I´m thinking about adding two aspect warriors formations to my eldar army (I play basically using Swordwind and  Yme-Loc lists).

I already have guardians, grav tanks (falcons, scorpions...) and some airforce. And I want one formation for extra shooting and another one to rock in assaults, so:

One formation with half Striking Scorpions & half Dire avengers, for assault??

Another one with half Dark Reapers and half Fire Dragons, for shooting??

I really like Swooping Hawks and Warp Spiders, but I prefer using these alone, withour mixing.

Any comments???

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Those look like pretty good mixes.

I like to sprinkle Swooping Hawks into my other Aspect mixes to allow for scouts Zone of Control harrassment tactics after winning assaults; it's nice to be able to force enemy arty to move instead of sustaining.

The Dark Reaper/Fire Dragon formation will also be excellent for support fire, so pay close attention to positioning it in conjunction with a direct assault formation.

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I've had some success with a fifty-fifty mixture of Fire Dragons and Striking Scorpions too.  They seem to work well together.

Dire Avengers and Striking Scorpions seem like a solid combination though.

I like to field Dark Reapers all together in one formation, this enables them to keep their distance, and use their superb supporting fire to cover other Eldar units seeking to engage the enemy.  That said, I haven't tried them out yet in the role in which you are suggesting, so it could work just as well.

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I´m not too confident in the "shooting" formation, as the Fire Dragons have too little range to fire effectively. Such a formations main strength would be support fire, keeping  that role in mind might allow for a few shots at 15cm range.

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You are right, mixing ranges is not a good idea, perhaps I will drop the "shooting" formation (I have enough shooting with all my grav tanks), and just run two assault formations.

But at least one of my aspect formations will have Striking Scorpions, I love them!!!! I will use some proxy for testing and then I will make up my mind. But I will stick to the "max two types of aspects per formation" and stay close to the fifty-fifty rate.

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I really like Striking Scorpions too, so always include them, but I really do think that they work well when used in conjunction with Fire Dragons, so perhaps it would be worth your giving that combination a try in one of your games if you really do want to use the Dragons.  Also, if you add the Autarch to one of the Striking Scorpion units, it makes the formation quite a bit more dangerous.

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The only issue with putting the Autarch in a close-combat unit is that he/she will often be directly in harm's way while fighting.

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True, but I've found it to be worth the risk, as the extra Macro Weapon attack in base contact is very useful, especially against Marines, whose armour save is a real pain in assaults.  I'm not saying that this is the best strategy against all armies though (as I've only played against Marines), just that it seems to work well against Marines.

Just out of interest Chroma, in which unit of Aspect Warriors do you typically field your Autarch?  Do you put him in a unit of ranged Aspect Warriors?

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Most people keep the Autach with ranged attack Aspects. It is a moot point whether it is better to have the extra kill or the point for inspiring - but generally most people want the Autarch to survive for the re-roll. Without Spirit stones and no Leaders to remove additional BMs, the Eldar are now very prone to failing initiative.

Back on topic, virtually every combination of aspects are good. I quite like Shining Spears with FireDragons (in Wave Serpents) as a cheaper way of getting the formation mobile combined with good anti-armour capabilities). FireDragons behind Striking Scorpions are also good.

Part of the issue here is that Aspects are each good at particular roles, so it tends to boil down to whether you are intending to use them in an anti-armour or anti-infantry role; and how much you intend to use them to support attacks as opposed to performing assaults.

Bear in mind, one of the greatest weapons in the Eldar arsenal is their post-assault consolidation, so the optimum strategy is to use the Aspects both to attack one target and then support the attack on another one or two enemy formations. Used this way, the Eldar can build up really formidable amounts of firepower - but only if they succeed in winning each assault and the first one is crucial.

To this end, it is always a good idea to ensure reasonable amounts of good FF Aspects in the formation, which is why Dire Avengers are always a good bet, and so you might even consider 3x Scorpions, 3x Avengers and make your exarchs 2x FireDragons.

Two Aspects do not combine well - Swooping Hawks are really usefull for teleporting in against deep-strike targets; and Warp Spiders cannot use conventional transport (so have to use Vampires or Storm Serpents). And finally Howling Banshees do not work well except against lightly armoured, isolated opponents - which are normally a rarity.

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I usually put my Autarch in a Warp Spider unit, in, usually, a 6 Warp Spider + 2 Swooping Hawk Aspect Warhost that starts in the Webway... occasionally it's pure Warp Spiders; yeah, it starts the Autarch off the table, but there's often a juicy target near the Webway Portal as the first turn progresses.

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Interesting point about most people preferring to run the Autarch with a ranged Aspect.  I may have to try that out for comparison purposes, so that I can judge which is better.

On the subject of mixing Aspect Warriors, taking a three, three, two combination is something which I hadn't considered, but given that I have a wide variety of Aspect Warriors at my disposal is a concept that I may try.  The only thing I would say is that it may make the formation a bit too diverse, i.e. it makes it lack a role, but I suspect that this may be more of a problem against some armies than others.

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Now I'm curious Chroma - why the Swooping Hawks with the Warp Spiders?

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My Warpies are usually stuck deep in enemy territory and, since they have lost the scout ability, the Swooping Hawks give them access to the extended Zone of Control harrassment tactic against formations in the enemy rear areas, such as artillery, that really don't want to have to move.  Since the enemy will often have Blast markers on them from whatever the Warpies have taken out, it also forces the enemy to have to move if they fail their action test...

When Warpies had scout, my opponent despised the tactic, now, they only hate it.  *laugh*

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Now, that thought had just never occurred to me, probably because this hasn't happened in the two games I've played so far.  I feel a bit silly for having not worked this out sooner   .  The more that I think about the way hits are allocated though, the more I realise that there is quite a high chance of this happening, so I think I will start putting my Autarch in a ranged Aspect unit.

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