So after a depressing couple of years using an incredibly dull army (Necrons) I have finally got new toys to play with! Eldar have always been one of my favourite armies, and in fact were my second army I ever collected back when the Craftworld Elder book first came out.
Over the next few months myself and the DoG team have 3 or 4 tournaments and I am going to do my best to have a regular blog updating everyone on all the trophies I am winning. Below is the list I will be using for the DoG tournament next week and the next few tournaments.
Eldar - Iyanden supplement
HQ
Farseer - Jetbike
115
Cheap and very useful. Sits with the other Jetbikes, but as he is not the Warlord he isn't as much of a target.
Troops
5 Dire Avengers
65
Wave Serpent - TL Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holofield
145
5 Dire Avengers
65
Wave Serpent - TL Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holofield
145
10 Guardian Defenders
90
Wave Serpent - TL Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holofield
145
10 Guardian Defenders
90
Wave Serpent - TL Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holofield
145
Yes it is very much Spam but Wave Serpents are awesome! The 2 Avenger units tend to sit on my home objectives and the Guardians are a little more aggressive.
5 Windrider Jetbikes
85
Extra 5 wounds for the Farseer and great at late game objective taking!
Fast Attack
6 Swooping Hawks
96
Trying these guys out. Handy for late game contests and their grenade packs will be useful. Also haywire grenades give me another option for killing high AV tanks.
Heavy Support
Wraithknight (Warlord)
240
Again, trying him out. Hoping he will take some of the firepower that is normally directed at the walkers and tanks. Again though another option for killing high AV tanks and gives me a little more presence on the table. i.e when something moves towards me I use to just have to run away. This guy lets me stick around.
3 War Walkers - 2x Bright Lances (each)
210
3 War Walkers - 2x Bright Lances (each)
210
These guys are amazing. Stand out performers in all the games I have played so far.
1846
So, looking forward to using this army a bit more. It has a few different elements to it, and is able to at least compete with Tau. Anti flyer is an issue but my tactic is to leave flyers to last and shoot them with everything I have. War walkers with guide at least have a reasonable chance of doing some damage.
Until next time!
A wraithknight as Warlord is goning to give people fits.I have played against several wave serpent list and they are just ugly with the fire power they can put out.
ReplyDeleteColKG
It is a horrendous amount of fire power. On top of that though, is that it is mobile fire power.
ReplyDeleteI really don't think the Wraithknight as the Warlord is that over powered. He will die every game, but then that was likely to happen anyway. I just didn't want my Farseer to be the Warlord. Perfectly Fluffy!
Luke
I'm not sure how serpent spam isn't going to be just as dull as scythe spam. I actually find necron scythe/wraiths/barges to be less boring to play against than serpent spam.
ReplyDeleteBut best of luck anyway. :)
I imagine it is not the most exciting thing play against, but that's what my sparkling personality is for....
ReplyDeleteI am more talking about dull to use with Necrons. I just found it was a bit 'point and click' and with only 3 unit types(scythes, wraiths and barges). What I have found with the elder is there is a lot of different things you can do and various different ways to play. Any psychic powers make everything a little more interesting.
It can't be worse to play than Tau!
"It can't be worse to play than Tau!" So true! Though Tau/Eldar and Eldar/Tau seem to be all the rage at the moment, necrons on the other hand are fast going out of fashion. As for marine armies, where did they all go?
ReplyDeleteThe Eldar codex isn't bad (lots of list possibilities), It's just wave serpent are such a ridiculously strong core that can really decide the game early especially if there aren't enough LoS blockers on the board. I see the serpent as the Eldar Codex's helldrake, a unit that is just too good not to field, which is a shame as most Eldar list end up being quite similar 4-5 serpents + extras.
I mean you can do some cute things with battle focus, and wraithknights are a load of fun, but at the end of the day it's the "point and click" consistency of the serpent that carries the army. Which I guess is something one looks for in a tournament army. :D
Well even jetbykes spam is very good. I think the codex has many good builds in it, but the wave serpent one is simply the most obvious and easy to play. I mean, we will always see a competitive list with a serpent, but maybe it will not always be the main font of mahyem of the army and so not necessarly spammed to death.. I think about a triple wraithknight list supported with bykes for example.
ReplyDeleteBut you have to consider the serpent like the Rhino .
Also, do not think heavy terrain penalize the eldar serpent, or eldar in general ! The opposite is , in fact, true. First of all, we don't care much cover because our AP is so low.We count on sheer number of wounds. Second the serpent can climb over ruins for a 3+ cover save ( with holofields & move trough cover, first floor of ruins ), jumpp over los bloking terrain ( so goodbye assaulters on foot), unload their avengers so they can use battle focus to shoot and move out of sight , ecc.
