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Offline Irisado

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Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« on: December 28, 2011, 11:21:13 PM »
Given that the forum now has a 40K section, hurrah :), and that there hasn't been a great deal of attention for the Eldar thus far, I thought I would chip in by copying my updated Eldar Guide from Warseer over here.  I may also add some other articles, and/or useful links to Eldar tactics should anyone be interested in reading these, and if it's allowed to link to other sites.

This post will be used as an index for sections within this thread as it develops, as well as other links.
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2011, 11:23:33 PM »
1. The Eldar Guide is designed to help new and less experienced Eldar players.  This does not mean that veteran Eldar players should not contribute, but if you are an experienced player, don't expect it to tell you anything new.

2. It is written with casual, regular, friendly, or any other similar term which you prefer, in mind.  It is not a tournament, 'top tier', power gaming, or win at all costs, style of guide.  If you want that kind of tactical discussion, do not read this.

Eldar Fifth Edition Walkthrough

HQ Choices:

Avatar:

The Avatar is a very good choice for Eldar commanders who wish to play an infantry based Eldar force.  A powerful leader in an assault, the Avatar is at his best when he leads a significant number of Guardians, supported by Dire Avengers and Striking Scorpions, into battle.  His ability to inspire those around him is particularly useful for the Guardians, since it compensates for their lower leadership, while the other infantry, such as Striking Scorpions can support the Avatar by launching assaults with him, so that he does not become bogged down in close combat.  The Striking Scorpions and Dire Avengers also serve to keep the Guardians out of close combat, which is very important when you consider the impact of the no retreat rule if they are assaulted within the Avatar's fearless bubble.

While there are a number of benefits to being within close proximity to the Avatar, you need to be careful with placing too many units too close together to benefit from that fearless bubble if you are playing against an army which has a lot of blast, barrage or ordnance weapons.

The Avatar can also be useful for spearheading infantry blocks in mixed lists, particularly those which are going to be using the hammer and anvil strategy, as the additional staying power which he adds to the infantry block makes it more difficult for an opponent to punch through it.

The Avatar is a tough unit for the opposition to destroy, especially when protected by Fortune, and even if opponents decide to concentrate their fire against him, it will most likely spare your other infantry from taking as many casualties.  You can use his ability to be a fire magnet to your advantage, by using him to launch a distraction assaults, while you go for the jugular using another unit, or combination of units.  Fortune is even more beneficial once the Avatar is in an assault, as it is difficult for many regular units to hit and wound him as it is, so the few wounds which are inflicted are even more likely to be shrugged off if the Avatar is under the protection of this psychic power.

Given all these positive comments, are there any reasons not take him? The answer to this question is yes.  The first thing to consider is that, he costs more than the Farseer and Autarch, so he isn’t really suitable for smaller battles.  Next, he is not very good at working with mechanised Eldar armies, since there is no infantry block for him to work with, and he lacks the speed to keep up with Eldar vehicles.  He may be tough, but leaving him unsupported is a bad idea, as the opposition will be able to concentrate all their fire on him as he advances without having to worry about other infantry around him reaching their lines intact, or he could just be ignored (due to his slow speed) in favour of other units.

One final note is that the Avatar does have the equivalent of a Fusion Gun, so he does have a ranged option which many players, myself included on occasion, do tend to forget about.

In conclusion he is a very good commander, but if you’re going to take him, make sure that he fits your army composition, and you have sufficient points to build your army around him.

Farseer:

Easily the best Eldar commander if you want to augment your own troops, the Farseer offers the most options to an Eldar army.  (S)he excels at making other Eldar units more effective, and you can build an effective strategy, and set of tactics, around the Farseer’s powers.  Here is a brief run through of how to get the best out of each power:

Doom: The most useful of the powers in my view.  If there is a particular unit that you want to destroy in one turn, then have your Farseer cast Doom on it, and then shoot it with as many units as you can, and/or assault it with a dedicated close assault unit.  It is a very good power, since multiple Eldar units can benefit from it.  Units which particularly benefit from Doom are Dire Avengers and Guardians (re-rolling failed Flamer and Avenger and Shuriken Catapults wounds is very handy), and Howling Banshees whose Power Weapons lack strength against the MEQs they specialise in killing if you're looking to wipe out a relatively large squad in one player turn.

The fact that multiple Eldar units can benefit from it means that it is also a good choice for small battles, where you can normally only afford one psychic power.  You want as many of your squads to be more effective as possible.

Fortune: Again, another very useful power, although you sometimes have to make a tough choice as to which unit gets the benefit of this power each turn.  With the improvements to cover saves in fifth edition, it is now even more effective when cast on an Eldar unit in cover. It is a solid choice for Farseers in Wraith heavy armies, as it enhances the durability of those scoring units of Wraithguard.  Fortune is also very powerful when used in combination with the Avatar, making it a very good choice Farseers which are part of Avatar led infantry blocks.

Guide: This power is a useful if you plan on using War Walkers in a fire support role, Support Weapons, and/or lots of Guardians. It really helps those units with an average warriors score more hits, which is important, given the effectiveness of cover saves in fifth edition, i.e. the more hits you get the more chances you have to wound, and the more chances your opponent has to fail his save.  It can also be helpful for Aspect Warriors, but is less valuablel.  Guide also works very well when cast on an Eldar unit that has LOS and range to a ‘Doomed’ enemy unit. If you really want to take out a pesky unit of MEQs, for example, try casting Guide on a fire support unit, such as War Walkers with Scatter Lasers to improve their accuracy, and then Doom the unit, and have a squad of Dire Avengers join in the fusilade.  Such a combination is also a good way to clear out horde units.  There are also other combinations which you can try.

Guide does not have as wide an application as Doom and Fortune, so is better suited to armies with larger fire bases in my view.  More aggressive lists incorporating more Aspect Warriors than Guardians are less likely to find a Farseer with Guide to be all that helpful.

Eldritch Storm: The classic way to use Eldritch Storm is to spin tanks around, so that a less favourable part of their armour faces your guns.  It can also be used to try to pin enemy units, but unless they have very poor leadership, the chances of this happening are not very high.  Also counting against it is its range. It is not too bad if your Farseer is mounted on a Jetbike, but for a Farseer on foot, I just feel it brings him/her too close to the opposition.  It is, therefore, a rather situational power in my view, and is generally only recommended if you have a particularly cunning plan.

Mind War: This power looks pretty good on paper, but the big problem is that there are so few squad leaders and Independent Characters that have a low enough leadership for it to work very often.  You might be able to pick off the odd Ork Nob here and there, but it is unlikely to be consistently effective.  Still, it can worry some opponents, and if you do manage to kill an expensive character by frying his brain with Mind War, it is very amusing.  As with Eldritch Storm, it requires the Farseer to get uncomfortably close to the opposition on foot, so it is better utilised by a Jetbike mounted Farseer.  As a shooting power, it also cannot be used while the Farseer is riding inside a Wave Serpent.

The last point concerns how many powers your Farseer should have. In smaller games (1000 points or fewer), you will most likely only have enough points for one. In larger games though, taking two is often advisable, especially if they work well together (e.g. Guide and Doom).  While some Eldar players favour taking three powers in larger games, I do not believe that this is a wise use of points, since in my experience, you will never get the change to use the third power often enough for it to justify the expense.

The Farseer also has access to various pieces of equipment:

Singing Spear: A useful upgrade, especially if you are planning on assaulting, or shooting at, a tank at any stage with your Farseer, although I think that this is something of a secondary consideration for a Farseer. The disadvantage to the Spear is that you cannot use it with a Pistol to gain an extra attack in assaults.  Given that the Farseer should not be assaulting most infantry, this should not be a problem, but if you are planning on running your Farseer with a Warlock Bodyguard and using them as a pseudo Seer Council to assault enemy units, this is something that you may want to bear in mind.

Runes of Warding: Very important if you are going up against an opposing force which has powerful psychic abilities, such as Grey Knights, Space Marine armies of various types, and Chaos Space Marines.

Runes of Witnessing: Not that great in my view. They actually increase your chances of suffering a Perils of the Warp Attack, and given that the Farseer has such a high leadership, I find that they rarely come into play.  If you regularly face other Eldar or Tyranids they can be useful, but otherwise, I recommend spending your points elsewhere.

Spirit Stones: Do not leave your craftworld without these if your Farseer has two powers.

Jetbike: A good option if you are fielding an fully mechanised Jetbike themed force.  The Jetbike gets the Farseer to where (s)he needs to be much more quickly. The downside is that unless you put your Farseer in a unit of Jetbikes, the lifting of targeting restrictions on Independent Characters for fifth edition means that (s)he will be a magnet for heavy weapons.  If you have not got the points to get a unit for your Farseer to accompany, this will not be a good choice under the new rules.

Another problem is that you cannot cast psychic power if you are going to turbo boost in the same turn.  This can limit the use of your Farseer tactically, and may be something which you wish to consider when thinking about giving him/her this piece of equipment.

The Farseer is a suitable commander for all Eldar armies, due to his/her ability to effectively augment just about any Eldar unit in the list, with the choice of powers determining exactly how best to use the Farseer in any given list.

Warlocks:

As they are unit upgrades, I will discuss Warlocks in more detail with the units in which they can be fielded, however, I will comment on their powers here.

Conceal: Most cover confers a better save, so unless you are fielding Wraithguard, it is better to stay in cover, and equip the Warlock leading the unit in question with a different power. This power is, therefore, only really needed if you are playing a battle a board which lacks terrain, which should not be a common occurrence.

Destructor: A very useful power for taking out large squads of poorly armoured infantry.  When combined with the dual Flamer Storm Guardian squad, it excels in this role, and this combination is also very good against a wide variety of infantry units.  The only issue with this power is its lack of range, so to get the most out of it, and the Warlock and his/her unit need to be mounted in a transport, or the Warlock needs to be attached to a unit of Jetbikes.

Embolden: Very handy for Guardian units, since they are liable to failing a morale test at some point or other.  It also benefits a Farseer who joins a unit led by a Warlock with this power.  I recommend this power very highly.

Enhance: It can be of some benefit when given to a Warlock or Spiritseer leading Wraithguard, but beware of giving this to Storm Guardians.  While this looks attractive in paper, their lack of grenades and durability means that it tends not to be a good idea to send them into close combat (see the Storm Guardian entry for a more detailed discussion).

You can also field a unit of Warlocks.  Those of you familiar with the third edition Codex Craftworld Eldar may refer to this as the Seer Council, but this unit is an Ulthwé only squad.  Any craftworld, however, can field a squad of Warlocks, so it is worth discussing how effective they are.

Warlocks are the most durable Eldar assault squad, and once you factor in the impact of their powers, the unit can look rather fearsome on paper.  Imagine, for example, a unit of around eight Warlocks armed with an assortment of Witchblades and Singing Spears, with two or three Destructors, Embolden, and Enhance, for powers.  Attach a Farseer with Fortune to the unit, and it starts to look even better, particularly in terms of increasing the unit's existing strength, durability.

The unit does, however, have two significant disadvantages.  The first is that it lacks killing power against MEQs.  Warlocks do not have many attacks, and none of their weapons, despite wounding with ease, can bypass MEQ armour, so they can struggle to take down larger MEQ units, unless they soften them up first with multiple Destructor hits.  The second is that this unit is horribly expensive, and if you try to cut down on its unit size, it becomes vulnerable in combat, particularly when outnumbered.

On foot, it is likely to be a bullet magnet, so mounting it in a Wave Serpent, and fielding it as part of a mixed or mechanised army is advisable, although the cost of the transport will make the unit seem even more expensive.  The alternative, especially if you are fielding a Jetbike themed army, is to mount the unit on Jetbikes.  This gives it some very useful mobility, which is very useful for striking tanks by throwing Singing Spears at weaker side or rear armour, and for hit and run style strikes with Destructor against infantry squads.  Beware attaching a Farseer to this unit though, as you cannot turbo boost if you want to cast psychic powers with your Farseer, so the Fortune plus turbo boost tactic is not legal, unless your Farseer is not part of the Warlock squad.  The main problem with this unit is again cost, as those Jetbikes do not come cheap.

