One Does Not Simply Walk.........: Seerk's Take On Footdar Pt2

Continuing on the subject of Footdar that I started last time. Strategy and formation. Besides having a good mix of units, You need to have your army deployed to take advantage of the terrain and have clear lines of fire on priority targets. My standard Footdar list has 3 layers to it. This can be varied depending on the unit mix you choose to go with.

When deploying the army you layer it. The Avatar maintains a central position in the army. This maintains the fearlessness of a majority of your units as they walk forward into the breach. It also screens the Avatar. Granted his 3+ armor save and his 4+ invulnerably save keep him pretty safe, but its good to present a bigger number of targets to try and break down your opponents fire discipline. One real key is making sure you have a Seer within Fortune range. As the Avatar really is the lynch pin in the army you must ensure his safety. Although he eats up a lot of points I always Run Eldrad in my foot lists. Mainly because he can do the duty of two Farseers and he is harder to kill than a normal Farseer. You just have to make sure you have a concise plan and order of operations when casting your powers.

Now I spoke about layers. I have covered this topic before. Since the Eldar army is a collection of specialists they have to work in concert and mutually support each other. Besides two large squads of guardians I only run one maybe two Aspect warrior squads in the foot list. I use a medium sized squad of Pathfinders and a Squad of Dark Reapers in the backfield. This is your rear guard and the ranged firepower. Both should be set up in cover with good fields of vision. Since you have the Avatar centrally located with all your foot units orbiting around him, the army moves as a great mass forward. Its the rear guards job to clear the way and hit units trying to flank the main force. The dark reapers can tear thru small squads and transports. Its important to note that the Exarch should have the Crack shot power. Given most rhinos and transports surge forward and pop smoke or have some similar defense. You need to be able to pop said transport. Crack shot ignores saves derived from cover. I usually arm my Exarch with an Eldar Missile Launcher. It does not give you the saturation of the Tempest launcher, but it has more utility. Once a transport is opened up you can hit the unit with the Pathfinders to try and kill them outright or at least pin them. I also Use a pair of Night Spinners and put them out of harms way. Since they are twin linked you can use them indirectly with a fair amount of confidence. I will hit large concentrations of troops and vehicles trying to get the template to hit as many as possible so as to spread the love so to speak. This is more for suppressing units movement rather than killing. Granted since its a strength 6 rending large blast it will kill fairly effectively. I played OST this past week using the list and despite having to deal with 4 squads of plague marines the combined fire of the Dark Reapers, Pathfinders and Night Spinners kept his units suppressed and killed large numbers very quickly. Keeping the constant pressure on the opposing force makes them adjust their tactics.

When they are hurried they make mistakes, you just have to be able to see them and capitalize on them. With a lot of long range suppressing fire coming at them you can predict where units are going to go. If they have deep strikers or out flanking units you can almost ensure they will be going for the back field units. You can sweeten the pot by placing the pathfinders on an objective in cover. I prefer to place them and the objective in a building a floor or 2 up. Its a hard target for any shooting units to take out. You can cause a mishap or lure the units in with this trick. If you have warp spiders or a unit close they can take out the new intruders so you can keep the pressure on the main force. Thats the real key with the Back field units. They are there to keep the pressure on the main force. If you have no viable targets out in the kill corridor on the field then take out the units deep striking or out flanking into your turf.

Your Vanguard units are also there to put pressure onto the main force. I have chosen to screen this particular list with a vanguard unit of Harlequins. They move swiftly ahead of the guardians and the Seer council. The Seer Council hangs back behind the Avatar and the Guardians. I arm them with the customary fusion pistols and I give all of them Harlequin Kisses. Its an expensive unit that is put in a position that you would usually use an expendable unit in. This is another key. Everybody in the Army is Expendable. If you turtle up to much and guard specific units or models they will get more fire. IF you don't draw attention then the unit gets ignored in favor of the unit that is drawing the attention. The Internet has hyped up how nasty Harlequin units are. Granted they are pretty nasty, but not as nasty as a unit of Striking Scorpions or Howling Banshees. They just are much harder to hit and pack a punch in close combat. When your opponent has that bearing down on his units expect a torrent of fire to hit them. When this happens they are doing their job. They are screening the rest of your army and taking hits that could be hitting the Avatar, guardians or your long rang back field units.

If they survive direct them towards a soft unit. Their higher strength on the charge along with a high weapon skill and a rending weapon will be able to overwhelm a unit of 5 or 6 even if there is only a couple left thanks to their high number of attacks.

So some more tidbits about how I run Footdar. I may do another part as I think there is a lot to talk about yet when it comes to deployment. I will try and fire up a drawing program and come up with some sample deployments that I have done in the past. How you deploy your force is going to differ a lot based on the deployment type of the game.

Until then...

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

WAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!