Eldar: Back In The Box

After some thought, my Eldar are probably going to take a break. They've been fun, but I'm starting to feel their age, and I'd initially gotten them because I could get several builds out of the codex. However, I don't much feel that's the case any more.

Maybe I just need a break from them, but I think I may be setting them down until I see a new codex for them.

Options (and lack thereof) in Builds
Frankly, I feel like the only real way to run Eldar is either fully or partially mechanized. If we're partially mechanized, then it's because we have Rangers, Guardian Jetbikes, or a Seer Council.

Once you get to that, well...it's all into the 'vagaries' of the mech build. Which brings me to the 'glut' of 'quality' options I feel that the Eldar have.

Eldar 'Choices' in the Force Org Chart
HQ
The Autarch? No, not really. While he's got okish saves, and a neat reserves ability, he just doesn't DO a lot on the field. He usually ends up being a high BS meltagun and a power weapon, if I bother to bring him and not something like, oh, a Vyper.

Phoenix Lords? Crap, for 200 points in a pure fighting HQ, I want to be able to eat a squad in a turn. These guys? They can't, and they don't have a real impact on the build. Sure, some of them are cool (IE: Maugan freakin' Ra), but for 190-200 points? They just don't DO much.

That really leaves me with a Farseer, a Farseer on a bike, or Eldrad. If it's a Farseer on a bike, I've committed to either a Seer Council or a Guardian Jetbike Score-Squad.

The Seer Council is a SWEET wrecking ball...unless the other guy brought psychic defenses. Then, well, you have a 600pt squad that is about as durable as space marines in cover. On the other hand, he has about a turn to hurt them before they get in his face and start killing things, so it's a gamble. While I had fun modelling and painting them, playing them gets dicier as people start learning to take psychic defenses, and soon it becomes 1/3 my army in one basket, which means if they fold without doing a lot of damage, I am in trouble. If they don't, I'm in good shape to start cleaning up.

Elites
So, we have two Fire Dragons in Wave Serpents. Really. It's pretty much mandatory if I want to actually KILL armor/monstrous creatures reliably. Sometimes they get a sixth guy, the Exarch w/ heavy flamer. Sometimes they're just five fellas with meltaguns. On the one hand, honestly, they're among the nastiest anti-tank troopers out there. On the other hand? Um. They're one use. I don't care who you're playing; unless you get lucky with placement the enemy WILL nuke them (or their ride, if not both) next turn. They're not suicide troops so much as major target priorities.

Other than that, we have...let's see, Scorps and Banshees, which both have issues launching assaults out of Wave Serpents. Then there's Harlequins, which aren't bad, but have issues with being shot at (...should the enemy get lucky and see you before you assault him, well, you have 5+ saves to keep you safe, and those will surely work...)

Troops
So, we have Dire Avengers, suicidal Storm Guardians, camping Rangers, Wraithguard, and Jetbikes.

Dire Avengers just don't do enough damage. Even with Bladestorm and Doom, you just won't drop a ton of targets if they have cover, and/or go to ground, or are Marines. Usually, the only time mine hit the board is if their Falcon pops.

Storm Guardians are spiffy with flamers, but...gee, T3 and a 5+ save will do what for you? Get you killed because you fell out of the back of a Wave Serpent? Yeah. It will do that for you, but you'll at least KO infantry in cover, which is something the eldar need help with every now and then.

Guardian Jetbikes usually mean a Farseer riding with them, and while not bad, they don't do a lot other than fire shuriken cannons at 24". Every now and then, they might torrent an enemy infantyr unit that gets close. I might also be a little jaded about that one time I had one move into cover, lose enough guys to take a morale check, and run off the board on turn one.

Fast Attack
...I run Vypers every now and then, poitns permitting? They are not bad, but still, I can't help but think of the days of Space Marines, when I dropped 70 points for an MM/HF speeder, or 90 for a HB/Typhoon speeder, and it was good. The Vyper is reasonably versatile as well, but still feels like a pale shadow of the Land Speeder.

Shining Spears, Swooping Hawks, and Warp Spiders don't really draw the attention, though Warp Spiders did at least work for me a bit here and there. Still, the AP- was a huge turnoff for versatility.

Heavy Support
I tried Wraithlords/Wraithguard. Too slow, and there's only so much durability will do for you. If the other guy can sucker punch you, well, it hurts. Additionally, there's only so much that shooting will do for you, and Wraithlords take too long to get into melee.

War Walkers are neat, but S6 only gets you so much. Additionally, they're bloody expensive; $90 a squad before tax.

That pretty much leaves me with Falcons (Scatter Laser + Shuriken Cannon + Holofield) holding Dire Avengers and a Farseer in the back and a Fire Prism w/ Shurikannon. It's a decent firebase, but doesn't make for a ton of variety.

Wrapup
I just feel like there's not a lot I can do with the Eldar. And, the thing is? I got into them thinking that I could do several builds with them, and purchased accordingly. Well, now I've gotten rid of the Wraithguard, the Wraithlords, and have it pared down to what I use.

I'm running 5-6 grav tanks, I'm running ~10 Dire Avengers, I'm running a Farseer, I'm running two Fire Dragon squads in Wave Serpents...and that's kind of the start of Mech Eldar. There just ISN'T that much that I can do with the codex, I feel. And, the thing is, my ranged firepower is only so-so. With a pristine army on turn one, I can crank out:
3 TL Bright Lances
2 TL Pulse Lasers
Prism shot
2 Scatter Lasers, sometimes.

That just isn't a lot of lead. It doesn't always do the trick.

I don't know. Had I gotten into Eldar with the knowledge that I'd be playing Mech Eldar and Mech Eldar alone, I think it might have been a different story. I don't necessarily want to be 'Mr. Bandwagon', but on the other hand, the new codices DO have some draw in terms of the number of builds they put out. I've enjoyed the modeling project that is my BT army. The Tau are fun, but I was never under the illusion that they'd have another real build I was into before a new codex came out.

Maybe if the new 'nids look cool, I will return to the bugs. If not, maybe space pups. Or, I might just hold tight with two armies and save my money.

/Frustration, Annoyance (Hey, it happens to all of us, yes? Yes.)

Attempted Eldar Foot List, 1850

This one's Boc's fault.

To be perfectly honest, I think taking Eldar without grav tanks is...honestly, ignoring their greatest strengths: tough tanks and mobility. It's a hell of a theme list, and you'll see this when it comes to actually getting to an objective. Play a Table Quarters game with the Capture The Flag scenario, and watch him slap it in the far corner. Cry. Fight for that tie.

That being said, here's about as good as I can give you.

Eldar 'What The Foot?!' 1850
HQ
Eldrad [210]

Maugan Ra [195]

Elite
7 Harlequins [226]
-5 Kisses
-2 Fusion Pistols
-Death Jester
-Shadowseer
-Troupe Master w/ Power Weapon

7 Harlequins [226]
-5 Kisses
-2 Fusion Pistols
-Death Jester
-Shadowseer
-Troupe Master w/ Power Weapon

7 Harlequins [226]
-5 Kisses
-2 Fusion Pistols
-Death Jester
-Shadowseer
-Troupe Master w/ Power Weapon

Troops
7 Rangers [133]

7 Rangers [133]

6 Rangers [114]

Heavy Support
Wraithlord [135]
-Scatter Laser
-Missile Launcher
-2 Flamers

Wraithlord [135]
-Scatter Laser
-Missile Launcher
-2 Flamers

Wraithlord [135]
-Scatter Laser
-Missile Launcher
-2 Flamers

Total: 1849/1850

Once you put in 'foot only', well...you're left with these choices, and with Wraithguard. However, Harlies are by far the best/only viable footslogging Elite Choice, and you're dropping around 400 points to get a single Wraithguard choice. They're great at taking up space, and if you want them, you can retool the list by dropping a harlie squad and a ranger squad or two

If you do, be prepared to fortune them all the time, and hope you can bail them out of assault with the Harlies.

Rangers are in there purely to score. You go to ground for a 2+ save if needed, and pray to Ynnead that you don't meet flamers, because they'll poof you.

Wraithlords are your foot choice for heavy weapons support. Part of me would want to just slap Wraithsword + Scatter Laser + 2 flamers and have them RUN at the enemy (...lead it with a harlie squad + phoenix Lord and you've got a 800pt block of your army running at the other guy and putting the 'laughter' in slaughter.)

Past that...hope to get the enemy light armor with what guns you have. That's also why we dropped almost 200 points on Maugan Ra; he sits with some harlies, and provides them with a BFG.

Normally I'd probably overlook Death Jesters, as I'm not really a fan of them. However, in this list I think you just might want the guns. If you don't, you free up 18 points dropping the Jesters for regular Harlies with kisses. Again, normally I'd probably not bother with them, but we're kind of short on firepower here.

Now, why Eldrad? He's going to be in the trailing Harlie squad. See, he doesn't have Fleet, so he'll be slowing you down in assaults. He supports you with psychic powers, as by the time you've bought a foot Farseer with a couple powers and some psychic defense, well...chances are you've dropped something like 150ish points. Go ahead and get that third psychic power; this army will probably benefit from it.

Disclaimer
...I cannot help but feel like I'm sacrificing some utility to fit with the theme. I don't feel that Eldar usually have a solid foot list, but this is what strikes me as an option. Can you win with it? Sure. It'll probably be more of a challenge, but this is the kind of army you play because you want to convert it, not because it's the badass of badasses.

