Topic: Footdar Army List, with no Farseer Support

[greenlectern]

Hi everyone,

I'd love to get some thoughts on my Footdar sans Farseers army list. The idea is that it is mainly infantry, jetbikes, wraithblades and light vehicles, meaning that heavy anti-tank weaponry will be overkill against it. I like to make armies that are unusual in both playstyle and appearance, and modelling-wise, this army will be an Exodite army (I've put it in the Eldar forum as it is still an Eldar army list). This is the main reason for my choice of units and minimal psychic support, but I'd still like a decent chance of winning!

I've partly tried to make up for the lack of Farseers through my choice of Far-Flung Craftworld traits. I plan to give the army Children of the Open Skies (+1 or +2 to movement and minimum 3" advances), so that it has some pace despite the lack of vehicles, and Children of Morai-Heg (+1  hit for any unit below starting strength). Unlike most Eldar armies, in which there are lots of individual grav tanks and big wraith units, the Morai-Heg trait can potentially benefit every unit in this army except the two HQs. I've also purposely added units which are either high in number or high in toughness, so that they can hopefully take some casualties without being wiped, and then take advantage of this trait.

Here is the army list:


Autarch Skyrunner with Laser Lance and Aegis of Eldanesh (or Sunstorm) - Warlord: Mark of the Incomparable Hunter - 100

Spiritseer with Quicken/Restrain and Faolchu's Wing (or the Falcon's Swiftness Warlord Trait and Kurnous' Bow)- 70

19 Guardian Defenders - 171

18 Guardian Defenders - 162

10 Guardian Defenders with EML - 115

9 Wraithblades with Ghostaxes and Forceshields - 405

5 Shining Spears, including Exarch with Star Lance, Shimmershield and Heartstrike - 205

5 Shining Spears, including Exarch with Star Lance - 185

3 Support Weapons with D-Cannons - 195

3 Support Weapons with Vibro Cannons - 165

3 War Walkers (x1 with 2 Scatter Lasers, x2 with 2 Bright Lances) - 225


The idea is that the Guardians without heavy weapons, Spiritseer and Wraithblades (with Quicken cast on them once or twice) run up the table, supported by the the War Walkers and D-Cannon Support Weapons, who will be close behind. The Autarch with Shining Spears go down a flank. The Shining Spears unit with few upgrades keeps close to the Autarch, while the unit with the upgraded Exarch can be a bit more independent. The Guardians with Eldar Missile Launcher, along with the Vibro Cannon Support Weapons, sit on a home objective. The two large units of Guardians have no heavy weapons so they can take advantage of their increased run trait, while still shooting, which they couldn't if they had heavy weapons.

I'd really appreciate feedback and suggestions. The only constraint is that, as an Exodite army, I have only figured out how to model certain units, so I am limited as to what I can add (aside from the units which are already in the list, I can potentially model other HQs, Warlocks, Howling Banshees and Swooping Hawks). Thanks!

[Myen'Tal]

Hi Greenlectern!

Welcome to the forums, first off  .

As someone who maybe new to eldar, but has had a couple of games, and some close ones against powerful books at the moment - I maybe able to offer some insight.

It's an interesting list - certainly don't see many like them. I have, however, used Children of the Open Skies, and have found as it useful as hoping it will be!

First off, can spiritseers take from the Runes of Battle? I thought they just had runes of fortune, but I maybe wrong - never really checked. Maybe instead of quicken and restrain, however, there are some GOOD runes of fortune powers you may find more advantageous.

There are two, specifically, one that adds 2" to charge rolls for a unit, and another that turns off an enemy unit from being affected by all auras - which can absolutely turn nightmare units into crystalline dust.

Children of Morai-Heg is good!

Honestly, I would almost recommend dropping a unit of Shining Spears, and adding in a full unit of 10 Howling banshees. Why, you ask? Because they have advance + charge built into their profile. Open skies give them 9" run, then you can command point advance if you don't roll a six, then use that rune of fortune spell to add 2 to their charge... then charge.

