Pax's Eldar

[WestRider]

That's looking really nice, dude! I think it's mostly just because the colour scheme is closer to my preferences, but to me, this is the best-looking paint job I've seen you do.

I know you're going Alaitoc Rules-wise, but fluff-wise, it really looks like it could be an alternate Biel-Tan scheme.

[Guest]

Just now, WestRider said:

That's looking really nice, dude! I think it's mostly just because the colour scheme is closer to my preferences, but to me, this is the best-looking paint job I've seen you do.

I know you're going Alaitoc Rules-wise, but fluff-wise, it really looks like it could be an alternate Biel-Tan scheme.

I was thinking that it fit Biel-tan too. And I may go that route anyway, later. Mainly, it's about rules benefiting the models I already have, but I'm really not attached to any of the armies' fiction.

My nightspear model is just a Ranger with a power sword, which is no longer a legal ranger option, but could be nightspear with no questions asked. 

[Guest]

As an aside, if I do get more armorcast models for eldar, the Warp Hunter is one of the models I'll probably end up selling...

[Guest]

Alaitoc 2k

 

Spearhead Detachment (+1 CP)

HQ Farseer 100

HQ Nightspear 80

Elites Wraithguard (8, Cannons) 240

Troops Rangers (5) 60

Troops Rangers (5) 60

Heavy Dark Reapers (3+1 shuriken cannon exarch) 96

Heavy Dark Reapers (3+1 missile launcher exarch) 111

Heavy Dark Reapers (3+1 Reaper Launcher exarch) 108

Heavy Warp Hunter (Shuriken Cannon) 295

 

Aux detachment (-1 cp)

HQ Mugen Ra 140

 

Super Heavy Aux (0 cp)

Scorpion (Shuriken Cannon) 710

 

Total 2000pts, 3 CP

[Guest]

Got a game in with the above. Opponent was admech and custodes. He definitely won. My dice were also rolling crappy, but his force was definitely better than mine. I just couldn't killing those 2+/3++  custodes bikers and didn't really have any melee units. Plus the alaitoc trait *encourages* my opponent to get closer, which doesn't work to the benefit of this force. 

Unit by unit review. 

Scorpion was a waste, but only because I kept rolling realy bad. We did notice a typo in the rules for it, so I need to check the FW faq. Probably covered. 

Warp Hunter was a waste too, but again, it was definitely the dice. I'd roll d6 auto hits when charged by a custodes biker, I'd roll 1, and then he'd make his save every time. Did this 3 times before it died. 

Mugen Ra (Probable spelled wrong) was pretty impressive once I got the hang of him. He's not really a Dark Reaper. Kinda a melee character with a scatterlaser that can move and fire easily. Need to find him a better unit to hang with. 

Dark Reapers, good, but I need to do something about their melee resistance. Either a countercharge unit, or a melee character, or just put them in a building/transport. 

Rangers were also a waste. Nothing wrong with them per points, and they certainly had ranged durability, but they also didn't really do any damage. Maybe with a countercharge unit, or just with a bigger unit. 

Nightspear was great. I need like 5 of these in a unit....then call them Rangers. Yeah, this was the sniper that the rangers are supposed to be. Still didn't kill anything, but certainly more impressive than the Rangers. Though, for him, not killing anything was more a measure of my opponent and less and issue of this model not being able to damage things. 

Wraith Guard weren't bad, but they didn't mix well with the army. And those 3++ T6 bikers make a mockery of wraithcannons. Yeah, no damage all game with wraithcannons. Did score d3 wounds in melee with custodes, but that was it. 

Farseer died really early, so no clue how well it should have been. I used the Alaitoc relic to arrive with and behind the rangers, so they did protect against shooting just fine.

Entire army's lack of invulnerable saves makes me consider a Void Shield Generator. A 4++ against shooting isn't a bad idea. 

[WestRider]

12 hours ago, paxmiles said:

Mugen Ra (Probable spelled wrong) was pretty impressive once I got the hang of him. He's not really a Dark Reaper. Kinda a melee character with a scatterlaser that can move and fire easily. Need to find him a better unit to hang with. 

Dark Reapers, good, but I need to do something about their melee resistance. Either a countercharge unit, or a melee character, or just put them in a building/transport. 

Rangers were also a waste. Nothing wrong with them per points, and they certainly had ranged durability, but they also didn't really do any damage. Maybe with a countercharge unit, or just with a bigger unit.

