First game in fifteen months!

 

"You shall not pass!"

And it was a blast! ... almost literally.

I finally got around to updating my Eldar list after more than a year of owning the codex. I've done several different versions, but this is what I brought to battle last Saturday:

Alaitoc Craftworld Eldar CAD (1850 pts)

HQ:

Farseer - jetbike, singing spear, spirit stone of Anath'lan

TROOPS:

6 Windrider jetbikes - 6 scatter lasers (the original list was actually 2 squads of 3, but I decided to try a combined large squad instead)

3 Windrider jetbikes - 3 shuriken cannon

3 Windrider jetbikes - 3 shuriken cannon

3 Windrider jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannon

3 Windrider jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannon

FAST ATTACK:

6 Swooping Hawks - Exarch w Hawk's Talon

Hemlock Wraithfighter

HEAVY SUPPORT:

Fire Prism

Fire Prism

Falcon - pulse laser, scatter laser, shuriken cannon, holofield

ASPECT WARRIOR HOST:

8 Warp Spiders - Exarch w twin death spinners

5 Fired Dragons w Exarch

7 Dark Reapers w Exarch

I was against a scary Tyranid list with:

2 Flying Tyrants

2 Tyrant Guard

1 Xoanthroape (I think)

2 chunks/broods of Gaunts

1 Imperial container thing

1 Heirophant

We played Deadlock from the Maelstrom of War missions list. The bugs got first turn, so I deployed accordingly. And of course I managed to Seize the Initiative (which was the last 6 I was to roll for 3 turns).

All in, it was an amazing battle. I made lots (lots!) of nube mistakes, including: 1) being distracted by the Titan bug and splitting my firepower as a result, 2) forgetting to move stuff, 3) correctly assigning targets to units, then promptly forgetting about them and shoot something else instead, 4) overall bad fire discipline for the first 3 turns (not focusing on the correct priority targets).

The lack of fire discipline, in sharp contrast to the bugs' amazing hive-controlled fire discipline is telling. The Tyranids only lost their Warlord flying Tyrant and the Tyrant Guards,  half of the Gaunts and half of the Heirophant. I lost all 18 jetbikes, 1 Fire Prism, the Falcon, the Hemlock, the Farseer and the Fire Dragons.

But thanks mostly to Eldar speeed and agility, and the fact that I managed to regain proper fire discipline late in the game, Eldar won 12-10, including Slay the Warlord and Linebacker. The Tyranids' 10VPs include First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebacker.

Some observations:

1. Warp Spiders rock! (I guess everyone knows that) Awesome manouerability. Awesome manouverability (it's so good I had to say it again). Awesome firepower. Iron Resolve. It is indeed the best all-around Aspect Shrine in the Eldar war host.

2. Dark Reapers rock! When I finally figured out that using their multi-shot S5 missiles for AA is more effective than the single shot S8 missiles, the Warlord Flying Tyrant was easily put to sleep.

3. BS+1 and Shrinekeepers for the Aspect Host is just amazing!

4. Swooping Hawks are still very much relevant. Pin-point Deep Strike accuracy, grenade packs, good firepower against low T troops make them still a much-loved Aspect Shrine. I didn't get to try out Intercept. Perhaps in another game against an army with a flyer. Note that my read of the new FAQ limiting squads to only 1 grenade per assault doesn't apply to the Hawks' Intercept ability, as RAW it says each model may make a special attack in the movement phase that hits on a 4+, with the Haywire rule. I'm hoping they don't FAQ that.

5. Large jetbike squads are just not practical. It was a headache to deploy and move them. My old Windrider lists all had 6-man jetbike squads in them, but the new models are larger/longer than the old ones. I'll stick to the original MSU squads.

6. The Hemlock is a scary attack aircraft, it's no wonder it costs so much in points. Casting Psychic Shriek and then bombarding the enemy with D-weapons is just awesome. And I've yet to see the effects of the Mindshock Pod.

7. For psychic powers, I think it pays to mix disciplines, and forego the free Primaris. I went for an all-Telepathy mix (and did not get Invisibility out 5 tries), and found that I really miss some of the other powers.

8. I'm not sure yet how to "hide" the Farseer. 

9. The Fire Dragons were unproven in the battle as I didn't have any tanks or mechs to shoot at. So we'll hold onto them for now. 

10. There is a thought in my mind to trade the Falcon and Fire Dragons for 2 bright-lance Wave Serpents. I save 25 points, and if I take only 6 Dark Reapers, I can take a Warlock to ride with my Farseer. I trade off sure-kill tank-killing capability for flexibility, as I will have one extra AV12 fast skimmer tank for the enemy to worry about, and I get an extra psychic power die, and Conceal and another Rite of Battle power. I probably should try it out and see what happens.

Anyways, it was really really good to get back to rolling some dice in the grimdark, and I'm totally looking forward to the next game. Meanwhile, I'm halfway through retrofitting 6 of my old jetbikes with shuriken cannon (bits from the jetbike sprue), and once that's done, I'll painting the new converted weapons, the 6 new scat-jets, the Hemlock, the 2 or 3 new Dark Reapers and the 2 additional Warp Spiders. Looking forward to that.

Keep them dice rolling!