Okay, so your buddy just got himself a corsair fleet. You play IN, and your convinced that your screwed up one end and down the other, yes? Well.. No your not! the fights are NOT going to be pretty, but you CAN win, and if your lucky, you can crush him before the fight has even begun. I will put foreword some things that may (or may not) save you.
Lets begin with an overview of the Eldar's weaknesses.
Obviously, 4+ armor. No real shock there. Also, the 4+ to crit their cruisers is painful to say the least.
Delicate cruisers.. their standard cruiser has 6 hits, their light has 4. all you need to make their ships FAR less dangerous is to bonk 'em 2 or 3 times.
No protection against explosions. If you blow up a ship near their fleet.. they don't get the benefit of holofields. If you have a ship REALLY close to theirs... maybe you shouldn't BFI for the chance of a plasma drive, or a game changing warp implosion.
Movement determined by table facing. You can use this to your advantage. I will explain later.
Escort heavy fleet..
No turrets!
Now lets talk about imperial navy strengths.
Tough ships, you have 6+ prows, and 5+ armor, and you need 6's to crit. after this game, you will probably be happy for it.
Lots of choices. Eldar get no real selection when it comes to upgrades for their fleet.
Outnumbering the enemy. Your ships are cheaper!
RANGE. All of your battlecruisers, and one of your standard cruisers have better range then the entire eldar fleet (Sans the void stalker, we will talk about that later).
Ordnance. They have two carrier craft, and they are extremely expensive. yours are cheaper, and can knock out the dreaded bomber and torpedo wings without fear. you have torpedo's galore as well.
Okay, now lets talk about the eldar strengths, and how to overcome them.
Overconfidence. eldar players can suffer this when they have fought a lot of inexperienced players. the loss of their key ship can result in the disruption of their entire battle plan.
Holofields. Ahh the dreaded "terminator" 2 up save. There are two ways for you to overcome this. 1, bring batteries to the fight (and lots of them), 2. force them to roll AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE! remember, every time they roll for holofields, blast markers are generated, making the terrain extremely dangerous for them. Also, they only have to fail 3 times to cripple a cruiser. Also: Holofields do NOT save against exploding ships! If you down one of his cruisers, and any other eldar ship is nearby (even one escort) BLOW IT SKY HIGH! force brace for impacts or even destroy another ship or two! If you have a ship surrounded by eldar attackers about to get it's face pushed in, LET IT! if it explodes, you could END THE GAME right there! A lot of eldar rush in for that extra few dice from being within 15cm, make them pay for it.
Ordnance. Everyone fears the bombers and torpedos.. and they should! here are the ways to overcome it! CAP! yes, combat air patrol on your ships. even if it's just one fighter on the base, it renders at least one torpedo strike useless, and allows you to plan ahead for the incoming bombers. If he has to waste fighters or shooting to knock out your CAP, all the better.
Movement. Eldar movement is entirely dependent on the sun. Yes, they get two moves, but this means that you can predict where they go! If you form a wall of cruisers and herd them into a corner, the only direction they CAN move is through the line, giving you a chance to pound the tar out of them. Push them to one side of the table, use your defenses to your advantage, and they will have NOWHERE to go.
Okay, now lets talk about the imperial navy's weaknesses, and overcoming them.
Speed. Yes, IN is slow. very slow. depressingly slow. Not as slow as orks, but slow. How do you overcome this? all ahead full! if you have a squadron of ships, and JUST the right opportunity, an AAF can land your ships right in the middle of the enemy fleet, or with a prime firing arc on a vital enemy ship. Even at half strength, a pair of lunars will give you six batteries and two lances, plus ALL of your torpedos. all you need to do is hit once or twice to give them a really hard time, or even force a brace for impact.
Ordnance. your fighters are not resilient, your bombers are not skilled... but THEY don't have turrets! make them waste ordnance or firepower dealing with unending waves of bombers! If you take the mars, take it's upgrade to it's batteries... It makes it an extremely deadly foe against the eldar! IF your bombers hit, there is NO surpression, and you hit on a 4+. Yes, they get holofields, but the more you force them to roll, the more likely they will roll a 1... and just imagine all those marvelous blast markers.