Eldar Army Pictures: Seer Council, et al

I've been meaning to take some pictures of what I've done recently for the Eldar, so here we go.

Princess Yriel/Jain Zar?

This model started life as a Howling Banshee exarch. Then, I decided I'd convert it to Prince(ess) Yriel, so I added a cloak (out of the likely-to-never-happen-Deathwing-Project) and some tabard bits on the front. Recently, though, I've been using it as a stand-in for Jain Zar, who's kind of fun when hidden in a unit of Harlequins.

Fire Dragons

These guys languished in 'chipped paint city' for some time. I obviously neglected to clear-coat them enough, so I stripped them and re-painted them. I also did the bases a bit different; there's Green Stuff AND flocking for texture. Additionally, I finally converted up some flamer-wielding Exarchs. Hey, I had 12 Dragons; I think I can get away with usually running 5.

Seer Council Farseer

She gets the standout bike in purple. The iconography on the bike is indeed hand-sculpted GS lovin'. I'm reasonably proud about how it came out. She is, of course, a Banshee Exarch, though that's a DA Exarch arm with shimmershield on the other side. I picked it because it looked like she was either yelling at her coed Seer Council to do better, or Dooming someone in a booming voice.

Seer Council Group Shot

This give syou a better idea of the composition. The runes on the front are actually coded; the first four are my Destructor 'locks, and the back group from left to right: Schmucklock x2, Enhance Lock, Embolden Lock. I'm pretty happy with how the color composition came out.

Oddball Warlocks

These are the three men in the group. The guy on the left is Schmucklock par excellence; he forgot a helmet so his pose is either getting shot in the face or calling someone out. Middle guy's brought to you buy the actual Jetbiker part, and he too is a schmucklock. He just kind of sticks out. Guy on the right is built out of DA parts. I actually like his pose; it looks a little bit cooler than the rest. I mean, he's Embolden Lock, he's SUPPOSED to be level-headed, right? Right.

Some Female Dire Avengers

Can you guess which one of these I got sculpted as female? If you said 'everyone but second from the left' then you would be correct. I believe the guy took molds of the Banshee exarch, Jain Zar, and maybe the odd female Guardian as models. His original theme was going to be the Sisterhood of Twilight.

The wash-tastic paint job, though, is all me.

Other Bits
I tried out Stelek's Competitive Daemons list. For me at 1850, it was:
4 Slaanesh Heralds (Might, Soporofic Musk, Charoit)
3x6 Fiends of Slaanesh
5x5 Plaguebearers
3x12 Flesh Hounds (each squad w/ Rending, one w/ Karanak)

Despite bad deep strike rolls, it was abjectly nasty. I also kind of underestimated how durable a Slaaneshi herald was, so some of them died less-than-glorious deaths. Still, all that S5 is enough to beat down some armor. I had a brutal tie in VP to one of my disciples of spite, though it was also his first time with mech guard. I think I might drop the $110 or so I need to actually complete that Daemon army, and then think about wolves.

1850 Eldar vs Chaos

Well, this fight actually happened Tuesday, but I kind of had to write and edit a paper due tomorrow for Contract Management, so yeah. I botched only one detail in the batrep, so there you go.

I rolled with the same Jain Zar + Harlie-led mech Eldar hybrid build, aka the 'Bizarro' build. Boc, one of my pupils of spite, rolled with this CSM list:

Kharn
2 10-man fist/2 melta Khorne-marked 'tactical' squads in Rhinos (the green rhinos)
7 or 8 man Khorne 'zerker squad w/ fist (the pointy Rhino)
5 Plague Marines w/ 2 plasma guns
6-man Raptor squad w/ 2 meltas, lightning claws, Chaos Glory
Defiler
3 Oblits
Vindicator w/ Dozer Blade, Daemonic Possession

Mission: Capture The Flag
Deployment: Spearhead
First Turn to Chaos
Failed to Seize the Initative

Deployment

Boc reserves the Raptors as an experimental exercise. The blue triangles are on the objectives. The troops circled in red are not on the table; they're either in transports or in reserve. The purple-marked Falcon is Eldrad's ride; the blue and teal Serpents are full of Fire Dragons. Red is the Dire Avenger ride.

I deploy back to cut his range, and set the Vypers forth as cover where I can. Might as well use them for something.

End Turn 1

Unsurprisingly, Chaos advanced. Boc was apparently jonesing pretty bad for a smoke; he brain farted and thought I'd reserved my entire army but the Vypers. His Oblits light up a Vyper with three lascannons, and it kind of explodes violently. (Note the purple 'x') His Defiler lands a direct hit on the other Vyper, and promptly rolls snake eyes on penetration. I managed to lose the picture of snakeyes by the Vyper, but you get the idea.

He smokes everything else and advances. I Fortune up a Wave Serpent and Guide my Falcons. Grav tanks jockey for shots. NOT A DAMN THING DIES. This is the story of my shooting for the game, amazingly.

Bottom Turn 2

Fortune proves woefully ineffective. He dumps a squad out to fire on the fortuned fire dragon serpent, flubs. Three oblits land all three hits, stun it twice and explode it. No saves were made. Past that, his shooting is largely inconsequential, as is mine. The disembarked dragons decide to nuke a rhino; gotta stop that mech SOMEHOW. His Oblits prove adept at making cover saves against pulse lasers.

Turn 3 Bottom

First, let me show you what happens when you think 'Oh, he'll never land THAT deep strike.' Iffy rear arc shot? Check. Raptors show up, deviate back six inches, and end up in melta range. Do you know what meltaguns do to AV10?

His shooting stuns up the other Fire Dragon Wave Serpent. I manage to knock his Oblits down to one guy after that, but naturally lose those Fire Dragons. I kick myself a bit for going for the Rhino instead of the Oblits, but what the hell. I stopped his mech, which was probably more important in the long run. Other stuff advances and/or shuffles. My Wave Serpent exploded violently, too, but that's no real surprise.

Turn 4 Bottom

It takes two squads of meltaguns to do it, but he KOs the Fire Dragon serpent AND the other Vyper. His Raptors also eat my Dire Avengers, but they at least shot a few of them to death. Berserkers draw closer to my objective. Fire Dragons in turn pop another Rhino, and at least cost him more mobility.

Turn 5 Bottom

More bullets fly in the midfield. I take his Vindicator and his Berserker's Rhino, but don't get the rolls I need to charge the Zerkers.

Turn 6 and Final

He gets greedy, rapid-fires the Fire Dragons, and...doesn't kill them all. His Berserkers don't get the charge off, so the Harlies and Jain do. Kharn gets wounded once; his squad dies, and then Kharn takes six No Retreat wounds, and dies. Somewhere along the way his Raptors got shot down to only one man, and it falls back.

End Result

Objectives

1-1

Victory Points

666 Eldar to 730ish in Chaos Kills.

Under 10% of game total difference; tie.

That's some of the most comical dice luck I have SEEN on my end in some time. He also had some amazing luck with saves; one time I dumped about 7-8 wounds into a squad and he made them all. I should've been more conservative with my DA's Serpent and just NOT given him a rear-arc shot. I mean, it was a low-odds shot, BUT it came off. At least it kept them from doing more, but it also made it hard for me to get over to try to contest him.

Of course, his shooting was also pretty amazing; he had to dump two khorne-tacs into them, and then stun it and assault it the next turn to kill it. There was also that whole 'battle cannon does not scratch Vyper' on turn one.

It was a blast, but the epic shooting fails hurt, since I had to spend freaking Fire Dragons on Rhinos.

And, unsurprisingly, Harlies + Doom + Jain = DEAD STUFF.

Demonic Possession probably has a place on a Vindy in that it makes it a threat all the time; you have to immobilize it, kill the gun, or just drop the tank.

Other Bits

I got in another game against Chaos Marines today, but the dice were the polar opposites. He had a bad setup, and it wasn't 'til turn FIVE that he killed something. In part he got a bad deepstrike on Oblits when he gambled, and the others failed to kill anything. I lost the Fire Dragons and their Serpents in that game, and in turn killed 2 full Chaos Marine squads, their Rhinos, a Plague Marine squad, Nurgle Lord w/ Daemon Weapon, a Defiler and a Dreadnought.

I should also have pictures up of my recently-painted stuff. The Seer Council finally got a clear coat, and the two additional Crisis Suits are going to be done 'ere long.

