Fighting The Necron: Second Look at Eldar Units

Its been a busy week. Its been very very warm in Michigan this week, especially for March. Between the nice weather and car repairs its been tough to sit down and write. I have been contemplating the Eldar this week though. Contemplating how the fit into the new meta. Or I should say how they fit into the new meta now that Necrons have stormed the field once again. Old School Terminator and CVinton have been converted. They have been running rampant with their respective Armies of soulless killing machines for well over 2 months now. I have gotten in about 6 games against the Necron Codex and have lost every one. I am not ashamed to admit it. It has been a very good learning experience though.

I have been forced to really go through the Eldar codex and take a second look at units. Mainly units that have the capability of chasing down Command Barges and Night Scythes. I also have to balance the list out with units that can take down squads of immortals with little trouble. I am trying a different approach now. Units that have gone by the wayside have once again come to the forefront. It just goes to prove my point that you can know your army in and out, but you should always re read the codex. New situations and uses for units will always pop into your head.

Case in point I was faced with a modified, some would say meaner, version of CVintons “Tesla Orgy” when we played this past Friday at another local store, The Fortress. I broke out a very specialty unit for this battle. One that Eldar players oft overlook. In fact I seldom if ever use the red headed step child of Aspect Warriors. The Shining Spears. I took a hard look at all the units in the codex and the Spears kind of stuck out. Although their laser lances are very short range, they are strength 6 and a lance weapon. The Exarch can also pack a Star Lance which is strength 8 lance weapon. Given the Shining spears mobility and ability to hit and run. They make ideal Command Barge hunters.

In the game in question the Spears Acquitted themselves very well. Destroying a command barge on Turn one and then hunting down the Lord like a dog. Sadly due to the small unit size casualties were high. The Exarch, however, was on fire as he was the only member to live for most of the game. He claimed both command Barges and a Lord.

Another favorite Aspect of mine is the Swooping Hawks. They made a go at one of the Command Barges as well and were able to destroy its Tesla weapon before it ran off into the welcoming arms of the Shining Spear Exarch. I needed to run a bigger squad though. The intercept ability along with haywire grenades make them ideal for hunting fast vehicles and fast skimmers. You just have to be careful as they have a tendency to draw fire and they are fairly lightly armored. I only ran 6 in the squad and I should have run 8 maybe 10.

I don't know why I have not been running Dark reapers enmasse in the backfield. They are classic “Marine killers” and when you have a Farseer guiding and dooming they can wipe out heavy targets pretty quickly. Again I should have run more than one squad. The single squad was able to punish the immortal squads, despite the solar pulse being used on 2 turns. In fact the Solar pulse was the only thing really keeping all 3 Immortal squads alive, that and me only running 1 squad of Reapers. The squad was also able to clean up the scarab farm after a nice cleansing in the form of twin destructors from Eldrads Warlock retinue.

I am starting to see the value in running Pathfinders as my troop choices. Its a rare thing anymore where fluff actually points to an efficient army. Alaitoc Craftworld has been hunting down tomb worlds for thousands of years. They are the last of the Eldar that still remember their duty to the old ones. I may be starting up a second Craftworld soon. Running lots of Pathfinders and Rangers. The 2 squads I ran were able to get most of the Necron army in a nice big field of overlapping fire. Although they are more expensive than Dire Avengers and guardians, their shooting ability and range is better and they can deploy pretty much anywhere, giving you the ability to hold objectives effectively. Since pathfinders can potentially have a 2+ cover save they are very hard to get rid of without dedicating a ton of shooting. Even so they out range most other units. They are effective at taking out normal infantry and monstrous creatures.

So now I go to refine the list. With all this work going into dealing with the Necrons you may think its a massive amount of list tailoring on my part. It is actually, but any army I bring that is effective against the Necrons I think will also be very effective against any other army as well. Also my justification for tailoring is this. Although its nice having an all comers list, Eldar are a very specialized force and with the age of the codex showing, a bit of tailoring to the meta is very much needed to roll with all the new kids on the block.

So more on the list development as it happens. I will be announcing the official date and posting missions for the “Test Of Khaine” tournament in the coming week. I will also be hopefulling continuing my old series “The Foundations Of Vengeance” on Dark Future Games.

Until next time..........

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

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