There is also the MSU option.  This involves fielding a minimum sized unit, and giving them all Destructors and Singing Spears.  This squad works well with unorthodox infantry armies, whereby it uses the Singing Spears for anti-tank fire support, and Destructors to burn through infantry.  It is not meant for fighting in assaults, so has to be protected and well supported.  It is also very difficult to use well, so is more a choice for veterans who like putting together strange army lists, and seeing how well they can get them to work, but if you want to try something different, by all means feel free to give this type of unit a go.

Autarch:

The Autarch is an attractive choice for fully mechanised Eldar armies if you want to have the option of employing the reserves strategy.  This is because it is vital to have greater reliability over your reserve rolls, in order to time your plan of attack perfectly, and strike your opponent's army not only at the right time, but also in the right place.  All infantry lists with outflanking and deep striking units also benefit from being led by an Autarch, since his presence gives you greater control over when those vital reserves will arrive to disrupt your opponent's attack, as well as much needed unpredictability in terms of where your attack will be directed.

The Autarch has a wide variety of equipment options, making him suitable for just about any list, although the more equipment you give him, the more his points cost starts to shoot up, so you need to be careful not to make him too expensive.  It is also worth noting that mixed lists and infantry lists which do not include deep striking and outflanking elements do not really make much use of the reserves rule, so he is of less value to these armies in terms of his special abilities.

The Autarch does not really augment the performance of Eldar units.  While he does improve the shooting and/or close assault ability of the Aspect Warrior unit to which he is attached, and in turn will benefit from most Exarch powers, he has no ability to make it easier for other squads to hit or wound enemy units, for example.  When you do not have enough points to afford a Farseer and an Autarch it is, therefore, important to weigh up just how useful the Autarch is going to be to the list as a whole relative to the Farseer, as it can sometimes be a difficult choice regarding which of these to take.

How to equip you Autarch will depend a great deal on which Aspect Warrior unit you want to attach him to. Fielding him as an Independent Character is not a good idea, as a competent player will just pick him off.  Also, the Autarch won’t benefit from any Exarch abilities if he is not with an Aspect Warrior squad, so it makes sense to attach him to one.

Some common Autarch builds are as follows:

Warp Jump Generator, Fusion Gun, Power Weapon, and Mandiblasters.

This build is very effective if you want to join your Autarch to a unit of Warp Spiders.  It gives him mobility, good short range shooting to match up with the Spiders, and allows the Spiders to be used as a hit and run assault unit, providing you have equipped their Exarch appropriately.  The Fusion Gun also gives the Autarch the opportunity to split off from the Warp Spiders to blow up a key vehicle, and gives him the option of staying with the unit, deep striking behind vehicles, and adding to the mass Deathspinner fire being directed at their weak rear armour.  The only possible fly in the ointment is the threat of rolling a double if you attempt a second Warp Jump, meaning that you need to keep the Autarch with the Warp Spiders at all times if you do not want to take the risk of his being consumed by the Warp.

Jetbike, Laser Lance, Mandiblasters, Fusion Gun or Reaper Launcher

This is a solid build if you have a unit of Shining Spears to attach the Autarch to.  It gives you a useful hit and run unit which is capable to taking down small units of MEQs, and also tanks.  Some players like to give the Reaper Launcher to the Autarch to give him more ranged firepower, but I feel this makes him too expensive.  The main problem with this build is that it does not come cheap, and unless you get your Autarch into the thick of the action, you may feel you have wasted the points.

Power Weapon, Mandiblasters, Avenger Shuriken Catapult

On paper, this does not look very useful, but it is quite cheap. What is more, if you add your Autarch to a unit of Dire Avengers with an Exarch with Power Weapon, Shimmershield and Defend, you can create a useful unit for pinning and assault support (see the Dire Avenger entry for more details).  Also, the Autarch can benefit from Bladestorm, which is not to be sneezed at when you consider his BS.

Special Characters:

These are not dealt with in this guide.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2012, 02:01:32 PM by Irisado »
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2011, 11:25:45 PM »
Elites:

The Eldar army has access to some of the best elite units in Warhammer 40,000. These units, however, are very specialised, and if used poorly will die just as easily as regular troops, so it is important to ensure that they are used in situations that suit their abilities, and that they are supported.

Striking Scorpions:

These are the most durable of the elite assault units.  They excel against hordes, where their high number of attacks, and additional strength benefit them against the toughness of Ork Boyz, and allow them to scythe through Guardsmen, and many Tyranid units.  They are not quite as good against MEQs, but they are still more effective than they appear on paper, particularly if you equip the Exarch appropriately (see below).

If you are fielding an infantry based Eldar army, Striking Scorpions are best employed as a counter assault unit or assault spearhead unit, especially if you have the Avatar and Guardian horde combination as the core of your force. The Striking Scorpions can either support the Avatar, or lead an assault against the opposition in conjunction with, for example, a Dire Avenger squad.  Using the Striking Scorpions to lead such assaults is especially important if the opposing unit is in cover, due to the fact that they are equipped with grenades, a bonus many other Eldar units do not have.

In mixed Eldar armies, Striking Scorpions tend to be used in a very similar way as described for infantry lists, except that they will be working with an infantry block, rather than a larger all infantry force.  They are also more likely to be used in a counter assault role than an assault spearhead role in my experience, depending on the strategy you choose to employ.

You can also opt to outflank with your Striking Scorpions in both infantry and mixed armies.  This is particularly advisable if you are facing opposing forces which prefer to stand back and shoot, and are unlikely to take the fight to you in close combat.  If you are considering this option, it is worth thinking about including an Autarch though, so that the Scorpions are more likely to turn up sooner rather than later.

As for a mechanised Eldar force, Striking Scorpions need to outflank, in order to guarantee that they will be able to join up with the rest of the army once it has moved into your opponent’s side of the table.  Footslogging the Scorpions in such a force will lead to them being heavily shot at, and most likely destroyed before they can get to grips with the enemy, or they could just be ignored completely if your opponent feels that (s)he can inflict enough damage on the rest of your army before the Striking Scorpions get close enough to assault.  Outflanking the Striking Scorpions also works well when combined with the reserves strategy, a strategy which is often employed by commanders of fully mechanised Eldar armies.

Striking Scorpions also have the option of outflanking inside a Wave Serpent, which can be another way to integrate them into mechanised lists, but not being able to assault on the turn that arrive can be awkward.  If you are not planning to assault with them on that turn though, you can work around this problem.

Infiltrating has become increasingly hazardous for Striking Scorpions in my view.  It takes the unit closer to the opposition's guns, and usually means that they are not well supported by other units, leading them to being vulnerable to being wiped out very early in the game.  It's not a deployment method I recommend, unless you have a particularly cunning plan up your sleeve.

Exarch:

I recommend taking an Exarch for the Striking Scorpions.

In terms of Exarch powers, Stalker is very useful for getting your Scorpions into position to assault when they are advancing through cover (which is likely to be a common occurrence if you are using them correctly).  It is a very cheap power too, so unless you are severely restricted in terms of your points, I see no reason not to take this power.  Shadowstrike is only necessary if you plan to outflank or infiltrate your Striking Scorpions, so whether to take this depends heavily on your strategy, army type, and opposition.  For example, if you field mixed or all infantry Eldar and you face a lot of armies which take the attack to you, such as Dark Eldar, Blood Angels, Orks, and Tyranids, your Striking Scorpions are more likely to have to deploy normally, so Shadowstrike is not required; whereas against shooting oriented armies, such as Imperial Guard and Tau, you need to get up close and personal with them as quickly as possible, so outflanking becomes more important, making Shadowstrike a more useful power.

For the Exarch's weaponry, I suggest that you equip him with the Scorpion’s Claw because it makes the squad more effective against MEQs.  The Biting Blade can be useful if you know that you are ever going to face GEQ armies, but the Chainsabres do not really offer anything different relative to the regular Striking Scorpions, so I do not recommend these at all in all comers army.  If you do not face many (or any) MEQ armies, they may be of some benefit, but remember that they do not get the same strength bonus as the other two weapons, and do not even have the same strength as the Scorpion's Claw.

Suggested unit size:

Striking Scorpions work well in unit sizes of between six and ten, but six is the absolute minimum, and I have found that eight or more tends to be preferable.  Small assault units lose their ability to remain viable in close combat once they take a few casualties, thus larger squads are better, due to still remaining a threat even after they have lost a couple of models.

Howling Banshees:

Howling Banshees are the ultimate finesse close assault unit.  They excel at fighting against units with a high armour save and low toughness.  Most MEQ units numbering around ten models, however, have a high enough toughness to make it difficult for Howling Banshees to score enough wounds to defeat them in one round of combat, which is an important consideration when you are planning your force.  You may, for example, find it helpful to include a Farseer with Doom, so that you can cast it on the unit your Banshees plan to assault that turn).  Note, however, that it can sometimes be to your advantage not to cast Doom on the unit you intend to assault with the Howling Banshees, as winning in your turn is not always your best plan.  Wiping out the opposing unit in your opponent's turn gives you three moves (consolidate, move, fleet) in which to set up a fresh assault, meaning that the Banshees are less likely to be exposed to return fire.  Contrary to the previous version of this guide, Howling Banshees can be effective against hordes, particularly low toughness horde units, but it is important to thin out the unit you wish to assault, as Howling Banshees simply do not have the durability to withstand a high number of return attacks.

Unlike Striking Scorpions, Howling Banshees are very vulnerable to AP4 weapons.  There are plenty of these out there, and they tend to have a relatively long range, meaning that footslogging Banshees tend to have a very short lifespan.  In spite cover, and the possibility of screening the Banshees with other units, Howling Banshees really do need to be transported in my view, as they are simply too high a priority target when fielded on foot to survive for long enough to reach combat, especially against MEQ players, who rightly fear this unit.  This means that they do not tend to be the best choice for infantry orientated Eldar armies, since the last thing you want is to spend points on an unsupported assault unit in a skimmer that is likely to be shot down very early by your opponent in any case.  Transported Banshees, however, are a good choice for mixed and mechanised lists, since they can be used as part of a mechanised flank attack in both armies, delivering a devastating strike on a vulnerable flank, particularly against units in cover, which can sometimes knock your opponent totally off balance.

Howling Banshees work well when they are supported by fire support units.  Not only can these units thin out infantry units which you wish to engage with your Howling Banshees, but some, such as Fire Dragons, can also destroy targets which your Howling Banshees cannot hope to damage, for example, vehicles.

Exarch:

An absolute must for Howling Banshees in my opinion.  The powers are not particularly useful on a consistent basis however. If you end up using Acrobatic, it means that have let your Banshees get assaulted, which never should be part of the plan, so it is a fallback you are unlikely need if you are using them correctly.  It may be useful occasionally, particularly if you are using your Howling Banshees in conjunction with fewer supporting units, and there is a risk that they could be assaulted, so if you think this may be a possibility, and you have some points left over by all means consider taking it.  I do not recommend trying to find the points to accommodate this power though.  As for Warshout, there are so few low leadership squads out there, it really is not worth taking, unless you have absolutely nothing else which you could spend the points on.  Even squads which may look vulnerable on paper tend to be led by squad leaders which push their leadership up to nine or ten, and the chances of failing such leadership tests really is not all that high.  Again, if you feel that it might be useful against the odd unit here and there, and you have a few spare points, you can take it, but do not expect it to consistently cause your opponent problems.

Where the Exarch comes into her own is with respect to her weaponry.  The Executioner is a very important armament for the Exarch.  The strength bonus with which it provides makes it far easier to guarantee a few kills in the assault phase, especially against Marines, and it also makes the unit a little less reliant on Doom.  The kills inflicted by the Executioner can be a critical bonus, as the often mean the difference between victory and defeat for the Banshees.  The Mirrorswords are not a bad alternative, since the extra attacks can compensate for the lack of strength, especially if you are up against low toughness MEQ units.  As for the Triskele, it is inferior to the Mirrorswords in close combat, due to giving the Exarch no attack bonus, lacks the strength of the Executioner, and does not really fit the assault role of the Banshees, as they tend to need to fleet when they have disembarked from their transport, in order to be in range to be able to initiate an assault, resulting in its shooting capability hardly being used.

