The "Flying Circus"

[Gentlemanloser]

Get first turn, and hit the Falcons before they move. ;)

[Master Incarias]

On that note, Infiltrators. We can Infiltrate Command Squads (which can have two special/heavy Weapons), Veterans (who can have one of each) and Scouts (who can have a Missile Launcher). If we can place a few of these units with tank-hunting in mind, and get first turn (an allied Inquisitor with the Emeperor's Tarot can help), we can possibly take the Falcons down before they get their SMF.

 

Apart from the inherent gamble of getting first turn, is there a problem with this idea?

[Master Jeridian]

Yeah, Pathfinders.

 

And an overreliance on winning first turn. Or on not rolling Escalation. Or on destroying the Falcons turn 1, even with Penetrating the Holofields still make them the toughest tank in the game.

 

If and when you don't, you then have even less mobility than normal (having spent it on Infiltration) and will be picked apart at distance.

[Master Incarias]

Yes, Pathfinders might prove a problem. The risk, however, of two, three or even four melta weapons not stopping the Falcon are rather slim. On a Penetrating hit, there is an 11/36 chance of not doing any damage (7/12 not to stop it from moving). Frankly, though, these still seem the best odds proposed so far...

 

And hey, I will be outsped. Always. Even my fast things can't keep up with an Eldar army. Infiltrating parts of my army will perhaps at least force the Eldar player (I've been using the masculine pronoun out of convenience, rather than gender bias, just to be clear) to divide his attention across my numerarily superior force. His Harlies can't be everywhere, not at once, and that buys me time to rack up the odds against him.

 

I'm sorry I can't come up with any good solutions. I think maybe we have to settle for any solutions. Assuming you who've faced this actual list can't come up with something.

[Gentlemanloser]

Deathwing with an emperors Tarot using Inq. :(

 

Win first turn and DS as many AC weilding DW squads into LoS with the Falcons and try to pop them. ;) If only DW could take Tank Hunters! :P

 

Sure, the Halries will probably (if not entangled) come out next turn and make mince meat of your forced 5 man squads. ;)

[Inquisitor 117]

Have any Wolf player come across the "Flying Circus"?

 

How well would OBEL work? Baring in mind that the Falcons will probably be no where near thier deployment area...

[Allerka]

Yeah, Pathfinders.

 

And an overreliance on winning first turn. Or on not rolling Escalation. Or on destroying the Falcons turn 1, even with Penetrating the Holofields still make them the toughest tank in the game.

 

If and when you don't, you then have even less mobility than normal (having spent it on Infiltration) and will be picked apart at distance.

They might take pathfinders, but it's a 50/50 chance we'd still get to set up our infiltrators first. Meaning, after we place ours, then he has to stick his pathfinders wherever there's room left, which might just be only in his deployment zone. Obviously that cuts down on his options with them a bit.

 

As for Escalation, it's only a 1/3 chance at worst to get it, assuming you don't agree beforehand to do gamma-level (which is what I usually wind up doing myself, since no one I meet seems to really like playing omega games).

 

And with the Falcons, even a penetrating 1 can slow down the squad quite a bit. That takes away his momentum a bit, even if only a little. However, enough "little bits" can add up if we can get enough of them in.

 

One thing I've never really liked about this game is the fact that it feels like the only way I can win half the time is to simply meat-grinder my Tactical Squads, who last a little longer than Guardsmen with their T4 and 3+, into the enemy, until I can get enough special weapons and powerfists in range to pull down whatever it is I'm trying to destroy. Luckily I haven't felt like that with my last few games, but it seems like that'd be my only hope against a list like this.

[Master Jeridian]

They might take pathfinders, but it's a 50/50 chance we'd still get to set up our infiltrators first. Meaning, after we place ours, then he has to stick his pathfinders wherever there's room left, which might just be only in his deployment zone. Obviously that cuts down on his options with them a bit.

 

You get to deploy 1 Infiltrating unit, then he will, and alternate. So Pathfinders can still do a number. If your army is very Infiltrate heavy a good Eldar player will sacrifice a cheap unit like Jetbikes sat in an open position that keeps you away from his Falcons.

