ELDAR: WE ARE BETTER THAN YOU

I would first and foremost like to offer an apology.  In part for taking so long to do this codex review, and in part for the recent showing of elder at the LVO.  Had I done this review before hand then several of you out there would know just how to beat Eldar and Nick Nanavati would not have won.  Did anyone believe that?  I didn't think so.  Nick won cause he's good, and I have no clue how to beat Eldar any more than any of you, but lets see if I can at least shed a little light on what makes them so damn good.  I am also going to try and keep these a little on the shorter side from now on, limiting myself to reporting only on things that will likely change the game.  I don't need to write a paragraph on Guardians, we all know what they do.

So here we have another book with a host of different armies all within a single army, "Chapter Tactics" as they are generally labelled.  Let us take a gander at those, so we have an idea as to what works well with the units when we get to those.  There is also the Objective Secured rule that all Troops seem to be getting.
First up, Alaitoc, or Alpha Legion.  Enemy unit targeting a unit from this Craftworld from more than 12" away suffer a -1 to hit.  The Biel-Tan Aspect Warriors add 1 to their Ld and everyone can re-roll 1's when shooting with shuriken weapons...weapons that have shuriken in the name, duh.  Iyanden will never loose more than one model to morale, and unit that have a damage table will treat it as though the unit has twice as many wounds as it actually does.  Saim-Hann can re-roll failed charge rolls and BIKER units do not suffer the -1 to hit penalty for moving and shooting heavy weapons.  The Ulthwe unit gain a 6+ FNP that can't be used in addition to other similar abilities.

This leads into the Ynnari keyword for a Reborn army which is found in the Xenos Index.  Ynnari units lose the Craftworld and "obsec" rules and gain their own rule called Strength form Death.  Keep in mind, not only Eldar units can be Ynnari, nearly all Aeldari units can be taken in a Ynnari army, I won't go through the others, sticking with the Eldar Craftworld units.  Back to SfD, when a biker or infantry unit with this rule is within 7" of a unit that dies it can perform one of 5 Soulburst actions, move, manifest a psychic power, shoot, charge, or fight, but it can only perform one Soulburst action per turn.

I know that all of you out there dread that terrible word, Ynnari, but many of you may not really know what it is that makes the Reborn so powerful. The power lies in that you can take a normal Craftworld detachment, then create a detachment of Eldar soup, units from each different Craftworld, make them a Reborn army and give them the Ynnari keyword and they both get access to the Stratagems.  The combinations of Craftworld psychic powers, stratagems, Soulburst, and Ynnari psychic powers, there are some dangerous combinations.  This also lets you pick and choose which craft world your unit can be from in order to allow them access to the appropriate stratagem.

With the new FAQ out it does limit some of the soupy combos for Ynnari in that you can't mix and match your Eldar.  However this will only really mean that you will have to adjust some of the detachments.  With Battalions giving 5CP now, you won't have to take as man and buy those "tax troops" to get all the Cps.

Lets look at one such combo involving Shining Spears in a Ynnari detachment, and of course another detachment that is Craftworld, which gives you access to the Stratagems.  First off, you put the Spears in the webway and when they drop you can cast Quicken on them so they can move again, you can also use the Saim-Han stratagem so they can advance and charge and re-roll 1's to hit.  Then if they kill what they charged they can charge again with a Soulburst.  Alternately you could also Quicken them next to a unit that you then kill in the shooting phase, giving the Spears ANOTHER move with Soulburst, after which they can then charge a target that your opponent once thought was safe.  There is literally nothing on the table that is safe from this combo with their M16"

The new FAQ has limited this to some degree as you can no longer use movement powers or abilities on units that have arrived from reserves that turn.  This does not stop Shining Spears from hitting you from anywhere on the table.

I am getting ahead of myself, talking about combos and tactics and I haven't even talked about anything yet.  I'm going to take a page out of the Thousand Sons book, and go from here into the psychic powers, since the next half-dozen entries all use them.  There are 2 disciplines in this book, and unlike the Thousand Sons, both of these are unique to this book.

