June 19, 2013 by dignity
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Day two of the Eldar Codex Breakdown sees Lee and Andy having a look at the troops of the Eldar. Will this army of enigmatic aliens still be taking Guardians and Weapon Platforms or will you be ditching them completely?
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I can’t understand how you can say jet bikes didn’t get better. They are now 5 points cheaper than they previously did, got a Ws/BS and I upgrade come with bladestorm and can get a 3+ cover save with a warlock conceal or a 2+ when moving flat out.
… And its the same fekkin’ model from 1992. Very, very disappointed.
Also, while wave serpents are indeed costly when compared to imperial transports they also offer a lot more.
It’s a skimmer so you get that nice 5+ jink (4+ with holo-fields, 3+ if positioned correctly).
Their weapon options are brilliant when you consider begin to consider what they are capable of. A wave serpent with scatter lasers, a shuriken cannon and the free energy shield can put out an amazing amount of fire power. If you simply hit with 1 of the 4 shots all other shooting from the vehicle is twin linked. By doing this you can get 4 x twin linked scatter laser shots, 3 twin linked str 6 shuriken cannon shots and D6+1 twin linked Str7 shots that ignore cover. So it could potentially put out 14 twin linked shots that are at a decent str value.
If you think about it, air-craft should really be worried about this thing as it has the potential to actually cause some damage.
Not having assault vehicle isn’t a big a problem as many people believe, as the only real squad this hurts are the banshees (which needed more than this to be considered useful). Units you want assulting are really only the scorpions (come with infiltrate, outflank), harlequins (shadow seer ability) and high toughness wraith blades (with access to a 4+ inv). So all our assault units pretty much have their own delivery system. Would we of liked assault vehicles? Sure! Do we need them to be competitive? I don’t believe so.
Yes it does become more expensive but I think it’s best to consider the serpent a tank that just happens to be a transport as well.
i tend to load serpents with fire dragons myself but the d-scythe guard in a serpent appear to be favourites at the moment… also the worry of rear armour facing the enemy can be easily countered with vectored engines (actually useful now) as you turn to point yours guns at something drop troops out back blast that thing then spin to face your decent armour facing the enemy been quite effective so far.
the wave serpent isn’t designed to carry banshees or scorpions (as stated above) the idea is to put 5 or 6 wraithguard with d-scythes in there surely? (s4 ap2 flame templates for the win!) i’m running the elder missile launcher (for anti flyer) and maybe one or 2 upgrades, popping my wraithguard in there and going terminator hunting. 😀
@salty If only that were true… yes the Wave serpent makes the Wraithguard more mobile… but it also makes them an easier target.
Wave Serpents are big, making them easy for blasts to hit and hard to get into cover. They’re also hard for the Wraithguard to exit safely to form a line to get those templates onto a target… big bases… only a 6″ disembark (potentially less if you disembark into terrain)… and no templates through your own models means you may not be able to bring them all to bear on a target. As you can only kill the models under the template, this would make that initial salvo much less painful.
Once out of their transport, you can feed the Wraithguard cheap units of fodder to tie them up until you can deal with them. Plus if they’re not taken as a troops choice, you can abandon an objective to them, moving all your forces out of range, making them ineffective. If they are a troops choice, you give them an objective and then blast them with lots of shots, they can’t risk leaving the objective later in the game in case they can’t get back onto it and can’t return fire if you stay out of range… that makes them a poor choice for a holding unit… Wraithblades (the Axe/Shield ones) are slightly better, as they can last longer, but they’re expensive and once you’ve taken a few out, they’re much less effective. Time to assault them with Scouts or Guardsmen!
you can get cover saves for the WS easily thanks to holo fields 4+ or 3+ if going flat out. The tank is big so you can swivel the tank round once it have moved to have its rear facing the enemy and this will get you an extra 2-3″ closure to your target and then your 6″ move. You then shoot with the turret and use Vectored engines to swivel the tank with its front facing the enemy. Its not a cheap wave serpent, but great delivery package.
If you want to tie them up with cheap fodder have a go, five D3 auto hits with flamers that are strength 4 ap2 (average 10 hits). If you have put them in cover this can potentially stop any tar pit.
Mine are always scoring due to Spirit seer. Who is actually with them to give them shrouded. Lots of shots coming your way, 2+ to you cover save (after they try and wound your average toughness of 6).
@beerogre I believe that with correct use of a wave serpent, your unit (in this case the D-scythe Wraighguard) will easily be able to get most of, if not all of the unit in range of their flamer templates even with the terminator size bases that they have.
If your opponent goes first and moves forward or drops things in your deployment zone then the serpent allows for a 6′ move then up to a 6′ deployment giving them a lot of range and allowing you to chose your target (which is the Eldar style of play).
Not only this but the wave serpent is also acting as a buffer (yes a pricy one) to protect your precious cargo. With holo-fields and a 50% chance to get night fighting in the first turn you could also end up with avery nice cover save that might just push it’s chance to survive up which is just hidden positive.
So unless your opponent has a huge amount of fire power dropping on top of your head you can pretty much guarantee it’s survival, more so if you have multiple threats (multi serpents) on the table top.
