[Fenrix]

I'm quite tired of seeing mech eldar lists. They're undeniably effective, but very dull in my opinion. So, I decided to see whether I could make a themed list that could be anywhere near as effective.

I decided on an ambush list. That meant no troops that can't infiltrate or that don't have some means of rapid transportation, and no big clunky vehicles. Jetbikes, I decided, are acceptable, as they'd be able to maneuvre very quickly into an ambushing position to lay down a hail of fire.

With that in mind, here is the list;

The Swift Ambush


Autarch
Warp jump generator, fusion gun, power weapon
115


5 striking scorpions
exarch – claw, shadowstrike
127


5 striking scorpions
exarch – claw, shadowstrike
127


5 pathfinders
120


5 pathfinders
120


5 pathfinders
120


5 pathfinders
120


6 guardian jetbikes
2 shur cannons
152


10 warp spiders
exarch – additional spinner, withdraw
252


10 warp spiders
exarch – additional spinner, withdraw
252


10 swooping hawks
exarch – intercept, sunrifle
242


1747

 

[ericismyname]

I just dont see how this list would be effective. Maybe If you had some war walkers

 

[Alzer]

Awesome, you did post it.

I agree that some heavy weapon scouting War Walkers are going to be needed to take down things like Land Raiders or such, the list is horribly lacking in reliable tank-killing power.

Lose a squad of pathfinders, with that many you're going to fill up every square inch of area terrain on the board! Also swapping the snipers out for something that can grant better heavy-killing power would help.

Not exactly sure what equip set up to put on war walkers either to be honest. Definitely going to need to scout those in though.

 

[rafis117]

Give your SH Skyleap. With the Autarch, this allows you to do some nasty things with airborne grenades. It also mitigates their abysmal save (for a deepstriking unit) by having them off the board for the opponent's turn.

Also, I agree with the previous two posts - besides your Autarch and SH, you have very limited anti-armor. Perhaps give your Autarch SHWs and make them an anti-armor unit that can also pump out those lasblaster shots.

 

[Fenrix]

OK, bearing the above comments in mind, here's a revised list:

The Swift Ambush

Autarch
hawk wings, fusion gun, power weapon
110

farseer – jetbike, guide, doom, spirit stones, runes of warding, runes of witnessing
175

7 striking scorpions
exarch – claw, shadowstrike
159

5 pathfinders
120

5 pathfinders
120

5 pathfinders
120


10 warp spiders
exarch – additional spinner, withdraw
252

10 warp spiders
exarch – additional spinner, withdraw
252

10 swooping hawks
exarch – intercept, sunrifle, skyleap
257

2 war walkers – twin bright lances
180

1745

Tried it on vassal last night, came up against orks. Was a VERY gory match, ended up as a draw with him having a lone meganob and 12 lootas left, and me with 4 spiders, the farseer on one wound, the hawk exarch, and a squad of pathfinders. I like the farseer in this list, he lends himself well to the huge numbers of shots (and to pathdinfers). I know I'm a bit low on troops but pathfinders are hellishly survivable. Only real trouble is getting them on the objectives, and they have infiltrate for that, so while I'd have to be very careful with my initial deployment I think I could make them work.

 

[Fenrix]

So, I've played about 4 games with the above list now (battlewagon orks (draw), mech tau(win), infantry tau(draw), and warrior horde necrons(win)). My impressions:

1) It's fast! Not as fast as mech eldar, but:
2) It's VERY adaptable. It can react to pretty much any change in the battle extremely swiftly.
3) It's surprisingly nasty. It can pump out a silly amount of shots per turn, and even without the farseer's help they do a lot of damage.
4) It's also very good against light vehicles, and heavy ones with vulnerable rears. In one game I played a single unit of warp spiders took out 3 battlewagons simply by jumping to the rear, pumping out lots of shots, and jumping away again.
5) It's something of a nuisance to play AGAINST. A tau player complained that I was 'like smoke'. This army attacks when it wants, where it wants, and isn't necessarily there for much longer, which means it can easily exploit any weaknesses in the enemy line. The pathfinders are like terminators with sniper rifles when in cover, and, while they don't do masses of damage, have been getting an average of 2 pins a battle combined.
6) It isn't hugely reliable, though. I've had a battle where the spiders resolutely refuse to turn up til turn 4 (as jump infantry, they don't actually need that exarch upgrade to deepstrike), and another where I scattered massively on every deepstrike, thankfully with no very serious results (misplaced on a squad of spiders and a few dangerous terrain tests on the hawks)
7) It requires a lot of thought. For instance, bad placement of your pathfinders can hamper you for the rest of the battle. Deepstriking the hawks in the wrong place can leave them dead the next turn. And, at 1750, keeping the farseer out of harms way is essential, because if he's left in the open that's just begging for an assault cannon to send his t3 backside to oblivion.
8) There are some things against which it is hopeless. A land raider requires the lances to be in the right place at the right time (or the autarch), but even worse is a monolith, against which I can only glance. Thankfully, the one game against crons I played had one monolith, which didn't do a whole lot, and they were phased out by turn 5.
9) It's a surprise! At the end of the game all 4 players told me they having problems dealing with my tactics and abilities because they hadn't encountered most of them before and didn't know how to react. On the other hand, I was very familiar with the tactics that they were using (fish of fury being the most notable ones... necrons are slow, so their game was decided in the deployment, the infantry tau just stood still and shot me, and the orks... er... charged towards me. is that an official tactic?). A huge element of 40k is being able to second guess your opponents plan, and this list can easily deny my opponent that if they haven't faced it before (and even if they have)
10) It's fun! And to me, this is the most important factor.

