Hello everyone,
from what I can see there are not that many footslogging lists which have been reviewed in here. So since I will soon be participating in a 1850pts tourney and I will be fielding a footslogging list, I thought that I would post it here and hopefully it could get some reviews/comments?
I will write battle reports from the tourney and post them on this site, so you will get to see how this list fares in a fairly competitive environment if you are interested.
HQ:Eldrad 2XX pts
Avatar 1XX pts
Troops:10 Guardians, Scatter Laser, Warlock, Embolden, spear 128 pts
10 Guardians, Scatter Laser, Warlock, Embolden, spear 128 pts
10 Guardians, Scatter Laser, Warlock, Destructor, spear 133 pts
3 Guardian Jetbikes 66 pts
3 Guardian Jetbikes 66 pts
Elites:6 Harlequins, w. 6 kiss
TroopeMaster, Power Weapon
2x Fusion Pistols, w. kiss
Shadowseer w. kiss
Total: 286 pts
8 Fire Dragons
Exarch, firepike, Crack shot, Tank Hunters
Total: 184 pts
Heavy Support:3X War Walkers 2xScatter Laser 180 pts
Wraithlord, 2x flamers, BL, EML 155 pts
Wraithlord, 2x flamers, BL, EML 155 pts
Total: 1846 pts65 models, 12KPs, 5 Scoring UnitsCapabilitiesI'll try to summarize the main capabilities here:
For long range anti tank there's 2xEML, 2xBright Lances. All non-stunnable shooting.
Against lighter AV10-11 there is 3xScatter Lasers on guardians, and 6x scatter laser on war walkers.
In some circumstances where a stunned result is sufficient against AV12 (IG valkyries for instance) the scatter lasers on the guardians can be used here as well.
For medium to short range anti tank there's 3xSinging Spears and 9xFire Dragons with tank hunter, the Avatar, and if needed the harlequins are capable to pop a transport themselves.
For anti infantry, there are 9x Scatter Lasers, 30 Shuriken Catapults, 1xdestructor, 4xflamers
For assault units, 10 harlequins gives 36 rending + 5 power weapon attacks on the charge (target highly likely to be doomed), the Avatar all fortuned up will be a tough nail and can easily hold of almost anything. 2x Wraithlords is not to be taken lightly as well. If needed, a fortuned Eldrad can both give and receive some beating himself.
For scoring units: 3x10 guardians + warlock that will do what they can to get cover saves, if needed. They will most likely be fearless, however, if the Avatar dies or is out of range, two squads have embolden as a last resort. Jetbikes turbo boost around.
TacticOf course, the tactic varies depending on the enemy army and mission, however, what can be said to be some kind of “norm” is that the Avatar, Harlequins + Eldrad, Fire Dragoons and 1 Guardian squad (often destructor squad) moves towards the enemy to put pressure on an area on the board which I want to control. A second guardian squad might be following a bit behind, depending on the army I'm facing.
The remaining 1-2 Guardians + WLs are seeking cover and hopefully holding 1-2 objectives in the backfield. War Walkers are either outflanking against mech, against hordes they might advance within guide range or stay back with the WLs.
Concerning psychic powers the “standard operational procedure” is fortune on the Avatar, and fortune on the Harlequins (which is joined by Eldrad) + Guide/Doom on something. If the harlequins are rather safe, no deep striking nastiness for instance, the fire dragons might get the fortune instead of the harlequins if the enemy as a lot of ranged fire power.
Eldrad is with the harlequins in the early stages of the game so he avoid being easily targeted, if the harlequins takes some wounds from S<8 he gladly takes one for the team if the squad is fortuned. When the opportunity arises the harlequins will leave Eldrad to either assault or counter-assault.
I probably don't have to say this, but the bikes are to stay in reserve for as long as possible and only turbo boost and keep out of harm's way until the later stages of the game where they will try to hold/contest objectives.
Against a hard shooting list (IG for instance) this army needs and loves some terrain, especially area terrain where units will be guaranteed cover saves against possibly indirect fire. The problem is to keep things spread out, yet not so much that units can find themselves partly isolated from the rest of the army. For instance most units needs to stay within 12” of the Avatar (so I won't have to fail those crucial fall back tests at the worst possible moment) and the key units needs to stay within 6” of Eldrad as well (for psychic powers).
To be honest I actually feel that a footslogging list doesn't scale as good as a mech list (or some other armies, like IG, for that matter) once it gets over 1500ish points. However, I have played around 10 friendly test games with this specific list against IG, CSM, Daemons, Tau and BA and have yet to loose or draw a game. So although this list is probably not as competitive as a full mech list, I think I at least will be able to give some armies a run for their money.
One "advantage" I might have over a full-mech list is that people are not that used to play against this type of Eldar army, which I believe increases the chances for them to make some mistakes.
Anyway, hopefully I'll get to try the list against good generals with some of the more “competitive armies” out there in the tournament, and as mentioned I'll report back here once the dust has settled on the battlefield.