New Aeldari Codex analysis

[Emperor Ming]

IM trying to like ynnari

 

But Incubi are s4....

 

Giant swords s4...... I had to double check another source to make sure it wasnt an error

[Iron Father Ferrum]

14 hours ago, Xenith said:

Overall I'm happy with the codex, however a glaring issue from 9th ed remains, and I don't know enough about 10th ed to know how Eldar were on top tables - how are you scoring primaries? Getting out onto objectives is no issue. but holding them for a turn is tricky. Most apart from the home objective will be in the open, and eldar in the open mean dead elves. Is the plan just to annihilate the opponent off their objectives and keep the score similar then win on secondaries?

 

According to Brent who runs the Craftworld Eldar YouTube channel, it's a late-scoring army.  Early turns are focused on dealing damage & performing secondaries; attempts to hold midfield objectives shouldn't seriously start until T3 when you've cut away the opponent's ability to stop you.

[Dr. Clock]

On 2/18/2025 at 7:31 AM, Xenith said:

Is the plan just to annihilate the opponent off their objectives and keep the score similar then win on secondaries?

Pretty much. I play with 3x5 infiltrators most games for pure early disruption, and up to 5x5 when I'm feeling saucy. With enough of that stuff it's not impossible that you pick up or more likely just cost enemy some early primary points. So confuse and evade, then pounce and punish.

 

We've generally got so much speed that you can deploy pretty broad and protected and still be able to wheel to focus down 1 flank at a time. Wherever the enemy concentrates, you back off to hit other objectives. Let them have the 1 they over commit to, because you can pretty easily get back there once you've lopped off another flank! If they go strong on Reserves, just take up space and keep trading units on midfield as long as you can. The longer they wait, the wider you can cast the net, and the farther they will land from anything that truly matters.

 

If you're successful in distracting and overwhelming in a couple places, you'll find in late game the stuff they ignored actually starts to kick in and change the tide. So generally I'll put the heaps of fast movers on both flanks, but then kinda casually walk 10 Guardians w/ Farseer and WLord toward centre so that I can successfully push there in turn 3 or 4 along with whoever makes it out of the flank battle.

 

So yeah - blast them off the objectives sure, but still participate in the trading game when it makes sense.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

[Dr. Clock]

First game with new 'dex last night. A convincing win into Sisters... 

 

List (2100 points for narrative reasons):

 

Wayleaper

Farseer

Eldrad

Lhykis

 

2x10 Defenders w/ Lances

 

2x Wave Serpents

 

2x5 Avengers

1x5 Dragons

1x5 Reapers

1x5 Banshees

2x5 Scorpions

2x5 Spiders

1x3 Windriders

1x Fire Prism

1x5 Rangers

1x Wraithlord

 

Observations:

 

1) This was more characters than I needed and/or they were just in the wrong places. Autarch basically never got used because that unit was essentially an action monkey. They got me points, but the Autarch was surplus to requirements when you could just get another windrider or similar for the points. Eldrad's unit ended up as the rearguard so they were never in range of anything that mattered for Doom. Lhykis can and will define an entire flank push on her own, and Guide is actually really good in a flanking guardian squad w/Wraithlord friend, but there's point of diminishing returns on the characters IMO. In sum, I am going to soft cap at 3 characters for Eldar lists for next few games.

 

2) Extra Battle Focus as detachment bonus is a hat on a hat. The +1" move is more meaningful, but probably not as meaningful as a wide base of DPS improvement that Aspect Host provides. I have some ideas for a Harlie theme where I still think War Host will still be preferred, but Aspect seems like the easiest choice by far most of the time even if a list is only like half Aspects.

 

3) Shroudrunners for days. They provide an excellent 'second level' of buffs to stack with Guide or Lhykis. I wish I wanted to build and paint a second unit, because as soon as someone realizes how big ignores cover is for most of our shooting units, they are sure to be a top priority for reprisal. I'm definitely thinking war walkers at this point as a similar buff piece that will also add another lance or two to the line and skirmish rear while still buffing multiple units per turn (scatter + lance is the plan there).

 

4) Everything is explosive. Finally it actually feels like everything in the list is #1 fast and #2 cannon. Lots of times people's skirmish pieces are pure action monkeys that can't actually throw a punch, and then hitting power is concentrated in 6 or so 'hitters'. Not for Eldar - almost every ~90pts is kinda threatening to most things and REALLY threatening to a specific thing (or is turning its friends up to 11). Only Rangers are essentially just a space holder with no real damage potential. The jury is out on whether I'll ever allow myself to invest like 300+ points in a full Aspect + Phoenix in Serpent situation as anything over 200 pts feels like a trap - I clearly prefer a list with no or little obvious 'centre'.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

[Karhedron]

One handy interaction I have just noticed is that the Yncarne is a Psyker which means that if you want to run Wraith units in an Ynnari list, he is an additional trigger for Psychic Guidance. I rather like the idea of an Yncarne with a pair of Wraithlords as bodyguards stomping into the midfield. I haven't really wrapped my head around the Devoted of Ynnead yet but there is definitely some strong synergies to be had in there I think.

[Karhedron]

On 2/18/2025 at 7:13 PM, Emperor Ming said:

IM trying to like ynnari

 

But Incubi are s4....

 

Giant swords s4...... I had to double check another source to make sure it wasnt an error

 

I compared them to Howling Banshees and while Incubi do have an extra attack on their profile, it is hard to avoid the feeling that Banshees bring a lot more to the table for their extra 3ppm. Banshees have Fights First natively, Incubi need the Visarch to get the same. Banshees can Charge after Advancing or Falling Back which is an ability Incubi can't match. Banshees have Anti-Infantry 3+ which pretty much balances out the Incubi's extra attack vs MEQs and makes them better against infantry with T5+.

 

You really want a high-value squad to stash Yvraine (and preferably the Visarch) in. Incubi look close to being that squad but I keep running into problems. Incubi are just not as good as Banshees for the points. You can only fit 11 models in a Raider meaning you have to choose between Yvraine and the Visarch, you can't take both.

 

I am wondering if Yvraine and the Visarch + 10 Voidscarred in a Wave Serpent is a viable package. The only problem is that the Voidscarred practically have individual profiles which makes them an absolute pain to run as you practically spend 10 minutes resolving their attacks. 

[Crimson Longinus]

On 3/5/2025 at 12:29 PM, Karhedron said:

I am wondering if Yvraine and the Visarch + 10 Voidscarred in a Wave Serpent is a viable package. The only problem is that the Voidscarred practically have individual profiles which makes them an absolute pain to run as you practically spend 10 minutes resolving their attacks. 

 

I've been thinking about the same thing. Also, I believe that joining Yvraine and/or Visarch would give the corsairs the battle focus they otherwise lack.