Hey! I’m 3-2 at Warmachine now! That game is a hoot. You should try it.
Some readers have asked me to do a bit about beating Eldar is 7th. Well I’ve only played Eldar primary once, and I had Space Marines when I did it and lost because I don't have enough of the right kind of Space Marines, so this is theoryhammer. I’ll be playing Allan at 1500 for Feast of Blades practice this weekend (AZ had no qualifier, and like last year when I did qualify, I wouldn't be going anyway.) so I’ll batrep that and see if I have the slightest idea what I’m talking about. Everybody knows Eldar are a broken army and we all eagerly await their new book that tones them down, but in the meantime, we deal.
So there are basically four types of Elfdar lists. You got Serpent Spam that just won NOVA. You got yer Footdar, which is usually Warp Spider heavy. You have the Beaststar, which was second at NOVA, and you have Seer Council, which doesn’t seem to work very well anymore.
Aside from the odd Swooping Hawk, Fire Dragon or War Walker, every Eldar list I have ever seen has been mainly Farseers, Spiders, Wraithknights, Serpents and Windriders. This is because they are all damn good against most stuff.
Against a standard Eldar list, I start by thinking about the Wave Serpent. I can make them jink to reduce incoming firepower, and I can kill them in assault easily if I can catch them. To catch them, I have to box them in if at all possible.
Flesh Hounds (and Daemonettes to a lesser extent) are great for boxing them in with the high body count and wound efficiency, while Screamers can chase them down. Phlegm Grinders can force jinks.
Complicating this is Wraithknights, which trounce Hounds, Screamers and Grinders. Wraithknights die to Daemonettes, Seekers and Be’lakor, so some sort of support is needed to clear them out. I used to take the Masque to freeze Wraithknights in place, but she never pulled her weight to my satisfaction. A Khorne Herald with the Axe of Khorne, in addition to being excellent support for Flesh Hounds, can also punk out a Wraithknight instantly, so he’s a worth choice.
Finally, you have Warp Spiders, which are straight deadly to almost anything, but die well enough if you can get them in assault. Slashing attacks do a pretty good job as well.
What this adds up to is trying to box the Eldar player in while also using terrain masking to avoid shots, and providing multiple types of threats to prevent bad matchups like Wraithknights vs. Hounds. You want Hounds and Screamers on Serpents, Jetbikes and Spiders; they are your core. You want Daemonettes and Be’lakor on Wraithknights as your support. It’s then up to you to get the moves right to support the army correctly.
Against a Beaststar or a Seer Council, you can kite the thing with useless units. Grinders are excellent against hit and run because they are very difficult to get past. Remember they must nominate a direction and roll high enough on 3d6 to completely clear all enemy models in that direction or they stay in assault. A couple of Grinders can jam a Beaststar up pretty good since they can’t really hurt it. Although a Seer Council has Armorbane, at S3, it makes it tough to do much to a Grinder, so they work pretty well in that role.
If you’re playing psychic heavy, you have a decent chance of shutting down Fortune or Invisibility, and if this happens, you could try to hit the Beastpack hard if you think you can do it. Countering with your own invisible Hound pack is also an option.
If you're rocking Chaos Space Marines, your best buds are Lords with Spawn and max Maulerfiends, (some lasher tendrils and the Grimoire helps) Baledrakes for Spiders and Windriders, and Daemon allies. Obliterators are less useful against Eldar than most other armies due to slowness and relative ineffectiveness against Seprents and Wraithknights. Not to say they are terrible.
All that said, there ain’t no bromide that is an “I Win” button against this army. A skilled Eldar player has the advantage because he’s fast and shoots very well. His army has no particular weakness. If you can stay out of most of the shooting and close the noose around them, you will win. If you let him get away and blast you from afar, you lose. Simple as that. We'll see how it goes this weekend!
Some readers have asked me to do a bit about beating Eldar is 7th. Well I’ve only played Eldar primary once, and I had Space Marines when I did it and lost because I don't have enough of the right kind of Space Marines, so this is theoryhammer. I’ll be playing Allan at 1500 for Feast of Blades practice this weekend (AZ had no qualifier, and like last year when I did qualify, I wouldn't be going anyway.) so I’ll batrep that and see if I have the slightest idea what I’m talking about. Everybody knows Eldar are a broken army and we all eagerly await their new book that tones them down, but in the meantime, we deal.
So there are basically four types of Elfdar lists. You got Serpent Spam that just won NOVA. You got yer Footdar, which is usually Warp Spider heavy. You have the Beaststar, which was second at NOVA, and you have Seer Council, which doesn’t seem to work very well anymore.
Aside from the odd Swooping Hawk, Fire Dragon or War Walker, every Eldar list I have ever seen has been mainly Farseers, Spiders, Wraithknights, Serpents and Windriders. This is because they are all damn good against most stuff.
Against a standard Eldar list, I start by thinking about the Wave Serpent. I can make them jink to reduce incoming firepower, and I can kill them in assault easily if I can catch them. To catch them, I have to box them in if at all possible.
Flesh Hounds (and Daemonettes to a lesser extent) are great for boxing them in with the high body count and wound efficiency, while Screamers can chase them down. Phlegm Grinders can force jinks.
Complicating this is Wraithknights, which trounce Hounds, Screamers and Grinders. Wraithknights die to Daemonettes, Seekers and Be’lakor, so some sort of support is needed to clear them out. I used to take the Masque to freeze Wraithknights in place, but she never pulled her weight to my satisfaction. A Khorne Herald with the Axe of Khorne, in addition to being excellent support for Flesh Hounds, can also punk out a Wraithknight instantly, so he’s a worth choice.
Finally, you have Warp Spiders, which are straight deadly to almost anything, but die well enough if you can get them in assault. Slashing attacks do a pretty good job as well.
What this adds up to is trying to box the Eldar player in while also using terrain masking to avoid shots, and providing multiple types of threats to prevent bad matchups like Wraithknights vs. Hounds. You want Hounds and Screamers on Serpents, Jetbikes and Spiders; they are your core. You want Daemonettes and Be’lakor on Wraithknights as your support. It’s then up to you to get the moves right to support the army correctly.
Against a Beaststar or a Seer Council, you can kite the thing with useless units. Grinders are excellent against hit and run because they are very difficult to get past. Remember they must nominate a direction and roll high enough on 3d6 to completely clear all enemy models in that direction or they stay in assault. A couple of Grinders can jam a Beaststar up pretty good since they can’t really hurt it. Although a Seer Council has Armorbane, at S3, it makes it tough to do much to a Grinder, so they work pretty well in that role.
If you’re playing psychic heavy, you have a decent chance of shutting down Fortune or Invisibility, and if this happens, you could try to hit the Beastpack hard if you think you can do it. Countering with your own invisible Hound pack is also an option.
If you're rocking Chaos Space Marines, your best buds are Lords with Spawn and max Maulerfiends, (some lasher tendrils and the Grimoire helps) Baledrakes for Spiders and Windriders, and Daemon allies. Obliterators are less useful against Eldar than most other armies due to slowness and relative ineffectiveness against Seprents and Wraithknights. Not to say they are terrible.
All that said, there ain’t no bromide that is an “I Win” button against this army. A skilled Eldar player has the advantage because he’s fast and shoots very well. His army has no particular weakness. If you can stay out of most of the shooting and close the noose around them, you will win. If you let him get away and blast you from afar, you lose. Simple as that. We'll see how it goes this weekend!