Eldar 1850 (Bizarro) against Assaulty Guard

Well, I'd intended to take pictures of this battle. I'd also intended to bring the camera, but realized about halfway to the FLGS that the camrea was in my room. Too late, now. The previous night I'd decided on trying some wonky stuff with the Eldar. I present to you my newly-christened 'Bizarro' Eldar list. The 'bizarro' tag's going to denote doing stuff I haven't really considered before. Why? Educational potential. Part of the game is experimenting; if we don't try new things we'll never learn stuff. Without furthoer bloviation:

Bizarro Eldar: Jain Zar edition, 1850
HQ
Jain Zar [190]
Eldrad [210]
Elites
5 Fire Dragons [80]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]
5 Fire Dragons [80]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]
7 Harlequins; All w/ Kisses but for Power Weapon Troupe Leader, and a Shadowseer [200]
Troops
5 Dire Avengers [60]
5 Dire Avengers [60]
5 Dire Avengers [60]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]
Fast Attack
Vyper w/ 2x Shuriken Cannon [60]
Vyper w/ 2x Shuriken Cannon [60]
Heavy Support
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-field [175]
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-field [175]
Total: 1845

Assaulty Guard
HQ
Co. Command Squad w/ Straken, 2x Bodyguards, 3 Meltaguns
-Chimera w/ Dozer Blades, Multi-laser, heavy flamer
Priest w/ Eviscerator (attached to Straken)
Elites
8/9 man Psyker Battle Squad
Troops
Platoon 1
Platoon Command w/ Vox
30 Guardsman; 2 meltaguns, 3 power weapons, Commissar w/ Power Weapon
Platoon 2
Platoon Command w/ Vox
30 Guardsman; 2 meltaguns, 3 power weapons, Commissar w/ Power Weapon
Fast Attack
Hellhound w/ Smoke, Hull multi-melta
Hellhound w/ Smoke, Hull multi-melta
Heavy Support
Leman Russ w/ Hull Lascannon, HB Sponsons
Leman Russ w/ Hull Lascannon, HB Sponsons
LR Demolisher w/ Hull Heavy Flamer
(Or something like that, thereabouts)

The Setup
Table Quarters
Mission: Capture and Control
Random Game Length

Decoding the Amazing Hi-Res Battle Captures
(Or, Sorry I Forgot My Camera, Guys)
Grey is building area terrain or rocks; the black circles are taller rocks and the black lines are buildings, some of which have windows/roofs.

Deployment

Deployment for the Guard player takes time; he sets up about 80 infantry. The big green blobs are infantry; P1/P2 are Platoon Command, the AG1-2 are Assault Guard 30-man units. The Olive-Drab thinks marked LR or D are the Russes or the Demolisher, respectively. The 'HH' are Hellhounds, and the C is Straken's Chug.

That little H in the bottom? That's the Harlequin squad and Jain Zar. All the other Eldar are in reserve.

Blue X marks the objective spot.

Guard have first turn; Eldar don't really seize the initiative (or care to).

Turn 1

Guard go first; they advance a bit. Mmm, speedy little hellhounds. No one sees the clowns as they sort of shuffle to the side a bit.

Turn 2

Guard advance more. Guard fail to see the angry space clowns.

Eldar roll for reserves. Eldar recieve:
-Both Falcons (Blue DA, Blue DAE is Eldrad's)
-A Vyper (...the V. You had to ask?)
-Both Fire Dragon Serpents (purple FD)

The clowns do the shuffle. The Vyper pumps six Shuriken Cannon shots into the Hellhound, and...stun it. The Falcons open up on the lighter Guard armor. A Hellhound explodes violently, and Straken's ride rattles around a bit. Lances fail to do much to Russes; maybe they shake one.

Turn 3

Guard respond angrily; after the smoke clears one Fire Dragon squad is now minus a ride and two members. The tenacious Vyper that had parked on the Hellhound's butt gets stunned and immobilized. More advancing occurs.

Harlequins start positioning to launch a charge in the next turn or so, and get towards cover. Return fire does little; the Hellhound is once again stunned and loses its multi-melta. A second Vyper arrived and failed to contribute much. Falcons fail, probably because one was stunned and the other can't see better than a '3' to damage AV12. The remaining Fire Dragon's Wave Serpent advances, and looks menacing in preparation to kick out meltagunners.

Turn 4

The Imperial Guard advance again. The Russes do some shooting and immobilize the not-so-menacing-now Wave Serpent. Straken's Chug advances and fires ineffectually at Falcons.

One Fire Dragon squad gets out of its Wave Serpent home and advances on the nearest-to-it Russ. It stuns it, and thanks to the movement earlier only one meltabomb sticks, which shakes it. Ooo-RAH! The other squad finally nukes the Hellhound. Vypers twiddle their thumbs and are briefly glad they're not THAT scary to Russes. Straken's Russ explodes when a Falcon's pulse laser finds its target. Straken's squad shrinks a bit. Stupid Fearless-granting Straken.

Harlequins ponder assaulting the large doomed squad, but Jain stubs her toe on terrain and gets a whopping '3' on Move Through Cover. Harlequins backpedal a bit.

Turn 5

The guard advance more, readying themselves for a run at my home objective. The Psykers finally get a power off, and they Weaken Resolve my Fire Dragons just before said dragons get lit up by lasguns. The Russes manage to shake the non-Eldrad Falcon on their turn. The Russes fail to do anything spectacular with large cannons.

The Eldar turn...
That LAST FREAKING WAVE SERPENT arrives, and tank-shocks into the guys near my home objective. The Falcon (without Eldrad) does likewise, and proceeds to be Death or Glory'ed into oblivion. Whoops. In my eagerness, I also forget to use Eldrad's powers. Fail for me.

The Fire Dragons get on a hilltop, draw a bead on a Russ at the edge of their 12", and manage to explode it...one inch radius. Ah well. That's been par for the course for the explosions here.

The recently-disembarked Dire Avengers pass their pinning test, and gun down Straken's whole squad. So long, preacher-man.

A Vyper makes a run towards their objective, hoping to contest it somehow.

The Harlequins and Jain make it to assault, and massacre half the squad in exchange for a wound on Jain, and a dead Harlequin. I missed about 3 Harliquin attacks and 1 Jain attack on that batch, so apparently Eldrad WAS kind of watching over me. Go figure. Insult to injury comes when the guard squad tries to break, only to have a Commissar pop a sarge and instruct two remaining sergeants and a dog solider that THEY ARE STAYING HERE.

Then, I err, and let my Dire Avengers assault Straken. They killed him. Three wounds, three failed saves. Their Crowning Moment of Awesome was induced by me screwing up and forgetting they ought not have been able to do that. Shame on me, as it truly WAS an honest mistake at the time. Probably would have gotten them killed next turn.

However, there is no turn 6; there's a '1' for the 'Continue, Y/N?' roll.

End Results:
1 Objective to 1 Objective
Tie On Objectives

Victory Points:
Guard Kills:
1 Fire Dragon Squad
1 Wave Serpent
1 Damaged Wave Serpent
1 Damaged Vyper
1 Falcon
Total: 503

Eldar Kills:
LRBT w/ Las, HB Sponsons
2 Hellhounds
1 Chimera w/ Dozer Blade
1/2 Straken's Squad
1/2 Large Assaulty Guard Squad
1 Priest w/ Eviscerator
Total: 777

End Result: Eldar Moral Victory

Final Thoughts
As usual, why do Eldar have suicide troops? Dying species, need for Fire Dragons, high mortality rate of fire dragons...you get the idea.

Props go to the surviving Fire Dragons; a Russ at 12" is long odds. Props go to the Dire Avengers who WOULD have killed Straken, given the chance. By far it's the coolest thing I've ever done illegaly in a game. We all screw up; this was apparently my time to do so. I'm just glade it wasn't a game-changing foul-up.

Had he brought another Guard scoring unit, I might've had more trouble, as I managed to handle one large assaulty squad. Two is a bit...much. It would've made the game more interesting.

Tank Shocks have some more use than I'd given them credit for. I'll have to add that to my repertoire. I think I'm a bit of a latecomer to that realization, but it's never too early to learn.

Footslogging Harlies aren't so bad. The Troupe Leader is certainly worth it, as the power weapon helped out. He killed 5 on his own on the charge. Mmm, furious charge S4 vs. T3 opponents.

The Phoenix Lords need invulnerable saves something fierce. Jain's a butcher, and preferable for her plasma grenades/banshee mask. None of the others really have something they can offer to that end. I might run Fuegan in this build, just for the hell of it since I'm cobbling one together.

I have the faint urge to get more Phoenix Lords, or to model more. I think my Prince Yriel scratchbuild is in danger of becoming Jain on a permanent basis. This is fine, as it's more like Princess Yriel (based on a Banshee Exarch body, y'know. I got some of the army from a guy who converted them to be female, so I might as well run with it).

I'm not sure Eldrad was 100% necessary. On the other hand, this army wanted a couple Guides, a Doom, and could use Fortune as well. I wonder if that's an army-building requirement with an eye towards psychic powers, or Eldrad just IS that useful. New flash, Eldrad is useful. Man, I hope that's not really a news flash for Eldar players. Just, once I get close to a 3-power Farseer, I might as well drop the extra 30-40 points and get three powers in a turn and all five powers.

I still feel short on anti-tank power. The DA Serpent was meant to add an extra lance and scoring unit to the army. Lances are still not necessarily enough, and even guided Pulse Lasers fall a bit short when it comes to, y'know, stopping AV14.

Vypers aren't so bad when they're not such a priority. Then again, I still have to get rear shots, and was handed one of those, so yeah. Still, they're not bad. I think they might've done more good than the Fire Prism would have.

Comments, feedback, cries of 'cheater' welcome.

Eldar Hall of Shame

Today's topic: units out of the codex that...just, honestly, don't have a lot of use. I'm going to explain why these units don't see a lot of play, and how, if you really want to, you can use them. If all else fails, I found the picture highly amusing and fitting for some of these guys.

The Most Epic of Failures

Swooping Hawks

I want to like these guys, I really do. I have a soft spot for jump infantry. On the face of it, these guys are bloody fast, with jump packs, fleet, and even the ability to hand off a power weapon to your Exarch without compromising shooting options. They even have some duality with the ability to attack tanks with grenades. What's so bad about them?