The Runes of Fate, available only to the Farseers, are the main set of powers that many of you are familiar with, and have seen for many many years.  Guide, WC7 24", lets the target unit re-roll all failed hit rolls when using ranged weapons.  Doom, WC7 24", targets an enemy unit and allows all units to re-roll failed wound rolls.  Fortune, WC7 24", gives a friendly unit FNP 5+.  Executioner is a WC7 Smite that deals an additional D3 mortal wounds if the first D3 kills a model.  Will of Asuryan and Mind War are not worth the attempt

Since these powers are only available to Farseers, that seems like the perfect thing to segue into.  The Farseer is your main HQ full of all the typical stats you would expect to see from a skinny little space elf, a 4++, and while he only has A2, he hits on 2+ and the Witchblade wounds on 2+ and deal D3 wounds.  Sure there is no AP value, but wounding on 2+ and D3 wounds isn't bad for a weapon that doesn't cost any points.  Of course he is not known for his combat abilities, he is known for his mental prowess, being able to cast and deny 2 powers from the support heavy Runes of Fate.  This guys makes everything in your army deadlier and more durable.  Along with being able to cast 2 powers, his Runes of the Farseer give the ability to re-roll any of the dice used manifest or deny a psychic power, once per psychic phase.  On top of that, his Ghost Helm gives a 5+ FNP on any mortal wounds he suffers, and if those mortal wounds were from Perils he ignores them on a 2+.  A very reliable force multiplier, whom you can also take on a sky runner jet bike for an additional 30 points.

The Runes of Battle are interesting in that each power has 2 effects, and counts as 2 powers when casting each effect, but only counts as 1 power when selecting them.  They are also only available to the Warlocks.  The beneficial half of the power can only be cast on Asuryani Infantry/Biker units, but the negative effects can be cast on any enemy unit.  Conceal/Reveal, WC6 18", either targets a friendly unit giving a -1 to hit penalty to unit targeting it, or removes the saving throw bonus for cover.  Enhance/Drain, WC7 18", adds 1 to a friendly unit's hit rolls made in the fight phase, or subtracts 1 from an enemy unit's hit rolls in the fight phase.  Protect/Jinx, WC7 18", add 1 to saving throws of a friendly unit, or subtract 1 to saving throws of an enemy unit.  Quicken/Restrain, WC7 18", allows a friendly unit move again or reduces an enemy unit's M by half.  Last, Empower/Enervate, WC6 18", adds 1 to wound rolls in the fight phase for friendly units, or subtracts 1 from wound rolls made by enemy units.  These are all really pretty good and definitely have a place making all your units that much more dangerous, durable, or faster.  All the things a unit in 40K needs to be.

Segue master strikes again!

Warlocks are the leaders of warriors, as you can tell most their power are highly combat centric, focusing on manipulating dice rolls, adding and subtracting from them as necessary.  Aside from their different set of powers, they are generally a junior Farseer.  They have a 3+ WS and BS and although they don't get a Ghost Helm or psychic power re-rolls, they still have the weapon options and a 4++.  The Warlock does get a neutered version of Smite, so forget about spamming that with a cheap ass 35 point HQ, it only has a 9" range and deals a single mortal wound.  We can also get these guys on a bike for an additional 30 points.
We are not quite done with the Warlock, because we can take a Warlock Conclave on foot and on bikes, which is a unit of 2-10 Warlocks.  They lose the Character keyword, so they can be shot up at will, but they get some boosts to their psychic power as the unit gets bigger.  When the unit is 1-3 in size, it still has the baby smite, but it gets normal smite at 4-6 models and when it hits 7+ models it's smite ALWAYS deals D6 mortal wounds.  That sounds great, but they seriously get nerfed in the normal powers department when in a conclave.  Units of 1-3 models can only cast one and can only deny one power, this increases to 2 powers and denies with 4-6 models and goes to 3 powers and denies at 7+.  Regardless of the number of models, they know Smite and 2 powers from the battle discipline(so actually 4 powers).  The thing is, aside from the smite getting better, taking individual Warlocks is WAY better.  3 Warlocks in a Conclave can cast 1 power, 3 individual Warlocks can cast 3 powers.  Now, Warlocks in the Conclave only cost 30 points, so you save 5 points each...

yay...5 points.

