I had thought of Storm Serpents, but had two worries. How do I retain any kind of momentum or activation advantage before deploying my formations? If I keep alot in the webway, wont the little amount I do start on the table with just get wiped first turn?

Also, Storm Serpents or Vampire Raiders?

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If you want wraith upgraded guardians storm serpents are the only choice. As to how to keep them alive it really depends on what your facing. Against artillery heavy you have to rely on cover, if its heavy air assault eldar have probably the best ground flak in the game.

Hmmm okies. I think I may have decided... tho I am tempted by some of the titan models! Argh they look so nice!

I will ditch the wave serpents from the aspect warhosts, and using those points add in another Falcon troupe with 2 firestorms, and 2 storm serpents. That leaves me with 225pts spare for either another superheavy (a cobra or maybe a scorpion, choices choices!) or another set of warwalkers or fire prisms.....

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Activation count is seriously misunderstood. Raw numbers aren't important. Numbers of activations that can do something are far more important and at the beginning of the game that count is pretty small regardless of the raw number of activations each side has.

As to making them work, you can hide them until the enemy exposes themselves or you can assault ~100 cm (75cm March move, then assault out of the portal), which should allow them to be effective right away.


I'm not a big fan of the Vampire. It's sort of fragile compared to other air transport, so flak can keep you pushed out of the area you really want to hit. But that might be just my personal style.

Shining Spears FF is a 5+, which is not bad at all. I frequently firefight with them (and successfully) if I can't get them into CC range. The Exarchs are usually enough to put me over the winning edge in an assault, and if I can prime the target with a BM that puts me at a 4+ in a clipping assault. Finally, the 4+ armor and 35cm move mean you shouldn't have any problems with this formation in most games.

I'm a big fan of big games, but I can tell you that larger tables tend to favor IG by virtue of the long range artillery. Even if it gives them only one extra turn to fire, that is one more turn for the Eldar to accumulate BMs and casualties. Of course, your air power should be the great equalizer on a big board since the flak density should be much lower. Phoenix Bombers with 5+RA would have cart blanche on a board that size.

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

The Eldar probably have more distinct strategies than most races, but they must also actively adopt one as their primary strategy and shape the army accordingly (perhaps two at 5000pts). For example,

• Extensive use of 'gates (3+ Storm Serpents at 5000pts) to deliver heavy assaults at a critical point (Reinforced Guardians Aspects with Exarchs etc), supported by mobile forces or even 1-2 Vampires;
• or a 'mobile' army using lots of Wave Serpents and Falcons, supported by Wind-riders (possibly with 1-2 Vampires to attack a flank);
• or a Titan based force with some mobile formations held in reserve that can delay one flank and then be swapped etc.
• or an artillery based, defensive army with stronger but more static formations supported by mobile forces to harry the enemy's flanks and rear

You should only consider secondary strategies and alternative formations after you have bought the formations for your primary strategy and grouped them into separate organisations with objectives.

As Neal says, Activation count is very important for the Eldar so they can use the extra activations to set up or carry out assaults. In this the Guardians and the Autarch can make use of the 'commander' rule to bring in some of the extra formations to make the assault decisive; which is where the various smaller and cheaper support formations come in. Remember to make assaults decisive so you can make best use of the full consolidation move that can be used to concentrate the army from one sector to another to devastating effect

You should always try to have at least two Guardians formations (preferably more) that can be advanced into contact with the enemy so that you can make best use of the distinct advantages of the Farseer; Commander mentioned above, the 2nd retain to press home an advantage and the "Avatar" which provides a tough extra formation where you need it. Final thought - the Autarch can only be put with Aspect formations, not Guardian formations as you have listed. However you should always include the Autarch for his re-roll.

Terrain and Table size are important - even at 5000pts you should consider using a 6'x4' table, and not bigger than 8'x5'; and there should be 12-20 pieces of terrain (depending on table size), providing ~30% coverage of the entire table. The point here is that the Eldar need to hide until they can make use of their speed to strike; using double moves to advance, fire and retire and using Rangers as forward garrisons (possibly supported by War-walkers to their rear) to hamper and channel the opponent and disrupt his strategy. Eldar will always struggle if BMs remain on their formations, so do not be afraid to marshall (another reason for high activation count - to maintain as many BM free formatioins as possible).

Hmm having taken some of the advice on board I have redone my list partially. I am not super-fussed about it being super-competitive, just dont want to shell on something I will rarely get use out of I am also happier about the size in points fo the formations being a little lower and more spread out.

Avatar 000
Webway Gate 050

Guardian Warhost - WLord, Support 375
Guardian Warhost - WLord, Support 375
Guardian Warhost - WGuard 300

Aspect Warhost - 7 DA, 1 DR, Autarch 375
Aspect Warhost - 7 DA, 1 DR, 1 Exarch 325

Shining Spears Warhost - Exarch 325
Shining Spears Warhost - Exarch 325


Windrider Warhost 200
Rangers x 4 100
Warwalker Warhost 200

Falcon Troupe w/ FStorm 250
Falcon Troupe w/ FStorm 250

Void Spinner x 2 500
Nightwing Interceptors 300
Storm Serpent x 2 500

4750

Now for the last 250, I was thinking of maybe another Storm Serpent (tho having three is a bit over kill ish ), or a Vampire Raider. Although I am worried that I lack decent long ranged anti-tank, and am unsure whether one set of nightwings will be sufficient. I know the IG player in my group likes his titans and aircraft, so a Cobra or Scorpion might be useful!

I think this is one of the best things about Epic, and Eldar in particular, the tactical decisions that it forces you to make, as well as having a grand plan for how you want the army to work.