The Failbirds

Well, your anti-infantry shooting comes in the form of an S3, AP5, 24" Assault 2 gun. Note the basic trooper is 21 points a head. You get the usual aspect warrior WS/BS4, and I5, and 4+ save. You even get plasma grenades, in case you want to assault into terrain with your S3 and I5, which isn't that great with your base 1 attack.

Well, we mentioned duality, so you are also paying for Haywire Grenades. On a hit, you roll a d6, and a 2-5 is a glance ahile a 6 is a penetrating hit. On the bright side, you can get an Exarch and take Intercept (for a total of 17 points; 12 for the Exarch and 5 for the power) so you'll never need worse than a 4+ to hit a vehicle with these grenades. Too bad you really can't do enough damage with grenades; you need 3 glances to get to an actual damage result, so you might be able to take out a stationary vehicle.

The exarch can take some neato-looking guns; one's a few S5 shots and the other's a heap of S3 shots. You can also take Skyleap and combine that with the Grenade Pack, so you can deep strike, slap an S4, AP5 Large Blast that scatters 1d6 66% of the time on infantry. Combine that with an autarch, and you could theoretically hit infantry out of LOS.

What's this out of LOS striking power cost you? Run an autarch, then 4 guys and Skyleap, and you cost 132. You must also be careful to end up on the table at the end of the game, as otherwise you count as destroyed. Bonus.

Otherwise, you can try to fit them out as a torrent of fire unit; take the full 10-man squad, take the Exarch, grab Intercept, and the Sun Rifle, and you run 237. What's that do in terms of damage?

9x2 S3 shots at BS4, 6 shots of S3 pinning at BS5.

That turns into 12 S3 hits, and 5 S3 pinning hits.

Against T3 enemies, that's 6 regular and 2.5 pinning wounds; it's not that impressive.

Vs. T4? about 6 wounds, total. Impressive. You don't even want to think about the T5+ fellows.

Against tanks that move, you get 5 grenade hits, so you should see 3-4 glances, and maybe a penetrating hit. Also not that impressive.

Alternatives?

Dire Avengers can get a transport AND more powerful guns for the price.

Warp Spiders are more durable, and whioe shorter-ranged, they're S6, and gneerally more nimble. I'm still not a huge fan, but they're better than these.

You're Just Not That Useful, But Not As Bad As Those Guys

Dark Reapers

35 points a head for a unit of 3-5 folks with T3 and a 3+ save. Standard issue weapon? An S5, AP3 heavy 2 gun with a 48" range. The Exarch can take 36" S4, AP3 Heavy 2 blast weapon, or a regular Eldar Missile Launcher. On the bright side, the Exarch can take an ability to either get an additional shot, or let his shots ignore cover. NEat, but...

Why Not...to take

So, let's say you take a full 5-man squad, an Exarch, and give the Exarch a missile launcher and the ability to double-tap that thing as a nod to killing tanks. You are paying 217. I suppose you could take a 'minimal' squad with the Exarch and the double-tapping BS5 missile launcher, but that still costs you 147 for three guys.

So, they shoot into infantry in cover. Eight S4, AP3 shots. BS4 applies, so 5.3 hits. Let's say the two frag missiles get about 4 hits, just because.

If you shot T3 guys, you get 3.5 wounds from the Reapers and another 2.3 out of the frag. Seriously? This is it? For 217 points of freaking troops?

These guys were meant to be used back in the day when marines were prevalent, and cover saves were generally 5+. At that point? They were neat against marine gunlines. Past that? Not so hot.

Shining Spears

We charge in at WS4, I5, with two S6 power weapon attacks. Our leader gets THREE, but at WS5, or a power weapon. On the bright side, they can get hit 'n' run, and have T4 and a 3+ save on an Eldar Jetbike, which means they don't stop going fast 'til you kill them all. You can also get Skilled Rider, which means going into terrain and killing yourself only happens 1/36 times.

Why Skip this guided missile?

Their big problem is unit size. 3-5 guys in the unit. Also, they forgot Frag Grenades. They're natural MC killers, and if you can fortune them up, ride out a round, and hit 'n' run? Not bad, but if you nuke that unit on the charge, you're 3-5 guys sitting out in front of what's probably an angry army.

They're too much glass hammer; if you want a bike-mounted assault unit just bite the bullet and pay for the Seer Council.

(Dis)Honorable Mention

Regular Guardians

Low morale, and it's basically 80 points plus 5-30 for a BS3 heavy weapon. They'll fold in melee, and if you brought along an Avatar or something else fearless to try to bail them out, you'll learn about the 'joy' that is the No Retreat! rule.

Warp Spiders

Some people swear by them. They're not bad, but they're just not that great. They're mobile, can actually hide in assault with Hit 'n' Run and a guy with power weapons. They only get two shots each at 12", but they're firing S6, AP- shots. Downside? With their ability to go 12" and then another move from the warp generator, you'd think they'd be prime for getting behind vehicles. Too bad you get -1 to vehicle damage results. Past that, an S6 gun is hardly special for Eldar, and they have to be careful what they try to hide in assault with.

So...yeah

I know sometimes folks will value theme over effectiveness, but there are some units in the older codices that just don't need to see the light of day. They do something, and they do it very poorly not only for their codex, but in general. Some units struggle to do stuff, and some just aren't very good at it for their cost. Others can do it well, but are plagued with problems.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Mech Eldar w/ Seer Council Updated

It would technically be v1.something, but it's been a few months since I've touched the Seer Council, so yeah.

1850 Mech Seer Council List
HQ
Farseer w/ Bike, Runes of Warding, Fortune, Doom, Spirit Stones [175]

Warlock Unit [420]
8x 'locks on bikes
4x Destructor
1x Enhance
1x Embolden

Elites
5 Fire Dragons [80]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

5 Fire Dragons [80]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

Troops
5 Dire Avengers [60]

5 Dire Avengers [60]

10 Storm Guardians w/ 2x Flamers [92]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

Heavy Support
Fire Prism w/ Shuriken Cannon [125]

Falcon w/ Holofields, Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser [175]

Falcon w/ Holofields, Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser [175]

Total: 1847/1850

With the three points remaining, I'm tempted to put a Singing Spear into the hands of one of the schmuck-locks, just to give me more distinct units. Or, hand it to a Destructor-lock. Cheers for wound allocation shenanigans, right? Right.

The only element I'm not certain about is the Storm Guardian unit. I feel like the flamers might be overkill, or they might just be backup. I feel like I've got a decent torrent of fire and the anti-tank covered with lances; at this point I figured I'd just get more troops. The Storm Guardians aren't bad, as they've a distinct use.

On the field, it's a half-dozen nasty, durable grav tanks and the Seer Council.

I'm reminded of the burden set on the Seer Council; they have to do a lot of the work. Even more ironic is that in this test game, one Fire Dragon serpent got KO'ed, and the other ended up stunned for about 3 turns straight (....man, talk about long odds) so the Seer Council shanked itself a Russ and sentinel squad, after notching itself two large guardsmen squads.

The short version is that in a Dawn of War match, the other guy fielded...
2x Large Melee Guard Squads (30 men w/ 3x meltagun, 3x power weapons, commissar) though one traded the meltaguns for autocannons. 'toon command with them, of course.
Command Squad w/ Straken
Priest in the meltagun squad
2x Russ w/ Lascannon, HB sponsons
Demolisher
2x Hellhound w/ hull MM, smoke launchers
3-sentinel squad w/ autocannons.

End of the game, what was left?
1 Immobilized Hellhound
1 Hellhouned Hull (needed one more damage result to KILL it)
1 Immobilized Demolisher
Straken and a meltagun in his squad

1/2 the Seer Council
Farseer
Storm Guardians in immobilized serpent
DAs in a Falcon
Fire Dragons and their Serpent

In part, he got a bit too aggressive with one of the melee squads and ended up only committing half the forces, so...the Seer Council BBQed it down to the power weapons on the first turn, and then moved to assault it without moving through cover.

I also managed to draw off the Demolisher towards the Prism and a Falcon.

Also, 1's did a LOT of damage to the forces. 1's in Dangerous Terrain effected:
1 immobilized Hellhound early one
1 immobilized Demolisher late game
1 DEAD Falcon (flat out + limiting my own movement options + 1 = Dire Avengers out of a wreck, in front of Straken. Guess how that rolled?)

Also, multi-assaults against armor with Witchblades is soooo fun. For me. One assault phase saw off two sentinels (only shot one to death previously) and a Russ.

It also reminds me of the problems with a Seer Council; if it folds you're screwed. It's just a lot of points and a lot of eggs in a basket. At least it was an excuse for me to strip them and re-do the symbols; I think my GS skills are getting better, and using tools helps.

The Eldar War Walker

The War Walker is one of the less commonly seen Eldar units out there. In part because you can (and often ought to) take a heap of them; they come in squads of 3 in the heavy support section. Also, unlike the rest of the codex, they're not exactly fast. So, no further ado, let's get into it.

The War Walker Chassis

We're talking about an AV10 all-round walker. You're looking at WS/BS3, S5, I4 and 2 attacks. Obviously, it's not that interested in going boot-to-head in assault, but it'll still take some work to kill in assault if you're just a basic trooper. Yeah, you need those 6's to hit me with grenades...

However, you're still just AV10, which is not exactly that durable. You need numbers on your side in order to last. Additionally, you need clever use of cover. It's a squadron, so if you get more than half the squad in cover, guess what? Cover save.

