Eldar Vs Space Marines (1500pt WH40k Battle Report)

Nick speaking,

Time for some more Mechdar action, and this time I had to slim down my list to fifteen hundred point, so that I could get a little friendly game in against my sons Space Marines...

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Mechdar Messing Battle Report

Nick speaking,

Here is a battle report after my Mechdar list messing...

HQ
1 x Autarch/Jetbike/Fusion Gun/Blaze/Mantle (135)
2 x Warlock/2x Jetbike/1x Singing spear (105)

TROOPS
6 x Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (122)
6 x Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (122)
10 x Dire Avengers/Exarch - Power Weapon + Shimmershield (150)
     1 x Wave Serpent/Scatter Laser/Holofields (135)
10 x Storm Guardians/2x Flamer (100)
     1 x Wave Serpent/Scatter Laser/Holofields (135)

ELITES
5 x Fire Dragons (110)
     1 x Wave Serpent/Scatter Laser/Holofields (135)

FAST
7 x Warp Spiders (133)
6 x Swooping Hawks/Exarch (106)

HEAVY
1 x Fire Prism/Holofields/Spirit stone(150)
1 x Fire Prism/Holofields/Spirit stone(150)
3 x War Walkers/Star Cannon/Scatter Laser (210)

Points 1998

Ouch!

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Mechdar List Messing!

Nick speaking,

It's fair to say that I haven't really got a lot of games in with the new Eldar Codex yet, I suppose that is one of the perils of having too many armies! Anyhow, I have been messing around with my Mechdar army list and seeing what I can do with it. It's probably going to need a few tweaks, but first I want to get some games in with it and see how it runs...

HQ
1 x Autarch/Jetbike/Fusion Gun/Blaze/Mantle (135)
2 x Warlock/2x Jetbike/1x Singing spear (105)

TROOPS
6 x Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (122)
6 x Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (122)
10 x Dire Avengers/Exarch - Power Weapon + Shimmershield (150)
     1 x Wave Serpent/Scatter Laser/Holofields (135)
10 x Storm Guardians/2x Flamer (100)
     1 x Wave Serpent/Scatter Laser/Holofields (135)

ELITES
5 x Fire Dragons (110)
     1 x Wave Serpent/Scatter Laser/Holofields (135)

FAST
7 x Warp Spiders (133)
6 x Swooping Hawks/Exarch (106)

HEAVY
1 x Fire Prism/Holofields/Spirit stone(150)
1 x Fire Prism/Holofields/Spirit stone(150)
3 x War Walkers/Star Cannon/Scatter Laser (210)

Points 1998

Battle report to follow...

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Army List Clinic - Eldar Help

Nick speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic, we hope that our responses have given you some pointers and have been useful. In today's post we will have a look at a list submitted by an IDICBeer YouTube subscriber and his Eldar...

Email in:

Hello IDICBeer,

thank you for a great job you do with all those videos. It made me write you this message to ask you for a help with Eldar, if you wouldn't mind.

I play GK in a very small, friendly, but competitive group against SM, CSM, Necron and Tau (maybe an Ork player will join us). With GK, I do very well, however I expect Eldar to be much more difficult to play.

Right now we're around 1250 pts. (because of Planetary Empire bonuses, armies are usually bigger, like up to 1650 pts or so). Our meta game favours heavy firepower (Dreadnought, Doomsday Arch, Annihilation Barge, Forgefiends, Broadsuits, Land Riders etc.) and the battles are mostly shooty.

I can't decide what to try with Eldar in order to not be utterly crushed -- I don't expect as powerful army as my GK feels, but I'd like to stay on par with others.

What list(s) for 1250 pts would you recommend? Why to pick certain units? How to play the army? How to sneak past the heavy firepower of my opponents with kinda low-T low-AV units Eldar have?

Thank you very much for any suggestions and your time.

Best wishes

Lockear

Hi Lockear

Thanks very much for your email, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to see if I can come up with something that may help you. You don’t mention any limitations with regards to the models you have, so I will run with that...

