Machinegun "Techno" Eldar, pt. 2

If you haven't read the first part of this article take a few minutes and have a look.

And when we've got a theme going, why not keep it rolling? It may be a bad theme, but getting some more strength 6 shots brings more shots that can wreck transports or slaughter their contents. I've run out of heavy support slots and can't really get more strength six out of my elites and only mediocre amounts out of troops choices, so I have to turn to the one part of the Eldar codex I hate, the fast attack section. Once again, I've got to give credit to my friend B from the Keep, he used warp spiders before I started using my Eldar and gave me a reason to respect them. Now they are packing 6/- guns, but each gun has two shots, so I can get twenty out of one squad.

Warp Spiders have a tactic that doesn't spring to mind when you look at them. They don't come dual armed, nor do they have the option for grenades and only the exarch can buy a power weapon, but with the exarch power withdraw warp spiders can be a worthwhile assault unit. Don't get me wrong, they won't stand up to assault units from other codices or even their own, but they can be used for defensive assaulting. Instead of letting that squad of assault marines assault you, charge them! This takes away their bonus attack for charging and gives it to you. After a round of death spinners the unit will probably be weakened to the point that you can pass your leadership, should you lose combat or you may even win. During the opponent's turn stay locked in combat, depriving the enemy of their movement and possibly finishing them off. At the end of their assault phase don't roll a six on your Hit and Run test and you get 3D6 movement in any direction. I generally don't like the exarch upgrade, but this tactic and the avenger bladestorm are well worth buying the exarch for.

That brings us to the necessary parts of the force organization chart, troops and headquarters. Eldar have a variety of troops choices, but only two are coming to the techno party, with a third at lower points. Not on the invite list are guardians/storm guardians for different reasons. Guardians don't get to come because they have flimsy armor, mediocre ballistic skill and pathetic range, barring a weapons platform. They can hold down a point, but rangers can do it better and for about the same points. Storm guardians can bring some anti-heavy tank in the troops slot, a rarity for Eldar, but it costs them 92 points to bring two meltaguns. If I wanted a close combat Eldar army, I'd bring these guys but as is they aren't needed for anti-tank.

Rangers make the invite list, but only five. These guys may not seem like a fitting choice in a mechanized army, but their ability to stay static and fire while being somewhat durable is an asset. Yeah, they don't have any strength six for my strength six army theme, but they can wound monstrous creatures as is they were strength six (or eight for the wraithlord) and they have blown up a rhino for me.

Their rules lend them to staying in a crater all game, but on Capture and Control that is a gift straight from Khaine. Without upgrading them to Pathfinders they have Move Through Cover and Stealth, with the upgrade they gain an additional bonus to their cover save and ignore difficult terrain. For 95 points I can throw these guys on a point and have them kiss the dirt to stay alive all game. These guys can't move much if they want to kill anything, so they can Infiltrate where they want to. If they can hold down one point and not attract attention, they've done their job which isn't so much to kill anything, but to take the responsibility of holding a rear point so my other troops choices can move forward and fight.


At lower points levels I may bring some guardian jetbikes, but at 2000 they don't bring enough fire power for my tastes. They are durable (for Eldar) and can move quickly, but they only bring a eight catapult shots and six cannon shots for 152 points. For the same amount I can bring the most feared and in my opinion best Eldar troops unit, the avenger bladestorm squad. Consisting of nine avengers, exarch with two guns and the bladestorm power this can put out 44 strength four shots over two turns or 32 shots in a single turn albeit at the cost of the next turn's shooting. I bring two of these squads to be able to claim up to three objectives. I don't expect to ever be able to claim a full three, but if I can claim one and contest the rest I'll win. In my experience from playing Tau says the best way to hold a point is to clear it's occupants and then stroll up, no need for orky fightin. But even as good as dire avengers are, they can't do it by themselves.

This lady and her sister is the linchpin of my Eldar army. The farseer is one of the worst psychers in terms of personal destructive power, but they bring obscene buff spells to the table. The best two for my army are guide and doom, allowing one unit to re-roll to hit when shooting and allowing any roll to wound a unit to re-roll until the beginning of my next turn, respectively. These gals ride with the avengers both to buff their shooting and leadership. With so much strength six in the army doom doesn't always make itself known when fighting marines, but if I get fight Tyranids, having re-rolls against those toughness six monsters will help and it makes bladestorm half again as powerful against most troops. Marines may not know fear, but my ladies do; they fear pyschic negation. I stopped running my seer council because of getting tired of being negated so much, so when I decided to replace them I wanted a back up seer to make sure if nothing else that doom went through.

The last part of my army is possibly more widely hated than bladestorming avengers, fire dragons. One of our other Eldar players, Meister Kei, swears by these guys and brings three squads to every game. I only wanted to bring two and I know that's going to bite me in some games. With no lances, these guys are my answer to armor fourteen, with the exception of the fire prisms. They are an automatic part of every Eldar army if you ask the internet, and it's hard to argue with a squad of five meltaguns for 80 points. These poor, unfortunate souls have the shortest life expectancy of any unit in the Eldar codex and when your average warm body is tough three with a 4+ save, that's saying something. These guys fly up to a land raider, cook it and pray the guys inside are pinned. They seem to be made to suffer, it's their lot in life.

But there you have it, my latest take on the dying race that used to control the galaxy. So far I've played three very fun games with it against B, ZerkeX and Anthony, losing every one. I underestimated B's beastmaster squad and wasn't able to stop him from dropping a webway portal that brought in suppression fire on my wave serpent before annihilating them. ZerkeX managed to keep his blood claws holding a point and getting a lone wolf to my lines that I simply couldn't kill (tough five, Feel No Pain, two wounds and terminator armor). Anthony's orky boyz held his point and I couldn't get a last exarch close enough to hold a point, but my farseer did punch out a deff dread without dying. I don't know if this army will be better than the seer council, but it certainly is more fun to play with and in the end that matters most.