As a side benefit, you get Scout, which grants you a scout move, or outflank. I'm not really a fan out outflanking, since you should be using range as your defense. The closer you get to the enemy, the more weapons he brings to bear on you, and with AV10 you even have to pay some attention to most troop-borne firearms, since S4 can still cost you your chance to shoot.

Weapon Options

Well, the whole squad can take Spirit Stones, which is basically extra armor. Too bad there's no point in that for the squad. So, we move along to guns. Each War Walker can take two weapons. This means you can either double up, or try to do a same-purpose mix 'n' match. I'd probably go for doubling up, to be honest.

Shuriken Cannon

5 points gets you a 24" S6 gun with 3 shots. It's cheap, nasty, and does the trikc against things S6 hurts, which is anything with an AV lower than 12, and any toughness lower than 8.

Scatter Laser

15 points gets you a fourth S6 shot and a 36" range.

Starcannon

If you really wanted to, you could drop 25 points for an S6, AP2 two-shot gun out to 36". I'd skip it because BS3 and the nature of cover mean we want volume rather than quality.

Eldar Missile Launcher

This is your longest-range gun; it's an S8 AP3 shot or S4, AP4 pinning small blast out to 48". Costs 20 points to get the range.

Bright Lance

Phew. 30 points a head for this lovely little 'threaten any tank or MC' gun. I honestly find it a bit costly for War Walkers; a double-lance War Walker is 90 points solo. You can bet it's a priority target, even if those two lances are only BS3.

Weapons and Mission

If you want to get your Walkers for cheap, 40 points gets you a War Walker that cranks out six S6 shots at 24". The downside is the range, though between scout and most deployments it's not such an issue getting into range unless you're fighting a slipper opponent.

A full suite of 3x3 War Walker Squads is 360 points and your heavy support slots; not a bad start.

My other default is the scatter laser; a double-scatterlaser walker is 60 points, and a full 3x3 compliment is 540.

The downside of taking massed S6 is that you'll need to find ways of dealing with heavier armor, and even AV12 is going to take some work. Assuming you twin-linked a Scatter laser squad via Guide, you'd get 3 glances on average, which isn't bad, but it means you just might do some actual damage.

So, what then? A double-missile walker is 70; a team is 210, and a full compliment is 630. If you Guided a team, it should get 4-5 hits, or 1-2 pens on AV12, which is still not that impressive. A full compliment of missile-walkers (assuming you can twin-link two squads) nets you about a dozen S8 hits in a turn, which, when focused, might kill a single AV12 vehicle. We're not that efficient, are we? We're not.

So, I'd have to go with the shuriken cannons or scatter lasers, and rely on Fire Dragons and serpent-mounted lances to do the heavier lifting. I mean, we WILL hard-core nuke the lighter targets with that much S6.

A Note On Range

The other thing to remember is that range helps to deny mobility, and that range is life for lighter targets. I've got a buddy/current student who plays IG, and at least against Eldar, there's a huge difference between staying at 36" and staying out of it, as his sentinels are only a bit less durable than our guys, and a scatter laser or two can totally nuke such a squad. Then again, a penetrating hit kills a squaded sentinel on a 2+ because they can't take immobilized and they're open-topped.

A squadded War Walker dies 50% of the time, as it simply dies on an immobilized result.

Summary of Mission

I'd stick to the shuriken cannon or the scatter laser, and full squad. You're a torrent of fire unit; roll with it and make it your own.

A Sample War Walker/Torrent of Fire BS List at 1850

Warning: I haven't tested this, and it may not make you any friends. But, here's the basic idea of 'How Much S6 Can I Fit In There?'

HQ

Farseer w/ Runes of Warding, Guide [90]

Autarch w/ Fusion Gun [80]

Elites

5 Fire Dragons [80]

Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

5 Fire Dragons [80]

Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

Troops

5 Dire Avengers [60]

Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

5 Dire Avengers [60]

Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

Fast Attack

3 Vypers w/ Shuriken Cannon [150]

3 Vypers w/ Shuriken Cannon [150]

Heavy Support

3 War Walkers w/ 2x Scatter Laser each [180]

3 War Walkers w/ 2x Scatter Laser each [180]

3 War Walkers w/ 2x Scatter Laser each [180]

Total: 1850

I'd thought about rolling with Shuriken Cannons all around, and if you do, you can go up to a third Vyper Squad, but you lose some range.

The Dire Avengers are there because you need troops, and the Fire Dragons are there because you might face someone with AV12 or better out there, and glancing it to death isn't always fun. The Farseer is in there more for the Runes of Warding, but you might as well get Guide. The Autarch gives you another meltagun, but more importantly lets you deal with going second.

Now, the downsides? Most Eldar players have the Elites, HQ, and Troops listed here. Then, you'll need 6 Vypers and 9 War Walkers, which is a pretty hefty commitment to build, buy, and carry around.

Also, did your enemy bring stuff vulnerable to S6 fire? You can crank out 24 S6 shots per walker squad, and another 9 from each vyper squad. That's 99 shots of S6 at BS3 a turn, though it tends to fall apart. It's a very distinct niche of firepower, but if I could bring two autocannons on my war walkers...aw, yeah. Or pulse lasers.

But yeah. This list cries a bit at Land Raiders until it pops 'em, and if it's vulnerable to S6? Get ready to get punched in the balls.

For an alternative take on trying to make War Walkers workable, here are Elessar's thoughts on the matter. (I tend to cut out the 'king' part mostly because it gets the point across to call him Elessar, though this is assuming it's a 'him' [which seems safe in this hobby, but there ARE exceptions] and if the removal of king is offensive...I'm sure Elessar'll deal. Right? :) Right. )

One More Thing...

I think a squad of 3 War Walkers, kept cheap with 2x Shuriken Cannon each, might be a decent experimental block for armies as well. It'd give me, personally, an excuse to play around with walkers again, as the models are neat. At 120 points for that block, it's a reasonably interchangeable heavy support block, and might mesh well with an Autarch. 'sides, I still have that redonkulous Autarch with an oversized fusion gun that wants itself some use...

Eldar Foot Troop Options

Well, it's been a while since I've done some Eldar articles, though I've dug them out of the box. I'm not satisfied with my Tau's transportation situation (read: no foam) and I'm not willing to subject them to movement 'til I fix that, which ought to be soon. At any rate, I'm going to compare and contrast the Eldar foot troop options: Dire Avengers, Guardians, and Rangers. They all have their own distinct uses.

Note I'm leaving out Guardian jetbikes; for one: they're not foot troops, and two: I don't have a lot of experience with them. I'll go into more depth on them later, I'm certain.

Dire Avengers
Dire Avengers are aspect warriors that specialize in killing it with shuriken fire. They're basic WS/BS 4 guys with T3, I5, Ld9 and a 4+ save. Each come with an Avenger Shuriken Catapult, which is an S4, AP5, Assault 2 18" gun. The range alone should tell you that you want to mount up.

You may take 5-10 per unit, and may upgrade one to be an Exarch. To be honest, I usually skip the Exarch. He costs 12 points to upgrade (which really gets you a second attack, I6, 2 attacks, and a 3+ save) and then must pay for wargear and powers.

Exarch Wargear
Double Shuriken Catapults (Assault 4 regular avenger shuricat) [+5]
Diresword and Pistol (Power weapon that if it wounds you, take a Ld check per wound; if you fail you die automatically regardless of wounds left) [+10]
Power Weapon and Shimmershield (everyone gets a 5+ save) [+15]

Exarch Powers
Defend (15 points for making the enemy at -1 attack when fighting you)
Bladestorm (everyone's gun gets another shot, but no firing next turn. You're reloading)

Analysis
The wargear is neat...but unessential. No matter how much you want to be, you're not melee troops, so you'll have to pass up that Diresword with your piddly S3. Defend and a Shimmershield won't save you from losing CC, and possibly getting swept.

Bladestorm? Folks are on the fence about it. If you're going to use it, at least pay the 5 points to let your Exarch dual-wield catapults. Over time, per the same cost, you'll get more shots off just firing Avengers two turns.

10 Regular Avengers (20 shots a turn)
vs
7 Avengers + Bladestorm Exarch w/ Dual Cats (14 BS4, 4 BS5 shots a turn, or 21 and 5 with a storm).

26 shots over two turns, or 40. You pick.

Of course, there's always the issue of getting those shots off. You may or may not get two turns to shoot.. Bladestorm simply lets you surge the unit, or fire, advance, bladestorm, assault and try to off the remnants. It's a timing thing; bladestorm is basically the ability for the unit to throw a haymaker (look up the old John Wayne western movies, and then realize that such a looping punch might hurt, but it leaves you way the hell open.) and I mean that in every sense of the word.

In smaller games, they may be able to work on foot. I'm talking like 1,000, maybe 1,500 point upgrades. Or, just spamming them on foot.

Defend + Power weapon/shimmershield + fortune might see them act as a passable tarpit, but it depends heavily on what you want them to tarpit. You're Ld9, so you need to not lose the assault by more than 1-2. I mention it as a 'fair enough' loadout for them. I think there are still things that'll cut through them, like most harder-core melee troops. Should a regular SM squad charge you, that's 12 attacks (Assuming sarge brought a pistol/CCW), down to 6 hits, 4 wounds, 2 without and 1 with fortune. That's somethign you can tie. However, if it's a nastier CC unit, or has power weapons, you might not hold. I feel it's honestly an iffier thing, but it's something to note. I'd expect to hold basic troopers, but not CC specialists.

