When Doves Cry: Feast of Blades Invitational Winner Darkwynn’s List and Tactics!

Hey everyone, Reecius here to share with you Nick Rose, aka Darkwynn’s Feast of Blades Invitational winning Eldar list and tactics. As always, check the Tactics Corner for more lists, tactics and battle reports!

So first of all, big congratz on the win, Darkwynn! Let’s jump right in with what most of the folks are dying to see and that is the list you ran!

Nick’s winning Eldar list: “When Doves Cry”

Farseer – Barebones

Farseer – Barebones

20 man guardian unit with 2 bright lances

Wave Serpent- Shuriken Cannon and holo-field

20 man guardian unit with 2 bright lances

Wave Serpent- Shuriken Cannon and holo-field

6 Rangers

3 man Jet bike squad

3 man Jet bike squad

7 Warp Spiders

7 Warp Spiders

Wraithknight

Wraithknight

Nice! I like it, definitely not the typical Eldar list. Can you tell us a bit about how the units interacted with one another, Nick?

All my units worked together and had key objectives they worked towards while providing support for one another. The primary concept is to play a layered game, with units always providing support for each other being it either Guardians supporting the Wraithknight or Wave Serpents supporting the Guardians.

That makes sense, when I play my Footdar I always have units providing overlapping support for one another. Eldar really lends itself to that style of play. Which of these units were your key objective taking/clearing units?

That would be Wraithknights , Guardians and Jetbikes

Ok great, those big blocks of Guardians are potent with Farseer support at close range and with Battle Focus to increase their effective range. With the right Divination powers, they can just put out punishing firepower. Wraithknights kill other Mcs very well, especially Riptides and Jetbikes are one of the best Objective Grabbers in the game. All solid choices. What were the key objective defending unit that shored up the backfield when needed?

My Guardians, Rangers and Warp Spiders held the line when I needed them.

Again, those big blocks of Guardians with the LD10 buff from the Farseer and potentially Fortune or Forewarning I can see being fantastic. I also use Rangers for objective camping, and they are great for putting wounds on those pesky MCs. Warp Spiders too, with their speed and crazy hitting power, are a solid choice. Which units did you rely on to do the heavy lifting of engaging and destroying the enemy units?

I relied on my Guardians, Wraithknights, Warp Spiders and Wave Serpents to go out and do the majority of the actual fighting. Those Guardians were just deadly with the Farseers buffing them up.

I can see that and it makes sense. With 40 faux-rending shots that reroll to hit, possibly ignoring cover and possibly forcing your opponent to reroll successful saves, that is devastating. Plus Wraithknights need no explanation, funny that folks thought they weren’t competitive when the new dex dropped! What were your common deployment tactics?

It changed against every army, honestly. I deployed dependent on what they placed and where. That is the beauty of my list: deployment flexibility and mutually supportive units. Typically though, the Guardians would march up up the middle and be able to adjust latterly or forward with Battle Focus. It allowed the Bright Lances be a threat to any other point on the table within LoS, or get the Shurikens in range to decimate any non-vehicle opponent who was close enough.

What were your general tactics?

The Wraithknights would go in tandem and move together, supporting one another. One on its own may be manageable, two is so much deadlier. They would push flanks and control board edges. I knew where I needed them to be by turn 5,6,7 and made sure to position them to be able to get there by endgame.

The Warp Spiders would either go support the Wraithknights or move up the opposite flank depending on what I was presented with. They were the hunters, killers and harassers that needed to annoy and keep enemy units pinned down.

Wave Serpents just gave supporting fire where it was needed. They allowed me to apply force to break key units and make sure things were dead when and where needed.

Mobility, fire power, assault, force multiplication and mutual support. Sounds rock solid. Any tricks/tips/unusual tactics with key units you want to share?

No real tricks, honestly. The Psyker powers played a key role depending on who I played and my tactics changed up.

If I was playing Chaos Daemons or Chaos Marines I rolled on divination as many times as I could looking for Forewarning, Perfect Timing or Foreboding. I Wouldn’t bother with Runes of fate or Telepathy.

If I was playing Tau, I am going for Telepathy looking for Invisibility, Puppet Master and Hallucination. If I get one of those powers I will try to go for Forewarning depending on how many SMS systems they have to make sure Guardians can move up. If they have limited Marker Lights or I think I can get rid of the Marker Lights early I push for Telepathy. Dealing with a 2+ cover save Wraithknight is a pain.

Against Eldar, I did a mix of Runes of Fate and Divination just to maximize damage and it was all about going second for objective grabbing and making sure I had range.

The Majority of my games it looked rough, and everyone was thinking turns 1,2, 3 I was losing; including myself in some of those fights. With the Guardian units though, and Wraithknights being able to just keep moving and rolling like a wave, my big turns would come around eventually and I would find myself in a position to deliver a knock out punch. I was able to take the punishment and win through attrition and close range firepower.

Any closing thoughts?

My list is a giant tool box basically, and is flexible as can be. I have options or tactics that allow me to shift in any way I need, even against extreme lists. This allowed me in certain situations to adapt and control the board, letting me do what needed to be done.

Well congratz on defending your title, Nick! Well played. And on an aside, “When Doves Cry” may be the best name for an army/list I have ever heard! haha

Brief Game Recaps:

1. Nids– Kill Points- Big bugs, Sky Shield- I ran forward and just burned them to the ground with Shuriken shots and Wraithknights. Nids hate rending style attacks.
2. Necrons – Relic- I kept them at arm’s length them with my 36 inch  range and sat 12 inches from the Relic waiting for them to grab it and then shot them down.
3. Eldar — nearly a mirror match list–Scouring- I ran the Wraithknights and Warp Spiders forward and pushed him off two objectives. Game ended by turn 3 in my favor.
4. Chaos Tzeentch Daemons –Crusade- This was my hardest game and I should have lost this one due to my own stupid mistakes but was able to recover. I Killed his troops and spread out, using my mobility to take the game.
5. Taudar– Crusade -I ran forward with Wraithknights and held the rest of my forces back while giving supporting fire to the big guys. I Feinted as if I was running pushing his flank but kept the majority of my army back to kill his last minute objective grabbers and keep mine alive to contest and score turn 5,6 and 7 which is what happened, giving me the win.
6. Screamer Star – Big Guns- I killed his troops and scattered across the field denying him multi-charges. Ignored the Screamerstar and killed everything else, giving me the win.
7. Tau – Scouring – Lop sided objective placement put me at a disadvantage from the word go, so I forced the Wraithknights and Guardians down his throat till he was dead. Playing the bully with Wraithknights and Guardians worked and the 4 Riptides weren’t able to withstand them. And that was that, I was the last man standing.