40k Throwback: Eldar Army Lists Part 2: The Evolved Jetbike List

A While back I made this post about the evolution of my Eldar Jetbike army as it's moved through the codex. Or at least in this case, the Eldar jetbike list I ran from the 4th Edition codex and how it would have looked from the 3rd Edition book. This time I bring you my 6th Edition Eldar Codex Jetbike Army List.

Consider this post an appetizer, An Eldar Aspect Warrior review Podcast is in the works and will be up sometime this week.

Gearing Up For Eldar Part 2

Yesterday I gave you my reactions to some of the models coming out. Today I'd like to touch on some of the rules leaks gleaned from the Battle Report in this upcoming White Dwarf. There's a lot of info here taken from an encounter with Necrons and a lot of it looks good. As before my thoughts are in red.

Pulled from here. My compliments to the OP.

Gearing Up For Eldar Part 1

I've been refreshing the Eldar rumor thread on Dakka and BoLS all afternoon like a stock broker. I'm trying to take in all the speculative Eldar data I can whilst weeding through the now 100page long threads. It's been as intense as jamming the refresh button every 20mins can be and I gotta tell you I'm liking the look of things.

Here are the thread links for anyone interested:

• Dakka Dakka
• Bell of Lost Souls Lounge

Here's my take on some of what's going on:

Eldar Rumors make the Webway

As my only 40k army I tend to pay close attention to Eldar rumors floating about the internets. I thought I'd share my thoughts on some of the rumors flying around. These are coming from Faeit 212: Warhammer 40k News and Rumors. Remember though these are only rumors and my comments on them make for a post that has roughly zero credibility. My thoughts are in bold and red so they look like this.

Smart Phones, Apps, and Aspect Warriors

Ghostwind Corsairs coming at you with my first smart phone post. If you have been checking the new twitter feed you'll already be aware that I finally made my way into the 21st century and got a smart phone. Nothing special just seeing how this blogger app works and typing with Swype, which takes far too much effort. It is however the subject of apps that brings this post to you today.

Army List Breakdown #1: War Walkers

The War Walker Squadron is one of my favorite parts about my new style of list. (See last post) They're like a sneaky left hook. Their biggest feature: A cheap unit with lots of Dakka. With other expensive choices in the Heavy Support slot it is nice to see that I can have 18 Str 6 Ap 5 shots for slightly more than the cost of a baseline Fire Prism. I've used them in my last five games now, lost a total of 9 War Walkers in all, and wrecked a fair amount of face. Some career Highlights:

Game #1 vs. Blood Angels - Outflanked behind an outflanking Baal Predator and immobilized it with shots to the rear. Tied up Assault Marines in close combat for two turns before succumbing to Power Fists.

Game #2 vs. Tyranids - Outflanked onto the table and mopped up some Winged Warriors and Gaunts, tied up warriors in close combat until turn 6 where they met their end.

Game #3 vs. Orks - Came onto the board normally and removed a 7 man squad of Ork Lootas, then survived a 30-man Ork mob assault and slowly but surely picked it apart in the remaining rounds of combat. Lost two walkers to power klaws

Game #4 vs. Daemons - Less than spectacular, Outflanked on the wrong side of the table and fired pot shots at plague bearers

Game #5 vs. Daemonhunters - Outflanked onto the table, obliterated an Inquisitor's retinue, cleaned up a massed squad of guardsmen in close combat. After losing one to a Vindicare Assassin, they continued to pour shuriken into the woods holding a heavy weapons crew.

That is a nice resume considering what my Falcons normally do. Mosts games my Falcons fly around all shaken and stuff.

Now before I said that they were like a sneaky left hook, I mean more than that then they outflank onto the table and destroy stuff. There's a meta-game psychology attached to them. They are unassuming Armor 10 vehicles with the cheapest guns Eldar money can buy. Less intimidating, than say, A fire prism or Wraithlord. In fact, my Harlequin get the most attention in my previously described list. This leaves the War Walkers plenty of time to move into position.

You might be asking, "Isn't the Scatter Laser a better option? It has better range and 1 more shot. Why not take 6 of those instead of Shuriken Cannons?" For me the answer was related to saving points, but really I feel it's a matter of opinion. Scatter Lasers cost three times more than Shuriken Cannons, multiply that 6 times and the cheapness of the unit goes out the window. The differences between AP 5 and AP 6 may be unworthy of mention, but consider how many more units you can flat out kill with an AP 5 weapon over an AP 6. Who has armor 6? Orks, Kroot?. Who has armor 5? Some Eldar, most Imperial Guard, several sub-species of Nid, and some Tau. Weapons are progressively more awesome the better an AP they have.

Let's get back to tactics with these guys. Ideally suited for hoard armies, you can use them a little differently and still get the same bang for your buck. The Str 6 shot is good enough for all but the thickest tank armor and you can use these guys to pop transports like Rhinos and Chimeras. Or get at the rear of most other thanks and pummel them with shots as I did against that Baal Predator (He thought he'd be fast like Eldar! Showed you buddy!) You'll wound the inhabitants of said Transports on a 2+ more often than not, so even if they have 3+ armor saves, you're still likely to down a few. The biggest hindrance to this firepower is the BS 3 these Walkers shoot at. Why the Eldar don't have a Path of the Vehicle Operations Specialist is beyond me! Counter this drawback with Guide and you essentially have 6 twin-linked shuriken cannons! Relatively slow compared to other vehicles and namely other Eldar vehicles, War Walkers can take some effort to get them into position. Outflanking is really a good option. You'll get to where you want to be 2/3 of the time. Generally when it comes to outflanking players will not consider outflankers or at least not deem them a big enough threat. If they are concerned they will keep their forces centralized. Find out which type of player you're facing and use it to your advantage. More often than not your opponent could care less that three goofy looking Eldar Walkers can coming in from the side of the table, if so, walk on and go to work. If they are concerned they will condense their forces in the center of the table. Use this to your advantage and let other units like swooping hawks have some fun dropping grenades on the clustered infantry or multi-assaulting some tanks with haywire grenades. May be a far fetched plan, but not impossible. As I said earlier, the War Walker Squadron is generally unassuming. In a sense it doesn't draw Aggro as much as other units. That reason alone is what makes it good.