First, smaller games are even more of a challenge for such an old, unforgiving Codex, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take your Eldar into the game without a good fighting chance. I would like to be able to give you several options, but as I see it, the best way to go is to just run with the best units in the Codex that the points will allow for.

So, first up will be two Fire Prisms, take them bare boned to keep the points down. They will give you some nice long range variable stat firepower. Running with them would be two small bare boned units of Fire Dragons in Wave Serpents. I would run with Scatter Lasers myself, as the twin linked side of them will probably be your best AA on the table as well.  That is your firepower sorted out to deal with all the high AV you will be facing.

Now we need to sort the troops and HQ out, and again this is a tough one if we want to take all the goodies as well. First we need the troops to work in line with the rest of the army, so I would forget ground troops like Guardians and Rangers, they are good, but won’t fit the type of army we need to go for to compete with your meta. I would opt for a strong core of Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent with a Farseer, You could stick a Bright lance on this Serpent if you wanted some long range anti AV13/14, but they are expensive. The Farseer should have Fortune and Runes of warding for the anti pysker ability. I would then run along side that two units of jetbikes, these will be your fast moving troop choices. The army should look something like this…

1x Farseer/Fortune/RoW (100)

10x Dire Avengers/PW-Shield/Bladestorm/Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers ( 277)

5x Jetbikes/1x Cannon (120)

5x Jetbikes/1x Cannon (120)

5x Fire Dragons/Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers (195)

5x Fire Dragons/Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers (195)

1x Fire Prism (115)

1x Fire Prism/Cannon (125)

1247 pts

In the end we had a few points left over so I stuck a Cannon on a Prism, quite useful if you use that Prism to combine beams, as you can also shoot the Cannon at another unit as well, as per the Eldar FAQ.

So that’s the list, but how to run it? First up, you will have to use the army as a whole, try to keep the army together and use the entire force of your warhost against your enemy. Ideally, you will want to go first if you can, get your Farseer tank fortuned up and the warhost into position to attack. Going second does have some advantages though, especially if you want to grab those objectives with your jetbikes turn five.

One thing to bear in mind for Eldar at the moment is how important secondary objectives are, in reality you need to treat them as Primary objectives. ALWAYS think about taking First Blood (the best one as it cannot be shared) and Linebreaker (which should be doable with your fast army). Slay the Warlord is going to be subject to what is on the table, but the key thing to remember is, if you have more Secondary objectives than your opponent and you can contest/draw on Primary objectives, then you win, and Eldar at the moment find it much easier to tie Primary then win them.

Taking the list up in points, and I would start by increasing the Jetbike units to six strong with an extra Cannon and then a Warlock with Embolden in each, the re-roll leadership is invaluable in keeping them around longer. From then on, a nice distraction unit of Swooping Hawks jumping up and down works well, including getting Linebreaker for you, or maybe some Warp Spiders. Then you could just start adding units you like and see how it goes.

Hope that helps, let me know how you get on.

If any of our Readers would like to offer any suggestions, please feel free to comment below, and if you would like to submit one of your army lists to us to have a look at, you can do so here: listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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Eldar Doom! We will adapt...

Nick speaking,

After my initial knee-jerk reaction to the last Eldar FAQ, where Farseer Psychic Powers that do not require line of sight to the target, cannot be used whilst embarked on a Transport! It got me thinking about the 6th Edition Mechdar list that I have been playing. My first thoughts were that the list would be rendered useless with me not being able to cast double Fortune and Doom with Eldrad, but maybe that initial reaction was a bit hot headed, so lets take a look at what this really means for my Mechdar and see how I can adapt.

First up, here is my list as it stands...

