What Craftworld Are You Playing?

[Tyriks]

I'm just curious what everyone's using and how they're liking it. I enjoyed a fluffy Altansar list but it wasn't super strong, with the Altansar trait giving a buff that's hard to make good use of. The relic to manipulate Strands of Fate also felt wasted since I just always had what I wanted even without manipulating them. I have had a blast with Biel Tan though. I like a lot of Aspects so the strat is great, I always have a Psyker so the relic is great too. The minimum advance distance is great too. I feel like it just really works for Aspect heavy lists which is always what I want to do anyway.

 

What's working for you guys? What isn't?

[Slave to Darkness]

Biel-Tan, cant comment on what works, still building my army (slow going as I am only using 1st/2nd ed minis) and I have yet yo even look at the new dex. 

 

I am gonna watch this thread though, I may learn a few things as I have not even used Eldar since 2nd, and not played against them since 4th, so I am WAYYYYY out of the loop. 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Slave to Darkness

[WrathOfTheLion]

Ulthwé is what I'm working on, with a bit of Harlequins. As for what works/doesn't, it's going to be a while before I get games through with Eldar, so I'm not overly concerned with that other than that I like Ulthwé.

[Karhedron]

Ulthwé certainly has some nice abilities. Extra Strands of Fate combined with the all-round 6++ means you can always make a crucial save, even when hit by high AP weaponry.

 

Personally I am going to play Iyanden since that is how my army is painted and the ability to reduce incoming AP is pretty tasty, particularly on Wraith constructs.

[MadEdric]

I’ve always been Ulthwé, my first army back in 3rd. Still going with them.

This is the first time in a long time that it really feels like Ulthwé to me. Very strong with psychic powers, the Seer Council strat letting me get close to the Seer Councils of old.

[The Yncarne]

Played Biel-Tan the first 7 editions then switched to Iyanden when I picked up a bunch of wraith models in 8th. I had planned to play Children of Morai-Heg and Hail of Doom. The new Armor of Contempt has given me pause on that. However, I am prioritizing painting random units over playing for the moment.

[Prot]

All of my games have been with Ulthwé. I started with Ulthwé eons ago so the idea of revisiting it with the updated (to me) Eldrad was just really tempting. 
 

I played a lot of wraith Units last edition but I’m not loving the costs even though they’re very cool and fun. I found my Wraithlord just drops a little too fast, but to be fair I haven’t fully invested in the wraith or Iyanden theme yet. 
 

[MithrilForge]

Saim-Hann for me , but eons ago I played Biel-Tan …

Not sure how it’s going to go, just gotta finish the army and start playing !!!

 

Mithril

[Xenith]

Been loving the move boost from Children of the Open skies - grav tanks that go 18" standard is awesome, same with banshees that now can disembark + fate advance to 18" away from the serpent. If you use a fate roll for charge also, that's a guaranteed charge on a target 25" away from their transport. Hail of doom has been great also, maybe too great, so I'm going to change things up. Morai heg looks good also, bonus to hit if you lose a model when they kill your transport. 

[9x19 Parabellum]

Played Biel-Tan the first 7 editions then switched to Iyanden when I picked up a bunch of wraith models in 8th. I had planned to play Children of Morai-Heg and Hail of Doom. The new Armor of Contempt has given me pause on that. However, I am prioritizing painting random units over playing for the moment.

 

So....a cagey interpretation of Coherency with respect to Morai-Heg...

 

Disembark (but don't move) from a transport, in such a way that you leave one model out of coherency (several places have given us precedence to show that disembark and "move" are not the same thing).  You now proc Morai-Heg....enjoy!

 

Hrm...just re-read it and it literally says "Any kind of move", so I guess that wouldn't work.   Does anyone know of any way to autoinflict a casualty on your own unit/models.

 

In any event, I'm thinking of a custom FFCW and using Hail of Doom and either mobiel fighters for +1 to wound out of transports, or Children of Prophecy and go pyschic heavy for mortal wounds to deal with pesky armour of contempt armies.  I forget (as I have not played psyker heavy armies....ever)...can you cast smite more than once per turn?

Edited April 27, 2022 by 9x19 Parabellum

[Tyriks]

You also check unit coherence at the end of the turn so the model wouldn't immediately die anyway.

[The Yncarne]

My thinking is any infantry unit is going to lose a guy when looked at. It could be the transport like mentioned above. I figure it’ll almost always be in play unlike some others. I just wish I had this for open topped transport units. Edited April 27, 2022 by The Blood Raven

[TrawlingCleaner]

I ran Biel-Tan for all of 8th and continue to now, it's very handy for vehicles, small units like Warwalkers and Vipers or Rangers.

I'm definitely going to do some playing about with some Custom traits too, there's a lot of options!

