Road to the GT: Eldar List Analysis

This is the first post of several I plan on writing in the build up to the 40k UK GT. Here, I'm going to cover the evolution of my Eldar list, from first concept to the current (and most likely final) draft.

Firstly- why mech Eldar? Well, I've had an Eldar army for a long time. I particularly love the look of their vehicles, and they happen to be one of the dominant builds at the moment, which doesn't hurt! I have tried using a Beast Pack in the past, but honestly I find it quite boring to use and it doesn't lead to fun games.

What people normally see when I pull out my Eldar Codex.

My current list has taken several iterations to fully develop- starting without a single Wraithknight but plenty of mixed Eldar/Dark Eldar mech, all the way up to 3 (!) Wraithknights and 4 stripped down Wave Serpents. Until recently, I had almost settled on 2 Wraithknights and 5 Serpents, 1 for Fire Dragons and the rest for Dire Avengers, as well as an allied Inquisitor carrying Servo Skulls.
But then last weekend Tony Kopach went and won the Nova Open with this list. I think it's really well constructed, and is a great example of building your army for the event you're playing.
The main thing his success did to me was to make me look at my Night Spinners again in a fresh light. I'd essentially confined them to the box in favour of a 2nd Wraithknight, but they've got a few things going for them in the meta right now. At the tournament I'm attending, there will almost certainly be several players running Invisibility-based builds, and Night Spinners are a way to tackle them. As the power has been nerfed slightly in the GT's FAQ so that instead shooting is resolved at BS1 rather than forcing Snap Shots, the Torrent and Large Blast firing modes could really help out in these games. They're also pretty good at damaging clusters of enemy vehicles, particularly Wave Serpents, as only the primary target is allowed to Jink and they have a 50% chance to chip a hull point or more against AV12.

So here's the list in its most recent form:

Primary Detachment: Combined Arms Detachment
Faction: Iyanden Eldar

HQ:
Autarch, Scorpion Chainsword

Troops:
5 Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon Upgrade, Ghostwalk Matrix
5 Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon Upgrade
5 Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers
5 Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers

Elites:

5 Fire Dragons, Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers, Ghostwalk Matrix

Fast Attack:

6 Swooping Hawks

Heavy Support:
Wraithknight (Warlord)
Night Spinner
Night Spinner

How my current list looks on the tabletop...

I have to say that despite only having played once with it so far, it's the version of the list I've enjoyed the most. 2 Wraithknights can be fun but they're a lot of points for a fairly small amount of firepower, but 1 solves so many problems for a mech Eldar list that it is an auto-include for me. It can tarpit against certain deathstars, it can be my Warlord (thanks, Iyanden!) to make that objective more difficult for my opponent, as well as getting access to some handy traits. It's also a great counter assault if your opponent is too aggressive, when it can jump over and throw down some Str 10 AP2 melee!The Hawks, in addition to their main role of clearing cheap infantry, can help out against high armour vehicles too- with haywire, fleet and a 12" move they actually control a good section of the board, along with the Wraithknight. The Hawks can also fill some other roles: they can use their precision deep strike to snipe out key models, particularly in small units and they can deep strike onto TacOs or claim objectives at the end of the game.
Finally, the elephants in the room- the Wave Serpents. One for Fire Dragons, just to get some more anti-high armour into the list, and then a solid core of 4 more Dire Avenger Serpents. I went for Shuriken Cannons on these to help me really torrent down aggressive armies- each one will put out around 12 hits at str 6 or above within 24", enough to really rain the pain. Wave Serpents are amazing at dealing with light and medium armour, and they'll often be able to handle a couple of flyers as most of their firepower will be twin-linked.
I was slightly worried about the list's ability to achieve Tactical Objectives or make a late game Objective grab without any jetbikes, but 5 Wave Serpents should be able to dominate well enough that I don't need to, especially as 4 of them have Objective Secured. I can also achieve all of the Seize Ground, Purge and Annihilation style TacOs fairly easily, and they're often more valuable than "Secure Objective X" anyway.

So, these are the thoughts behind my 1650 GT Eldar list. I'm looking forward to the event now, and getting to put it to the test against some of the UK's top players. If you've got any thoughts about the list, if I've missed anything or you've got any improvements, please let me know beneath!

The next post in the Road to the GT series will focus on some popular tournament lists, and how to deal with those matchups.

Thanks for reading!

SimonW