 

So your assuming you win the Infiltrate roll, the terrain is unkind to the Eldar player, they don't take counter-measures, you win the roll for first turn and you still need to get lucky on the roll to damage the Falcon- not a reliable tactic. If any one of these doesn't happen you've not got much else to do for the rest of the game.

 

As for Escalation, it's only a 1/3 chance at worst to get it, assuming you don't agree beforehand to do gamma-level (which is what I usually wind up doing myself, since no one I meet seems to really like playing omega games).

 

Definitely, players can choose to not use the full rules of 40k. I choose not to play against Eldar- see, problem solved.

 

And with the Falcons, even a penetrating 1 can slow down the squad quite a bit. That takes away his momentum a bit, even if only a little. However, enough "little bits" can add up if we can get enough of them in.

 

In one turn? On a hidden Falcon?

What stops the Harlies getting back in on their turn? Or simply setting up behind the Falcon and using VoT to laugh at distant enemy- then get in turn 1?

 

One thing I've never really liked about this game is the fact that it feels like the only way I can win half the time is to simply meat-grinder my Tactical Squads, who last a little longer than Guardsmen with their T4 and 3+, into the enemy, until I can get enough special weapons and powerfists in range to pull down whatever it is I'm trying to destroy. Luckily I haven't felt like that with my last few games, but it seems like that'd be my only hope against a list like this.

 

Sadly true in many cases, especially facing extreme lists such as these.

40k doesn't have tactics, it has 'army list changes'- like an expensive version of Rock/Paper/Scissors or Top Trumps. The fact the majority of the 'tactics' suggested are in fact army list changes highlights this.

 

I'm sorry I can't come up with any good solutions. I think maybe we have to settle for any solutions. Assuming you who've faced this actual list can't come up with something.

 

I appreciate you appealing to my ego, but that's the point. There aren't any good solutions- because Flying Circus is too good and too easy.

 

I've used everything Marine like- from Mechanised, Drop Pod, Infiltrate, gunline- even Deathwing. Marines are rock, Eldar are scissors.

 

I've found the less two armies are skewed in power the more interesting the game- to the point where two similar armies (IG vs IG or Orks vs Orks) really do force the players to outthink rather than out army list their opponent.

 

How well would OBEL work? Baring in mind that the Falcons will probably be no where near thier deployment area...

 

You answered your own question.

 

Counter-attack may catch an unwary Eldar player and cost him his Harlies- but that leaves the Holotanks, they are a greater problem than Harlies. A wary Eldar player will send the Harlies in against non-Counter Attack stuff, or just keep them aboard to deny VP's.

[Master Incarias]

Marines are rock, Eldar are scissors.

 

Problem solved, then? :D (Sorry, but I had to...)

 

I'm not honestly trying to appeal to anyone's ego, just bowing to the fact that you have more experience than me. My astounding intellectual powers( :D ) notwithstanding, this makes you better qualified to pose possible solutions.

 

I'll try to recap (with an eye towards a possible Librarium article).

 

Ideas for beating the Flying Circus, followed by the respective approaches' downsides and inherent problems:

 

Build a Fort with your Marines.

Make sure the Eldar can't pick our squads of one by one, and ensure that as many models as possible get into combat when the assaults begin. This way, we might be able to wear the Harlie squds down.

 

This approach has the obvious downside that it simply reacts to the problem posed by the Flying Circus list. We might kill off the Harlies, eventually, but the cost will be great. A Fort also implies a static army, which will have trouble grabbing objectives.

 

Target the Falcons

This is simple. Kill the Skimmer Transports at any cost. Killing one before it discharges its payload will garner a big pile of victory points, kill some of the Harlies, and slow them down considerably.

 

Let's face it. A moving, holofield equipped Falcon is about as easy to take down as Arnold Schwarzenegger in an action movie. It might get some superficial scratches, but will most likely not die anytime soon. It will take bucketloads of shots (or a female killer robot from the future) to stand a chance.

 

Spread out

The idea here is to make sure we limit the damage the Harlies can do in one swoop, possibly buying time to kill some other stuff/grab objectives. It's also possible that, once the Harlies run out of victims, they will be open to some return fire.

