Lately I've been running a myriad of lists from Draigo Wing to max Skimmer spam Eldar, mainly for the simplicity of play and ease of winning. Now, I'm going to go back to some of my roots and bust out an Iyanden style army for an upcoming tournament and I'd like some feedback!
This tournament will have some good competition, from Blackmoor's Draigowing to some top finishers in the Bay Area Open. I look forward to a good challenge and as such, I will be bringing a non-cookie cutter Eldar list to represent. The list I am thinking of bringing is the following (and sorry Eric, not taking 9 Vypers and mass Storm Guardians this time =) ) :
HQ: 210
Eldrad: 210 -People love to pour on the hate regarding Eldrad but he is such a solid character and offers so much in an already hostile meta game, especially if you take foot elements, Eldrad is a great boon.
Elites: 564
7 Harlequins with kisses and a Shadowseer: 184 - Standard ground support unit, I usually take 8 but dropped one to be able to take Eldrad over a regular Farseer. This unit is mainly here to protect the Wraithguard from bad assaults and engage juicy targets of opportunity.
5 Fire Dragons in Wave Serpent with Spirit Stones and Shiruken Cannon turret: 190
5 Fire Dragons in Wave Serpent with Spirit Stones and Shiruken Cannon turret: 190 -Running Wraithguard centered armies really leaves the mobile anti-tank lacking, this unit is here to flesh out the mobility problems many footdar/wraithguard-centric armies face and add a great punch. This is my go-to unit for destroying that Landraider carrying TH/SS terminators or a Battlewagon filled with Ghaz and friends.
Troops: 766
10 Wraithguard w/ Spiritseer and Enhance: 396 -This is the focal point of the army, the anvil. This unit moves towards a big target or key objective while the rest of the army moves in support. Great short ranged firepower and if used properly can wreck havoc with a few good shooting phases and even do well in close combat against the right targets.
5 Dire Avengers in Wave Serpents with Spirit Stones and Scatter Laser turret: 185
5 Dire Avengers in Wave Serpents with Spirit Stones and Scatter Laser turret: 185 -These guys are here to add a nice durable and mobile scoring element to the army. Nothing like being able to zoom 24" late game to claim an objective while tank-shocking an enemy off of it. The Scatter Lasers are nice fire support for the rest of the army against hordes/light vehicles that is sorely lacking in such a small army.
Heavy Support: 310
Wraithlord w/ EML & BL: 155
Wraithlord w/ EML & BL: 155 -These guys are the only really viable ranged anti-tank a footy Eldar army can run. They also add a nice close combat punch and utility as I use them as speedbumps or counterchargers. Draigowing should fear getting into combat with these guys if they don't have enough DemonHammers (hopefully Eldrad can snipe them and Runes can shut down the strength powers/force weapons).
So yeah, I think this army is not over the top in any way, I tried to go for just the right amount of balance where I have enough anti tank through Wraithlords, Fire Dragons and Wraithguard/Wychblades. Enough close combat through the Harlequins, Eldrad, Wraithlords; and in a pinch, Wraithguard; as well as solid and mobile scoring units from the Wraithguard and DAVU Wave Serpents. What do you guys think?
It's a well rounded list that has more than Fire Dragons as a real threat. I hear and read a lot how situational Wraithguard are, but when they get to the center of the board, they have a fairly significant threat range.
ReplyDeleteLots of threats, but nothing overwhelming. If your oppoenents screw up target priority, you will be in good shape.
A lot will depend on mission types as three scoring units feels light.
Best of luck.
Yeah, scoring units are always vital. I have no problem keeping them in reserve if it comes down to it but usually I try to position the Wave Serpents with Dire Avengers so that they can easily swoop down on an objective late game or be in a position where the Dire Avengers can get out and walk if they need to. The Wraithguard usually never die unless they get charged by some massive powerfist action.
