Eldar Units in a Nutshell

Hi guys,

Johno here and today I’m going to summarize each section of the new Eldar Codex and pick out the good, the bad, and the ugly of each section. I know there are lots of excellent in-depth reviews of the new book online so I will take a lighter approach so for those of you at work can skim over this and get all the information you need without getting caught by your boss with your head in your smart phone. We are very lucky that our new book is very strong in nearly all areas and we have a lot to choose from. I'm going break this analysis it down into HQ, Troops, Elites, Fast Attack, Transport, and Heavy Support.

HQ Section

Excellent Choices:

Avatar – Fearless Bubble, Attracts fire from other units, anti-EVERYTHING. Cheap for what you get!

Loadout – 205pts with Fast Shot

Eldrad – Best Psyker in 40k, Nice special rules with a sprinkle of cheddar. You WILL lose friends.

Loadout – N/A

Farseer – Excellent Psyker and very versatile. Makes already excellent units amazing.

Loadout – No Addon’s really worth it

Autarch – Great Support Character, Often underestimated. Can hold his own against most.

Loadout – Jetbike, Mantle of the Laughing God, Power Axe, Banshee Mask.

Karandras – Godly close combat character. Powerfist strikes at I7.

Loadout – N/A

Asurman – Another great close combat character with good rules to match. Close call between him and Karandras.

Loadout – N/A

Fuegen – Really good close combat character and has feel no pain, whats not to love?

Loadout – N/A

Prince Yriel – Fantastic close combat character but at a hefty price.However you get a lot of nice special rules and a lot of killy for your buck.

Loadout – N/A

Moderate Choices:

Wraithseer – Crucial if you are taking Wraithguard/blades and can give them great buffs. Don’t bring if not taking Wraith units.

Loadout – No Addons

Warlocks – Excellent support units for large groups of guardians. Is 35pts too much for a guy who’s head can explode on a roll of 9 on 2d6? You’re Choice.

Loadout – Singing Spear (Basically a 12” range Lascannon).

Maugan Ra – Decent close combat and ranged character however he’s not exceptionally great at either really. Definitely not worth the outlay in points.

Loadout – N/A

Illic Nightspear – Comes with a great sniper rifle and very killy. Very Fragile. Unlocks Pathfinders. Can be a thorn in your opponents side.

Loadout – N/A

Poor Choices:

Jain Zar – Great Close Combat character however with lack of grenades means she will die fast.

Loadout – N/A

Baharroth – Can be useful but unlikely to really make back his points in most games. Can be good for stealing Line Breaker in late game.

Loadout – N/A

Troops Section

Excellent Choices

Guardian Defenders – Cheap and once in range are devastating. Great buy!

Loadout – Support Platform with Scatter Laser or Brightlance. Blobs of 20 are amazing.

Dire Avengers – Upgraded version of the Guardian. 18” range can be crucial. Better Armor and invun save from Exarch. Excellent unit.

Loadout – Exarch with Powersword and Shimmershield.

Guardian Jetbikes – Extremely fast and durable. Cheap and very reliable Catapults (Twin linked).

Loadout – Take in units of 3 or 6 with upgraded Shuriken cannon for every 3 you take.

Moderate Choices

Rangers - Still a great sniper unit however compared to other races snipers they are expensive for what you get. Not sure if worth it.

Loadout – N/A

Pathfinders - Amazing Snipers but having to spend all those points on Illic Nightspear to unlock them relegates them to moderate choice.

Loadout – N/A

Poor Choices

Storm Guardians – A close combat unit that does its intended job quite poorly.

Loadout - Can be ok if you take blobs of 20 with flamers or unit of 10 in a wave serpent with two fusion guns.

Elites Section

Excellent Choices

Fire Dragons – Still amazing even with points hike. Very reliable.

Loadout – 5 Fire Dragons in Wave Serpent, Done…

Wraithblades – Phenominally hard unit to shift if attached with Wraithseers giving buffs. Capable of 2+ armor save. Extremely killy and will worry your opponent from turn one.

Loadout – Axes and shields are best. Buy a unit of 10 with two spirit seers and march them across the board.

Wraithguard – Shares the W.Blades durability but lacking an invun save however give these Wraithscythes and they WILL kill anything you point them at.

Loadout – 5 bodies with Wraithscythes in wave serpent.

Striking Scorpions – Fantastic Close combat unit. The Exarch really makes them shine with his I6 Powerfist.

Loadout – 5 Scorpions with Exarch and Scorpions Claw.

Moderate Choices

Harlequins – As good, if not better close combat unit than Striking Scorpions, however you have to pay through the nose to get them.

Loadout – Shadowseer, Troop Master, Kisses all round.

Poor Choices

Howling Banshees – Best Model, Worst rules. Decent for protecting backfield troops or counter attacks. Will die in droves.