IDIC Mechdar

HQ

1 x IDIC Eldrad (210)

TROOPS

10 x Dire Avengers/Exarch/Power Weapon/Shimmer Shield/Bladestorm (162)
              *IDIC Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (125)
6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (152)
              *IDIC Warlock Jetbike/Embolden (50)
6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (152)
              *IDIC Warlock Jetbike/Embolden (50)

ELITES

5 x Fire Dragons (80)
              *IDIC Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (125)
5 x Fire Dragons (80)
              *IDIC Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (125)

FAST ATTACK
 
5 x Swooping Hawks/Exarch/Skyleap (132)

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 x IDIC Fire Prism/Shuriken Cannon (125)
1 x IDIC Fire Prism (115)
1 x IDIC War Walker/2x Scatter Laser/Spirit stone (65)

Points 1748

In this army, Eldrad joins the Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent. He then HAD the ability to either Guide the Fire Prisms, Doom units in range, and Fortune anything he needed to. Now of course, all he can do is double Fortune his Serpent and the Dire Avengers inside the tank and maybe Guide the Serpent with his third power! Well, the Scatter Lasers are already twin linked, so he will only be guiding the Cannon upgrade. That's about his lot now from inside the tank, even if he gets out of it, he can't do any other powers that same turn!

I could keep him in the list and run with what I have at the moment, just taking the hit and accepting what we have, or we could try to adapt. The obvious choice is to get a Jetbike Seer Council, then I can use any powers with no problem at all, but I don't want a total re-write of my list. I am already playing a Saim-Hann army with a Jet Seer and I have a Foot Council in my Footdar list, so I don't really want them to overlap too much.

So a Seer Council is out, but what about Eldrad? I have been thinking long and hard over this, as I want to basically keep the list as it is, but just adapt it to the new rule as best I can. I could drop Eldrad and have two basic Farseers with Fortune, and Runes of Warding. one to go with the Dire Avengers in Eldrads place and the other to go with one unit of Fire Dragons, as there is nowhere else for her to go!

That change didn't really make much sense, as a Seer with Fire Dragons is going to go down pretty quick just from the nature of what the Dragons need to do in the list, go out, get out, kill something then die! I then got thinking about having two Bike Seers to go with the Jetbike units, not as good as a Seer Council, but the 'Mini Seer' has worked well for me in the past.

The only problem with two Jet Seers with the bikes, is the role the bikes currently take in the list, they are usually just reserving and staying out of trouble so that they can claim any objectives at the end of the game, so I might as well just stick with Eldrad. This then brings me onto my final conclusion, a bit of a compromise between the two. One Foot Farseer to join the Dire Avengers and one Jet Seer to join one of the Jetbike units.

I think this could work well, it gives me the chance to Doom, Guide and Fortune as needed with the Jet Seer, and lets me have Fortune up on the Dire Avenger Wave Serpent, which being Troops, is the tank I need to keep up for as long as possible. OK, so here is my new adapted Mech list, let me know what you think...

IDIC Mechdar v2

HQ

1 x IDIC Farseer/Jetbike/Fortune/Doom/Guide/Stones (180)
1 x IDIC Farseer/Fortune/Runes of Warding (100)

TROOPS

10 x Dire Avengers/Exarch/Power Weapon/Shimmer Shield/Bladestorm (162)
              *IDIC Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (125)
6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (152)
              *IDIC Warlock Jetbike/Spear/Embolden (53)
6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (152)
              *IDIC Warlock Jetbike/Spear/Embolden (53)

ELITES

5 x Fire Dragons (80)
              *IDIC Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (125)
5 x Fire Dragons (80)
              *IDIC Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (125)

FAST ATTACK
 
5 x Swooping Hawks/Exarch/Skyleap (132)

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 x IDIC Fire Prism (115)
1 x IDIC Fire Prism (115)

Points 1749

Sadly I had to drop the War Walker to get them in, but he was just a little distraction unit anyway, so I don't think it will have much of an impact on the list

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Getting the most out of Warlord Traits!

Nick speaking,

I don't know about you, but I really think I haven't put enough thought into my Warlord traits so far in 6th Edition. I started off just randomly choosing one of the three categories in my first few games, sometimes I got a useful one, but mostly they were doing nothing. From then on, I got it into my mind that Personal Traits were the best ones for me and just stuck to using them! Now that I am more familiar with how 6th is running, I think it's time for me to really assess the Traits to make sure I am getting the most I can out of them!

