Taking on Eldar?

[Wassa]

Hi all,

 

I have an upcoming 2vs2 1k points each (2k per side) game.

 

2 Astra Militarum vs Harlequins and Drukari.

 

 

 

I have never played against them before. How do they work? I hear Eldar have a -1 to hit penalty and a lot of quick attackers and fliers.

 

I mainly have Cadians and Catachans, what would be necessary to take with me?

[MrZakalwe]

Can you soup in a couple of Helverins in place of tanks?

[tychobi]

Eldar is not a singular thing. Expect to hit modifiers and a dynamic movement phase. Without lists or at least strategic leanings it is difficult to advise with any authority. Drown the pointy eared freaks in either armor or bodies.

[shandwen]

Just take nothing but bulgryns. You may not win but the enemy will spend the entire game running away.

[Frater Cornelius]

Just take nothing but bulgryns. You may not win but the enemy will spend the entire game running away.

 

The problem is that Eldar can kill you while running away.

 

You kill Eldar the same way you kill a fly that is constantly flying away. You don't try to target it directly. You nuke the whole district. A'ight, a bit overly exaggerated, but my point is that you can't deal with Eldar by doing precision strikes with high-value units. You need redundancy and extreme ranged firepower. We are talking Mortars, Basilisks and Manticores to kill hiding unit, Leman Russes to combard them from 72" away with Battle Cannons and so on. While Scions are alright at taking on hiding units, Eldar have the best Intercept in the game and your dudes will never get a shot off. My suggestion? Go classic. Battle Tanks, bit of Artillery, Mortars and infantry squads. The other guy can also bring a Baneblade variant or something with even more infantry, while you focus on the tanks. That might also work well.

[Wassa]

Ok, I tend to favour the tank and artillery line up :).

 

 

Are they horde like or have multiple wounds?

[GuardDaddy]

I know its a cliche but massed las guns actually really are good as eldar T3.

 

Meta of both Harlequins and Drukahri is fast but lightly armoured transports. They tend to get in face T1 and then drop troops T2. They have quiet small area however so can be surrounded at 1.5" away and nuked - if you get a kill transport disembark rules means the troops inside are auto-killed. Another reason why infantry squads good.

 

Hellhounds are current go to counter for -1 tstuff but be aware they are consequently number one target.

 

This is well worth a quick read - (guard v Drukhari) https://snbattlereports.com/2018/10/13/battle-report-drukhari-vs-death-korps-of-krieg/

[Wassa]

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Astra Militarum) ++

 

Regimental Doctrine: Catachan

 

+ HQ +

 

Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken: Lead From the Front, Warlord

 

Company Commander: Chainsword, Kurov's Aquila, Laspistol

 

+ Troops +

 

2x Infantry Squad

8x Guardsman, Plasma gun, Sergeant.

 

3x Infantry Squad

8x Guardsman, Flamer gun, Sergeant.

 

+ Elites +

 

Astropath: Laspistol, Nightshroud

 

Ministorum Priest: Chainsword, Laspistol

 

Sergeant Harker

 

+ Fast Attack +

 

Hellhounds

Hellhound: Heavy Flamer, Track guards, Turret-mounted Inferno Cannon

 

Scout Sentinels

Scout Sentinel: Heavy Flamer

 

+ Heavy Support +

 

Heavy Weapons Squad

3x Heavy Weapon Team: Mortar

 

Leman Russ Conqueror

Lascannon, Plasma Cannons, Turret-mounted Conqueror Battle Cannon

 

Manticore: Heavy Bolter

 

 

I think I may have too much anti infantry and not enough anti flier, but I don't have a hydra/wyvern.

 

Should I get rid of something and add more lascannons or autocannons?

 

[WarriorFish]

Ubik had a similar topic recently here, will be worth a read for a general approach :) The Harlequin and Dark varieties of pointy ears are basically glassier and hammier versions of bog standard Eldar. Against this, responding with more units for more redundancy and dice to throw isn't a bad starting point :tu:

[Wassa]

So we played the Relic mission.

 

Harlequins were as expected, fast, -1 to hit the vehicles, but -1 to wound on the infantry.

 

However, the Drukari brought about 20 Grotesques and buffed them to a toughness of 6, with a 4++ save, 4 wounds each, and a secondary 6+ save per wound.

 

The harlequins quickly took out our artillery and vehicles, while the grotesques murdered us in close combat.

 

Flamers did surprisingly well, but we didn't have enough fire power to stop the grotesques.

 

 

We were down to about 20 men left by the end and they were mostly unscathed and they advanced very far into our zone.

We only had time for 3 rounds, but they had left the relic behind and advanced towards us.

Fortunately, a sneaky Move Move Move order meant be ended up with the relic at the end of the game so technically we won... but we would have been tabled in another turn.

[WarriorFish]

No technicality about that - if the game ends with you ahead you win ;) Sounds like they worked together to build a very strong complement, such conniving is to be expected from the faithless Eldar so you did well to fight back as you did :tu:

[duz_]

Sounds like a victory to me! :tu:

 

I had a game at a tournament last year where a Valk grav drop followed by a move move move order went from me losing to tying the game :D

[Mekhitar]

My friend won an ITC game by 1 pt with 71 pts on the table (vs more than 1000, including 2 knights) with a well-timed move move move. It’s golden.

 

Grots are tough. I might recommend Battle cannon tank commanders - they have pretty good chances even against flat -1 eldar army.

[noigrim]

I found that punishers work wonders against eldars, also the harlequins/drukhari transports are only T5 so even flashlights have a chance against them, also Mordia is good when overwatching against all those charges, throw grenadiers strat in for extra fun. Another thought is that since you can't match their quality bring quantity isntead, battalion after battalion of 60 guards