[Xenith]

If you really want to break power armour, then Dire Avengers + Hail of Doom is probably the thing to do it. AP-4 on the 6 to hit is probably ~5 wounds on MEQ from the hit roll alone.

[ThePenitentOne]

Alaitoc.

 

I am just about to begin building the army- I picked up my farseer a few weeks ago; I just need a unit of Rangers now.

 

The army is going to be really heavy on Outcasts- both Rangers and Corsairs. Lots of Aspect Warriors too, but Alaitoc was still the best fit. It will be slow grow, and I don't really know how big it will get- not sure whether I'll eventually hit the 50PL mark or not.

 

The Corsairs are going to be really interesting because sometimes they'll fight with CWE and sometimes with DE. Basically, they will be the units I bring to ANY and EVERY Eldar fight, so they will quickly outshine the leaders and other members of the armies they join. I may eventually have to "Count as Yriel" and build my own generic Corsair HQ.

[Widowmaker82]

I'm playing Saim-hann. Had a few games in a crusade and they've been decent. I was initially quite disappointed with the Saim-hann suite of rules (attribute, warlord trait, relic and stratagem), because I'm not a fan of GWs insistence on pushing Saim-hann as the melee sub-faction just because they are red. But they've actually been pretty solid.

 

My autarch skyrunner and shining spears have been especially strong. The stratagem and being able to re-roll charges gives them insane threat ranges and the ability to fall back and charge has been more useful than I'd expected.

 

 

Hrm...just re-read it and it literally says "Any kind of move", so I guess that wouldn't work.   Does anyone know of any way to autoinflict a casualty on your own unit/models.

 

In any event, I'm thinking of a custom FFCW and using Hail of Doom and either mobiel fighters for +1 to wound out of transports, or Children of Prophecy and go pyschic heavy for mortal wounds to deal with pesky armour of contempt armies.  I forget (as I have not played psyker heavy armies....ever)...can you cast smite more than once per turn?

 

 

I really hope there isn't a way to inflict a casualty on your own units just to get a bonus like that (outside of something that is on theme, like a Commissar summary execution). That's exactly the kind of 40K I don't want to play.

 

Hail of Doom feels like it will be on GWs radar for a nerfing in the next balance update. It just looks like the standout choice from the Far Flung Craftworlds list, and every competitive Craftworlds list seems to run either that or Ulthwé. One of the extra AP abilities might be a good option to counter Armour of Contempt if you have a lot of power armour to play against.

 

You can cast Smite more than once, but you increase the Warp Charge by 1 for each previous attempt to cast it and each psyker can only cast it once per psychic phase. There's a group Tyranids units (about 700 points) that can, on average, pump out 34MW per psychic phase, including multiple Smites... so that's the tally to beat! I'm doubtful that Eldar can even get close!

[9x19 Parabellum]

I don't need or want my pyschic phase to do 30+ mortal wounds.  Funny, but to me that's far more egregious than finding a way to kill your own dude so you can proc your unit bonus to hit. Just a few MW's to reliably be able to take down a couple terminators a turn.

 

I really hope they do not overly nerf HoD.  I like it because it allows me to make Guardians useful, and I like running Troop heavy armies (if the troops are actually useful). So I'm hoping, if they do nerf it, to limit it to Shuriken Catapults only (meaning hordes of Dire Avengers wouldn't be able to proc it, nor Shuriken Cannons). 

[Karhedron]

As an Iyanden player, I am slightly miffed by Armour of Contempt. Our version takes up a Trait and only works on AP-1/2. Now Marines get it for free on all incoming hits. 

[9x19 Parabellum]

I was really intrigued with Alaitoc. Rangers are arguably the go to troop so being able to get more mileage out of them than anyone else is awesome. Have you tried the stratagem and warlord trait yet?

 

Everyone says this, I'm not so sure.  Every time I've put rangers on the field they get eradicated immediately.  They literally have done nothing for me.  Meanwhile, my Guardians have been carrying most of my games. (not that i've played that many).  Might just be my playstyle, or lack of a super-competitive meta. I'm not sure.

[Widowmaker82]

I don't need or want my pyschic phase to do 30+ mortal wounds.  Funny, but to me that's far more egregious than finding a way to kill your own dude so you can proc your unit bonus to hit. Just a few MW's to reliably be able to take down a couple terminators a turn.

 

I really hope they do not overly nerf HoD.  I like it because it allows me to make Guardians useful, and I like running Troop heavy armies (if the troops are actually useful). So I'm hoping, if they do nerf it, to limit it to Shuriken Catapults only (meaning hordes of Dire Avengers wouldn't be able to proc it, nor Shuriken Cannons). 

