Mechdar

So I am moving to Perth, and it looks like the new points level is 2000pts.

What have I learned in my 4 games, and various discussion - that winning means being good at one thing rather than being balanced. Eldar's strengths - manoevreability and firepower. So, here goes, my third attempt at a mechdar list, the one I am most happy with. Happy enough with that I have ordered 1 jetarch, 2 prisms and 3 vypers for my Christmas pressie to myself.

Hi brains trust,

I have decided to go for a shooty manoevreable mechdar list which is capable of various strategies - reserve, refused flank, hammer & anvil. It is characterised by the lack of assault dedicated troops, which is a foreign concept to me, as I previoulsy played only as orks.

I see it as having two elements - the long ranged and the mid ranged. I felt it necessary to have high strength attacks, and have struggled in the past to open transports, which I prefer to do from a distance, and before emptying wave serpents of avengers. Hence I have included 2 prisms and some walkers with EML. I have my prism models on order, and am hoping that they won't disappoint on the table.

The strengths of eldar are massed mid-strength fire and manoeverability. I hope to use the jetbikes and the vypers in concert to provide both of these - aiming the mid strength at the sides and rear of transports, and using turbo boosting jbikes to provide a cover save for the vypers




HQ
Farseer, Doom, Guide, Spirit Stones, Runes of Warding (war walkers and vypers most likely targets for guide) (135)

Autarch, Jetbike, Mandiblasters, Laser lance, Fusion Gun (140)

ELITE
6 Fire Dragons (96)
Wave serpent, Spirit Stones, TL Shuricannon (110)

TROOPS
10 Dire Avengers, inc exarch, power weapon, shimmer shield, bladestorm, defend (177)
Wave serpent, Spirit Stones, TL Shuricannon (110) (farseer rides here)

10 Dire Avengers (120)
Wave Serpent, spirit stones, TL Shuricannon (110)

6 (7) Jetbikes, 2 shuricannon, Warlock, destructor, singing spear (210) (Autarch rides here)

6 Jetbikes, 2 shuricannon (152)

FAST ATTACK
3 Vypers, scatter lasers (180)

HEAVY SUPPORT
3 War Walkers, 2 EML on all (210)
Fire Prism (115)
Fire Prism (115)

The war walkers are the one unit that cannot move 12" and shoot. For this reason, and also because I don't want chimera spam or dreadnaught spam to laugh at me, I have gone for the long ranged weapon, the EML. I acknowledge that it is not as effective as scatters, and is more expensive, but I feel that it makes up for a hole otherwise lacking (high strength) and the range is useful in ensuring they have an impact. I anticipate that they will only have the assistance of guide for one turn.

The autarch has a fusion gun, as I feel it is good to have a second melta weapon in the list somewhere - land raiders will be watching my dragons carefully, maybe not so much my autarch.

Some difficult decisions - is the cost of guide plus spirit stones worth its impact? Could the same points be better spent putting spirit stones on fire prisms? or underslung shuricannons on the prisms? A warlock for the jetbikes?

I also played with the idea of dropping autarch and the jetlock for a 4 strong unit of shining spears, to fulfill the same purpose - finishing off weakened units. However, I decided against it, so i could take the autarch's fusion gun and master strategist skill to open up the reserve game.

I have found it difficult to drop my scorpions - whom I have had in each of my 4 games so far. They are great - they wipe out what they assault, generally over two turns (which is betetr than one as they don't get shot up) and i haven't found it as hard as I thought assaulting from a serpent. However, where they assault, I am kind of pinned and bogged down as I need to support them. Hence I have gone for the ranged fire based army.

I also look forward to experimenting with night spinners rather than fire prisms, and am looking forward to the modelling challenge of using magnets to make the tanks interchangeable.
I decided for 10 avengers rather than tri-template stormies because avengers can be effective outside rapid fire and assault range, meaning that they can survive long enough to get a second turn of shooting off (which also explains lack of exarch & bladestorm)

- I decided on destructor rather than embolden as this unit can use the autarch's leadership. Also, it is my 'mop up' unit, and with the autarch carrying a laser lance, it is designed to assault (weakened targets) hence, I wanted to maximise short range damage on this unit.

-Fortune would probably be a better choice than guide, but I need to find a few points from somewhere to include it. The avengers do have the autarch who can come help out if they are struggling, but this the max powered avengers have served well, when combined with doom, at removing tac squads and termis.

- I consider holofields to be a poor choice for upgrade on the prism. Any rolls on the vehicle damage table remove its usefulness, at least for a turn, so choosing between two of them seems kind of pointless, especially when for the same points as holofields I could get spirit stones and the underslung cannon, which both seem to add to it's utility.