One of the relatively common uses for Maugan Ra is as melee defense for Dark Reapers. You're right that he really isn't just a better version of his Aspect, unlike most of the Phoenix Lords, but he does still work well with them.

Rangers are almost never going to do much damage. Their job is either to screen your firebase from Units with alternate Deployment methods and/or fast Melee Units, or to sit on an Objective somewhere and rack up VPs if that's a thing in the Mission you're playing. Any damage they do is a bonus.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, WestRider said:

One of the relatively common uses for Maugan Ra is as melee defense for Dark Reapers. You're right that he really isn't just a better version of his Aspect, unlike most of the Phoenix Lords, but he does still work well with them.

Rangers are almost never going to do much damage. Their job is either to screen your firebase from Units with alternate Deployment methods and/or fast Melee Units, or to sit on an Objective somewhere and rack up VPs if that's a thing in the Mission you're playing. Any damage they do is a bonus.

Hmm...yeah, been comparing and units and such, trying to figure out, beyond just rolling better, how last game could have gone better. A good chunk of the issue was that the models were selected from my 3.5k based only on how assembled they were...

Mainly, everything eldar is really expensive for what it does. I suspect the balance is only found when using lots of synergy, as many of the units "flow" into eachother in terms of benefits. 

I am considering switching to Biel-tan. Aside from the rather obvious paint scheme bit, I'm caught questioning the value of a craftworld trait that encourages the enemy to meet me in melee, when the eldar don't really seem to have much in the way of melee options. The Biel-tan attribute if is definitely weaker, but the warlord trait grants re-rolls to-hit for a Biel-Tan unit within 3", and after last game, that really appeals....Maybe I should wait a few games before deciding.

I did manage to snag a Shinging Spears upgrade pack in metal from GG, which they had used. Not sure if shining spears are worthwhile, but on an Autarch, definitely seems worthwhile. And anyway, my two eldar jetbikes I own are missing riders, so worst cast I use them just for their bodies.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, WestRider said:

One of the relatively common uses for Maugan Ra is as melee defense for Dark Reapers. You're right that he really isn't just a better version of his Aspect, unlike most of the Phoenix Lords, but he does still work well with them.

Rangers are almost never going to do much damage. Their job is either to screen your firebase from Units with alternate Deployment methods and/or fast Melee Units, or to sit on an Objective somewhere and rack up VPs if that's a thing in the Mission you're playing. Any damage they do is a bonus.

Hmmm....I don't need rangers that can't kill anything. Suggestions on how to make them more dangerous? I had forgotten that in this edition, snipers don't even wound on a fixed number anymore, so they really suck for shooting. I wonder if I could make them work with just pistols...?

What about the other troops, how functional are Dire Avengers or Guardians (or storm guardians, if you can find the models...)?

[Guest]

Oh, regarding Maugan Ra, I was noting last game, that despite being bad as a Dark Reaper, he's very solid as a mobile shooting platform for anti-infantry. Not sure if he's worth the points, but hitting on fixed BS 2+ with 8 S6 shots isn't bad. And he can do that while advancing without penalty. Doesn't work well with dark reapers, but is pretty useful on his own. Seems like he could be useful with a unit of War Walkers screening him and their speeds should match. Hmm. 

[Guest]

Hmmm...looking at the codex more. One thing that keeps getting me in 8e is how often tactical knowledge from prior editions is hindering my understanding of this edition.

For example, The War Walker and the Vyper, as in past editions, are both mobile firing platforms of similar cost. Unlike prior editions, the support weapon batteries are also mobile firing platforms of similar cost to the other two. The support weapons are a little weaker, but they also fit better in a detachment since each is it's own unit after deployment. The Support weapons also feature options that don't need to fire with LoS, so having a slightly weaker profile is not as limiting. 

Two Stratagem questions

1. Fire and Fade: allows 7" move as if movement phase during the shooting phase. How does this work with regards to units that have abilities based on how far they moved? Do we add the movement to that done in the movementphase, or does this replace it? 

2. Linked Fire: links multiple prism cannons together for re-rolling hits and wounds. Oddly doesn't mention which phase it functions in. Can I use this in overwatch?

[WestRider]

1 hour ago, paxmiles said:

Hmmm....I don't need rangers that can't kill anything. Suggestions on how to make them more dangerous? I had forgotten that in this edition, snipers don't even wound on a fixed number anymore, so they really suck for shooting. I wonder if I could make them work with just pistols...?

What about the other troops, how functional are Dire Avengers or Guardians (or storm guardians, if you can find the models...)?

