Breaking The Meta And Killing Riptides PT 2: Close Combat

So before I went on a tangent plugging the ever living daylights out of the Craftworld open and the other events the Craftworld team is bringing you at UCON, I was talking about killing Riptides and trying to break the current meta, which quite frankly is pretty rough right now. Last time we talked about shooting mostly. Now I want to delve into a subject there is much conjecture about in 6^th , edition, close combat. I want to also cover the use of Psychic powers, as this is one of the biggest Benefits the Eldar have when it comes to taking down tough enemy units. So lets get into the fray as it were.

Close Combat aka Assault

The Eldar have some crack assault troops. Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions at the fore. There are some oft overlooked gems in the ranks of the Warhost though. One of my favorites and an excellent slayer of Riptides is the ignored and unused Shining Spear. Now that the Shining Spears can be taken in units of more than 5 they can be a very potent Assault unit. The Laser Lance Is a very short range weapon for shooting, but its primary function is close combat. At a strength of 6 and an AP of 3 they are very effective in hunting big varmints like Riptides. Combine this with the Ability of the Exarch have a strength 8 AP 2 Star Lance and Monster Hunter you can take down most monstrous creatures in a turn with a big enough unit. You also have Hit and Run so you can get out of combat and charge again to get your strength 6 again with the Laser Lances. I personally like running a Farseer and or Autarch with the unit to add some more punch and resiliency. Having invulnerably saves in the mix along with a possible Fortune is pretty handy. Now I know the Laser Lance is only AP 3 but that is effective against most targets. It is not effective to deal with a Riptide though, until that is you hit it with Jinx from a Warlock. I will get into this though when I cover psychic powers.

Dedicated close combat troops are an extremely effective way of dealing with Tau and some other army builds. You just have to know how to deploy them and how to use the troops effectively to get the desired results. The current rules set has killed one of the most effective ways to get your Striking Scorpions in to the fray quickly. Not being able to Assault after an Outflank deployment put a kibosh on one of my favorite tactics. This tactic forced your opponents to deploy his forces in such a way as to avoid being assaulted from the flanks. You can still do this but with units like War Walkers though. Its risky putting a lot of units in reserve, but using a screen of War Walkers followed by a unit of Scorpions can help get the Scorpions into the fray. Most opponents will try and take out the War Walkers first especially if they are armed with something suitably nasty.

Deployment for Scorpions is going to be completely situational. Infiltrating will probably be your best bet for many situations. Deploying in terrain to take advantage if the move through cover and more importantly Stealth will help keep the unit alive as it advances. The real trick is using your other units to funnel your quarry towards the Scorpions. Scarier mobile units can be used in this way. Shining Spears or even the dreaded bike council can really make big critters move where you want them to when you have them barreling down on them.

Arming your Exarch, and actually running an Exarch, is pretty clutch when hunting big critters. Also running a squad of 10 is important. When monster hunting I always arm the Exarch with a Scorpions Claw. With Crushing blow he is strength 7 and strikes at initiative. Adding Monster Hunter to the mix helps the rest of the Squad possibly finish off the high wound models. The only real snag is if the Monster is a character and it challenges the Exarch. With only 4 attacks on the charge the Exarch cant kill a full wound Riptide or Tervigon in one round. Which is kind of important as the Exarch will die quickly on strikes back in a challenge. Dedicated monster hunting units are substantially bolsters by the presence of a Phoenix Lord. Karandras and Jain Zar in their receptive Aspect units make the units much tougher to deal with for your opponent and the killing power is also increased.

Howling Banshees are not really suited to hunting big prey, but they seem to be geared towards hunting characters, especially IC's, and death star units, at least in a support kind of way. They strike fast, but not particularly hard. The Exarch can be kitted with an Executioner which makes her strength 5 with an AP of 2. This is pretty decent for hunting IC's. You can neutralize the IC by giving the Exarch disarming strike and shield of Grace. With very few exceptions you will always be striking first as well. The Banshees are great for supporting Scorpions if you have another unit moving in to support the unit or model the Scorpion unit is attacking.

The Seer Council is a good bridge between Assault and our next topic, Psychic powers. I have always preferred a council on Foot, but its proving to be quite cumbersome anymore. I prefer the foot council

mainly because you cant put Eldrad on a bike. Oh lord do I want Eldrad on a bike. The Bike council is a Death Star at its best. Mobile and chuck full of Eldar psychic Shenanigans. They are good against pretty much everything. Their resiliency make them excellent for fighting other death stars and tough units. If anything just to tar pit them so they are completely ineffective for the rest of the game. The only real down side to a full bike council, that is 10 warlocks on bikes and 2 Farseers, is the amount of points the unit takes up in a list. They can, however, completely cripple a unit before slamming into it and laying waste to it. Jinx, reveal, horrify, enervate and Drain all sap out a units effectiveness and with 10 Warlocks in the group you should get most all of these powers, sometimes doubling up so you can use the Blessing portion to further enhance your already formative capabilities.

We will get into the intricacies of Psychic powers next time. The real thing I am trying to convey is thinking outside the box and trying different things in the codex. The Eldar have changed substantially and it seems people are hung up on Wave Serpent Spam and the old way of doing things.

SO next time Psychic powers.....and probably more UCON plugging

Until next time.....

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