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So I usually play so form of marines, though I have done Orks, nids, and crons in the past. I started looking more at the eldar line, and their fluff. It seems interesting. The aesthetic is much different from marines. I wouldn't be playing competitively, just something to build, paint, and maybe play in local tournaments. Can someone give some current edition sample lists and tactics?

Just about anything in the Dex can be fun. Pick a few things and we'll give you some theme ideas?

Well , you could always go with a Craftworld theme.

Ulthwe - Guardian-spam, Farseers, Warlocks, very, very few Aspect units.
Biel-Tan - Aspect unit spam, Autarchs, probably an Avatar.
Saim-Hann - Bikers. Everyone on a bike, Vypers, and grav-tanks.
Iyanden - Spiritseers and Wraiths. One plus to this style is that there is an Iyanden supplement.

Iyanden's use of wraiths did catch my interest, though I don't know if I'd use their color scheme (Yellow is such a pain lol). The wraith's look is appealing, as is the look of the wave serpent chassis.

Despite their mobility I generally dislike bike themed armies, I have a few for csm and still hate buying them.

Ulthwe did catch my interest. There was also a smaller group that I can't remember the name of, color scheme was grey and orange, that looked a little interesting.

Yellow isn't so bad if you undercoat with white or light grey, and then undercoat again with army painter daemonic yellow. Seraphin Sepia wash is good for it and then you just do the non yellow parts and clean it up with yreil and flash gitz yellow.

Some models have wings, which is awesome, a set is green with chainswords, also awesome, the tanks float, incredibly awesome, and the planes look like planes. S10 weapons all over the place helps too. Even have jousting jetbikes in the Shining Spears.

And between Craftworld Eldar, Corsairs, Dark Eldar, Iyanden and other variants, there's so many possibilities outside of just 'Build the Best'. The options are almost universally good so if you like one bit in particular, Striking Scorpions and Rangers for instance, you can make a very potent force of long range snipers and close-up assaulters using Wave Serpents to cross the board quickly and drop into Alaitoc for even better sniper upgrades and Karandaras for better Scorpions. The long history of the Eldar means that there is some sort of buff for the bits that you like one way or another and something in the Eldar codex, Forge World or even the Dark Eldar codex as allies will tickle a fancy one way or another.

 l0k1 wrote:
Iyanden's use of wraiths did catch my interest, though I don't know if I'd use their color scheme (Yellow is such a pain lol). The wraith's look is appealing, as is the look of the wave serpent chassis.

If you don't care for the Iyanden colour scheme, paint them however. Clearly they are a Craftworld similar to Iyanden, but not Iyanden itself.

Despite their mobility I generally dislike bike themed armies, I have a few for csm and still hate buying them.

So that rules out one fluff build, and one competitive build.

Ulthwe did catch my interest. There was also a smaller group that I can't remember the name of, color scheme was grey and orange, that looked a little interesting.

Yme-Loc. Favoured units are Tanks and Titans

I just airbrushed a yellow base coat and hand-painted the details, I imagine any spray technique could do the same... made the yellow easy! There is no way I would have painted my army yellow without an airbrush.

Any craft world will use their Wraiths when sufficiently boned. Iyanden is just the only one careless enough to always use them. So any theme works. Although a smaller craft world that is similar to Iyanden is a better fit.

(Oh, and 5-man Wraithnouns for in Serpents, with an HQ or two. Downright nasty.)

So I played against two different eldar armies today. Blade storm is ridiculous. Wraith Knights are ridiculous. Wave Serpents are ridiculous. Their psyker powers are ridiculous. Wraith guard can be a bit ridiculous. I can see the power of the jet bikes as well.

The nice thing about Eldar is you can take a unit that you absolutely love the look of, but it has really crappy rules, and put it in a 'balanced' army list and something else in the army is liable to be so ridiculously good that it carries the weight that your beloved crappy unit drops.

The not-so-nice thing about Eldar is that it's really easy to unintentionally make an overpowering list by just casually taking whatever seems cool. It's a really bonkers codex.

As for a theme...I really love Wraith construct armies and think they're a blast to paint! I do not, however, paint them yellow.

 l0k1 wrote:
So I played against two different eldar armies today. Blade storm is ridiculous. Wraith Knights are ridiculous. Wave Serpents are ridiculous. Their psyker powers are ridiculous. Wraith guard can be a bit ridiculous. I can see the power of the jet bikes as well.

Have you ever faced a Jetseer council with fortune?

 wuestenfux wrote:

 l0k1 wrote:
So I played against two different eldar armies today. Blade storm is ridiculous. Wraith Knights are ridiculous. Wave Serpents are ridiculous. Their psyker powers are ridiculous. Wraith guard can be a bit ridiculous. I can see the power of the jet bikes as well.

Have you ever faced a Jetseer council with fortune?

I rarely get to play against eldar, but I have heard all about it. One of the guys I played yesterday ran jet bikes, he didn't have a seer council, but I threw as many shots as I had at the unit just to be sure lol.