No, there's no real way to make them do more damage. That's not their job. Their job is to keep the stuff that's doing the damage alive, and still firing. You were talking in the post before that about needing to find synergies. Well, this is one of the most basic of them. You'll get a lot more firepower out of two Units of Rangers, deployed well as screens, and three Units of Dark Reapers than you will out of dumping the 120 Points from the Rangers into another Dark Reaper Unit that's just going to get Charged, or blown away by Teleporting Terminators or something (along with the original 3) by Turn 2.

Guardian Defenders are generally either used as screens, or bringing in large Units using the Webway Portal Stratagem to blast something up close. Storm Guardians are better as screens, tho, and Rangers are better in that regard than either version of Guardians. Dire Avengers are decent, but they're one of those Units that's kind of trying too hard to be all-rounders, and end up too expensive because of it.

[Guest]

An interesting one I found is that the Vypers are both BIKERS and VEHCILES with FLY, so they qualify for both the cloudstrike stratagem and the webway one, so I can deep strike up to 3 units of vypers via stratagems. Dunno if worthwhile, but an interesting point since this seems to be the only unit like that. 

Huh, looks like that Fire and Fade stratagem could be used to fall back with for units that have the ability to fire into melee. Titans, or perhaps pistol users. Does have to be the shooting phase, so doesn't work with overwatch or other out of sequence shooting attacks.

I am thinking that the linked fire stratagem with 4 Prism Tanks would probably yeild better results that the scorpion in the shooting phase...

[Guest]

Got a PC and am typing with full keyboard support and spellcheck. Got Battlescribe. I feel so pampered. Was posting with the PS4's internet before. No spellcheck, no battlescribe, and each time I want to enter a new line requires a controller because the keyboard support doesn't understand the "enter" key on the keyboard.

Anyway, comparing eldar units, in particular the Wave Serpent Vs the Falcon. Similar cost, but the Wave serpent is a bit cheaper with minimum loadout, holds twice as much, and has that defensive boon (the serpent shield). Took me longer to figure out the merits of the falcon. Firstly, the falcon is a bit cheaper with max loadout. Second, and this one matters, the Falcon is a Heavy Slot, while the Wave Serpent is slotless/dedicated transport. So, in an army where I need my heavy slots filled to meet FoC requirements, the Falcon comes in as the superior transport, if only because taking wave serpents means including models that aren't required.

[Guest]

Haven't posted for a long while. Kinda burnt out on my paint scheme and was focusing on my other armies, which still have the majority of my attention. That said, that Hillsboro Warhammer store has me wanting to work on an "escalation army" and this is by far my least finished army, so worth doing for that. Plan is switch from Alaitoc to Iyanden. I might match with their paint scheme. Picked up some Guardians at the warhammer store (GG never has them in stock). Plan for escalation league is an undecided HQ, a max unit of Guardians (20+2 guns), and 3 Fire Prisms. 

So for round 1, I need to paint the guardians, and decide on/paint the HQ. Then one Fire prism added per round until the event ends after the 4th round. Each round is supposed to be about 2 weeks. 

HQ is probably going to be a Farseer or Warlock on a Jetbike. Might be an Autarch on Jetbike instead. I've got part of a metal jetbike that I kinda want to use here.

Guardians should be easy enough. Not sure on the platform weapons. 

Fire Prisms will be made out of those "rescued" tanks which were really thickly painted and poorly assembled when I got them - they've been kinda stripped, but goal is just to get them on the table without feeling ashamed...

[Guest]

Any clue, which is the best heavy weapon for guardian squads? 

Presently on the fence between the Shuriken Cannon, the Bright Lance, and the Missile Launcher. Rest of the squad has short range assault weapons, so shuriken cannon has merit there. Bright lance is more iconic to me for eldar in general, plus it's the cheapest S8+ option. Missile Launcher is certainly more versatile, but it's the most expensive option. I am playing power level for now, but I'd like to keep points in mind and I definitely want to glue the weapons in place.

Having trouble finding "all" of any HQ option for my Eldar. 

Iyanden Blue-Yellow is starting to look good. I'll post some early models in a bit. 

Oh, do you drill out the barrels for eldar? Especially these guardian shuriken weapons, kinda unclear if I'm supposed to drill out barrels or leave them blank. Not sure how the guns are supposed to work. 

[WestRider]

If you want them getting up close to use their Shuricats, the Shuricannon is the best option. If they're hanging back and camping Objectives, I'd probably go for the Bright Lance.