Range. A lot of your ships only have 30cm range. This means getting dangerously close to the enemy. I don't support stacking of fleets, but I would never build a fleet that didn't have SOMETHING with better range then 30. I have used two overlords to great effect, and the emperor, oberon and retaliator are great for pounding eldar junk. How do you keep them alive? form a perimeter around them with your cruisers. If the eldar attack the cruisers, they suffer from the fire of the battleships (or overlords), if they go for the battleship, they suddenly have a fleet of cruisers ready to pound face.
Lets go over some ships that i suggest you incorporate into your standard fleet, so you don't stack for it
The Sword. Eldar bane at it's finest. Maneuverable and fast, with a st 4 battery and 2 turrets. Eldar players either kill these quickly, or suffer the consequences. "But Zelnik!" you say, "Eldar can move up to 60cm in a turn!". Yes, but usually it's not in a direction or at a distance that is advantageous to them. IF you find yourself JUST out of range (you can premeasure you know!) ALL AHEAD FULL! sure you will get a st 12 battery instead of 24, but thats MORE then enough to crush a cruiser into a bloody tin can. When it comes to fighting other enemies, it is EXTREMELY efficient, batteries hurt everyone and it's two turrets make capable of surviving ordnance onslaughts.
The Dominator. "But Zelnik!" you say "Its got a useless nova cannon and 30cm!". Yes, i would say, but that battery is strength 12. Get two together, and an AAF broadside is still st 12. Also, ask any eldar player. Lucky nova cannon hits have ended games before they have begun (it's so delightfully rare for them to brace for impact on an incoming nova cannon after all..) Also, it forms blast markers!
The Tyrant. "But Zelnik!" you say, "It's expensive to upgrade and has a weaker battery strength!". Yes, i would say, but it is incredibly useful against ANY opponent because of the range and torpedo/nova cannon option. No one would doubt the power of a pair of these together with a st 20 battery broadside and 12 torepdos.
The Overlord. "But Zelnik!" you cry, "It's a useless pile of junk! and the eldar player will say i am stacking!" NO, i would say, it's an alternative to the gigantic battleships, has more firepower and more maneuverability. You sacrifice extreme firepower for extreme range. Against eldar is useful, against everyone else, it's still useful because you can hit them with batteries and lances at a range where THEY CAN'T HIT BACK. Overlords should never get into the thick of the battle, they should sit back and rank up their kills from behind. Piece of advice, never take them outside of a squadroned pair. And if the eldar complains about stacking, tell him to adjust his tactics and quit complaining.
The Mars. "But Zelnik!" you cry, "it's expensive and has a nova cannon!" Yes, i would say, but it can upgrade it's batteries to negate the holofield column shift. It has bombers, and i made my nova cannon statement quite clear.
The Armageddon. "But Zelnik!" you whine "it has lances!" yes, i would say, and i would agree it's not the BEST anti-eldar ship, but it still has 45cm batteries, and you get those lance shots without any strength reduction.. blast markers are key!
the Dictator: it's your basic carrier, no bitching from you.
The other escorts: The firestorm is not nearly as useful as the sword in this case, but it still has the st 2 battery, and lances can still score lucky hits. Cobra's have a lovely 30cm speed, and LOTS of torpedo's, so use them at your leisure. The odd man out is the Falchion, a strange mix of cobra and sword, consider it an alternative to the sword or cobra, it does it's job well.
Dauntless Light Cruisers: Don't give me gruff about these little beauties. I would recommend the torpedo versions. Those happy little 5d6 AAF will put you in a lovely attack position.
Endeavor light cruiser: Another Eldar Bane ship. Not as fast as the dauntless, but manuverable and equipped with a powerful battery. Use them to the greatest advantage you can!
