Aspects of Khaine pt 7: Swooping Hawks

Here we are part 7 of the Aspects of Khaine. We are ending with the Aspect that apparently has fallen out of favor with the forum “experts” on Eldar tactics. I speak of course of the Swooping Hawks. The Hawk is a symbol of vengeance and retribution in the Eldar mythos and the Swooping Hawks deliver that with gusto.

The equipment of the Swooping hawk aides in the delivery of retribution upon your foes. The Lasblaster is the main weapon. With a range of 24” a strength of 3 and AP of 5 it is rather light on punch. It is assault 2 though which means a heavy weight of fire can be had with only 5 Hawks in the squad. With an AP of 5 Lasblasters can shred Imperial guard squads. This is especially true with a Farseer providing a doom and or guide to assist. The Swooping Hawk Grenade pack is their other weapon. This can deliver a large blast with a strength of 4 and AP of 5 that only scatters D6”. You can use this when you Deep strike your Hawks. They are also equipped with one of my favorite toys in the Eldar arsenal. Haywire Grenades. These grenades do not roll for armor penetration. You just roll and on a 2-5 you get a glancing hit and on a 6 a penetrating hit. Not bad especially when you combine it with one of the Exarchs powers that allows you to hit on a 4+ no matter how fast the vehicle went.

Combine all this with the fact they are jump infantry and you have a very mobile anti vehicle and anti troop unit.

The Exarch comes with a Lasblaster and may be given a power weapon. He can also select my favorite weapon the Sunrifle which has the same stats as a Lasblaster but is assault 6 and pinning. This ups your infantry shredding power and has the chance to pin the unit. The second option is the hawks talon which is assault 3 and ups the strength to 5. I prefer the Sunrifle as I tend to use Swooping hawks When I face lightly armored troops. Imperial Guard, Dark Eldar, Tyranids and Tau are all good targets either because of a toughness of 3 or an armor save of 5+.

The powers the Exarch has access to are Intercept which allows you to hit vehicles on a 4+ no matter how far they moved and Skyleap which allows you to pull the squad form the table and deep strike them back on with a successful reserve roll.. Intercept is a must. I do not like using skyleap. Although you can use the Grenade pack when you come back in you run the risk of not seeing your Hawks in the next turn. You also limit their mobility and leave them open to taking fire while they are all bunched up from the deep strike. I like having them stay on the table after their initial deep strike. They are mobile enough and have utility so it is kind of a waste to deep strike back in every other turn.

Using Swooping Hawks can be tricky. I use squads of at least 5 with an Exarch for a total of 6 in the unit. I give the Exarch a Sunrifle and Intercept. I use the unit to hit lightly armored units, like imperial guardsman or anything that is toughness 3 with a save of 5+, I try to have a Farseer in range to at least doom the unit I intend to fire at. I also hit the unit I intend to fire at with the template as I deep strike in. This concentrates the fire and helps open up some room to deep strike into. You have to be kind of ballsy when you deep strike the unit. You want them to be able to shoot at a unit but not leave them out in the open as they are vulnerable the turn they come in. The whole point of the deep strike is to get close and inflict damage. You must choose your spot carefully. Shock and awe can work to your advantage. I deep strike into the midst of the enemy. I do this for two reasons. One my opponent is not prepared and will misstep when it comes to fire discipline. Two if you place it right he may not risk blast weapons as they could drift into his own troops. Not to mention it may be within the minimum range of the heavy weapons on his tanks. It will force a break in formation as he is forced to move his tanks as you start inflicting damage the next turn. It could also force heavy weapon teams or troops to move to engage the interlopers. This allows the rest of your force to move in and lend support. Long range suppressing fire is key in the support of your deep strikers and out flankers.

When fighting against Mechanized forces most players expect fire prisms, Wraithlords or fire dragons for anti tank. You can use this to your advantage especially if you have these units in your army. If you move your hawks into position properly you can move in from 18 inches away to assault your opponents tanks. Many players don't expect this and it allows you to have your dedicated anti tank units take out other targets. You can use the hawks on high armor targets since you simple bypass the roll for Armour penetration. Even if you glance the living daylights out of a tank you will still hamper its ability to fight. Combine this with the fact you can take out vehicles moving fast you can really catch your opponent off guard.

