Jetbikes And Vypers?

Hello Fritz,

I am an old time Eldar player (2nd edition and early 3rd edition) who has recently began playing 40k again. I have been loving your battle reports and your tactical videos... they have really helped reintroduced me to 40k. I do have a couple jetbike army questions if you have time to answer them.

First - What helped you determine the size of 7 for your guardian jetbike squads? I have been running two 6 man units with 2 shuriken cannons and a warlock with Embolden. I also give him a singing spear, so that even my puny jetbike squads an pop a tank with a little luck (and 3 points...) Thoughts?

Secondly - I mainly play MEQs, and I find Shining Spears to be an amazing accompaniment to the mounted Seer Council. It gives me two great units to hit marines with (especially having the autarch in with the Spears). I do, however, like to create "tournament" quality army lists and am concerned about the overall usage of Spears vs anyone but Space Marines.... thoughts?

Thirdly - I notice and admire your usage of the Vyper squadrons. I have loved Vypers for my entire 40K career, but I am worried about their vulnerability so I usually field Falcons instead. (I dont have any prisms, yet) I do notice that your vypers tend to not attract too much attention in your battle reports... is that the key? just make other targets more appealing? you know... eldar trickery... :p

Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read this, and hopefully for taking the time to reply. I dont have any other Eldar players in my local area, and so I find myself hitting the internet for my tactics.

Reply Out:

Thanks for emailing, and welcome back to Eldar! Jetbike squads…

I found seven to be around that magic balance of firepower and squad size/points. As for a warlock that only helps, and in the past I have attached one to each unit- these days I tend to run them bare and save the warlock points for a seer council. When I did run them with the squad I took destructor for that extra punch since jetbikes have two roles- pinging away with the cannons from a distance and then moving 6” in the assault phase to hide OR zooming up close to finish off a squad. Problem with this is that you are getting close and NEED to wipe out the unit you are shooting at- even two marines can shoot and then charge you. Destructor gives you that extra little push. If you are a bit more conservative you could go for conceal, but I don’t find that as useful these days since cover is pretty easy to come by even with jetbikes. Regardless, singing spears are pretty much mandatory for the vehicles or if you get charged by a dreadnought, etc.

Spears…

Not what they were in previous editions and you will have “fun” with them, but in terms of competitive play the points are better spent elsewhere. Their main problem is lack of invul saves, and they need farseer support for fortune. If you attach a farseer to them, plus their points, you might as well take a seer council. I wouldn’t take them- get a seer council or proxy them as a seer council and try that out.

Vypers…

Love the model, but more and more it is showing its age in the codex. Not bad for what it can do, but the points are just way over the top compared to what comparable units marines and dark elder get. That said, I still run them since what else am I going to run? War walkers pump out more shots, but the mobility of the vyper matches the rest of my jetbikes and grav tanks. Having my entire army super mobile is key.

If you are going with vypers you want either scatter lasers or missiles on top, and shuriken cannons on the bottom. The missiles give you a bit more range vs. the extra shots of the lasers. Staying the maximum range out is key. You are also going to want farseer support to guide a group at a time.

Right now I have both Eldrad and a regular seer in my list. The vanilla seer goes with a council and Eldrad sits in a wave serpent casting double guides for two of my vyper groups, along with fortune, etc. More than ever Eldar need guide- compared to marines we just have so less shots- what we do have each turn HAS to at least hit.

-Fritz