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IMO I'd scrounge up another 50 points from 'anywhere' and double up on the exarchs for the Shining Spears formations. For 25 points each, that +1 in assaults almost always pays off. It can make the difference between a loss and a tie, and even if you win the assault outright the +1 translates into an extra kill at the end.

Also, Storm serpents will probably be more useful as separate formations, both activation-wise and tactically.

Lastly, I would seriously reconsider the second Dire Avenger formation. You can only hide three formations in the Webway and it appears that you are going to get stuck with at least one infantry formation hoofing it. This is under the assumption that you don't want the Shining Spears in the Webway (a mistake IMO). On a large board, you are going to waste those points. Better to swap the DA out for Swooping Hawks. They will either force your opponent to bunch up his forces to protect artillery, or provide you with an opportunity to deep strike and escape quickly with your 35cm consolidation move. And since Swooping Hawks don't count toward the Webway formations, you will now have 4 formations off board (read: protected).

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

That's 3 per gate that can be in the webway, 3 gates means 9 formations to hide.

Ya know, after playing the Eldar for so many years you would have thought I'd had noticed that. :/ How embarrassing! All this time I've been limiting myself to three...

It's gonna get even rougher on my opponents.

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

Right, Ive half made my decision now. I will add the 2 exarchs each back to the shining spears, and the have to choose between a Vampire and a warwalker host. Costs the same, same extra activation, tho I think the Vampire might be more useful. Just a quick question, if the Vampire is destroyed are the contents destroyed too, or is it like the storm serpent?

Also if I do get a Vampire, would the AA and one set of nightwings be enough?

Or I could drop the wraithguard for some Phoenix bombers....

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If the vampire is loaded and destroyed in the air then the contents are destroyed. If on the ground it's like any other transport.

Run the vampire empty. You can always pick up a formation that comes out of a gate in later turns.

On 'gates, as Meph says, each gate can be used once per turn - so three gates could have up to nine formations (of your 16) off-table. However I would generally advise against having more than ~1.5 formations off-table per gate; other than the Wraithgate (which can be blocked) the Storm Serpents can be knocked out trapping formations off-table, and you also both reduce the number of activations available and permit the enemy the luxury of destroying your army in detail.

However, an interetsing tactic is to hold three Guardian formations off-table to protect the wraithgate Blitz in successive turns by assaulting out of it, or marching/doubling into blocking positions - a really good use of 450 pts.

As an alternative to your list, I would suggest the following:

1. Change one set of Shining Spears to Swooping Hawks as Mosc suggests
2. Drop the cheaper DA Aspect warhost (325)
3. Buy Exarchs for the other three Aspects (75)
4. Buy Wave serpents for the other DA Aspect (200) and consider using mixed DA and Striking Scorpions (if you have them)
5. with the remaining 300pts either
   • drop the War walkers and buy a third storm serpent and third Falcons (for really serious assaulting power)
   • or buy a second Rangers and either a second Wind riders (or even a Vampire**)
   • or even consider a second set of Night Wings

In any event, if your opponent is playing IG, you will need to be able to keep mobile while minimising the effect of his artillery, and either dodging his titans or retaining the ability to concentrate significant force against them

** note the transport capabilities of the Vampire; there are very few formations in your army that it can carry, but one of the more intruiging possibilities is 8x Rangers used in a shooting role - with their sniper and especially if put into a cross-fire position they can be murderous against infantry!

IMO If you are definitely playing IG, go for War Walkers. They are cheap, can fire lance shots, and the scout function allows you to spread out. Your opponent won't want to deal with them but will have to. I love the little fellas! If there is a titan or SHT or Leman Russ formation, they should be the primary targets for your Shining Spears. A primed Leman Russ formation (1 BM) assaulted with CC by Shining Spears will most likely break. There are very few formations out there that can break Leman Russ like that. Once broken, disruption fire (from Night Spinners, Void Spinners, or even Phoenix Bombers) will eat up the formation quickly. Warhound titans will fall even faster. It is likely that a primed Warhound pair will not even survive a SS assault. The larger titans are trickier, but still vulnerable. And don't be afraid to clip with the Shining Spears if you can't get them into range. You'll get an assault out of them, plus their 35cm move - that's up to 70cm of movement plus an assault for one activation. And if you can get them to support another formation, even better.

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

Thanks very much guys I have finally settled on what I am going to do. Just for info here is the list I m sticking with. I went with some Vypers on the basis that the improve the windrider host I already have as well as given me another annoying / useful formation. In my group there is a player that plays eldar & orks, another that plays IG, and another that plays SM. So a good mix overall

Avatar 000
Webway Gate 050

Guardian Warhost - WLord, Support 375
Guardian Warhost - WLord, Support 375
Guardian Warhost - WGuard 300

Aspect Warhost - 7 DA, 1 DR, Autarch 375
Aspect Warhost - 7 DA, 1 DR, 1 Exarch 325

Shining Spears Warhost - Exarch x 2 350
Shining Spears Warhost - Exarch x 2 350


Windrider Warhost x 3 Vypers 200
Windrider Warhost x 3 Vypers 200
Warwalker Warhost 200
Ranger Troupe x 4 100

Falcon Troupe w/ FStorm 250
Falcon Troupe w/ FStorm 250

Void Spinner x 2 500
Nightwing Interceptors 300
Storm Serpent 250
Storm Serpent 250

5000


Forge World Wave Serpents @ £7.00
GW Storm Serpent x 2 @ £24.00
GW Vypers @ £12.00

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My EPIC and BFG Blog: https://epicaddiction.wordpress.com/