Letting go of the Farseer crutch

I have started preparations for next year's Las Vegas GT. Games Workshop just sent out an email regarding the next several qualifying tournaments, and it mentioned that the GT winner "...will be decided in the summer of 2011 in Las Vegas at The Throne of Skulls Tournament..."

The U.K. Throne of Skulls Rules Pack and FAQs are already available online, here. So, assuming the same criteria for Las Vegas, we're talking 1500 point armies and standard missions from the 40K rulebook.

I've been thinking about my Las Vegas GT list for awhile now. Also, I had some good conversations with the other players at Mechani-Kon 2 last weekend.

As a result of the above, I ended up re-jiggering my Eldar list, with a couple of purposes in mind:

1. To get my HQ(s) under tank armour
2. To enhance the survivability of my Eldar tanks
   
3. To add some more close combat capability
   

The force has been streamlined by getting rid of psychic entirely. There is a single HQ - I'm using my levitating Farseer model (pictured above) to "count as" Prince Yriel, a hybrid Autarch/Warlock and the cheapest of the Eldar named characters. This character is interesting, since it combines the stats and skills of an Autarch with a couple of psychic weapons, the Spear of Twilight (a Singing Spear that's also a Power Weapon), and the Eye of Wrath (a single-use S6, AP3 Large Blast, that can be set off in close combat). Dverning has written an in-depth tactica discussing the use of Yriel in games, including the dreaded "Yriel Bomb" ploy, located online here.

With the extra points saved, I've also packed protective upgrades onto all the tanks, and added Powerblades to the Warp Spider Exarch.

The result is the following, a purer Swordwind style list:

HQ:
Autarch (counts as Prince Yriel) (1#, 155 pts)

Troops:
Dire Avengers (7#, 202 pts)
6 Dire Avengers
1 Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones; TL Missile Launchers)

Dire Avengers (6#, 205 pts)
5 Dire Avengers
1 Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones; TL Bright Lances)

Elites:
Fire Dragons (6#, 210 pts)
5 Fire Dragons
1 Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones; Vectored Engines; TL Shuriken Cannons)

Fire Dragons (6#, 220 pts)
5 Fire Dragons
1 Wave Serpent (Spirit Stones; Vectored Engines; Shuriken Cannon; TL Shuriken Cannons)

Fast Attack:
Vyper Squadron (3#, 210 pts)
1 Vyper (Scatter Laser; Shuriken Cannon)
1 Vyper (Scatter Laser; Shuriken Cannon)
1 Vyper (Scatter Laser; Shuriken Cannon)

Warp Spiders (5#, 137 pts)
4 Warp Spiders
1 Exarch (Powerblades; Death Spinner x2)

Heavy Support:
Night Spinner (1#, 160 pts)
1 Night Spinner (Holo-Field; Spirit Stones)

Total = 1499 Points

I took it for a test run the other night against MikeA's Nurgle army. Mike came loaded for bear, running the following:

HQ:
Typhus 225pts

Elites:
Chaos Terminators (5) 2xChainfist, 3 Power fists, Combi-flamer, Combi-melta, Reaper Autocannon 245pts

Troops:
Plague Marines#1 (7) 2x Melta, P.Fist, Rhino 256pts
Plague Marines#2 (7) 2x Melta, P.Fist, Rhino 256pts
Plague Marines#3 (7) 2x Plasma, P.Weapon 221pts

Heavy Support:
Defiler 150pts
Vindicator Daemonic Possession 145pts


Total = 1498 Points

We played a tables quarters style scenario from Mechani-Kon. MikeA played well, initially controlling or contesting all quarters, but the mobility and durability (durability - wtf?) of the Eldar proved too much for the Chaos forces. The turning point occurred mid-game, when Typhus and his bodyguards fell to a fusillade of melta and shuriken fire.

I look forward to further play-testing. This is probably the first time I've run Eldar without any psychic powers in over a decade.