If it does survive and drops off your unit then by itself, unlike a Rhino/Chimera it is an extremely effective and survivable gunship, able to deal with pretty much anything on the table.
If they do take out the Serpent with say a drop podded close range melta group then those guys are gone and I’d say the serpent cost will be very close to the cost of the group + delivery system, not that it’s what you want but it’s a trade regardless.
If you go first with some of the new Eldar toys (holo-fields, serpent shields to name but a few), plus the fact that they are incredibly fast means that you can put those flamer templates where ever you want and with the Wraithguard being fearless there is no need to fear a pinning check.
Also if a unit charges you as you mentioned then that is one nasty wall of flame they have to get through to get to you. Most armies out there will not want to assault this unit. Even a large group of orks or guants will not really want to run through it. They would be better off sinking even more fire power into the unit before charging and if they do sink all this fire power into this one unit then that leaves a lot of your other units untouched and awefully threatening.
As for your point with the ‘not a troop choice option’ it is valid however any player taking a unit of any of the wraith type units should be strongly considering a Spiritseer as a HQ choice anyway. Not only does he have access to the brilliant Runes of Battle tree (which I could write a huge article on by itself), he also can mark a unit a turn making all Wraith units you bring that little bit better.
There is no real downside to bringing him. A cheap lvl 2 psyker, that makes wraith guard/blades troops, enhances all wraith units, has access to a brilliant power tree, yes please. You may say “O but he’s only Ld9 and that makes him bad” however you will still get your powers off most of the time, its not 100% guaranteed however nothing in this game is so as with all Eldar you have to have a back up plan just incase it doesn’t go your way.
Anyway that’s my view on the effectiveness of the wave serpent as a transport and as a tank. Personally I think it’s the best transport in the game, it truly makes the land raider look like a piece of junk.
Site Note: Not near my Rule book currently however if a Serpent goes flat out with holo-fields what is it’s cover save?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
fully agree @concreteus and flat out would give it 4+ jink cover so holo fields would make it 3+ night fighting would make that 2+ at over 12″ range
I really enjoy your guys videos but I am going to have to disagree.
You throw the scatter laser on the serpent and a shuriken cannon and you got 4TL shots that as long as 1 hits you get d6+1 s7 tl ignores cover pinning shots and 3TL s6 bladestorm shots. at a minimum thats 9 s6-7 twin linked shots with a max of 15.
Jetbikes, yes the range is short(every 3rd one can have a cannon) but move shoot retreat they get a 2d6 move in the assault phase. So even on a average roll a unit of infantry is going to have a long run to assault. Then they will get hit by overwatch. If you think about it a squad of 10 bikes w/3 cannons puts out 14 TL shots and another 9 cannon shots, you are bound to get some 6s so even some terminators won’t get a save. Throw in a warlock and even with the Standard power can get upto a 2+ cover. Or if the warlock gets protect/jinx he can give them a 2+ standard save or drop whatever they are shooting ats save. Thats a pretty good deal at 17 pts a model or 235 for a maxed out unit. I just wish the jetbikes got a updated model.
My bad its a max of 14 shots on the Wave serpent.
How they are still selling stuff at all is my biggest concern .. they pack/price their boxes as if 40k was still a skirmish game. Bend over and buy a one click “DEAL” at absolutely no discount, hurry up .. limited stock! (GWs words not mine).
I’m having great results with the shuriken weapons on my troops and the counter attack on the Dire Avenger’s has proved very useful as well.(not like I go out my way to get them in a scrap)
For me one of the winners of this codex has been Wave Serpents. They are just so durable.
I lost my first one this Monday, up until then they have all survived the game. (I take 3 normally).
Gents after watching your previous video on HQs and the one on troops, trying to be nice have you guys played Eldar before? The tactics I’m hearing sound like they are from MEQ players. Eldar are a combined arms unit that work in conjunction to obliterate the opponent piece by piece. It has never been an easy army to play, and requires some thought (unlike some armies).
Avengers are definitely a lot better thanks to battle focus, blade storm and Wave serpent (WS). You can role up in the WS, drop the avengers off at 18″ (the joy of pre-measuring) to them shoot them up and then battle focus out of range of possible assault or out of sight.
As for the WS, holy moly. This is probably one of the best transports around at the mo. yes it doesn’t have assault ramps (I too was hoping) but you can work round that. The serpent shield is awesome as combined with its standard 12 armour and holo fields your are getting a 4+ cover save in the open when it moved, and a 3+ if positioned in hard cover or going flat out. On top of that if a penetrating shot gets through you can lower it to a glancing. This has made it a tough nut to crack when shot at. On top of that the 60″ shoot if you fire the wave (I do this a lot thanks to 4+ cover for moving) makes this a very good tank transport. Well worth the points.
The jet bikes do exactly what they are supposed to do harassing the flanks, especially if they have a warlock attached with battle focus (primarus power can add shrouded to his unit, or remove cover from units). This is nasty.
Apologies for rant boys, but that’s my pennies worth. Can’t wait to hear about heavies, especially the wraithknight to agree or disagree with your thoughts. Thus far this beastie has paid dividends for me.
