Eldar Army List - 1750

So here is the Eldar army list I have been using in recent weeks. It is largely based on what I already had built and bought when I decided I wanted a change from Marines, with a few extra units brought in to make it viable.

HQ
Eldrad
Farseer with Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stones, Doom, and Guide.

Troops
6 Dire Avengers including Exarch with sword and pistol and Bladestorm
Wave Serpent with Missile Launchers and shuriken cannon

6 Dire Avengers including Exarch with power weapon and shimmershield
Wave Serpent with Missile Launchers and shuriken cannon

5 Rangers with Pathfinder

Elites
6 Fire Dragons including Exarch with Pike and Tank Hunters

6 Howling Banshees including Exarch with Mirror Swords and Acrobatic
Wave Serpent with Lances

Heavy Support

2 Fire Prisms, each with shuriken cannon

Falcon with shuriken cannon, holofields, and bright lance


I put Eldrad in with the Shimmershielded Dire Avengers and the other Farseer in with the other squad. The Fire Dragons ride in the Falcon and the rangers hoof it.

So, how does this list do? Well, I've played five games with them and the record is 2-2-1. However, two of those games, the draws, were missions from the Battle Missions book.

One placed a bunch of Space Marines on a single objective and made them fearless - I had to shift them off. I forced a draw through tank-shocking the marines off it in the last turn, and, if it weren't for how we had agreed the terrain the objective was placed on should be treated, I would have had the win. Still, the Fire Dragons reliable popped a Land Raider, stranding its Terminator-armoured passengers miles from the objective and the Rangers popped a Predator while the Falcon took out a Baal, meaning I was able to deal with the big armoured threats quite easily.

The other Battle Mission made me face an Ork horde with Endless Waaagh! That's right, Waagh for as long as the Ork player wants it. This, and five fairly closely placed objectives made it a war of attrition on a 4x4 table. There's no point having fast tanks when everything is a foot away from everything else. Not much opportunity to take out charging trukks or force your opponent to spread his forces either. Still, Eldrad took out a trukk that had destroyed and immobilised a couple of my vehicles with its whirling blades of crappy games design and the Prisms and Serpents did manage to destroy one of my opponents two scoring units, leaving us drawn at one objective each.

The two wins came against firstly 1500 points of Blood Angels. Fast tanks versus fast Rhinos - my fast vehicles could shoot, fly and ignore terrain though leaving my admittedly underpowered opponent chasing me around the board for kill points. The other win was against 'nids, this time on a proper sized board though, meaning I had time to shoot down his hoards as they charged my single objective, held as it was by Rangers. I then used three of my tanks to block the path of his deep-striking monster gribblies, while the Dire Avengers snuck around to the rear of his objective to end the game contesting it.

The only out and out loss the Eldar have suffered was against 'nids though. On a 4x4 board, I lost due to a lack of knowledge of the enemy. We were playing for kill points so I held my edge of the board to whittle them down as they ran towards my guns. I didn't count on his three packs of Ymgarl Genestealers outflanking (with rerolls due thanks to the Swarmlord) and absolutely creaming the rear armour of all my lovely tanks though. A disastrous loss, but you live and you learn.

My overall impressions of playing Eldar then, albeit with limited experience? Firstly, you need to have a decent sized table to really play them properly. As I said earlier, fast skimmers are practically worthless in games where the objectives and units are all a foot away from each other. The long ranged guns, particularly the 60" Fire Prism cannons, also need to be at a distance from the enemy to get the most out of them.

Secondly, Pathfinders are worth every point. 3 feet of range, a 2+ save in cover, and rending on a 5 or 6 - whats not to like? Oh, and they're a scoring unit. Similarly, Fire Dragons are a reliable way of destroying pretty much anything on the board. Just be prepared for them to be wiped out by angry passengers :(

Thirdly, Howling Banshees - not so great. Unless you can get Guide on them and Doom on their target, their low Strength makes actually causing a wound hard against most enemies. Sounds easy enough, but there is competition for those psychic powers - your Dire Avengers, tanks, or other shooty units may need the help more.

I have another list finished that uses the Wraithseer I bought last year along with a unit of 10, yes, 10, Wraithguard as a scoring Death Star and will put that up as soon as possible.

Until then, any thoughts or suggestions are welcome :)