Today’s, article is all about Craftworld Eldar Tactics. So, If you’re interested in starting a Craftworld army you will learn everything you need to know below. We will talk a little bit about who they are, their play style, and end with a solid 1,000 pt army list with some Craftorld Eldar tactics.
Who are the Craftworld Eldar?
To start, the Eldar are an ancient and technologically advanced race of psychically sensitive aliens. Granted, they appear far more human than many of the other Xenos in the setting. Honestly, you could accurately describe them as being fantasy Elves in space. Additionally, they possess lightning-fast reflexes, have tons of psykers, live thousands of years, and have heightened emotions and sensory perception. Actually, that last part factors into their unfortunate and sordid history.
So, the Craftworld Eldar used to belong to a vast galaxy-spanning empire that had advanced so far, everyday tasks and struggles were all but eliminated. As such, the Eldar had a lot of free time on their hands and wanted to experience all the best things life had to offer. This resulted in much of the population joining pleasure cults, which were harmless enough in the beginning. However, as time went on and these pleasure cults grew they become more perverse and degenerate. Until it got so bad and widespread, a vast majority of the Eldar civilization was high on narcotics, eating each other, and doing various other activities I can’t mention here. Luckily, some of the Eldar saw what was happening to their civilization and decided to flee Eldar society on giant world ships know as Craftorlds.
Then Everything Somehow Got Worse
Meanwhile, something was stirring in the warp from all the accumulated depravity and violence they were inflicting on each other. Suddenly, the chaos god Slaanesh was born and the fate of the Eldar empire was sealed. Slaanesh’s birth ripped open a hole in space near the Eldars homeworld, spilling the contents of the warp into reality. As a result, billions upon billions of Eldar were instantly ripped apart and consumed. The dark god Slaanesh had devoured their very souls and killed their gods. In the end, only some Craftworlds, Maiden Worlds, and Eldar in the Webway survived the cataclysm. Thus, their great empire was no more, leaving behind a massive wound in reality known as the Eye of Terror.
This horrific event also earmarked every Eldar soul to go to Slaanesh upon their death. In fact, the remaining Craftworld Eldar must constantly maintain strict discipline in order to stave off Slaanesh. This is because even the smallest amount of excess only serves to feed Slaanesh an imperil their very souls. As such they tend to focus on a certain “path” and aspire to master it through focus and discipline. This results in an entire civilization of dedicated specialists, all the way from humble bakers and artisans, to the various warrior aspects.
Craftworld Eldar playstyle
This actually factors into their overall play style on the game table. The Craftworld Eldar is an army of specialists, each unit has a particular job to do, and boy do they excel at it. For example, the Fire Dragon Aspect Warriors excel at destroying vehicles and monsters, having trained for hundreds of years to do that exact job.
However, this does tend to result in an army that requires some forward-thinking. Craftworld units are not flexible in comparison to those of other armies. Mainly due to other armies being able to mix weapon’s in a squad, so they can tackle different targets. Yet, if you can manage to use the right units for the right jobs you will frequently outperform the specialists of other armies in 40k. So, if you like the idea of fielding an army of specialist units wielding fantastic weapons then Craftworld Eldar is the army for you!
The List
Craftworld Eldar Tactics and Army Breakdown.
First off we are going to make the entire detachment Alaitoc for that sweet -1 to be shot at bonus. Honestly, if your playing Craftworld Eldar then Alaitoc is the way to go, it’s just that good. This is mainly due to the huge boost in durability the army will receive, which is a bit more forgiving for new players. After all, the Eldar are the definition of a glass cannon, so every bit of durability helps.
The Core of the Army.
To Start we have cherry-picked some of the best units from their codex in order to get the most value from the army at 1,000pts. The problem with playing an army with specialized units at 1,000 points is that we cant bring everything we’d usually want. So, instead, we are bringing some of the more flexible units the Craftworlds have to offer and pairing it with plenty of ways to add up -1 to hit penalties.
Craftworld Eldar Tactics: Defense
First off I chose rangers as our troops choice because of the fact they will have -2 to hit rolls against them. Then we have our dark reapers which are one of the best heavy support units in the game. Also, I gave the Dark Reapers a Wave Serpent for some added protection. Plus, the Wave Serpent can advance for an extra -1 to be hit. Then we have our Crimson Hunter Exarch that will also benefit from stacking -1 to hit modifiers.
Additionally, the warlock knows Conceal/ Reveal, which adds on a further -1 to be hit modifier on units. Lastly, we have taken Impair Senses on our farseer, which makes a unit within 18” only able to shoot at the closest visible enemy unit outside of 18″. Essentially, this allows us to screen our farseer and force our opponent to shoot at inopportune targets. However, this requires a bit of finesse and careful positioning to use properly.
To summarize, every unit in our army either has a built-in -2 to be hit or can easily get a -2 to be hit. In fact, we can actually get that up to a -3 on hit rolls against some of our units. This means that our entire army is a lot tougher to kill than they look on paper. After all your opponent can’t kill what he can’t hit.
Craftworld Eldar Tactics: Offense
Now let’s talk a bit about the army’s killing power, which is deceptively high despite its relatively low unit count. First, we have our rangers, that have the unique ability to target characters. Actually, just having them can force our opponent to play more conservatively, and allow us to pick off troublesome characters.
Meanwhile, we have our Dark Reapers which have the option to shred tanks with 9 strength 8, Ap-2, Damage 3 shots, or jack up infantry with 18 strength 5, -2AP, damage 2 shots. This is in addition to the Exarch’s 2d6 shots at strength 4, -2AP. When you combine this with our farseer casting doom and fortune, we get to re-roll all our hits and wounds against one target. This results in the unit being able to wreck whatever our opponent brings to the table. Plus, we can always use “fire and fade” to have the unit move behind LOS blocking terrain after shooting.
Lastly, we have our Crimson Hunter Exarch, and our Waveserpent to round out the army. A Wave Serpent is a fantastic unit that boasts both great durability and respectable offensive power. The shuriken cannons, get 9 strength 6 shots with the assault profile, with -3AP on wound rolls of a 6. Additionally, you can fire off its serpent shields to deal d3 mortal wounds to the nearest enemy on a 2+. Next, we have our Crimson Hunter Exarch that has been upgraded with the hawkeye power so he can hit on 2’s re-rolling 1’s. This is particularly nice since it’s armed with bright lances and a pulse laser, which need every shot to count.
In Conclusion
So, that will wrap up today’s Craftworld Eldar tactics article, and this one is spicy. In fact, this list is really good and would not recommend playing it against new players or friendly casuals. Otherwise, they may not want to play Warhammer with you anymore. Having said that, why not check out some of our battle reports featuring Craftworld Eldar by clicking here and here?
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