The other option for Avengers is 5 of them as the 'DAVU' or Dire Avenger Vehicle Upgrade. I believe Dverning coined this term. You shove 5 of them into a Falcon with a holofield and a few guns on it. Not a very spectacular job, but a job nonetheless. Plus, they're likely to survive it.

Bottom Line
I'd suggest either 5 at 60 for the DAVU, or 8-10 as a regular shooty unit. Note that if you're shooting 'em, you want to Doom your target. Definitely 10 if you're going to footslog it, and I'd probably take Bladestorm there just to get some extra oomph there.

Rangers
Rangers are Eldar that decided they hate their day jobs, so they grabbed camo cloaks, longrifles, boots, and left. I suspect once I get my office job, I'll consider this. Rangers are your camping snipers. They have a sniper rifle, and some neat rules for cover. These include:

The Cool Bits
-To-hit rolls of '6' are AP1
-Stealth, so cover saves are at +1
-Move Through Cover

Basic Stats
BS4 is the only stand-out, past that there's a 5+ save and Ld8. Not terrible for 19 points.

Pathfinders
Really hard core rangers cost 5 points more (and you take the whole unit as Pathfinders), and get even more benefits. Of course, they've also flipped society the bird and are permanent exiles. Probably don't take their boots off inside.

-To-hit rolls of 5 or 6 are AP1
-Cover saves improved by +2
-Ignores difficult terrain rolls

Overall
Despite the cool bits, these guys are objective-sitters; no more and no less. I think the Pathfinder upgrade is neat, but the biggest benefit of the Pathfinder upgrade is the fact they take a 2+ cover save as a basic bit. I'd consider a unit of 7-8 Pathfinders (at 133-152) a decent objective-sitter. Let them snipe once or twice, and if they do something annoying the enemy might try to plaster them. Then, go to ground.

Now, the question is, is the Pathfinder upgrade worth it? 24 points for a 'finder vs. 19 for a regular ranger. 171 gets me 9 Rangers, and 168 gets me 7 Pathfinders. That's about as good as we'll get for equivalent values, so, basic shooting.

9 BS3 Ranger Shots = 6 ranger hits, 1 AP1.
4+ to wound, so we get 0.5 AP1 wounds, 0.5 rends, and 1.5 wounds for a total of:
1 wound that ignores armor, 1.5 that don't

7 BS3 Pathfinder Shots = 4.6 hits; 1.5 of which are AP1
0.75 AP1 wounds, 0.25 rends and 1.25 regular wounds
1 wound that ignores armor, 1.25 that don't.

At roughly equivalent costs, the damage is about equal. Additionally, the increased chance to ignore armor makes me happy, as it makes them more suited for killing monstrous creatures. Wraithlords don't like snipers in general, but Rangers might very well take one down in two rounds of shooting. You also can relocate more readily with the Pathfinders, so I think I'm going to have to reconsider. Additionally, you always have that 2+ cover save, so yeah.

Stupid Trick
If the enemy is not a CC-specialist, Dverning notes that you can use Rangers to infiltrate and potentially get a first-turn assault off. I think the trick's more psychological than effective, but it can still have an impact on folks. You'll just need to infiltrate out of LOS, and you'll need the Pathfinder upgrade to ignore terrain and make sure you can swing. I wouldn't expect it to work against anything more frightening than Tau or IG, but it's out there.

Don't forget to cry if flamers get nearby; then Rangers go away hardcore. Yeah, even regular flamers make these guys hate life. Then you're out a camping unit.

Overall
I think you can kind of justify taking the Pathfinder upgrade. Any way you cut it, the unit's a pretty nasty sniper unit, but I don't think I'd ever really take more than one selection. Dverning's done some math on the subject, and the points-per-kill is about the same. The real difference is the cover save, but you can just go to ground for the same thing. End of the day, you're not losing that much killing power, and you have more wounds.

Guardians
Guardians come in two flavors: Regular, and Storm. They share the same statline; it's basically a Guard line aside from I4. (which is to say BS3, WS3, S3, T3, 1 attack, and a 5+ 'save'). Both come in sizes of 10-20 per unit at 8 points a head, so they're at least cheap at 80 points before options and/or a Warlock option. Note that if you bring a Warlock, you really have one of several options for them: Destructor (Yay FIRE! S5 AP4 template), Embolden (re-roll leadership), or maybe Enhance if you want to try to mix it up, to get yourself up to WS4, I5.

Note also that if you intend to run Wraithlords, you could get a Spiritseer-upgraded Warlock in a guardian unit.

Regular Guardians
You are required to put two together as weapon crew, and you can take any of the larger Eldar weapons. Even better, it's on a little hover-platform that lets you fire even the heavy weapons on the move. The downside? They're still BS3.

You could theoretically combine them with a fortune'd Avatar and spam heavy weapons, but...if someone gets into assault with you, or they kill the Avatar, your ld8 and meager statline won't save you. (Also, if someone assaults you, and your Avatar counterassaults, watch them hit your Guardians and inflict No Retreat! wounds on your Avatar. Bad Stuff.) You're also looking at 110 for a BS3 bright lance; not exactly the most efficient or effective source of lance fire. I would have to settle on the Scatter Laser, so then you don't have to Guide them to hit stuff. In a pinch, there's the cheaper, shorter-ranged Shuriken Cannon.

95 points gets you 10 Guardians with a Scatter Laser. Yay?

Storm Guardians
They all traded in their dinky 12", Assault 2 S4 AP5 guns for pistols with the same statline, and a CCW. Much scarier, really. However, you do get the option to take two special weapons, so that's either 12 points for two flamers or two BS3 meltaguns. That's at least palatable, but requires a transport.

Importantly, it's one of only four freaking sources of template weaponry in an Eldar army. (Your other sources are Warlocks with Destructor [usually located in a Seer Council], Fire Dragon Exarchs w/ heavy flamers, or Wraithlords with two flamers). Add doom and a Wave Serpent, and you've got a way to delete infantry.

92 points gets you 10 with a pair of regular S4, AP5 flamers.
145 gets you a Wave Serpent w/ TL Bright Lance, and underslung Shuriken Cannon

I would ponder skipping out on the Destructor-lock, as he's another 30ish points attached to a unit that is pretty much either going to live to board the transport, or be shot/assaulted down the next turn. On the other hand, the Warlock w/ Destructor adds a Heavy Flamer equivalent template, which is S5 AP4. Note that if it's not a space marine, a heavy flamer kills stuff on a 2+. You'll still lose the unit, but he'll increase the lethality. It's really a matter of whether or not you can find the points after the 92 for the flamer guys.

Overall
To be honest, I kind of like the Storm Guardians more. They're a distinct niche-filler in the Eldar army. Regular Guardians want to be neat little objective campers, but you'd need to take them in greater numbers. Alternatively, you'd want to bring as many squads as possible to get...as many scatter lasers as you can. At least it's hard to silence the heavy weapon? Investing 30 points in an Embolden Warlock gives them a re-roll on leadership, but still...there are better ways to get rate-of-fire in an Eldar army. (IE: Vypers, and they're faster).

Foot Troop Summary
All of your foot troops are basically kitted out to kill troops. Avengers can be had in the smallest squads, but also have the longest-range trooper gun. They're not flashy, but the're reasonably competent at what they do. They're a bit of a generalist choice, but require a transport to get into range. Ld9 is fairly helpful for not running, and if you can get a couple turns of shooting, well, so much the better.

Rangers are campers par excellence. They need less support than regular Guardians, and I feel there are better places to get your heavier weapons.

Storm Guardians fill a certain niche in the Eldar army: FLAMER TEMPLATES. Sorry, it needed emphasis. They're a suicide squad, but at 92 points plus transport? It's not a bad way to go, since they'll burn some stuff up. Also, it's cheap, because you know a bunch of T3, 5+ save guys sitting in the open in front of dead stuff are gonna die for their troubles. Ironically, they'll be deploying in the 'death by flamer' squad out the back of their required transport.

A Note On My Mech Bias With Eldar
I tend to view mechanization as an Eldar strength. In part, it's because it's an army of specialists: You can't even try to grenade down a tank with Dire Avengers, you really DO need Fire Dragons (or the not-so-impressive BS3 meltaguns of a Storm Guardian squad), or an Exarch's missile launcher from Dark Reapers.

So, we need specialists to do the job. If the specialist moves 6" and runs, well...it's not really that hard to figure out where they need to go, and block them. Flamers and meltaguns, and even the Avenger shuriken catapults, do not have the greatest of range, and you would need to move at least a foot to get to an enemy that didn't want to be near you. Additionally, without the protective warmth of an AV12 vehicle around an Eldar, it's a T3 model with a 4+ save, and the foot troops are generally not cheap enough to spam. I mean, the basic Eldar Guardian squad is 80 points plus heavy weapon; you're almost at 20 guardsman in 2 infantry squads by that point. Not really the most favorable comparison, and Guardians are ultimately fairly limited.

I think someone might be able to make an Eldar foot list work (especially if they use Scorpions or Warp Spiders in the front; use that 3+ armor save guy to screen the rest of the army for a 4+ cover save), but it will be anything but forgiving and easy to use. That's me, though. Plus, I'd rather just sit in my annoying-as-hell-to-kill transports until needed, but that's me.