 

It wasn't a serious suggestion/challenge. I genuinely don't think Eldar can actually achieve it in any case. Tyranids have ways to generate additional MW from casting powers (Maleceptors) and ways to boost the chances to get a "super-Smite" by rolling 11+ on the casting attempt (Zoanthropes/Neurothropes). You'd probably be better off going all-in on an Eldritch Storm if you really wanted to generate a load of MW, but I doubt an opponent would be caught out twice by that trick.

 

I have to agree though. I think I would find facing an army that casually removes 30+ of my models in one psychic phase much less fun to play against than one that kills one of its own models to get a bonus. I do think the latter is something that goes against the "spirit of the game" in my opinion (spirit of the game is very much a personal thing though, so I know that might not apply to everyone). Whereas the Tyranid MW factory just seems to be a side-effect of power creep and/or a lack of play-testing by GW.

 

There's also very little counter-play against a deluge of MW like that unfortunately. The only real weakness is that most (possibly all) of the MW have to target the closest unit, which is something you'll need to consider yourself if you're looking to unleash a few Smites each turn. A canny opponent might be able to use something cheap to absorb most of the MW, or maybe even something with a wound cap each phase, e.g. a Phoenix Lord; probably going to get murdered in the shooting/fight phase though if you chuck one out the front to absorb all those MW.

 

The comment about Hail of Doom was more a warning for the future than anything else. It's seeing a lot of use in tournaments, alongside Ulthwé. GWs normal response to such things is to nerf them instead of investigating why other options aren't deemed as competitive.

 

I was really intrigued with Alaitoc. Rangers are arguably the go to troop so being able to get more mileage out of them than anyone else is awesome. Have you tried the stratagem and warlord trait yet?

 

Saim-hann is such a cool Craftworld so I’m glad you leaned into them and they aren’t disappointing you. On the surface their rules seem like a bit of a miss but it’s good to hear they’re doing well. I’m assuming you’re going fast attack detachment? What are you using for your backfield?

 

I have to agree with 9x19 Parabellum; I've never had any real success with Rangers either, and they regularly seem to die as soon as anyone looks at them. Their offensive output never seems to be great either. I only ever use a small squad of them, so it might be different with multiple squads and Alaitoc is probably a better home for them as well. I tend to just plonk them down somewhere with good lines of fire, but it leaves them exposed too. I'd probably be better off hiding them somewhere and accepting the -1 to hit for moving and shooting the rifles; they'd still hit on 3+. And as far as I know, they can still do a Battle Focus move afterwards, so they can pop back behind cover.

 

Sadly I think the main reason people saw them as the go to troop choice is the price; you can get 3 units for much cheaper than either type of Guardians. I think Eldar troops are generally seen as a tax in competitive circles, but I've not had any problems with Guardians so far (not that I've used them loads either).

 

I've been playing 25 power games so far and using a patrol; it's easy enough to fit a troops choice in and you can still take two Fast Attack choices. An Outrider Detachment would give me chance to use more Fast Attack, but I'd be starting with 0 CP in 25 power games.

 

In my crusade roster I have 5 Rangers, 10 Guardian Defenders with an AML, 10 Dire Avengers, 3 Windriders with Scatter Lasers and 2 Vypers with Starcannons; those units are probably my longest range stuff that might hold backfield objectives. I also have a Farseer and Warlock on foot, neither of which tends to venture too far forward. Though my farseer did get a bit too close to the enemy and lost a leg to a bunch of Scarab Swarms in one game!

 

My Shining Spears, Autarch Skyrunner, Storm Guardians and Howling Banshees push forward pretty quickly and make the most use of the Saim-hann rules. I also have a second unit of Windriders with shuriken weapons (one cannon, two twin-catapults) that is generally there for flanking, harassment and grabbing objectives. I don't have any heavy support in the roster at all yet, but I might add some soon. Maybe a tank like a Nightspinner or a couple of support weapons; not sure what weapons I'd use on the latter though.

[Paladin777]

I played Ulthwé in third and fourth edition (black storm guardians en masse led by warlocks with enhance actually made pretty decent and cheap shock troops!) but I sold the army around fifth edition.

 

Lately my wife has been more involved and interested in what I'm working on, and has encouraged me to start working on a 'green army.' When your wife says 'go buy a new army to paint,' you say 'yes dear!'

 

I hate tau (old grudge...), I'm not a fan of necrons, I've already got 3 power armor armies, and I've already got tyranids, so I think Biel Tan is going to fit the bill nicely.

 

The army I've been working on lately is blood angels, so I'm hoping to go a more shooty route with these guys. Probably some war-walkers, vipers. A few aspect warriors squads in boats (fire dragons in a wave serpent kitted for full dakka has me quiet intrigued), and maybe a couple wraith lords seems interesting.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Paladin777