Eldar Tactics: Troops: Dire Avengers

Dire Avengers are one of the four basic troop type in the Eldar army. They are
- Guardians
- Dire Avengers
- Rangers/Pathfinders
- Guardian Jet Bikes.

Dire Avengers



Unless playing a themed army, Dire Avengers are likely to form the back bone of the majority of the Eldar Army. For the Eldar, they are a solid troops choice who are harder to kill than guardians and Pathfinders, Can put out more close range fire than guardians and pathfinders and have Exarch abilities that offer then a flexibility that other choices just don’t have.

Stats
The basic stat line is the same as usual
Avenger WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I5 A1 LD9 Sv=d+ Inv=n/a avenger catapult 18” Str4 AP5 Assault2
Exarch WS5 BS5 S3 T3 W1 I6 A2 Ld9 S=3+ Inv = n/a

Pretty solid. They can shoot, have armour saves against marine fire and have a solid if unspectacular range. As with all Eldar it is their individual skills (and in unit choices this means the Exarch) and what they can offer.

Exarch Powers
The optional upgrades are defend and blade storm. Defend reduces the number of attacks an attacking unit has in CC against them – Pretty handy if going against Orks or Big MC’s. Bladestorm allows each member with a Catapult to fire an additional shot – So a full Squad of 10 may have 30 shots rather than 20. Statistically another 5 shots that will potentially wound. The only catch is that you cannot fire next turn. This shows me that the Die Avengers can perform both offensive and defensive roles on the field (or better yet – both if they have both!)

Exarch Weapon Choices
In addition to this I am glad to say the Exarch also has weapons which compliment these roles nicely.

- One options is to take a second pistol – changing assault two to assault four. That’s potentially 5 shots during blade storm. As BS 5 as well that’s a lot going through.
- Next is the power weapon an shimmer shield combination. Power weapon attack are always nice and the shimmer shield grants a 5+ invulnerable save to the entire squad in CC. That’s pretty beefy really!

- Last but not least you have the Dire Sword – an instant kill weapon which is also AP3. Imagine a lonely Dire Avenger Exarch tearing through the SM HQ and killing him that way. Good times, good times! That is a lot of Options for a relatively cheap squad.

Did I mention they may also take a Wave serpent for added flexibility and protection?

Cons
There are obvious issues with these guys that all Eldar share – T3, the armour is only fairly good, no access to Warlocks or heavy weapons. But despite this I like them a lot and will have two full squads in Wave Serpents by the time I am done.

What can you do with them?
These two will be split into an offensive one and a defensive one.

The offensive one will have Blade Storm and a dire sword. The defensive one will have defend and the power weapon with shimmer shield. The offensive unit will be able to kill most things that are not power weapon based and will regularly go first. Hopefully the armour will keep them in it for the most part…. Of course they are also troops so can take an objective far up the battle field.

The defensive squad is designed to it back and camp. I would hide them in area terrain so that between the cover, invulnerable and armour save they will always have a chance. With the defend rule it should be more of a chance!

Also a solid body guard for Farseer’s walking up the board. Not too good for an Autroch though….


So there we have it - a brief review of dire avengers and what I believe can be done with them! Feel free to offer other uses of them!

I like dire avengers - i think they have a really good set up, and like you say the exarch really enables them to focus on melee or extra shooting strength as required.

pretty decent for the points value too!

the range on their guns to me gives them a similar role to my boyz - ultimately, they are too short ranged to stay out of combat - they have to move up the board to get in range, which coincidentally is also in potential charge range for whoever they shoot at.
the power sword and shimmershield therefore are imperative

mixed with bladestorm for the extra shots when charging in or being charged though, and you are looking at a unit, that if its big enough, should hold its own against most/all non CC dedicated troops

the only real disappointment for me is that they cant stay in a vehicle and fire with impunity like my boyz can

I believe the Eldar will be getting an Open Topped vehicle whenever a new codex comes out. Can't guarantee it of course as it's all rumours! The rumour is a Small 5 or 6 man transport such as a venom. Massively needed too even if it's just to make Banshees more relevant....

That said there are not too many open topped vehicles out there! I can think of the land speeder storm in the marine codex's.

aye, and even thats limited to scouts...its only really orkses and the deldar i think?

open topped goodness.............mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..............

i think that would be most useful for firewarriors who i think operate better in small units - i dont think any eldar are hard enough to operate as a 5 or 6 - if that were to work, they would have to be made absolutely lethal, and i mean proper lethal, to the point where they kill whatever they hit before being struck back

Fire Warriors are not too much better without their upgrades. They are still tougness 3 i think and have a 5+ save?

Well 6 is the suggested number for the CC of the Eldar. If Banshees jump out of a a transport and make it to combat they have a large chance of killing most things - 26 (I think) WS4 Str 4 AP3 attacks on the charge at I10? A lot would die to that in advance.