Eldar Update, More Testing

I've made some changes to my Eldar lineup, and gotten a couple rounds in. The 1850 list was as follows:

1850 Mech Test
HQ
Eldrad [210]

Elite
6 Fire Dragons; one is Exarch w/ DB Flamer and Crack Shot [113]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

6 Fire Dragons; one is Exarch w/ DB Flamer and Crack Shot [113]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

8 Howling Banshees; one is Exarch w/ Executioner, War Shout, Acrobatic [160]
Wave Serpent w/ TL Lance, Shuriken Cannon [145]

Troops
5 Dire Avengers [60]

5 Dire Avengers [60]

7 Guardian Jetbikes, 2 Shuriken Cannons, 1 Warlock on Bike w/ Embolden [224]

Heavy Support
Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-Fields [175]

Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-Fields [175]

Fire Prism w/ Shuriken Cannon [125]

1850 Total

Thoughts on the List and units
On the Fire Dragons
I'm sold on the twin-linked heavy flamers in the Fire Dragon squad. It gives them some duality, even if the heavy flamer is a bit to get in there. Crack Shot helps further by alleviating the need to Doom the unit, though Doom helps if there's going to be more fire directed at the unit.

On the Banshees
Well, one game, they kind of got their transport blown up on turn one, so...yeah. They managed to hide for the duration of the game. There's certainly some challenge associated with fielding Banshees and getting them into assault. Once in assault, they need doom, but I'm beginning to still see the utility of having some melee in there. However, they're a bit pricey to use, so...yeah.

I like having some melee support, but I'm not sure Banshees will fit the bill.

On the Guardian Jetbikes
Well, there was that one time that on turn one, I decided to get them into cover from Guard Battlecannons, and they rolled three '1s' and promptly failed the resulting morale test, and ran off the board in Dawn of War. Truthfully, I should've played it a bit different (and maybe even reserved those things, since I'm not sure I would've missed the two Shuriken Cannons for a couple turns...).

I do like that they can't be nailed down, but there's certainly an art to using them. Mostly some intelligence in placement.

Melee Solutions
Well, it's Eldar, so I have one of four options for a real assault unit:
1) Banshees
2) Scorpions
3) Harlequins
4) Seer Council

I categorically refuse to run a foot-based Seer Council, and I'd tweak a Seer-Council based build if I wanted them.

The outright substitute would be some flamer-toting Storm Guardians, but that's a suicide unit that's really only good for nuking light infantry with Doom support. Otherwise, it's Fire Dragons, which also tend to be single-use.

I'd rather have power weapon wounds, so Scorps are out.

If I DID get Scorps, I could get their Exarch w/ Biting Blade, Claw, and then 7 other guys. I fail to be convinced I really want this over the Banshees.

That leaves Harlequins as my substitute. Thing is, they can't take a Designated Transport. Well, that's not a major problem; I can get a Wave Serpent off a Dire Avenger squad, and the Harlies can borrow out. So, what can I get for 160 in Harlies? Or thereabouts.

I can get a Troupe Master and 5 Harlies with Kisses for 148. They pretty much require Doom support, and there's always the issue of the potential need for Fortune, plus the unit's not really that durable.

For the record, the 10 Storm Guardians with double-flamers would be 92. It would open up points, but...yeah. I dunno. It's MUCH less durable support, and no melee ability to speak of. I mean, ok, they have lots of attacks, but no real lethality.

Thoughts from Eldar regulars?

Eldar Mech Test Bed, Hybrid v Something-or-Other

Not long ago, I finally got around to painting that squad of Howling Banshees I'd acquired a while ago. So, it's about time to slap a list together for them, I think. It's patterned more or less off the latest Mech V3 list. I'm also working on re-doing my Fire Dragons; I didn't clear cout 'em enough, and used it as an excuse to cobble together flame-toting Exarchs. I mean, I got a dozen of the things, might as well get 'em together.

Eldar Mech Test Bed
HQ
Farseer
-Jetbike
-Guide, Fortune, Spirit Stones
155

Farseer
-Spirit Stunes, Runes of Warding
-Guide, Fortune
140

Elites
5 Fire Dragons (92)
-Exarch w/ Heavy Flamer
Wave Serpent (145)
-Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon

5 Fire Dragons (92)
-Exarch w/ Heavy Flamer
Wave Serpent (145)
-Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon

7 Howling Banshees (139)
-Exarch w/ War Shout, Executioner
Wave Serpent (145)
-Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon

Troops
5 Dire Avengers (60)

5 Dire Avengers (60)

6 Guardian Jetbikes (202)
-2 Shuriken Cannons, Warlock w/ Embolden

Heavy Support
Falcon (175)
-Holo-Field, Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon

Falcon (175)
-Holo-Field, Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon

Fire Prism (125)
-Shuriken Cannon

Total: 1850

The 'test' part refers to heavy flamers in the fire dragons, and the inclusion of Howling Banshees. The Dragon exarchs give the squad some duality; they can always burn troops down if there isn't a lot of armor on the field.

The Banshees? War Shout is a 5pt filler. They're my cutty-cutty squad.

This is also, in part, a draft. I should probably get some Doom in there. The Double-Seer was meant to fortune up a couple transports and ram them down the other guy's throat. I also had to cut down the Guardian Jetbikes to 6 from 9 to make the points.

I'm looking for some tweaks/advice. Offhand, I can think of...

1) Add Doom.
Which one do I lose? Probably give it to the Jet-Seer, though I'll miss his Guide. I suppose I could consolidate them into Eldrad, but...

2) More Troops?
Not sure where to get the points. I could drop the Prism, but that cuts down on the mech amount.

3) Something else I missed?

Eldar Pictures, and 100th post nonsense

And so, after just about 4 full months, I've reached the arbitrary '100 posts' mile stone. Funny, we talked about milestones in Contract Management today...so it goes.

For your entertainment/edification/what-have-you (and my Eldar-oriented readers) I have proof that I have not abandoned the pointy-eared
old arrogant guys (or gals). I took the plunge and painted up the Howling Banshee squad I'd acquired some time ago from Xardian.

They started white, got hit with warlock purple + wash o' Leviathan Purple. Then add ice blue to the cloth bits and jewels, Asurmen blue for the cloth, and white + bleached bone + Devlan Mud to the white and gold bits. Weapons are red + Baal Red wash. The basing is Xard's GS basing, and I think I'm going to just carry that through the rest of the army.

The next exhibit is my Princess Yriel(ette?) conversion. Banshee body with arm switches, and a scratch-made cloak. In part this is a test of whether or not I'll be using these cloaks on my Deathwing conversions, but I'm liking it thus far.

That Promised Musing

Looking back, I think I'm pretty prolific. Then again, I've been unemployed since I started this blog. Make no mistake, I like the spare time, but...amusingly enough, I'm pretty much out of stuff to paint.

Ok, technically, I've stripped some of my Eldar and have plans to re-work them, but my ability to purchase things has...dropped. There's that whole 'no money' thing. Kind of amusing, but also kind of annoying. (Well, not 'kind of', I'd really like to get a damn job and get on with life rather than just stay in school a bit longer).

Even when I do get a job and my 40k time wanes, I intend to keep on updating this. I feel, in part, if I've a mission/talent? Contribute clearly-written, well-reasoned articles. I like to think I'm usually responsive to comments, and will entertain alternative viewpoints. Most any tactical article I toss up here gets some revision, and I try to write 'em up and send them to From The Warp because some of their army sections are just woefully incomplete.

I feel like I'm competitive, but for me, part of the fun is trying to win. Figure out how the army works, what compnents are good, how to form them into a good list, and then how to wield them properly. I feel like I've progressed with the Eldar (but not perfected them), and I think there's plenty of Tau learning to do. I'm going to try to do a bit less in the way of little list tweaks, just to figure out the full impact of it. Ideally, I'll lock it down to a few lists and streamline my collection.

Am I against fluff? ...fluff got me into the game, thanks. I've a hefty shelf of 40k novels. The hobby? I think that's also important; that's why I've been trying to work on Daemons and also the Deathwing. While winning's fun and the tactical game is fun, I also feel like I've emphasized trying to have a neat-looking army.

Competitive vs. 'fun'? Bull. Competitive AND Hobby

I think when you get down to it, there's this strange misconception that you're either having fun, OR winning. There's some mutual exclusivity.

I won't lie; I think some of us are playing different versions of 40k. There's competition, and there's hobby. I have nothing against either; I think the Deathwing and any Daemon list I come up with might have some 'hard' components, but I think they're more fun. I think the Tau list I'll end up using is more killy, but I think you can still get a theme on.

At the end, I have no animosity against 'hobby' folks. I think I do a bit of both, though my strengths lie more towards coming up with and trying to explain tactics/blowing up the other guy.

I do think, though, that both extremes of the continuum can acknowledge each other, admit there's a difference, and just get on with life. I suppose the most recent example is the BoLS-Con. I admit, I'm scratching my head at the winning list. I think there's a good lesson here about learning your army; you can pull internet tactics all you want (and learn from them), but there's still practice.

(as an aside? I am totally envious of the skill/time/effort put into that Tyranid army).

Getting back to it, the tournament was run differently than others, to my understanding. The pace, and all that were different.

My ultimate take on this? Always put news in context; this is no exception. We're people, we're stuck with bounded rationality. I don't care whatever your classes have taught you about people. We're lazy. We don't always do our homework, and sometimes we'll just flat-out ignore inconvenient facts. Don't be that. Do your homework, and be honest with yourself.

