2K Eldar Foot Army list

[HarlekissofDeath]

So lets be honest and admit that we really haven't seen too many of these around, so I thought that I would throw one out there and see what people think of it.

So here is my 2000 point Eldar Alaitoc Foot Army,

HQ
138- Farseer- w/ Singing Spear, Spirit Stones, Runes of Warding, Doom, Fortune
155- Avatar

Elites
166- Harlequins x5- W/ Troupe Master, Power sword, Shadow Seer, Kiss, 3 Harlequins,3 Kisses
224- Wraitguard x5- w/ Warlock, Singing Spear, Spirit Seer, Conceal
95- Fire Dragons x5- w/ Exarch, Firepike, Crackshot
124- Howling Banshees x6- w/ Exarch, Executioner, War Shout

Troops
215- Guardians x20- w/ Warlock, Conceal, and Scatter Laser weapon’s platform
95- Rangers x5
95- Rangers x5

Fast Attack
228- Warp Spiders x8- w/ Exarch, additional Death Spinner, Powerblades, Withdraw, Deepstrike

Heavy Support
465- Wraithlords x3- w/ all flamers, 3 Bright Lances, 3 EML

I would to hear from anyone, but especially other Eldar players. I know it isn't perfect against everything, but the great thing in my opinion about the Eldar is there is a build for anything you go up against.

I see alot of Mechdar armies on this site and I don't know if they are super effective against other armies but they seem really bland. Alot of the same things over and over again in armies. So this is my effort to spice things up.

Thanks, :D

[djanimus]

Its nice to see variety in a list. Yeah Im not a fan of these clone style lists, I dont think they are as great as people make them out to be either. I know very little of the eldar, but Im glad to see units that I like from a fluff/model point of view.

Would be curious to know how you use the list since you seem to lack numbers appropiate for a foot slogging army? Not sure though as I know very little about eldar. I play orks and nids and those have much different dynamics.

[karandras]

You cannot run 4 elites.

I play non-mechanized Eldar and have for years. I actually prefer them to the common mech-dar builds.

That being said, I have moved away from running Fire Dragons on foot as they simply do not live long enough to get a shot off.

In general, foot Eldar need full sized squads. The 5 and 6 model squads will never live long enough to make it across the table. Also, I realize your Alaitoc theme, but the Rangers really don't fit this build. You need Dire Avengers in place of them.

I would re-work the list entirely.

[eagleboy7259]

Eldar huh? needs more Eldrad.

In all seriousness, decrease in abilities, wargear, and increase in bodies. "Everything counts in large amounts" and small or expensive squads don't fit the bill. I would drop the Fire Dragons, Wraithguard, and Rangers, buy up more guardian storm squads, dire avengers, and that sort of nonsense.

[president_ev1l]

Hey, i play eldar. Mainly hybrid lists, but i agree that there are many ways to build an eldar army. My opinion on that list would be to drop the dragons and banshees, they wont survive without transport. i would take a full squad of wraithguard , with those wraithlords and avatar, it would be a fearsome sight. Keep the harlies, they can survive in the open just fine with VOT.
I don't think you need to buy deepstrike for the spiders as jump infantry can DS already in the rules.
I like rangers, but pathfinders are better worth their points if you can spare them.

If you can afford to drop the banshees, dragons a unit of rangers and deepstrike (and maybe withdraw) on the spiders and get a full squad of wraithguard (counting as troops) and either upgrade the other rangers to pathfinders or get some scorpions as they are another unit thats ok without a transport, give the exarch shadowstrike so they can infiltrate.
I'm not sure on points as i dont have my codex to hand, but you should be able to fit that in

seer
avatar
quins
scorpions
guardians
wraithguard
spiders
wraithlords

Spiders and scorpions hold up the enemy while Avatar & fearless guardians, fortuned wraithguard move up, Lords and gun platforms can all move & fire. So thats what i would do, i appreciate it involves 5 more wraithguard, and a fair few changes from your original list. I like it though :)

Oh and i think guide would serve your seer better than doom in that list.

[Splug]

The way you have them outfitted, that banshee squad costs 123, not 124. Though it'd be worth the extra 5 points to have acrobatic. Ideally you won't be getting charged, but fail move through cover / run rolls do happen.

As already mentioned, your army is also in violation of force organization requirements: too many elites. You need to get some more troops on the table as well; one heavy flamer in your backfield via drop pod or land speeder and you're pretty much out of the game in seize ground missions.