 

Well, the word "piecemeal" springs to mind. By utilising this tactics, we doom the squads that stand in the Harlies' way (which will most likely be the expensive ones as we forego the possibilty of protecting these squads). The rest of the Eldar army will likely be mobile enough to keep away. Also, shooting Harlies from any sort of distance means that the Veil of Tears will come into effect.

 

Infiltrate

Similar to the second approach, with abit of the third baked in, this one sends a bunch of antitank weaponry into a position from which they can target the Falcons on turn 1, and kill or maim them before they get to move.

 

There are a lot of if's with this idea. First, we need to get to place our squad(s) in a good position, something that might be prevented by a good opponent (taking long range weapons such as lascannons over the shorter-ranged Melta Gun can alleviate this problem a little). It also relies on getting the first turn, and on escalation not being in play (although whether or not the Harlies may then be held in Reserve with the Falcons is a hotly debated issue...). The Falcons are also still pretty hard to crack, so luck will play its part.

 

Outfight the blighters

This one relies on combat. Use Black Templars, Space Wolves, Assault Terminators with Storm Shields, anything that is either numerous or hard enough to survive the charge of the Chequered-pants Brigade, and then trust our Marines to prevail through sheer hard-as-nail-iness. Countercharging with a Familiar equipped Librarian with a Furious Charge Command Squad will actually let one of our models strike before the Harlies, if we can pull it off. A novel feeling.

 

The absolute problem with this approach is the Eldar player's superior mobility and firepower. He is quite likely to avoid the squads he can't beat, and if he feels outmatched will likely sit back and shoot us to smithereens. The fact that much of our points will be tied up in Close Combat units means that our chances of winning a shooting match are (heavily) decreased. Also note that we can only expect to get two rounds of close combat, as at the end of our turn, the Harlequins will use their Hit and Run move to disengage (and either charge back in, pick another spot to attack, or remount their Falcon to preserve

Victory Points).

 

So, there it is. Have I missed anything? Have I forgotten any proposed approaches? Have I misinterpretted the downsides?

[Gentlemanloser]

For infiltrate, the Pathfinder also get a socut move, so even if you deny them a good position, they might be able to Scout move into it before the game begins anyway..

 

/sigh Marine 'Scouts' without the Scout rule....

 

For Outfight the blighters, you're missing the Eldar disengage. So if we try to tar pit them, or engage them with a CC unit they might be vulnerable to, they will disengage out of CC (usually only in your turn, to stop any retalitory fire...). They might decide to do it anyway, just to get the charge attack back. :/

[Master Incarias]

Yeah, I missed that... We'll get two turns of combat, though, as they won't break in their turn, and can only disengage at the end of ours. I'll edit it.

[Master Jeridian]

Pretty much on the money Incarias.

 

I'd also forgotten the Scout move. So Pathfinders can deploy forward to push back/deny your Infiltrators- then move back to safer positions.

[Wildfire]

Don't worry about pathfinders. If he's taking them, then he's incorporating a weakness into his list. And airforce list is based on mobility. Pathfinders are very static. This means that he either has to abandon them to maintain the rest of his force, or restrict his mobility to support them.

 

Infiltrating shooty armies can do a number on falcons (relatively speaking) if they get first turn, but it's not something that can be relied upon. Even without infiltrate, if you can position something like a dev squad that can get a few missile shots off at a falcon before it moves, it's worth risking losing the roll for first turn with them out of cover for the increased chance of immobilizing/destroying them.

 

If your squads are close enough to support each other in combat, swamping the harlies in your assualt phase works. You're probably going to lose at least an equal amount of points worth of models, but it'll be better than letting him eat squads one at a time.

 

In my experiance, spreading out is a bad idea. He's going to be able to punch you pretty much wherever he wants, you need to be able to punch him back as hard as you can with as much as you can. Spreading out dilutes this.

 

In objective-based missions, try to shield your mobile forces as much as possible. Depending on the mission objectives (like quarters, or several objectives close together) getting on the objective early and forcing him to push you off is usuall advantageous.

