Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team (HoR)/Tactics/Eldar(8E)

Within Heralds of Ruin, the Eldar manage to retain the majority of their prime tools (speed, guns, psykers), but the shrinking of the scale also sees the frailties of the Craftworlders become more visible, forcing players to play a lot smarter than before. Your options for Aspect Warriors is also limited, as even with the Exarchs you only have a hardcap to adhere to. You also will find that your tactical actions requires more than a bit of luck to make useful, as all of your exclusive philosophies and tactical actions have ways of backfiring harder than in any other army.

Your common keywords are Aeldari, Asuryani, <Craftworld>.

Rules

• Craftworld Attributes: While you can indeed keep the basic ones from the Codex, there are alternatives present. Alternatively, you could also just forgo the Craftworlds nonsense and gain a free TP.
  • Saim-Hann: Wild Host (Revised) - A more defensive variation, this lets your bikers and skyrunners charge after falling back instead of shooting. You lack the means to bring it to the enemy extra-hard, but now you can fall back and go again whenever you wish.
  • Biel-Tan: The Fractured - This allows your models to arrive at a randomized table edge, rolling a d6 to determine which. Never go for a 6, because then your enemy can throw you wherever they want.
  • Ulthwe: The Unblinking Eye - Your powers now cover anything within 4" of a target, which is helpful. The bigger grab, though, is your re-roll to sieze against Chaos.
  • Alaitoc: The Parallel Paths - You add +1 to any Aspect Warrior caps. Your rangers can also use their Appear Unbidden rule at the start of the second round instead.
  • Iyanden: The Vengeful Dead - Your Wraithguard/Wraithblades all add +1 attack when within a Spiritseer's IP, doubling if against enemies from Hive Fleet Kraken.
  • Altansar: The Whispering Outcasts - Your leader's IP range is reduced by 1", but their leadership skyrockets to 11. Quite hefty a boost.
  • Il-Kaithe: The Greater Foe - You can grab one Imperium or Drukhari model from one other opus as Core for each Special model you take, though they'll never benefit from IP. It has a lot of potential for variety, though the most obvious is bringing in Marines for a mobile meatslab.
  • Lugganath: The Labyrinth Striders - You can always pick which DZ you want to deploy from, which can be narratively...interesting. You can also force your enemy to re-roll one reserve roll per game, potentially robbing them of a vital asset.
  • Yme-Loc: The Crucible - Bans you from taking more than two Wraith Host models, but you can take up to two Vypers and up to two Heavy Weapons Platforms per ten guardians. These models also gain a 6+ save-after-save, making sure your big guns will last.
  • Iybraesil: The Crone's Wisdom - If you take a Howling Banshee Exarch, boost the range of their IP and War Cry by +3".
  • Mymeara: The Enemy Revealed - The good: Your Aspect Warrior and Warhost models rob enemies of their cover save. The bad? Neither side can hide from an enemy within 9", which means that you need to strike first and strike harder.
  • Malan'tai (Pre-Doom): Fly Before Fate - You can seize the initiative on a 5+. If you score the first turn, your models all gain +2" movement for the turn.
  • Malan'tai (Doomed): The Shattered Survivors - You can select Special choices from the Kroot opus (and the Exodites opus, but that's out of date), though this restricts you to 0-3 on both Aspect Warrior and Wraith Host models.
• Swooping Hawk Grenade Pack: Yeah, I'm sure you guessed that the Swooping Hawks won't get infinite grenades. However, theirs return without cost if you play campaigns.
• Smite: Smite works at it's HoR gimped self as normal, though anything with Destructor defers to that instead with respect to the HoR targeting rules. Truth be told, it's kinda sad to see Warlocks so nerfed.
• Ancient Doom: Revised so that you can re-roll all hit rolls in melee against Slaanesh models. However, if any model's within the IP of a Slaanesh leader, add +1 to any Rout tests.