So remember Swooping Hawks are an excellent troop shredding unit and are a very nice anti tank back up especially for moving vehicles.

So ends our series on the Aspects of Khaine. I hope they have been at least a bit informational. Its always nice to explore the options. Even if you have favorites you may find some new strategy you never thought of just by reading your codex. This has been educational for me.

So next time we will be trying some 1750 point lists for the 3^rd and final round of the GW Store tournament series which concludes, for me at least, on July 24^th at Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills Michigan.

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

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

Aspects of Khaine pt 6: Warp Spiders

Passing through the warp. Disappearing and reappearing behind the enemy. Bathing them in a shower of monofiliment wire. This aspect is not an aspect. Having more in common with the spiders that inhabit the infinity circuit hunting down rouge elements than the Bloody Handed God, the Warp Spiders are basically viewed as crazy by most Eldar. For who would willingly go into the realm of the Great Enemy.

Warp Spiders are A hit and run deep striking unit that can hit with massed fire and then jump away, using their warp packs, form the enemy to safety. The Death Spinner is a nice short range assault weapon that bring to bear some hefty fire power. At a strength of 6 it can wound most every kind of trooper on the field. Being Assault 2 brings weight of fire when you have a large unit that will force lots of saves. The Warp Jump Generator is an oddity. It allows the Warp Spider to basically teleport via the warp to a position 2d6 inches in any direction. If doubles are rolled you loose a spider to the warp. This mimics the Spiders of the Infinity circuits ability to meld with it and ride the currents to another location.

These pieces of equipment make the Warp Spiders a lethal hit and run shock troop that can devastate enemies in the back field. The Exarch powers are key to this. The Surprise assault power, which you should always take lets you deep strike the unit. The withdraw power lets them get out of combat if assaulted. Despite being able to arm the Exarch with power blades and double spinners, getting bogged down in combat is not a good idea. Spiders must be mobile to be effective. The second weapon option for the Exarch is nice. The spinneret rifle is strength 6 and AP 1. it is also a pinning weapon. Even though it is assault 1 if anybody dies they must make a pinning check. A failure could mean a quick death for the unit or a unmolested escape by the Warp Spiders.

Survivability is the key. And the key to this is keeping mobile. They do have a nice save of 3+, but you must keep the unit out of hand to hand so they can jump around and hit the enemy hard with their Death Spinners. Since the move like jump infantry and then get to use their jump packs in the assault phase you can keep out of the reach of assault troops and wipe them out before they reach your lines.

I like to use spiders to wreck havoc in the fire lines of armies that like to remain stationary. Jumping in behind troops and wiping out squads is a nice way to get the enemies attention and let your army advance.

Units of 5 or 6 can be very effective. I do like running units of 10 but only if terrain is light. You want to make sure you try and deep strike the unit within firing range of the unit you want to hit. After firing use the jump packs to get away. If you kept 9 to 10 inches away and then got a decent jump of 6 or 7 inches unless the unit is Calvary or jump infantry they will not be able to catch you to assault you and may not be able to get into rapid fire range. Try to jump behind terrain to give cover and obstruct line of site as this move is unaffected by terrain, including impassable. You can also try jumping behind other units so you force the unit you just shot to get into a hand to hand brawl with the unit of Striking Scorpions that is now in front of it.

Using hit and run tactics will help sow some confusion and break down fire discipline as your opponent tries to decide which is more important. Hitting the unit in his midst or shooting at the advancing army. As always you want to support the unit with long range fire power. Use your Dark Reapers or Prisms to help give a one two punch. Hitting the unit with Warp spiders thins the heard so to speak and allows you to hit units with you low AP weapons to get ride of special troopers rather than regular troops. As Always try and doom your targets to maximize the carnage. More wound means more saves and the more dice they have to roll the better.