Suggested unit size:

Howling Banshees work best in units of ten, led by an Exarch, and mounted in a Wave Serpent. You may be able to get away with running units of eight, but I really would not suggest that the unit size drops any lower than this, since the additional models make it more difficult for your opponent to prevent the Banshees from remaining a viable assault unit by inflicting early casualties, either during the opening assault itself, or through reprisals in a subsequent shooting phase, particularly if you have supported the Banshees with other units, and/or used your transports to screen them from as much return fire as possible.

Fire Dragons:

Fire Dragons are the ultimate anti-tank unit in the Eldar army, but this is not their only role, since they are also very adept at blasting smoking holes through MEQs, monstrous creatures, and buildings. They are weaker, however, against masses of horde infantry or large infantry squads in general, due to not carrying multiple shot weapons.  If you do send them into the thick of the action, which you may have, in order to take out a particularly vital tank, then do not leave them unsupported, or nearby enemy infantry squads will surely overwhelm them, either through fire support, or in an assault.  You can also use transports, including the one carrying the Dragons as a shield/line of sight blocker to prevent your valuable Aspect Warriors from being targeted by ranged fire.

Fire Dragons are one of the few Eldar units which can damage vehicles with AV14 all round, so these vehicles can be a high priority target for them. It is sometimes worth even sacrificing the Dragons to destroy such vehicles, however, this should not be the standard way for using Fire Dragons, as it is far better to keep them alive, and use them for multiple strikes, unless it is absolutely imperative that you take out such a tank to benefit the rest of your army as a whole.

As is the case with Howling Banshees, they need to be transported, for the same reasons I discussed earlier, making them difficult to incorporate into an infantry based Eldar army. If you want to field an all infantry Eldar army I would, therefore, suggest that you look at other units to fulfil the main anti-tank role.  In any other type of Eldar army, they are an excellent choice.

Exarch:

The Fire Dragons do not really need an Exarch in order to be effective, so if points are tight, do not feel you have to take one. If, like me, you simply like the model, you may not be able to resist though, in spite of it not being tactically necessary.

If you do decide to take an Exarch, then I don't recommend giving him Tank Hunters.  Fire Dragons are already so powerful against tanks that they really do not need an additional bonus in my experience.  Crack Shot is more useful though.  It can be combined with the Firepike for sniping at vehicles which have fired smoke or skimmers which have moved flat out, but it is at its best when used in conjunction with the Dragon's Breath Flamer, since it effectively gives the Exarch all the bonuses of Doom without your having to cast the power on your target unit.

As far as the weapon choices go, the Firepike is by far the more aesthetically pleasing of the two, and has the added benefit of giving you a longer melta bonus range.  This will not catch out experienced players very often, but it still has its uses from time to time.  The Dragon’s Breath Flamer makes the unit more versatile, so if you are planning to take on using your Fire Dragons against infantry as well as vehicles, then it can be a worthwhile option.

Unit Size:

Fire Dragons work well in squads of six to ten models. If you are going to hunt infantry and monstrous creatures, then taking more models is generally a good idea, especially if you are taking the Dragon’s Breath Flamer.  If you are purely using them for hunting tanks, then six should be sufficient.

Wraithguard:

Wraithguard are very durable, and have powerful anti-tank/MEQ weaponry, albeit it is not quite at the level of Fire Dragons.  Their lack of multiple shot weapons means that they are vulnerable against hordes though, and while they can hold their own in assaults, you need to be aware that fixed to wound weapons can hurt them very badly, so watch out for poisoned attacks, for example.

Wraithguard can be fielded in any type of Eldar army, but if they are transported they are restricted to five models, plus the Spiritseer or Warlock. They also are pretty expensive, so are generally unsuitable for small games (1000 points or fewer), unless you are fielding an Iyanden themed army, and only go up in cost if you have to give them a transport too.  Points tend to be at a premium in mechanised lists, so Fire Dragons would probably be a better bet than Wraithguard in such armies, but again this will depend on your playing style and personal unit preference.  In mixed lists, it’s really up to you how you field them, since it will depend on your infantry/mechanised balance.

If you are fielding an infantry based or mixed Eldar army, you can take ten Wraithguard led by a Spiritseer as a scoring unit.  They are difficult to dislodge from fortified positions, and they can act as a solid pinning unit in assaults against most standard opposing units.  The downside is that they are very expensive, and they can be avoided or outmanoeuvred, due to their lack of speed.

If you are going to use them in this manner, it can be advisable to back them up with a counter assault unit, in order to help them out if they are engaged in close combat.  Alternatively, if you are looking to field a mixed list with nothing but high toughness infantry and vehicles visible at the start of the game to negate your opponent's small arms fire, you may wish to use Wraithlords and the Avatar to support them.

I feel that a Spiritseer or Warlock is compulsory, regardless of squad size, in order to prevent Wraithsight.  If you have ten models, take the Spiritseer, otherwise, a Warlock will suffice.

The Warlock powers can also be of some help to Wraithguard.  Enhance boosts their ability in assaults, while Conceal is beneficial if you expect to encounter a lot of low AP weapons, especially if cover is going to be scarce.  Some players also advocate giving the Warlock Destructor, in order to boost the squad's anti-infantry capability.

Unit Size:

This is governed by how you want to use them. If you are fielding them on foot, take them in units of ten led by a Spiritseer. If not, just take as many as you can in the unit, unless of course you are going to mount them in a Wave Serpent, which automatically caps their squad size.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2012, 02:00:01 PM by Irisado »
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2011, 11:29:51 PM »
Harlequins:

Whether to include Harlequins can be influenced by background issues.  For a detailed analysis of this issue, please refer to the Background Army Composition PDF available via the Eldar Index link in my signature (not yet available on WHE).

Harlequins are the 'jack of all trades' Eldar assault unit.  They perform well against most units in the game, and thus look rather attractive on paper.  Their ability to rend also helps against Feel No Pain units, and high toughness targets.  They are also very mobile.

The issue with the Harlequins is that once you factor in their cost, vulnerability to reprisals, and their lack of durability to mid to short ranged shooting, the number of additional casualties they can inflict on most units, relative to Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions, is not all that impressive.  For these reasons, they are not the automatic best choice for Eldar armies, and it is worth considering their inclusion carefully as a result.

Harlequins can work in both infantry and mixed armies, but they are not a natural fit for mechanised lists, since they cannot start the game inside a Wave Serpent and must embark on turn one, which prevents the Serpent from moving flat out that turn.  They can ride in a Falcon, but with large units being recommended (see below), this is not usually the best option.  There are also background issues with mounting Harlequins in craftworld transports (see the article mentioned above for details).

As far as upgrades are concerned, the Shadowseer is pretty much compulsory for a squad on foot, in order to prevent them from being a very soft target for long ranged weapons, while the Troupe Master can be useful if given a Power Weapon for more guaranteed wounds to bypass Feel No Pain.  The Death Jester creates an extra wound group, but otherwise is not that useful in my view, due to the unit tending to need to fleet too often, and not having enough opportunities to shoot.  Fusion Pistols are also not the best option, in my opinion, since Harlequins should not be engaging tanks, although they might fry the odd MEQ, or take a wound of a monstrous creature, so some players may wish to take them.  By contrast, the Harlequin’s Kiss is essential, so I recommend that you equip the Harlequins with as many of these as you can afford, since Harlequins rely on their rending to be effective.

Unit Size:

As is the case with other assault units, the more the merrier.  They are fragile, and need lots of Kisses, so a unit size of eight to ten models is my recommendation.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2012, 01:58:59 PM by Irisado »
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2011, 11:31:10 PM »
Troops:

The core of any Eldar army, Eldar troop choices are sometimes perceived as being inferior to the other sections of the Eldar list, since they lack the exotic weaponry and skills of more specialised Eldar units. Do not let this deceive you though, as Eldar troops are a threat, and can often win you the game if you manage to get the best out of them.

A question which is often asked by new players concerns how many troops units should be fielded.  There is no simple answer to this, as it depends on the list structure, the troops choices in question, and the strategy you intend to use.  It is best, therefore, to ask this question in relation to a specific army list in a suitable thread, rather than try to ask for a general guideline.

Dire Avengers:

Dire Avengers fit into all Eldar army types, as they function well both on foot, and when being transported.  Their main role is anti-infantry fire support for your more specialised Aspect Warriors, but they can also be used in a pinning/assault support role.

If you want to focus on shooting, and you are not fielding an all infantry list, it is advisable to mount them in a Wave Serpent, since this allows them to reach their target faster, and perhaps join up with other Eldar units which work best when mounted in transports, such as Howling Banshees and Fire Dragons, in order to help soften up targets for either of these units to engage, or to simply provide general fire support, and/or capture an objective.

If you are fielding a squad on foot, and you want to use it for an assault support/pinning role, then it needs to be paired with an assault unit (Striking Scorpions and Harlequins are obvious candidates), and the Exarch must be equipped appropriately (see below).  It is also very important to ensure that you do not send Dire Avengers into a combat in which they are fighting a specialist assault unit, as they don't stand much chance against such opposition.  If you do, therefore, want to use them in close combat, particularly in a pinning role (in which they must hold up the opposing unit for a turn before the counter assault unit comes to their aid), ensure that you do not try to pin a powerful assault squad, and instead use them to hold up a more generalist unit with moderate assault capability.

Dire Avengers generate a decent amount of firepower, and are very good at thinning GEQ units, but this does not mean that they can handle such units on their own, so they are best utilised in conjunction with other Aspects, as I alluded to above.

In spite of all their qualities, Dire Avengers do have a couple of weaknesses that you must be aware of.  The first is range.  You must particularly be aware of multiple shot weapons, such as Heavy Bolters and Assault Cannons, which can make a horrible mess of Dire Avengers.  Troops units in other armies often have a greater range than Dire Avengers as well, so be aware of this when planning your attack, although Dire Avengers tend to be able to fire more shots on the move and initiate more assaults compared to units equipped with rapid fire weapons.

The other major weakness of Dire Avengers is in the assault phase. Yes, they can be used to pin, as I outlined previously, but do not let this lull you into a false sense of security.  Dire Avengers are not assault troops.  At best they can hold up an opposing assault unit for a couple of turns (if the Exarch has the necessary equipment), but they will rarely achieve anything more, unless they are assaulting a unit which has been heavily depleted, or is utterly hopeless at hand-to-hand fighting (e.g. Tau Fire Warriors).  In most cases, Dire Avengers are best off shooting their opponents if you have the choice.

Exarch:

An Exarch is very important for this unit to work properly.  Both powers are very useful, and if you have sufficient points, it is best to buy both of them. If points are tight, you may be forced to choose whichever power you feel best fits your overall strategy, although which power to take is also dependent on the equipment that the Exarch has been given.

Bladestorm is a good choice for any Dire Avenger unit that plans on shooting the opposition.  It is a highly situational power, and one which you are best not to use consistently, as it leaves the Avengers horribly vulnerable until they can next fire, but it is valuable for when you have to put a significant dent in an opposing unit, or wipe out a depleted squad, in order to boost your chances of victory.

Defend is also a very helpful power.  Reducing an opposing unit’s attacks may not sound like much, but it can mean the difference between the Dire Avengers holding their ground, or being routed in an assault.  If the Dire Avengers are there to hold your battle line, as can be the case in infantry and mixed armies, the last thing you want is for them to be crushed in an assault within the space of one turn.  For Dire Avengers mounted in a Wave Serpent whose role is often nothing more than to offer fire support to an assault unit, then Defend is obviously much less necessary, but some players do like to use Dire Avenger squads in transports for assault support, so do not rule it out completely.