First, I want to examine all the traits as a whole to find which category is generally the best one to choose. I want to be in a position where if I am pressed for time and need to quickly choose one, I know which category to run with without having to read them all. After that I am going to have a look at the traits from my specific army's point of view (Necrons, Tyranids, Space Wolves and Eldar) to see if I can find a trait category that will suit them even better.

So let's have a look at the traits and see which category is generally best...    

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the Warlord can use his leadership
Pretty good unless your army has the same leadership value all round
 
2 - Enemy units within 12" of the Warlord must use their lowest leadership
Could be very useful 

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" have move through cover
Very useful for units that don't have it already

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highest
Useful, especially if you have a foot army that needs to move quickly 

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectives
Very useful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" add one to the charge distance result
Could make a difference

Pretty much a 6/6 in usefulness! 

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack whilst in their deployment zone
Only good if your Warlord is defensive and stays in your deployment zone
 
2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge whilst in enemy deployment zone
Only good if your Warlord is active and likes to attack in your enemies deployment zone

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when deployed have outflank
I wouldn't recommend anyone changing their army tactics last minute for this one  

4 - Your army gains one victory point for each enemy character slain in a challenge
Always good

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain whilst within 3" of an objective
Always good 

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a vehicle
Generally very good when the mission requires scoring units 

An average 3 to 4/6 in usefulness! 

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and stealth when using ruins
Could be useful if there are any ruins, of which you can see before you roll your trait 

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the first turn without rolling
Always a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful, but only if you plan to flank

4 - Can re-roll any reserve rolls whilst your Warlord is alive
Very useful, as most of us will reserve at least one thing

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their reserve roll whilst your Warlord is alive
Very useful, as most of us will reserve at least one thing

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three units D6" of their current position within deployment zone
Sounds useful, but I am not convinced by it. Could be ok under the right circumstances

A average 3/6, but could be a solid 5/6 depending on circumstances!

So after all that, I was choosing the weakest category out of the three, with Command traits coming out on top, Strategic Traits second and my Personal Traits coming in last. Well, from a general point of view anyway! Next then, I want to have a look at the categories for my specific armies...

 NECRONS


COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the Warlord can use his leadership
Useless, as everything is leadership ten anyway
 
2 - Enemy units within 12" of the Warlord must use their lowest leadership
Useful 

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" have move through cover
Useful

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highest
Useful

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectives
Useful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" add one to the charge distance result
Useful

A nice 5/6 in usefulness! 

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack whilst in their deployment zone
Useful, unless my Overlord is in a Command Barge!
 
2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge whilst in enemy deployment zone
Could be useful if I had a Destroyer Lord with Wraiths charging forward!

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when deployed have outflank
Maybe, but probably not 

4 - Your army gains one victory point for each enemy character slain in a challenge
Useful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain whilst within 3" of an objective
Useful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a vehicle
Useful

An average 4/6 in usefulness! 

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and stealth when using ruins
Could be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the first turn without rolling
Always a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses whilst your Warlord is alive
Useless, I don't flank

4 - Can re-roll any reserve rolls whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their reserve roll whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three units D6" of their current position within deployment zone
Sounds useful, but I am not convinced

An average 3/6, but could be 4/6 depending on circumstances!

It is a close one, depending on circumstances, but the Command Traits for Necrons seems to be the best option overall.

TYRANIDS

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the Warlord can use his leadership
Useless, as you probably will be within Synapse if you are within 12" anyway
 
2 - Enemy units within 12" of the Warlord must use their lowest leadership
Useful 

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" have move through cover
Useless, as most have it anyway

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highest
Most Nids have fleet anyway

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectives
Useful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" add one to the charge distance result
Useful

An average 3/6 in usefulness! 

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack whilst in their deployment zone
Maybe, although unlikely
 
2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge whilst in enemy deployment zone
Furious charge on Nids is always good, unless you've purchased it already

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when deployed have outflank
Nids no longer flank in protest to 6th edition


4 - Your army gains one victory point for each enemy character slain in a challenge
Useful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain whilst within 3" of an objective
Useful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a vehicle
Useful

An solid 4/6 in usefulness! 