Those wraithguard are too expensive for an army banking on overwhelming the opponent with bodies and targets. Without any tanks on the field and the avatar being the likely recipient of fortune, all the opponent's anti-tank guns will be free to drill these guys into the floor as soon as they start getting close enough to be dangerous - though it would alleviate some fire from the wraithlords for a turn. I'd say drop them to get back into FoC constraints, and spend the points on more troops.

Stick with doom over guide - you've got a lot of BS4 shooting in there, and for those you get a higher return out of rerolling to wound over to hit. It also has very strong synergy with the rending shots from your rangers (assuming they're not going to ground every turn), and the rate of conversion is going to be better than guiding for the AP1 on the to-hit. Finally, it removes the tricky problem of being in range to guide your gun team and fortune the avatar at the same time; that 6" range can be fairly problematic in its own right, the 24" doom is much easier to manage.

[HarlekissofDeath]

Thanks guys, that was really helpful and insightful on things that i can do with the list.

I liked the 10 wraithguard with warlock as troop choice, and wasn't sure about the deepstrike with the rules, i had heard similar before but played it on the safe side.

but upgrading the rangers to pathfinders was something that I was thinking about these last few days as I have been hashing over the list.

So I will pull out the elite wraithguard and the banshees, and see I have the points to still keep the fire dragons. I was going to predomently run them behind my gaurdians and get a 4+ cover from them, and fortune up my gaurdians to make them a little more durable as a wall.

The harlequins are fine from a distance not having to worry about getting them shot up, and there are 3 wraithlords, and an Avatar to keep people busy. Counting on the rending shots from the pathfinders to take out a few guys and cause some pinning too.

I will go over the list and repost it with the changes.

Once again guys thanks for the input.

[karandras]

You have a lot of good advice here. If I were going to build a themed Alaitoc army I would personally go for something like this. I envision the scouts playing heavily as they observe the enemy before the rest of the army swoops into annihilate the ambushed foe.

HQ
- Karandras
- Autarch with Mandiblaster, PW, Fusion Gun attached to Storm Guardians

Elites
- 9 Striking Scorpions including Exarch w/Claw and move thru cover

Troops
-6 Pathfinders
-6 Pathfinders
-6 Pathfinders
-6 Guardian Jetbikes w/2 Shuriken Cannons
-6 Guardian Jetbikes w/2 Shuriken Cannons
-10 Storm Guardians w/2 Fusion Guns, add Warlock w/Destructor and Singing Spear
(Mounted in Wave Serpant w/Twin Brightlance and Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stones)

Fast Attack
-2 Vypers with Shuriken Cannon plus Shuriken Cannon upgrade

Heavy Support
-2 War Walkers with Scatter Lasers
-2 War Walkers with Scatter Lasers or EML
-2 War Walkers with EML

I am at work without a codex, but I would estimate that to be right around 2k. Just over 1k in troops. Obviously this is one of those cheesy Eldar armies that similar to mech-dar is built to go second very effectively. You could actually deploy only the infiltrating Pathfinder squads, choose to infiltrate or outflank with Karandras and the Scorpions, outflank with all of the War Walker Squadrons, and reserve the Jetbikes, Wave Serpant, and Vypers. Plenty of mobility and plenty of shooting. If you have the first turn, deploy everything except for outflanking 1 or 2 of the War Walker squads for side shots. I think it would be a fun list to play and play against, is well themed, and well balanced. Not nearly as assault capable as your build with Avatar, 3 Wraithlords, and Harlequins but the Harlequins could always be added into this list and IMHO this is more how I envision Alaitoc marching to war.

[HarlekissofDeath]

Thanks Karandras,

I actually have Karandras and have been thinking about how I could throw him into a mix, because I think he is such a power house.
It is also good to hear positive feedback about some of my ideas, I have been looking through the army list for some of the Eldar players on this site, and it is good to hear how I can mix it up with and try different elements for army list.
I'm guessing you play Eldar so an Elar army list can change alot depending on who you are fighting. The Eldar in one form or another have an answer from everything brought before them, we just have to figure out what that is.

But thanks again for the advice.

[Cyndr]

Like it has been mentioned before, drop those Fire Dragons and Banshees. They just don't last on the ground. I love the Harlies, but am less than impressed with the Troupe Master. All he gives you is a power weapon and a 10 on your leadership. If you are using him to allocate wounds, I don't think I would bother since it's a 5+ either way. I would personally drop him to save the points.

