# I suck with eldar (how do I use rangers? swooping hawks?)



## captcoolmcdu (Mar 9, 2009)

I'm new at this. I have a 500pt eldar army, and I've played 3 games. I've lost every one. 

I'm not sure if my list sucks or if it's just my noobiness.

Here's what I've got going.

1 farseer
10 dire avengers
5 rangers
6 swooping hawks

Anyway, I usually use my farseer to guide my dire avengers and doom my enemies, and with bladestorm, that gets to be pretty deadly. However, once my dire avengers die, I'm useless.

I deepstrike my hawks whenever possible (skyleap), but they just can't seem to get kills. Their guns are too weak, and the grenades don't help much either.

My rangers also seem to be pretty useless. I only get 5 shots out of them, and that doesn't do much. What should I aim them at?

My farseer is also pretty useless alone. The shuriken pistol cannot do much, and the witchblade doesn't seem to do much either (although I'm still not entirely clear on what the witchblade does).

So, other than the witchblade thing, I really only need to know what I'm supposed to be doing with my swooping hawks and rangers. My dire avengers with the farseer seem to be doing well enough. I do have trouble keeping them from dying with the 18 inch range, but I guess I just have to be cautious.


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## marxalvia (Oct 6, 2008)

For the witchblade the info is on pg 42 of the BRB.
For the rangers it is best to put them in cover and give them the pathfinder upgrade. Use them to shoot at IC, MC, and any infantry within range.
If you have problems with the DA dying, why don't you try fortuning them instead of guiding them.
I havn't used the hawks, so I can't help you their, but I am sure others will be able to help you.


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## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

Try swapping out the hawks for something else, I would almost say a tank or wraithlord to give you extra punch for the armies that will take heavy infantry or hard armour tanks into battle


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

It isn't easy to build a 500 point army that can handle everything. Right now you don't have anything to help against vehicles or anything for close combat, so you will really suffer against mechanised enemies.

A wraithlord would be handy instead of the hawks. Alternatively, I would recommend a wave serpent with bright lances for the dire avengers. The wave serpent can blow up tanks and your guys can't easily be killed while inside it.

Unfortunately, swooping hawks just aren't a good unit. The good news is that it isn't your fault that you don't do well with them - nobody does. The bad news is that you spent your money on them


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## Sqwerlpunk (Mar 1, 2009)

Indeed, Swooping Hawks just blow.

I'd suggest the Wave Serpent with Brightlance for your DA and 5 more Rangers for your list.

Remember, 6 to hit or 6 to wound will give you AP2/1 depending, and numbers help that outcome occur more often.


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## Tigirus (Apr 13, 2008)

I hate to disagree with everyone, but swooping hawks don't suck. They are good at what they're designed for (taking out skimmers and T3 enemies) and I love them against tau, but with marines or anything else, leave them at home. I recently built a 400pts list quite close to this however, I have guardians instead of avengers and scorpions instead of swooping hawks. (of course rules say no farseers )

What I would say is, swap out your hawks for something else, I would heartily suggest scorpions as I have nothing but good luck with them. since you have a farseer, you could try banshees. or if you really have problems with wound rolls warpspiders or wraithguard. 

The bottom line is; look at the unit's stats, if you can see that they fulfill a purpose you need in your army take them if not, leave them at home.


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## Culler (Dec 27, 2007)

I agree that dropping your hawks out of that list should be priority 1. What you replace them with should depend on where you want to go with your army. The strongest choice would probably be to toss a wraithlord in there. Wraithlords are ridiculously tough to kill, especially in low points games, and you can mount an eldar missile launcher and a shuriken cannon or scatter laser on him for pretty cheap (and flamers). If you want to develop more of a mechanized force, then go with a wave serpent with missiles or bright lances for the dire avengers.

Make sure you don't have too much bloat on your farseer too. He only needs 2 powers at the most if he has spirit stones, any more is wasteful at this level.


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

I would advise against the wraithlord myself. It's good at this value and would win you games here, but you may not use it at higher points values. Wave serpents are good at any value though, so you will get a lot of use out of the model.


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## TheKingElessar (Mar 31, 2009)

Hawks suck, Someguy is spot on, the Serpent is better long term than the Wraithlord, even if slightly inferior at 500 points, don't throw good money after bad and buy more Hawks, except for modelling purposes. 

I played for 10 years before I tried to use Eldar with any confidence. They're a difficult army to learn - they're as fragile as it comes, and hardly blessed with numbers. Don't feel bad abut losing - I still learn more from a loss than a win. Generally.


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## lancefireball (Aug 12, 2008)

Hawks can be fun in a fun game. I personaly use two squads of 5 ( when i play for fun ONLY ) drop them down to get the template then jump right back in the air. I use this with two autarchs... Its a bad use of points but its funny and they can be sneaky if u are lucky and contest a objective last turn.

Eldar are not as fragile as ppl think. Its all on how you play them. For instance a Falcon with halo fields and fortune is one of the hardest things around to kill. All depends on what u take and how you play...

But ya drop the hawks I would have to agree.


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## SirShibby (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm afraid I disagree with all this anti-hawk talk but that's atopic for another thread. 

As far as the rangers go...stick the farseer with them (within 6 inches) in cover and Doom their target while guiding them. You'll be amazed at the outcome.


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## spudboy (Jun 13, 2008)

Hawks have their place, just not in an army under 1500 points, I'd say. Too specialized to be used as a front-running unit, and too costly to just throw away.

Rangers, at 500pts, really do need the pathfinder upgrade. You can't hide them behind anyone, so they need as much cover as they can grab. Once you have them as pathfinders, you'll see them dropping things left and right with their AP1 hits now coming in on 5+ to hit.

At this point level, you need something that can at least hurt Marines (3+ armor save). Pathfinders can do that, but you need one more unit that is effective. A Wave Serpent is an idea. So are a few war walkers with star cannons (you can get 2 in that list in place of the hawks and have points to play with). Keep them away from heavy weapons, and concentrate fire on single squads.

If you have the hawks and can't get anything else to use for a while, the hawks need to be running interference while the avengers move forward. Plop them on the table from the start, rather than keeping them in reserve. When they start getting shot up, and the avengers are within striking distance of a unit, take the hawks off the board with Skyleap then. Keep in mind you can skyleap so long as your exarch is alive, in any (ANY) situation, so long as it is your movement phase.


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