Eldar Analysis - Illic Nightspear

Eldar are the 5th Codex to be released in 6th edition, and unless there's some new Tau guy that I'm forgetting, they are also the first (apparently Tau got a couple, but close enough) to get a brand new special character. Sure, Karanak and the Changeling are technically new for Daemons but they used to be Sergeant upgrades so were also around previously. Illic however is completely new, and also comes with a unique opportunity to make various inuendos regarding night-spears. However, as this is a family friendly blog, I'm going to skip over that, and leave my local gaming group to the mercy of my overuse of them. Therefore, straight into the analysis.

Where Eldrad is the Farseer special character (Path of the Seer), and Yriel is the Autarch special character (Path of the Warrior), Illic is the Ranger special character (kind of Path of the Outcast), and he brings along with him a tonne of stuff from his travels.

First off, his statline, he has the same WS as Yriel, which is impressive considering that he's a Ranger, he also has BS9, standard Eldar Strength and Toughness, 3 wounds, I6, 3 attacks, LD10 and a 5+ save. Again, like Yriel you'll want to keep him hidden in a squad, perhaps more than Yriel, as he has a worse save, less wounds and no Invulnerable. However, he's also a bit of a Force Multiplier, which I'll come on to in a little while.

As for his wargear, he has a Shuriken Pistol and a Power Sword, which may come as a 'nice' surprise to your opponent, although its use should really be minimal. It does mean that he gets 4 attacks base though at WS6 (albeit S3).

Next up he has his Remnant of Glory, known as Voidbringer. Voidbringer is a 48" range AP2 base Sniper Weapon. It also has the distort special rule, meaning that it auto-penetrates vehicles on a 6. But it gets better, it also causes instant death, pretty handy on an AP2 Sniper weapon being fired at BS9 with a 48" range. But it gets even better than that, onto his special rules.

Illic comes with a special rule called Sharpshot, this means that all of his shots are Precision shots, meaning that he can just pick out targets with his AP2 Instant Death BS9 Sniper weapon. Huh. You could say that this is useful for sniping out an enemy Warlord, but this is difficult, as your opponent can just look out sir away the shot, it is only 1 shot, and on average it'll take you 13 turns of shooting (still 4s to wound) to finally get a wound from it onto the enemy Warlord. Where it would be useful however is for picking out enemy special weapons, maybe even Sergeants (if you're desperate) with their lower Look Out Sir. However, where I would find it hilarious is to shoot a Riptide and kill it outright.

Illic also comes with his own Warlord Trait. This is Mark of the Incomparable Hunter. This gives Illic Split Fire, which he can then confer onto his unit, at LD10 making them extremely likely to pass the Leadership Check for doing so. Yet another weapon in Illic's arsenal.

He also gets the following special rules: Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, Fleet, Independant Character, Shrouded, Preferred Enemy (Necrons) and Hatred (Necrons). Then you have Walker of the Hidden Path, another unique special rule.

This is really interesting actually. Illic has Infiltrate, but can be deployed absolutely anywhere on the board. In addition, any Pathfinders or Rangers outflanking can Deep Strike without Scatter within 6" of Illic. The problem that I have with this is that this leaves him vulnerable for at least a turn, as we do not yet know whether or not he can do this with a squad. In addition, there is not really a reason to push him so far up the field, as his gun is already 48" range anyway, plus the last thing that you want is for your squad to get charged and pushing them further up the board with this just makes that easier.

Finally, there is yet another super-power, as this guy is now the only way to unlock Pathfinders in this Codex, bumping Rangers up to 25pts a model, a point more than Pathfinders used to be. However, they have changed.

Pathfinders essentially used to swap Stealth for Shrouded and then caused Rending with their Snipers on a 5+. Now, they get to keep both Stealth and Shrouded, so +3 to their cover save, and although they've lost their 5+ Rending, they still get it on a 6, plus, they all have Sharpshot, so every single shot they fire is a Precision Shot. Sweet.

For all this, Illic weighs in at just under 150pts. Not bad at all. So, I'd sit him back, only making him your Warlord if there is no other Special Character about, or one with a crapper Warlord Trait (his isn't bad it's just not ground-breaking). Maybe in a squad of Dark Reapers, where his Split Fire is useful, conferring Shrouded and Preferred Enemy, keeping him safe yet Eternally irritating your opponent.