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Author Topic: 1850 Windriders CAD  (Read 3529 times)

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Offline spunkybass

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1850 Windriders CAD
« on: June 21, 2016, 09:51:58 PM »
Hi I'm coming back to 40k after more than a year, and have yet to try the current Eldar codex (had to put hobby on hold a few days after I bought the codex). The list below is really ported from one of my favorite lists from the previous codex, which was a really successful army. What's new compared to my old lists are: Hemlock, Dark Reapers, scatter jetbikes (obviously). Feedback welcome.

Eldar Craftworld
CAD
HQ:
Farseer - jetbike, singing spear
TROOPS:
5 jetbikes - 3 scatter lasers
5 jetbikes - 3 scatter lasers
4 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannon
4 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannon
FAST ATTACK:
6 Swooping Hawks, w Exarch
Hemlock Wraithfighter
HEAVY SUPPORT:
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
FORMATION: ASPECT HOST
8 Warp Spiders - Exarch w twin spinner
5 Fire Dragons w Exarch
Wave Serpent - scatter laser, shuriken cannon
7 Dark Reapers  w Exarch - starshot missiles
Wave Serpent - scatter laser, shuriken cannon
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Offline haunt

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2016, 08:08:50 AM »
Just a curiosity, why give the Serpents a chin-cannon and only 2 cannons on the last 2 jetbikes? IMHO, those would be almost-useless, when the main weapon has a better range. The Reapers should be on the board and in front of them are the Warp Spiders or surrounded by them.

So, where are you going to hide the farseer?  ;D
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Offline bicuspid valve

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2016, 11:50:54 AM »
Yeah, the non-heavy weapon jetbikes confused me too, I know some people like to take them as meat shields but it makes them unlikely to get to shoot for the whole game. Personally, I would prefer 3 cannons to 2 cannons and 2 catapults, given that any serious shooting at them is already likely to either wipe them out entirely or send them skittering off the board, which is quite likely given their leadership and fall back distance. Generally the best way to keep them alive is to jump out from cover, shoot something and then assault move back into cover, if your opponent can't see them then they don't need to be tanky.

I would concur on the point of the reapers as well, in my (limited) experience their long range coupled with their ability to move and shoot means they are rarely out of things to shoot at, and therefore any turns spent in a wave serpent are just turns spent not shooting, although in fairness, also not getting shot at.

I'm not sure about the Hemlock either, I have never used one personally, but I have used the crimson hunter, and I feel that the crimson hunter (which is cheaper than the hemlock) is too expensive and fragile to be used on its own without good anti-air and/or reserve shenanigans.

Apart from that I do like the list, you have good long range firepower from the jetbikes, reapers and tanks, and the hawks, spiders and fire dragons can cause serious pain for whatever they land next to. Farseer (I assume with jetbikes) can sit around and buff whatever needs buffing.

Offline magenb

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2016, 05:33:54 PM »
Hawks used to be a good anti-tank/AA option but now you can only use 1 gren, so really they are only good against low T armies now.

You may want to check out the death from the skies supplement as flyers have changed a bit. 



How have you found the Fire Prisms? Every time I use them, they seem to do very little.

Offline bicuspid valve

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2016, 06:00:20 PM »
I know that they can only throw one grenade per unit (in the shooting phase), but I thought that each model in the unit could use a grenade when assaulting?

Edit: Just checked FAQ, turns out you can throw one grenade per shooting phase per unit, and attack with one grenade per assault phase per unit. That means two grenades per turn from the hawks, which is not bad but still a lot worse than they used to be. And I agree that it does somewhat worsen their role as an anti-tank unit, if not removing it entirely.

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« Last Edit: June 22, 2016, 06:21:55 PM by bicuspid valve »

Offline spunkybass

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2016, 11:17:03 PM »
Thanks for the feedback guys. Some good thoughts there and made me think a bit more about the list.

First off, the strange thing about the heavy weapons on the bikes and the chin-cannon on the Serpents is because those are the models I have. Reading your feedback reminded me that I have 6 shuriken cannon bits from the scatter bikes - now I can upgrade 6 more bikes!

The Dark Reapers are not meant to ride the Serpent. I just wanted an additional Serpent so that I have a minimum of 4 AV12 skimmer tanks for the enemy to think about. Of course, I could just take the Serpent as a Fast Attack choice too.

The Hawks - yeah the draft FAQ downgraded their anti-tank like crazy. However, they are still pretty good anti-flyer, as in RAW, Intercept attacks are not specifically grenade attacks. Of course, this might get FAQ'd itself. We'll see. They are a doubtful actually, though one of my favorite units.

I've been using Prisms a lot in the past, and I find them versatile. Able to take out hordes, MEQ and tanks at long range. Taking them in squadrons doesn't look like a good idea though, as I want to be able to maximize the flexibility of the tanks.

This is the first time I'm using the Hemlock (crazy expensive in points), so if you guys can share your experience with this aircraft I'm all ears. In the past I've been using the Crimson Hunter with Exarch, and they really rule the skies. They got even better with the new Death From the Skies rules - they can practically turn 270 degrees! But I think I got AA covered between my Reapers and my Hawks (the meta here has very little aircraft, except for my AirCav), and the Hemlock will be out tank, heavy infantry and monster hunting (psychic shriek), as well as helping non-fearless enemy troops run away.

