Eldar vs Imperial Guard

Tuesday night I played a game against my friends IG army with my Eldar. This was a 1500 point game and I was not too confident going in to it. I knew he was going to be taking at least 2 Leman Russ tanks, and my long range fire power to deal with those was limited to just two Wave Serpents with twin linked Bright Lances.

I took a 6 man squad of Fire Dragons, hoping to rely on their melta weaponry to deal with the AV14. I also took a 5 man Wraithguard Squad with a Warlock and they proved to be the stars of my army. Even with such a small squad, thanks to guide, they had no problem getting glancing and penetrating hits on the AV14. This is because their Wraithcannons glance on a d6 roll of 3-4 and penetrate on a 5-6!!

My entire force was either mounted in Falcons/Wave Serpents, or infiltrated/out flanked. On my turn three, my Wraithguard disembarked from their Wave Serpent and completely annihilated the first Leman Russ tank. On turn 4, they vaporized the second Leman Russ and it was pretty well game over for the Guard.

There were a couple other things that worked well for me as well. This was my first time outflanking War Walkers. They came in on my turn two on my preferred table edge and basically removed the threat of his artillery squadron (2 Medusa) by destroying one outright, and taking the main gun off the second. I was also impressed with the durability of the Wave Serpents. The force field makes them really good, and I was able to drive them more aggressively because of it.

Rumors are that Eldar will be getting a plastic Wraithguard kit in the near future. If that turns out to be true I will be really happy because when you can get them within 12" it seems not much will be able stand up to them.

Craft World Eldar in 6th Edition

So with 6th Edition, I think Eldar took a bit of a beating and here's why.

1. Troop Weaponry: With the move to 6th edition, a lot of what made Eldar good in 5th is now what kind of hurts them. For example, the changes to Rapid Fire weapons are great, until you realise that Eldar do not have a single Rapid fire weapon in the Codex. Eldar relied more on not being hit than armour saves but now they are being hit by more shots, and in a lot of cases outside the range of the full fire power of a squad. The only troop unit that got noticeably better is the Rangers/Pathfinders, and that's because they benefit from 6th edition Sniper rules, as well as making rolls to hit of 5 or 6 AP1 (And rolls to hit of 6 are AP1 with Precision Shot so you get to pick the target)
2. 2+ Armour saves: Not only do the Eldar have almost no 2+ saves (only the Phoenix Lords have access iirc) They also lack ways to deal with 2+ armour saves effectively, and cheaply. They have no man portable plasma guns to fall back on. In fact all of the Eldar plasma weaponry is on vehicles or the equivalent. Which in a pure foot list leaves only Fire Dragons & Wraithguard for killing Terminators reliably, and with those, they are both a 12 inch range, so you will only get 1 turn of shooting off before you are squished in close combat (on average). In close combat, only certain special characters, Monstrous Creatures (Avatar and Wraithlord) and some Exarch upgrades can deal with Terminators.
3. Vehicles: Beyond a doubt, the changes to vehicles is what hurt Eldar the most. Now that at most you get 3 glancing hits to wreck a vehicle, certain upgrades that were good before are now almost never worth their points cost, like the Holofield. Add to that, that the Eldar Vehicles still suffer from 4th edition pricing schemes and you wind up with some expensive, and greatly nerfed transports. Not being able to assault out of a vehicle perhaps hurt the Eldar most of all, as they have no way to get their close combat troops where they need to be, where they can still be combat ready on the turn they arrive.

But all is not bad. There are some good things that came out of 6th Edition too!

1. Psychic Abilities: Runes of Warding didn't get nerfed, so it is still the most effective anti psyker ability point for point of any army. In addition, Eldar received access to the all important Divination School, with the awesome killyness of giving ignore cover to a squad of Dark Reapers. Or the extended range on the prescience power which increases the utility you will get out of your Farseers.
2. Vehicles: Now that you can glance vehicles to death, the excessive amount of Str 6 shots a Eldar Warhost can put out should make any MSU army tremble (looking at you Blood Angels/Grey Knights)

The rumour is that Eldar will be receiving a new Codex next year (I would expect this in the latter half of the year in October or November). To be viable again, I think the Aspect Warriors need a revamp. It would be nice for example if Scorpion Chainswords had an AP value in close combat. Ultimately though, every single Aspect needs to be viable in tournament play. These are warriors that can spend entire human lifetimes mastering a single aspect of warfare, and that should be reflected in the rules. Will Phil Kelly pull it off? Only time will tell (Unless you are a Farseer, then you have already glimpsed what the future brings)