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Offline Iluvhir Strafermeyer

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From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« on: April 3, 2018, 08:11:49 AM »
The idea with this thread is to name your favorite Eldar unit for each edition of the game since you started playing. Simple enough, right?
If you feel inclined, don't hesitate to comment on each unit why it was/is your favorite, too.
Any reason is valid, of course - it doesn't have to be because it was the best performing unit at the time. Maybe it was the fluffiest? Or the most good-looking? Anything goes!

I guess I'll go first. Now, I started out back in 3rd ed, so this is my list:

3rd - Banshees
 I loved the models, loved the fluff and because I mainly faced SMurfs, they performed rather well, too. I still haven't bought the new models that were released in 4th ed. I'm sticking to the 3rd ed look.

4th - Reapers
 Because of performance issues with the ladies (no, I'm still talking about the game), my Reapers earned the top spot in my army in 4th. They have always performed well, and I really like the models, both old and new. I have one unit with 3rd ed models and one with the 4th ed ones. I love their fluff too, there's just no bullamphetamine parrot with these guys - if they see something, they blow it up.

5th - Reapers
 Same reason as previously mentioned. Eldar didn't get a new codex in 5th ed and we suffered a bit because of it. The game rules were quite different between 4th and 5th ed, though (the most obvious being the changes to cover that came with 5th).

6th - Shining Spears
 I've always loved this unit because they're basically knights. Before 6th ed I had trouble getting them to work, though, but things started to work out for me with the new game rules and codex. They were never my best performing unit (that has always been the Reapers, really), but 6th ed gave them a much needed buff.

7th - Seer Council on jetbikes
 In 7th ed, psychic powers really came into their own. It took me a few games before I tried the Seer Council (which used to be Farseer(s) and Warlocks in a single unit), but once I did I was hooked. It was such a fun unit! I loved that they performed relatively well in close-combat, too.

8th - Shining Spears
 Yeah, the Spears are better than ever. Used to be it was a bit like shafting yourself to use them, though I still did because of fluff and being knights. Now, they are just incredible so it feels like my years of loyalty to this very unique Aspect is finally paying off. I really hope we get new models for them soon (love the new Windrider models), as well as the Skyrunner Autarch.

So that's my list. What about your guys? :)
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Offline magenb

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #1 on: April 3, 2018, 07:07:43 PM »
2nd edition
The Avatar or Warp Spiders - The Avatar was just a boss, great model for the time and just the effect of having him on the table top :) Warp Spiders were very cool, very fluffy, and worked a treat.

3rd - didn't get much play time in.

4th/5th - War walkers were just a treat, especially with guide. Glass cannons so you had to be careful, but they could dish out some pain. Seer council on jetbikes would also smash face and it was all custom conversion work at the time.

6th - I still liked war walkers in this edition, laser lock meant they could run with out a farseer.

7th - Windriders, basically they replaced my war walkers on the table top, but I just really liked the new model.

8th - Reapers are my pick, they finally feel like they should.

Offline TheEldarGuy

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #2 on: April 3, 2018, 08:16:41 PM »
Dire Avengers were a standout for me even with 3rd ed.

The Banshee/dire Avenger forward rush - move up, wait one turn, disembark, shoot/fleet then charge. The Avengers were a smash. Back when Eldar were BS3, the Aspects rocked. I was Biel Tan all the way.

Those days, the War Walkers also were in my staple list, d6 shots for Scatter Lasers. It was a crazy time. Shining Spear Exarch with a BS5 Brightlance and a 3++ save... well worth the 210 points for three jetbikes.

Then the Bladestorming DAs... man that was sweet, my forward rush was still a plan, the DAs would fire, then charge.

for those few short months, before the new rules, the Swoops being able to hit ALL vehicles on a 3+ with Haywires was awesome. RIP banshees when they could no longer disembark and charge.

Admittedly, my sense of loss on the Eldar (I felt they lost a lot by this point), allowed me to concentrate on my second army (Guard).

Then the next codex for the Eldar brought me back to life, still no disembark and charge, but the points costs for all those models were outrageously low, and have been so since. My Shadow Weavers at 35points per, was  too good to not include, Dark Reapers got some love, but Dire Avengers were still the core unit.

Now we're in 8th, and I'm finding my feet with the Eldar. I get to field a very themed army (my first love), and I get to field some great combinations of units. Banshees and Scorps can make a list (once upon a time it was an 'or' situation). Reapers are long ranged killers of Ghostkeels, and other stealthy/hidden units. The new challenge is how to face down the horde armies, but that's a nice problem.

I think 8th is the most solid version of the game. There were some bumps along the road, but I think we finally have the game we've been wanting to play!

