My dearest Eldar,

I’ve found a new love. You’ve been oh so good to me these past two years. The rules have been OP, the models have been gorgeous, and you’ve never done me wrong, only the dice gods have. Regardless of my deep love for you and your pointy ears, I regret to inform you that there is someone else.

Their name is Swarmlord. 

I’ve been playing Eldar for almost all of eighth edition. I played a mishmash of things when I came back to playing Warhammer in the tail end of seventh. I own all three Aedari factions, have the beginnings of a converted exodite army, and never saw myself playing anything outside of Eldar for competitive reasons. I figured If I stuck with Eldar as long as possible, playing as many practice and tournament games as possible, I would eventually hit my goal of winning a GT. 

Because of Coronavirus, no one is going to GT’s in my area, and all of my big trips to majors are off the table for now. All I’ve been playing is digi-hammer. I was inspired by some people I played in the Art of War TTS league to pick up some Tyranids, and I even had a list to copy courtesy of Nick Nanavati…and man. I am in love.

Kraken Battalion

• Swarmlord (He is Bae)
• Broodlord

• 18 Genestealers
• 18 Genestealers
• 27 Hormagaunts

• 27 Gargoyles

Kronos Patrol

• Neurothrope

• 26 Termagaunts

• 6 Hive Guard

• 1 Exocrine

Genestealer Cult Battalion (Mixed)

• Patriarch (Warlord–Twisted Helix)
• Magus (4 Armed Emperor)

• 10 Brood Brother
• 10 Brood Brother
• 10 Brood Brother

This list is super interesting to study and very fun to play. It focuses on scoring a ton of Hold/Hold More point, going for the bonus from the early turns, move blocking your opponent into their deployment zone, and scoring all of it’s secondaries very quickly. It’s really satisfying to focus mostly on movement and picking up a key kill or two every turn with my shooting elements and Genestealers using the Overrun stratagem to run away after them nom-noming on somebody’s brains. 

Picking up this new army has also given me a great topic to study during quarantine. My brain is lighting up with the possibilities of the list, trying to work out deployment and strategy vs meta armies, and thinking about the hobbying aspect! I had an epic moment where Swarmlord killed Ragnar Blackmane with his tail attack that will forever live on in glorious 4k imagry inside my brain, so you know my Swarmlord is going to have some Spacewolf bodies on his base.

There are so many things to like about Nids and GSC! Nids have awesome units and some great tricks. Genestealers are reminiscent of old Ynarri Shining Spears with their hit and run ability. My favorite thing about the army has to be Swarmlord and his double move ability, though. As an Eldar player, the worst thing that can happen is failing Quicken on a key turn. With Nids that’s never a problem! Sure, Swarmy could get shot off the table, but not if I stick him behind a wall for four turns. And fortunately, most 40k tables are moving towards having decent terrain, so I’m excited about his prospects for the future.

I love the tricks GSC can bring. The patriarch is like Batman. That dude can show up out of nowhere, get an easy charge out of deepstrike, and the disappear the next turn. He is a one-man backfield cleaning machine, and the model is badass. The Nids have totally reinvigorated my love for 40k during this lockdown, and for that, I will always be grateful to the Hivemind.

All this gushing aside, the Warhammer world is taken with the new Harlequin rules, and I’ve not left Eldar alone forever by any means. I’ll be talking about those and my Elf forces very soon…

And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!