So stay mobile and support your hit and run troops with long range support. Doom the enemy and use the terrain.

Our next installment will cover our last aspect. The ill used and often scoffed at winged avengers of Khaine. Swooping Hawks.

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

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

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aspects of Khaine Pt 4: Fire Dragons

Khaine is death incarnate. The great destroyer who has no equal in the making of war. The Aspect of the Fire Dragon personifies this. They bring to bear weapons that have the power of suns and lay obstacles to piles of molten slag. They are the bane of Imperial tank crews and squads unlucky enough to be in range. They are the great tank slayers and they are very good at their job.

Fire Dragons are the ultimate anti tank troops. Armed with Fusion guns and melta bombs they have one purpose. Destroy the enemy armor with extreme prejudice. One of the reasons I don't use Fire Dragons that much, contrary to most blogs and forums who say field as many as you can, is that once your opponent knows there are dragons on the board he is going to poor everything he has into the squad or transport so that they don't reach his tank line or precious land raider. So if anything they act as a big distraction. Granted the distraction can do a lot of damage as long as they reach their target.

You must put the squad in a transport. If you run Falcons a 6 man squad of Dragons will complement the tank nicely but you better have holo fields on the tank. I prefer, regardless of squad size, to put the squad in a wave serpent. The energy shield take the bite out of most all heavy weapons and you can arm the Serpent with bright lances to help the tank hunters do their job. This give you an autonomous tank hunting unit .

Given the fact Fusions guns have a range of 12 inches you must close range fast. Use the cover on the field and the great speed of the wave serpent to close in on the enemy tanks. If you can approach from the side its even better. Remember to dump the troops as close as possible to get the bonus dice, or at very least get within 9 inches. This is the half distance on the Fire pike.

The Fire Pike is the standard armament for the Exarch when upgrading from his fusion gun. It is a fusion gun with an 18” range. The Exarch also has the Dragons Breath Flamer as a free upgrade from his fusion gun. If I actually run more than one squad of dragons I use the flamer option for a second squad and they act in support taking tanks down and hosing any infantry that try and get to close. Combine this flamer with crack shot and you get the other ability most people forget it does. It allows you to re roll wounds. This is great for template weapons and means the Farseer can see to the “doom” of other units.

It is essential that you take the Tank Hunter Exarch power. I also Like to take the Crack shot power in addition. I do this for the same reason I take it with my Dark Reaper Exarch. Taking out skimmers and fast vehicles. In fact this past weekend my Fire Dragon Exarch was an MVP taking out a Vendetta and 75% of the troops in it as it crashed to the ground a piece of burning wreckage. No cover save against these rather prevalent fliers is a big plus and makes Guard players think twice about turbo boosting across the board to get in your face when one gets blown out of the sky.

The key to Fire Dragons surviving is to have a unit in support of them to take out troops shooting at them. Also , I know I am stating the obvious or at least I hope I am, use the enemy tanks as cover. Position the squad so you minimize the amount of trooper fire they are going to take. Then once you obliterate the tank you have them near use it as cover, or the smoking crater where it was as cover. This will mitigate some of the nastier heavy weapons ability to wipe out the squad. I like to use the The squads Wave Serpent to ct as a shield while at the same time using it to take out more transports or more importantly artillery and other tanks. Support is the key. If you just turbo boost strait to the tanks with no support the squad is as good as dead and you just wasted points.

Since Dragons take up an elite spot I only usually run 1 squad. There are to many other choices in the elites section to take more. This is especially true when building a proper Eldar list which involves balance and all the units supporting each other and working in conjunction. Fire Dragons are one piece of the puzzle.

So that's my two cents about Fire Dragons. In our next segment of the Aspects of Khaine we get into some of the less well known and not so often used Aspect. The Shining Spears.

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

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

Aspects of Khaine pt 3: Howling Banshees

A piecing cry is the last thing heard before death. A blur followed by a clean cut of a shimmering blade wreathed in energy. When the cry of the Banshee is heard death follows. The followers of Khaine, the daughter's of Morai-heg, the Harbingers of woe. The Howling Banshees.

