Battle report, 1500pt Eldar vs Space Marines

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Wraithguard

Wraithguard, the characteristicly defining unit of any Iyanden army. Often shunned for their very high points cost and rightly so- you don’t want to mess up with these guys. The other obvious issue is wraithsight, which means you’re almost always going to want to purchase that warlock upgrade, the risk is’nt really worth taking.

They are a very interesting unit: they are the highest toughness squad in the game and fearless, so yeah they’re very hard to kill. Armed with “wraithcannons”, just fancy meltaguns really, but they can potentially inflict instant death on characters and monstrous creatures (except the ones that are immune to instant death ahem, synapse, demons, mantles) and can always hurt vehicles regardless of anything.

Fielded in a squad of 10 with spiritseer they count as troops. Now this is obviously going to be a very expensive unit, so the best way to take advantage of this would be to take just one other troops choice so that youve filled out the force organisation chart with something that should actually be elites, unless you really want to use 10 of them anyway. Wraithguard are brand new to me so I can’t really comment on how well you can expect them to do; in my recent battle report I used them to effect as a bodyguard for my farseer with a warlock that had conceal- 3+/5+ re-rollable saves and T6 kept all but one on the board til the end of the game, and they were my most expensive scoring unit. And yeah they’ll keep your farseer safe allright- they confer fearless over to him for one thing and they’re S5 so they can hold their own in CC for a while until the counter charge unit of say, scorpions, arrives.

I like the idea of having them in a wave serpent and using them to tank hunt, but again this is going to be a very expensive unit you’re going to want to hide at the beginning of the game so it can’t be shot down (about 400 points alltogether for 5 =/).

They can take some heavy shots like autocannons and heavy bolters but obviously DON’T leave them in plain view of things like 4 man devastator squads with lascannons, plasma cannons, plasma guns, meltaguns, multi shot low AP weapons. And don’t let them get charged by genestealers, oh god how I’m looking forward to that nerf.

Comments on the paint job: when i got them off ebay I did’nt realise they were already undercoated black, so to compensate for this I thougt I might as well paint the prominent armour sections as black. It worked quite nicely, with a half Ulthwe/Iyanden thing going on (and no I’m not going to count them as either/or, their allegiance is still to Iyanden )

Farseer on bike: the making of

Throughout my involvment in the hobby I have often said to myself “the Eldar are a painter’s army, not a convertist’s”, and indeed many would agree as the majority of our models are too fragile and delicate to mess around with.

But that does’nt mean we can’t still give it a go.

Especially as GW still have’nt provided us with a model for the more than viable HQ choice that is the farseer on jetbike. In such a circumstance, what choice do Eldar player’s have but to turn over to the convertists tools?

This is by no means a “how to guide” on making the farseer on jetbike, rather my own documented attempt at making it myself: the idea and inspiration came from another site, and so all credit should go to the author(s) there (I’ve put the links at the bottom of this post).

I decided to make the bike itself first, as I already had all the necessary bits: unfortunately this included my old gothic shadow cruiser. It had served me well, but with so few people playing gothic these days I decided it better to serve me on the 40k table in this characterful way. All the bits I used are pictured here (the sprue is from the guardian jetbike, though in my case it was left over from the shining spears boxset, which is incidentally exactly the same. The shadow cruiser hull is pictured sawn and filed):

The hardest part was sawing and cutting the cruiser’s hull to the right size; about 20 minutes later with more cursing and swearing than you’d expect to hear necessary from a Mek’s garage, I had the desired result. I filed the flat connecting points as smooth as I could, and everything was pinned on for extra strength. Any gaps were filled with green stuff (and there were lots of gaps). Here is the final result, pictured with and without the nose carapace for the sake of your curiosity:

My next trick was cutting Eldrad Ulthran in half, and believe me this took a lot of time and effort (and I thought cutting the shadow cruiser hull was bad). The spear is taken from the Dire Avenger Exarch sprue and the high elf players among you will recognise the crescent moon sigil from the spearmen’s shield sprue. I had to use a small section of the guardian jetbikers body to keep eldrad in proportion to the legs.