Armoury

• Armour of Vaul: Exarch only. A re-rollable save is always welcome, though you will need an invuln save to bolster it.
• Armour of Isha: Exarch only. Grants a 6+ save-after-save. Always welcome.
• Armour of Eldanesh: Exarch only. Your model adds +2" to charge one selected datasheet (which can't be changed afterwards, so careful there) and gains +1 to hit them on that turn. This is something you seriously want on a Banshee or Scorpion made to headhunt.
• Gyrinx Familiar: Leader only. Your little kitty lets you add +1 to deny rolls and grants a single S3 AP0 D1 attack each turn.
• Autarch's Seal: Leader only. Boosts IP by 3", which can be pretty handy for specific builds.
• Runes of War: Leader only. This allows anyone in IP to re-roll Leadership checks, which makes it quite important.
• Runes of Wrath: Leader only. If your boss ever charges, gets charged, or counter-charges, then you know damn well how important re-rolls can be. Take this if you plan on getting stuck in.
• Runes of Waning: Leader only. While this does make it slightly harder to cast while within the leader's IP, it's not going to stop any powers that are cast from harming.
• Runes of Perception: Pretty much grants the Mymeara trait of busting hidden units within 9" without any drawbacks. That makes this really good for making sure what's in store for your team, and for 5 points, it's worth it.
• Runes of Deceit: Lets your model re-deploy before the game starts.
• Runes of the Hunter: Terrain no longer hampers your model from advancing, making this a good pick for a Scorpions exarch of Farstrider.
• Distortion Field: Leader only. This gives you a little bubble that not only gives a bubble of protection, but it's also got an invuln save against any guns beyond 6". A great option to protect a gunline.
• Gale Rider: Models with Fly only. If you need to make a charge with a bike, you wan this for the guarantee.
• Vaul's Own: Essentially a master-crafted weapon. One weapon can now improve their strength or AP by 1, which can potentially be game-changing.
• Webway Hatch: Unavailable for Wraith models. This won't save a dead model, but it will make sure that they won't confer any VP for dying.
• Spiritscope: Lets wraithguard re-roll 1s to hit with their guns, which makes for a decent add-on if you rely on their guns.
• Runes of the Vampire: This lets you reduce your model's Toughness in return to restoring a wound. The issue with that is...well, look at the toughness of your Eldar. T3. Same as a guardsman. Odds are that you won't only take one wound from any sustained attacks, so this'll average out to maybe one extra turn, and that turn will be spent being even easier to wound.

Relics (Leader Only)

• The Phoenix's Gaze: You basically get a flamer that busts cover. Handy for its use, but hard to synergize with your leaders, even the Fire Dragons Exarch.
• The Bloody Hand: This starts off with a Power Fist with a small pistol with S3 AP-d3, but the moment you drop someone in combat, the wearer gets +2 attacks and a -1 to hit emblematic of all fists.
• The Widowmaker: The legendary 100th sword of Vaul (If the name's familiar, that's because he made it for Khaine and hid it, while another world saw it being used), and it is a monster. It deals a -1 to hit, but fucker deals -1 Ld to anyone within 3", good for breaking morale.
• The Mother's Blade: While not the monstrous fucker known as Khaine's blade, this is still a pretty decent blade capable of dealing a fair deal of damage atainst anything Marine-tier and lower and heals for every death it causes.
• The Maiden's Veil: This gives one turn of re-rolls to hit or on saves. One's for guaranteeing a particular assault or gunline kills someone, the other's to protect from a bad turn.
• The Crone's Claw: A CCW with AP-1. It allows you to exchange one point of Toughness for an Attack or the other way around each turn, which gives some flexibility in combat. Whichever one you pick, the bearer can re-roll 1s to hit and wound with this weapon.

Philosophies

• A Flame in the Darkness: You gain +1 TP if you start the game outnumbered by the enemy. The moment you pass your first rout test, you get +2 additional TP. Whatever the case, you'll probably be able to hold on if you lose a few models, but this isn't going to bandage stupid.
• The Skeins of Date: +1 TP. Unlike other philosophies, this won't restrict your playing style at all. Instead, it gives you a chance to gain a TP any time either side uses a Tactical Action.

Tactical Actions

• Gambit (1 TP): Any time your enemy uses a Tactical Action, you both roll off 1d6. Your victory will see the action wasted, but losing gives the enemy +1 TP.
• Tip the Balance (1 TP): You make the enemy re-roll a single die, they make you re-roll a single die.

Unit Analysis

Your FOC is as follows

• 1 Leader
• 1-20 Core
• 0-5 Special

Leaders

• Warlock: With Farseers out of the Picture, the Warlock becomes the chief combat psyker of the entire list. In terms of armaments, he can only grab a Singing Spear to replace his Witchblade and the armoury. Without a council, they're quite vulnerable and thus are best suited to supporting with their powers. Fortunately, they can either pick one battle from Runes of Battle and Smite or pick two powers from Battle.
  • Warlock Skyrunner: 25 points for a bike? Shit, this is pretty extreme. Yes, this is the great deterrent from spamming jetseers.
• Spiriseer: 10 points over the Warlock makes you someone better-geared to working with Wraith-units. In particular, you can now grab a Wraithguard or Wraithblade as a Core model (Two if Iyanden), which slightly alleviates your slot choices.
• Ranger Farstrider: Ranger equivalent of exarch. These guys have all the fun sneaking and sniping properties. While you can keep the pistol to ensure that you're shooting on the move, you could also buy a chainsword, blade, or power sword so you can hold up in melee.
• Exarch: The real combat HQ. As opposed to last edition, each Exarch is their own choice with little else in common aside from base stats. However, they all make their aspect shrines core, which is always important.
  • Dire Avengers: One of the cheapest exarchs, these guys are pretty much as they are in the codex. Their versatility makes them a very useful unit if you don't intend on spamming psykers, especially considering their loadouts. In addition, Shimmershield allows your exarch to protect anyone within 3", which is a good benefit.
  • Howling Banshees: Still on the cheap side, these are meant for heavy assault, so make use of the Core Banshees. They remain the frighteningly-fast glass cannons and with the limitations of anti-infantry, you're bound to fare at least better. Remember that your War Shout is now limited to any enemies within 3" of the exarch. You have all the options you normally do in the codex, though you also get the Index-only Triskele for additional shooty.
  • Striking Scorpions: Expensive as hell, but you are a heavily-armored scout with a chainsword. Take a damn fine weapon to kill the enemy with. Just be sure to make the most out of your cover, because that is where you operate best from.
  • Fire Dragons: As cheap as the Dire Avengers exarch. The mother of all tank-killers, they still remain a potent force in the frontlines. You definitely want to keep the Fire Pikes in most cases, as Assured destruction is dead weight. Flamers thus are only useful to deter any charges, and that's better serviced by some overwatching guardians with their own flamers.
  • Swooping Hawks: You get to jump around and spew doom where you see fit, though you do need to keep an eye on your grenades since they're limited. You can buy the Hawk's Talon if you really want to hate on an enemy directly, or take the Sunrifle from the Index, now inflicting its penalty to hit until the end of the round, thus giving you protection from any return fire or any charges.
  • Warp Spiders: You know how they run, you know why you love them. Remember to beware Flickerjump because you have no protection for a lost leader and your Iron Resolve gives an army-wide re-roll on rout tests, which is king.
  • Shining Spears: Still a threat to all they rush, though they're the most expensive of the exarchs. Paragon Saber remains as useless as ever, so only grab the Star Lance if you plan on more shooty.
  • Dark Reapers: Now modestly expensive, these guys are the centerpoint for a team made for shooting and only shooting. They get their fancy variety of guns, so focus on which enemy you want to die fastest.

