What are good choices for a starter Craftworld army?

[brother_b]

So every December our local gaming store has a 50% off sale. I wandered in at the right time and picked up Blackstone, rogue trader, and wake the dead all for half off.

I've always been interested in space elves , I really know nothing about them. I've rarely fight them, don't own the codex , and have no desire to play a mixed group or army including dark eldar or whatever that cat lady is. Craftworlds for me.

I am picking up the codex soon, will the start collecting box make this a playable force? What else do I need to get to let's say a 50 power level army? Finally, I've always loved the striking scorpions. I can't wait to paint some up.

 

[Slasher956]

Good for you! 

 

The start collecting box gives you arguable the most important model in the Craftworld.... the farseer.  their psychic powers are a force multiplier and really leave home without one.

 

So the 2 boxes (start collecting & wake the dead) will give you a slight problem in that you will only have 1 troops choice (guardians), 2 wraithguard/blades (boxes give you the parts to build both with both weapon load outs).  2 heavy support options (1 war-walker & 1 wraithlord), 2 HQs (farseer &spirtseer) with a single transport.

 

So whilst an excellent base you will need some more troops as we are a CP hungry force.... I'd look at a box of 5 rangers and a box of Dire Avengers to give you 3 troops to build a battalion.

 

Then depending on how you build the above units I'd look at either Dark Reapers (good all round ranged unit), Fire Dragons (close range anti vehicle / monsters) or what ever unit picks your fancy

 

The most important thing to remember about the craftworlds is the specialisation... we dont do generalist units... the closest is Dark Reapers, Shining Spears & Psychers in that those can hurt anything /everything ... but only in a single phase (shooting, CC & psychic respectfully)

[brother_b]

Good for you! 

 

The start collecting box gives you arguable the most important model in the Craftworld.... the farseer.  their psychic powers are a force multiplier and really leave home without one.

 

So the 2 boxes (start collecting & wake the dead) will give you a slight problem in that you will only have 1 troops choice (guardians), 2 wraithguard/blades (boxes give you the parts to build both with both weapon load outs).  2 heavy support options (1 war-walker & 1 wraithlord), 2 HQs (farseer &spirtseer) with a single transport.

 

So whilst an excellent base you will need some more troops as we are a CP hungry force.... I'd look at a box of 5 rangers and a box of Dire Avengers to give you 3 troops to build a battalion.

 

Then depending on how you build the above units I'd look at either Dark Reapers (good all round ranged unit), Fire Dragons (close range anti vehicle / monsters) or what ever unit picks your fancy

 

The most important thing to remember about the craftworlds is the specialisation... we dont do generalist units... the closest is Dark Reapers, Shining Spears & Psychers in that those can hurt anything /everything ... but only in a single phase (shooting, CC & psychic respectfully)

 

Excellent advice, and much appreciated. I may actually pick up the troop choices first, then to get that patrol detachment going, while I work up to the full battalion with the start collecting box

 

From the wake the dead box description about the guardian squad:

 

bright lance, a missile launcher, a scatter laser, a starcannon or shuriken cannon

 

Bright lance = laser? I know what the missile launcher does and I believe the scatter laser is a low powered laser cannon. Shuriken cannon must be like a heavy bolter basically. What does a starcannon do? As a KISS fan, I'm really leaning towards STARCANNON!

 

Thanks again, hopefully this project runs right in with all the other myriad projects I've got going on!

 

Cheers, I'll post any progress here as it develops.

[Slasher956]

Bright Lance = LasCanon with 1 better AP

Scatter Lace = 4 shots, S6 no AP, same range as the bright lance

Shuriken Canon = Assault 3 (so with craftworld rules, can advance and shoot with no modifiers) S6 no AP unless you roll a 6 to wound, shorter range

Star Canon = Eldar Plasma -1 S but always D2, same range as the bright lance.

[Dosjetka]

Since your Guardians are kitted for anti-infantry duties, I'd suggest giving them the Shuriken Cannon and relegating the anti-armour/tank role to another (more efficient) unit. That said this is your army so whatever you think is cool should trump what other people think is best. :tu:

In any case, welcome to the Aeldari!

[Marshal Wolfhart]

I recommend you look into utilizing magnets for the heavy weapons. War Walker, Wraithlord and the guardian platform all share the same "mount" so you can easily swap weapons, have options and try all kinds of loadouts. If you have questions on the matter, there should be loads in the painting modelling section or video guides over on YT.

