Editing Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Eldar (section)

==Let's Talk About Guns==
Your Space Hairdressers are going to be picking about half their guns from a very short list. Vypers, War Walkers, Guardian platforms, Falcons and Serpents and Wraithlord, everyone gets the same menu. Then there's that cannon upgrade you see everywhere. What does it all mean?

First, assume that you must kill Land Raiders and Matt Ward Brand Venerable Psyker Dreadnaught Jump Infantry Armor 14 if called upon. Your options are abbreviated because Eldar don't get S9 Lascannons. On top of the whole pile, then, is the Fire Prism firing its small blast at S9, with a rare BS 4. The next best option is from the Standard Gun List, the Brightlance - the Lance rule drops all armor to 12 and then dorks it at S8. Your Wraithlord can fire his at BS 4. These guns are expensive like dental work, but we're talking about killing Land Raiders here, and they can. Next, the Falcon's main gun fires twice at S8, while the ubiquitous Eldar Missile Launcher shoots at S8 once. At this level, you're glancing armor 14 on a roll of 6 and glancing Rhinos on a 3. What now, cowboy?

Fire dragons carry infantry melta guns, and will kill armor if you get enough guys in range, as will Wraithcannons. Similarly, the Witchblade found on your psykers crushes vehicle armor at S9 and can be upgraded to have a 12" throwing range (but doesn't go through infantry armor). After that, you enter the realm of amateur tank killers: Swooping Hawks throwing Haywires, The Avatar head-butting a Leman Russ, and your sadly short-ranged support artillery D-cannons. Against the heaviest armor in the game, these are acts of desperation, but they work on anything else just fine.

The Eldar have a big pack of guns for killing stuff of less than maximum armor. Two other choices on the Standard Eldar Gun List are the Scatter and the Starcannon, both 36" range and S6. The Starcannon fires twice with AP2, while the Scatter fires four times at AP6. It is the understanding of this Space Elf General that the Scatter Laser is mathematically the stronger choice unless you will be shooting only armored infantry with no cover all game. My experiences agree, but you can be a real Eldar and try it both ways (lol). A few other people also shoot at this range: Maugan Ra with his fancy machine gun, Rangers, Vibro-Cannons and so forth. It's the 30" flying gun line. 

Then there's the humble shuriken cannon, the cheapest option for vehicles or support platforms: fires three times at the S6 of the scatter laser and starcannon, but only at 24 inches range - it's not great, but at 5 (or 10?) points, it's quite serviceable. It can hurt most infantry, and if you make use of all those fast skimmers and outflanking walkers in your codex it also has a decent chance of wrecking vehicles with rear armor shots or what have you. The 'defensive weapon' rule was written for the benefit of Space Marines, not you, so don't sweat the loss of your little twin-linked 12" popguns.

Always beware of Eldar guns of the 'My gun shoots as far as most guys charge' class of annoying weapon. This includes Dragons, Guardians, Wraithguard, and Spiders - all holding a gun that can only shoot across a room. Long-range guns are found on your Avengers, Hawks, Reapers, and vehicles.