Next up in the long list of HQ units is the Autarch, and we got them is 3 flavours, on foot, winged, or biker.  These guys have 1 special rule that make them almost a must take for every army called Path of Command.  This rule actually has 2 effects, first is one of them re-roll hit rolls of 1 auras, everyone's got them.  The other, is typically saved for a warlord trait, in that you roll a D6 for each command point spent on stratagems and on a 6 you get that command point back.  Now I'm not entirely sure, but it doesn't specify who has spent those command points, so it seems to me that you roll for every command point spent regardless of who spent it.  If you combine this with the Ulthwe warlord trait (roll a D6 at the start of each turn, on a 6 get a CP), you will be swimming in command points.  They also have some punch themselves, the footarch having a star glaive(power fist), the winged one comes with a power sword and fusion pistol, and the biker can take a laser lance and fusion gun.  The bikertarch is likely the strongest option, but the one on foot has a strong combat weapon and the one with wings can Skyleap (leave the table and then deep strike again), so there really is a place for each and every one of them depending on how you want to use them.  You also can't forget that they still have access to all the wargear that was available to them in the Index thanks to this little puppy...

The Avatar of Khaine is about 200 points of beat stick flopping around in a 250 point bag.  He is essentially an expensive, slow moving, daemon prince with no re-roll aura.  He does have a 12" fearless aura, and does D6 damage...that's about it.  I'm actually kind of disappointed by this guy, he should have greater daemon stats and abilities.  From it's description, it should rival a Bloodthirster, but it doesn't.

Our last HQ is the Spiritseer, which is like a Warlock but has a 6" re-roll 1's to hit for Spirit Host units.  You can't take them in a conclave or on a bike, but that aura makes them more expensive.  If you are going for an army heavy on the Spirit Host units, you will want a couple of these guys to make sure your big guys are getting work done.

As usual, I will not cover the special characters, but I will say there are a lot of them, 9 to be exact.  And they all kick ass in a myriad of ways, but you will have to look them over yourself.

YAY sports!

The new hotness for the troops section is the Ranger.  With their -1 to hit, +2 to armour while in cover, and sniper rifles, they are worth their 12 points.  While all that is good, it's their old school infiltrate deployment that makes them really useful.  After everything else in on the table, before the first turn starts, this unit is deployed anywhere on the table more than 9" from an enemy unit.  This is great at creating a no land zone and bubble wrapping your truly important units.  Now, there is a downside to this type of deployment, as there are other units such as Nurglings and Scouts that deploy anywhere on the table during deployment.  This can really mess you up and work against you if your opponent really pushes the envelope and gets in your face.  So plan for a backup bubble wrap procedure.

Aspect Warriors

Howling Banshees, they are not as scary as they sound, which is why you don't see them much, but why?  M8, WS3+, A2, everyone is equipped with power swords, enemy units can't overwatch them, and they add 3" to their charge range if they advance because yes, they can advance and charge.  Why the hell don't you see these bad ass babes?  Especially when you can Quicken them and they are confidently charging a unit 30" away.  Maybe it's because while they are charging into a unit 30" away, they are only killing 2 marines, and when you're opponent can just step back and waste the T3 4+Sv wimps it's not enough.  They are absolutely non-threatening unless they have some serious back up, but if you can get them that back up, Empower and Doom, you can double their death toll.  If you also get Enhance then they are each killing a marine.  Then you can add the stratagem Supreme Disdain to add a couple more attacks.  That is a lot of shit that all needs to come together to wipe out a half dozen marines but keep in mind this is a 75ish point unit killing half a dozen marines, and that doesn't happen all the time.

Now, if you have yet to notice any kind of theme with the units in this book, it's that they have a very narrow focus of what they do well and this even translates into the undead wraith units, or at least the infantry based ones.  

You have Wraithblades, equipped with sharp objects, and Wraithguard, equipped with stuff that kill you from over there (although not from way over there). These guys have a pretty impressive set of stats, S5 and T6 with 3W, equipped with high AP weapons and rules that really let them use their strengths.  The Wraithblades get an extra attack the turn they charge and with their swords giving them another one they have 4 each at S6 -3AP.  You will likely have a Spiritseer nearby and if you get Enhance on them they are killing 11 marines or 4 terminators.  Alternately you can equip them with axes and shields which will kill fewer marines but more terminators and the shield gives them a 4++, which is smart if they are smashing into terminators or such.  That is quite a bit of death for little support, but those units run around 200 points (including weapons but not the Spiritseer).

