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Fandex: Eldar | Fire Dragons

The Stats:

Fire Dragons 130 points (Elites)

Unit Composition: 1 Exarch and 4 Fire Dragons
Unit Type: Infantry
Wargear: Fusion Gun, Meltabombs
Special Rules: Tank Hunters, Fury of the Dragon, Devastating Firestorm

Fury of the Dragon: The Exarch has trained his squad well in the arts of unleashing fiery death.  At the beginning of the squad’s Movement phase, the entire squad may choose to alter the profile on their Fusion Guns from Assault 1, Melta to Heavy 1, Melta for the duration of the turn.  In the ensuing shooting phase, all successful armour and cover saves taken against the squad’s shooting attacks (including the Exarch with any wargear upgrades) must be re-rolled. Invulnerable saves are not affected.

Devastating Firestorm: Fire Dragons delight in reducing their enemy’s weapons of war to pools of slag.  Their sheer volume of anti-tank they bring to bear can often turn transports into death traps.  If the squad shoots or assaults a transport that still has a unit embarked and inflicts more than one Destroyed:Explodes! result, the embarked unit will be wounded on a 2+, and it must re-roll the resulting pinning test if it succeeds.

Options:
Add up to 5 additional Fire Dragons – 20 points per model
The Exarch may exchange his Fusion Gun for:
A Dragon’s Breath Flamer – Free
A Firepike and Shuriken Pistol – 10 points

Fire Dragons may select a Wave Serpent as a Dedicated Transport at the listed cost.
A Fire Dragons squad numbering 6 models or less may select a Falcon as a Dedicated Transport at the listed cost.

Wargear:
Fusion Gun – Range:12″, S:4, AP:1, Assault 1, Melta
Dragon’s Breath Flamer – Range:Template, S:5, AP:4, Assault 1
Firepike – Range:24″, S:8, AP:1, Heavy 1, Melta

Allow me to explain myself:

Currently, a 5-man squad of Fire Dragons with a fully powered-up Exarch will run you almost 20 points less than my new value-added pricing.   A 10-man squad with the same Exarch is almost 40 points cheaper – and my pricing doesn’t even include the Firepike.  So why the upcharge?

Well, for starters, notice the 3+ save.  This was done primarily to mitigate this slightly-NSFW-due-to-language description of Fire Dragons.  This makes them more survivable in close combat.  Also, their armor should be able to handle a flamer.

Secondly, I chucked all of those “Exarch powers” – which will hold true for all of the other Aspect Warriors.  The entire squad gets the benefit, and the Exarch is built into the cost but gets some neat wargear.  I expanded the range of the Firepike to make it a Multi-melta, but also made it Heavy and paired it with a pistol so he can still assault.  The Fury of the Dragon power is a replacement for Crack Shot that makes a mockery of cover saves.  Camo-cloaked Sniper scouts won’t be laughing so hard when they realize they have to re-roll their 3+ cover save against a volley of meltaguns.

Thirdly, I gave them access to Falcons.  Every other army is getting ridiculous tank access, so why not Eldar?  IG can field 9 Leman Russes, Space Wolves have access to the entirety of the Imperium’s Razorbacks, and Blood Angels can actually field a force-org legal list with 6 Land Raiders for less than 2000 points.  Giving Eldar access to a few more Falcons isn’t going to unhinge the game, especially considering that Wave Serpents are better, in my opinion. Power field on the front, a TL turret, seating for 12 and 22 cup holders?  Come in now for this attractive offer!

Lastly, if you hadn’t noticed, they are transport wreckers extraordinare.  I always joke when someone rolls multiple 6s on the damage result table that said transport has “blown up, and then blown up again.”  If a Rhino gets hit with 5 melta guns and the result comes up with three 6s, the embarked tac squad shouldn’t get off just as easily as if their ride was popped by a lucky assault cannon hit.  So now, Fire Dragons can wreck a Land Raider’s day, hope to kill more than exactly none of the Terminators inside, and then, with any luck, not get smashed to a pulp on the next turn.

Value added.  As the naughty-worded comic explained, an 80-point unit is an excellent trade off to drop a 250-point Land Raider.  I upped the price and added in the chance to increase their payoff.