So one of the units that originally made me want to play Eldar were the Rangers. I always thought they had cool models, and their fluff was even better. I mean, who doesn't like badass snipers that can pick a spider from its web from 50 meters? Because of this, when I started my Eldar, I decided to go with Craftworld Alaitoc, and at the time we had the Craftworld Eldar supplement which boosted the army further (for those who don't know/remember, each ranger or pathfinder unit allowed you to roll on a chart which could allow you to send enemy units into reserve or get a free shooting attack before the game even started). However, since the latest codex hit, I've found myself having a hard time using them effectively, so what changed?
Well first of all, they got cheaper. Way cheaper. And while this is a good thing, its not without its drawbacks. They also lost most of their awesome special rules. Firstly, they lost the ability to be upgraded to Pathfinders unless you also take Illic Nightspear, a rather lackluster HQ. The Pathfinders you can take have shrouded and a rule that makes all of their shots precision shots, which while not bad, hardly justifies the huge cost to upgrade them in my opinion. They also lost their ability to make their weapons ap 2 with a to hit roll of 6 (or 5+ for pathfinders). This is a big deal when your primary targets were small elite squads and MCs. They did gain Battle Focus, but unless you're shooting with your pistols, this rule is basically useless to them.
So how should us Ranger lovers be using them? Well their role really hasn't changed. They still can be used to put some fear into MCs and smaller units like Terminators or combat-squaded units of marines, though I generally don't expect them to be doing all that much damage on their own. Where they really excel is in being a cheap scoring unit that can be fairly tough to shift off an objective in cover. Their low threat makes them an undesirable target for most enemy shooting and the fact that they're getting a 4+ cover save in forests and a 3+ in ruins or behind a defense line means that the enemy is going to have to either hit them with flame templates or other cover-ignoring weaponry, or devote a decent amount of firepower to kill them. Placing them in cover (something not overly difficult to do thanks to their infiltrate special rule) also gives them the added benefit of being harder to assault, so that's a plus as well.
Currently I have found myself bringing a unit of 10 rangers with a farseer behind a defence line with an Icarus Lascannon. I can place an objective with them and they'll be pretty safe with their 3+ cover save, as well as providing a good shroud for my Farseer who operates the gun, popping any flyers or reserves that come in, and giving guide and prescience to anything that needs it (usually Fire Prisms or Nightspinners). Units of 5 can work as well, but they don't tend to do very well if they're going after midfield or backfield objectives, as they're just too easy to kill. Better to use Jetbikes for that in my opinion.
So those are my thoughts on Rangers these days. How does the rest of the community feel about these guys?
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