"Eldar Codex Mega-Review" Topic

Tanks, Skimmers, Odds and Ends.

"The multi-part Eldar codex review now turns to a part of the Eldar army that gets somewhat less attention (and definitely less attention with all the talk about the new Codex), but that makes up a major part of many Eldar armies, and will hopefully come back to prominence with the changes to the Wave Serpent: the Grav Tanks. If you¡¯re just joining us, click here for HQs, Troops, Aspect Warriors or musings on the aesthetics of the new codex.

Since they also need to be covered somewhere, I¡¯ll also be covering the units that don¡¯t easily fit anywhere else in the review: War Walkers, Vaul¡¯s Wrath Batteries, etc.

Grav Tanks took a bit of a hit in the last edition of the Codex, and I think the changes to 7th Edition put the nail in their coffin a bit. I saw very few non-Wave Serpent Grav Tanks at the LVO, and people are routinely (and justly) surprised when the Fire Prism normally in my list does much. The problem was the one-two punch of the Wave Serpent and Jink.

The number of S7 shots the Wave Serpent could put out meant for many purposes, it was superior, or at least not meaningfully inferior, compared to other tanks ¨C and was cheaper, held more troops, was more survivable and more flexible to boot. The change to Jink that mandates snap shooting was also rough ¨C the Falcon has a low number of shots, and much of the shooting from the Fire Prism and Night Spinner is template based, meaning they have to choose between being able to shoot, and being able to survive.

Some of this has gotten better. The Wave Serpent has been redesigned. Some of it remains the same ¨C so where does that leave us?

Falcon. Perhaps the most iconic of the Eldar Grav Tanks, the Falcon has returned to it¡¯s position as the premier ¡°Gunship¡± tank. Priced the same as previous, the changes to the Falcon are fairly subtle. The first, of course, is that the free Scatter Laser no longer has Laser Lock, killing the option to have a cheap means of twin-linking the built-in (and excellent) Pulse Laser. The upgrades to a Star Cannon or Bright Lance remain pretty inexpensive however, letting you choose whether or not to go towards a heavy infantry killer or an anti-vehicle platform.

One of the important changes is the ability to take Falcons in squadrons of up to three, ensuring that these don¡¯t take up too much of the (very) crowded Eldar Heavy Support choices. If taken in a squadron of three, they can Deep Strike without error if they¡¯re within 4¡å of one another, similar to the old Apocalypse formation. Definitely a nice bonus, and when combined with some other tricks from the Dark Eldar could make for an absolutely vicious beta-strike army, but for a minimum of 375 points and likely considerably higher than that, it¡¯s definitely an expensive way to go, and a lot of your army off the table…"

Full review here
link

Amicalement
Armand

I hate min-max reviews like this. I am not going to forego my Falcons, Fire Prisms and Night Spinners just because Wave Serpents are more effective. I play for background and fluff, not to win at any cost.

@28mm Fanatik:

I understand the aversion to taking forces that go against the lore, but I must point out that Wave Serpents have been the main Eldar APC since Epic 40k redefined the balance between Falcons, Prisms, and Wave serpents in 1996 and replaced the arrowhead Falcon with the modern Falcon. If Epic can be seen as providing an "accurate" depiction of Eldar TO&E for company sized units and above, Wave Serpents are the default transport vehicle for Guardian hosts while only elite units can opt for Falcons as transports. Furthermore, as a light infantry force, Eldar are heavily mechanized as a rule, in the lore and in Epic especially. Therefore there's no real fluff based alternative to the serpent as a ubiquitous transport.

Also please note I'm just saying serpents are more common than the other AFVs, and I'm not trying to justify MSU Dire Avenger Serpent spam.

but I must point out that Wave Serpents have been the main Eldar APC since Epic 40k

Not really since back when GW did support Epic 40K (nearly 2 decades ago) the Falcon was still the number one APC for the Eldar.

I see that they did not get rid of Eldrad so nearly very Eldar player will still be using him.

@Mithmee:

The original first edition epic falcon no longer existed as of Epic 40k. I really can't see Eldar doctrine pushing the use of anemic 6-strong squads just so they can avoid using Serpents. Besides there was absolutely no pushback whatsoever against Serpents on the table until just barely 2 years ago, when all of a sudden GW bestowed a small fraction of the original Serpent's powers from 2nd edition Epic upon its 40k incarnation.

Well when the Eldar first came out they only came in squads of five.

Plus Epic 40K is really no longer EPIC.

I have seen what passes as armies for it and they would barely make up a reinforced company or Light Battalion.