Loadout – 9 Banshees and Exarch with Executioner.

Fast Attack Section

Excellent Choices

Crimson Hunter – Best Air Superiority fighter in the game, epitome of “glass cannon”.

Loadout – Keep with the Pulse Laser and Bright lances and upgrade to an Exarch for BS5 goodness and able to pick out models in a squad on a roll of 6 to hit.

Warp Spiders – Amazing damage output, extremely fast. One of the codex’s best units.

Loadout – 8 Warp Spiders with Exarch and Dual Spinners.

Moderate Choices

Vyper Jetbike – Packs a huge punch but fragile. Very flexible. Can make back their points but die easily.

Loadout – Upgraded under Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Cannon or Scatter Laser Turret.

Swooping Hawks – Great harassment units, Can win you games. Great at claiming line breaker. Will destroy tanks and infantry.

Loadout – 5 Hawks with Exarch and skyleap.

Poor Choices

Hemlock Wraith Fighter – Too expensive and rather situational. Can horrify your own units too. Best to leave at home.

Loadout – No Addons

Transports Section

Wave Serpent – Expensive transport but absolutely worth it. Probably best transport in the game right now and our best tank in general.

Loadout – Holofields, Scatter Laser, Upgraded under Shuriken Cannon

Heavy Support Section

Excellent Choices

Wraithknight – Extremely durable, fear factor, kills everything. Expensive but worth it.

Loadout – Standard two Heavy Wraith Cannons is best.

Fire Prism – Kills armor and all types of infantry with ease. Can be very difficult to kill. Avoid getting close to close combat troops.

Loadout – Holofields

War Walker – Good Value, More durable now with inv save, a lot of firepower.

Loadout – Dual Scatter Lasers is best

Moderate Choices

Falcon – Excellent anti-tank platform, Can carry small units. Typical tough Eldar tank design.

Loadout – Pulse Laser and Bright Lance, Holofields

Nightspinner – Kills all infantry with impunity. Durable grav tank. Cheap.

Loadout - Holofields

Wraith Lord – Very tough, Decent price, good all rounder. Can get bogged down in close combat with hordes.

Loadout – Ghostglaive, Brightlance, Missile Launcher

Dark Reapers – Expensive, Very killy, Can kill all infantry and vehicles and also aircraft with an Exarch.

Loadout – Upgraded all missiles to Starshot, 5 Reapers with an Exarch included, Night Vision, Skyfire, Fast Shot.

Vauls Battery – Very Cheap and durable but slow, move OR shoot.

Loadout – D-Cannons

No Poor Choices in Heavy

So there you have it, the Eldar codex in a nutshell. All the good and bad points of each unit. Hope you found this article useful for those of you wishing to know which units to take and their strengths and weaknesses. The above evaluation is by no means the bible but it should give you a snapshot of all the Eldar units.

Thanks for reading!

Johno

Eldar- Battle of the Battle Tanks

“Today we are crushed by the sheer weight of the mechanized forces hurled against us, but we can still look to the future in which even greater mechanized forces will bring us victory. Therein lies the destiny of the world” – Charles de Gaulle, WWII

Johno here, with a little look at the futuristic and sleek grav tanks of the enigmatic Eldar. Simply put, first there were three, now there are four…

At first it’s hard to ascertain what the best Eldar battle tank is. Four tanks (Falcon, Fire Prism, Wave Serpent, Nightspinner) all with the same armor values (12/12/10) and three residing in the Heavy Support section and one sitting comfortably in the Dedicated Transport section of our new Codex. But what is a Battle Tank?

Here is Wikipedia’s definition:

“A main battle tank (MBT), also known as battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the heavy direct fire role of modern armies”

I don’t think this definition is any different for our favorite space elves. They use MBT’s just the same as the Imperium uses its lumbering behemoths, a universal direct fire role tank. However as much as this is true but with a slight twist, two of the Eldar tanks have transport capability (Falcon & Wave Serpent).

My interpretation of universal means, that the Fire Prism, Falcon and Wave Serpent can pretty much take on anything that gets in their way, be it armor or infantry and in some cases aerial targets. In these categories mentioned, I feel that not all three excel at.

Let’s take a quick look at the three tanks in more detail:

Falcon:

Heavy Support

Transport Capacity = 6

Type: Skimmer

Armor: 12 (front), 12 (sides), 10 (rear)

Stock armament: Pulse Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Catapults

Upgrades:

Shuriken Cannon can be upgraded to Bright Lance, Scatter Laser, Star Cannon or Missile launcher. The Shuriken Catapults can be upgraded to a Shuriken Cannon.

