[Guitardian]

If yer curious about the changes, scroll down to below the horizontal line for the update.

So my meagre eldar force is going to grow soon as I will have the opportunity to add a box of Reapers and a box of Spears on payday. I don't have much to work with and I am a stickler for 'what you see is what you get' so bear with me.

So far I have 10 avengers (2 of them exarchs), a spear chucking farseer, an autarch with wings and a big gun and a powersword, and 6 Hawks (with exarch). I have managed to make 735 points out of these guys when I gave them all the upgrades I could think of (including multiple powers on the seer). This is not a good approach in my opinion, so by adding a few more figs I can round it out a tad better. Here is what I am thinking:

This first list is 800 points and uses what I have so far plus my intended purchases. It is extremely minimalist.

Farseer: Doom, singing spear (83 pts)
Autarch: Wings, powersword, deathspinner (105)

5 Avengers: Exarch, diresword (82)
5 Avengers: Exarch, shimmershield (87)

6 Hawks: Exarch (138)
3 Spears: Exarch (117)

5 Reapers: Exarch (187)

yeah yeah I know I know thats way heavy on the exarchs but thats the figs I got.

Now, with a few carefully picked upgrades I managed to jump the 800 to 1000. I am unsure if this is good or not because I havent got the figs yet to finish it, but I am thinking the numbers disadvantage is severe as it is, even with the 800 point list, but are these upgrades worth giving the badguys 200 more points to work with?

LIST 2:
Farseer: spear, spirit stones, doom, fortune (133)
Autarch: wings, mandi, fusion gun, powersword (120)

5 Avengers: exarch, diresword, bladestorm (97)
5 Avengers: exarch, shimmershield, defend (102)

3 Spears: exarch, starlance, withdraw (157)
6 hawks: exarch, sunrifle, skyleap, intercept (173)

5 reapers: exarch, tempest launcher, crack shot (217)

soooo... anybody think my figure purchases are a bad idea, any suggestions for alternatives (like dragons instead of reapers or harlies instead of spears or whatever?) or do you think these lists are balanced enough to put up a fight?

Please remember I'm on a bit of a budget, too many other priorities, so I can only really get a couple of additions.

Sigh sigh... what to buy... I have so far managed to keep to a white/black/blue/silver colour scheme, this is why I was wanting spears and reapers rather than something tan or green or red, but I can figure a way to work it so they blend in if there is a much better suggestion for force content. I'll have about 80 bucks to put towards this and U.S. dollars that's 2 boxed squads/vehicles approximately.

[hr]
well as it turns out I just got a nice contract job so I will have a tad more leeway dollarwise, and decided to take an alternate approach. There is fluff but I won't get into that right now. All the names are based on old elf D&D characters from my childhood and ral-partha figure lines. The idea philosophy here is that I am tired of blowing the mess out of my opponent only to lose because of lack of enough scoring units by the end of the massacre. So... rather than ultraelite, I have dumbed down a LOT of upgrades in this virtual list in order to squeeze more in there. Fortunately, Redbeard is well equipped figurewise for me to be able to playtest this before dumping my chunk of money into it. Here's to hoping. Any veteran insight is always welcome.

I want this list to be almost completely self sufficient against any opponent, but there is one change I may need to make if I know I am facing the new chaos book. I simply can't deal with that stupid LASH thing so I will put ward runes in at the expense of some autarch weaponry and hawk exarch 'intercept' skill.


HQ:
Feynix: simple farseer with midwar, spear, and nothing else. 78.
The plan for this guy is to ride in a falcon with the 5-squad of banshees to zap hidden powerfists (one killed my autarch and taught me a lesson in my game last week.) His name is based on my favorite old Battletech mech, PhoenixHawk (looks like a robotech veritech fighter.)

Seynturyain: winged Autarch with mandiblasters, powersword, spinner. 115

He is my table alterego, a cute little elfy spelled version of my screen name on here. He will be moving with the hawks, or off on his own to harass infantry with his powersword and hope to not get instant deathed again. That's why the Mandiblasters, when I commit him I need to do as much damage as possible.
[hr]

TROOPS:
Dwyndolin, and Esgalduin two dire avenger twin brother exarchs with minimal 5 squads, 82 and 77 points. Dwyn has a diresword and Esgal has an extra catapult. These guys are not intended to be much of a hitting force, just 2 troop slots, try to keep them alive so I can score with them in endgame. Named after old RalPartha elven knights. I figured it was appropriate given the Avenger fluff.


FAST ATTACK:
Starbrow: swooping hawk exarch of a squad of six, packing a Hawks Talon (I have decided this is preferable to the sunrifle, which I just haven't been able to utilize well so far. I like the better STR)... he can skyleap too. 163. They may just be bait and take a hit and I will sacrifice the exarch to tie up something in cc, or may just bounce up and down dropping templates after they get reduced. Named after an old RalPartha elf ranger commander.

'bait' and 'score'
2 identicle Vypers, 'bait' and 'score', just a shricannon on the turrets. They will escourt the falcons to prevent backhatch blocking, are dirt cheap, and may just draw some fire. and they score. and vypers are dead sexy. 50 pts each. They are in separate 'squads' of one for flexibility and an extra score.