Also, don't forget that that Shadow Seer is a PSYKER and can be used to prevent wraith sight on the lords and your guard if the lock is unlucky on a roll. I have used her before on an "outrider" lord on flanking maneuvers in the past.

[ghastli]

Quick question: Would swooping hawks work well in a foot eldar army? I've heard that they are "cute but ineffective"? I like the models but I'm hesitant about getting any.. If they do work, how many would I need and what gun and powers should the exarch have?

[Captain Bubonicus]

I have a mostly foot-slogging Eldar force (I cheat and use a Falcon and a Wave Serpent as well) that features a small squad of Swooping Hawks - I need all the help I can get taking care of vehicles, and the Hawks' lovely Haywire Grenades really help out, especially vs. those pesky "nyah, nyah, can't hit me!" skimmers.

They're not as cost-effective as some of the other anti-armor choices, but they give you a goodly amount of flexibility - fast, deep-striking-capable infantry that can engage vehicles or infantry alike. Unfortunately, they're VERY fragile...

[Splug]

Hawks are very good at preventing vehicles from shooting for a turn, but glancing hits just aren't a reliable way to put lasting damage onto vehicles, let alone remove them.

[dvs1]

for me the perfect unit size is 5-6. ( I only say 6 cause it makes the odds easier to calculate) Small units on the cheap are good to harass enemy armour and maybe even light infantry. They are fast enough to avoid obvious fire lanes, and potent enough to draw blood against most well picked targets. Try not to go overboard on weapons and exarch powers as this will increase their cost to the point of you actually expecting something good out of them, every game. Skyleap has great potential in kill teams, but may not be worth it in a normal game unless you get wiped out down to your exarch and don't wanna give up that kill point. Intercept also implies that you will be facing a specific type of vehicle, and is not worth it if the aforementioned is not taken.

[karandras]

The usefullness of Swooping Hawks will generally be determined by the typical armies in your particular area. For the most part, I do not find them to be at all useful. In my area, Space Marine armies dominate the scene and the Str.3 shooting of the hawks is utterly ineffective. If you play mostly toughness 3 armies, they could provide a useful role.

Generally speaking though, they are not worth their points no matter how fun they are to run.

If you want to kill vehicles, Fire Dragons do it far more effectively for about the same cost and as a bonus, will actually destroy any infantry or even monsterous creatures they target to boot. Yes they need a transport, but I still would take them over hawks any day of the week.

If you are looking to use a FA slot on Aspect Warriors, go with Warp Spiders. They have better shooting, better armor, are better in assault, have slightly better mobility, and also have hit and run. There really is no contest here as a ton of Str.6 shooting to the flank or rear of most armored vehicles is probably more effective than Haywire Grenades. Haywire can offer a nasty surprise to AV14, but you really are better off targetting those types of vehicles with Fire Dragons!

[dvs1]

I cannot agree more on the use of warp spiders over swooping hawks. The WSJG gives advantages that wings cannot match. On that note, i would say never deep strike your spiders in unless you really like to gamble. I can't count the number of times i mishap'd and lost my whole squad, autarch included. In most of those case I probably deserved that with the placements i chose.

[karandras]

Totally agreed! Even if you do not scatter, a single well placed Plasma Cannon shot takes out the entire unit!!! Definitely no need to deep strike!

[Splug]

Totally agreed! Even if you do not scatter, a single well placed Plasma Cannon shot takes out the entire unit!!! Definitely no need to deep strike!Is there any reason you cannot jump during the assault phase right after deep striking in? That should get the squad spread out before it gets smashed, and get you some distance from whoever's transport you just shot at.

[karandras]

You could try to blip with the usual associated risks to minimize the effect.

[Splug]

More likely than not, you'd be doing that anyway after firing whether you deep strike or not. The only reasons I can see to not deep strike in are the same that any unit faces: you risk being isolated from the rest of your force, mishapping, or just being out to lunch for 3-4 turns with a unit that was capable of being in your opponents deployment zone by turn 2 anyway.

[karandras]

Actually, the more I think about it, I do not believe they can blip on the turn they deep strike. I am pretty sure the rule is worded instead of making an assault move. As a deep striking unit cannot assault (outside of Planetstrike of course), then they would not be permitted to blip on the turn they deep strike. I could be wrong as I haven't checked the codex, but I am pretty sure.

[Splug]

The GW Eldar FAQ clarifies that the unit does not actually need to be in range of or capable of an assault to use the warp jump, the rule simply indicates that it cannot initiate or be part of an assault already.