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and stealth when using ruins
Could be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the first turn without rolling
Always a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses whilst your Warlord is alive
Nids no longer flank in protest to 6th edition

4 - Can re-roll any reserve rolls whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their reserve roll whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three units D6" of their current position within deployment zone
Sounds useful, but I am not convinced

A solid 3/6, but could be 4/6 depending on circumstances!

Again it is close, but my original Personal Traits seem to win for the Nid as the best overall category.

SPACE WOLVES

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the Warlord can use his leadership
Useful
 
2 - Enemy units within 12" of the Warlord must use their lowest leadership
Useful 

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" have move through cover
Useful 

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highest
Useful

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectives
Useful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" add one to the charge distance result
Useful

An amazing 6/6 in usefulness! 

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack whilst in their deployment zone
Useless, I have it anyway
 
2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge whilst in enemy deployment zone
Could be good for a Thunderwolf based Lord

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when deployed have outflank
Can't see it myself


4 - Your army gains one victory point for each enemy character slain in a challenge
Useful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain whilst within 3" of an objective
Useful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a vehicle
Useful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness! 

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and stealth when using ruins
Could be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the first turn without rolling
Always a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses whilst your Warlord is alive
Useless, I have it already

4 - Can re-roll any reserve rolls whilst your Warlord is alive
I don't really reserve my Wolves

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their reserve roll whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three units D6" of their current position within deployment zone
Sounds useful, but I am not convinced

An average 3/6 in usefulness!

It is pretty obvious that Command Traits is the way forward for the Wolves

ELDAR (Saim-Hann)

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the Warlord can use his leadership
Useless, as the JetSeer will be pushing forward out of range
 
2 - Enemy units within 12" of the Warlord must use their lowest leadership
Useful 

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" have move through cover
Useful

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highest
I won't be running

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectives
Useful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" add one to the charge distance result
I don't charge much with my Saim-Hann

A solid 3/6 in usefulness! 

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack whilst in their deployment zone
Useless, The JetSeer will not be hanging back
 
2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge whilst in enemy deployment zone
Useful

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when deployed have outflank
Can't see it myself


4 - Your army gains one victory point for each enemy character slain in a challenge
Useful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain whilst within 3" of an objective
Useful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a vehicle
Useful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness! 

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and stealth when using ruins
Could be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the first turn without rolling
Always a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses whilst your Warlord is alive
Useless, I won't be flanking

4 - Can re-roll any reserve rolls whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their reserve roll whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three units D6" of their current position within deployment zone
Sounds useful, but I am not convinced

An average 3/6 in usefulness!

Nothing here that stand out as amazing, but the Personal Traits seem to have the edge over the others for quantity of usefulness

ELDAR (Footdar)

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the Warlord can use his leadership
Useful
 
2 - Enemy units within 12" of the Warlord must use their lowest leadership
Useful 

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" have move through cover
Useful

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highest
Useful

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectives
Useful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" add one to the charge distance result
Useful

An amazing 6/6 in usefulness! 

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack whilst in their deployment zone
Useful
 
2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge whilst in enemy deployment zone
I doubt I will be there much

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when deployed have outflank
Can't see it myself


4 - Your army gains one victory point for each enemy character slain in a challenge
Useful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain whilst within 3" of an objective
Useful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a vehicle
Useful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness! 

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and stealth when using ruins
Could be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the first turn without rolling
Always a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful for the War Walkers

4 - Can re-roll any reserve rolls whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their reserve roll whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three units D6" of their current position within deployment zone
Sounds useful, but I am not convinced

A solid 4/6 in usefulness!

All three are solid, but the Command Traits win easily.

