Starcannon Guilt

Regarding my recent USF games again Christian: I was feeling really rotten about filling up on Star Cannons. After a few days of thinking about it I'm not sure I do anymore.

See, USF is rife with disadvantages and brings only a few advantages to the table in return. You start with half your army off the table, even if the opponent doesn't. If a unit breaks you can never regroup. You cannot take Wave Serpents, Falcons, Fire Prisms, Wraithlords or Wraithguard. You must take a Seer Council whether you want to or not. You can't take more than one Aspect Warrior unit.

That's a lot of checks in the "Con" column. Those of you who know me will know that USF negates most of my most ubiquitous strategies. In fact, most Eldar in general would struggle under the abovementioned constraints.

The good things are: You get BS4 (or WS4) on all your Guardians, you can take an expensive and not-real-useful HQ unit called Spear of Khaine, and you can take the crappiest of the Phoenix Lords without your opponent's permission.

I don't really feel as though the checks in the "Pro" column match the checks in the "Con". Am I complaining? Hell, no. I like this army. I play it mainly for the fluff, but also for the challenge. Nothing tests your ability to adapt and create good strategies better than having your favorite tricks taken away. I'm really enjoying it.

That being said, I always feel as though I'm playing at a disadvantage when I'm doing USF. I always feel like it's playing with a handicap. There are many enemy tactics and, indeed, some armies altogether than USF simply can not counter, no matter what. Always you leave every battle bleeding and scraped up. Every other army I know could possibly tool up to at least get a nice, fair chance in any given situation against any other army. USF just doesn't have that.

As a result, I've decided not to beat myself up over loading up on Starcannons. I haven't got Banshees to carve up Power Armor. I haven't got a Falcon to flank and fire seven or more S6 shots a turn. I haven't got any Fire Dragons with which to pop Marines open with. I have got relatively little with which to hit the enemy where it hurts. I'm playing with one hand tied behind my back (granted: by choice) where the enemy has no such restrictions.

I will always build a nice, balanced army where I can, but... I've also decided that I have so little to work with that I'm going to use whatever I can to keep my army from taking a bee-line march to the dead pile.

We'll see if I still feel this way after a few games.