Eldar Tactics: HQ breakdown.

Breakdown of the 6th edition Eldar HQ's.
As with any army, choosing the HQ depends on what role you wish your army to play. Do you want psychic power support? Do you want to play something fun? Fluffy? Combat based? Or a mixture of all? Well lets see.

The Avatar of Khaine:
The ultimate Eldar badass. Impressive state line, makes all Eldar unit's within 12" fearless and is pretty much Immune to all melta and fire weaponry. Nice! He gained fleet in the new addition which makes him even more frightening. If you are playing a foot list, this guy is your go to HQ. He can handle himself in combat and can even take Exarch upgrades. I would roll with Crushing Blow just for the extra stength. The only problem is his invul save only being 5+ and having no eternal warrior (watch out for force weapons!). Also, without assault grenades he is striking last when charging into cover but this shouldn't be to much of a problem (although do not assault a unit full of force weapons).

Additional commentary:
Barry G: Avatar can take fast shot. Double Melta shots! 


Autarchs:
Fairly generic HQ. Path of the strategy is ok but not really worth an investment when the opportunity cost for taking him over a Farseer is to high. Mandiblasters nerfed the combat Autarch a bit so I would roll with a Banshee mask instead. Has the option of taking most weapons and items from the Remnants of Glory. Few options:

1. Warp Jump Generator + Banshee mask + Power lance attached to a unit of Warp Spiders. Very fast unit (although you do run the risk of randomly losing your Autarch if you manage to roll a double). Charge in with Str4 AP3, hopefully waste a few guys and then hit and run back out.

2. Jetbike + Banshee Mask + Mantle of the Laughing God + Phoenix Gem + Shard of Anaris. Hilarious combo of zooming around, re-rolling cover saves and smashing up opponents in challenges with a small chance of coming back to life even when killed!

3. Jetbike + Banshee Mask/Mandiblasters + Laser Lance. If you chose Mandiblasters then the Autarch will firstly have 2 str3 auto hits at Initiative 10. Not game changing but the more hits the better. Banshee Mask means that if you manage to win combat, you will pretty much guarantee to catch the fleeing unit or if you lose, escape. The Laser Lance is pretty brutal. 5 str 6 AP3 attacks on the charge. Nice! Put him in a unit of Shining Spears to make sure of Hit and Run.

Farseer's:
If you do not have a Farseer in your army then stop playing Eldar and go to Dark Eldar. They are the essential force mulitplier as Fortune and Guide can now be cast on Battle Brothers. They can roll on Divination, Telepathy and Runes of Fate and mix any or all of the trees together. Mastery level 3 is a huge advantage for a relatively cheap investment. If you plan on rolling on Telepathy and Runes of Fate take the Spirit Stone. A lot of the powers on these trees are Warp Charge 2 so reducing them down to 1 is essential. ALWAYS make sure the Farseer is tucked away in a unit though as he loses his invul. If you plan on rolling with Divination then don't bother with the Spirit stone. Singing Spear is still a decent investment as a shooting attack (str9!) but overall not essential. Don't bother with the Runes of Warding or Witnessing unless you have spare points lying around. Take a Jetbike and stick him in a large unit of Windriders and a shrouding Warlock so you have decent mobility for his powers.

Spiritseer's:
Required choice for Wraithguard armies as you want them as troops. He is quite cheap, mastery level 2 and his Spirit Mark rule is actually decent. He is limited to rolling on Runes of Battle and Telepathy and is Ld9 so not as good a Psyker as a Seer but still a solid choice. Attach him to a Wraithguard/blade squad and hope to get Protect as one of your powers. Conceal is also a very good choice for Wraithguard without Invul saves.

Eldrad:
As solid as ever. Mastery level 4, redeploy move and can regen warp charges. It really sucks that he has no access to the Spirit Stone so hope you get lucky with the warp charge rolls. He is an amazing all round psyker, especially for an allied contingent. Personally, I would roll once on divination and three times on Runes of Fate. If you don't get Misfortune then swap for Prescience. Same for Runes of Fate, if you manage to roll Death Mission then swap it Instantly for Guide and get Eldrad double casting re-rolls to hit every turn. 
   