The choice of which equipment to give to a Dire Avenger Exarch is very much governed by the role of the unit.  For Dire Avengers on foot, the Power Weapon and Shimmershield combination tends to be the best choice, as it enhances the unit’s ability to survive in assaults. It works particularly well when combined with Defend, as it reduces the number of casualties that your unit is likely to suffer.  The Exarch will also have the chance to kill a few opposing models with his Power Weapon in return.  Remember though that you are just delaying the inevitable, so unless you have close combat units to support your Avengers, even these defences will not help you in the long run.  The Dual Avenger Catapults are at their best when used with units of Dire Avengers which will be used exclusively in a fire support role, for reasons which are self-explanatory.  The Diresword and Shuriken Pistol may offer the Exarch more attacks, but it offers nothing to the rest of his unit.  As a result, I do not think that it is a particularly good choice, especially when you consider that there are so few squad leaders or independent characters around with sufficiently low enough leadership for the Diresword to have much of a chance of inflicting Instant Death on any of them.

Unit Size:

I find that Dire Avengers need to be fielded in units of ten, in order to maximise their ranged abilities, and their chances of holding up an opposing unit in an assault.  If the unit is smaller than this, you run the risk of the squad not being able to achieve its aims, and not being survivable enough to take and hold objectives towards the end of the game.

DAVU:

This gets its own section, because many players perceive it so differently from regular squads of Dire Avengers.

DAVU stands for Dire Avenger Vehicle Upgrade, and means that a minimalist Dire Avenger squad (five models; no Exarch) is mounted inside a Wave Serpent or Falcon, never leaves the tank, and is used as a mobile scoring unit.

It is popular with fully mechanised Eldar players, who rely on durability and speed to win objective based missions.  It has the advantage of being very durable, relative to other Eldar scoring units, but in kill point missions, it is of precious little value.  In addition, it also takes too many points away from attacking options, so if you prefer mixed lists, I do not recommend it, as you will not have the points to field two waves of vehicles, as can be done with mechanised Eldar armies.

I intensely dislike this option, as it is bland, boring, and does not reflect how Eldar armies work in my opinion.  It can, however, be very effective, so it is very much a personal preference choice.

Wraithguard:

Please see their entry in the elites section for further details.

Defender Guardians:

Eldar players tend to fall into two groups, those who love Guardians and those who loathe them.  I am very much a fan of Guardians.

Guardians are a useful fire support unit, who are particularly effective when used to thin out advancing infantry or to neutralise light vehicles.  They work best on foot, in my experience, in order to maximise this fire support role, and because other units tend to require transporting more than Defender Guardians do, however, you can still use them effectively when mounting them inside a Wave Serpent, so they need not be ruled out by mechanised players.  It is also better to field multiple units if you can, since this helps to compensate for their average BS, and fragility.

The main advantage that Guardians have over Dire Avengers is that they have access to a heavy weapon which can move and fire, making them a very useful unit for providing medium ranged fire support for your Aspect Warriors as they advance.  Being able to take a heavy weapon also gives them greater versatility, since they can actually damage vehicles, whereas Dire Avengers are purely an anti-infantry unit.  There are five heavy weapon options for Guardians, each of which I will discuss in turn (solely in the context of being used by Guardians):

Shuriken Cannon: Its biggest advantage lies in the fact that it is cheap, but it also has an impressive rate of fire, and a high strength.  The problem with it centres on its lack of range.  You want a decent range when you are providing supporting fire, and having to bring your fragile Guardian squad into range of rapid fire weapons, in order to be able to fire their own heavy weapon rather defeats the object of support fire in my opinion, and exposes the fragile Guardians to more return fire than is ideal.  For this reason I would not take it, unless you are mounting them inside a Wave Serpent, in which case the range is less of a factor, and they are more likely to be exposed to fire in any case, unless you can use any transports as line of sight blockers (see the Fire Dragon entry for further details).

Scatter Laser: By far the best choice for Guardians in my experience.  It has a reasonably long range, fires more shots than the Shuriken Cannon, and has a high enough to strength to worry not only infantry, but also light vehicles.  In addition, it is helpful when targeting units in cover, as the more hits and wounds you generate against such units, the better.

Starcannon: The amount of 4+ cover save in fifth edition really hampers the effectiveness of this weapon, especially in the hands of Guardians, who do not have the mobility, unless riding in a Wave Serpent, to try to find angles to bypass cover.  Even if they are mouted in a Serpent, it is a very expensive option, and you need a number of them to make it constitute a threat in my view, so I do not recommend it as a good choice for Guardians.

EML (Eldar Missile Launcher): This is not as versatile as it appears on paper, as the Plasma missile is inferior compared to the Scatter Laser against infantry, while the Krak missile lacks accuracy in the hands of Guardians.  If you want to try to theme your list around pinning weapons, or you are really lacking in anti-tank weaponry, then it can be worth equipping Guardians with EMLs, but otherwise I suggest sticking to the Scatter Lasers.

Brightlance: Too expensive and too inaccurate when fired by Guardians.  Unless you are sorely lacking in anti-tank, and you have three of four units of Guardians which can be thus equipped to compensate for their average BS, I do not recommend that you opt for this.

A tip for new players: When assembling your Eldar weapon platforms, do not glue your heavy weapons in place, instead buy some magnets to hold them in place, so that you can change your weapons over if the rules suddenly make a weapon no longer as good as it used to be.  I foolishly glued together all my weapon platforms.  I have subsequently been stuck (no pun intended) with a Starcannon that I do not want, when I could have just swapped if for a Scatter Laser had I used magnets.  Do not make the same mistake as me.

In spite of their advantages, Guardians do have some problems.  The short range of their Shuriken Catapults forces them to get into rapid fire range of the opposition if they want to fire them.  This tends not to be a good idea, since even cover probably will not be enough to stop them from taking heavy casualties.  A far better plan is to wait for the opposition to come to you, or to advance as a second wave to mop up depleted units, so that your opponent cannot bring massive firepower to bear on your Guardians.  If you can deploy your Guardians with an area of open ground in front them, while they themselves remain in cover you can create a fire lane through which they can pick off advancing opposing units.  This tactic will only work with an enemy which will come to you though, so an advance is quite often necessary, in which case, you must ensure that your Guardians are not part of your front line.

Guardians also have poor armour, and will be swept away by concentrated firepower, and utterly annihilated by any troops which are remotely capable in an assault.  This adds to the reasons why Guardians should not be a forefront off any attack.

A final issue is watch out for deep strikes.  Deep striking squads can make a horrible mess of Guardians, so protect them from these accordingly by being very careful when you deploy in particular.

Adding a Warlock with Embolden to a Guardian squad is recommended.  It bolsters their staying power, and can also be exploited by the Farseer, should (s)he join the unit, when taking psychic tests.  Other powers are of limited use in my view, although Destructor may be useful for Wave Serpent.  Conceal is still sometimes taken by a few players, but with most cover conferring a better save, it is better to avoid open terrain, and take a different power in my experience.

Unit Size:

Guardians have to be fielded in units of ten or more.  I would never field more than fifteen though, otherwise, the unit gets too unwieldy and too horde like, making it harder to hide in cover and more difficult to manoeuvre.

Storm Guardians:

These should be treated in much the same way as Defender Guardians in terms of their main weaknesses, but unlike the Defender Guardians, they must get up close and personal with the enemy in order to be effective.

They make for a reasonable close assault support unit, working well in conjunction with specialist assault Aspect Warriors, but watch out for their lack of grenades when assaulting into cover!  For an assault unit, this is a huge weakness, which means that if they assault a unit in cover on their own, they will most likely be crushed.  It is also for this reason that sending them in to an assault in conjunction with another specialist assault unit (which has grenades or a special ability, such as the Banshee Mask) is so critical, in that this unit will most likely strike first, and hopefully wipe out enough of the opposition for the Storm Guardians not to have to be overly concerned about reprisals before they get to strike.

Storm Guardians can be used on foot, but their lack of range, and fragility makes this difficult, so it is usually better to mount them inside a Wave Serpent, and use them in mixed and mechanised armies.

Storm Guardians have access to some useful upgrades.  Flamers are very effective if you are going up against GEQs.  Thinning out those hordes before assaulting them with as many units as you can is very important, and even MEQs can suffer if you hit them with multiple templates.  Fusion Guns can be useful for killing the odd MEQ, taking wounds of monstrous creatures, or knocking a tank out.  You can also opt for the generalist option by taking a Flamer and Fusion Gun, although it is questionable how effective this is, particularly against vehicles.

The Warlock is a very important upgrade for Storm Guardians.  By equipping him with a Singing Spear, he makes the unit more effective in its anti-tank role, while Destructor boosts the unit's anti-infantry capability.  The Warlock is a very good choice for the generalist unit, and makes the specialised unit better at its particular role too.

The Warlock can also bolster the unit's assault support capability with Enhance, but given the squad's average performance in this area, it is not the best option in my view.  For those of you who like to employ your Storm Guardians in close combat though, you may wish to try this out.

Unit size: (Please refer to the section on Guardian Defenders above).

A Final Note on all types of Guardians on foot:

Beware of opposing units with Flamers.  If you are using your Guardians to hold objectives, watch out for these trying to sneak up on you via deep striking or outflanking, or speed up to you in a transport.  Flamers are deadly against Guardians, and you need to destroy such units as quickly as possible if you are fielding a lot of Guardians.  If you cannot do this, then at least keep them at arm’s length, or tied up with other units, so that they cannot reach your fragile Guardians.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2012, 01:58:17 PM by Irisado »
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2011, 11:33:19 PM »
Guardian Jetbikes:

Guardian Jetbikes make good high speed objective snatchers, particularly late in the game.  Their ability to move in the assault phase makes them very suitable for hit and run style attacks, but it can still be risky to position them in Shuriken Catapult range, unless you are targeting infantry which do not have any special movement bonuses.

In spite of their flexibility, Jetbikes are very fragile (if they are not turbo boosting), and can be picked off by mass firepower, especially since they have to get in close to be able to fire their Shuriken Catapults.  As a result, they are best used a mobile reserve for supporting a mechanised army, or the mechanised wing of a mixed army, where multiple squads can work together, mutually supporting one another.

Adding a Warlock with Embolden to a squad of Jetbikes, particularly larger units, can be useful.  Remember they are only as tough as a MEQ, tend to be fielded in relatively small squad sizes, and their leadership is not all that good, so boosting their morale can be useful.  Other Warlock powers are not all that helpful to this unit, although some players take Destructor for additional firepower, but it is risky, as the Jetbike squad has to get very close to the opposition to allow the Warlock to use it.

The Shuriken Cannon is a very good weapon upgrade for this unit.  It allows the Jetbikes to make the most of their mobility to target vehicles with weak side or rear armour, and allows them to target units from a longer range, which can prolong their lifespan.  I recommend taking as many as you can within the restrictions imposed by the size of the squad.  Remember that the Warlock does not count for the purposes of allocating Shuriken Cannons, so if you wanted two Shuriken Cannons, for example, you would need to take six regular Jetbikes (not five regular Jetbikes plus a Warlock).

Unit Size:

This has provoked substantial debate among Eldar players.

The argument tends to come down to whether you opt for multiple units of three Jetbikes, or units of six Jetbikes.  The former can work well when held in reserve and used to capture objectives, while the latter has more firepower and staying power, which makes them more capable of taking out opposing units, and holding objectives.  My preference is for the latter, but it all depends on your strategy, tactics, and the overall composition of your army list.

Rangers/Pathfinders:

These are not the easiest units to use, and I have altered my position on them considerably since the first version of the Eldar Guide was published.

They do not fit into mechanised armies very well, due to their lack of mobility, while this same lack of mobility can cause issues with certain mixed lists when you are looking to take the attack to the opposition with both the transported and infantry elements.

Another problem is that their main role is one of suppression, but morale is so good in fifth edition that it is very difficult to get units to consistently fail pinning tests, so their effectiveness can be viewed as being somewhat underwhelming.

