Eldar Aurora

[ThaneAquilon]

Howdy folks.

So I have a few specific questions and then some more general ones. But first the list.

I know it's not optimal, I have a dozen lighter escorts on the way. I really do like these ships quite a bit, though.

3 Aconite
1 Hellebore

3 Aconite
1 Hellebore

1 Aurora

2 Gryphon Knight
1 Shadow Prince

I play both MMS 1.9 and BFG:R (with Seekers of the Dark city typically, though I'm not set on that).

I've had three games, all vs IN, and I've encountered the same problem in everyone of them. My Aurora just dies. In the first game I sent in around to flank and come into the rear, while my escorts attacked from the side. I won the game, but my Aurora inflicted no damage whatsoever, not even to shields. there were lots of asteroid field on the right half of the table, but not more for me or for him (I know I benefit way more from them than IN, though). This game was BFG:R.

Second game, I edged it around an asteroid field to snipe the oncoming ships while my escorts waited in that asteroid field to alpha strike. My aurora failed again with it's pulsars, but scored two would on his Overlord, then got plastered by that same Overlord, despite being braced. there was only one asteroid field in this game. I alpha struck one turn early, I got impatient, and it cost me. The aurora was already long dead at that point, though. This game was 1.9. Oh and by alpha strike I mean move past him, and try to about face. I ended up landing dead in the middle of his formation, sharing space with many of his ships, wiping out 3 swords, then losing an escort squad in return, the IN disengage.

The third game, just today, had no terrain, and was BFG:R. I knew the game would be hard, I was against two Dominators and 2 Lunars (I had damaged one of his gothics accidentally a week or so ago, so that pair was out of comission). I started my force about 150cm apart, Aurora on one flank, escorts on the other, he faced the aurora, fired some cannons to no effect, I tried to cross in front to support the escorts at about 80cm ahead of him, and he managed to hit with a nova (including re-roll) and blew it to pieces. I got behind him, but he dissengaged (correctly, I think) after I crippled a dominator and knocked the other's port arms (those were the relevant ones).

So far, the Aurora has dealt no appreciable damage, and has given 165-190 Vp (depending on which leader is on it) to my opponent every game. If only one of these games happened, I'd chalk it up to bad luck, but after three games...or maybe bad playing, but my escorts always get to grips when I want them to, completely unscathed. Do you fine folks think I should continue to try it out, and cross my finger, or should I finish up my last two hellebores and replace the Aurora (and a gryphon knight) with them?

Another quick question, for larger games, I always hear tell of 6 strong hemlock squads. I'm considering running 4 with one aconite and one hellebore, so they don't lose much lance, can pop shields way more reliably and can use ordinance opportunistically (Torps in 1.9, fighters/ a. boats in BFG:R). What do you guys think?

And my last question is broad and vague. I play against IN, and feel like I'm getting the hang of maneuvering behind them them, and am becoming more patient with them, but I'm a little vexed at being unable to avoid taking 1-3 broadsides whenever I attack. I know this last game, he rolled BFI super well, but I never seem to manage to remove an entire cruiser (or even cripple it, often) despite hitting it with all my escorts. I will also be playing against Tau, and I'm a little worried about their maneuverability and enhanced ordnance, Chaos whose long ranger firepower terrify my relatively squishy eldar, and nids, which I just have no idea what to expect. I, much like Talos do not wish to create a specilist fleet to combat each race, rather I'm looking for comon tactics, useful advice, ships that I may overlook or value too highly, things like that. Though fleet specific advice is not off limits

Ciao

[horizon]

Hi,

I am actually happy with the results you have. You lose, you win. Eldar should be vulnerable at one point (up close).

Your Aurora is doing one thing: it distracts the opponent, he is afraid of this single ship, so he fires at it. Firing at the Aurora means no firing on your escorts.
And Corsairs have one very lethal point -> escorts!
The Nova is hit/miss, so this can happen to anyone.

Being patient and having a good timing is indeed important when playing Eldar.

In your current fleet I would use the launch bay Hellebore by the way.

I tend to use escorts seperatelly due speed differences.