The Wraithguard, while next to useless in combat, can put out some serious damage with their guns each being S10 and -4AP.  The D-scythe does D3 auto hits with 1D each, but the Wraithcannon does only one shot, but it's D6D.  This translates to the D-scythe being really good at eliminating medium infantry, killing around 8 marines, and the Wraithcannon being good at taking out heavy monsters or vehicles, putting 11 wounds on a Leman Russ.  The Wraithguard tend to run a little higher in points on average the wraith cannons being a little more expensive than the swords.

Their durability is nothing to sneeze at either being able to weather over 200 bolter shells before the unit falls and over 20 lascannon shots (with the 4++).  With that, we come to the end of our Elites section.

The Vyper is an enigma, basically it's 6 fast moving S-Cannons for 210 points.  I figure they would have replaced the bikes by now because of their increased durability, and if you have 3 of them in a squad their movement is almost as good.  They can take items from the heavy weapons list, but with the -1 to hit penalty when moving and shooting them, the assault weapons are probably the better option.  A unit of 3 with Shuriken cannons will kill 4 marines, with no boosts, from pretty much anywhere on the table, moving 20" and a 24" weapon range.

Swooping Hawks are good!  These sneaky gits are all nimbly bimbly jumping around dropping grenades on peoples heads.  With their typical Eldar stat line and low S weapons, it's their ability to skirt the battle field dealing mortal wounds that give them their appeal.  They are also surprisingly durable in that they only spend half the game on the table.  First off, they can deep strike, then at the start of their turn, if they are more than 1" from an enemy model, they can return to deep strike and arrive again NEXT turn.  That's pretty cool, Blood Angels players pay command points for that shit and Eldar just do it.  It get better though, because when they deep strike within 12" of a unit or move over a unit in the movement phase, they can drop grenades on them.  Roll a D6 for each model in the enemy unit UP TO the number of models in the Swooping Hawks unit.  Each 6 causes a mortal wound.  With the weird number of shots you get with the grenades, it's best if you use it to target a unit that is at least as large as the Swooping Hawks unit and is fairly durable with low number of wounds.

We now come to the question that everyone has been asking themselves since the day this codex was released.  How do we make Warpspiders look like Dark Reapers?  Cause they got not good.  Their guns don't do enough for the points you pay and their movement shenanigans are to unreliable to make them worth taking.

I've talked a little about Shining Spears already, but lets take a look at what they are packing weapon wise.  They are on a bike, which makes them T4 and W2 with a 3+ save.  That means they are durable enough to whether some minor firepower to use their laser lance, which had a ranged profile of 6", S6, AP-4, and 2D and a combat profile of S-user(S6 the turn it charges), AP-4, and 2D.  The Exarch gets a better version that has S8 attacks.  They are 30 points a model, but their mobility and damage output really makes them an invaluable unit to the Eldar army.  They are a great counter attack unit against a heavy assault army, they will be able to start on the table with little shooting coming at them.  And they can be put into the web way and attack just about anywhere on the table with a couple abilities.  You can take them in units of 9 and their damage output is pretty staggering.  They will wipe 8 marines off the table, or 5 terminators, or put 8 damage on most vehicles, WITH NO BOOSTS and that doesn't include their shooting.

Well, what can we say about Dark Reapers other than everyone wants them.  What makes them so good?  Could it be their 3+ save?  Or maybe their 48" range gun with 2 profiles, S8/5 AP-2, and 3/2D.  Or perhaps it's the Exarch who's weapon doesn't need LOS and puts out 2D6 S4 -2AP shots.  Are they expensive, sure they are and even more so with the FAQ knocking them up to 34 points each and limiting them to 3 per army.  You will still likely see 3 of them, just for the Exarch.

Aside from that, everything else in the Heavy slot is good and does pretty much exactly what you would expect it to do.  Warwalkers are sneaky and shooty, although less sneaky with the latest FAQ.  Wraithlords can be anything you want, and with T8 and 10 wounds they are pretty under appreciated for under 150 points.  The Night Spinner is pretty reliable at taking out infantry with it's 2D6 S7 shots.