I wouldn't drill the barrels on most Aeldari weaponry. Shuriken ammo is supposed to be mono-molecularly thin, so the firing aperture is going to be essentially non-existent when scaled down this far. Laser weaponry can be seen as having a lens at the end of the barrel. I think that basically leaves Starcannon and the various Missile Launchers as the only ones worth drilling out.

[InfestedKerrigan]

1 hour ago, WestRider said:

If you want them getting up close to use their Shuricats, the Shuricannon is the best option. If they're hanging back and camping Objectives, I'd probably go for the Bright Lance.

I wouldn't drill the barrels on most Aeldari weaponry. Shuriken ammo is supposed to be mono-molecularly thin, so the firing aperture is going to be essentially non-existent when scaled down this far. Laser weaponry can be seen as having a lens at the end of the barrel. I think that basically leaves Starcannon and the various Missile Launchers as the only ones worth drilling out.

Scatter cannon? Isn't starcannon kinda missile shaped? Been awhile.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, InfestedKerrigan said:

Scatter cannon? Isn't starcannon kinda missile shaped? Been awhile.

There's no scatter cannon for Eldar. Scatter Laser or Starcannon. At least I don't think so.

Weapons are all kinda oddly shaped.

7 hours ago, WestRider said:

If you want them getting up close to use their Shuricats, the Shuricannon is the best option. If they're hanging back and camping Objectives, I'd probably go for the Bright Lance.

What about the other weapons, any merit?

[WestRider]

7 hours ago, InfestedKerrigan said:

Scatter cannon? Isn't starcannon kinda missile shaped? Been awhile.

Scatter Laser would be covered under the laser weapons I mentioned. Starcannon are plasma weapons, so they would have actual hollow barrels.

 

1 hour ago, paxmiles said:

What about the other weapons, any merit?

Looking them up, I hadn't realized how little the price difference is between a Bright Lance and a Missile Launcher. For Guardians, I think I would probably either go with a Shuricannon if getting up close, or a Missile Launcher if hanging back to camp an Objective. Scatter Lasers and Starcannon feel like they want to be somewhere that they can be massed together somewhat more, like Wave Serpents or War Walkers, and I think the extra range and flexibility are worth the extra five Points for a Missile Launcher over a Bright Lance in this context.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, WestRider said:

Scatter Laser would be covered under the laser weapons I mentioned. Starcannon are plasma weapons, so they would have actual hollow barrels.

 

Looking them up, I hadn't realized how little the price difference is between a Bright Lance and a Missile Launcher. For Guardians, I think I would probably either go with a Shuricannon if getting up close, or a Missile Launcher if hanging back to camp an Objective. Scatter Lasers and Starcannon feel like they want to be somewhere that they can be massed together somewhat more, like Wave Serpents or War Walkers, and I think the extra range and flexibility are worth the extra five Points for a Missile Launcher over a Bright Lance in this context.

Thanks.

I suppose I could take a mix of weapons, since my guardians are being built as a max size unit. Suggestions on a mix of weapons?

[WestRider]

Max size is going to want to get up close. Keeping that back to camp an Objective is a waste. So Shuricannons.

[Guest]

Was looking at Stratagems. Guardians can get a 4++ vs Shooting for a meager 1 CP and it lasts all phase. A big unit could be pretty tanky, especially with that Iyanden trait.

[Guest]

Okay, kinda worried that my list may be too potent for this escalation league, so I'm running a Warlock Skyrunner for my HQ. I was thinking that with his really low wound count, I could possibly kill myself with perils, and that could be fun, plus could phoenix gem it and try again....

Anyway, for tonight, I wanted to test out some of these. I have a 1500pt game at WOW.

1500pts

 

Iyanden Battalion Detachment

Warlord & HQ Warlock Skyrunner (Singing Spear, Phoenix Gem, Mark of the Incomparable Hunter)

HQ Farseer (witchblade)

Troops Guardian Defenders (22, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Shuriken Cannon)

Troops Rangers (5)

Troops Rangers (5)

Heavy Support Reapers (4, Missile Launcher)

Heavy Support Reapers (4, Shuriken Cannon)

 

Iyanden Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment

Scorpion (Shuriken Cannon, Crystal Targeting, Spirit Stones)

 

Total: 1498pts

[InfestedKerrigan]

No updated paint scheme pic, yet?

[SPaceORK]

1 hour ago, InfestedKerrigan said:

No updated paint scheme pic, yet?

I'll second that. Why is there no painting featured yet!?!