Core

• Guardian Defender: Cheap and efficient. These guys have to keep running if they want to survive. Guns are too short to make ranged warfare a major option, but they're too flimsy in combat. Think about them as eldar version of conscripts. Conscripts with shotguns. You should only take them when you want...
  • Heavy Weapons Platform: You can select one platform per ten Defenders/Storm Guardians. While it's your cheaper heavy weapons on a non-Exarch list, these things require Defenders (and defenders only) to crew it. You can't expect the enemy to ignore it either, as it won't overwatch and while it can't take nerve tests, breaking it will account as normal for routing purposes.
• Storm Guardian: Two points cheaper than a Defender, but only a bit better in close range. Each 1 per 5 can grab a Power Sword and another can grab flamers or Fusion Guns. In most cases, the flamer is a nicer idea for some cheap overwatch.
• Ranger: Rangers remain your fast snipers, given only pistols if they advance or are caught in combat. Never keep them in the open for that to happen. Ever.
• Dire Avenger: The balanced infantry choice, they benefit here from having a respectable armor save as well has having weapons to hold their own in any battle they find themselves in. Always worth considering regardless of how you kit the team.
• 0-3 Windrider: Your average Guardian with a bike. Each 1 per 2 can grab Shuriken Cannons or Scatter Lasers for their bikes, though Saim-Hann drops that restriction.
• 0-5 Swooping Hawk: These guys have the ability to jump wherever they want. Make use of it. As a lone unit, he won't do much, but with some backup (Especially when you have the Exarch), they become more threatening.

Special

• 0-5 Howling Banshee: The ability to ignore overwatch on the charge makes these ladies a truly incredible purchase. Even if you don't grab their exarch, you can select one or two to make a beeline and slash up a particularly annoying gunner.
• 0-5 Striking Scorpion: In a small scale, these guys have to rely more on sneaking around to help whittle down numbers. With all their neato weapons, they won't struggle much with taking most troops down.

• 0-5 Shining Spear: Like Windriders, these guys are great for quick attacks but they get better in combat thanks to their Laser Lances. Keep them firing when possible, because these make short work of terminators.
• 0-5 Warp Spider: You know them. You love them. Short range, but their spinners turn heavy armor into tissue paper. Jump in, tear them up, jump out before they splat you.
• 0-5 Fire Dragon: Their guns are meant to ruin all tanks and other heavy troops. Take them only when you know this, because you only have 5 choices.
• 0-5 Dark Reaper: These guys have some deadly firepower, but it is lacking by itself. Make sure to support it with other models, because there is no defense here.
• 0-3 Wraithguard: These boys become almost godlike in HoR due to their S10 AP-4 guns. That also means that they'll be even more of a target. Protect them at all costs, as these are really expensive.
• 0-3 Wraithblade: The option for either swords or axe and shield makes this already formidable force of terror even worse, as they have much less to oppose them. They are still a drain upon your points (actually, even worse on that!), so do not rely on these as your only choice for melee.
• Bonesinger: Wait, why in the flying fuck is this guy EVEN STRONGER than in bighammer? Stack that with all of his statline rules and one has to wonder why the hell you didn't take one the moment you picked a wratih list...and then you see the 70 point statline and remember that's fucking insane if you plan on doing anything more.
• 0-1 Vyper: These are no longer bikers, but they remain the most mobile weapons platform available to the craftworlds. Since you lack the option for multiple vypers (unless taking Iybraesil), you get a smaller but incremental movement boost for any nearby bikers or other Vypers.