Last week I attempted this and literally made a 24" move, advance, and charge into a supped up unit of Admech Rangers, and wiped the unit before the Exarch even was able to strike.

Or, you could drop the wraithblades and add those howling banshees in addition to another full unit of aspect warriors somewhere. Maybe swooping hawks like you mentioned. I like the idea of the guardian defenders, Storm Guardians may also be a good alternative if you find your defenders incidentally rushing into enemy-favored combat situations. That way you can at least try to be aggressive and get some first strikes in.

As for the relic - sunstorm, always sunstorm. Objective secured on an HQ is huge!

I don't know about giving the spirit seer Faolchu's wing, because he'll always probably be slogging it with the wraithblades anyway.

Support weapons and war walkers, look good, enough to make the Astra Militarum envious.

Let me know if you have any questions!

[greenlectern]

Hi Myen'Tal,

Thanks very much for your suggestions!

How come you didn't find Children of the Open Skies so useful? Perhaps it'll be more helpful in a Footdar list? In any case, it at least seems quite fluffy for an Exodite army.

Yes, Spiritseers can take Runes of Battle powers. My thoughts with the Quicken power were that it would allow the Wraithblades to be a threat from turn 2 onwards (since they can't be Quickened and charge). This will cause opponents to have to deal with them at the same time as all the other units in my army, which should also be able to threaten from turn one or two. (I don't like giving opponents the opportunity to pick off units one by one.) I would have thought that Quicken would be better for footslogging Wraithblades than Ghostwalk, since the latter only adds 2" to charges, while the former will add an extra c.10" to their first turn move, but perhaps I'm wrong? Impair Senses does also sound good, although I wonder if it will synergise brilliantly with a Footslogging army, particularly as it only has an 18" range, meaning the Spiritseer may not be able to use any powers for a turn or two. (I probably should have mentioned that I planned to switch to Smite once Quicken is no longer useful.)

I do like the idea of Howling Banshees and would certainly add them if I expanded the army further. I'm not sure they would do a better job than a second unit of Spears here though, which are more survivable and have a further reach? Also, with only one units of Spears, they can be focussed down early on by opponents, while two are harder to stop. Wraithblades I would like to keep, however. Apart from anything else, I've already bought several of them! But I could reduce the unit size if there was a good reason to do so.

I'm sure you're right about Sunstorm! Faolchu's Wing on the Spiritseer was to allow him to keep up with the Quickened Wraithblades. However, I could give him the Falcon's Swiftness WT instead, using the 2nd Warlord Trait strat.

Thanks again and any further suggestions are most welcome!

[Myen'Tal]

How come you didn't find Children of the Open Skies so useful? Perhaps it'll be more helpful in a Footdar list? In any case, it at least seems quite fluffy for an Exodite army.

Sorry, I meant that I did find it quite useful! I think it's a really good trait for custom craftworlds.

Yeah in that case, Quicken is likely better for your list, as it's going to help you get within a good charge range anyway.

I agree with Impair Senses, if you had a farseer or even warlocks on skyrunners, it'd be much more feasible to take it.

Faolchu's wing is good for that purpose, but maybe experiment with both methods and see which one turns out more consistent for you.

I think two units of Shining Spears, you can't go wrong with. Banshees are great, but as you mentioned, Shining Spears can give you a bit more versatility and speed to get where they need to go. Granted, banshees have run and charge, so if you always have a command point on hand if you get low charges, just use that or strands of fate them to 6, then they've got a 8+1(Children of open skies), + advance of 6+1, for 15", then a potential 12" charge... that's 27 inches!

Good luck, let us know how the list works  .

[greenlectern]

Ah, sorry - I misunderstood you about your experience with Open Skies. Good to hear you'd recommend it!

Thanks for your advice regarding psychic powers, relics and warlord traits. I'll try out different combos of these as you suggest.

Banshees do have a crazy threat range! I will keep thinking of a way to fit them in.

Thanks very much for your help, Myen'Tal! If anyone else has any thoughts, I'd be happy to hear them.