1000 point help please

[treadiculous]

I am part of a gaming circle which features:
Guard, Orks, Marines (very occasionally), Rat-Kin (yes 40k Skaven) and Eldar.

I have all the codex for the armies and am writing this as my friend whom plays the eldar is struggling to field / use an effective force. He has recently returned to 40k and finding it a little tricky to pick up again.

ps the Rat-kin are toughness 3, have rubbish armour but have stealth as a race rule, have good heavy weapons and ok combat troops, they also feature rat ogres.. lots of 'em! - which are based on ogryns with rending...

I have helped him in steering his choices so he now has a stock worth about 2000 / 2500 points as follows:

1 Fire Prism
2 Wave Serpent
1 War Walker

1 Wraithlord
10 Wraith Guard

1 Avatar

1 or 2 Farseers
1 or 2 warlocks

12 Striking Scorpions
6 or so Swooping Hawks
6 or so Warp Spiders
8 or so Fire Dragons
3 or so Dark Reapers

8 or so Dire Avengers
6 or so Rangers

He has brought good 1000 point armies to the previous couple of battles such as:

...(ps it was vs guard horde and vs rat-kin 3 way fight)...

rangers infiltrating onto objective on flank
scorpions infiltrating onto objective on flank
fire dragons in wave serpent at rear of board
fire prism in support at rear of board
dire avengers covering central objective
swooping hawks arriving from deep strike

its just that it all seemed to fall apart once the game began, the wave serpent blew up before his first turn, the scorpions were charged and beaten*, as were the rangers, the avengers didn't engage anything and just remained behind cover, the fire prism was effective - ish on troop horde, but failed to take out a dread, and then got killed when it advanced... and the swooping hawks sort of danced around the avengers at the back....

*admittedly I had created a 35 man guard platoon with 3 commissars and 6 P.fists specifically to kill the scorpions. The guard were approx 340 points vs 280 scorpions... edit- i have just checked my codex and found this to be illegal.. p.fists can not be given to basic squads- doh!

i think there are a few obvious mistakes visible in that game..

but what would you suggest he had done?

i'd like your opinions on swooping hawks... they seem like shooty troops with a good set of 'nades...

and warp spiders are... for what..? close combat independant character killing..., or shooting enemy artillery up from behind?

reserves and eldar seem to be the thing to do... place nearly everything in reserve... but how to get rid of the opponents stuff that will rush onto the objective in the meantime..?

your thoughts and comments will be appreciated...

[frightenedfreddie]

It really depends on your friends preferred fighting style.

The main thing to remember with Eldar is that they will die if you throw them forward without thought. Instead of throwing Scorpions into close combat and hoping for the best, you need to soften up the enemy with some shooting before committing your assault squad to ensure that there is only one outcome, victory!

If half your army is infiltrating, then the rest of your army must push forward aggressively to support. Eldar weaponry is short range, so your warriors will have to leg it to maximize their effectiveness.

A trick i use when coming up with an army list is to pick a squad for a certain role. I then think 'what would support this unit the best' and imagine how they would work together.


I really liked my Hawks. Sadly, i had to stop taking them as people would just walk up and pick them up to examine them, and promptly drop them. They make a nice reserve force to bolster any elements of your army that are slowing down or to bother those lone squads holding objectives in isolated corners.

Warp Spiders are better looking than effective, but they do come in handy. I always used these guys as a harassment squad. Dropping behind enemy lines and shooting before assaulting their line troops. As they turned to face this threat, i would withdraw and assault something further away. They died alot, but always managed to divide the enemies attention from my main force long enough. And of course there is nothing wrong with shooting rear armour with a strength 6 weapon.


Think of Eldar as a fine cutting blade, as opposed to the sledgehammer of other armies. Plan your attack and concentrate your force until that threat is gone.

Edit: I don't have a copy of the newest Eldar Codex. Once i get my hands on a copy i will see what can be made with the models on hand