ELDAR (Mechdar)

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the Warlord can use his leadership
Maybe, but only after all the tanks have been destroyed
 
2 - Enemy units within 12" of the Warlord must use their lowest leadership
Useful 

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" have move through cover
Useful

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highest
I won't be running much

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectives
Useful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within 12" add one to the charge distance result
Useful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness! 

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack whilst in their deployment zone
Useful if my bikes get assaulted
 
2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge whilst in enemy deployment zone
Unlikely

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when deployed have outflank
Can't see it myself


4 - Your army gains one victory point for each enemy character slain in a challenge
Useful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain whilst within 3" of an objective
Useful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a vehicle
Useful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness! 

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and stealth when using ruins
Could be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the first turn without rolling
Always a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses whilst your Warlord is alive
I won't be flanking

4 - Can re-roll any reserve rolls whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their reserve roll whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three units D6" of their current position within deployment zone
Sounds useful, but I am not convinced

An solid 4/6 in usefulness!

So it's neck and neck for my Mechdar, although on the face of it, I think the best traits within the categories for them are the Command Traits.

Right, well that was a lot of work, but I think it was worthwhile. I now have a very clear vision of  what trait tables I will be rolling on for each of my armies. Hopefully I will be giving myself the best chance of getting something useful, without having to think about it when it's time to choose the table at the beginning of a game.

Here is the list of my final conclusions

Necrons: Command Traits

Tyranids: Personal Traits

Space Wolves: Command Traits

Eldar (Saim-Hann): Personal Traits

Eldar (Foot and Mech): Command Traits

So what do you think? Have I missed anything? Is there something about the Strategic Traits I haven't taken into account? Am I going about this the right way? Is it worth planning like this? How do you choose your traits?

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IDIC Mechdar (v1 List) Battle Report

Nick speaking,

This was my first battle against Blood Angels with my version one Mechdar list and newly painted Wave Serpents...

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6th Edition Mechdar List v1

Nick speaking,

With my three Wave Serpents now painted up, it's time for me to revisit my Mechdar list. To be fair, with 6th Edition changing quite a few things up, it's more like starting fresh with this list, rather than a few tweaks here and there. So what to put in my newly painted Wave Serpents? Sadly Howling Banshees are out, but Fire Dragons are still holding up as the main Elites Choice in the Codex. I want to keep the units cheap though, so two small units of five Dragons for two Serpents it is. The third Serpent is going to have to have a maxed out Dire Avenger unit as usual, with the Exarch exchanging his dual cats for a power weapon and Shimmer Shield to offer them a bit more survivability. The third Serpent will also carry my HQ, which will be Eldrad, instead of the usual Farseer. As for the Wave Serpents themselves, I am currently just taking Scatter Lasers with the Shuriken Cannon upgrade, I really can't see the need for Spirit Stones or any of the extra Engines upgrades.

Unfortunately my Falcon and it's small Dire Avenger unit is just going to have to go in this list. I just cannot seem to justify taking the Falcon anymore and the small Dire Avenger unit it carried is just not cut out for the tasks needed in 6th. The tank itself has lost it's survivability and in most missions will not be able to score for me easily. My two Fire Prisms are staying in though, but once again I have dropped all the upgrades except for one Shuriken Cannon, as I had ten points left over at the end. It is amazing how many extra points you get when you dumb down the tanks a bit, which is great, as I now need to pack in some extra troops. Two groups of six Jetbikes with an Embolden Warlock in each will now join my Mechdar list, leaving me with enough points for an annoying group of Swooping Hawks and a single flanking War Walker as a cheap distraction unit.

Here is my final list, any thoughts and comments are most welcome...