Scorpions are totally awesome, remember though, that all aspect warriors suffer from accute finecast, sadly.

Anyways, have fun and welcome to the pointy-eared side of life ;)

[brother_b]

I recommend you look into utilizing magnets for the heavy weapons. War Walker, Wraithlord and the guardian platform all share the same "mount" so you can easily swap weapons, have options and try all kinds of loadouts. If you have questions on the matter, there should be loads in the painting modelling section or video guides over on YT.

Scorpions are totally awesome, remember though, that all aspect warriors suffer from accute finecast, sadly.

Anyways, have fun and welcome to the pointy-eared side of life

I was in the game store today, looking to see what's available. I have yet to pick up the codex but might just do that to have everything at the fingertips. I'm not very keen on the start collecting box it doesn't have enough, or any, troops. I will probably hit eBay soon.

 

Thank you for the advice o perfidious ones.

 

Edit: Ebay searching and found a couple of squads of dire avengers. I picked those up and will also buy some sort of spirit seer or something. That will give me the basics of a batallion.

[brother_b]

I've been looking at the armies, I went out and bought the codex. I have some more specific questions I'll post here as I move along learning about the Eldar.

 

1) Striking scorpion exarch. I can get rid of my shuriken pistol and get the scorpion claw. It is superior in every way to my chainsword... but I still take the chainsword? Am I missing something?

 

2) Autarch. The basic no-frills autarch seems really... boring? It sure seems like they missed a real opportunity to make that guy customizable. I would really only consider getting the flying or jet bike autarch.

 

3) Wile we're on the autarch, can I use his ability to get an extra CP, along with the (I forget the world but It's where Eldrad hangs out) craftworld ability that allows you to get CP back? Or am I just stuck to 1 CP per turn.

 

4) The hemlock fighter thing with the D-Scythes and psycher ability seem insane. I want one or more of those.

 

5) What about wraithguard. They look amazing. I really am torn between the D-Scythes and loading them into a transport and the regular guns. Also their fists seem nice. How are you all running your wraithguard?

 

6) Wraithlords. They good?

 

Thanks all, I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff that will come up as I continue to explore the army. I'm leaning towards Biel Tan and Eldrad's home, with an off-chance for Iyanden.

[Toxichobbit]

I've been looking at the armies, I went out and bought the codex. I have some more specific questions I'll post here as I move along learning about the Eldar.

 

1) Striking scorpion exarch. I can get rid of my shuriken pistol and get the scorpion claw. It is superior in every way to my chainsword... but I still take the chainsword? Am I missing something?

 

2) Autarch. The basic no-frills autarch seems really... boring? It sure seems like they missed a real opportunity to make that guy customizable. I would really only consider getting the flying or jet bike autarch.

 

3) Wile we're on the autarch, can I use his ability to get an extra CP, along with the (I forget the world but It's where Eldrad hangs out) craftworld ability that allows you to get CP back? Or am I just stuck to 1 CP per turn.

 

4) The hemlock fighter thing with the D-Scythes and psycher ability seem insane. I want one or more of those.

 

5) What about wraithguard. They look amazing. I really am torn between the D-Scythes and loading them into a transport and the regular guns. Also their fists seem nice. How are you all running your wraithguard?

 

6) Wraithlords. They good?

 

Thanks all, I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff that will come up as I continue to explore the army. I'm leaning towards Biel Tan and Eldrad's home, with an off-chance for Iyanden.

 

1) No, you're not missing something. That's just how the model is built. As editions change the scorpion chainsword (not a normal chainsword, those are different) and scorpion's claw have had different rules. Sometimes the scorpion chainsword has had a use. This edition it doesn't. Sadly if he'd been able to keep the shuriken pistol that would have had a use, but unfortunately he has to keep the useless scorpion chainsword.

 

2) They didn't miss an opportunity. They follow a rule whereby unit entries only have options available to the model. So you have three autarch loadouts available for the three models available, Autarch, Autarch with Swooping Hawk Wings and Autarch Skyrunner. The Autarch on foot is for using Prince Yriel as a generic Autarch*. In previous editions of the game there were more Autarch models available and the unit entry was significantly more customisable, with options for banshee masks, warp jump generators and any basic (not Exarch) weapon that an Aspect Warrior could carry. Although these models are no longer available and as such the unit entry in the Codex is limited. The entry in Index Xenos 1 however still includes all the options and it's legal to use these options with the Codex entry and the most up to date points values (Codex & Chapter Approved 2018).