 

[ericismyname]

I am glad that it is a fun list. If I had the models I would try it out. I am waiting for the warp spider models to get redone. Also waiting for them and hawks to get fixed up to be good in 5th edition.

Most things are hopeless against a monolith, i just avoid it.

 

[Alzer]

Woah, good goin fen! Glad to see a Non-Mech Eldar list playing so well.

 

[darquewing]

Excellent! Very good to see an Alaitoc style list doing well! Even more so, I am glad you are having fun with it.

One thing I am wondering though. Do you think 8 man Spider and Hawk squads with larger Pathfinder squads might be more efficient? This might make it a tad easier to DS into smaller areas, while giving your troops more "oomph". Nothing serious here. Just a possible tweak.

Okay, so deep-striking Hawks are, honestly, never easy to place =) I often imagine the comments they make to each other upon landing:

"Um.. excuse me Thal'nyan'therith... Um, yea... could you get your wing out my eye? I need to move because Mr. 'I'm-an-exarch-so-I-need-big-flappy-feathers' just fell over and his wing is stabbing into the new guy's groin area.

Please make sure your exterior links are appropriate to LO's rules, just because it's not on this site doesn't mean it's free game.

Alzer

 

[Fenrix]

I am glad that it is a fun list. If I had the models I would try it out. I am waiting for the warp spider models to get redone. Also waiting for them and hawks to get fixed up to be good in 5th edition.

Most things are hopeless against a monolith, i just avoid it.

I'd be interested to know why you don't think spiders are good in 5th ed. They're possibly one of the most versatile and damaging units I've ever used. Hawks, on the other hand, are average at best. I put them in my list as anti-tank, but I haven't used them as such yet. Might swap them for more spiders and a spider jump pack back on the autarch.
And, yes, I think I'll be staying away from the big nasty pyramids

Woah, good goin fen! Glad to see a Non-Mech Eldar list playing so well.

Thanks! They were all VERY close games, though.

Excellent! Very good to see an Alaitoc style list doing well! Even more so, I am glad you are having fun with it.

One thing I am wondering though. Do you think 8 man Spider and Hawk squads with larger Pathfinder squads might be more efficient? This might make it a tad easier to DS into smaller areas, while giving your troops more "oomph". Nothing serious here. Just a possible tweak.

Okay, so deep-striking Hawks are, honestly, never easy to place =) I often imagine the comments they make to each other upon landing:

"Um.. excuse me Thal'nyan'therith... Um, yea... could you get your wing out my eye? I need to move because Mr. 'I'm-an-exarch-so-I-need-big-flappy-feathers' just fell over and his wing is stabbing into the new guy's groin area.

Please make sure your exterior links are appropriate to LO's rules, just because it's not on this site doesn't mean it's free game.

Alzer

Got a good chuckle out of that. Suggestion taken on board, I'll try a few games and see how it does.

 

[Alzer]

Close games are the best kind!

Yeah I think you could drop your squads down to 8 mans to allow you some flexibility.

 

[amorac]

actually with the swooping hawks sky leap ability you can keep them off the table until the last turn for objective contesting because sky leap is an ability used during the movement phase which means after they deepstrike and place the blast template on something you can have use sky leap in the same turn they deepstriked , however it means you cant shoot with them but there so fragile most of the time. anyway those are my two cents feel free to ignore if you want.

 

[rafis117]

actually with the swooping hawks sky leap ability you can keep them off the table until the last turn for objective contesting because sky leap is an ability used during the movement phase which means after they deepstrike and place the blast template on something you can have use sky leap in the same turn they deepstriked , however it means you cant shoot with them but there so fragile most of the time. anyway those are my two cents feel free to ignore if you want.

You sure it isn't an assault phase movement? I'm away from my codex right now, but IIRC, it's an assault phase move just like normal jump-packs.

 

[darquewing]

You sure it isn't an assault phase movement? I'm away from my codex right now, but IIRC, it's an assault phase move just like normal jump-packs.

The Skyleap ability is done during the movement phase. Also, from the Eldar FAQ, you can deepstrike, getting to use your SH Grenade Pack, and then Skyleap back out during the same movement phase.