[Master Incarias]

So, I've tried writing my previous summary up into an article on the subject. Since much of the material comes from you guys, I thought I'd post it here for you to comment.

The Flying Circus

 

The “Flying Circus”, as it has become known, is an Eldar list build that is based around one or more Harlequin squads mounted in Falcon Grav Tanks. The Falcons will generally be upgraded to add resilience. The Holo-field upgrade in particular – especially when combined with the Skimmers Moving Fast rule and Spirit Stones (the equivalent of Extra Armour) – makes the Falcon almost impossible to disable reliably. The Harlequins will generally be upgraded with Harlequin’s Kisses (making their attacks Rending), a Shadow-Seer (who makes long-range targeting unviable, and negates all benefits from cover in combat) and a Troupe Master (to add a little extra combat punch).

 

The Falcons will move up to where the rear hatch is within 13" of the enemy's lines, and sit there until its next turn. The Harlequins will then disembark from the now stationary vehicle, move towards the enemy, Fleet and assault, without the enemy ever being able to shoot at them. The Falcon will move off to continue benefiting from the Skimmers Moving Fast rule.

 

In addition to these staple-units, the Flying Circus is likely to include mainly mobile units. Jetbikes or Pathfinders (who somewhat make up for a lack of mobility by Infiltrating and being Scouts) will be likely to make up the compulsory Troops, and a Jetbike mounted Autarch is a frequent contender for the place as compulsory HQ. The rest of the list will depend on how many actual Flying Circus units have been used, as each eats up nearly 400 points, including Falcon. Transported Fire Dragons are a common feature, though.

 

This list has made an appearance in tournaments lately, and poses a severe problem to loyalist Marines in particular. This list is one that is difficult to counter with most Codex Marine builds, and has caused some bitterness amongst players who’ve had the misfortune of facing it.

 

The main problems Marines face from this list spring from the fact that even a single Harlequin squad will make mince meat of almost any unit in the Marine army, at the very least making the strike-back extremely pale, and at most wiping squads out in a single round of combat. Codex Marines are simply few enough, and limited enough up close, that a single squad stands little chance of beating a unit of charging Harlequins.

 

It is also worth noting that Harlequins ignore Difficult terrain (meaning they are difficult or impossible to funnel), Fleet of Foot and Furious Charge. In addition, their save is Invulnerable.

 

The Marine army will also lack the weight of fire to hurt the Falcons, their heavy weapons coming at a premium compared to other armies. This means that even if the threat posed by the Harlequins is neutralised, a large portion of Victory Points are essentially unavailable to the Marine player.

 

The Tactica Astartes discussion on the subject has failed to procure any truly viable tactics for fighting the Flying Circus, but some ideas (each with its own weaknesses) have been put forth.

 

Ideas for beating the Flying Circus, followed by the respective approaches' downsides and inherent problems:

 

Build a Fort with your Marines

Make sure the Eldar can't pick our squads off one by one, and ensure that as many models as possible get into combat when the assaults begin. This way, we might be able to wear the Harlequin squads down. The Fort also ensures that the Harlequins cannot immediately target our more expensive troops, as these should be protected inside the Fort. This is particularly true for Devestators, but Assault Marines, Command Squads and Terminators may be kept inside the Fort to counter attack the Harlequins. The Fort becomes most effective with armies using Trust your Battle-Brothers, as these both maximise the number of models in combat (via Counter-attack), and the number of attacks these models put out (via True Grit).

 

The Fort approach has the obvious downside that it simply reacts to the problem posed by the Flying Circus list. While it deals (to some extent) with the Harlequins, it leaves the rest of the Eldar Army to its own devices, and ties up a far larger portion of our army than the Harlequins represent of the Eldar army. Victories won using the Fort will also likely be Pyrrhic; we might kill off the Harlequins, eventually, but the cost will be great. A Fort also implies a static army, which will have trouble grabbing objectives. A third problem is the possibility that the Eldar player will simply avoid getting into these combats if the odds are against him, leaving the Harlequins to zoom around in their near indestructible transports, while the rest of the army shoots our troops down from a distance. Any attempt to leave the Fort will result in our forces spreading out, thus bringing the Harlequins crashing down on us.