Now the terrain. This is the eldar's most annoying strength. Mostly, asteroid fields. If there is so much as a single asteroid field on the table, the game just got a LOT harder.
Asteroids. this is the real pain. They can sit there inside the field, and move through it with extreme ease, and frequently hop between the two. Mostly what your hoping for is them to fail their LD, and get pulverized by rocks. There really are two viable options when it comes to an asteroid camper.
1. Dive in and flush them out! Send EVERYTHING into the feild and take the fight to them, and force them out of the field. this is going to be PAINFUL, but know that no side is not going to come out without a bloody nose.
2. Avoid it like the plague and send bombers to do the dirty work. This also works, it forces them to keep wasting ordnance on your bombers and so long as you stay outside of range, they won't get a good shot on you without leaving the field for more then a turn. It's slow and annoys the crap out of both players.
Planets. These are your best friend. Suddenly you have maneuverability greater then the eldar so long as you stay near it. Three turns (if planned well) can put you in a prime shooting spot. That handy free turns also applies to lock on and AAF. Planets don't aid eldar very much, sure they get free turns but at most that lets them get to 'abeam' facing.
Gas Clouds. Eldar HATE this. It's a giant blast marker. sure they can try to roll their LD, but it hurts their shooting, and can cause damage. also, you still get to shoot through it.
Warp Rifts. If you have a good LD, you can literally navigate it right into the middle of their fleet. OR you can get lost in the warp... the choice is yours...
Other tips.
If you have a shot, take it. Force the enemy to roll dice, they can't pass every roll.
If you lose, learn from your mistakes, adjust your tactics.
The imperial navy forms a powerful shield wall, force the enemy into a corner.
NEVER attempt to board, even if holofields get knocked down, just shoot the damn thing.
NEVER attempt to ram, unless it comes up through random chance, don't hold it as a viable tactic (example, you do an AAF to get a shooting resolution on the enemy, and it just so happens that you connect with another vessel, it's OK to try the ram, and it forces a holofield save).
IF an enemy's holofields go down, do everything you can to KILL the ship! Surround it with fighters to prevent a disengage!
Send torpedo's into tight eldar groups.
Group bombers in large numbers against cruisers.
The Void Stalker (dun dun dun!): so your friend puts a void stalker on the table.. What do you do? it' has 45 cm range and can fire to the sides. It's basically a super ship in your eyes.. and you would be right. It's one of the top 5 most powerful battleships in the game. (ranking number 4 by my personal ranking system). What do you do?
First things first, he just put a HUGE points sink on the table. The ship is (at minimum) 480 points with an eldar prince, if re-rolls are present, it's worth even more. For a standard 1500 tournament game, it's 1/3rd of his fleet. What do you do? you pound it's face in! focus on the void stalker with EVERYTHING YOU HAVE! IF you destroy it, just disengage, you won the game! if you make it disengage, you just hamstrung his fleet. Push it's face in!
Hellbores (DUN DUN DUN!!!) These things.... hurt. They are literally designed to destroy one cruiser and cripple another in a single round if used correctly. However, these are also huge point sinks.. If you see six on the table, focus on them, kill them with as much vigor as you can!!
Aconites (Dun DUN!) Ow. Ow ow ow. st 5 battery. Ow. 6 of them. OW. Kill them with a passion. use torpedo's to break up their formation and force blast marker rolls.
Special orders, and how to use them to your advantage.
First things first, you have the benefit of the Navigation special orders. AAF and CTNH are extremely useful. Eldar don't get them. If they decide to not move, they count as defenses.. and suddenly you get lots and lots of shooty.
Lock On. Eldar RARELY use this, and for good reason. while they can crump a ship with it, they MUST travel (in the ordnance phase) in the same direction, no turning allowed. So they have the choice of: Stay put and get pummeled, or move closer to the rest of the fleet..and get pummeled. If they say "lock on" plan to break some face.
BFI. Force them to do this as often as possible. with BFI, there is no reload, there is no lock on.
Any other tidbits of advice are welcome.