These issues do not mean that Rangers and Pathfinders are poor choices though, rather you just have to think about whether they are well suited to your army.  If you want to make the most of their suppression role, you can build a pinning Eldar army.  This involves taking multiple units and weapons which can pin, making it more likely that your Rangers or Pathfinders will be able to inconvenience opposing units.

Rangers and Pathfinders can also be useful for holding remote objectives in cover in your half of the table, but you must watch out for outflanking and/or deep striking units, particularly those which are equipped with Flamers.  As an extension to this point, the threat from Flamers, assaults and mass firepower in general means that infiltrating too deep into the opposition's territory is not recommended.  It is, therefore, much better to deploy these units in your half of the table most of the time.

Both Rangers and Pathfinders specialise in taking down high toughness models, such as monstrous creatures from afar, so if you are up against Tyranids, you may find these units particularly useful.  They can also take out a few MEQs here and there, but do not rely on their being able to do this, as cover can negate any armour bypassing hits and rending wounds.  Your best target is small squads of five MEQs.

The anti-tank ability of Rangers and Pathfinders is not something to be relied on, but if you have enough models firing, you can generate sufficient AP1 and/or Rending hits for them to pose a threat.  This is not, however, their primary role by any means, so is probably only going to be of any use if there are no infantry or monstrous creatures for them to target.

The question of whether it’s worth upgrading Rangers to Pathfinders is a tricky one.  I would say that it is worth it if you have the points available, but that you should not cut out too many other elements of your army in order to find the necessary points.

Two final issues regarding using Rangers and Pathfinders concern the possibility of mounting them inside a Falcon, or borrowing a Wave Serpent, and using them as a DAVU style unit, or outflanking with them.  In the case of the former, it is very situational, and depends a lot on the type of list being fielded, and the overall strategy, so it is not possible to discuss this in detail here.  To my mind, it seems like a waste of their long range support fire, but against heavily mechanised opposition, it could be useful until you have opened up some transports, at which point they could disembark onto an objective and start taking pot shots.  In the case of the latter, it can be tempting if you want to assault armies which have very poor close combat ability, such as Tau, and you are using other outflanking units which the Rangers/Pathfinders could support, such as Striking Scorpions, but otherwise, I do not view this as being a very useful option.

Unit Size:

Both units tend to work best in small numbers, usually five or six.  Larger units are possible, particularly if you are fielding the cheaper Rangers, but they can be harder to deploy in cover, so you have to take this into account when creating this unit.
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2011, 11:34:21 PM »
Fast Attack:

Eldar Fast Attack choices are often quite tricky to use, and cost quite a few points.  If you can master them though, they can be used to good effect.

Warp Spiders:

Warp Spiders are an excellent mobile fire base.  In spite of their short range, their ability to move in both the movement and assault phases coupled with the effectiveness of the Deathspinner makes them more than capable of getting in range of an enemy unit, shooting it to pieces, and then executing a Warp Jump, so that they can escape any reprisals.  Mass Deathspinner fire tear through GEQs like a hot knife through butter, while its rate of fire and high strength will even cause MEQs concern if you have enough Spiders firing.  The mobility and weaponry of the Warp Spiders make them the most versatile of the Eldar fast attack units, for this reason they can be successfully integrated into infantry, mixed, and mechanised Eldar armies without too many problems.

Warp Spiders do have a major disadvantage though, and that is that they are not particularly effective in an assault. Even if you upgrade the Exarch appropriately, Warp Spiders lack the necessary attacks and grenades to make them an assault force of any real quality.  They can be turned into a support assault unit by fielding a large unit, led by an Exarch with Powerblades and Withdraw (more on this later), but this unit is quite expensive, and will still be defeated by many other units of equal size in an assault if the Spiders go it alone.  It is, however, useful for mopping up heavily depleted opposing units in close combat.

If you do want to assault with your Warp Spiders, then you can also consider adding an Autarch to the unit, in order to boost the squad's assault capability.  The Autarch can also give the unit some anti-tank potential when equipped with a Fusion Gun, so if you plan on deep striking the squad, it can be used to augment the firepower of the Deathspinners against vehicles with weak rear armour.  In subsequent turns, you can also detach the Autarch from the squad if you want to use his Fusion Gun against a more heavily armoured target, but this tends to be something of a suicide run, so it's not a tactic which is I recommend on anything other than a situational basis.

Exarch:

The Exarch is a very important upgrade for Warp Spiders.  Regarding his powers, Surprise Assault is utterly useless in standard missions, so it should not be considered.  Withdraw, however, is useful if you plan on assaulting with your Warp Spiders, as being able to break off at the end of that turn’s combat may well save their bacon if things start to go pear shaped.

As far as the Exarch’s equipment is concerned, the Exarch Deathspinner is easily the best choice.  It gives the squad even more firepower, making it even more dangerous, and means that the squad creates such a torrent of fire that even MEQ players will be sweating.  The Spinneret Rifle, by comparison, lacks the necessary number of shots to frighten most infantry, and its ability to pin enemy units is not that valuable, unless you are building an army around pinning weapons, given that so many units have a high leadership.  Powerblades are only needed if you plan on using the squad in a close assault role. They are useful, so take them if you have the points.

Unit Size:

If you want to field Warp Spiders as purely a shooting unit then you can just take a minimum size unit of five (as long as you include the Exarch with Exarch Deathspinner), although there is no problem with taking a bigger squad should you feel the need to have more firepower.  If you are going to use them as a support assault unit, you need as many models as you can afford.  A unit of ten is sometimes a bit unwieldy for many players though, especially if you plan to deep strike the squad, so eight may be the best number for this type of squad.

To Deep Strike or Not To Deep Strike?:

This is situational and depends heavily on both the opposition, and your own army structure.  As a general guide, I find that deep striking in mixed Eldar lists tends to be risky, as the squad is normally better off being used as mobile fire support from turn one for the infantry or mechanised section.  By contrast, in all infantry lists and mechanised lists, it can be better to deep strike the Spiders.  In the case of the former, it gives the army some much needed mobility, and alternative lines of attack, while in the case of the latter it avoids exposing your fragile Spiders to anti-infantry weaponry, while all your other units are safely hiding away in their transports.

There is no hard and fast rule here though, so there will always be exceptions to this general guideline.

Swooping Hawks:

Swooping Hawks are one of the most difficult units to use well.  They are fragile, and their role is rather hard to identify, making them one of the units which tends to be overlooked by a lot of Eldar players.  Contrary to the arguments put forward by some they are not, however, useless.

Of all the Eldar Aspects which use assault weapons, they have one significant advantage, and that is that they have a comparatively long range. This allows Swooping Hawks to stay out of close range rapid fire, and away from template weapons, while still being able to shoot at the opposition.  Lasblasters are not the greatest weapons in the game, but they can cause some damage against some horde units, such as Guard infantry, Termagants, and such the like.  This means that Swooping Hawks can be employed successfully as a mid range anti-horde unit, particularly if you combine their firepower with Doom.  Lasblaster fire is not going to worry MEQs though, in spite of the high number of shots, since the lack of strength, combined with the poor AP, simply makes it too difficult to inflict enough casualties.

The grenade pack also complements the anti-horde role of the Swooping Hawks, which can make the yo-yo tactic attractive if you are employing the Hawks against infantry based GEQ armies, such as Orks and Tyranids.

Swooping Hawks can also be used to some effect against vehicles, particularly if they are part of a squadron.  The danger of this though is that it tends to leave the Hawks in a vulnerable position in terms of reprisals or being assaulted, so if you do not support them, do not expect them to survive for very long after having initiated such an attack.

As with Warp Spiders, the fact that they are mobile infantry means that Swooping Hawks will integrate well with any type of Eldar army, but whether to include them will be based more on the force you are facing, rather than your own army composition.  Given that Warp Spiders tend to be the direct competition for the Swooping Hawks in Eldar army lists, it is easy to see why the Hawks often get left behind.

Exarch:

The Exarch is useful for the Swooping Hawks, since his powers give them a fighting chance of being more effective in some of their roles.  Skyleap can be useful if you want to employ the yo-yo tactic, which involves removing the Hawks from play each turn, particularly if you have an Autarch in your list, but you have to be careful that your Hawks do not get left off the table at the end of the game when you could need them, for example, to contest a crucial objective.  Intercept is very important if you plan to use the Swooping Hawks for an anti-tank role, especially if you plan on using them against skimmers or other fast vehicles.

As for the Exarch's weapon options, the Hawk’s Talon is useful if you want to go after light vehicles, while the Sunrifle is useful against GEQ infantry, particularly if you are constructing an army built around pinning options.  The Power Weapon is rarely seen on Swooping Hawk Exarchs.  The squad is designed more for shooting than it is for supporting other units in an assault, but the Power Weapon option should not be overlooked if you want to attach a close assault oriented Autarch, or Baharroth to the squad, although I feel that Warp Spiders make for a better assault support unit, due to being able to hit and run.

Unit Size:

Larger squads sizes are better in my view, in order to generate more firepower, and increase your chances of damaging vehicles.  If you are going to deep strike with the squad though, be wary of using more than seven or eight models, as the large foot print caused by a small size unit can make deep strike mishaps through clipping other models more likely.

Shining Spears:

Shining Spears are a tricky unit to use well, and they cost a lot of points, which tends to make them one of the less fielded units in the codex.

They are best suited for hunting vehicles with weak rear armour which are not inclined to move, or for taking on small squads of MEQs which are not in cover.  They can also take on slightly larger infantry units if you add an Autarch, but be careful not to bite off more than you can chew with the Spears as they are horribly brittle, both in terms of taking casualties from supporting fire if they elect to withdraw, and if they get stuck in a protracted combat.

They fit into almost any Eldar army type, but I recommend that you run them alongside other Jetbikes, or field multiple squads, otherwise, they can become rather isolated, and are a pretty soft target if used alone alongside lots of Wave Serpents, for example.

Exarch:

The Exarch is very important for Shining Spears, due to his having access to the power Withdraw. As is the case with Warp Spiders, this power allows the Spears to launch hit and run style attacks, which helps them avoid getting bogged down in protracted combats.  This means that they can risk taking on slightly larger units than ideal, break off, and then, providing the opposing unit has been locked in place by another unit, or for some other reason, assault again in a subsequent turn.  You can also make use of Withdraw to allow them to escape from sticky situations, but watch out for opposing fire support teams which may be in a position to gun them down.

Skilled Rider may be of use if you are playing on a Cities of Death board, but otherwise I would be tempted to run the risk of not taking it, as assaulting models in cover with Shining Spears is not a great idea anyway, since they do not have grenades.  Use the mobility of Shining Spears to get behind enemy units, so that you can hopefully assault a unit from an angle whereby you do not have to assault through difficult terrain.

The Exarch has access to the Star Lance, which is a very useful weapon if you are sending your Shining Spears off to hunt tanks.  If you are not planning to go tank hunting with your Spears though, I would not say it is that necessary.  The Power Weapon may be helpful if you get caught up in a protracted combat, but given that this is not a good idea with this unit, I would say you don’t really need to take it.

Unit Size:

The more models you can have the better, but their high cost can make fielding large units rather prohibitive in small games, or in armies where you are spending a lot of points on transports.

Vypers:

The Vyper is a very good harassment vehicle.  It has a decent range of effective weapon combinations, is very fast, and is surprisingly effective at knocking out vehicles, owing to use its mobility to set up flank or rear armour shots.

The Vyper is, however, very fragile, so it can be destroyed very easily.  Even mass Bolter fire can destroy it, so you must be careful how you use it. Running it on the flanks is the best plan, but even then it can easily be shot down.

Combining Vypers with Jetbikes can also be useful, as Jetbikes are large enough to provide cover saves to Vypers, while the two units complement each other quite well, providing you're not using your Vypers for a long ranged support fire role (see the discussion on weapon choices below).

There is also a case for using Vypers alongside other, more heavily armoured vehicles.  Not only can these shield the Vypers when necessary, but the threat potential of vehicles such as Wave Serpents and Falcons, assuming you factor in the units which they are transporting, can lead to your Vypers being overlooked by the opposition when it comes to target priority, allowing them to make a real nuisance of themselves.

