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!

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!