8 Aspects, 2 Exarchs, 4 Wave Serpents = 550 points

I have found that I can rarely justify such an expensive activation, therefore I tend to use my aspects out of Storm Serpents or Vampires.

I would welcome efficient strategies to use them in Wave Serpents.

As an aside, does anyone ever pick Falcons transports with their Aspects? More points for less survivability results in me never picking them. Also, their shooting abilities are quite useless, as no Aspects have AT fire (except FDs but the range is incomparable), and Aspects need Assault power more than shootiness. Any tips here?

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

It's one of the best assault units in the game w/ a charge range of 50cm. Starts most assaults up 3 due outnumber and 2 inspirings. In the course of a 3 turn game should break at least 2 enemy formations. With the right build can spit out 16 FF 4+ shots + the exarchs (fire dragons?). Also, the wave serpents can go in front and stop close combat attacks. Add to that the fact it can march 105cms and what's not to like? Definitely worth 500pts.

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Firstly I think you may have the cost incorrect:- the Aspects (300) + Exarchs (50) + Wave Serpents (200) come to 550 not 500. (600 points if you use the Autarch instead of an Exarch).

Ok, Wave serpents give the formation mobility, resilience and additional punch on top of a huge attack (depending on type). The staple 4x Striking Scorpions, 4x Dire Avengers with Exarchs already gets 18x 4+ dice, the WS boosts that to 22x 4+ dice. My preference is to use Fire Dragons for the Exarchs and Autarchs which provides MW attacks as well as some firepower.
With the Autarch (Supreme Commander) you can combine some support formations (bikes for preference) boosting the assault dice further to 34x 4+dice . . . . .
(I use Shining Spears in this way with two bike formations to assault Titans, usually with significant success)

As Carlos says, keeping them mounted in the WS means they get a 55cm assault, which can really ruin the enemies day, especially with the subsequent consolidation (in the WS) of 35 cm to get them back out of harms way.

Now, the height of strategy is to build up a rolling assault where you want to use assaults on isolated enemy formations as 'stepping stones' to support further attacks. Here the WS can move further thus allowing the entire formation to kill two (or more) enemy formations within ~35cms to 45 cms of each other. Combined with Bikes this boosts the potential assault / support distance to 55cms to 65cms.

To cut down the costs, you can always include Shining spears or Swooping Hawks which do not need the associated WS transport, though it also reduces the impact of the formation.

I have never seen or heard anyone taking Falcons instead of WS for several reasons:-
1. Falcons are far more expensive, requiring 520 points just for the transport without the 350-400 points for the Aspects themselves. Titans are cheaper and a better option generally.
2. Falcons are much less resilient than WS

The only list where they become viable are those that permit Aspect 'squads' of 4x units for 200 points, where the additional 260 for transport is more acceptable, and which then provides a very flexible shooty / assaulty formation.

Thank you.

Do you not find such expensive formations quickly shut down by indirect fire?

My Space marine opponents usually field 2-3 Whirlwind formations against Eldar.

Similar with IG. Don't even mention dactylis/biovores. etc.

Do you still field such formations in this case, and then play Void spinner + SH + Aircraft to shut them down?

Do you not find that you are short on activations then?

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

Whirlwinds don't have enough range to hit you on turn 1 if you're clever with deployment, and a couple of void spinners coupled with a higher SR can provide you with ample counter battery fire to shut down IG artillery before it can fire....

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LordotMilk: I seem to recall that you play between 3000 and 4000 points, so perhaps this is why you feel that you wouldn't have enough activations?

I've played between 4000 and 5000 points more often than not, so I take two Aspect formations mounted in Wave Serpents, and I don't find myself excessively lacking in activations.

Ginger outlined how to get the best out of a Wave Serpent Aspect mounted formation, so I won't repeat that, I'll just add that the key to it not attracting blast markers before it can assault is to have other things in your army that draw fire.

For example, my support fire units, such as Titans, Scorpions and Dark Reapers tend to receive quite a bit of attention from barrage units firing indirectly, because, providing you space out your Wave Serpents as much as possible, barrage weapons are more likely to inflict more damage on units which are grouped together, or large war engines.