@deathjester6099 I’ve played Eldar before… I recently sold my Eldar army, due to them being terrible… and I won’t miss them.
I believe your right, in that they are supposed to work (or maybe are the most fun) as a combined arms army. However, that works against the current meta I’ve played against at the tournaments I’ve attended.
6th Edition has limited the effectiveness of close combat units through the challenge rules, random charge lengths and power weapons with AP. This combined with an expensive selection of long (over 24″) range fire makes Eldar a difficult prospect in 6th and one that suffers against static gun lines (who deploy far back and shell the Eldar) and drop pod armies (who appear and remove your expensive units) that they really need some help.
This Codex didn’t do much for them other than rejig some of the Exarch powers and update Guardians (and Storm Guardians) from “meat shield” to “useful meat shield”. Other units got better or worse by degrees, but nothing launched itself into a position of power-gaming-auto-include (a good thing BTW)… and they didn’t get what they really need… an open-topped/assault transport.
However, all is not lost. The one thing the Eldar did is make the Dark Eldar much better. The Dark Eldar have the open-topped transports the Eldar lack, while the Eldar have the long range (Rangers… they get Rangers) that the Dark Eldar need to cover their advance.
Time was against us when filming these Eldar videos, but I wanted to do one on the possible combinations with Dark Eldar… I’m keen on Duke Sliscus… he’s not great for a full DE army, but he makes an allied force much more points effective and he’s pretty mean in a challenge (wound rolls of 5+ ignore Armour Saves and he always wounds on a 2+) and cheap for 150pts.
Just as a last little nugget of Eldar sweetness. DE Harlequins are better than Eldar ones as you can bring a Raider (as a transport for something else… I recommend 100pts of Wyches) and mount them up Turn 1.
Now you’ve got a Harlequins in an Assault Transport with Veil of Tears!
I exclusively play Eldar (and their darker kin) and when 6th edition came out found that Eldar were still viable, it just involved a little bit of a tactics change. This still gave me a 75% win ratio against most opponents.
Expensive long range fire units?..maybe. However, they are worth their points. The War Walkers are pretty much cost the same as before when loaded out, but with battle focus (and Fleet) they can pop in and out of cover/line of site to smash units. Especially with their new higher BS, and Laser lock from Scatter Lasers. The only bummer is that they have become opened top, which makes them softer (this is where positioning is key). The fire prism is a better with its different shot options, this combined with holo fields makes them very survivable.
Close combat is a mixed bag for Eldar anyway as being only strength 3 for most units is bad, especially against MEQ units. That’s what striking scorpions are for, and only after the unit they are going to assault has had some long distance loving from other units. If a challenge goes out, my Exarch snips their champion in half with his Scorpion claw at initiative 6.
If playing against a gun line I try and get into their face as soon as possible to get rid of the shell lobbing tanks. This combined with Warp Spiders (who have become filthy good).
Alpha strikes can be nasty but that’s why I role on the warlord strategic table for the hope of getting night fight to prevent this happening whilst I haven’t kicked off any psychics.
Guardians out of vehicles…not good. Flamers hurt real bad. If I have to have them without vehicles, they come in from reserve and run it up the table to the objective on their side of the table.
Deep striking units? Never had a real problem with them as proper deployment of units and aegis intercept lascannon with Dark Reaper Exarch with fast shot (in old edition I used to have fire dragon exarch with Tank hunter and crack shot) to give me first blood. Old wave serpent shield was effective against units from Dpods with melta (these were hit and miss). However, with the new 2+ drop to glancing, my wave serpents have gotten even better and much more survivable.
If ally with DE (I don’t usually with Eldar as I think it dilutes their effectiveness). I usually have either a succubus with 9 witches in a raider, or an Archon with Shadow Field, husk blade and Phantasm grenade launcher (units counts as having grenades) in a venom with four incubi.
The Veil got FAQ’d that it doesn’t work on embarked units I believe, so you are relying on the vehicle cover save not veil…..bummer.
@deathjester6099 When it comes to the Heavies it’s going to be the Reapers for me.
Yeah they are even better now. Expensive (if adding the starshot (str 8) missile) but very very nice. I usually run 5 (no starshot) with one being a exarch with Eldar missile launcher + flakk, fast shot and night fight. Manning an aegis with lascannon.
The two lascannon intercept shots on flyers should hopefully guarantee shooting a bird out of the air, especially if the unit is guided. Anything nasty deep strikes near by means I might get a precision shot on meaningful model such as a flamer. Umming and arring about giving the exarch the power which gives precision shot on 5 & 6s.
I take 5 as well. Exarch with an EML.. I do take the starshot . The first vehicle they shoot at more than makes the points back. Give it a try.
have to agree with some of the others, these guys dont play eldar.
18″ range for direavengers isnt short, they can shoot a marine player easier and with more shots than get returned. also the exarch can hold up characters in melee
jetbikes move 2d6 after shooting, so they shouldnt be in melee with anything but other bike units or jump pack units that can catch them.
wave serpant is also a great gunship.
too much comparing to marines in between the lines like others said.
Sorry, tried to do a thumbs up but missed (fat fingers on iPhone). And can’t seem to change vote! +1