How much terrain do you use?



That image shows a fairly typical table setup for a tournament in the UK. Hills are green, Forests are brown and ruins were the grey base boards. It's pretty normal in the UK to play buildings/ruins as areas of terrain like that, and not individual buildings with gaps between them.

How you play terrain, and how much you use, have a massive impact on the game and will result in differing play experiences.

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Nice pic.

I hear what you say, except there are no buildings on your photograph

We play with similar amounts of scenery, which is the tournament scenario anyway.

Cheers,

A.

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"War is not about who is right, but about who is left". - B. Russell

Artillery is scary for Eldar.

Fortunately though we have the tools to deal with this. As has already been stated, Void Spinners are your friend. Not only that but long range vehicles like Fire prisms and Scorpions do the business too.

Since it's only really Guard that can hit you with artillery in the opening phases of the game, chances are very high that you'll go fist and can shut down his arty with your VS counter-battery fire.

Warhounds are another one that can be worrying. Usually though if you're playing against marines they'll have very little to deploy (Or less than you do anyway) meaning that the warhounds are placed before you put down your mounted infantry fms. Just pre-measure their threat range and make sure you're out of it to prevent the Alpha strike.

Another thing that I quite often like to do against Warhounds is to set up my troops in such a way that if they do choose to Alpha strike my mounted infantry then they are severly punished for it. 2 crossfiring falcon fms make a very quick end to a Warhound and that's all to the good. I'll take the damage to my MI if it means I can kill the warhounds off nice and early.

Spaceships are pretty decent too, if you can get the hang of reading the terrain. I have aquired the knack of being able to read the terrain and guess 8 times out of 10 where my opponent is going to place his arty and orbital bombard the snot out of it. They're also very nice for pinpointing shieldless warhounds. I have an enduring loathing for warhounds and take great pleasure in ending the little feckers from Orbit.

My Eldar lists always include lots of mounted infantry, as they are simply superb once you get the hang of them.

Lists below are EUK:

Biel Tann:

The Stompwind!, 3000 POINTS
Biel-Tan Craftworld (Epic-UK v20101230)
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AVATAR [0]

ASPECT WARRIOR WARHOST [600]
4 Dire Avenger, Exarch, Autarch, 4 Wave Serpent, 2 Striking Scorpion, 2 Fire Dragon

ASPECT WARRIOR WARHOST [350]
2 Exarch, 8 Warp Spider

GUARDIAN WARHOST (MOUNTED) [350]
Farseer, 4 Wave Serpents, 7 Guardians

FALCON TROUPE [275]
3 Falcon, Spirit Stones, 2 Fire Storm

FALCON TROUPE [275]
3 Falcon, Spirit Stones, 2 Fire Storm

FIRE PRISM TROUPE [250]
3 Fire Prisms

ENGINES OF VAUL TROUPE [250]
Void Spinner

ENGINES OF VAUL TROUPE [250]
Void Spinner

RANGER TROUPE [100]
4 Ranger

RANGER TROUPE [100]
4 Ranger

VAMPIRE RAIDER [200]

http://traitor-legion.appspot.com/choos ... 0~11x4~522

At 4000pts I like to throw in a Warlock titan to really ramp up the rolling assaults and give my opponent headaches.

At club level, I'm rarely beaten when using this list. It's only when attending tournaments with the big boys that I have my lunch money taken and even then I don't make it easy for them (Well, too easy anyway).

Ulthwe:

Stomp'thwe, 3000 POINTS
Ulthwé Craftworld (Epic-UK v20101230)
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AVATAR [0]

BLACK GUARDIAN WARHOST (MOUNTED) [475]
4 Waveserpents, Farseers, 6 Guardians, Seer Council

BLACK GUARDIAN WARHOST (MOUNTED) [375]
4 Waveserpents, 2 Farseers, 6 Guardians

BLACK GUARDIAN WARHOST [225]
2 Farseers, 3 Guardians, 3 Support Weapon Platforms, 3 Heavy Weapon Platform

FALCON TROUPE [275]
3 Falcon, Spirit Stones, 2 Fire Storm

FALCON TROUPE [275]
3 Falcon, 2 Fire Storm, Spirit Stones

FIRE PRISM TROUPE [250]
3 Fire Prisms

ASPECT TROUPE [275]
Exarch, 6 Warp Spider

VAMPIRE RAIDER [200]

NIGHTWINGS [300]
3 Nightwing Interceptors

WRAITHSHIP [150]

RANGER TROUPE [100]
4 Ranger

RANGER TROUPE [100]
4 Ranger

http://traitor-legion.appspot.com/choos ... 4~500~11x4

4000 pts sees the addition of 2 x Scorpions and some more mounted Guardians (Because they are that good).

