians. It could also be good for achieving a couple of the tactical objectives.