Vypers can also be used in squadrons, which is good for concentrating their firepower, and keeping them mobile, but it is also something of a double edged sword, due to the fact that they are open topped, and will be destroyed by a result of four or higher on the damage table.

Vypers have access to a lot of vehicle upgrades.  I do not feel that Vypers are tough enough or valuable enough to warrant spending the extra points on giving them expensive upgrades, and if you decide to run a squadron of them, then Spirit Stones are useless.  I personally would not even take Spirit Stones on a Vyper running solo, but other players may prefer to.  Giving Vypers any other vehicle upgrades is just an unnecessary use of points in my view (N.B. see caveat regarding the Shuriken Cannon upgrade below).

Vypers also have access to an assortment of different weapon combinations:

Shuriken Cannon: This can be a good choice for the Vyper.  It is cheap, is good at killing GEQs, and even MEQs when being fired en masse as part of a squadron.  It is also very handy if you can get your Vyper into a position, so that it can fire at the rear armour of vehicles.  The big disadvantage of the Shuriken Cannon is the Vyper has to come within rapid fire range to be able to use it, which can make it incredibly vulnerable to return fire.  As a result, I do not recommend it, unless you are tight on points, or are planning to use your Vypers as one hit wonders.

Scatter Laser: This is another good choice for all the reasons mentioned above, but crucially it has a greater range, which allows the Vyper to stay out of range of rapid fire weapons.  If you have a few extra points to spend, I would, therefore, suggest that you choose this over the Shuriken Cannon.

Starcannon: Expensive and compromised by a combination of cover and the Vyper's average BS.  It may be useful if you can catch a MEQ squad from an angle at which it cannot benefit from cover (for example, from the rear if it is standing behind a barricade), and may well be of benefit if you face a lot of MEQs with Feel No Pain.  Otherwise, its lower rate of fire makes it less useful against vehicles than the Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannon, and its high cost makes it pretty undesirable against most armies.

EML: The main reason to take these is that of range.  The EML allows your Vyper to keep out of trouble by staying in your half of the table by sniping vehicles, monstrous creatures, or lone independent characters with krak missiles, or trying to suppress infantry with Plasma missiles.  EMLs work better with multiple Vypers firing though, in order to compensate for their average BS, while a Farseer with Guide may also be in order if you plan on firing a lot of Krak missiles.

Brightlance: Too expensive to be worthwhile in my view, especially given the fragility of the Vyper.  If you want to use the Vyper for anti-tank duty, I recommend that you take the EML instead.

Shuriken Cannon upgrade: This is okay if you do not plan on moving too fast very often, and want to use the Vyper as a firing platform.  Combining it with a main Shuriken Cannon or Scatter Laser means that your Vyper will have an impressive rate of fire, and could potentially be rather destructive.  This upgrade can also be combined with Plasma missiles if you want to fire two weapons while moving at cruising speed.  This upgrade does, however, cost more points, and when you consider how fragile the Vyper is, and that you have to get within rapid fire range of the opposition to be able to use it, you may decide that it is not worth taking.

Unit Size:

I feel that this decision is completely up to individual players, as there are trade offs in both cases, which can also be strongly influenced by the list in which the Vyper is being used.
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2011, 11:35:14 PM »
Wave Serpent:

A staple choice for both mixed and mechanised Eldar armies.  This tough transport is one of the most popular choices among Eldar players.  It's cheaper than the Falcon, more resilient against melta fire, and doesn't have to be equipped with as many weapons, meaning that it isn't as hampered by not being able to fire enough weapons on the move.

The only real disadvantages that the Wave Serpent has are that its Energy Field is useless against close assault troops, and the field does not protect its rear armour, but if you use it well, these weaknesses should not be exposed during the game.

A tactical issue pertaining to the Wave Serpent concerns the fact that they only have one exit, and it's not an assault ramp.  Despite the complaints of wishlisters, it doesn't need an assault ramp, you just need to learn how to use it effectively to avoid the rear exit being a significant handicap.  It's generally not an issue for shooting units, since you can still open fire after disembarking from a transport which has moved, so it only becomes a major issue for assault units.

The key to preventing opponents from blocking the rear door for assault units is to ensure that you take three Wave Serpents, and place the one transporting the assault squad in the middle of the other two (which should contain shooting units), so that your opponent cannot get around the sides of your central Wave Serpent to get to the rear door.  Attacking on a flank also makes it difficult for deep striking units to block the door, owing to the proximity of your other Serpents, as well as the table edge.  Watch out for outflanking units though, as they can spoil your plans.

To make the rear door even safer, you can position a unit of your own behind it, in order to make it even harder for your opponent to get to it, and then move it out of the way before your assault unit disembarks.  This could actually be a Wave Serpent, if you want to adopt a different formation from the one outlined above, or a mobile unit which can keep up with your Serpents, such as Jetbikes or a Vyper squadron.

Finally, an important note about rules.  Remember that remember that you cannot disembark or embark if your Wave Serpent has moved flat out, or is going to move flat out. The second part of this rule is often overlooked, so do not forget it.

Other tactics for Wave Serpents include:

Blocking Line of Sight:

Providing you use the standard GW flying stands, Wave Serpents make for great line of sight blockers.  If you disembark all your infantry units before moving the Serpents, you can then position the Serpents in such a way as to cut off avenues of fire from opposing supporting units which could otherwise gun down your victorious and fragile Eldar infantry after they have crushed your opponent's nearest units.

Tank Shock:

This is great for herding opposing units off objectives, and for forcing multiple morale checks on units which lined up one behind the other.  The speed of the Wave Serpent means that it can often reach units on your opponent's base line when tank shocking, and if they fail their morale test, they'll flee straight off the board.  It's a situational tactic, but it's very useful, so always keep it in mind, especially against an opponent who doesn't like to move outside his/her deployment zone.

Ramming:

This is rather a desperate tactic in my opinion, as it will probably end up doing as much damage to your Wave Serpent as the opposing vehicle.  I really would not recommend this, unless you have to stop an opposing vehicle for whatever reason, and you have no other options available to do so.

Upgrades:

Shuriken Cannon: Upgrading the Shuriken Catapults to a Shuriken Cannon is useful if you want to combine its fire power with Plasma Missiles from an EML turret.  It can also be useful for Wave Serpents in a mechanised list for additional firepower.  Otherwise, I think that, unless you have spare points, there are more important things to purchase across the army as a whole.

Spirit Stones: These are essential for Wave Serpents in mixed lists, and important for most Wave Serpents in mechanised armies.  The last thing you want is for your valuable transport to be unable to move for a turn.  Being unable to move not only slows down your attack, which could lose you the battle in the long run if you troops do not get to their destination quickly enough, but also results in your units potentially not arriving in unison to execute a coordinated attack, leading to your fragmented force being taken apart piecemeal by your opponent.

Vectored Engines: I have not found these to be worth it, since your valuable troops are very unlikely to suffer a lot of casualties if their transport is shot down after having moved flat out.  Do not be confused by the main rulebook FAQ about the consequences to passengers, as this only applies if the vehicle crashes in the same player turn on which it moved flat out.

Star Engines: In view of the fact that the Wave Serpent is a fast vehicle, I do not really see need to spend points on these. The extra movement they give you is not especially useful, unless you want to be really bold, and have all your Wave Serpents in the your opponent's deployment zone on turn one.  If you favour this kind of tactic, then by all means take the Star Engines, but it is risky, as you can end up leaving your Wave Serpents rather too exposed to mass firepower, which even they may not be able to survive.

You can also employ Star Engines as a means to part your Wave Serpents to move and shield a unit after it has fired during the shooting phase.  This can be a double edged sword though, as using the Star Engines prevents your Serpents themselves from firing.

Overall, I see them as a luxury upgrade.  If you have lots of spare points, you can take them, but otherwise, they are simply too expensive.

Turret Weapon Options:

Another major plus point for the Wave Serpent is that its turret weapon in twin linked, which makes it particularly useful as a mount for one shot weapons.  The different weapon options are discussed below:

Shuriken Cannon: Since the Wave Serpent has to close with the opposition to deliver your units into battle, the Shuriken Cannon’s comparative lack of range is not really an issue.  It can be used for taking out tanks and Dreadnoughts by shooting them in the rear, as well as being used as an anti-infantry fire support weapon.  It is cheap, so if you have not got a lot of points to spare, it is a good buy, and it helps keep the cost of the Wave Serpent down.  If you have the points to spare, some of the other options may be slightly better though.

Scatter Laser: Similar to the Shuriken Cannon in terms of its use, but the extra shot, makes it more effective, particularly against light vehicles.  Its additional range can also be handy for those playing less aggressively with their Wave Serpents early in the game, so if you have enough points it is a slightly better choice than the Shuriken Cannon.

Starcannon: As I have said before, cover really hinders the Starcannon, but when it is mounted on a Wave Serpent, you may be able to use its mobility to create angles which bypass cover, making the Starcannon more dangerous.  You would need multiple Wave Serpents equipped with Starcannons for this to work properly though, and this would not be a cheap option.  Unless you are facing lots of heavily armoured units with Feel No Pain, I do not think that it is worth paying the points to equip your Wave Serpents with this armament.

EML: The main advantage here is again its range, but this is also a good option if you are up against GEQs, and you want to take the Shuriken Cannon upgrade.  If you use the EML to fire Plasma Missiles, and combine this with Shuriken Cannon fire, you can blow quite a few holes in horde units.  Multiple EMLs firing can also provide some reasonable anti-tank against AV12 vehicles in particular, but do not expect them to do much against AV13.

Brightlance: If you are short on anti-tank, you may be tempted to take Brightlances.  They are very expensive though, so unless you are expecting to face a lot of AV13/14, and you are lacking other anti-tank options, you are probably best avoiding taking Brightlances on your transports.
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2011, 11:35:53 PM »
Heavy Support:

The Eldar have a wide variety of heavy support choices.  As was the case with the Fast Attack section though, many of these options are rather expensive, so you will need to choose your heavy support wisely.  Which options you should pick will depend a fair bit on the type of Eldar army you are fielding, so let’s take a look at the options.

Dark Reapers:

Dark Reapers are ferocious MEQ killers, capable of decimating small squads in a single round of shooting.  Their long range guarantees that squads will be able to hit most enemy units on the table without having to waste time moving into a firing position (providing you don't roll Dawn of War for deployment).  Just set them up in cover with good fields of fire, and you will be in business.  Dark Reapers are especially effective if they are set up in such a way that they can cover a fire lane, which will prevent the enemy advancing along a certain route for fear of being shot to pieces.  Dark Reapers are, therefore, solid fire support for infantry and mixed Eldar armies. They are, by contrast, not a great choice for mechanised armies, as there is rarely much value in transporting them (you usually want them in a firing position from turn one), and there is no infantry fire base to deploy them with, meaning they could easily be annihilated by opposing long ranged fire power, or by units which can outflank or deep strike, due to being the only unit not riding in a transport in the early stages of the game.

While Dark Reapers are excellent against MEQs, against GEQs they are just overkill. You really do not need to take them if you are up against hordes, since there are so many other cheaper Eldar units which are capable of slaying hordes.

There are a number of issues with fielding Dark Reapers.

They are very expensive.  For this reason, I would not recommend fielding them in an army of fewer than 1850 points, simply because they use up too many points that are needed elsewhere. That said, if you are fielding an all infantry army, you may be able to get away with fielding a unit of Dark Reapers in games of 1500 points, depending on the composition of your list.

The other problem with taking Dark Reapers in lower points value lists is that they tend to become something of a fire magnet.  MEQ players know how dangerous they can be, so they try to take them out at the earliest opportunity.  You can use cover and a Farseer with Fortune to mitigate this problem, but the small unit size hurts the unit when it is on the receiving end of focused mass firepower

Dark Reapers are very vulnerable to deep striking units, so it is always worth having a screen or an assault unit nearby to defend them should this occur.  Watch out for outflanking assault units too.  These can restrict your deployment options quite a bit.

