Run DA's in 10's with an Exarch and Bladestorm. They'll never live in 5 man squads and the exarch let's them wipe a unit out when they have too.

Ra will die out on his own, and special chars generally are a points sink in under 2k.

The Council I don't think will wreak much havoc. Any CC specialist can kill them and if they're open to fire they're dead even with Fortune.

Serpents need Spirit Stones to get where they need to be.

No star engines on Prisms. They can use them as a suprise denial on the last turn, but it's generally a waste and experienced players will see it coming.

Def make the DA's 10 man w/ Exarch, Bladestorm and Dual Caatapults. Rest is up to you.

 

farseer (jetbike, singing spear, spirit stones, Doom, fortune, mindwar, rune/warding)
warlock (2x jetbike, singing spear, destructor)(1x embolden)(1x enhance)

maugan ra

fire prism (star engines)
fire prism
fire prism

wave serpent (t/l bright lance)
5x dire avengers
wave serpent (t/l shuriken cannon)
5x dire avengers
wave serpent (t/l shuriken cannon)
5x dire avengers

----------------

430 council
195 maugan ra
345 3x fire prism
515 3x wave serpents w/ 5 DAs
+15 prism1 = star engines

total 1500


the general idea being to have the BL serpent sit back and defend hq/objective, while the council goes out and wreaks some havoc. the 2 shuri serpents can run distraction and look to hurt troop where they can, but are mainly lining up to contest late on. the prisms will do likewise, and make the most of the twinlinked bonus' from assisting on beams (rerolling scatter on a s6 ap3 large blast vs my necron friend is a thing of beauty ). maugan ra is basicly a defensive inclusion. either in the BL serpent or behind LoS cover ready to step out and help take down transports and alike that maybe be headed towards my BL serpent. on a good day he can even pen a land raider as well as shredding ranks of troops.

it wouldnt be unfair to level the cheese accusation at it, what with the significant duplication, but it's the first army i'm likely to build, so i'd like it to be on that's viable. i can fill out my model collection later and add some more diverse synergies and interesting tactics. harlies and the swooping hawks grenade packs are of interest, but that's for another time.

comments welcome

HQ- Only give farseers 2 powers. Drop mind war. Warlock councils must be at least THREE strong. unless you meant to put 3x jetbike.

Maugan ra...? reallly? Im not even sure id bother with him.

Get rid of those star engines, like fo real. I remember what you said in my thread, but dam all your tanks can move 24 anyway and prisms are shaken and stunned half the game so its not like u will be able to use them that often anyway.

TL S cannons on wave serpeants are poo. Specially since you have a wussy squad in it. The second those DAs get out you can kiss them goodbye.


My advice for building a mech army, is to start off witha solid core. A good core is...

10DA+exarch+two SC+bladestorm
Wave serpeant +SS+TL BL

10 DA+exarch+two SC+blade storm
Wave serpeant+SS+TL EML

Fire Prism
Fire Prism

From here I would go with Banshees w/Doomseer or in your case a Seer coucnil, all shoved in either a falcon or wave serpeant. Than I would suggest something statis like pathfinders for holding your home objectives. A wave serpaent is just too good to sit at home objective for whole game IMO.

Plus a sitting waveserpeant is perfect target for deepstriking units with plasma pistols and autocannons...etc.

 

i'm unlikely to increase the number of DAs as i'm not intending to do a great deal of fighting. they're there purely as a unit to hold my HQ, or as an excuse to get more 24" moving tanks on the table which can contest late game. the only way the DAs will be outside the WS is if the WS is popped. if that happens the tactical usage of the unit is lost and the remaining DAs will run for the hills.

mauagn ra - i have looked lately at moving him out for an autarch on a jetbike which would join the council. probably with a laser lance, mandiblasters etc. he'd make them even stronger in the assault and allow me to spread some more wounds around without losing models from the council. he's also lower points, so i can slap holofields on my primary prism (i often twinlink with them). i'm trying the autarch out in a game i'm playing at the moment infact.

i'll keep the star engines on the prism. it's worked for me before and till i get round to repeat games against the same opponents and they know that's what i'm doing, the tactical advantage is still there.

TL Shur Cannons - aye they're not great. but they're the cheapest option and like i said i'm not looking for guns from the wave serpents. they're there to move fast, make saves, distract and contest. neither they or the DAs actually serve any real purpose in terms of killing enemy units. i'm looking to win the game, not just take alot of the enemy with me when i go down.

spirit stones on the serpents - tbh they dont. since i'm not 'putting them out there', they wont be taking much in the way of shots. they'll be using LoS, making cover saves and keeping their distance for most of the game. most stunned/shakens on my serpents happen when i'm either not putting them in the right place, or i'm intentionally putting them out there to shield my prisms from fire coming from specific angles.

the council - mind war is an optional choice. it's mostly situational, and i do spend most of my time with doom/fortune. i find it is a nice card to be able to play tho. there are 4 locks in the council (2 destructor, 1 enhance, 1 embolden, all with bikes and spears), maybe my layout let me down in making that clear. as for CC specialists, i oddly enough wont be running them into CC specialists, tho i think you underestimate a jetbiked, fortuned seer council a little. they pack a fair punch and tend not to just flop dead.


i get the impression you two both play a more traditional "slug it out" kind of game. that's not how i play at all. for example, if i win annihilation 1kill point to none (the real kind, not these namby pamby 'alternative' kill points ) then that's a job well done. admittedly with 3 prisms and a council that doesnt often happen, but you get the idea.