Falcons as a transport are way too expensive. I use them for fire support, and in this role they can also help to draw fire away from your assault formations.

As a summary, I would say that the key to alleviating the pressure on your Aspect formations is to ensure that you take enough long ranged fire support units to worry your opponent that they draw fire that would otherwise be directed at your Wave Serpents.

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One last thought, keep your troops mounted unless actually assaulting, and consider keeping them in a line to minimise the number of targets under a barrage template.

You have the best arty formation in the game and a higher strat. rating than anyone who can bring comparable arty.

Yes, in general, larger formations would more of an attractive target than smaller ones, but Eldar, and Beil tan in particular, are more able to deal with this than just about any other army.

So basically the answer is: play a lot of Void spinners. I happen to own 6 and play them very regularly.

It still does not cover the SM full Scout drop pod + Warhound support army, but I guess very little does.

That's dandy and all except Void spinners are BT only. What do you do with Ulthwe or Saim hann? Swooping Hawks?

@Rug: Thank you for posting your list, I really appreciate your sharing this with us. I see that you have only 1 Aspect formation, and it has the SC with leader in it. Would you field two in an army, or would you rather have more guardians? It is precisely the rationale for playing more than one aspect formation that I am looking for.

@Irisado: I do not quite see your point that you can afford larger formations in larger games. The larger the game, the more activations you need, so though there is some correlation, it really cannot be simplified like this.

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

I cannot agree with you, though the Void spinner is a good answer. Eldar have 5+ saves on all their armored vehicles and jetbikes, sometimes RA. They also have no mechanic to shed BM's, and only 1 leader. Their best tactic is to never get shot, so indirect fire pillages them.

Every other army has ways to handle coming under fire, Eldar do not.

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

Wave Serpent's 5+ RA is literally twice as good as any other race's dedicated transport and, as I've already said, are better placed than any other army to pre emptively deal with possible opposition indirect fire.

You know that 90% of all the stuff you're complaining about is endemic to all armies, right? Imperial Guard armies could just as easily complain about their mech. infantry companies being arty magnets, and them being unable to do anything about it thanks to their large size and low strat. rating as a random example.

Scouts cannot use drop pods, that was changed in the 2008 official rules change.

LoM, with respect to your last posts, you are not quite correct. Yes the Eldar suffer from barrage templates, probably more than others, but there are a number of things that can be done to mitigate the effect. And you can also reduce the impact of SM drop armies (not scouts as Dptdexys says ):-

1. If you fear barrages, leave the Guardians and Aspects mounted in their vehicles. You suffer only 4x dice maximum (and putting them in a line can reduce this), with potentially only a single loss (so 1-4 BMs), rather than the additional 4x infantry hits which may well break the formation outright.
2. If you fear air assaults, pack several formations together with vehicles (that skim) on the outside and infantry deployed on the inside. This provides a lot of FF shooting at which the Eldar excel and will deter most opposition outright.
3. Use Ranger (or Warwalker) screens to keep enemy Terminator and THawk assaults at arms length where they are much less fearsome.
4. Get at least two of the formations that are vital to your strategy (preferably more). In Rug's case he has four, so losing one of them does not hinder his overall game.
5. The Eldar are relatively cheaper than most other armies, so try to maintain an activation advantage in order to use your 'key' formations to best advantage.
6. Stay in or behind cover, only bringing the relevant formations together when you intend to use them - only assault when you can be confident of winning, in order to make best use of the Hit-&-Run consolidation.
7. Always operate in 'battlegroups' of several formations to take advantage of the synergies between the different formations - ie stay in support distance of several formations where possible.
8. Look for 'sneaky' Eldar tricks that can surprise your opponent - there are several! EG skimmers 'pop-up' at the start of the activation, only 'popping-down' at the end of their activation. This means that you can carry out a 'popped-up' assault over difficult terrain without landing until after the consolidation / withdrawal move. (BUT to disembark troops, the skimmers must be on the ground, so this only works for non-transport assaults OK )

Please, don't take my comments as complaints. I am really not complaining. The purpose of my questions is to have other opinions on how to better use land-based Eldar armies. I have already learned a lot through all of the answers, and am playing devil's advocate in this thread.

Thank you for your post.

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