A Time and Place for Autarchs

Now I will not simply dog on an Autarch without discussing some of their finer points. Farseers are just my personal preference, but even I have a use for Autarchs and can appreciate their tactical benefits. In an increasingly non-linear game the Autarch is slowly becoming necessary. My side of the table does not fight your side anymore. Units can come in from anywhere or any side. A few even come up from beneath! The catch to this new found mobility is that these units must come in from reserve. The Eldar codex just happens to be one of the few 4th Edition codices that was prepared for thee rules changes and no unit helps you maximize your outflank/deep strike potential like an Autarch and his master strategist ability. Whether the Autarch is in play or not you may opt to add one to your reserves rolls. Have two Autarchs?? Why not go ahead and add two to reserves! This means that if you use Swooping Hawks and Skyleap you will be able to drop a grenade pack nearly every turn, coming in on a 2+ as early as turn 2!

Outside of that handy ability the Autarch is a pretty solid warrior and will generally end up being cheaper than a Farseer after upgrades. The trick is to know what you want to use your Autarch for and choose wargear appropriately. Your choice of mobility upgrade is generally up to you. Which flavor of moving 12” across the battlefield do you like? Allow me to break it down. Swooping Hawk wings are the cheapest, but least mobile. You only get the Jump Infantry 12” move. Both the wings and the Warp Jump Generator allow you to deep strike, but the Warp Jump Generator also allows for an albeit risky 2d6” extra move in the assault phase. If you roll doubles however, kiss your Autarch good-bye. If you choose the Warp Jump Generator it’s best to run him with Warp Spiders to maximize the ability and cushion him from instant and certain death at the hands of Warp Beasts. The Jetbike is the most expensive choice, but for good reason. You get the 12” move; also you get to turbo-boost 24” and the Eldar Jetbike 6” assault move. Combine that with the increase in toughness and the relentless quality and the Jetbike makes for an excellent choice. As for choice of helmet, the Banshee mask is near useless. The Autarch comes standard with plasma grenades and you’ll rarely need an initiative higher than six. The mandiblasters are a much better choice, but if you need to save points 3 base attacks may be plenty. Statistically vs. Space Marines (and variants) the Power weapon ends up being the better choice. You will kill roughly 0.887 space Marines with your 4 attacks (+1 for pistol and close combat weapon) with the power weapon over 0.439 kills using the Scorpion Chain Sword. If your opponent is playing Orks you may want to go with the Scorpion Chainsword and it will give you some potential against monstrous creatures, but for most targets the Power Weapon is the way to go. The Laser lance can be awesome, but it is still only good on the turn you assault. Also, Autarchs cannot hit and run like Shining Spears so you may very well end up tar pitting your now very expensive HQ if you are not careful. Choose targets wisely. That said, with proper wargear you can have 6 Strength 6 power weapon attacks on the charge. As for your choice of ranged weaponry, the choice is yours. Keep in mind your goal and pick the right weapon for the job.

A few thoughts on ranged weapons before I go:
• An Autarch with a Shuriken Catapult in a squad of Dire Avengers can Bladestorm
• Jetbikes are relentless and a Reaper Launcher is a Heavy Weapon

Farseers vs. Autarchs

A friend of mine recently took a tour of the Craftworld so to speak when he started assembling an Eldar force of his own. One of our early discussions was over which is better, a Farseer or an Autarch. His position was that the martial prowess of the Autarch was superior to the psychic wizardry of a Farseer. I accused him of thinking like a mon keigh (okay I said Space Marine, but I don’t want to estrange any Space Marine players out there.) Indeed, it was true that when I began playing Eldar I consider the Farseer to be nothing more than a wizard, sitting back and casting spells. I was befuddled on how to effectively use this HQ unit in my army and often ran a stripped down Farseer just to fill the Force Org. Slot. It wasn’t until, after a two year sabbatical from the game and the 4th Edition Eldar codex was released, that I truly began to walk the Path of the Seer.
Like the codex itself, running a Farseer takes skill. At its core you have a potent support unit. The ability to re-roll almost every major die roll in the game can not be overlooked. Certainly with codex creep and a clear push by the powers that be to enhance psychic powers within 5th edition the Eldar have competition, but still no other army holds a candle to the reliability and utility that a Farseer brings to the table.
We are all familiar with what Doom and Guide can do for a Dire Avenger Bladestorm (If you are not familiar, try it, it’s pretty awesome) but consider using other psychic power combinations on other units. Consider what fortune and doom used to augment a Howling Banshee assault might do to your opponent. Fortune and guide your Fire Dragons before they go after that Land Raider and make sure it is destroyed.
You should be casting two psychic powers per Farseer per turn (and a third from Eldrad if he’s on the table) There is nothing to be afraid of. With Runes of Witnessing, Ghosthelms and the potential for a Warlock with the embolden power you really don’t need to be concerned with perils of the warp or even failing a psychic test for that matter. The only anti-psyker wargear that causes me to think about casting a psychic power is the psychic hood and only turns into a roll-off between you and your opponent.
It’s for these reasons, the overall army enhancement and the reliability of such enhancement that I use Farseers over Autarchs.