Banshees are the quick and lethal close combat aspect. They Have many benefits and advantages over their more heavily armed and armored siblings the Striking Scorpions. The first, to me anyways, is that they are actually fleet. This means a lot when you foot slog across the field only to run and then not be able to assault. The second advantage is that they are all armed with power weapons. This is one factor that has always frustrated me. I am partial to Scorpions, but despite having better armor, better strength and more attacks only one guy in the squad can have a power weapon and he goes last.

This takes me to advantage three. The banshee mask. This little piece of war gear makes it so on the first round of combat the imitative value is 10. So that means you are pretty much going first. Combine this with the power weapons and its a bad day for the enemy.

There are some disadvantages though. Well one big one actually. Some say their armor save, but a 4+ is decent and is shared with several other aspects. The big disadvantage is the fact they strike with a strength of 3. This is rough considering on the charge you must wound anything toughness 4 or above on a 5 or 6. Since they have only 3 attacks on the charge, compared to the striking scorpions 4, it can be rough.

This means striking first is essential and landing as many hits as possible is key. The Exarch has the ability to help with this in the form of her Exarch powers. War shout forces a morale check which if failed means the enemy has a weapon skill of 1 for the first round of combat. Combine this with a doom from a close by Farseer and you will inflict some kills. I always give my banshees the second power Acrobatic as this gives them the counter charge ability which means your opponent must really think if he wants to assault the banshees as they will be striking first and with full attacks.

Banshees also are great for assaulting into cover. The Banshee mask negates all bonuses to initiative given from cover and grenades. This ensures you are always going to strike first. So Banshees make the perfect shock troops fro taking those objectives or annoying long range support units that are n cover.

The one factor to keep in mind is that you want to keep a Farseer within range to doom any enemy units that have the possibility to assault of be assaulted by the banshee squad. Fortune is also a good aide as always since it increases survivability especially if you don't have the squad in a transport, which you should, or the transport has been destroyed.

The Banshee Exarch has several good weapon options. The best is the Executioner. This baby adds +2 to the strength, which means she hits at strength 5. So hitting and wounding on 3's is a nice thing especially at initiative 10. An often over looked option is the triskele. It can be used as a ranged and close combat weapon which is a power weapon. It is only strength 3 but it is AP 2 when thrown. Did I mention it is assault 3 and only 5 points. The third option is the mirror swords. I have one Exarch equipped with this when I run 2 squads. This gives her 2 attacks instead of one for having 2 close combat weapons. I prefer the executioner as it is higher strength and honestly more attacks is not always better. I give this to an Exarch in a smaller squad to offset the fact I am not running 10 banshees in a squad. I almost always run them in full squads of 10 unless I must use a smaller squad because of points of I am using a Falcon to transport them. In this case I am using them as more of a distraction. The mirror blades are nice in smaller squads attacking soft units, Imp Guard and Tau. Squads of 10 is the preferred unit size though. This means more attacks and more survive combat. It is essential you give them a wave serpent. I always equip it with spirit stones vectored engine and star engines. Expensive yes but this ensures they make it to the enemy safely. Nothing sucks more than loosing a squad because you turbo boosted the serpent gets shot down and explodes on impact killing all inside.

You must plan your assaults to maximize the number of attacks. If it is possible to safely disengage and remain out of combat until your next turn it is advisable to do it. This gives you time to doom units and cut their number down with fire before assaulting them again. You must always remember to fire the Banshees shuriken pistols before assaulting a unit. This helps thin the herd and increase the possibility of killing more troop sin an assault. Kind of a no brainier I know, but you would be surprised by how may people forget their close combat troops have pistol weapons they can also use in the shooting phase. The whole point is to thin down the herd so the Exarch can try and deal the killing blow to the bigger guys in the squad. If you get bogged down and unable to escape form combat this is when Banshees will begin to show their weakness. They are not tough enough to get in a prolonged fight, especially with tough troops, space marines, daemons and such. Strike quick, strike hard and then get away to strike again.