 

Target the Falcons

This is simple. Kill the Skimmer Transports at any cost. Killing one before it discharges its payload will garner a big pile of victory points, kill some of the Harlequins, and slow them down considerably as they will be Entangled.

 

Let's face it. A moving, holofield equipped Falcon is about as easy to take down as Arnold Schwarzenegger in an action movie. A single glancing hit (the best we can achieve due to the Skimmers Moving Fast rule) has a 1 in 12 chance of Immobilising a Falcon, and a 1 in 36 chance of Destroying it. It might get some superficial scratches, but will most likely not die anytime soon. It will take bucketloads of shots (or a female killer robot from the future) to stand a chance.

 

Spread out

The idea here is to make sure we limit the damage the Harlequins can do in one swoop, possibly buying time to kill some other stuff or grab objectives. It's also possible that, once the Harlequins run out of victims in one area, they will be open to some return fire.

 

Well, the word "piecemeal" springs to mind. By utilising this tactics, we doom the squads that stand in the Harlies' way (which will most likely be the expensive ones as we forego the possibility of protecting these squads). The rest of the Eldar army will likely be mobile enough to keep away. Also, shooting Harlequins from any sort of distance means that the Veil of Tears on the Shadowseer will come into effect, and the inherent speed of the Harlequins will often mean that they go straight from one combat to the next without pausing to get shot at.

 

Infiltrate

Similar to the second approach, with a bit of the third baked in, this one sends a bunch of antitank weaponry into a position from which they can target the Falcons on turn 1, and kill or maim them before they get to move. This weaponry can come in the form of a cheap Command Squad with twin heavy weapons or as much Melta as humanly possible, a Veteran Squad similarly equipped, or a See But Don’t Be Seen Devestator Squad.

 

There are a lot of if's with this idea. First, we need to get to place our squad(s) in a good position, something that might be prevented by a good opponent either deploying his main force carefully, or using Infiltrating Rangers/Pathfinders to deny our Infiltrators the best spots (taking long range weapons such as lascannons over the shorter-ranged Melta Gun can alleviate this problem a little). It also relies on getting the first turn, and on escalation not being in play (although whether or not the Harlequins may then be held in Reserve with the Falcons is a hotly debated issue...). Lastly, this tactics relies on getting first turn. The odds for this happening can be bettered by taking an allied Inquisitor with the Emperor’s Tarot, but it will still be a gamble. Even if we do get first turn, the Falcons are also still pretty hard to crack, so luck will play its part.

 

Sub-tactics; a poor man’s Infiltrate:

If our army lacks Infiltrators, or has its heavy Weapons focussed on non-infiltrating squads, all is not lost. Remember that Falcons are a Heavy Support choice, and will therefore have to be set up early. Assuming we have more than one Heavy Support choice (or tank hunters elsewhere in the Force Organisation Chart, such as shooty Dreadnoughts or Honour Your Wargear Elite Devestators) we will be able to place a tank hunting unit after at least some of the Falcons have set up. This will often (but not always) allow us to deploy this unit so that it can draw a bead on the Falcon, and once again hope to get first turn and shoot it down before it moves.

 

All the if’s that apply to Infiltrate apply to this tactics. It also relies heavily on terrain, as a terrain setup that blocks the Falcons well will make it useless.

 

Outfight the blighters

This one relies on combat. Use Black Templars, Space Wolves, Assault Terminators with Storm Shields, anything that is either numerous or hard enough to survive the charge of the Chequered-pants Brigade, and then trust our Marines to prevail through sheer hard-as-nail-ness. Countercharging with a Familiar equipped Librarian with a Furious Charge Command Squad will actually let one of our models strike before the Harlequins, if we can pull it off. A novel feeling.

 

The absolute problem with this approach is the Eldar player's superior mobility and firepower. He is quite likely to avoid the squads he can't beat, and if he feels outmatched will likely sit back and shoot us to smithereens. The fact that much of our points will be tied up in Close Combat units means that our chances of winning a shooting match are (heavily) decreased. Also note that we can only expect to get two rounds of close combat, as at the end of our turn, the Harlequins will use their Hit and Run move to disengage (and either charge back in, pick another spot to attack, or remount their Falcon to preserve Victory Points).