 

ok so..

Farseer (Jetbike, Spirit Stones, Doom, Fortune)
Warlock (x6 jetbike, 4xdestructor 1x embolden 1x enhance)

Autarch (Jetbike, Laser Lance, Mandiblasters)

Fire Prism
Fire Prism
Fire Prism

Wave Serpent (t/l Bright Lance)
5x Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent (t/l Starcannon)
5x Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent (t/l Starcannon)
5x Dire Avengers

----------------

490 Council
130 Autarch
315 3x Fire Prism
565 3x Wave Serpents w/ 5 DAs

total 1500

i've pushed the council up to 7, which teamed with the autarch should pack more of a punch. that's at the cost of stripping back teh seer a bit and removing the spears. i kinda like the spears as they're a pretty evil ranged attack which i can use and then move away in my assault phase so i dont get assaulted, but they do cost me an attack in CC and i guess that's what the council is built for, and with those 4 destructors in there i'm going to have to get close anyway.

i've pimped the wepaons on the waveserpents, but i'm sort of tempted to drop them along with the autarch and throw in 4 more destructor locks for a full council of 11 models. 11 man council.. that's some scarey sh*t! :devil:

or add 3 locks and stick spirit stones on all the tanks to cheer you folks up.

 

the only suggestion I have is making the star cannons ANYTHING else. Use the pts gained to give spirit stones. last thing u want is a crew stunned on turn 5.

Looks good, just be careful when putting all your eggs in 1 basket.

 

point taken about the eggs. if i screw up and the council gets locked in combat with anything that's really tough to take down then that's an awful lot of points made quite useless.

dropping the council back down to 6 models (3 dest locks instead of 4) and swapping the starcannons for shrui cannons lets me slap spirit stones on all 6 tanks and leaves 15 points spare which i'll probably put into runes of warding on the seer.

 

Id only worry about stones on wave serpeants.

If your fire prism cant fire, hes useless anyway.

 

a fast moving tank is never useless

come turn 5 the prisms and serpents are essentially the same, with the same task.. get out and contest, so stones on prisms are just as valuable as on the serpents.

 

I disagree. Stones are way more useful for serpeants because they are transports, where as fire prisms are mostly stationary shooty tanks.

Its unlikely that all your fire prisms will be alive on turn 5. And you dont want to be going across the board with all your prisms. What happens on turn 6? They all get assaulted with krak grenades or shot in the rear armour. THen you have no prisms ont he board and the opponent has free reign with his tanks! Also what if you go into turn 7? thats two turns without any fire prisms. Even tho they are fast skimmers, you still need to evaluate what the risks are of boosting them across the board when there is a chance for 2 more turns.

 

well, my transports arent really transporting anything. 2 are purely for contesting, so is the 3rd if things get desperate. so all 6 of my tanks are really for tankshocking onto other peoples objectives during the late game. in that sense spirit stones are equally as useful on each tank, be it a transport or not.

and i'll only throw forward what i need to win on turn 5. i want to be in a winning position on turn 5, preferably with enough in reserve for 6 and 7. that's generally only a real problem when there are 5 objectives on the board tho, and thats when the 6th tank is going to be needed to push.

 

Well The only step now is to get out there and try it out!

 

ok 1st game done against ultramarines. a capture and control pitched battle.

highlights were knocking out his bike squad in the first turn and vapourising 7 of an assault squad as soon as they'd deep striked in. the rest were finished off by 5 helpful dire avengers who stuck their heads out.

was pretty much in control the first few turns, the council went out and made a bit of a mess razorback popping etc, and they attracted almost the full fire of his army for two full turns heh.

i made a bit of a noob mistake and got one of my prisms immobilised on turn 3 (tho in a decent shooting position), then stopped a waveserpent to drop off some troops to tie up a couple of marines who's lost their rhino. as a result the waveserpent ended up about an inch from contesting the marine HQ on turn 5. of course a 1 was rolled and it ended a tie. where are my star engines !?

was fairly successful. i didnt have any moments where i was really worried. it could use a bit more close range tank killing. maybe a wraithlord or another HQ with wraithblade. something to clean up anything that managed to get thru the barrage of fire as it approaches. the council are sent to their deaths, but they buy alot of breathing room and shooting time for the rest of my army.

i could swap a prism for a wraithlord+sword and have 15 points for star engines, but while i love the wraithlords stats, it's lack of mobility is an issue for me. maybe switch out some DAs and a prism for some wraithguards to go in one of the wave serpents. hmm..

 

play a few more games before you decide to take star engines. They are generally not worth it.

Do you think you could report this battle? It woudl really benefit your fellow Eldar players. PM me if you would do this favor for us.