Sending the Angels to Heaven!

Nick speaking,

Having my Eldar Fire Prisms and Falcon on the work bench being painted at the moment got me thinking about my Eldar. Whilst the tanks are getting their coats of paint I have been playing with my other armies, but having just played against a heavy Jump based Blood Angels list, made me think of Eldar Dark Reapers!

Having got two squads of Reapers available to me, but never using them for the obvious reason of Reapers Vs Fire Prisms! Made me start to think about all the units that don't make it into my lists for similar reasons, like the Avatar, Swooping Hawks and Warp Spiders! So there was my challenge, to make a 1750 point list that included units I rarely use and would be good against a Blood Angel Jump list?

This was my thought process:

Heavy Support - First of all I new that I wanted to get as many Star Cannon's in the list as possible. Star Cannon's are also something else I don't use much and all that AP2 to go with the AP3 Reapers was a good starting point. Having two Units of Dark Reapers meant I only had one Heavy slot left and that would have to go to some Star Cannon War Walkers. I know that War Walkers are best with Scatter Lasers or Shuriken Cannon's, but this list is going to be something different. Unlike my Harlequin army where anything near me gets some laughing assault death, this army is going to try and blast the Angels to heaven with the AP2/3.

HQ - Knowing that I wanted to stick in my Forge World Avatar was obvious, he would have to become my tar-pit unit for anything that was left after the blasting, and of course making units around him fearless. My second choice was Eldrad. He is in the list to use his Jedi tricks and do what he does best, Guiding, fortuning and dooming is going to be key.

Troops - Having seen the power of Eldrad and Pathfinders in my Harlequin list I opted for a unit of Pathfinders to hold my objective and a unit of jetbikes to go out and capture/contest.

Fast Attack - Stealing a bit of my Saim-Hann list I wanted to stick with two squads of Vypers for the Star Cannon's and of course their speed to help out the Jetbikes. Warp spiders are a must for me to try as I have had no luck with them yet, but it seems like everyone else loves them! So a squad of Spiders has been included to either warp in to distract or take out any annoying rear tanks.

Although I wanted to get some Swooping Hawks in the list they just didn't really fit in with the AP theme, plus I just ran out of points and fast attack slots.

So this is the final AP list is:

1x Avatar

1x Eldrad

6x Jetbikes (2x Cannon's)

5x Pathfinders

2x Vypers (Star Cannon's/Shuriken Cannon's)

2x Vypers (Star Cannon's/Shuriken Cannon's)

6x Warp spiders (Exarch with Dual Death Spinner & Power Blades)

2x War Walkers (Star Cannon's)

5x Dark Reapers (Exarch with Tempest Launcher)

5x Dark Reapers (Exarch with Tempest Launcher)

Not many models and anti-foot Space Marine orientated, but like I said this is mainly just about using my unused units and having a bit of fun. Having said that of course I still need to have a plan for this list as with all lists! So on to mission tactics.

Starting with Capture and Control. I would put my objective in one corner and hopefully as far from my enemy as possible, I will ideally take second turn and will try and hold my objective with Eldrad and the Pathfinders. These will then be supported by the Avatar, Walkers and one squad of Dark Reapers. I will place the other Reapers and two Vyper units on the other side of my Objective to give me crossfire and to draw off units. Of course the jetbikes will reserve and it will be the job of the Jetbikes and Vypers to contest on turn five/six. Warp Spiders will deep strike with a multi roll depending on the enemy, either behind pesky tanks or behind incoming units toward my objective. I also have the option to hide them ready to contest if the game needs it.

Seize ground would have a similar take on Capture and control, but I would put as many remaining objectives in the middle of the table in open as possible, ready for my AP2/3 to hit anything that tries to take them. In the Annihilation mission, I would take first turn and castle up on one side and deploy two units on the other side using Eldrad's Deviation ability to bring them back to my castle before the game starts. Hopefully this will syphon off a some units taking them further away from me.

So thanks to my tanks being out of commission this is going to be my list for the next few games. lets hope my opponent doesn't get his Orks out instead.

Battle reports to follow