HEAVY:
Alhelor
dark reaper exarch of a squad of 5. Missile launcher and fast shot (I found out this is more useful than the tempest because it threatens armor). 217 pts. They simply stand in one corner or another and dominate a fire lane. They were my champs in my last weeks game with this config. My bro didn't go anywhere near LOS with them by turn 4 (after losing a dozen marines, a couple of rhinos, and a dread to their fire every time he tried to cross the street!), he just set up roadblocks of dead rhinos so he could avoid them. Named after my old D&D elf archer character from when i was in middle school.

clowncar and bitchbus
2 defensive falcons at 185 pts. scoring, hard to kill, probably shaken all game but thats fine with me. It's the cargo that's doing the damage. holos, stones, vectors. Wish I could squeeze in some star engines for psychological damage value, but I'm squeezing all of this into 1500 as it is. Gotta skimp somewhere :P at least the passengers will be nice and cozy... speaking of which:

ELITE:
Seleuki and Braeis Braeis is a troupemaster with a powersword named after my elf thief I used to play in D&d in highschool, Seleuki is the shadowseer named after the schizophrenic elven illusionist I played in college (when he hallucinates, so do you!). rather appropriate. They are part of a 6 unit of harlies all with kisses (except the troupe master). 196.

Ilystil Banshee exarch with a triskel and acrobat, 102
part of a 5 squad, intended to ride with the warseer as number 6 in the back of the bus (gee... wonder what they get up to in the back seat of the car). I am actually planning on using either JainZar or Lileath for the fig for her, cuz Jain has the big hair and stands out, or Lil... welll... ummm... just look at her. I just will paint her shiney and golden and white instead of dark and bloody and creepy. The intention of this squad and the harlie squad is to pinpoint the biggest threat and unload on it all as one wave of serious choppy goodness, with the warseer to take out hidden fists right beforehand and the vypers to prevent backhatch blocking.

On thinking about this, as I was writing this, I realized how potentially useful Star Engines can be for the falcons and the vypers so they can all move with precision to EXACTLY where I want them. that's a buncha points tho. hmmm... type while thinking here... 30 pts I can do for one falc and one vyp... at the expense of the banshee exarch's triskel, acro, and the hawk skyleap. Probably not worth it.

So there ya go... just my thoughts for a late night with too much time on my hands. That's TEN scorers in 1500. I'm tired of slaughtering my opponent only to lose to scoring unit technicalities. This should put a foot down on that pretty well I hope.

[Nightwing]

well, first off, I think you should combine the two 5 man squads of DA's into 1 10 man squad. You can lose a few more that way, and not have to make a moral check early in the game.

Second, you already have 5 reapers, why buy more?

[Guitardian]

Originally Posted by Nightwing

well, first off, I think you should combine the two 5 man squads of DA's into 1 10 man squad. You can lose a few more that way, and not have to make a moral check early in the game.

Second, you already have 5 reapers, why buy more?

nah ya read me wrong bro. I dont have the 5 reapers yet, they were just a consideration for my next buy, that plus the spears. All I have is the 10 avengers, 6 hawks, seer, autarch. I used this config using my big brothers borrowed figs in a game this weekend and did really well. 1000 point version. Only difference is that the reaper exarch was given an EML and FastShot, instead of the Tempest Launcher. We both thrashed each others army like you wouldn't believe and the reapers and singing spear seer left a trail of ruined rhinos across the middle of the board (which i think he meant to do, blocking LOS for fearing the reapers), trashed his chaos dread, and all but wiped out his chaos marines. he won because he reduced my squads to less-than-scoring (as I completely wiped his) and he still had the scoring demon princess thingy to zoom in and grab the extra 500 VPs for the corner objective. it was an extremely bloody game, almost everything on the table was wiped. That's just how we roll yo 8) sibling rivalry is such a wonderful game. :

my hawk exarch and my farseer performed above and beyond while my reapers were crucial in holding a giant fire lane across the middle of the board. the avengers? meh... cannon fodder. Reapers though! They were essentially just psychology by midgame because by the time they had blown up the dread, 3 rhinos, and a dozen marines, he knew better than to use that route and I owned the whole street.

If it weren't for the fact that I screwed up with my spears on turn 1 and got em killed before they could do any damage, it would have been a much closer game. Autarch died, taking out 3/5 chaos marines, then getting whacked by a hidden STR8 instant kill powerfist in return. Didn't quite make his points back but he did mess up a crucial squad at a crucial time. As it was, my bro is sick and really really good and knows the rules far better than I.

I was impressed by the reapers tho. Chaos marines and havocs got chewed to pieces. I OWNED centerboard for most of the game. That dang demonlord/princess thing he has that counts as a monstrous rather than an independant is what beat me. 1 scoring unit too many... 500 points for that table quarter. In a 1000 point battle that was pretty significant. 3 rhinos, a dread, a squad of havocs, 2 full squads of noisemarines... all chewed to pieces. fun fun fun. They definitely earned back their points. Fear the reaper.

Thanks for your interest, nightwing.

Not too sure about the shiney spears though. I left them in a bad spot and got them blown up before I could ever see how effective they could be. Redbeard is pretty ruthless tactically. I may change them up for some plain ol jetbikes, and combine all 10 avengers into one squad for my other troop req, save some points for something... something... else. Let's see: lose a DA exarch, weapon upgrade, spear exarch, upgrades, spears traded down to guardian bikers, and I have a whole other squad worth of points... maybe a wraithlord and warlock sidekick, or maybe a tricked out vyper (they die too easy to trick em out too much). I am trying to juggle monetary budget with points efficiency here.