 

3) Currently there is no limit on the amount of Command Points you can gain per battle round, so Path of Command (Autarch) and Fate Reader (Ulthewé Warlord Trait) stack. However, there is a beta Matched Play rule called Tactical Restraint that limites the amount of times you can gain a Command Point back to once per battle round. So if your gaming group are using the beta Matched Play rules (or if that beta rule becomes a standard rule in the future) then not only will Path of Command and Fate Reader not stack, but Path of Command will not stack with itself. At that point, having both means that you just have more chances to gain your one Command Point per turn, which isn't the worst thing in the world given that both only activate on a 6.

 

* I have no idea why Prince Yriel gets a generic version when every other special character in the game is unique.

[brother_b]

Thank you for those responses. Makes sense to me. I don't think I'll play out of the Index. Customization and modelling used to be a big part of the hobby. Not this edition, which is evident with these rules and the push-fit type miniatures being released.

 

My Striking Scorpion exarch looks like a bad ass though, and could totally do double duty at the Craftworld buffet as a meat carver with that chainsword.

[Montford]

5) What about wraithguard. They look amazing. I really am torn between the D-Scythes and loading them into a transport and the regular guns. Also their fists seem nice. How are you all running your wraithguard?

 

-I expect many may disagree with me but I use wraithcannons on my wraithguard. I understand why the D-scythes are popular but I feel the extra 4" of range are important enough to take the wraithcannon.

6) Wraithlords. They good?

 

-I like them. I clobbered a Custodes player last week by running a pair a Wraithlords and the Avatar with a bonesinger and farseer supporting straight into his warlord. I will admit that part of the reason it worked is because he wasn't expecting that from a Craftworld player.

[Karhedron]

 

5) What about wraithguard. They look amazing. I really am torn between the D-Scythes and loading them into a transport and the regular guns. Also their fists seem nice. How are you all running your wraithguard?

 

-I expect many may disagree with me but I use wraithcannons on my wraithguard. I understand why the D-scythes are popular but I feel the extra 4" of range are important enough to take the wraithcannon.

 

Wraithcannons have their uses but if I am just taking one squad of Wraithguard I take D-scythes every time and load them into a Transport. The extra 4" of range is less signiifcant than it appears as your Wraithguard can Advance D6" (average 3.5") and still auto-hit with D-Scythes. Combine that with the Stratagem to automatically Advance 6" and an extra 3" from disembarking from a Wave Serpent and suddenly you have a threat range of about 22" from your starting point with those D-Scythes.

 

 

6) Wraithlords. They good?

-I like them. I clobbered a Custodes player last week by running a pair a Wraithlords and the Avatar with a bonesinger and farseer supporting straight into his warlord. I will admit that part of the reason it worked is because he wasn't expecting that from a Craftworld player.

 

I liked them before the CA points drop and I like them even better now. They are cheap enough to make quite effective distraction-Carnifexes. I normally run them in one of 2 configurations.

 

1. The firebase baby-sitter. I give this guy 2 heavy weapons (normally starcannons or Brightlances), no glaive and deploy him alongside my fire support units like Dark Reapers, Fire prisms etc. He is pretty cheap (111 points for the dual Starcannon version) but has some decent firepower. He is also just dangerous enough in melee that if your opponent sends in some assault troops to try and take out my heavy units, the Wraithlord can provide a credible threat to them.

 

2. The fast assaulter. This guy gets 2 Shuricannons and a Glaive. He can Advance (average move 11.5") and still shoot reasonably effectively. He can also move fast enough to bring that big Glaive close to the enemy quite quickly. Even big models like Knights can be bothered by multiple S9 hits with AP-4 and D6 damage. This guys works best as part of a mechanised assault army. He forms a second wave to the Wave Serpents and whatever cargo they are carrying. He is still quite cheap but requires a decent amount of firepower to put down which helps keep the tanks alive. If the opponent ignores him, he hits hard enough to mulch MEQs on 2+s and even heavy tanks on a 3+. Thanks to the CA points drop, he has just the right balance of threat, durability, speed and price to make him a threat that your opponent will not want to ignore but also will not want to dedicate 8-ish Lascannons to taking out.