Offline Irisado

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #3 on: April 4, 2018, 04:50:17 AM »
Assuming that characters do not count as units for the purposes of this discussion, because if they did I'd choose the Farseer, it has to be Fire Dragons for every edition that I have played (Rogue Trader through to sixth edition).  The aesthetic of the original Jes Goodwin designed 1990 models, combined with the sheer destructive power of their weapons, and the crimson and/or fiery red/orange colour scheme has always captivated me.  The original 1990 Fire Dragon Exarch with the Firepike is also the first ever Eldar model that I had in my collection, so I've always had a soft spot for this unit for that reason as well.
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Offline Iluvhir Strafermeyer

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #4 on: April 4, 2018, 02:03:16 PM »
Funny how it is sometimes - Fire Dragons only started to make it into my lists starting with 8th ed. Never felt like they delivered before, as strange as that must sound given that almost every player thought the opposite.
Now, though, I run with 8-10 models almost every time with great results. If i have points for 10, I run them in 2 five-man units in a Serpent. Otherwise, I run a larger unit of 8 or 9 models depending on how many points I have to sacrifice for something else. They have a Serpent ready for them, of course.
"Consider the battlefield: it is essentially a dawn in grim guise. It is a scenario in which darkness meets light and is annihilated by it.
Imagine that the enemy are the shadows lurking in the night - The arrival of our warhost is like the sun's light breaking the horizon. Let the Bladestorm expel the darkness."

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Offline magenb

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #5 on: April 4, 2018, 05:13:33 PM »
Its great to see how differently people use this army.

Offline Galef

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #6 on: April 5, 2018, 05:56:46 PM »
4th ed - Guardian Jetbikes.  This unit got me started with Eldar.  Troops on jetbikes. Awesome
5th ed - Still Jetbikes, although I branched out a bit to Seer Councils

6th ed - WraithKnights.  New awesome looking model that fills a much needed long range anti-vehicle role. Although my love of Jetbikes inspired me to take 2 WraithLords and model them on Vypers as giant Jetbikes.  Afterall, in 6th ed a WK was a Heavy support Monstrous creature with double the wounds and speed of a WL.  So why not just put a WL on a jetbike and call it a day?

7th ed - My beloved conversions became less viable since WKs became Lord of War Gargantuan creatures.  But Gaurdian jetbikes, now called Windriders, are amazaballs awesome.  They retake the spot as my favorite unit

8th ed - Autarch Skyrunner with Lance, Banshee mask and Reaper launcher.  The swiss army knife HQ.  Now giving rerolls to nearby units thus competing with a Farseer in a legit support roll.  I love this unit.  Without the Reaper Launcher or Fusion gun, however, I'd probably say Shining Spears are my favorite.

Side note on 8th, as Hemlocks are great choices now, my WLs riding jetbikes have a new purpose.

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« Last Edit: April 5, 2018, 05:59:28 PM by Galef »
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Offline Fenris

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #7 on: April 5, 2018, 06:16:33 PM »
2nd ed Harlequins on jetbikes (move 20" and get -2 to hit them)
3rd ed didn't play
4th ed Howling Banshees (with fortune/doomseer attached)
5th ed Falcons (with harlequins or fire dragons)
6th ed Dire Avengers (move shoot move)
7th ed Wave Serpents (Transports or bikes or you were dead)
8th ed Shining Spears

Edit: Expanding a bit...

2nd ed Avatar + Eldrad was awesome with Eldrad racking up 2++/3++/4++ saves so was utterly impervious to damage, while boosting the Avatar's performance. Warp spiders with their jump shoot jump, and essentially D-scythes as weapons, was awesome as well.

4th ed farseer tanking with his re-rollable 4++ potentially while jumping out of a serpent, while having the ladies taking on the small arms fire with re-rollable 4+.

5th ed God Falcons, with a flying circus or meltaboyz or even DAVU (Dire avenger vehicle upgrade).

6th ed Battle focus was awesome when it came along with range sniping, best performed by dire avengers which got some of the catapult range restored. (They used to be equal to stormbolters in 2nd ed)

8th ed Dark Reapers are really good, but shining spears still takes the trophy, they are simply so versatile.
« Last Edit: April 5, 2018, 06:37:25 PM by Fenris »
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Offline TheEldarGuy

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #8 on: April 5, 2018, 08:34:36 PM »
That 3rd ed Falcon was all but unkillable!
The Glancing Hit rules, Holofields and Spirit Stones combined with being a Fast Skimmer, made it almost impossible to destroy. Guide could fix BS reductions. Circa 210pts, but it was worth it as a firepower sponge.
Each turn it would attract well over 300pts of units' shooting at it.