Dawn of War can also be a nuisance when using Dark Reapers.  As I alluded to earlier, Dark Reapers are at their best when they are deployed in a firing position from the first turn.  Having to walk on to the board can be problematic, especially if they cannot reach a suitable firing position on that opening turn.  Remember the more turns that the Reapers spend moving, the more their firepower is wasted.

Finally, cover hinders the effectiveness of Dark Reapers.  MEQs are their primary target, yet a good MEQ player will make use of cover for any infantry units in his/her army, making the Reaper Launcher rather less effective on tables with a reasonable amount of terrain than it may appear on paper.  You can get around this by placing Dark Reapers overlooking a firing lane which lies between areas of cover, but this relies on a favourable terrain layout.

Exarch:

The Exarch is a useful upgrade for this squad, but he is expensive.

Fast Shot is useful regardless of which weapon you take, but it is particularly effective in combination with the Tempest Launcher, and Plasma missile, since it gives both an extra template.  This is particularly useful in the case of the Tempest Launcher, as it has the AP to punch through MEQs.  The only problem with Fast Shot is that does not ignore cover saves, so if you are firing at units in cover you may find it to be disappointing.

Crack Shot is also useful, and has a slight edge compared to Fast Shot, due its cover negating ability.  It works best in conjunction with the Tempest Launcher, but it is not bad on the regular Reaper Launcher or EML either.

Taking both powers is a waste of points in my view.  The Exarch is already expensive enough without taking two powers which cannot be used at the same time, so pick which one you think will be most useful on the tables you regularly game on.

The Exarch’s weapon options fulfil different roles.

The Reaper Launcher makes him nothing more than a Dark Reaper with superior BS.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it means that he suffers from the same issues with cover as the rest of his squad.  The other options are, therefore, probably more tempting for many Eldar players.  That said, I’m not a fan of the EML for the Dark Reaper Exarch.  Taking the EML makes it very tempting to use the Dark Reapers to target vehicles.  This is far from ideal, since the rest of the squad's firepower is likely to be wasted, unless you target lightly armoured vehicles.  Given that the Eldar have far better weapons for dealing with light vehicles (e.g. Scatter Lasers and Shuriken Cannons), this is not a role for Dark Reapers in my opinion, but if you are really lacking in anti-tank it may be an option you wish to consider.  The Tempest Launcher fits much better with the squad's anti-infantry role, so if you can afford it, this is my recommendation for the Exarch's weapon.

Unit Size:

Contrary to the original version of this guide, there is something to be said for fielding units of three, providing you take the Exarch with the Tempest Launcher.  Two units of three can hide out of sight, and allow their Exarchs to drop indirect barrage on your opponent's army.  If you are considering this make sure the units are well protected for outflanking units, and deep strike suicide squads.

The more conventional unit of five led by the Exarch is still my preferred option, due to the sheer number of shots it can unleash, but being in line of sight to maximise the squad's firepower does have its downsides, as I made clear earlier when discussing the fire magnet issue.

War Walkers:

A very good support unit, which works well in most army builds, due the flexible deployment options which War Walkers have access to.

The problem with War Walkers is that they are as fragile is Vypers, so even basic weaponry can destroy them quite easily.  War Walkers are also very vulnerable to assault troops, and can easily be torn apart in such situations. For this reason, it tends to be advisable to keep them as far back as possible, and not to use their Scout move to bring them closer to the opposition.  Outflanking, by contrast can be a useful tactic, particularly if you want to avoid facing off against a gun line, or take the attack to an opponent's flank from a relatively early stage.

Like Vypers, War Walkers can be fielded in squadrons.  Being in a squadron is less risky for War Walkers than Vypers though, given that the Walkers are not open topped.  One squadron can also put out a very large amount of firepower concentrated on one target, providing you arm it appropriately, and particularly when combined with Guide, the effect can be devastating.

War Walkers have access to an upgrade as well as a variety of weapon options.

Upgrade:

Spirit Stones: If you are running your War Walkers in a squadron, this is a pointless upgrade.  If you are running them solo, and have a few points to spare, you could take these.  Overall, I do not think it is especially necessary, as there are better ways to spend to the points in my opinion.

Weapon Options:

Shuriken Cannon: Despite its multiple shots, its high strength, and its solid anti-infantry abilities, this is not the best choice for War Walkers, due to its comparative lack of range.  You have to get within the opposition's rapid fire range to be able to fire the Shuriken Cannon, so unless you are up against an army that is going to be coming to you, such as Tyranids, Daemons, or Orks, I would not advise taking this option, unless you plan on outflanking, and even then it can go wrong if your Walkers arrive on the wrong flank, and find themselves too far away from any targets to be able to fire.  The Shuriken Cannons are cheap though, so if you are tight on points, and are definitely going to outflank, they can be worth taking.

Scatter Laser: This has all the effectiveness of the Shuriken Cannon, but with a better range, and an extra shot.  The amount of firepower a squadron of War Walkers equipped with Scatter Lasers can unleash makes them a very good, and popular choice of armament.  This weapon option may cost more than the Shuriken Cannon, but it is worth it.

Starcannon: This still suffers from the same problem as it does with other Eldar units, in that cover saves limit its utility. It is also quite expensive. If you are up against an army which contains lots of regular Terminators, and/or MEQs with Feel No Pain, then you may want to take these, otherwise I recommend avoiding this option.

EML: There have been mixed opinions on this.  The main attraction of the EML is its long range, allowing the War Walkers to hold back, and stay out of the range of many basic weapons.  War Walkers armed with EMLs can also be useful for anti-tank duty if you have a Farseer with Guide nearby.  The Plasma missile is inferior to the Scatter Laser against infantry though, so if you are only planning to use your War Walkers against light vehicles and infantry, it is a better bet.

Brightlance: Fitting Brightlances to fragile War Walkers is just too expensive.  If you want to give them an anti-tank option, then I suggest sticking with the EML.  Other units in the army make for better platforms for the Brightlance.

A final thought on mixing weapons:

My view is that War Walkers work better if you give all of them the same weapon on both arms, and assign them a specific battlefield role.  Mixing weapons may cause you to lose sight of what they are supposed to be doing, meaning that they spend too much time shooting at inappropriate targets, and achieving precious little.

Unit Size:

This is a decision best left to individual players, but if you are considering taking squadrons, multiple squadrons of two or one squadron of three is probably the best way to go, the choice depending on how many heavy support slots you have free.
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #9 on: December 28, 2011, 11:37:16 PM »
Falcon:

The Falcon is viewed by some as nothing more than an objective contester these days, but it still has a number of roles it can play in the Eldar army.

When equipped with Spirit Stones and Holofields, it's durable, particularly at distance, making it useful in the role of a fire support tank, and late game objective snatcher if it is transporting a scoring unit.  As a result, it has rather tended to be used as a DAVU (Dire Avenger Vehicle Upgrade), which involves mounting five regular Dire Avengers inside the tank, whose sole purpose is to remain there, and to make it score.  This means that the durable Falcon can be sent in to capture objectives late in the game, and can be very difficult for an opponent to destroy.  The DAVU is taken regularly in mechanised army lists for this purpose, but is less popular in mixed lists, owing to the need to divert resources to attacking units in the mechanised wing, meaning that points can rarely be spent on a DAVU.

Another type of DAVU using the Falcon involves employing the Falcon as a gun boat, which can then move to pick up a small unit of scoring infantry, such as Pathfinders or Rangers, and transport them to capture an objective late in the game.  This requires more thinking ahead than using the standard DAVU, but is easier to integrate in some mixed lists.

The Falcon does not, however, have to be relegated to nothing more than a DAVU role.  It can still be used as an aggressive transport for Fire Dragons if you wish, but there are downsides.  The first is that it is more vulnerable to melta weapons than the Wave Serpent, even when equipped with Holofields, the second is that it costs a lot of points, and the third is that it cannot maximise its firepower when being used aggressively, owing to the need to move at cruising speed or greater much of the time.

If you have points to spare and don't expect to face a lot of melta weaponry though, it still has a role to play, as once it is in position, its additional firepower relative to the Wave Serpent can prove immensely helpful.

Like the Wave Serpent, the Falcon can also be used to good effect for blocking line of sight, tank shocking, and ramming (see the Wave Serpent entry for details).

The Falcon has access to a wide range of upgrades and weapon options.

Upgrades:

Please see the Wave Serpent for a full discussion of these.  Only Holofields, and a few additional points are made here.

Shuriken Cannon: As a potential third main weapon, this is even less worthwhile than it is for the Wave Serpent in my opinion.  Even if you're planning to use the Falcon as more of a static gun boat early on, the lack of range of the Shuriken Cannon means that you are unlikely to get that much use from it.  Unless you really have points to spare, I do not recommend this option.

Spirit Stones: Just as vital as for the Wave Serpent, especially if you are transporting a scoring unit.

Vectored Engines and Star Engines: See the Wave Serpent entry.

Holofields: These are very important if you want to keep your Falcon in one piece for claiming objectives and delivering units into the thick of the fighting.  You may be able to get away without them if you plan on staying right at the back with your Falcon, but I would not suggest that you risk it.

Turret Weapon Options:

Shuriken Cannon: If you plan to use your Falcon as an aggressive transport, then this is a reasonable option which will also help to keep its cost down.  Otherwise, its lack of range counts against it, while it does not combine well with the Pulse Laser when targeting heavily armoured tanks.

Scatter Laser: The additional range makes this a better option than the Shuriken Cannon if you want to use your Falcon for a fire support, and aggressive transport role.  The only downside is that, like the Shuriken Cannon, it does not combine well with the Pulse Laser for hunting more heavily armoured vehicles.

Starcannon: The mobility of the Falcon means that it has the potential to find angles which bypass cover.  It may, therefore, be an attractive choice if you are facing a lot of MEQs with Feel No Pain, as you can fire both this and the Pulse Laser at such units.  Overall, its low rate of fire relative to the Scatter Laser and its high cost count against it, and against vehicles, it does not offer any dimension which the Scatter Laser cannot fulfil.

EML: Broadly the same as for the Wave Serpent, although the weapon's long range makes it a more attractive option for the gun boat and DAVU Falcons than would be the case for aggressive transport Falcons, and the Wave Serpent.  The EML also has more punch for dealing with tanks, but the Plasma missile is weaker than the Scatter Laser against infantry, so there is a trade off.  Guide is also helpful if you want to get the best out of the Krak missile.

Brightlance: This pairs well with the Pulse Laser for anti-tank duty, but is very expensive, and lacks the range of the EML.  I do not recommend this option, unless you are really desperate to include additional anti-tank weapons in your list.

Fire Prism:

The Fire Prism is a jack of all trades fire support vehicle, but it is more effective against infantry, owing to the way in which the rules for blast weapons work.  Against vehicles, there is always a danger that the central hole will scatter off the hull, rendering the strength of the shot insufficient to damage the types of vehicles you are likely to be targeting.

A sole Fire Prism tends to be relatively easy to neutralised, and can lack sufficient damage output too.  For this reason, it is usually better to take two, or even three, Fire Prisms, in order to ensure that you have redundancy (it only takes a shaken result to reduce your support fire remember), as well as to enable you to make use of the banked shot.

Its mobility makes it an attractive fire support choice for mechanised armies, but it can be integrated into mixed lists, depending on the type of mixed list you wish to field, and the strategy you are considering.  It is not well suited to infantry armies, since you do not want to give your opponent's anti-tank weaponry a target to maximise their effectiveness against it.

The Fire Prism's main weakness is that it only has one weapon.  Once this is lost, it is left being able only to tank shock or ram, thus making the Fire Prism rather limited in terms of its tactical options.

Upgrades:

Shuriken Cannon: It just does not have the necessary range to be of much use for the Fire Prism, but if you really want to give it a second weapon, and have some spare points, you could opt to take this.  In my view, it is rarely worth it though.

Spirit Stones: Given that your Fire Prisms will not be moving around that much, unlike the Wave Serpent and Falcon, these are not essential.  They also will not help to prevent crew shaken results from disrupting your shooting, so if you are struggling for points, you can opt not to take this upgrade.