I will of course post pictures of the final painted piece when I get to that stage.

Falcon

The humble Falcon. Or maybe not so, as it has come to known as one of the most revered tanks in the game. Here’s why:

-It is not just a tank AND a skimmer but also a fast vehicle, combining the best of all three worlds. It can always benefit from only being able to take glancing hits without hindrance, as its fast characteristic lets it still shoot one main weapon (the pulse laser) and all defensive weapons (everything else unless you took an EML or brightlance), having moved 12″.
-It can take holo-fields unlike its brother the Wave Serpent, one of the best if not the best vehicle upgrade in the game. It makes the chance of getting a destroyed result on that ALWAYS (read above) glancing hits chart 1/36. So yeah its pretty tough, as if AV 12 on all sides except the back was’nt good enough as it is. Give it spirit stones, and the worst result you’ll be getting on average is “can’t shoot next turn”, to the severe frustration of your opponent who will be churning everything into it. Of course as it can’t be stunned it can always move that 12″ and so the ordeal starts again… vectored engines mean if it crashes, it can still dish out a last stand next turn before it gets its just desserts (assuming it did’nt get shaken as well).
-It can even carry a 6 man squad, and given its nigh “indestructibility” and the 24″ move its permitted as a fast vehicle, those 6 men are going to where you want them, when you want them by turn 2.
-And yes, it has guns! The Falcon can produce the average fire power of a squad, with a potential of 9 shots (7 at S6 from shuricannon and scatter laser, 2 at S8 with AP2 from the pulse laser), and can of course also bring to bear the starcannon, brightlance or EML suited to your opponent. I always take the shuircannon upgrade, as you can’t really go wrong with being able to shoot it after a 12″ move and for 10 points its a massive improvement on the less than spectacular twin-linked shurican catapults.

So there you have it. Often the Falcon’s role will be that of delivery system, popular passengers including fire dragons, howling banshees and even harlequins, as the Falcon is’nt a dedicated transport so any unit can board it at the beginning of the game provided they’ll fit in it! Eldar “tri-falcon” lists have become commonplace, and has even brought rise to the term “flying circus”- an army that is comprised of three falcons with three individual 6 man units of harlequins on board, rightly feared and resented by all. Units can’t move and assault if they disembarked after the vehicle moved, but they can if they did it before. So of course, first turn you will plow the Falcon forward 24″. It will survive the futile hail of missiles and las blasts. Turn 2 you will disembark your banshees or heaven forbid it harlequins,who already get an extra 2″ head start from disembarking, move 6″, fleet D6″ and charge 6″. In the first two turns they’ve moved a potential 44″! Don’t count on it though. If you do this too much you deserve to roll a 1 every time for fleet.

Which brings me over to my next point: obviously GW felt they had been too generous to the Eldar in letting them have such a potent unit combination, which is probably why skimmers are getting so horribly nerfed next edition. Its not confirmed obviously but the “always glancing” will supposedly be changed to a 5+ cover save (lame) and ONLY if you moved OVER 12″ (lamer). Also apparently the strength of what is considered a defensive weapon is being dropped from S6-4, which sucks even more cos it means we’ll only be able to move and shoot the shurican-catapults. Thats lovely. What do they want us to use falcons as, floating pill-boxes? Well I for one am trying to keep an open mind about it, and still hope to field a mechanised Eldar army in the future. Falcon’s glory days may be numbered, enjoy them while you can!

Striking Scorpions

My absolute favourite unit. Back in the old days when I started Eldar I played with guardians. I lost my faith in the Eldar’s combat ability- these guys brought it back.

