[MidnightSun]

Hi again

Having fought my friend's Eldar again recently, along with his small and illegal Tau army, I have decided to come here to beg for help. I have a ratio against him of W: Uncountable over 4 years D:1 L:0. His army consists of (as I said somewhere in another thread):
Farseer+ 3 Warlocks. Usually run with Eldritch Storm, Mind War and Destructors.
Maugan Ra
3 Dark Reaper to go with Maugan
Avatar
28 Guardians with 2 Heavy Weapon platforms, one a Starcannon, the other unbuilt so I have no idea what it may be. They are run in three squads.
4 Swooping Hawks inc. Exarch
9 Warp Spiders inc. Exarch
4 Fire Dragons, no Exarch
2 Falcons/ Wave Serpents, it change every game.
2 War Walkers
Wraithlord w/Wraithsword, Missile Launcher, Brightlance, Shuriken Catapults
2 Guardian Jetbikes
10 Dire Avengers with 2 Exarchs, will probably be run in one squad.
3 Rangers
allied with:
1 Krootox
Battlesuit Commander with Burst Cannon, Flamer and Missile Pods
12 Fire Warriors, in two teams. 2 have Carbines, the others have Rifles.
3 Stealthsuits with 2 Burst Cannons and one Fusion Blaster
Devilfish, unbuilt so I don't know about upgrades.

It's an illegal list, I know. The question is: What does he drop, add and do tactically? I suggested more Jetbikes, drop the Hawks, Reapers, PL and Drags for 10 Banshees in a Wave Serpent, give the Farseer Fortune and Doom, and put the Warlocks in the Guardian squads. Tactically, I've told him to keep the Farseer back, out of CC.

I think he has what I call 'Dawn of Waritis', which is when someone believes the computer games relate to the tabletop. As such, he sends the Farseer into melee needlessly, thinking that she is an excellent CC opponent, attacking a mob of 30 Orks with the Warp Spiders then assaulting, not realising that they are in the middle of my army. He has never made an Army List, which is why mine is so vague.

I really need some help!
Thanks,

Midnight

 

[Sethis]

The main problem appears to be this:

28 Guardians with 2 Heavy Weapon platforms, one a Starcannon, the other unbuilt so I have no idea what it may be. They are run in three squads.
4 Swooping Hawks inc. Exarch
9 Warp Spiders inc. Exarch
2 Guardian Jetbikes
3 Rangers

These are all terrible units, even when used with an otherwise strong army.

And this:

Farseer+ 3 Warlocks. Usually run with Eldritch Storm, Mind War and Destructors.
Maugan Ra
3 Dark Reaper to go with Maugan
Avatar
4 Fire Dragons, no Exarch
2 Falcons/ Wave Serpents, it change every game.
2 War Walkers
Wraithlord w/Wraithsword, Missile Launcher, Brightlance, Shuriken Catapults
10 Dire Avengers with 2 Exarchs, will probably be run in one squad.

These are units that can be good when taken in the correct numbers and when used as part of an army that plays to their strengths.

3 Warlocks are a waste of points. They're not going to kill anything, and the Farseer may as well be in a unit of something else. The Farseer also has the two worst powers available to him.

Maugen Ra and Dark Reapers are both overpriced and fragile and very very static. Waste of points.

The Avatar can be good if you play to his strengths, and develop the rest of the army around him. This army does neither.

4 Fire Dragons? Too small to reliably kill something. Take 6. And put them in a Falcon.

What weapons do the War Walkers have? If it isn't 4 of the same weapon then they're not being used properly.

The Wraithlord wants Flamers instead of Catapults.

It's an illegal list, I know. The question is: What does he drop, add and do tactically? I suggested more Jetbikes, drop the Hawks, Reapers, PL and Drags for 10 Banshees in a Wave Serpent, give the Farseer Fortune and Doom, and put the Warlocks in the Guardian squads. Tactically, I've told him to keep the Farseer back, out of CC.

The first step would be to start playing a legal army. The second step is to sell half of the models (the bad ones) on Ebay and use the money to buy better models, i.e. more Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons, and maybe a Fire Prism or two.

I'm sorry if all of the above sounds harsh, but you're never going to learn how to play a game if you don't follow the rules. Does he even have a copy of the codex? I would ask him what style of army he wants to play:

1. Fast bikes with tank support
2. Tanks with shooty/combat infantry support
3. Mostly combat infantry with support vehicles
4. Seer Council (lots of Warlocks and Farseers)
5. Monstrous Creature spam

If he can't decide on one of those archetypes and build his army around it, then he will continue to lose repeatedly because they're really the only good styles that we have.

 

[Chumbalaya]

Mechdar, mechdar all day.

What Sethis said pretty much.

Farseer, DAs in Serpents or Falcons, FDs in Serpents, Falcons, Prisms, optional Jetbikes, Storm Guardians and Warlocks.

 

[MidnightSun]

Thanks Sethis for the great post, +rep. Thwe War Walkers have 2 Eldar Missile Launchers, 1 Scatter Laser and a Starcannon

Midnight

EDIT: Oh, yeah, he has a copy of the Eldar codex but not Tau yet. His argument for having so many Guardians is that he got one squad to start off the army with, and two from battleforces. I'll tell him to try and sell 'em off. Good tip.

 

[Styro-J]

Farseer+ 3 Warlocks.Good, but bad power choices... Bad... Those alone could have turned a game, haha
3 Dark Reaper Go Five or go home
Maugan (Fantastic, but takes practice and more Pathfinders)
Avatar Medium
28 Guardians (Not the biggest fan, but it's a couple troops.)
4 Swooping Hawks inc. Exarch Not for games you want to win.
9 Warp Spiders inc. Exarch I love these, they work great. However, it takes a ton of practice and possibly Autarch support to do the job well.
4 Fire Dragons, no Exarch Must have more!
2 Falcons/ Wave Serpents, it change every game. Again, a few more would be great. Pricey though, so no worries.
2 War Walkers As Sethis said. Also, I think these guys need to stay with either Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannons, or EML in that order of preference
Wraithlord w/Wraithsword, Missile Launcher, Brightlance, Shuriken Catapults Flamers...
2 Guardian Jetbikes Handy to have, but a few more would be extremely helpful to make them worth something
10 Dire Avengers with 2 Exarchs, Perfectly reasonable troop
3 Rangers Again, they need a numbers boost

The variety here is killing his actual ability to field a coherent list. Too many of the squads are below the minimum squad sizes, so maybe trading a few in to boost the others in some way will help that. (ebay, works a bit)

I'd go ahead and lose the Spiders and PL for now, though I'd like to see them return eventually. They have good retrade value and are tough units to get a good feel for.

 

[MidnightSun]

I'm glad someone mentioned eBay, that's how he got all the Aspect Warriors. I've said "Get a blister pack or box of each Aspect Warrior Squad you have, or drop 'em". The Guardians perform terribly in games, I'm sure they're good as objective holders, but he uses them as a close assault unit.

VS. Necrons: Gets within 12" and gets a single round of shooting in, which does almost nothing (3+ save and then WBB). Necrons rapid fire back, kill most of the unit.

VS. Orks: Gets within 12", kills a few which hen combined with Mr. Maugan kills around 10. The remaining 20 Orks charge, turn Guardians into a bloody paste. Maugan Ra has been so occupied shooting Boyz that he has ignored Snikrot rapidly scaling the building he is standing on. A few stabs of Mork's Teeth later and bye-bye PL. Target Priority, people!

Midnight