Prince Yriel:
Combat Autarch on steroids with four wounds. Yriel is a MEQ killer with Fleshbane and AP3. His Eye of Wrath attack is pretty hilarious but can waste your own troops just as easily as your opponents so I would only use it as a last ditch effort. Solid combat choice. would sit well in a unit of Scorpions or Wraithblades.

Illic Nightspear:
Situational. BS9 means you will pretty much hit 95% of the time. His rifle is a badass void weapon that alongside his always precision shot rule means he can snipe out pretty much any character he wishes. Still only wounding on a 4-6 is a bummer but if you're lucky and roll a 6 to wound you rend and instant kill. His ability to be deployed anywhere on the board, irrelevant of distance is pretty cool and he brings shrouding to himself and any unit he is with. Furthermore, he is the required character if you want Pathfinders (which gain precision shots as standard). To be honest I don't see what you would really bother with this guy unless you really wanted to be able to snipe out characters.

Asurmen:
Seriously not worth his points. He is Str5 AP2 in combat that has a pseudo force weapon rule and has counter attack but at over 200 points his points-cost utility is diminished severely. Plus, he doesn't have Plasma grenades. He must be your Warlord and rolls D3 times on the Eldar table. He could be useful as the frontman for a Wraithblade unit that makes him majority toughness 6 with a 2+ armour and 4+ invul but there are better choices. Like Illic, take him for fun games.

Jain Zar:
Like Asurmen, she doesn't have Plasma grenades. She does make this up slightly by the fact that most opponents will be striking at the initiative 1 step anyway from her extreme banshee mask.  She causes Fear which is cute but not really necessary as all enemy units in combat with her are -5WS anyway. She thankfully has a 2+ armour save so can lead her girls into combat without everyone dying before they get there. If she is your warlord then she and her unit run +1 more inch which is ok, with the bonus from Acrobatic that is D6+4 inches running. No Invul means she will get owned by plasma weapons so stay away from them like the plague. Her weapons are pretty decent but her price tag is massive. Not a suggested choice for competitive games.

Karandras:
The most expensive of the Phoenix lords. To be fair he is a monster in combat, striking at Str8 AP2 Initiative 7. The interesting game here is that he can infiltrate a unit alongside him. Allied Incubi are a pretty solid option but you have the option of pretty much anything in Tau/Eldar/DE. He does come with plasma grenades so is automatically beating Asurmen even with his points spike. Take him for dirty tactics.


Fuegan:
Only ten points cheaper than Karandras. Compared to the previous codex, Fuegan is less useful. He does of course have 2+ armour but also comes with FNP. He is AP1 in combat and is base strength 5 (with Exarch power bonus). His Unquenchable resolve rule is pretty hilarious. Stick him out front of a unit, everytime he loses a wound he buffs his characteristics. If one of your Warlocks rolled Renew then just continually restore his wounds until he has become a combat machine. Easier said than done but is brutal if it works.


Baharroth:
See below for a link to our Swooping Hawks tactica. Baharroth brings some synergy to your army. He runs best with a unit of Hawks so you can use his BS7 for the grenade toss. His 6" blinding test aura is pretty hilarious vs anything that I3 or below. Personally, I like him. He brings a 2+ Armour save to Hawks and is actually half decent in assault. I wouldn't bother with him if you were facing an army that is immune to Blind or is high Initiative. 

Maugan Ra:
Terrible. He is actually better in combat than in shooting (huge design fail Kelly.....huge). He fires 5 str6 AP5 Rending/Pinning shots for 195 points. Sure he has the ability to pen AV14 but really it's not a reliable ability. He has Battle Focus which is cute and Hatred (Chaos Daemons). You can take six Dark Reapers for the same cost that will have triple the game efficiency. Only consider him if you have a fetish for badasses with heavy weapons.