Exarchs and Heavy Weapons

[tturen]

Funny but I can't recall the exact rules for warp pack equiped Exarchs with heavy weapons. Does the warp spyder pack movement count as movement for heavy weapons? I have always assumed it does as the unit has clearly moved.

By codex exactly what heavy weapons/ranged wargear can these guys carry and move with? The only one that comes to mind is the shuriken cannon.

[James 40K Champ ***]

Didnt evemn realise warp spiders could take H weapons?!

Thought they all had those flamer template weapons

[Charly]

how can a warp spider have a heavy weapon? the only thing on the list is the dark reaper range finder and missile laucher. which is obviously for dark reaper exarches. if he could in theory take a heavy weapon then i imagine jumping through the warp would have a similar effect as moving with a heavy weapon. with the exception of dark reapers there arnt any heavy weapon troops in the eldar army, everything is on tanks and support platforms. the maugetar that maugan ra carries is a shreiker cannon but thats special wargear for him only.

[tturen]

I think its been a while since you guys played against the original Eldar codex cheese. That or our Eldar players cheat and the Battle Bible lies. I'd be most happy with the second option myself!

Here is the list of heavy type weapons I can find that an Exarch could take:

Reaper missile luancher(from the Exarch Wargear list)
Shuriken Cannon (from the Exarch Wargear list)
Bright Lance (From the Eldar Wargear cards)
Fire Pike (From the Eldar Wargear list)
Others?

I assume the Bright Lance is move or fire yes?
What about the Fire Pike is it move or fire?

Our Eldar players tend to equip Exarchs with the warp spyder jump pack, a field and one of the above listed weapons. Most often we see three such Exarchs and wargear grenades are not uncommon equipment for then not to mention power fists.

[El Capitan]

The Bright Lance is move AND fire! Eldar players mixing up the exarch weapons are annoying, GW's format of writing army lists based on what models have been painted by the 'eavy metal team for testing is to blame

[tturen]

A 36" range St8 weapon thats move and fire? Ouch! I suppose then the same goes for the Fire Pike...

Indeed GW lists are terrible at times. Last I checked our group is one of the few anywhere that still allows the mixed Exarch kit.

[Charly]

characters cant pick their targets with heavy weapons at least, they follow the normal choosing a target rule. gives it some limit. its down to the players desgretion really what weapons you take. it gets to a point where theres no point having a battle, may as well just compare army lists to see who can cram in the most cheese.

[James 40K Champ ***]

yeah thats not fun

[tturen]

As our new players continue to prove the list matters a lot less than the general. Your point is well taken though. I still find for myself that a balanced exploitation of the codex works well without getting to devious even against full on cheese lists. You do have to extremely careful in terms of target selection and use of cover though.

When it comes to targeting an Exarch with a warp pack can pick targets simply by warping around. Warp in fast shot a couple rounds on the target you selected with the move and then just disappear to a new location. Nasty, sick, and disgusting of course.

[Charly]

not sure what you can do about the wonder exarch problem. cheesing leads to more cheesing and counter cheesing. like the old chief librarian with iron arm and quickening teleporting around. at least there is always the lascannon option for that, but u barely get a chance against the warp spiders. i would say warp spider exarchs should only be able to take their death spinners and close combat weapons, thats all the limitation it needs. exarchs still have the advantage of being able to choose the direction that they aim the death spinner, wheres the normal warp spiders follow the choosing a target rule as normal.

how do u mean, balanced exploitation? give some examples..

[Adoni-Zedek]

For what it's worth, my copy of the BattleBible says you may make one selection from the exarch wargear list. Unfortunately, the actual codex doesn't have that restriction. So unless and until your newbies discover that uber-characters really aren't that effective, you'll just need to roll out your IG Army of Triple Doom and crush them into the grime.

You could ask if they'd be willing to correct some of the errors, for example, fixing the penetration of the Executioner, and if they agree to that, also require the Fire Axe penetration to be fixed, and allow only a single choice from the exarch list. That won't stop warp Spider exarches from taking a Bright Lance or Fire Pike, but no more Shuriken Cannons or Missile Launchers with DR range finders.

[tturen]

Our Eldar player isn't new and our old Eldar player is even more steeped in the old knowledge of the tome of the Eldar. I don't see change on these rules in our future. To his credit I'm told I hold the unique honor of being the sole player our old time Eldar player has unleashed the full might of his Exarch forces against. That was against my IG force and he destroyed 3 Leman Russes and put 900 points of Eldar in my DZ by turn two. He lost.

'Balanced expoitation' was the key to my old IG forces and it remains so with my Wolves. That is take the best units the codex offers but do so across the range of the codex. Bring armor, bring infantry, and bring units with the speed to react. In short bring a powerful but flexible force with clearly assigned roles.

Our other Eldar player brings his stable of Exarchs to all his battles and has been a winning streek for some time now. In fact he even managed a draw against my Wolves and smashed a joint command Tau force but atleast with the Tau that army had command and severe unit selection problems. My own Tau army no longer has those issues and I won't have to share command with the newbie.

[Adoni-Zedek]

Have you considered a teleport jammer? For 20 points, you can make him reroll his "lost in the warp" tests if he passes them. Warp spiders only take them if they go farther than 18", so if he goes slow, it won't affect him. But it will probably slow him down a bit. If you position it centrally, you can cover just about the whole table, as well.

[tturen]

The jammer can be helpful but I've never taken one except against Abbadon and his body guard. The regular warp spiders don't bother me a great deal and as a rule the exarchs don't brave the warp anyway at least this player doesn't. Our elder Eldar player would be another matter. I do tend to use overwatch a lot though against the Eldar due to pop-ups and warp units. Thats works well for the Wolves and for IG's Rattlings.