I currently use the full squad of 10 with Exarch armed with scorpion claw, Stalker (a must), and now even Shadowstrike. A lot of people whine about how you should take the biting blade because it looks cool- I’m not opposed to chainsabres, but going back to S3 is a turn off, especially since hes meant to be the baddest mother. TAKE THE DAMN CRAB CLAW. Lets weigh up the scorpion claw against the biting blade:

Scorpion claw

-S6 always
-Ignores armour
-one handed so you get the +1 attack for CC weapon, wheras the biting blade is two-handed so you don’t
-even a built in shurican catapult, for some improved shooting
-will inflict an average of 2.8 wounds on ANYTHING T4 or less

Biting blade

-stikes at iniative order (Exarch is I6) wheras the scorp claw is at the end of the day just a power fist, so stikes last
-POTENTIAL S8 for insta-killing and tankbusting (but are scorps really a tank busting unit…?)
-will inflict an average 0.7 wounds on T4 marines, and 1.5 wounds on the guard equivalents with an armour save of 5+

in either case, the scorpion claw wins. the iniative order is almost irrelevant because anything the biting blade could take out is’nt going to have an iniative higher than 5 (orcs, gaunts, heck even guardsmen), and thats what the regular scorps are for. The bottom line is, you really do get your 10 points worth with a close combat monster exarch who can kill almost anything (remembering that his WS5, higher than marines and most other things, means he will almost always be hitting on 3’s. on the charge he gets 5 attacks ;D). I’ll do chainsabres another day, but I am definately interested in converting the model sometime. ANYWAY, now that I’ve cleared that up, onto the unit!

Needless to say, scorpions on the charge are terrifying. 36 S4 WS4 attacks, and after all that and they’ve finally fought back 5 S6 ones ignoring armour. If you charge them and you’re not I5, you’re going to get hit by a potential 27 of those WS, S 4 attacks, enough to halt the first assault (too bad the power weapon sarge always goes last ). They’re going to cause so many wounds, marines wil fail some saves and the exarch kills them on 2’s anyway! They probably are our most versatile aspect.

Infiltrating into cover piles on the pressure; don’t want to get within 12″ unless you’ve got some high I power weapons (reminiscent of banshees, ironically. I always thought Eldar would be good against other Eldar ;D). Stalker has proved itself invaluable to me time and again- don’t let anything get between them and the enemy, they rely on charging early so that they don’t sit around getting shot.

The loss of fleet is a shame, BUT THE 3+ SAVE IS A MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT ON 4+. Why the capitals? simply because where dire avengers and banshees get blown away, the scorpions go near unscaved. They can actually make saves against all the eldar-killers: heavy bolters, heavy flamers, even the unlucky assault cannon that did’nt rend (oh poor, poor assault cannon ). In combat, its a godsend. Once I actually won a round of combat against orks (who have’nt got power weapons) whilst horribly outnumbered and demoralised. Combined with the fact that the scorps go first anyway, they whittled down enough orks and the majority of their attacks just bounced off. Needless to say, he was very surprised!

Dark Reapers

It goes to say, the dark reapers are one of the Eldar’s most feared units. I mean, who is’nt afraid of 2 high BS S5 AP3 shots? A must for the anti-marine. The Exarch is hidiously armed with the devastating tempest launcher, new to the 4th edition, and has the power to take on whole squads alone (though admittedly, he does have the same points cost as some whole squads alone ;D). His shots are weaker at S4, but with 2 blast templates HE IS GOING TO HIT A HELL OF A LOT MORE. And what’s this- blessings from Khaine! For the steal of +10 points you can give him a special ability, “crack shot”, which allows re-rolls to wound AND ignores cover saves. I cannot emphasise enough, ignoring cover saves is golden. This means that he will be killing marines on 4’s re-rolling. NO! YOU DO NOT GET YOUR COVER SAVE! There is the pricier option of fast shot at 20 points, which makes him shoot 3 templates. Now this sounds glamorous to most players but there is always the off chance that the template might miss, and accounting for cover saves and rolling once to wound, crack shot will probably end up killing more. The only exception I can think of here is swarms… would have to be a very big swarm to make it worth shooting at, though.