So , with much terrain, it easy for the eldar to do what they are best at- moving and concentrate fire, while leaving the enemy always out of range or out of line of sights- at least, a consistent part of the army. I think we are penalized when the table is deployed the long way , and when there is few terrain ( our manuevering has reduced effects)
"But you have to consider the serpent like the Rhino."
ReplyDeleteNot really the only thing it has in common with the rhino is that it's a transport. Other then that it outperforms most main battle tanks.
"and when there is few terrain ( our manuevering has reduced effects)"
Sorry that's not really the case, yes eldar can move around terrain. But line of sight blockers still block line of sight and really help reduce the one sided game that is eldar going first on planet bowling ball. Cover is also really important for other xenos armies (going to ground in area terrain against shuriken/scatter lasers can make all the difference for scoring troops) and even for marines (due to the amount of "rending" in the eldar armu).
Terrain (especially the line of sight blocking kind) IS really important when fighting Eldar despite their mobility. I'm sure anyone who has played against serpent spam on a terrain sparse board can attest to that.
Agree, I think you have to think of them as main battle tanks who have the added bonus of being able to transport troops. Of course this does mean that unlike a main battle tank, these guys have to be slightly aggressive to get onto/ near objectives.
DeleteWith regard to LOS blocking terrain, I am not sure if that really helps my opponent. Unless it is a huge piece of terrain, the army is fast enough to get a view of what is hiding. I have to admit, I am not too fussed if anything goes to ground in ruins unless it has Stealth. I never expect to get rending, and rely on mass wounds to kill most units. I in fact prefer a ruins board as it means my tanks will be getting a 3+ cover save most of the time.
When i say " it's like the rhino" i mean; have you ever seen a competitive SM list without rhinos ( or razorbacks in 5th!!) . Maybe it's better to compare them to valkiryes . Have you ever seen a competitive IG army without one? I mean, they are so necessary for your army to work, you will always see some. Off course rhinos and serpents are very differnt, in fact the serpent is the heir to the lasplas list of 5th, exchanging serpent shield and better armour for the lack of the hull point rules back then .
DeleteBut anyway, our pseudorending is fine,but not necessary. scatterlaser and serpent shield have far longer range than shuriken cannon. If our opponent remains in cover, if it has high armour, you can kill him from range with sheer number of wounds. if you abuse los bloking terrain and concentrate fire, other units will have nothing to shoot back at. In my opinion, the army that is more penalized from terrain are not the eldar but the tau ( and horde armies) . Tau units need open space to support each other, just imagine a tau army without markerlights, or supporting fire when you are forced to keep distance from your pals. Eldar units have no sch issues. Considering the current meta, heavy terrain favors us space elves.
LoS blocking terrain still protects you from that horrendous turn 1 serpent shield alpha strike. That's the big difference. It means you can hide your AT for the counter punch. Yes the terrain won't have as much effect once the game is under way, but what does that matter? A lot of armies will not be capable of winning the game after that alpha strike anyway, so what do they care?
DeleteIf I can hide a crucial ravager/raider or two, I can have a chance against serpent spam going second without night fight. Without that terrain? I will reliably lose 1 vehicle per serpent. Meaning game over.
LoS blocking terrain is an important part of the game, but only the US tournaments seem to understand that, the UK is still stuck on planet bowling ball.
I do think that the ability of Wave Serpents is being overstated a little. Yes they are very good and almost a must take for Elder armies. However, so are Hell drakes, Broadsides, Riptides etc for their own races.
DeleteLoS blocking terrain is an important part of the game, however too much of it makes games a little dull. The tournaments I go to in the UK have a good mix of boards, some with a fair amount of LoS blocking terrain and some with barely any. I think that works well as some armies become very good when there are some nice places to hide.
With regard to Dark Elder, this is just a really bad match up. Unless you go first and its Night Fight first turn. My Wraithknight would not be starting on the board!
Solid list. Are you finding the walkers and wraithknight work better than, say, two prisms and a nightspinner?
ReplyDeleteWell I use to have the Nightspinner in my list and although I found him useful, I don't feel like he was doing enough to stay in the list.
DeleteFire Prisms I am not too sure about. The thing about those 1 shot guns, is that they will always miss when you need them most.
Only used the Wraithknight once so can't really comment on him, although he did one shot Meph and a Land Raider in that game!
The War Walkers really are amazing. If I have a LOS blocking piece of terrain to hide behind they become very nasty. The ability to outflank also means that they tend to shoot someone before they get shot.
I usually twin link them via farseer. With a good BS you're quite sure to hit something. You can twinlink up to 2 with 2 different powers.
DeleteI may need to make some changes to my Warwalker load out, I'm currently running BL and SL for the twin linked, however, this means I'm only ever going to get one hit against armour, but means I get better volume of shots against units.....
ReplyDeleteThat is what the wave serpent shots are for! If you have a farseer, I would stick to double lance. I don't know about you, but I was having real issues at killing high AV tanks.
Delete