Vectored Engines and Star Engines: These are completely unnecessary for a Fire Prism, given that it is not a transport.

Holofields: These can bolster the durability of the Fire Prism, but they are expensive, and if you are going to be keeping the Prism at the back of the field, it should not be exposed to a large amount of firepower, at least early in the game, so you could pass on taking this upgrade.  You could also decide to use the Fire Prism as bait, since, by leaving it relatively unprotected, you may encourage your opponent to target it, allowing more important units to have an easier time.  If you have enough spare points to take them, they are probably worth it, but if not, I do not recommend trying to make cuts elsewhere in your list to include them.

Wraithlord:

Wraithlords, like War Walkers, are a good fit for a wide variety of Eldar army lists.  Their lack of mobility and the Wraithsight special rules, however, make them rather difficult to use well in fully mechanised armies, so they are not usually taken in such forces.

Wraithlords are durable, and very resilient against most small arms fire, but watch out for heavy weapons teams and vehicles which can be equipped with multiple high strength AP2/3 heavy weapons, as these can destroy a Wraithlord quite quickly, and it's very difficult for Wraithlords to gain the benefit of a cover save, owing to their size.  While they can also tie up many units in an assault, this negates their ability to fire their weapons, so is usually best to avoid assaulting with a Wraithlord, unless you need to pin a unit in place, or they are going to be supported in the assault.  The exception to this is assaulting vehicles, particularly those which have not moved in their turn, since a Wraithlord can usually punch through these targets without assistance.

It is usually advisable to take a minimum of two Wraithlords in your army, since one is usually too easily neutralised (see above).  Two or three are a much more difficult proposition for your opponent to stop.

The role of the Wraithlords in your army is determined by their weapon choices, which are discussed below:

Weapon Options:

Shuriken Catapults or Flamers or a mixture: It is easy to forget that the Wraithlords have wrist mounted weapons, and to thus not put much thought into which ones to arm your Wraithlords with.  This is a mistake, because if opposing infantry start closing in the wrist mounted weapons can be far more useful than the heavy weapons, depending on the target.  I always advocate taking two Flamers.  The number of hits that they can inflict makes them a far more threatening prospect than mixing the weapons, or taking two Shuriken Catapults.  The Flamers can also help with thinning out units you may wish to assault with a Wraithlord, or for repelling opposing infantry trying to assault fragile support units, such as Guardians, which tend to be near Wraithlords.  Remember that these weapons are not twin-linked.

Shuriken Cannon: This is useful if you want to keep your Wraithlords cheap, and plan on using them quite aggressively.  Combining this with the Wraithsword on a pair of Wraithlords and have them run up the field with the Avatar works well if you are looking to take the attack to the opposition, and perhaps draw fire away from other units.

Scatter Laser: This combines well with the Starcannon, since they both have the same strength and range.  If you want your Wraithlords to have an anti-infantry/light vehicle role, this can be a good choice.

Starcannon: Combines well with the Scatter Laser for the reasons I've given above.

EML: Its range is not really a factor for taking it, because it will always be paired with a weapon with a shorter range.  You can combine it with the Scatter Laser for anti-infantry duty, but the Plasma missile is not that great in my view, so I recommend using it with the Brightlance for dedicated anti-tank fire support.

Brightlance: Combine this with the EML if you want to use your Wraithlords for anti-tank fire support.  It is imperative that you field two or more Wraithlords when they are equipped this way though, otherwise you will not generate enough penetrating hits against vehicles for this combination to be worthwhile.

Two of the same weapon: I do not advise you to choose this.  The weapons become twin-linked, and it is horrendously expensive.  It really is a very poor option.

Support Weapons:

Support Weapons are perhaps the least chosen unit in the Eldar army list.  When you consider the competition that they are up against in the heavy support section it is not hard to see why, but this does not mean they are useless.  They are more of a characterful choice than anything else though, so if you are looking for reliable heavy support, it is wise to look elsewhere.

Their big weaknesses are their lack of mobility and durability.  They are particularly vulnerable to being picked off by deep striking or outflanking units, and can also be shot to pieces by fast moving vehicles if you are not careful.

On the positive side, they are not overly expensive, they can be set up in cover, and, most importantly of all they do not have to have line of sight at all, thus allowing them to be set up behind hills and fortifications and still open fire.

All Support Weapons fit into infantry armies well.  For obvious reasons, Support Weapons do not fit into mechanised armies, and while they can be used with mixed armies, most players usually prefer to take War Walkers, Wraithlords, Fire Prisms, or Night Spinners for their fire support, as they are more reliable, and are mobile.

D Cannons:

These are very dangerous weapons, which are capable of destroying almost anything.  Opponents tend to give them a wide berth, which means that they can be useful if set up near an objective in your deployment zone, since nobody is going to want to get close to them and run the risk of being obliterated. In this way, they can make for a great ‘area denial’ unit.

On the other hand, their range is very short, which means that opposing units can quite easily avoid them, and if they scatter, their short range means that they may hit your own troops if they are in close proximity (which may be the case around a home objective).  As a result, the deployment of D Cannons tends to be very critical as to how much impact they will have on the game.

D Cannons are particularly nasty against MEQs, especially units of regular Terminators in Marine armies, but watch out for deep striking Terminators, Drop Pods, and similar units which will try to eliminate your D Cannons before they can cause any damage.  Deploying assault units nearby can help protect D Cannons, but this ties up a valuable unit that may be better utilised elsewhere.  If your D Cannons are guarding an objective though, putting scoring units with them is clearly a good idea, in which case having other units nearby to protect the D Cannons, and the objective is less wasteful.

Vibrocannons:

There is not much to be said about the Vibrocannon.  It is probably the least used unit in the Eldar codex.  It is not especially reliable, and even though it has the potential to generate a few high strength hits, it is not going to cause a great deal of damage to infantry, especially not when compared to Scatter Lasers and Shuriken Cannons, which consistently pump out a high number of shots.

If you really want to take a battery of these, you can use them to disrupt vehicles which focus mainly on shooting, but there again, there are better options for achieving this in the Eldar codex.

Shadow Weavers:

The Shadow Weaver’s greatest strength lies in its long range.  You can set these up deep in your deployment zone, and use them fire indirectly at advancing horde armies, and other GEQs with the potential to inflict a significant number of casualties.  They may not be that accurate when used in this way, but if you are playing against a horde army, you are bound to hit something, and their high strength will allow you to shred most GEQs pretty easily.

On the downside, Shadow Weavers are fairly impotent against tanks, and will not worry MEQs that much.  The Night Spinner (see below) has also rather marginalised the Shadow Weaver, since it disrupts opposing units far more, even when it fails to inflict any casualties.

Warlock:

Support Weapon batteries can be given a Warlock should you so desire.  For most armies, I don’t think it’s that necessary, but if you are running a force with a fire base of a Wraithlord and Support Weapons, you may find it handy to have a Warlock around to eliminate Wraithsight.  Another nifty trick is that the Warlock can be used to fire a weapon, which is handy given his BS.

As for the powers to give to the Warlock, Destructor is not particularly helpful, since (s)he will be out of its range to target most units.  It also will not help much against many deep striking units, as a lot of these tend to be quite heavily armoured.  Embolden is useful, since it helps to stop the crew failing their morale test.  Enhance is of no value on gun crew, while Conceal will not be as good as the cover save offered by most cover that you could set them up in.  Conceal could be useful if you expect to play on a board with little terrain though.

Unit Size:

Support Weapons have to be fielded in units of between one and three. Given that they are at their most effective when firing salvos (D Cannons and Shadow Weavers), or when firing in a group (Vibrocannons), I would always choose to take three if you can afford to do so.

Nightspinner:

This is basically a mobile Shadow Weaver, only its gun is more powerful, has a longer range, and is far more disruptive, particularly to opposing infantry.  If you are fielding a mixed or fully mechanised Eldar army, the Night Spinner is an attractive option, not so much for the casualties it may cause, but rather for the secondary effects of its monofilament web.

Being able to keep out of sight, and being able to move away from deep striking or outflanking threats makes the Nightspinner an effect support fire option, and it can also be made even more durable by adding certain upgrades, should you wish to do so.

If you are facing a lot of highly mechanised opposition, then you really need to open up some of the transports to expose some infantry, in order to maximise its effectiveness, but this is a relatively minor disadvantage in my opinion, particularly if you like disrupting the opposition's movement.

Upgrades:

See the Fire Prism entry for details.

The only additional comment here is that the Nightspinner can stay out of sight, meaning that defensive upgrades, such as Holofields, are potentially less important than they would be to the Fire Prism, so take this into account when deciding whether to upgrade your Night Spinner, or whether to spend the points elsewhere.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2012, 01:56:00 PM by Irisado »
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2011, 11:43:14 PM »
What this thread is for.  Please read before posting!

This thread is a place to collect information about Eldar units and articles.  It is not to be used for posting army lists, or for tactical discussion.  If you want to do either of these things, please start a separate thread.

If you spot mistakes in the Eldar Guide (including spelling mistakes), or feel that I have missed something, then please do post that here.  Any help to make it better is appreciated, but please make sure that you refer to the points I made in the second post about who the guide is for before you post.

I hope that this is clear.  If you're not sure, please ask :).
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Offline Delthos

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2011, 02:42:02 AM »
Looks good but I'd suggest not using acronyms like MEQ and GEQ. I have no idea what those are.
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Offline Davido

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2011, 07:22:07 AM »
marine equivalent and guard equivalent, but I agree that if the guide is meant for newer players it is either a good idea to not use those terms or define them at the start in the introduction
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2011, 11:25:13 AM »
That problem is easily solved by posting a separate thread of 40K acronyms and what they mean.  You've just given me an idea for another thread, thank you gentlemen  :icon_smile:.
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Offline Crimsonsphinx

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2011, 11:58:42 AM »
I like the thread Irisado.  Im glad you avoided just concentrating on the DAVU lists  :-D
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Offline Feanor Fire Heart

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #15 on: December 29, 2011, 12:43:35 PM »
I am very tired so may have missed it but I do not see fireprisms on the list.

nice tutorial though.  :::cheers:::
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Offline Delthos

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #16 on: December 29, 2011, 02:19:25 PM »
You are tired, you missed his green comments that he isn't finished yet.
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Offline Feanor Fire Heart

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #17 on: December 29, 2011, 02:35:23 PM »
You are tired, you missed his green comments that he isn't finished yet.
too addicted to SWtOR that ive only been getting 4-4.5 hours of sleep a night this week. my bad
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Offline Fandir Nightshade

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #18 on: December 29, 2011, 05:25:44 PM »
I am already looking forward to his interpretation on the Ilumnzar with its prism gun.

Other than that nice read.


Offline rufus sparkfire

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #19 on: December 29, 2011, 06:20:37 PM »
I like this guide!

Though I only skimmed it since I'm not especially interested in eldar.


Finally, an important note about rules.  Remember that remember that you cannot disembark or embark if your Wave Serpent has moved flat out, or is going to move flat out. The second part of this rule is often overlooked, so do not forget it.

Damn, I've been cheating with my stormraven then!

« Last Edit: December 29, 2011, 06:25:27 PM by rufus sparkfire »
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Offline phillyt

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #20 on: December 29, 2011, 06:32:12 PM »
To be honest, I think I have made that mistake with trukks before too rufus.
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Offline Dammanz

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #21 on: January 01, 2012, 06:36:19 PM »
Ah this is extremely helpful! Thank you Irisado!
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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #22 on: January 02, 2012, 01:06:01 AM »
I wasn't opinion on wraith lords!
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Offline Irisado

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #23 on: January 03, 2012, 09:20:21 PM »
Fire Prism is done (see edited post).

Wraithlord will be the next entry  :icon_smile:
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Offline MrDWhitey

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Re: Irisado's Eldar Guide and other Eldar related material
« Reply #24 on: January 04, 2012, 11:56:49 AM »
I wasn't opinion on wraith lords!

You what?
I thought he should act responsibly and just kill himself.