So use your Banshee's wisely. Pick your targets carefully. Use them against softer targets.

Well that's my two cents about Howling Banshee's. The next Aspect in our series will be the bane of tanks everywhere. Fire Dragons.

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

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

Aspects of Khaine Part 3: Dark Reapers

Death from afar. Missiles raining down upon unsuspecting troops finding no respite even behind cover. Tanks torn asunder without even knowing who killed them. This is the mantra of the Aspect of Khaine which represents Khaine as the destroyer. Death is a kiss from afar. This is the Temple of the Dark Reapers.

The Dark Reapers are the Ranged Heavies of the Aspect Temples. Having heavy amour with a +3 save and the deadly Reaper launcher as a weapon, which is strength 5 AP 3 heavy 2. With a range of 48 inches this can spell death for heavily armored squads from across the table. I have always used Dark Reapers as an anchor. They can support all the units on the table. They can cover the advance of the troops foot slogging across the battle field by taking out armor and heavy weapon teams. I also find them great for eliminating close combat troops advancing on my units. The real kick though comes from the Exarch.

The Dark Reaper Exarch has several weapon options at his disposal and when combined correctly with one of his Exarch powers can make the enemy have a very bad day. Those powers being Crack Shot which denies the target its cover save and Fast Shot, which add one to the number of times the weapon can fire. The first weapon available is the Tempest launcher. Although only strength 4 it is still heavy 2 barrage and AP 3 albeit with a shorter range, 36 inches to the Reaper Launchers 48. This can be deadly to tightly packed units and big units of troops. You can go two way with it. You can combine this with The Fast Shot power to make it heavy 3. This means a heavy 3 barrage with very devastating results to units. If you combine it with the Crack Shot power all of a sudden the enemy gets no cover saves. Great for those heavy weapons teams in cover. This power can also be used to great effect with the Eldar Missile launcher available as a weapon choice. Using fast shot is all well and good when firing a pair of krak missiles at a tank, but using Crack shot means those fast vehicles screaming across the table for a cover save are out of luck. That's right obscured vehicles get a cover save. Crack Shot ignores cover. Crash and burn anybody? I don't have a Tau codex handy but I am pretty sure that the disruption pods give a cover save too. Just a thought for those annoying hammerheads and pathfinder devil fishes.

The only real drawback it that to field a full unit of 5 with an Exarch is about 220 points give or take depending on how you load them out. That's 60 points more than a Fire Prism with holo fields and spirit stones. I like to field them in full units unless I am using them in a small point total game of 1000 points or less. It makes sense, to me at least, for survivability and weight of fire you can bring to bear.

Fire discipline is essential to effectively use Dark Reapers. As you cannot split fire, like @#$%ing space marine devastators, you usually have to choose between your Exarch wasting a tank or the whole squad taking out a squad. This is why I limit my Reapers target to lightly armored targets and infantry. Leave the tanks to the Fire Dragons, Fire Prisms and units with bright lances that's what they are there for. At a strength of 5 the reaper launchers can at least glace on sixes on armor 11 targets. Combine this with fire from a Eldar Missile launcher toting Exarch and you can pop all the transports on the table pretty easily. If you are going for anti infantry spec the Exarch to do so. A Tempest launcher with Crack Shot as his power. This way you can support your infantry and your anti tank units can do their jobs unmolested by the enemies supporting units. Of course using Guide from a close Farseer makes for good times as well making sure all your shots hit. Judicious use of Doom is also recommended especially for Reapers tasked with anti infantry duty.

Placement is very important when deploying. You want a good vantage point of the battle field that hopefully provides cover. You don't want the Reapers to move at all. This means a wasted turn of not firing on the enemy. This is one of the reasons I like using Eldrad Ulthran. If I set up first I want to be able to move my Reapers into optimal firing position. I can do this thanks to Eldrad's Divination power. As they say in business its all about location.

If points allow using two units is nice. One for anti infantry and one for anti transport / back up anti tank duty.