IDIC Mechdar v1

HQ

1 x IDIC Eldrad (210)

TROOPS

10 x Dire Avengers/Exarch/Power Weapon/Shimmer Shield/Bladestorm (162)
              *IDIC Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (125)
6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (152)
              *IDIC Warlock Jetbike/Embolden (50)
6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes/2x Shuriken Cannon (152)
              *IDIC Warlock Jetbike/Embolden (50)

ELITES

5 x Fire Dragons (80)
              *IDIC Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (125)
5 x Fire Dragons (80)
              *IDIC Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (125)

FAST ATTACK
 
5 x Swooping Hawks/Exarch/Skyleap (132)

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 x IDIC Fire Prism/Shuriken Cannon (125)
1 x IDIC Fire Prism (115)
1 x IDIC War Walker/2x Scatter Laser/Spirit stone (65)

Points 1748

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Mechdar Vs Ultramarines BatRep

Nick speaking,

This is the last game I had with my three Wave Serpents before I put them on the painting desk. My list is based around using the six Forge World converted tanks I have. It isn't a very spammy list and doesn't make best use of unit redundancy, but I had a lot of fun with it when I played it against Daemons and Orks, so it didn't surprise me when I also had a blast with it against Marines.

My List...

1x Serpent (EML/Star Engines/Spirit Stone)

9x Dire Avengers (Exarch/Twin Cats/Blade Storm)

1x Doomseer with Doom and Runes of Warding

1x Serpent (Shuriken Cannon/Star Engines/Vectored Engines/Spirit Stone)

9x Banshees (Exarch/Executioner/War shout/Acrobatic)

1x Doomseer with Doom, Fortune, stone and Runes of witnessing

1x Serpent (Shuriken Cannon/Star Engines/Vectored Engines/Spirit Stone)

9x Fire Dragons (Exarch/Fire Pike)

1x Falcon (Scatter Laser/Shuriken Cannon/Holo Fields/Star Engines/Spirit Stones)

5x Dire Avengers

2x Fire Prisms (Shuriken Cannon/Holo Fields/Spirit Stones)

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Annihilation: Mech Eldar Vs Orks

Nick speaking,

I have been having some fun latley with my Eldar Mech list, this time I play an Annihilation mission against Orks...

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IDIC Eldar Vs Sisters, Orks and Daemons!

Nick speaking,

I have previously spoke about my buddies and I playing a few four way games for fun. We usually like to play the old Rescue and Battle of the Camp missions from way back. Recently though, after seeing fellow blogger Matt Black play a Conflict GT mission called Space Junk, where there's just one objective that Scatters around the board, I thought this mission, coupled with random player turns, would make an excellent four way game for us to play...

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Mech Eldar Vs Blood Angels

Nick speaking,

This time my IDIC Mech Eldar list takes on Blood Angels...

 

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Mech Eldar Vs Chaos Daemons (not video)

Nick speaking,

After just finishing my additional two Forge World Wave Serpents, it was time to put them to the test. I have been messing around with one Serpent for a while now, but I always knew what I was going to do with my three tanks when I eventually got them done! Banshees, Dragons and Dire Avengers, all maxed out! Just for some fun...

This is what my six tank list looks like in this battle report:

1x Serpent (EML/Star Engines/Spirit Stone)

9x Dire Avengers (Exarch/Twin Cats/Blade Storm)

1x Doomseer with Doom and Runes of Warding

1x Serpent (Shuriken Cannon/Star Engines/Vectored Engines/Spirit Stone)

9x Banshees (Exarch/Executioner/War shout/Acrobatic)

1x Doomseer with Doom, Fortune, stone and Runes of witnessing

1x Serpent (Shuriken Cannon/Star Engines/Vectored Engines/Spirit Stone)

9x Dragons (Exarch/Fire Pike)

1x Falcon (Scatter Laser/Shuriken Cannon/Holo Fields/Star Engines/Spirit Stones)

5x Dire Avengers

2x Fire Prisms (Shuriken Cannon/Holo Fields/Spirit Stones)

We roll off and get Seize Ground with three objectives and pitched battle. I try and manipulate the objectives into the open and heavy on one side as I don't want to be immobilised on terrain, when It comes to contesting. I win the roll off and take first turn so that I can choose the side of the board with no objectives, I want my opponent to hang back near the objectives ready for me to shoot and tank shock. I deploy my two Prisms, Avenger Serpent and Falcon on the left, and the Dragon and Banshee Serpents in the middle ready to cover either side as needed.

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