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I started playing 40k a year ago and my first and only army was Guard. I just played my first game with Eldar tonight and got absolutely slaughtered. My list was this:

Eldard - 210

Dire Avengers (10) - 282
-Exarch with 2 Shuriken Catapults
-Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Missile Launchers & Spirit Stones

Dire Avengers (10) - 282
-Exarch with 2 Shuriken Catapults
-Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Missile Launchers & Spirit Stones

Fire Dragons (5) - 190
-Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannons & Spirit Stones

Fire Dragons (5) - 190
-Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannons & Spirit Stones

Fire Prism - 115

Fire Prism - 115

Fire Prism - 115

My opponent was playing Chaos Daemons (I don't know their codex so I can't really list what he was using), we played annihilation and he and deep struck everything in. I had first turn and started with everything on my side of the board and turbo boosted into the middle of the field to get a cover save from deep striking shooters. He deep strikes and pretty much SURROUNDS all of my tanks since I'm out in the open, popping a Fire Dragons serpent and killing everyone inside on his 2nd turn. 3rd turn I disembark both squads of Dire Avengers and the last Fire Dragons squad to shoot at stuff, was this a mistake? He used Changeling on a squad of Dire Avengers, I failed my leadership test and so he got to fire the Avengers unit at my other Avengers unit, who were Bladestormed, so I ended up destroying half my troops.

He kept closing in on my Fire Prisms so I kept moving them away flat out. I just really don't know how to use the Eldar units. Do I keep everything in the transports as long as possible? What do you do with your first turn when there's nothing to shoot at cause your opponent's entire force is in reserve? ANY help on how to use my list would be great.

Your main mistake was getting out of your tanks when he was close. if you disembarked far enough away so he could reach you and you could hop back in your ride next turn you could have a field day.

Deamons don't have much shooting to speak of so as long as you stayed mobile you could avoid CC and just blast him to death.

The main way deamons die is by mass wounds. 5+ invuln doesn't do much against massed shurican fire, but you need to avoid CC.


thats actually a pretty solid list. just keep moving next time.

Firedragons arn't super good against Deamons as they only have 1 tank and most of their stuff just has Invulns anyway so the Ap2 isn't any good. they are good at popping Deamon princes though.


you should keep your Fireprisims moving while firing their guns. if you move he won't auto-hit your Rear armor and you can just keep him walking towards you and then you turbo-boost over his head and he has to walk all the way back again.

Generally with any army you want to stay inside the transports as long as possible (for various reasons). Eldar are too fragile outside of transports and the vehicles themselves are actually decent gun platforms which can do damage themselves so the infantry shouldn't get out unless they have to.
If you get out of the transport you either have to accept that the unit is going to die but will make its points back doing it (i.e Fire Dragons vs expensive vehicle) or focus enough firepower so that any return fire is kept to a minimum, usually by taking out isolated units and using your transports as screens.

Against Daemons you don't want to be going first as it totally wastes a shooting phase. Just to clarify, Daemons have a special rule where a (random) half of the army all arrives by Deep Strike first turn. If you are forced to take the first turn then I would usually just reserve everything to make sure that you come on after him. What you do if you are going second depends on how much shooting he has. If he has enough to threaten your vehicles then I would probably just reserve everything still. Otherwise I would deploy everything in the corner and turbo towards the middle of the table like you did, except hug your board edge so you don't get totally surrounded. Next turn you should be able to use your mobility to pick off isolated units. The other options are to castle in the corner (which isn't really a good idea with Eldar as their vehicles are too expensive) or to use a split deployment (with half the army in each corner) so he has to also split his army as well, this should favour you thanks to your mobility advantage.

As far as your list goes its pretty solid but could do with a few tweaks, Eldrad is great but probably a bit expensive in a 1500pt list. A standard Farseer with Doom/Guide, Warding and Stones would do the job for this sized list. Also running only two scoring units is a tad light for 1500, particularly when they are your main source of anti infantry firepower in this case. You could probably drop the third Prism and combined with the points saved on Eldrad could squeeze in another Avenger unit.

you dont need to move flat out. 12" should be fine. the only thing demons have that is really a threat to you for shooting purposes is a soul grinder.... if he has one. you should be able to kill that thing the turn it drops because you have so much firepower. the main thing is that he needs 6s to hit you in close combat. if you go faster than that you cant shoot yourself.

as far as what to do on the 1st turn I would hold everything in reserve too. that way he has to come in 1st. that gives you the chance to act with knowledge of his deployment, but he has to act with no knowledge of yours. so even though he goes first the initiative actually passes to you. once his units are down you'll have the information to make an intelligent decision on how to deploy your own guys and you'll get the first shot off when you do show up. if you deploy before he does though those advantages pass to him.

dont let the changeling get you down. that was a fluke. you have a good list you dont need to change it.

Mech Eldar vs. Daemons, this is an uphill battle for Daemons.
You have the speed to redeploy quickly and dictate the flow of the battle.
As said, Soul Grinders are the only threat when it comes to shooting the Eldar skimmers.
On the other hand, Daemons can damage Eldar skimmers in cc.
So redeploy and shoot the closest targets to keep them away from your skimmers.

Thanks a lot for the tips guys, you've been very helpful. Now I can't wait to take to take the field with them again!

That's the attitude! Good luck!

Just throwing in my two cents - I'm also new to Eldar, and have a few games under my belt.

Your list is solid, and is not unlike mine. Instead of Eldrad, I have 2 Farseers (Stones, Doom, Fortune), and 2 less Prisms for a squad of Striking Scorpions. I spent less on my transports (going with Cannons for the second gun), and didn't give them any equipment.

If you have a good shooting army in your group, I STRONGLY recommend Holo-Fields on your Prisms If you can find the 24 points for it, an Exarch in your Fire Dragons is not a terrible buy, even if you don't buy any upgrades or equipment. Also, find the points for Bladestorm. It is too good of a power to pass up for it's points. If you don't want to shoot the next turn, you can assault crappy assault things, or load back up and move around next turn. It's versatile, and gives you 10 more shots when you need it most.

Your list is good and I like it a lot! For the Craftworlds!