On a similar note to the scorpion vs banshee topic, I'm curious to know what Eldar players are more inclined to use. I understand that Reapers are going to be used against power armoured foes, while spiders mainly against lightly armoured opponents, but I'd rather know what you are more inclined to use in an army that you'd make if you didn't know who your opponent was going to be, and why.
Personally, I side with the spiders because they are extremely mobile, are cheaper, and are able to badly damage most units with strength six weapons.

id go with reapers because 90% of the 40k gaming community seem to use them

Interesting comparison, as I haven't ever seen it done before.

In a tornament situation I'd go with Warp Spiders. Their highly modile, have high strength weapons and lots of shots, so can deal with power armour foes aswell some of the time. their also well armoured themselves, and can retreat from any charge they get into, and even inflict a little damage back before leaving if the Exarch has Power Blades (Like taking out a Terminator Spacewolf Lord.) All in all their just damn flexible and perfect for a tornament situation.

However if I was deffinately going against SM for sure I might take Reapers instead. The only problem is you need to deploy them really well so their not blown to pieces on the first turn before they can get a chance to shoot. Lucky for them they can outdistance most enemies with the range of their guns, which I have found very helpful. Plus when I first used them they took my enemies ten man SM squads down to one man, I couldn't help but smile evily.

I hate to say it, but that spider exarch has taken that Space Wolf Terminator Lord down twice.

Spiders vs. Reapers? Ya gotta be nutz. :P


I've always preferred the Spiders simply for their speed. The Reapers have the bigger guns, but they are sitting ducks for any unit with range and LoS, especially such nasty critters as Space Wolf Scouts. Bassies are nice as well.

Spiders on the other hand, are pretty hard to pin down, and can remove any target the Reapers can, just by stealthier means.

One of my faves is a combined Spider/Jetbike Farseer unit. The Farseer Guides the 20 Spinner shots for an average of 19 hits at Str-6. The jetbike's assault ability helps the Farseer to keep pace with the Spiders' Hit&Run tactics. Even Marines hate this setup.

I find very mixed views with the reapers. You either love them because 4 or 5 of them can tear apart a Space Marine squad in one round of shooting, or you hate them because they go down easily. I find I love them for the reason given above, their advantages being that they can outdistance most things with the range of their guns, and if you deploy them cunningly and throw a whole bunch of Falcons at your oponent he finds himself to busy to fire at the Reapers.

Warp Spiders though, the comments are all the same. They totaly rock at anything!. I find Spidrs actually alot less helpful against marines simply because of their save, so I field banshees or Fire Dragons instead. However against Orks, Guard, Tau or 'Nids (anything with a resonably low armour save) they kick butt!

Cheers, Cal

i've actually found that the spiders do fairly well against marines because of the sheer amound of wounds that they're able to cause. They're only bad against marines if they end up in combat (and even then they arn't too bad because of their initiative bonus).

Thats alright when you vs. Space Wolves and they come in really small squads, but when I'm vs my brothers Black Templars, and he takes squads of 10 to 16 with Neophytes, the spiders do quite little before getting smacked by a huge round of CC if they make poor Jumps in the Assault phase (or if I forget.....)

Thats you fault for being conplacent.

Also, I think that your dice hate you because you breath on them before you role them (and your breath absolutely reaks (I fell sorry for you GF)

If you're targeting MEq Infantry with Spiders, you probably should feel a bit abused. Banshees, Scorpions, and even larger Guardian squads are better capable of putting the hurt on MEq's. Only point them at Marines or Necron Warriors if all other, juicer, targets have been eliminated.

Think of Spiders as you would a War Walker unit. They are more than capable of dishing out substantial, fear-inducing, firepower, but can be removed from the board rather easily by a crafty opponent when you fail to remember their limitations.

Spiders should be used as a support unit for your major assault thrust; keeping smaller harassing units from hindering your advance, and protecting your deployment zone and vehicles from the enemies light fast attack units.

The one unit of 10 Spiders I have is the only infantry unit I have that is strictly ranged-attack only. It jumps around near my Vypers and Guiding Farseer forming a very mobile, and very deadly, mobile firing line that keeps the enemy guessing and gnashing teeth. They do very well at drawing attention away from the Serpents with their cargo of deadly Aspect Warrior goodness.