Eldar armoury: Heavy weapons

The Eldar war host have one of the most varied armouries in the entire game. Many of the weapons available can only be used by one unit unfortunately, removing most decisions about weapon choice. However a select few units (guardian defenders and most vehicles) have the option to use heavy weapons from a select list. This article will look at that select list of weapons, comparing their relative strengths and weaknesses for different situations that arise in a game of 40k.

In a game of 40k you will come across several different opponents, each with different strengths and weaknesses. From the small and elite armies of space marines to the hordes of orks, each army should be tackled differently. While the main units for taking out these different units will always remain the aspect warriors who specialise in that sort of thing the question still remains what do the none aspect units take? To keep this article to the point I will only be considering a hand full of situations for now, and in future will look at what I have skipped over. In the current climate it appears that the most common armies to play against are space marines (of all flavours) and imperial guard. For this article I will consider the usefulness of these weapons whilst fighting foes that can be considered Space Marine equivalents (T4 with a 3+ save) which are commonly referred to as MEQ units. Along with this I will also consider terminator equivalents (T4 2+/5++) TEQ and imperial guard equivalents (T3 5+) GEQ as well as vehicles of all armours. So with the basic premise for the article explained I can move on to the weapons.  The heavy weapons available to the Eldar consist of:

Bright Lance:      High strength, low AP, this weapon primarily looks like it can take out terminators and high armour tanks alike. The only real issue with this weapon is that it only has one shot. So while its usefulness is primarily for taking out tanks thanks to the lance rule, I could at a stretch be useful against MEQ and TEQ units.

Missile launcher: This weapon has two modes of firing, a single high strength shot and a low strength blast weapon. This only having AP 3 with the single shot means it’s only useful against MEQ and low armour vehicles. The blast however would be more suited for GEQ units. Given its great flexibility, this weapon could be very useful to have. (For intents of this article we assume the blast hits 3 models)

Scatter Laser:     Multiple strength 6 shots with high AP makes it suitable for taking out hordes of GEQ. Whist the strength is high the AP makes it unappealing for most tanks, TEQ or MEQ killing.

Shuriken Cannon: Similar to the scatter laser but with a shorter range makes it unclear what this is weapon is most suitable for.

Star Cannon: Two shots at AP 2 is never a bad thing, especially when it can bypass the armour of MEQ and TEQ units. With strength 6 this could take out light tanks at a push but not reliably. Probably not useful against GEQ.  

So looking at the weapon profiles this is my initial response to each weapon, and when to use it. I think these are fairly reasonable assumptions which many people would take at first glance. But the real question is while common sense is all well and good, is the stats behind it? Now I have never been a great fan of math hammer as the dice are nothing if not fickle and will betray you at ever turn but as a guide, it might be useful. So looking at the stats of each weapon, let’s see if the stats meet the common sense. So I won’t bore you with the actual stats of it all, just assume that I have a reasonable knowledge of stats and that it’s legit (more or less, I’m not prefect).

Vs MEQ

Weapon	Chance to kill
Bright Lance	0.416
Missile launcher (single shot)	0.416
Missile launcher (blast)	0.249
Scatter Laser	0.555
Shurikan Cannon	0.416
Star Cannon	0.833

 So from the table it is clear that the star cannon is the best weapon for killing MEQ units. No big surprise there. What does surprise me though is that the scatter laser has the second highest chance regardless of the fact the MEQ still get their armour save against it. Baring in mind they are considerably cheaper points wise compared to the missile launcher this is a very interesting revelation.

Vs TEQ

Weapon	Chance to kill
Bright Lance	0.277
Missile launcher (single shot)	0.069
Missile launcher (blast)	0.083
Scatter laser	0.277
Shurikan Cannon	0.208
Star Cannon	0.555

Once again the first place winner for highest kill count is Star Cannon killing half a terminator on average each time its shot. In joint second the bright lance and scatter laser are both able to kill a fifth of a terminator a turn. This is quite expected as the lance ignores the 2+ armour but the scatter lasers multiple shots keeps it in the running.

   

Vs GEQ

Weapon	Chance to kill
Bright Lance	0.416
Missile launcher (single shot)	0.416
Missile launcher (blast)	1
Scatter laser	1.11
Shurikan Cannon	1.25
Star Cannon	0.833

The humble shurikan cannon take first place this time thanks to its multiple shots and strength 6. In second place the scatter laser once again makes an appearance. An interesting development as the high AP of the star cannon makes no difference.

So it is pretty clear that in order to take out space marines (both MEQ and TEQ) the best weapon is defiantly the star cannon. But considering that the scatter laser is second in both instances and when taking out GEQ it can be a useful addition to the elder war host.

Vs armour 10

Weapon	Chance to kill
Bright Lance	0.11
Missile launcher (single shot)	0.11
Missile launcher (blast)	0
Scatter laser	0.22
Shurikan Cannon	0.16
Star Cannon	0.11

Quite a surprise here with the scatter laser being the most likely weapon to destroy an armour 10 vehicle. Followed quite closely by the shurikan cannon.

Vs armour 11

Weapon	Chance to kill
Bright Lance	0.083
Missile launcher (single shot)	0.083
Missile launcher (blast)	0
Scatter laser	0.11
Shurikan Cannon	0.083
Star Cannon	0.055

Again the scatter laser takes the lead of the group followed by most other weapons.

Vs armour 12

Weapon	Chance to kill
Bright Lance	0.055
Missile launcher (single shot)	0.055

The bright lance and missile launcher are even.

Vs armour 13

Weapon	Chance to kill
Bright Lance	0.055
Missile launcher (single shot)	0.027

The Bright lance takes the lead.

Vs armour 14

Weapon	Chance to kill
Bright Lance	0.055

The bright lance is the only weapon able to pop armour 14 tanks from this list.

So after looking over these stats it appears that the two weapons of choice are the scatter laser for taking out low armoured tanks and the bright lance for higher. Taking into account all of the above the scatter laser appears to be the most versatile weapon out of the elder armoury.

Now I was going to go through which weapon has the best damage output compared to its price. It’s the shurican cannon if you’re interested, and hence why I had so many in my list in the all consuming beast battle report. But I feel this knowledge is not really worth using, as while it did tempt me to just buy the most efficient it doesn’t take into account the number of weapons you would require in a standard game, nor does it take into account the limited number of turns you have.  

So over all you can take away for maximum killing power against MEQ and TEQ use the star cannon,

For everything but heavy tanks take the scatter laser.