 

Debunked Tactical Ploys

Although the ideas put forth above are far from sure to have the desired effect, there have been suggested tactical ploys that have been judged – as Master Jeridian put it – rubbish.

 

Block hatches with a Speeder

Simply put, the idea here is to place a Land Speeder in such a manner that it prevents the Eldar player from disembarking his Harlequins.

 

There are several major weaknesses to this idea. The first is that it assumes that the Eldar player will place his Falcons in a way that allows us to move our Speders to block them. The second is the fact that an Eldar army will always have enough firepower to kill a few Land Speeders (for example, each Falcon comes with a Heavy 2 S8 weapon as standard). The third is that even if we manage to block the hatch for a turn, the Falcon will then move away and simply delay the deployment of the Harlequins, while the Land Speeders are dealt with. The fourth problem is thatthe eldar player may use fast moving untis of his own to block the hatches pre-emptively, thus preventing any blocking at all. Lastly, as the Flying Circus will be likely to include more than one Falcon, and a good Eldar player is likely to keep this close enough to provide mutual support, any squad sent to block the hatch of one Falcon is likely to be Tank Shocked unceremoniously out of the way.

 

Back away

Once again put simply, this plan revolves around backing 6" a turn, thus keeping the Harlequins out of charge range.

 

The first and most obvious problem here is that we have a finite area of table to work with. The second is that the Eldar player has a greater degree of mobility than we do, and can easily counteract this ploy. The third, and perhaps most critical, is that this tactic will give every ounce of tactical initiative to the Eldar player, who can herd our army freely, and eventually still pick it to pieces, or take the objectives, from which we will surely have been driven.

 

 

 

 

So, whatcha think?

[bystrom]

I guess I'll be the first to comment: I would add spirit stones: especially when combined with the Skimmers Moving Fast Rule and the Spirit Stones upgrade... (first paragraph), since spirit stones are something I'm hard pressed to see falcons without. Maybe also a sentence adding in the fact that harlequins ignore difficult terrain, have 5+ inv save, Furious Charge USR and Fleet of Foot USR.

 

Actually it's 1 in 12 chance of immobilizing or destroying, not 1 in 9. But that's 1 in 12 glancing hits. First you need to have LOS, then roll a hit, then roll high enough to glance, before you can even worry about rolling on the damage table.

Just wondering, 'cus I can't for my life get 1/12. It's out of 36, (6*6), and then there's 5,5 5,6 6,5 6,6 which is 4/36 = 1/9. Or am I missing something? Some simple math hammer like the chances of immobilising or destroying a falcon (one in every ... glancing) could perhaps further emphasize how tough Falcons are under the Target the Falcon.

 

Under the Spread Out, I would also mention that even though spreading out does buy time, a harlequin squad can still move with Hit and Run USR Dsomething something ", 6" + D6" + 6" assault in one turn or move into a falcon 24" (36" if upgraded with star engines) before next turn moving out and assaulting 2" + 6" + D6" + 6" (15"- 20"). So it is still difficult to achieve.

 

Then some grammar

4th Paragraph: and at most wiping out squads in a single round...

Build a Fort with your Marines. : I'm unsure about the full stop at the end.

2nd Paragraph under Fort, 3rd Sentence: ...is the possibility that the Eldar player (sp) will simply avoid getting...

Under Infiltrate, 2nd Paragraph, 3rd line: ...or using Infiltrating (sp) Rangers/Pathfinders to deny our...

Under Poor Man's Infiltrate, 2nd Paragraph: All the if’s that apply to Infiltrate apply to this tactic (sp).

That's what I see, hope you don't mind.

[Master Jeridian]

Looks like a good article- you should go into detail about stuff like Speeders Blocking Hatches and other rubbish tactics. Though they have been debunked, it's best to give them a mention as people insist on stating them as viable.

[Master Incarias]

Okay, let's see...

 

@Bystrom

 

Spirit Stones and Special Rules. Will do.

 

On the 1/12, I guess I was miscounting the second time, using the formula for the likelihood of getting 11 or 12 on 2D6, for some reason. I'll see about adding some math-hammer...