Now the common misconception is, dark reapers are marine killers. They are good at killing ANYTHING, so long as its not a vehicle or has a 2+ save. Their high strength shots mean that they aren’t short on wounds when firing at infantry, and high BS combined with number of shots and guide mean they aren’t short on hits either. The trick is choosing what to shoot. Reapers are expensive, so you would’nt want them wasting their shots on say scouts when they could be shooting at a full space marine command group. Have a target set for them in mind at the beginning of the battle, and make sure their shots count. Have them cut down the assualt squad thats poised to charge next turn, or the devastater squad that will be harrying you every turn (ignores cover, remember…). Don’t be fooled, especially with the exarch’s templates, reapers CAN cut down swarms very well, we just happen to have lots of other units that can too with a cheaper points cost per-head. You see, warhammer often is, and especially is for the Eldar, a matter of economy.

The reapers one obvious weakness is that, they are expensive, as is often the problem with eldar units. Unlike devastator squads who have cheaper guys dying around them first, every reaper gone is an expensive casualty. I already mentioned the Farseer-base tactic in the psykers post- simple but it works wonders, protecting the reapers and making them hit a lot more- high strength shots mean that they’re good for wounds. Remember the Exarch gets to re-roll his scatter dice! I used to resent the reapers because of their tendancy to “sit back and shoot”, but hell everyone does it and they’re not much good at anything else to be honest. They make up for their un-Eldar like maneuaverability with devastating fire power and some of the most unique weaponary in the game. Reapers in combat don’t bear thinking about. You might consider having a counter charge unit, Shining spears are perfect for this, floating around nearby. Maugan Ra did’nt teach them to all have in-built executioners, unfortunately; and if he does happen to be with them by the way, this is less of a problem. He babysits them very well, also making them fearless- seeing them run off the board would suck.

Now the tempest launcher is getting all the glory, but the Exarch can also bring to bear an eldar missile launcher (which I will refer to as the EML from now on ;D). Something I like the idea of: squad of 3 reapers, one is an Exarch with EML and fast shot. Thats 2 krak missiles that hit on 2’s, and have 2 ablative wounds. Wonderful for busting tanks and creatures, no? Of course they could always turn their guns back on the marines, who now die on 2’s plus instant death to their characters, or alternately 2 plasma missiles which cause pinning. Try it!

Psykers

The Eldar are very well known for their psykers- the most notable by a long shot being the Farseer. Unlike the psykers of cruder races such as the Imperium, whose powers are seldom more than self-beneficial, the Farseer can bolster the abilities of an entire squad. Don’t be fooled, he does also have high potential in the shooting phase.

I never have an army without a Farseer. I generally take 2 powers and spirit stones, as well as runes of witnessing to ensure that those powers will be generally cast without fail every turn (and as is often the case, you will need them every turn. The Eldar cannot afford to fail). This set up will put the Farseer far above his starting cost of 55 points (generally 130-40), but do remember he is taking up one of the compulsory HQ slots. I don’t like the idea of taking more than 2 powers, as this seems uneconomical- the reason being that Farseers can only cast 2 powers a turn and thats IF they take spirit stones (unless their name happens to be Eldrad Ulthuan, of course). I’m not saying you should’nt EVER, it might be useful to have a choice at some point in a game; I’m just saying that in games of 1500 you can spend points on better things. You want to be able to cast the powers you choose every turn. Remember that fortune and guide only have a 6″ range so you’ll have to deply the Farseer near the unit you want to benefit from those powers. An obvious configuration is to have a shooting specialised unit (*ahem* dark reapers), preferably in cover, with a Farseer with guide and fortune placed conveniently behind them and out of LOS (They do tend to lead from the back). This makes an awesome firebase, as the reapers have the firepower to take on all kinds of infantry (remembering that the exarch will be allowed to re-roll the scatter dice for his tempest launcher thanks to guide), and their re-rollable saves OF ANY KIND make them very difficult to get rid of. Of course, if the Farseer wants a squad he is with to benefit from his powers, range is not an issue. Interesting thought: even though fortune is the most expensive power (30 points), if even one dark reaper (35 points) is saved by re-rolling a pass on a failed saved it has more than made up its points cost.