Post edited to remove excessive rules descriptions and statistics in accordance with forum rule 1 - Iris.
« Last Edit: April 6, 2018, 05:28:20 AM by Irisado »

Offline Partninja

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #9 on: April 5, 2018, 10:03:32 PM »
I miss the good old days of Falcon mounted Harlies bouncing from combat to combat in 4th edition.

4th and 5th I also frequently used jetbike seer council's and Fire Prisms.

Throughout all of the editions I played (starting with 4th) I've always loved and used Warp Spiders despite the terrible GW models.

Offline magenb

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #10 on: April 6, 2018, 12:24:51 AM »
5th ed Falcons (with harlequins or fire dragons)
5th ed God Falcons, with a flying circus or meltaboyz or even DAVU (Dire avenger vehicle upgrade).

I've been playing some games of 5th again, I don't think I had any falcons at the time when 5th was new. How would you run them, single, paired, scatlaser or dual shuriken cannons? Its a solid number of points over a wave with twin links scats, especially if you drop holo-fields on top.


Offline Fenris

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #11 on: April 6, 2018, 04:00:11 AM »
@magenb: Falcons with EML, holofield & spirit stones, shoot plasma missiles when you want to move fast, or go antitank with the crackmissiles which meshes well with the pulse laser. Holofield + stones = roll 2D6 pick lowest and a 2' is degraded to a 1'.
When 1'(shaken) just turboboost across the board.
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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #12 on: April 6, 2018, 06:52:30 AM »
Assuming that characters do not count as units for the purposes of this discussion, because if they did I'd choose the Farseer, it has to be Fire Dragons for every edition that I have played (Rogue Trader through to sixth edition).  The aesthetic of the original Jes Goodwin designed 1990 models, combined with the sheer destructive power of their weapons, and the crimson and/or fiery red/orange colour scheme has always captivated me.  The original 1990 Fire Dragon Exarch with the Firepike is also the first ever Eldar model that I had in my collection, so I've always had a soft spot for this unit for that reason as well.

Oooh! Good choice Irisado. The original Fire Dragon sculpts are AMAZING. I actually think they and the Striking Scorpion ones are better than the current sculpts by a mile. My favorite bit on them is the "fusion chamber" that awesome looking energy canister on the fire dragon gun. Always reminds me of the Power Bomb from Super Metroid one of my fave games of all time.



As for me... in 2nd edition it was the original Guardian sculpts. They was so much variety to them. Cool different helms, different poses, cool wargear. I loved those sculpts and plan on collecting them all at some point.

After that it'd have to be the 3rd Guardian re-sculpt which I still love... and more than that the Dire Avenger upgrade! Those were the BEST Dire Avengers by far. I love the proportion of the helms to the body. I actually have 10 of those metal heads and I'm just waiting to use them some day.

Finally the Kabalite Warriors are my favorite modern sculpt today. There is SO much variety and the helmets are just awesome. They have a lot of cool gear on them to make each guy feel like an individual and the versatility of the kit is amazing. I'm so excited Dark Eldar are strong again... they are coming back in force to my army.

Yeah so I usually am drawn to the look of baseline trooper and luckily for me those sculpts are awesome even today.
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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #13 on: April 6, 2018, 05:59:58 PM »
2nd Edition: Dire Avengers

It was the stunning artwork on the front of the 2nd edition codex that got me interested in Eldar, and the dire avenger exarch was the centerpiece. Before I ever knew anything about their playstyle, I was hooked on their models.

Runner Up: Swooping Hawks

Another beautiful set of models, this time with fancy wings!

3rd Edition: War Walkers

Heavy 3 starcannons for the price of a scatter laser?  Yes please.

Runner Up: Falcon - It very nearly couldn't die and could deliver a payload of fire dragons or other unit deep into enemy territory.

4th Edition: Avatar

He really got a nice boost from his 3rd edition version and I started to really put him to strong use.

Runner Up: Eldrad + Seer Council

They too were great. Double fortune on the council + avatar and doom something, and you've got a very good tank unit that you don't want to smash into your lines.

5th Edition: Pathfinders

Adding rend to the already powerful ranger longrifles, along with their 2+ cover save, and once again you have a unit that is hard to dislodge from range that (with doom support) can put some serious hurt on enemy monstrous creatures.

Runner Up: Wraithlord

I nearly always took a wraithlord in my 2nd edition armies. It was cheap and effective to do missile launcher + sword and have him babysit your reapers and pathfinders in case a cc unit got too close.

6th - 7th edition - Did not play these editions

8th Edition: Dark Reapers

They are possibly the most accurate ranged unit in the game, at least when debuffs come into play.  Add a tempest launcher for help with light infantry and watch the rest of them make short work of everything from enemy flyers to terminators.