As stomp says, the only army with artillery capable of reliably hitting you in your deployment zone is guard, and you'll normally be going before they get a chance to fire, which gives you plenty of chance to neutralise as much of that artillery as possible, as you said other armies have leaders and ways to shed blast markers and eldar don't, but other armies can't triple retain, hit and run, and consolidate their full move after an assault, it's not about having all the toys, it's about making the most of the toys you have...

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Just some guy

My hobby/painting threads

Army Forge List Co-ordinator

Thank you for the list.

The problem I have found is not so much the alpha strike artillery, but more all the cheaper artillery formations that shoot you on turn 1 afetr your movement.

- Baran Thudd guns
- SM Whirlwinds
- Tau Guided Missiles
- etc.

Of course, Rug's comment on multiplying dangerous targets is spot on. However I find that indirect fire is really a good counter to land based Eldar in General.

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"War is not about who is right, but about who is left". - B. Russell

Going through that list:

Baran thudd guns don't really hit that hard and can be suppressed quite easily with your aircraft and/ or counter-battery. Baran siege masters are notoriously short on AA and you'll nearly always get to activate before they can put any fighters on CAP. Make the most of it! They also set up their fortifications before you have to plot your Spaceship barrage too, so it's normally pretty clear where the artillery is going to go.

SM whirlwinds don't have the range until you move into it. Burn down the cheap activations first, forcing them to activate and then move, or else hit them with your aircraft/ Fire prisms/ Scorpions/ Counter battery fire. Whirlwinds should never really get to fire at Eldar, unless you've been really careless in your movement and/or deployment.

Tau Guided missiles. Now Tau are a tricky one to deal with. I tend to favour hitting the units that actually carry the missiles with the artillery and any recon fms that come close enough to use their marker lights get engaged and wiped out. Clever use of scout screens also makes it difficult for them to get close enough to markerlight anything truly valuable. Hitting the missile carriers adds blast markers to the unit which means that if you do get hit the damage is normally very minimal. 75cm Scorpions are truly excellent at this one. 2 dead HHs is generally enough to break the fm, meaning there's 6 less guided missiles (Assuming obligatory skyray) and one less activation for you to worry about. It also makes it that much harder for the guided missile unit to sustain fire on you, as they'll be activating on a 3+. Guided missiles are really no big worry unless sustaining, so happy days!

Of course, you could always fight fire with fire:
300 3x Rangers (4)
450 3x Guardians (2x heavy weapons)
700 4x Night Spinners
750 3x Falcons (2x Firestorms)
400 2x Vampires
400 Aspects +ex +aut (BTS off table in one vampire, retrieved by the other vampire)

15 effective activations

or the alternative

400 4x Rangers (4)
600 4x Guardians (2x heavy weapons)
700 4x Night Spinners
1000 4x Falcons (2x Firestorms)
300 Swooping Hawks (BTS off table for third turn appearance)

16 effective activations

There are other variants to suit particular tastes. Not the strongest army by any means, but it can prove awkward until you understand its weaknesses. Both have significant firepower and AA. The trick is to keep to small advances, blasting away at major threats as they appear, and trying to reduce opposing activations where possible. Use the activation advantage to best effect to set up next turn actions, and do your best to pin the enemy in their own half.

^This^

with the enormous breadth of different armies, playstyles and special rules, there are going to be some matchups which are skewed in favour of one side or the other, the rock-paper-scissors situation can't necessarily be avoided without unbalancing the game unfairly, and I think it's a nice challenge to take on and defeat an army which is strong against your force

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Just some guy

My hobby/painting threads

Army Forge List Co-ordinator

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Agreed Irisado, and the SM rarely have a WW formation, I cannot remember seeing two or more. The Eldar can provide a number of threats that need to be reacted to, which can distract the SM fire.