Aspects of Khaine pt 5: Shining Spears.

Riding only a few feet from the ground with only a whisper announcing their arrival they swoop in lances blazing. White hot energy immolates their enemies. With panic ans confusion sown they rocket away before the enemy realizes what it was that attacked them. They are the Spear of Khaine and the rarest of all the Aspect temples. They are the Shining Spears.

Armed with Jet Bikes and Laser lances these Aspect warriors fill a fast slot and are not often used. They have short ranged weaponry and awesome mobility as well as some very nice Exarch powers which compliment their odd nature.

The main weapon of a Shining Spear is the Laser lance. The Laser Lance is a short ranged lance weapon with a range of 6” and a strength of 6 and AP of 4. They also count as a strength 6 power weapons when the shining spears charge. The Jet Bikes are standard Jet Bikes.

The Exarch comes standard with a laser lance or he can exchange it for a power weapon for free. This option is quickly passed over though, when you see the Star Lance. It is a Laser Lance with a strength value of 8. This makes for some very potent first round combats.

The Exarch has two powers available. The first is a must. Withdraw gives the unit hit and run. This is essential to using your Shining spears. The other power is good to have when using the hit and run. Skilled rider. This allows re roll dangerous terrain rolls.

The standard tactic is to hit the enemy unit, withdraw using hit and run and preferable withdraw thru terrain to block the enemy from launching an attack the following round.

Shining Spears are best used on small units. Since they only have 2 attacks on the charge you want to hit smaller units. They are ideal for hitting devastator squads or heavy weapon teams. They are also nice for attacking transports and vehicles. Since you can blast them using the lance ability then hit rear armor on the assault with a decent strength you can pop tanks, artillery and transports and then run away . This unit should be used to harass the enemy and cause some havoc. They are not robust enough to last in a prolonged fight. With a unit maxing out at 5 you should use them in a support role. I personally like to bum rush Land Raiders with them. You can at least glace with the lance ability and with an Exarch with Star lance you have a good chance to pen in shooting. The same thing goes for close combat. They are most effective though in cracking open rhinos and chimeras. Allowing your other troops to shoot the soldiers that must now foot slog across the board.

Using the Turbo Boosting ability of the bikes is key to getting the Spear into enemy territory to sow some confusion in the ranks of the enemy. If you turbo boost turn 1 you get the 3+ cover save and on turn 2 you can begin taking the enemy transports apart. You can also disable your opponents long range support. This will force him to pull units from front line duty to hunt down the Spears. If anything they make a great diversion because nobody uses them often and players unfamiliar with them will not know their capabilities or how much a threat they actually are.

With the small size of the squad I would advise running a Farseer on Bike with them if possible. Give him the Guide and Doom powers. Arm him with a singing spear and you have a nice fast vehicle killing unit that can re-roll wounds and to hit rolls in shooting. Fortune comes in handy as well but you must decide if you want to maximize your shooting or survivability. Given the good ballistic skill of the unit guide may be dropped in favor of Fortune. This is very important for that first turn turbo boost. Being able to re-roll a 3+ cover is very nice.

The key to running Shining Spear with success is keeping them mobile. Momentum is very important for a mobile army. Support is , as always, very important as well. I have always thought of an Eldar army as having a one two punch. You must have an attack and then a follow up attack form a support unit to carry the momentum of the first. This makes you have fire discipline as you must choose your shots carefully and plan the follow up strategy to support what you have already done.

There you have it the Shining Spears. I plan on using a unit in the last round of the GW Store Tourney Series later in July. We only have two more aspects to go. Next Time we will cover the Aspect that is not an Aspect. Warp Spiders.

Until then................................................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!