What are your thoughts on Spirit Stone of Anath'lan? Something I overlooked, and for its cheap points cost, I think I might just take it.
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Offline bicuspid valve

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2016, 03:29:11 AM »
I like the spirit stone a lot, I tend to take it whenever I can squeeze the points in as it can make 2-cost abilities so much easier to cast, and means that a lone farseer actually has decent odds of casting something like eldritch storm (especially if you use runes of the farseer). The only problem with it is the increased vulnerability of the farseer after using it, but the armour save from the jetbike helps a lot with this, and you can always make him jink if you have too, as I believe jinking does not affect non-witchfire psychic powers.

Offline spunkybass

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2016, 03:52:42 AM »
Thanks again. I'll be trying out the Stones.

I've also worked out a version of the list with an MSU approach, giving me 6 squads: 3 scats, 3 scats, 3 shruicannon, 3 shuricannon, and the remaining 2 squads with 2 shuricannon each. Looks pretty cool, though I'm not used to MSU - I guess playing horde IG rubs off on me
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Offline spunkybass

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2016, 12:12:35 AM »
Thanks guys, after incorporating some of the feedback here, I had my first game in 15 months last weekend. The list I ended up with:

Craftworld Eldar CAD
HQ:
Farseer - jetbike, singing spear, spirit stone of Anath'lan
TROOPS:
6 jetbikes - 6 scatter (originally this was in 2 squads, but last minute I decided to try one big squad)
3 jetbikes - 3 shuriken cannon
3 jetbikes - 3 shuriken cannon
3 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannon
3 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannon
FAST ATTACK:
6 Swooping Hawks
Hemlock
HEAVY SUPPORT:
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
Falcon
ASPECT HOST:
8 Warp Spiders
5 Fire Dragons
7 Dark Reapers

Played against a bug list that had a Heriophant and flying Tyrants.

I made a lot of nube mistakes, but Eldar won 12-10 in a Deadlock mission. One of the things I want to fix with the list is to use only MSU jetbike squads.

The list is super fast and has tons of firepower. Amazing. My losses were heavy, but I think as I get back into the game I'll make less nube mistakes.

I'm not sure of the Fire Dragons. Then again, there were no tanks to shoot at.

I am considering swapping the Dragons and Falcon and 1 Dark Reaper warrior for 2 bright-lance Wave Serpents and a warlock on jetbike.
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Offline magenb

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2016, 04:54:45 PM »
I wouldn't really drop a squad of Fire Dragons for 2 waves with BL, especially when you are not needing the transport capacity. While Twin-Linked BL will generally hit, in most cases you are looking at a 50% chance of doing nothing to the tank. This will force you to direct more of your other units towards taking out that tank with 3-4 HP.



Offline bicuspid valve

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2016, 05:39:47 PM »
Yeah, I'm not sure about the wave serpents either, I think since the reduction in long-term dakka from serpent shield they are only really viable as transports. Also the Warlock, I occasionally run craftworld warhost lists with a single jetlock so that I can have the jetbike formation. However, while I consider him a tax worth paying, and a useful psychic battery, he would not be worth it otherwise. You could put him in a jetbike squad, which would up his usefulness considerably, but I still don't feel that a jetlock would be as useful as two more scatterbikes, which are nearly the same price. This is especially true when given the very small unit sizes, meaning that he would be unable to buff many bikes at once.

Offline spunkybass

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #11 on: June 28, 2016, 10:44:50 PM »
Yes, I see the point about the jetlock. My old armies had large squads, which make their buffs worth it. I still have the problem of transporting the Fire Dragons though. While I've always loved the Falcon as an all-round gunship, the Serpent is cheaper, and is arguably a better transport since it's much harder to stun or shake it. Here's the list now. Looks almost like the original actually:

HQ:
Farseer - singing spear, jetbike, spirit stones of Anath'lan
TROOPS:
3 jetbikes - 3 scatter lasers
3 jetbikes - 3 scatter lasers
3 jetbikes - 3 shuriken cannons
3 jetbikes - 3 shuriken cannons
3 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannons
3 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannons
FAST ATTACK:
6 Swooping Hawks w Exarch
Hemlock
HEAVY SUPPORT:
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
ASPECT HOST:
8 Warp Spiders w Exarch
5 Fire Dragons w Exarch
Wave Serpent - chin shuriken cannon, turret scatter laser/bright lance (haven't quite decided, weapons are magnetized though)
8 Dark Reapers w Exarch and krak missiles

That's accomodating the models I already own. I might consider buying more jetbikes and swapping Reapers for jetbikes later.
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Offline spunkybass

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Re: 1850 Windriders CAD
« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2016, 05:54:50 AM »
Sorry for late update. I managed to try this list against one of those fancy Space Marine formations with free transports, coordinated drop pods (so sorry, I really don't remember what all these formations are called), and the Eldar totally dominated the battlefield, tabling the opponent in 4 turns. In another game vs Nids, this list was also deadly, winning in 4 turns too.

I think I need more games in, as I've yet to meet Tau and Knight-heavy armies, or armies with lots of heavy tanks. But so far, the list is performing like very well. The speed allows me to focus firepower on targets at will. And the Hemlock is deadly - the combination of Mindshock Pod + Psychic Shriek, followed up by Heavy D-Scythe blasts is deadly.
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