That's me, at least, and maybe I'm a stickler for it because of some scientific method training.

Anyway, enough aimless pondering for the day. Give yourself a cookie if you wandered through this last section in depth.*

*I learned the hard way not to promise cookies. I still owe Xardian one for a gutsy deep strike. Never seen anyone pull off so many risky deep-strikes. LUCK OF THE DEVIL.

Eldar Vypers, or VROOM, PEWPEWPEW, KABOOM

This is somewhat King Elessar's fault, mostly for making me think more about Vypers. I've also run them some lately, and been reasonably pleased with the results. That in mind, I think I'll break it down and do another evaluation of the unit, and/or Squadron of Vypers (because you can indeed slap 3 into the same force org slot.)

The Vyper Chassis

Naked, a Vyper is 45 points. It's a small AV10 all-around open-topped fast skimmer. Its gunner is apparently an Eldar civvy; it's got the almight BS3. It packs a chin-mounted twin-linked Shuriken Catapult, though I cannot for the life of me tell you why it does this. Perhaps it's to give the pilot some piece of mind, but he's at least got that canopy. The gunner's stuck with his butt in the wind (...somewhat literally, as you can see) and it's bound to be both thrilling and an incentive to buy plenty of underwear.

Pros

It's cheap, it's Fast, it's a skimmer. It can move 12" a turn and fire the main gun (...and if you're suicidally close, the secondary gun). It can move 6" and fire two main weapons, and we'll get to the part where it has two later on. It can also bust out a 24" move if you really need to reposition.

Cons

If you didn't notice already, it's AV10 open-topped. Bolters and other small arms are a legitimate threat. In short, Vypers die when the other guy gets a shot at them and decides he wants them to die. Hence the 'boom' part at the end of the title.

Vyper Weapon Options

Vypers have a turret mount, and you must slot something into the turret. You may also drop 10 points to upgrade the chin-mounted twin-linked shuriken catapult to a shuriken cannon (much like any other Eldar skimmer...). For the turret, then, we can use a shuriken cannon, a scatter laser, a star cannon, an Eldar missile launcher, or the good ol' Bright Lance.

I favor the scatter laser or shuriken cannon approach. With BS3, you want volume of shots so some stick. The turret-mounted shuriken cannon is a mere 5 points, and if you want another 12" of range and fourth shot, you get the Scatter Laser. The Star Cannon just doesn't do it for me, since there's this little thing called Cover.

The EML is kind of in the middle; it's so-so against armor and so-so against infantry since it has the S4 AP4 Pinning plasma shot.

The Bright Lance is frightening, but really wants Guide, and makes the base Vyper 75 points.

Kitting Out your Flying Death Trap

So, we know that the Vyper is swift, fragile, and carries a big gun (or two). The next question is, what do we do to it?

Theoretically, it can take the gamut of Eldar skimmer upgrades, like Star Engines, Holo-Fields, Vectored Engines, and Spirit Stones. Theoretically, you could throw all those on and make your Death Trap cost a lot more, but...why would you? Hell, Holo-Fields cost 35 on this thing! Bottom of the line for non-gun options?

None of them hange the fact that you are AV10 open-topped, and go away when someone shoots at you enough.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's look at some configurations...

Double Shuriken Cannon (60 points)

You upgrade the chin gun to a shuriken cannon, and take one on the turret. It drops six S6 shots at 24", and has the speed to get there. You might spend the first turn getting into position, but past that you should be hosing down the enemy infantry or light transports with the guns. It provides you with a good bit of medium-strength gunfire for this, when your other guns are doing other things. Amazingly, it can also sustain a weapon-destroyed result and still be a threat.

Scatter Laser (60 points)

Same cost as the double-cannon model. I resist putting a cannon on the chin to minimize the cost, and to resist the urge to get to 24". Here, you stay further away from the enemy. Same basic mission as the double-cannon model, just longer range and fewer shots. I think these two are pretty interchangeable.

EML/Cannon (75 points)

This one is theoretically more versatile, as it can move 6" and pop off three S6 shots and a single S8 shot, or 12" for three S6 shots and the plasma missile. It can sustain the loss of a weapon, and remain a threat of sorts. If we're hunting armor, though, the EML is nasty vs. AV10/12, but not significanctly nastier vs. AV 10/11.

Why is that?

BS3 Missile Launcher vs. BS3 Shuriken Cannon

vs. AV10: ML pens 33% of the time; cannon gets a single pen 75% of the time

vs. AV11: ML pens 25% of the time, cannon pens once 25% of the time

AV12 is a glance-fest for the cannon, and the single missile pens it 16% of the time. The missile launcher can at least pen AV13, and might even damage AV14, but why bother? A Lance beats it out any day out of the week on the higher values, does the same at lower, and trades out the silly plasma missile.

Bright Lance (75 points)

We all know how fun bright lances are. So, why not field another one? Well, there are a few things I can see going wrong here. First, it's BS3. Not 100% reliable. Second, it's a bright lance on an AV10 open-topped platform.

I think if you're taking a Bright Lance on your vyper, you don't much love your vypers, because they are fragile and the Bright Lance has a slight psychological impact.

The Flying Death Trap in your army

Psychic Support

It goes without (much) saying that any gun in the Eldar army that isn't twin-linked could always benefit from a good bout of Guide from your friendly neighborhood Farseer. I think Guide is a pretty solid Farseer power anyway, so it has a place in your army. Pretty much anything other than Wave Serpents really benefit from it (since their Lance already has a re-roll). I consider Guide/Doom the Farseer powers for a mech army, and naturally Fortune/Doom go on the Jetbike Seer Council Seer, and he's a bit exclusive from the Vypers.

If, for some reason, you feel like turbo-boosting them, you could always benefit from Fortune on here, but that mostly just means someone will shoot something else. Or, if the Eldar player is using them to contest, the enemy STILL might pump enough shots in to do the trick, since it's still AV10 open-topped and small arms are fair game. (And, of course, we're ignoring the fact that the 'Last Turn' is not always the last turn, unless you know it is because of time constraints, or turn 7, etc.)

The Army

We know that the Farseer is your buddy, but that's just an Eldar truism. Vypers are mobile, and compliment a mechanized army.

They also compliment a mechanized army because as I've said, Vypers die pretty easily. There needs to be that natural saturation of armored targets. They are a compliment; they can be used as a screening unit in deployment, they can help crack transports, or they can get at the juicy bits in freshly-cracked transports.

In this capacity, I use them with the double-cannon or scatter laser model. 24" is probably enough; just commit to moving 'em into position. Additionally, if you're going full mech, you probably have 3-5+ Wave Serpents, all with lances. Shuriken-cannon Vypers give you some much-needed volume of fire, here.

I suppose in larger fights (IE: Apocalypse) where the Force Org chart isn't an issue as much, and the points are, the Bright Lance models are worth a bit more. More firepower if you want it. I don't have a lot of experience in Apocalypse, but it seems like the psychological impact of the Bright Lance and the fragility of the Vyper might be handy here.

Vypers in a Squad

Now, you can theoretically take up to three Vypers in a squad. It goes without saying that they should be equipped alike; they're shooting at the same thing, after all.

The squadron rules, as they are, essentially grant you extra armor; you can always move. However, you also lose the vehicle on an 'immobilized' roll. What does this mean to you?

Don't take Vyper squads unless you're attempting some kind of 'torrent of fire' army* and you really want a lot of Vypers. AV10 open-topped is just not squadron material in any normal sense. Why? Simple. The way weapons work. Weapons from S4-7 tend to be higher rate of fire, and often come in units. The perk of a squad is that you get to distribute the hits.

Spreading out the love is handy in, say, a two-tank Leman Russ squad. Most units other than Fire Dragons put one penetrating hit out at a time, and you can slap them all on one tank. IE: my buddy Jon brought a Pask-terminator (the one with the heavy 3 turret plasma cannon, plasma sponsons, and Pask for the re-rolls and such...) with a regular Russ. Guess where the damage went? (It was only worse for me when I'd brought Wraithguard......but that's a digression for another time.)

But, for Vypers? A single decent autocannon volley is fully capable of blowing away two Vypers. Take something like the Dakka Pred (Autocannon, 2 heavy bolters) and it can SHRED Vypers. +1 to the damage results and death on immobility means that you only need a 3+ to kill a Vyper in a squad if you penetrate it.

Bottom line? Don't take Vypers in squads unless you really want to maximize their numbers.

Summary on Vypers

Vypers are nasty, fast little boggarts. They benefit from maximizing the rate of fire, rather than potency as they are, of course, BS3. They are a fine compliment to a Serpent-heavy mechanized army, adding volume of fire to the quality of several twin-linked BS3 lances.

Or, the more succinct summary? A Vyper's life cycle in three parts is:

VROOOOOOOOOM

PEWPEWPEWPEW!

KA-BOOOM!

*I'm talking like massed war walkers/vypers for a crap-ton of S6 dakka, and then probably some fire dragons/avengers in serpents for scoring/tank busting. I do not have experience playing this type of list, but think it's got promise if you really want to invest in a ton of walkers/Vypers. (...though, if you go double-cannons on 9 vypers and double-scatter-lasers on 9 war walkers, you are looking at...well...126 S6 shots in a turn. Sure, it blows up easy, but if you bring the means to kill AV13/14, it's kind of nasty).