Eldar tactics

[Bosco]

I recently became interested in BFG and bought an Eldar fleet. I have read all the official rules I can get my hands on, but have yet to play an actual game (should change by next week). I have found decent tactic advice for imperial and chaos fleets online, but nothing so comprehensive or useful for Eldar (corsairs or craftworld). Are there any seasoned admirals out there willing/able to offer some general advice or tips for a fledgeling player?

In particular, I am hoping for some suggestions regarding fleet composition, escort squadron sizes, and general overall fleet strategy.

Any/all advice is welcome and appreciated.

Thank you

[A-Tau]

i have fought eldar once but the tactic i seen was move forward shoot release ord and turn around and move away. so basicly hit and run.

[horizon]

If you post your ships I can help you further.

Otherwise:
hide
hit&run
love your torps

[Bosco]

The list I will be using for a 1500 point tournament is:

pirate prince w/2 reroll

void stalker

eclipse

shadow

4x aconites

3x nightshades

3x hemlocks

++Edit++

What I initially thought were hellebores are apparently hemlocks (was unaware that some did have fins on top as well) so I have changed the fleet list to reflect the changes in the collection.

There is a chance I will expand my available collection before the tournament, but until then this is what I would like to try.

[Zhai_Morenn]

Hi there, Eldar were my first fleet and I still play them... well I play the DE now but still.

The most efficient ships to take for a Corsair fleet are Void Stalkers, Eclipses, Auroras, and then any escort that is not a Hellebore. Squadron sizes should be 1 for capital ships, while escorts should number 3, 5 or 6.

The reasoning being that you make it harder for the enemy to cripple your squadron and gain victory points.

As an example, let us say you have 6x Nightshade destroyers. The optimal usage would be two squadrons of 3, since it would only require 3 kills by the enemy to cripple a 6 strong (or 5 strong squadron) and would require 4 kills (2 per squadron) to cripple your whole worth of Nightshades. Additionally, you have no reason to want large squadrons except to keep blast markers from messing with successive gunnery turns (i.e. Aconites should be in larger groups if possible) but otherwise you don't really suffer for 3 strong squadrons of Hemlocks and Nightshades.

Additionally, another more recent tactic is to upgrade your Admiral to Eldar Hero status (makes him 150 pts instead of 100- ouch) but you can now take Craftworld ships as reserves and may use the Flame of Asuryan as your flagship. In this way, your Corsair fleet could have a Grand Cruiser (FoA), a Battleship (VS) and then whatever else you feel like.

Apart from a few capital ships that should provide attack craft (Auroras aside), most of your corsair fleet is best as escorts since escorts just die one at a time rather than being easily crippled like Eldar capitals.



Craftworld Eldar are a bit more simple in loadout: Take Wraithships and Dragonships in whatever legal proportions that please you. Recommended loadout is
Dragons: Batteries + Launch Bays
Wraiths: Pulsars + Torps

I adhere to this except for one Wraith that has Batteries and Bays (for convoy scenarios and the like).

Never use Ghostships. The odds that you'll be left standing still and thus easily destroyed are far too great to compensate for the benefits.

I recommend adding Aspect Warrior Crews to one or two of your Wraithships, which would allow you to engage in lightning fast and overwhelmingly powerful massed boarding actions. At their best speeds, a Wrathship can move 50cm before boarding in one turn. Imagine boarding something with 3 undamage Wraithships. They'll definitely have a much better boarding value (because you won't board something you likely can't kill) which gives them at least a +1 modifier, if not +2 or even +3, then add +2 for the Aspect Warriors that only need be on one of the ships. That is some very nasty boarding action there-

It's also the easiest way to kill Necrons since their ships do not get any kind of save against boarding damage.

Also adding Aspect Warriors and Vampire assault boats to your Dragons gives you a lot of fun options for H&R strikes.

As a side note, it is much less beneficial for Craftworld fleets to upgrade their Admiral to a Hero to get Corsair reserves. You don't get access to the Void Stalker (since it's not a special "flagship" like FoA and CWE have no battleships so reserve rules don't work), you won't want to field many of the somewhat sub-par Craftworld escorts just to get Corsair ones, and the Craftworld Cruisers are generally better in armament or resilience or both compared to Corsair cruisers.


Overall, in both fleet's cases, it is best to have some form of cover to dart back to after attacking and if lacking that, you should endeavor to position your ships so that they minimize return fire. Ideally at abeam to the target shooting at them or even Abeam and long range.

Hope that helps and if it raises any more questions, please field them and we'll try to answer them :-)

[Bosco]

An alternate list I had considered running for this tournament is noticeably more cruiser heavy than is apparently common for Eldar fleets, but I feel like it might be a bit more fun:

Pirate Prince

Void Stalker battleship

Eclipse cruiser

Shadow cruiser

Aurora light cruiser

Aurora light cruiser

4 Nightshade escorts

3 Hemlock escorts

Everything but the VS, eclipse, and shadow have the faster 15/20/30 movement speeds, as well as giving me and additional unit (previous list had only 6 separate entities vs 7 in this list) to maneuver with. I have considerably fewer wb's in this version, but get a sizable bump in torpedos and lances, which I feel are a more reliable offense than the wb's anyways. Also the newer version has a larger capacity to soak up hits, but not much.

thoughts?

[Gedderz]

I wouldnt advice the crusier heavy list simply because eldar ships get crippled/ die fast y get ships crippled when they can keep going till death lol the way to go with eldar is escorts and many of them.

[horizon]

Yeah, at least ditch the Shadow in favour of more escorts.
Then the Eclipse.