DeleteHow do you find running enhance over conceal in your wraithgaurd? I take it the harlies are there to improve the cover save to a 4++ but what do you do when you are in the center of the board and your harlies are now taking cover behind the wraithwall?
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, do you think that the harlies could be replaced with a seer council on foot? They don't have the punch but they are more resilient (sans space wolves).
At any rate looking forward to reading your results.
I usually find that there is sufficient area terrain on the board to not need conceal. Plus, the WS5 is huge against Nobs and other WS 5 close combat threats. It also makes the Warlock hit better against Dreads and so forth plus the I5 helps a lot too.
DeleteThe Harlequins are nice because of the Veil of Tears and hit and run along with the ability to rend/ignore armor. This is huge against powerarmor/FNP and terminators. Seer Council may be resilient but they will lose out from taking so much more fire on the way in (due to a lack of Veil) and in the end, they can't ignore armor saves which is what is needed sometimes. I like the utility of being able to charge a terminator unit, hold for a turn then hit and run and shoot the leftovers with Wraithguard, rinse and repeat.
I will definitely be posting some battle reports, hopefully all turns out well for the Eldar!
Looking forward to some bat reps. The reason I asked about the seer council is that I've been thinking about building a list using 10 wraithguard, 10 seer council, eldrad and a wraithseer as its core. Mainly because I have the models and I'm scared to paint up harliquens (I keep putting it off until I get better with the paints). Hit and run though, did not think about that.
DeleteI got my clocked cleaned last night by triple Wolf Lords on Thunderwolves (playing my BA, not Eldar). It got me thinking how I'd deal with it using my Eldar. There doesn't seem to be a good counter except possibly Wraithguard and some lucky rolls (3+ Stormshields are a huge challenge when your opponent won't fail a single roll).
ReplyDeleteAny tips how you'd deal with them? (assume 2+/3++, runic armor, frost axes x 2, thunderhammer x 1, stormshields, hit on 3+).
Yes, they come in around 750 points for 3 models, but they are a beast when they hit.
I actually played two lists with 3 Thunderwolf lords and a bunch of cavalry in a tournament a while back, the list is dumb IMO. You need to be able to either tank the thunderwolf cav or kite them. In my games playing them, I tried kiting them with Nightspinners and playing keep-away. With a footy army, you need a smart combo charge with keeping wraithlords on the guys without fists/hammers and harlequins or an avatar on the guys with fists/hammers.
DeleteConversely, you can always bubble wrap your fragile units with either skimmers if you play a hybrid list, or a cheap ground unit like guardians/dire avengers to take the initial charge, die horribly and expose the thunderwolves to a good volley of shooting and a nice charge.
You can see my battle reports in the following links:
http://yriel.blogspot.com/2011/03/sprue-posse-mini-gt-battle-reports-part_09.html
And
http://yriel.blogspot.com/2011/03/sprue-posse-mini-gt-battle-reports-part.html
Thanks. I chuckled while reading one section of the report where you add up everything you shot at the Wolf Lords Deathstar and marvelled how it was still standing. I've had those moments. Thanks for the tips. I pulled out my Eldar yesterday and had a blast with them again. Maybe I just needed a break from them for a bit.
ReplyDeleteYeah, sometimes we need a break, especially after a rough set of games or losses. Sometimes I play GK if I want to feel OP and get an easy win. Sometimes I play Tyranids or Thousand Sons if I feel like being silly and losing in a terrible but fun way. Sometimes those latter games are closer than I thought hehe. At any rate, mixing it up is always good, even in Eldar as I have had fun with different lists. Variety is the spice of life, eh?
DeleteI second that I'm really looking forward to the battle report on this as I'm working on field a very very similar army. Thanks for the insights!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments everyone, the tournament was really cool, a lot of good competition. I played IG first, BA, second and GK last and won all of my games for a solid first place finish. As soon as I upload the pictures and have a little time I'll post the battle reports =).
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