Eldar Review: Heavy Support II

Finishing up the other half of Heavy Support for the Eldar.

Wraithlord

These guys are really bad, what with the prevalence of anti-tank weapons (ok, in a perfect world...lol) and lack of cover saves for MC in a general sense...they are more survivable turn 1-2 before the enemy arrives, and rather crap against anyone who can get up close and beat them down with say mass meltagun fire.  They are also slow, without a 'go faster' option.  Be nice if they could gain fleet or move faster than normal.  They've been needing a upgrade for years now.  T8 is their only real protection.  It is nice, but I'd rather have an armor value myself.  Once the Tyranid Codex is released, you'll see why Wraithlords (subpar now) are really really bad.  If they had been available in units of 2, they'd have been a scary alternative to what they are today--targets for shooting armies, and funny enough vulnerable to assault armies.

Fire Prism

An excellent unit, fairly priced.  I'd rather have them in squadrons myself, but hey can't have everything.  They have a long range weapon, it's a shame it's not got a single shot that isn't a template as that's their weakness--for decent anti-tank, they sure do miss a lot.  This is partially mitigated by the combined fire rule, which would have worked much better in a squadron format.  As it is, the Fire Prism is a nice backfield toy but against experienced opponents--they'll ignore your Serpents and take these down.  Given they only have 1 real weapon like a Vindicator, they can be fairly easily stripped of their main firepower.  That said, so long as you give them a chin Shuriken Cannon...they at least have some use after the main gun goes down (well, that and Fast Skimmer status).  Of all the Eldar vehicles, this is one that beats the Marine equivalent for efficiency.  Not quite as dangerous per shot, but they generally don't get shot up in a turn or two and can really trouble many armies.
I personally always run one Fire Prism.  Have since 4th edition.  I don't see this changing dramatically anytime soon--big templates to keep shitty troops in cover and immobile are big bonuses.  Small templates to pin Terminators inside their Raiders is also a big boon.

Falcon

My personal favorite Eldar tank, for a variety of reasons.  I use them as torrent of fire vehicles, not because they are highly accurate platforms--but because they can put out 9 shots (Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser, Pulse Laser).  Their potential damage is high, and wound most infantry on 2+, bikes on 3+, and MC on 4+.  (Pulse Laser is S8, so wounds most everything on 2+). Nobody likes that.  Put a Farseer with Guide and Fortune inside, get behind cover (most of your weaponry wounds well but doesn't pierce armor anyway so with ubiquitous cover saves might as well "give" what the enemy already has) and it's a real pita to down the Falcon let alone take weapons off.  Add in a 5 man Dire Avenger unit, and this is now an excellent troop transport able to score late in the game when your other troop transports have finally been stopped.  I use 2 of these in my Eldar force.  Usually, I have Farseers on bikes (attached to Guardian Jetbike squads) sitting next to these vehicles doing the Guide/Fortune thing.  In the end, I think the Falcon is the best buy for the Eldar--if a bit pricey when upgraded.  At the very least, if you buy these...you should know they have a 'Farseer tax' you must pay to make them work properly.  Why do these work and War Walkers don't?  Falcon is lower and more able to get behind cover--War Walkers usually can't as they are the 'tallest' Dread by a large margin.  Falcon cannot be locked in CC--Walkers can, and they suck at it.  Falcon is a Fast Skimmer and can, if need be, escape--Walkers cannot.  AV12 protects it from most low strength weaponry, where AV10 means even heavy bolters have a field day with the Walkers.  It sucks to cost so much, but hey you don't have to bring that Holo-Field along.  ;)  One of the better buys for Falcons, as they tend to not take meltashots (though they are in trouble if they are) but long range firepower.  Combine Holo-Fields, lots of weapons, and a fortuned cover save...yeah, you aren't going anywhere.  To top it all off, all of the 'secondary' firepower is Strength 6.  This is awesome for you, for one reason--it means you are dangerous to most vehicles in most armies.  Combine with the anti-infantry torrent, and the Falcon is superior to a Predator.  Though to be honest, I'd like to see these in squadrons--I think they are too powerful to have that option.  Mine so rarely die even against mass melta armies, I can't see it as a boon to field MORE of them.  lol

And...that concludes the heavy support review.  Take it for what you will.  :)