GW trash Epic 40K nearly twenty years ago and it lives on in several forms and Epic Armageddon is just one of them.

Oh which GW decided not to support just like they have decided not the support many of their other games.

The best Edition is and has always been 2nd Edition.

Hey there – I'm the author of this blog post (and a number of others on the new Eldar codex). If anyone has any questions, please let me know.

@28mm Fanatik – I think it's a little inaccurate to call these reviews min-max or win at all costs. Heck, the first one of them was purely on the aesthetics of the book, and given the reviews also feature things like discussing "Shenanigans" as a battlefield roll for Autarchs, and my unabashed love for the look and idea of the Fire Prism, I think it's pretty far from it. Which is a good thing – I'm a middling tournament player at the best of times.

That being said, I think there's little else for a codex review to be *about*, especially if the models haven't been redesigned. And even if you aren't playing a tournament-grade, win at all costs army, how your units work is still a valuable piece of information.

Thing is about Eldar is that most players need to min-max and run the Wave Serpent spam armies because they do want to win some games.

I started out with Eldar nearly 25 years ago back when you needed to field a standard Eldar squad of Las-Guns & Storm Squad before you can get that Battle Squad of Shuriken Catapults.

If you wanted another Battle Squad you needed the other Squads first.

This was also when you wanted to field at least one Squad each of the Aspect Squads and in many cases 2 Squads.

Plus you would see the Big Guy in every Eldar army.

But then GW started screwing them over; gone where the Las Guns Eldar, Shuriken Catapults range cut in half.

Oh and also when they did this they change up the movement rules as well.

Then they went to that "STUPID" Force Organization Chart, which began the Min-Max era of 40K.

Two troops (smallest troops that you needed to take) try and max out the Elites, Heavies & Fast Attack)

So what did most Eldar players do?

Go to a Mech-Dar force using more vehicles since those could survive where infantry could not.

So you hardly saw Dark Reapers, Howling Banshees and Guardian Squads since they were just victory points just waiting to give to your opponent.

Now GW has just been pushing bigger and bigger models because the profit margin on those are higher than regular models.

Oh and doubling the cost of the most common Troop choice that players were using (I.E. Dire Avengers).

20+ years ago there was balance in the forces but today there is no balance which is why certain armies sit in the Top Tier.

So given that they have not yet gotten rid of that "STUPID" Force Organization Chart.

Most Players will still strive to Min-Max their Armies.

Actually most of the more recent codexes have begun to include their own FOCs that supersede the rulebook one, including the new Eldar one. Don't have the book handy though so I can't say for sure what is different but I know that some of the tourney guys that don't play Eldar are whining over some of the possibilities it apparently allows.

@Bob Runnicles The new formation/detachment doesn't supersede the FOC (aka a CAD detachment) but offers a pretty tempting alternative. The short version is, in exchange for some unit taxes, everyone gets considerably better, but gives up objective secured.

It's hard to summarize, but it's the next part of the review, so I'll post it here when I'm done, which should be in a day or two.

As promised: link

Well I see issues with those formations already.

The Auxiliary Units require that you field a Guardian Host, which due it requirements will take up a sizeable chunk of your points.

consists of one Farseer, three units of Guardian Defenders, 1 Vyper squadron, 1 Warwalker squadron, 1 Vaul's Wrath Support Battery and up to one Warlock Conclave

So unless everything got way cheaper points wise you are not going to have a lot of points to spend after getting the required units.

Mithmee, the Guardian host is a fluffy unit which should actually be quite "interesting" to play, especially if you take 3 of those D cannon support platforms. War walkers are also nice units to have, and you only need to take one Vyper. Of course ruthless players can always opt for the Wind Rider host instead which is very efficient.

Yes I know that the additional units are good and I would have included that Squadron of Vyper's and Warwalkers anyway.

But I know the cost of those Squadrons run upwards to 200+ points each.

So when most armies are still only around 1850 points after including just one Guardian Host means that the total cost will around 750-1000+ points.

Because to me a Squadron is three Vypers/Warwalkers not just one.

But not seeing the book players may be able to field just one of each, which gets us back to the Min/Max the army.

But you are right about the Wind Rider Host but that does mean fewer models and a good opponent will know this a will shoot them instead.

Mithmee,

The squadrons don't have to be full up. Beyond that, most of the interesting *formations* in the book can be fielded as separate formations as well as being part of the detachment. They'll give up the automatic 6" run, but nothing more than that.

So you could go CAD + Aspect Host or the like.

So players will just field the one vehicle each – thus Min/Max their army.

So I would still go with Unbounded because then I can build that army that I want to build.