Loadout:

If I were running a Falcon I would kit it out with the Pulse Laser and a Bright Lance and a Shuriken Cannon. That’s 3 Strength 8 shots at 48” range and 3 additional Strength 6 shots at 24” range. In this role I would place 6 dire avengers inside to hold backfield objectives and fire with my turret weapons at 48” range. Also don’t leave home without Holofields.

Fire Prism:

Heavy Support

Transport Capacity = 0

Type: Skimmer

Armor: 12 (front), 12 (sides), 10 (rear)

Stock armament: Prism Cannon, Shuriken Catapults

Upgrades:

The Shuriken Catapults can be upgraded to a Shuriken Cannon.

Loadout:

I always run my Fire Prism’s with Holofields as with all skimmer tanks, they can make their points back in no time. I don’t tend to bother upgrading the Shuriken Catapults to the Shuriken Cannon as I never plan on getting anywhere near 24” with my Fire Prisms. The Prism Cannon is one of the most deadly weapons in Eldar weaponry arsenal.

Wave Serpent:

Dedicated Transport

Transport Capacity = 12

Type: Skimmer

Armor: 12 (front), 12 (sides), 10 (rear)

Stock armament: Twin Linked Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Catapults, Serpent Shield.

Upgrades:

The Shuriken Catapults can be upgraded to a Shuriken Cannon. The Twin Linked Shuriken Cannon’s can be upgraded to twin linked; Scatter Lasers, Bright Lances, Star Cannons, Missile Launchers.

Loadout:

Ideally you should be transporting a unit in your Wave Serpent so it’s going to be getting close to your enemy. The best loadout really depends on your role as you can go for anti-infantry/Flyer or anti-armor. In my opinion the best loadout has got to be the Twin Linked Scatter Laser turret and the upgraded chin weapon to the Shuriken Cannon. Also as per usual don’t leave home without Holofields.

So here is a brief look at the three tanks in question but let’s categorize how well they take on most targets utilizing the different options they have at their disposal. Please note this is just my own opinion and taken from my own knowledge and experiences.

Nightspinner:

Heavy Support

Transport Capacity = 0

Type: Skimmer

Armor: 12 (front), 12 (sides), 10 (rear)

Stock armament: Doomweaver, Shuriken Catapults

Upgrades:

The Shuriken Catapults can be upgraded to a Shuriken Cannon.

Loadout:

The Nightspinner is a great tank for taking on light armor but particularly infantry.To augment this, upgrade the catapults to a Shuriken Cannon and as per usual take Holofields. Strength 7 large blast with Monofiliment special rule followed by 3 Strength 6 Bladestorm shots is nothing to sneeze at. Dont forget all armoured targets are hit on side armor and at +1 Strength (8).

Grades:

1=Poor, 2=good, 3=excellent, 4=Superb

	Infantry	Heavy Infantry	Light Armour	Heavy Armor	Aerial	Transport	Total Result (24)
Falcon	3	3	3	4	1	2	16
Fire Prism	4	3	3	4	1	1	16
Wave Serpent	4	4	4	2	3	4	21
Night Spinner	4	4	4	1	1	1	15

The above results show the Fire Prism, Wave Serpent, and Falcon compare very closely in most categories with the Nightspinner faring better in infantry areas. In the Heavy Armor category the Prism and Falcon seem to do better with their higher Strength weaponry options than the Wave Serpent. This is not to say the Wave Serpent can’t take out Heavy armor with its twin linked Bright Lance.

In the Infantry and Heavy Infantry all tanks did well. The Falcon would equip a Shuriken Cannon or Scatter

Laser or Starcannon along with the chin mounted Shuriken Cannon for this role. The Nightspinner in particular does well in the infantry area, able to ravage hordes of infantry under it's large template barrage Doomweaver. The Prism has its various templates, and the Wave Serpent has sheer volume of shots along with Bladestorm. But the two categories that I felt the Wave Serpent really outshone the other two was in the Transport category with a capacity of 12 models and also the capability to deal with aerial threats. With the Twin Linked Scatter Laser turret and Shuriken Cannon and Serpent Shield your Wave Serpent can put out 4 x Strength 6 shots, 3 x Twin Linked Strength 6 Shots and D6+1 Twin Linked Strength 7 Shots on an aerial target. I recently had success shooting down a Space Marine Storm Talon in this way.

So there you have it folks, the best Eldar Battle Tank is the Wave Serpent. It can reliably take on most targets you are likely to face on the tabletop and do it very well. The Fire Prism is still an excellent tank and will do well in most battles. The Falcon is an excellent anti armor tank with a decent transport capacity for some late game objective holding troops. It’s really a testament to how good our tanks are that all tanks do so well in nearly all categories. The Nightspinner will reliably crush enemy infantry. I feel we are very fortunate to have such good tanks and I foresee a real resurgence in mechanized Eldar armies.

I hope you enjoyed reading.

Johno