So three down. Next time I will have a battle report unless I get My seer council on bikes from Chapter House studios this week. Then we will be having a product review followed by a battle report using the new night spinner and the bike council. Our next article in the Aspects of Khaine series will be taking us back into the fray. The wail of the banshee will be upon us next week as we cover the nimble Daughters of Khaine. The Howling Banshees.

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

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

Aspects of Khaine pt2: Striking Scorpions

They Stalk their prey from the shadows. They pounce upon it with emotionless fury. They are my favorite Aspect warrior. The Striking Scorpion. They are not as nimble as Howling Banshees nor do they sport power weapons enmasse, they do have several advantages that make them some of the best close combat troops in the game. Striking Scorpions are a great vanguard or relief force depending on how you deploy them. Having a strength of 4 , thanks to the scorpion chain sword, and a 3+ save puts them on par with Space marines. They have the advantage though thanks to high initiative. The basic Scorpion is nice but the flexibility and the way you use the unit hinges on how you equip the Exarch.

The Exarch can be armed with very formidable weapons. Although the power claw is nice I prefer to arm my Exarchs with the Biting Blade. I do this for two reasons. First the biting blade gets to strike at the Exarchs initiative of 6. This means you strike first in most combats. The second reason is because you could potentially strike at strength 8. If you hit with all 4 attacks you are strength 8. This is good when attacking high toughness units and especially vehicles. You could glance armor 14 which you cannot do with the power claw. Although it is not a power weapon I would rather have the high strength.

Exarch Powers are the other important factor. My Scorpions always have both Stalker and Shadow Strike. When Infiltrating your Scorpions mobility is important since they are not Fleet like other Eldar. Being able to traverse cover to reach the enemy increases their survivability. It is also very important to have when assaulting units in cover. I have used Scorpions many a time to contest objectives. This is in part because even if the objective is deep in cover you will be able to assault the troops holding it because you are rolling 3 dice rather than 2.

Being able to outflank or infiltrate is also Important. Shadow Strike lets you do either. It also allows you to contest objectives right from the start. If your opponent thinks he is being clever putting objectives in cover he will think twice as his troops are cut down trying to take it. The ability to outflank gives you the option of holding the Scorpions in reserve for later use. This can be especially effective against armies that sit back and “turtle”. Tau and Imperial guard are notorious for this. They sit back and pound you with the big guns and make you come to them. Having close combat troops suddenly in their midst takes focus off of your advancing troops and allows you to inflict some casualties in their backyard. You should avoid out flanking Scorpions however, if your opponent sets up in such a way that you cannot reach his units quickly. Your warriors stand the risk of getting gunned down before they reach their targets. Infiltrating as close as possible is a better bet. Unless you have an Autarch in your list you run the risk of not seeing your reserve units until later turns by which point they may make no difference in the battle and are wasted points.

You must have ample units to support the Scorpions as they advance though. Pathfinders and long range support from vibro cannons or Dark Reapers are good to distract enemies and have them direct fire away from the scorpions. The new Night Spinner is an excellent support option as it has very long range and makes it difficult for the enemy to move and engage. I will be doing a review this weekend of the new kit. Again running an Eldar army is about balance. The units must work in conjunction. Long range support backing up the middle range and close combat troops while the medium rang troops are backing up the close combat units.

To be most effective you must divide up the opposing army. Striking Scorpions are good but if you get mired down in combat with more than one unit you could be in trouble. You must thin the herd so to speak with your tanks and other Aspect warriors. Destroy back bone units while avoiding the temptation to take out the biggest thing on the table. Case in point, if you eliminate scoring units , troops choices, first you make it a very desperate battle for your opponent as he struggles to get units into position to contest objectives.

Striking Scorpions are one of the best close combat units in the game. Great saves, good strength and lots of tactical flexibility. Not being Fleet is their only real short coming.

SO there we are. Two down, Next week we will cover death from a distance. Dark Reapers. This weekend I will post pics and a build report and review of the new Night spinner.

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

Blood runs, Anger rises, Death wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!