Yet another thread about aspect warriors!!

but no it's not the normal affair which rapidly devolves into a bunfight about the relative worth of different aspects (or at least that's the intention)

I'm currently building 3 eldar armies (couldn't do a single modular one, can't explain why) to scratch the particular itches of Biel-Tan, Iyanden and Ulthwe.

To save myself at least some small amount of painting, I've decided that the rangers and aspect warriors can be painted in a 'generic' colour scheme and be used as a shared 'pool' between the armies

my question is, how often do multiple units of aspects get used? more specifically swooping hawks and warp spiders, from what I can gather they are both generally taken as mono-aspect choices due to their niche roles, I've got enough models to make 2 formations of 8 stands of each, but the question is 'should I?'

how often would someone be likely to use 2 warp spider or swooping hawk formations in the same army?

can anyone think of a compelling reason to try them out?

_________________
Just some guy

My hobby/painting threads

Army Forge List Co-ordinator

For the roles, points costs and size of the armies that we generally play with the answer is no. I shuffle my Aspects between armies, mostly it's just the Swooping Hawks and Shining Spears.

yeah thought as much, 8 stands of each flavour will be enough

Tim, do you have multiple eldar armies too?

_________________
Just some guy

My hobby/painting threads

Army Forge List Co-ordinator

Ulthwe, Saim-Hann, Iyanden (& Ulthwe sometimes proxy for Biel-Tan, but with no Void Spinners)

Paint the aspects in their 'uniform' colours and swap between arimes... I had biel tan, ulthwe and a Iyanden army in bits... down to ulthwe and Iyanden and I'm on the verge of shifting the ulthwe I think.

that is the plan, just wondering if 8 stands of each aspect will suffice or if there will be times that I'll use multiple formations.....

_________________
Just some guy

My hobby/painting threads

Army Forge List Co-ordinator

I suspect if you ended up using a force with more than 8 it might be two troupes of Swooping Hawks or you might be going Fire Dragon heavy.

In truth you probably only need 4 of most, as you tend to mix and match mostly.

well I only have enough models for swooping hawks and warp spiders.... I've got around 12 stands of most other aspects

I've come off on the wrong end of the 2x FD exarch, 2x reaper and 2x avenger combo a few times, I'm keen to get my eldar up and running to test out the warp spiders and shining spears too

when I have more cash (or rather if) I'll be investing in some cobras and war walkers, I'm keen to try an eldar army with those and banshees to see if it can be made to work effectively.....

_________________
Just some guy

My hobby/painting threads

Army Forge List Co-ordinator

Eldar should get an "equality in the workplace" bonus for fielding aspect formations containing at least one of each aspect. Maybe +1 to all government contract negotiation attempts.

LoL I like the concept Mike - the serious point being that the more Aspect types in the formation, the weaker the impact of the resulting formation.

As the others say, I really doubt that you will ever field more than 8-12 of any type of Aspect unit, though it could be 'fun' to try the effect. As such, I would recommend painting up the pairs of Swooping Hawks, Warp Spiders and Howling Banshees as recognisably different formations to allow you to try this out.

Just paint up your Banshees, they're all you'll ever need

Dave, do you have any tips for using Banshees? I think you used them in a winning Ulthwé list a while ago, which runs counter to the established thought that they suck. Is First Strike on the Exarch in the EUK list a difference maker?

I think it's just a case of picking the right target for them, that target may not always fit with their fluff but game wise they work well for me.

I've mainly used them in EUK Ulthwe lists where they only get access to 1 exarch and a max of 7 first strike attacks (6 strong formation) so not really a boost to usefulness.
In an EUK Biel Tann list you can get up to 10 First strike attacks which is a slight boost to geting them to work.

I use Warp Spiders at every possible opportunity. They are almost custom made to be air dropped IMO and are easily the best aspect for this role due to their high save and large threat radius, after the initial air assault has taken place. I'd definately paint up 8 stands.