Tactica: Mech Eldar
Well a Tactica Mech Eldar may sound unneeded. With the groans of cheese I am faced with in these parts, you would think the army just played itself. However, the army is pretty helpless if not played with a caring touch. Here I will address the primary tools a Mech Eldar player must use to succeed.
Deployment
Deployment is incredibly key, as with any army, but one mistep here can literally lose you the game on the first turn. Always concetrate your forces, ideally behind area terrain, and preferably on one flank. If any of your vehicles have to be exposed, make sure they are ones with holo-fields, thus making the chances of them being destroyed first turn smaller.
The Ghost Flank
This is a tactic I use quite often. Essentially you deploy your entire army on one flank, and the opponent deploys in reaction. You then use your speed to completely redeploy your army to the other side of the battlefield. The aim here is to catch your opponent off-guard, and hopefully befuddle any ideas he had planned going into the first turn. This is especially effective against any sort of combat oriented army or any slow armies. I use this tactic the most against Nidzilla armies.
Army list
So the army has alot of tanks, but what else do you stick in there? Not all the units in the Eldar book compliment this sort of list, so I’ll go through what I consider the best.
Jetbikes/ Jetbike Farseer– The speed of Jetbikes matches the army and if you are not interested in Wave Serpent mounted Avengers, then they are a perfect fit. They are also very cheap troop choices. Jetbike Farseers are really a boon to the list. The fact that transport mounted Farseers cannot cast their beginning of turn psychic powers is what really make this build effective. Also their IC status will protect them in most cases. Always use their 6″ jetbike assault move to make sure they are not charged.
Rangers– Rangers are, in my opinion, the one effective foot troop unit that can be used in conjunction with a Mech Eldar list. They provide the army with good counter-infiltration and are quite resilient when placed in good cover. Their one downside is they give the oppponent a ‘focus’ in your army. That is, something static which they can sink their teeth into.
Vypers– Some people use them, some don’t. Personally I don’t. But I do see some uses in them. Personally if I were to use them it would be with minimal weapons hiding behind area terrain until the last turn in order to grab an objective (more on that later).
Aspect Warriors– Well you have to fill your Falcons with something. Really just do to taste, although Fire Dragons are always a favorite. Also Swooping Hawks/Warp Spiders can provide some nice quick infantry support.
And lastly, no matter what anyone tells you, three Falcons is not abusive! It is what makes your army what it is. Without three Falcons you are not playing Mech Eldar, so be proud!
Alright, thats it for now, next time I’ll come back at you with general tactics including fire focus, isolation, and objective handling…