The last unit I'm going to talk about here is the Hemlock Wraithfighter...

It doesn't look very scary...

That's a hemlock tree, not the extremely deadly fighter jet in the Eldar arsenal of extremely deadly things.  The long list of special abilities it has reads like a little kids wish list.  It can turn 90 degrees before and after it moves, it adds 20" to it's move when it advances it has a 6+ FNP, it's hard to hit and airborne(as per typical "flyer" rules), and it has a 10" -2 Ld aura.  OH, and it can cast psychic powers!  So Smite is a big one, but it can choose the second power from the Battle power that the Warlocks have access to.  They can't cast both, only the second one, which is typically the one that hinders the opponent.  I have seen these guys used to absolutely nightmarish levels and am baffled as to why they are not seen more.  I have forgotten something, their guns.  How could I have forgotten that?  They have 2 of them, they fire D3 shots at S12 and -4AP that do 2D...AND THEY AUTO HIT WITH A 16" RANGE!  Yeah, what the shit indeed.  You might be thinking to me, "So what, that's only 3 dead models for both guns and they are over 200 points each."  To which I say, they are far more than just their weapons.  Their -2Ld aura and their ability to move literally anywhere on the table greatly affects the morale phase.  I have seen it played so that a trio of hemlocks fly into the enemy deployment zone and deal a handful of damage around, then the rest of the Eldar army spreads it's firepower around, seemingly very sporadic.  Pretty soon a handful of units are down 3-4 models and effectively have a Ld of 1 or 2 for their Morale check and they each lose 2 more models, in some cases wiping out small units.  So the 3 models that the Hemlock kills now turns into 10-15 dead models.  This of course only works on units that can be affected by morale, but there are a lot of those out there.

Synchronization

That is all for the units, but we are not done yet.  This book is full of crazy combos and synchronisations that can make most units really powerful.  I've already talked about one involving the Shining Spears from a Ynnari detachment, but these are going to solely focus on the Craftworld abilities and units with no outside interference.

The Eldar have something that very few other armies have, the ability to soften the blow of that Alpha strike with a couple stratagems that are enacted at the start of your opponent's shooting phase.  You can give a Guardian unit a 4++, -1 to hit an infantry unit or a unit with the FLY keyword, or only hit a unit of Rangers on 6's regardless of modifiers.  Add to this the Alaitoc -1 to hit when over 12", or the Ulthwe 6+ FNP, you can really make your units that are on the table pretty durable with no added psychic powers, which will only make them tougher.  Add in an Avatar and no will even run away from Morale.  If your opponent "deep strikes" in the wrong spot you can shoot at it too, as long and the shooting unit is within 6" of a Farseer.  This is where those Reapers come in handy again because there is no range limitation to where the enemy unit lands that prevents you from shooting at it.

Eldar are good at killing things too, really good.  All their basic weaponry have old school rending, meaning on a 6 to wound they become -3AP.  Add Guide, Doom, Reveal, and Jinx into the mix and you have a serious death ball.  Lets look at a unit of 20 Guardians with 2 Shuriken cannons.  When in range they put out 7 wounds on a MEQ, Jinx increases that number by 3, Guide adds 2 more, and Doom brings the total up to 15 wounds.  From a unit of Guardians and 3 psychic powers.

If you don't want to rely on psychic powers, then Discipline of the Black Guardians, Runes of Witnessing, and the warlord trait Ambush of Blades will turn the 7 wounds into 12ish (the math is harder on this one).

And it's done!  You are welcome, 6 months too late.  Unfortunately I have not really enlightened any way to beat them, but I have pointed out a bunch of ways that they can kill you.  So I guess try to avoid those...good luck.

Until next time, keep them dice rollin.

It's time to plug the sponsor of this segment, Maxx Collectibles, which now has a Wednesday night boardgames as part of the CMON Play program.  Last Wednesday they previewed Zombicide: Black Plague.  In order to make sure players get the full experience, Maxx is open till 9:00 Wednesdays.  

Aside from the CMON games happening, the gaming room in the back is still open for the Shadespire League, the Guild ball League, and the Warhammer 40K league which is just wrapping up, and possibly an Infinity League.  That's a whole league of extraordinary gentlemen playing games at...