But of course, we also have Warlocks. Their role is best suited to make a unit for the Farseer to join, “babysitting” him so that he can’t be picked off by high S shots (remember, an assault cannon can instant kill him). I have found that a warlock bodyguard of 5-6 makes for a particularly resilient CC unit, with 4+ invulnerable saves re-rolling, with up to 21 WS 5 (assuming you take enhance, which you will) attacks that wound on 2’s. Thats going to cause a lot of wounds. Remember that they can also take heavy flamers! (Destructor), so any light infantry or vehicle of any armour value even close to them is doomed. Potential for a fortune only Farseer, perhaps? It goes to say, even though a Farseer on his own can potentially kill a Dreadnought in CC (and mine very often has), he won’t last long on his own.

A Farseer power that I have not yet mentioned is Doom, one that has a fearsome reputation. Instead of bolstering friendly units it affects enemy units, and has a longer range (24″). Allowing ALL wounds on a squad to be re-rolled is obviously very powerful, especially if that unit is about to be charged by a full squad of howling banshees (something I have not yet tried by the way, but absolutely love the sound of ;D). This can also greatly serve the weaker weapons in an Eldar army that rely on their sheer number of shots; dire avengers bladestorming is the obvious example, a potential 32 shots from one unit. There will be so many wounds, even space marines will eventually begin to tumble (eventually!).

I have always liked the idea of a Farseer on a jetbike, and I do plan to convert one, as his increased speed could serve to help pick out enemy units with his “offensive” powers like doom, eldritch storm and the feared mind war. Of course he would probably need babysitting by warlocks, which cost A LOT on jetbikes, and tank hunting with singing spears would probably be a role better suited to warlock bikers anyway. Remember that all the powers except mind war don’t require LOS. A doomed unit hit by eldritch storm is going to pay, especially if they have low toughness/armour (orks, gaunts, other eldar heaven forbid ;D). I’m not pro Eldrad but his Doom, followed by the double power he’s permitted which in this case is eldritch storm, can really whittle down swarms. Whether its Eldrad’s job to fight swarms is up to you…

Now, mind war. I love this power! The only downer is the range and the fact that you need LOS- getting within 18″ in full view is a bit daunting for a puny Farseer. A job for the Jetbike Farseer, or for the seer accompanied by his pose of warlock bodyguards, to add to their power in the shooting phase. Mind war is great! The one common misconception is that it works two ways like the spirit sword in fantasy, it does’nt. Most of the time, with so many Ld 10 things (remembering though that the model has to use its starting Ld!), it is just a matter of winning a dice roll. 50% chance of killing an aspiring champion with power fist, terminator with assault cannon (ok, it gets 5+ invulnerable…), even enemy characters might suffer a wound or two as their brains haemorrage. If the target has lower leadership, great! you get + modifiers to your roll. Generally you will be using mind war to kill power fists and power weapons which can give your aspect warriors a hard time, and heavy weapons which lets face it, give everything a hard time. If you can kill an overly expensive character with lots of upgrades poured into him by mind war, its very satisfying ;D.

Well thats about all I can think of for now. Lots of typing for a very versatile HQ choice!

Pathfinders

ALWAYS upgrade Rangers to Pathfinders. Rangers don’t exist. The ADDITIONAL +1 to cover on top of Stealth is worth at least an extra 10 points per model- you get it for 5, AS WELL AS MORE, most notably the +1 to the AP 1 roll when rolling to hit. Combined with the snipers always wounding anything on a 4 anyway, they can take on practically anything that is’nt a vehicle. Don’t forget to make your opponent roll for pinning checks! In buildings they have a 2+ cover save. Virtually indestructible scoring unit that will likely stay on the board firmly for the whole game.

40K

Lots of lovely pictures have been taken and are finally ready to be put up! These shots are of my Eldar 40k army, all models that I use when I play games at my local club. You’ll be lucky enough to get some insight into the tactics I employ when using them.

 

Supporting sites

I’m going to put some links to other warhammer related sites here.

goblin3003’s Waaagh!-my friend Adam’s great ork blog, plenty of proper ork stuff here already.