 

Flesh-out of Spread Out problems. Yup.

 

Spelling and grammar. Except for the last one (tactics is actually a singular noun as well as the plural of tactic) I'm just too quick a typer to keep up with myself sometimes... Proof-reading is always good for more serious projects, so no, I don't mind.

 

@Master Jeridian

 

Okay, what exact tactics fall under the heading 'Rubbish'? (I generally forget things I've discarded as unviable. Head crowded enough as it is...). Speeder Hatch Block will be added.

 

EDIT: Have editted the article post to include proposed changes.

[bystrom]

I guess moving 6" backwards (so harlies aren't in charge range anymore) is also one of those 'rubbish' things that work, but aren't viable because of giving total control to the eldar player. As to the Speeder blockage, there is a fourth disadvantage and that is that the eldar player can block their rear with e.g. jetbikes, thus disallowing speeders to block, next turn move bikes, jump out, move falcon, then move+charge.

[Master Incarias]

Added straight from the box.

[Wildfire]

The real problem with trying to block hatches is that a good eldar player will place his tanks in such a way that they can tank shock your units out of the way. If he hasn't done that, it may be worthwhile to block a hatch to delay him a turn. It usually looks something like this:

 

 

..T1......T1.......T1

......T1.......T1......T1

................................................T2.......T2.......T2

..........................................T2........T2.......T2

......F1F1

......F1F1

......F1F1

.........................................................F2F2

.........................................................F2F2

.........................................................F2F2

..........................F3F3

..........................F3F3

..........................F3F3

 

 

If squad T1 tries to move forward to block falcon F1, falcon F2 can tank shock them clear so that falcon F1's passengers can still disembard. Falcon F3 still has a good chance to unload it's troops into squad T2.

 

If squad T2 tries to block falcon F2, the player has the option of tank shocking them clear with falcon F3 (allowing falcon F2's passengers to assualt) or simply using falcon F3's passengers to assualt and moving falcon F2 however else he finds useful.

 

If both squads T1 and T2 try to block doors, falcon F2 will tankshock T1 out of the way. Then falcon F1's passengers will assualt squad T1 and falcon F3's passengers will assualt squad T2.

 

 

 

Depending on your force composition and how they are positioned, it may be worthwhile to block all 3 hatches if you can. However, without cheap mobile units (such as the BA/DA singleton attack bikes) this will probably be very difficult if the eldar player is any good. If you can manage it, he'll only be able to assualt with a maximum of one squad, which you can jump on with the others next turn and ovewhelm. Make sure you can still stun the falcons, tho, or he'll just move 12" back and shoot you up with his 8-9 shots S6+ shots... from each falcon.

[StratoKhan]

So, whatcha think?

 

I think that once it's deemed ready you should submit it to the Librarium. =) I think it's a very good, complete article.

[Master Incarias]

That's the plan... I've even managed to pressure Sigismund Himself for instructions :).

 

I'll leave that till the end of the week, to make sure everyone's had their say, though. Then I'll submit it, and I guess any changes that need be made after that, can?

[StratoKhan]

Yep, editing works just fine.

 

Sounds like a plan.

[Thylacine]

You have to kill those Falcons, we face similar lists down here and Falcons with Harlequins or Wraith Guard are just painful. On the whole Eldar are a hard army to take out, they are a designers pet and always have been, too many cheap and very effective troops with small size units. BTW, they were designed to be a SM players worst enemy and this has continued with the new codex.

 

You have to concentrate fire on the Falcons and stop them in their tracks, then you can try to pin the passengers and target them with ordnance like a Whirlwind. With all the upgrades for the Eldar vehicles they are harder to take out than a Land Raider and cheaper too. Try a DP on the Harlequins or Deep Striking Terminators (it is an expensive thing to do) land close and shoot a heavy flamer or assault canon into them but be ready for their attacks. I have pinned them and then shot them up twice before assaulting with IC's, then again the troupe was small and I was lucky.

 

Thylacine

[Master Incarias]

Have added a small paragraph on the expected modus operandi of the Flying Circus list (2nd paragraph, now).