[Sigoroth]

I would like to reiterate what BH has said. The Eldar are a difficult fleet to play in that mistakes are generally punished severely, and yet you've won games with them. In the fleet list you've got there the Aurora is being used as not just a capital ship of the line but also as your flagship. This is not its intended role. It is a light support vessel. It's not supposed to draw such heavy fire and I'm not surprised that it's doing poorly when used in such a fashion. However, it isn't doing nothing. It is acting as a distraction to your opponent. By absorbing all his fire your escorts are getting through unscathed. Given you're using large, expensive, escorts this is somewhat of a boon.

By the way, an alpha strike is where you unleash all your guns at once on the one target, preferably while on LO and with a good firing solution. After which point, as Eldar, you should be looking to disengage from retribution by bracing against return fire, flying into the aft of his ships next turn and then coming about the turn after.

I wouldn't mix the AC rules from BFG:R and MMS 1.9. Just use the MMS ruleset. In retrospect I would revise the fighter resilience rules to just a single 4+ save per turn. Ordnance rules have ever been in flux as people try to tweak them.

[ThaneAquilon]

I understand that I'm taxing it a little, I was just wondering if 190 pts was worth that role. Seems the two of you think it is, so I Kay give it another try.

Sig, that is indeed what I meant by alpha strike, I was clarifying how I managed to botch mine, I was saying that game would have been lost regardless of the Aurora.

[horizon]

You'll find it better suited when it supports the fleet instead of leading it, eg when a Void Stalker or Void Dragon (Flame) is around.

[ThaneAquilon]

Yeah, I can see that, but I would never use such an expensive ship in 750pts. Should I be leading such a fleet with an eclipse, or running all escort?

[horizon]

Eldar MMS made it possible to run an all Corsair escort fleet due the Hellebore with launch bay.
The Eclipse will bring you more AC but isn't the needed ship it is under official rules.

The Aurora, I feel, is fluffwise still a good/cool vessel to lead small fleets. Mind you, under 750pts you do not need the 50pts Prince. With Eldar Ld you can do without.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Four or five hellebores can provide good support but for 300+ points i would rather have the Eclipse (260) in smaller games. I find Hellebores do better in larger games where there is less pressure on them to directly assault the enemy and can free your larger ships up for bomber runs. Its also nice when they can get "lost" in a sea of escorts .

[Talos]

Thane is being somewhat unfair to himself, and I feel I must clarify somewhat. When we started playing, he was a better player than me hands down. He played his tau how they should be while as I played my IN like some chaos/nid monstrosity. My fleet was never grouped and always got destroyed piecemeal. It didn't help that rolling was generally sub-par. Since then however, while he is getting used to playing a new fleet I have been using the same one and my skill has grown considerably with IN along with my tactics. While he may still be more skilled than me, the difference is not so vast any more and my dice rolling on the 2 games he lost were fantastic. Like really really good (make 8 of 10 BFI saves for a cruiser and direct hit with a forced reroll nova cannon, getting a critical for the last point on his light cruiser). I think he is actually playing it quite well and is just really new to his fleet. I'm starting to feel like a fanboy so i'm going to finish by saying he is a real dick sometimes.

[ThaneAquilon]

I'll start by saying I am not, in fact a dick.

What Talos said is true (thanks, im all embarrassed now), mostly, however regardless of.good.or.bad.luck (first elder.game was.good.luck) my Aurora still underperformed. And also the.learning.curve.is difficult,.especially for eldar, which is.why I ask the.folks here for.general advice.

And as an aside, sorry about grammar, spelling and freaking punctuation, typing from my phone leads to that.

[horizon]

What kinda phone?

I don't think it underperformed for your fleet.

[ThaneAquilon]

A sony ericsson xperia arc.

Maybe it just under performed compared to my expectations. I will try it again, but it's hard for me to shake the feeling it's not doing it's weight in damage, and is giving free points. I should also be able to play 1500pts in a week or two, so I'll try it in pairs then, see if it fairs better.

[horizon]

lol, I have an Xperia Ray. You need a better android

//

It'll fare better in that battle.

[ThaneAquilon]

Yeah, mines about a year and a half old, but I need to wait till ~may to update.

So I'm thinking for 1500pts

1 Shadow Prince

1 Void Stalker

2 Aurora

4 Hemlock + 2 Hellebore

4 Nightshade + 2 Hellebore

Thoughts?

[horizon]

I miss some raw weapon batter power.

Perhaps 2 Hellebores out instead of them Aconites.