Runner Up: Swooping Hawks

Where the reapers annihilate the vehicles and heavy infantry, these guys can really bring the pain against hordes through sheer weight of fire, and with their range and speed, it's hard to catch up with them to retaliate...

Offline Iluvhir Strafermeyer

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #14 on: April 9, 2018, 08:27:36 AM »
I play almost exclusively against MEQ so I haven't used Hawks for several years now.
However, in my next game against Thousand Sons, I'm gonna include a medium sized unit for dealing with deamons and cultists. I'm looking forward to fielding this aspect again. Will be fun to see how they handle Horde equivalent units.
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Imagine that the enemy are the shadows lurking in the night - The arrival of our warhost is like the sun's light breaking the horizon. Let the Bladestorm expel the darkness."

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Offline Dread

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #15 on: April 11, 2018, 12:27:57 AM »
I've always loved the banshees as models, I have all 3 incarnations, since 2nd. As far as since 2nd the units I almost always use are jetbikes, Saim Hann always my favorite craftworld.
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Offline Rhyleth

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Re: From Start To 8th Ed - Which Unit Was/Is Your Fav!
« Reply #16 on: April 19, 2018, 10:27:36 PM »
Rogue Trader: Swooping Hawks

Grenade packs that actually dropped grenades!

2nd Ed. Exarchs

I just loved the customisability. They were also overpowered, but this was 2nd Ed. Codex Eldar so that was true of practically everything in the list. Flavourwise I would probably say Exodite Dragon Knights, but they never received models.

Runner up: Vyper. At the time the model looked fantastic (I was always a collector/painter more than a player) and it was an import from Space Marine.

3rd Ed. Falcon.

The Falcon came onto the scene too late for me to really count as a 2nd Ed. unit, even though it was and I'll forever miss the 2nd Ed. pulse laser rule. In 3rd Ed. it gave the Eldar a powerful tank with transport capacity, something else the army had been missing, which is why although the Fire Dragons might actually be my favourite unit, the way I got them round the battlefield edges them out. Wave Serpent got 3rd Ed. rules (I think - 3rd and 4th tend to run together for me) but no figure.

4th Ed. Warp Spiders

Ah, the short-lived but glorious era when 40k was actually a tactics-based wargame rather than a space fantasy melee fest (3rd Ed.), a weird RPG-wargame hybrid with scattered rulesets that made no pretense at anything resembling balance (RT and 2nd Ed.), or static gunlines wiping each other out on turns 1 and 2 (what I've mostly seen in 8th Ed., though it's improving a lot with the Codices now almost all done).

I swore by Warp Spiders and endlessly argued their merits on online forums with people who valued units purely by firepower output. They were excellent at taking and holding objectives, they massacred light vehicles, and back in the days when Initiative was a stat Aspects with 3+ save and capable combat stats could do pretty well against Marine grunts in hand to hand. Spiders' Hit and Run trump card made them something very rare in 40k: a generalist unit that required finesse to use to best effect.

I then skipped 5th through 7th - I must have stuck around in 5th long enough to upgrade my Tau Codex, but I have no recollection of playing.

8th Edition Early days so far, but at this point my favourite unit is the Farseer Skyrunner. Farseer powers are excellent in comparison with other command models' aura-type bonuses, and a Farseer gets to use two a turn.

Post Merge: April 19, 2018, 10:32:57 PM
In the future, please use the modify button. Double posting is against the forum rules, and for that reason, the system merged your posts.

Assuming that characters do not count as units for the purposes of this discussion, because if they did I'd choose the Farseer, it has to be Fire Dragons for every edition that I have played (Rogue Trader through to sixth edition).  The aesthetic of the original Jes Goodwin designed 1990 models, combined with the sheer destructive power of their weapons, and the crimson and/or fiery red/orange colour scheme has always captivated me.  The original 1990 Fire Dragon Exarch with the Firepike is also the first ever Eldar model that I had in my collection, so I've always had a soft spot for this unit for that reason as well.

Oooh! Good choice Irisado. The original Fire Dragon sculpts are AMAZING. I actually think they and the Striking Scorpion ones are better than the current sculpts by a mile. My favorite bit on them is the "fusion chamber" that awesome looking energy canister on the fire dragon gun. Always reminds me of the Power Bomb from Super Metroid one of my fave games of all time.

(Image removed from quote.)

I've liked every incarnation of the Fire Dragons - my favourite was the 3rd Ed. sculpts that incorporated Fuegan's 'scales', but the RT ones were the best of that range and very close to the later models. They don't have quite the variety in poses to make me prefer them to the current figures and the Exarch models weren't great.

I still like the original Scorps as well, and agree that they're the best version of that Aspect.

Though of the current Aspect range my favourite models are the Swooping Hawks.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2018, 10:32:57 PM by Rhyleth »

 


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