If you want to play Eldar you are going to get an unbearable amount of hate and criticism for playing them, any victory of yours will be discounted as anything of worth, and If you bring any of there best units people will cry cheese from miles around.

It sucks. But if you like to win, and dont care what people think about you go for it.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
If you want to play Eldar you are going to get an unbearable amount of hate and criticism for playing them, any victory of yours will be discounted as anything of worth, and If you bring any of there best units people will cry cheese from miles around.

It sucks. But if you like to win, and dont care what people think about you go for it.

Actually, around my area that sentiment is directed towards Tau players. We only have 2 Eldar Players, and at least 6 Tau lol. Though my area isn't super competitive so people shouldn't be that upset.

Either that or the ubiquitous Tau-Dar, blech.

There are several ways to play Eldar that are pretty overpowered, but there are also many ways to play Eldar that are just plain fun. I for one play a Saim-Hann-esque Craftworld which I converted to be themed as corsairs so I could make them fast and mobile. I don't have a Jetbike Seer Council, just an Autarch on a bike and a pair of Warlocks to put with my two squads of jetbikes.

I have a 3-man squad of Shining Spears, which I hear are crazy powerful in some way with this edition's codex, but I wouldn't know - I have not played them in 6th or 7th, but instead suffered like a champ with them all though the previous years because I love the look of my conversions far more than how sub-par they have been for the 15 years leading up until now (mine are Dark Eldar bikes with WFB Cold Once lances). I also do not have a Wraithknight, nor any tanks other than a pair of Wave Serpents/Falcons.

Sounds like the army might actually be right up my alley. I prefer armies that have a multitude of fun or competitive builds.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I have a 3-man squad of Shining Spears, which I hear are crazy powerful in some way with this edition's codex

Whoever told you this is either lying through there teeth, or are delusional.

Only decent way to run them is hope for invisibility, but really thats the same for any squad, or put a bunch of special characters into it and make it a friendly game death star.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I have a 3-man squad of Shining Spears, which I hear are crazy powerful in some way with this edition's codex

Whoever told you this is either lying through there teeth, or are delusional.

Only decent way to run them is hope for invisibility, but really thats the same for any squad, or put a bunch of special characters into it and make it a friendly game death star.

I believe he is referencing the "Eldar are the Anti-fun" thread where a poster claims that shining spears are overpowered.

 Jaceevoke wrote:

 ninjafiredragon wrote:

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I have a 3-man squad of Shining Spears, which I hear are crazy powerful in some way with this edition's codex

Whoever told you this is either lying through there teeth, or are delusional.

Only decent way to run them is hope for invisibility, but really thats the same for any squad, or put a bunch of special characters into it and make it a friendly game death star.

I believe he is referencing the "Eldar are the Anti-fun" thread where a poster claims that shining spears are overpowered.

Yep and that poster either had some seriously bad dice rolls, his opponent had some extremely amazing ones, the IG list sucked worse than the eldar one, or the IG player is really bad.

Either way shining spears are bad.

It's fairly clear the Eldar player there had amazing dice. 2xFortune is lucky (1/4, at best), but keeping up 2xWC2 powers through an entire game at +6? Each roll had > 1/2 odds, but all of them succeeding has much lower odds.

OT, yes, there are a lot of fun and/or effective options in the Eldar codex. What else were you looking at?

The aspect warriors are all cool looking. Guardians and War walkers are ok. I'm sure they have their uses and builds that make use of them. The FW avatar is pretty awesome, but don't see myself getting one unless my game store gets the ability to order FW, or I find on cheap on eBay.

I wouldn't suggest starting with Kaela Mensha Khaine anyways. But it is a *beautiful* model (the only model I've commissioned, because I can't do it justice!)

It sounds like Swordwind is your thing. I'd suggest one box of each Aspect you want, instead of doubling up (except Avengers, of course). Couple points:
-Banshees are fun, and can be useful, but aren't good.
-Fire Dragons practically need a transport

Now, for HQ, I'd suggest either Autarch for simplicity, or Farseer for powers.

I'd probably be looking at more of a gun line style army. A few wave serpents with fire dragons could work. Maybe Swooping Hawks or Dark Reapers, but I'd have to read more about them. I'd probably stay away from Striking Scorpions and Banshees.

I would start with one theme or build, then go to another, and then another. I've done this with my GKs and CSMs. I think if I start eldar, I might start with a wraith army since it seems simple enough to start with (probably the cheapest too lol).

 ninjafiredragon wrote:

 Jaceevoke wrote:

 ninjafiredragon wrote:

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I have a 3-man squad of Shining Spears, which I hear are crazy powerful in some way with this edition's codex

Whoever told you this is either lying through there teeth, or are delusional.

Only decent way to run them is hope for invisibility, but really thats the same for any squad, or put a bunch of special characters into it and make it a friendly game death star.

I believe he is referencing the "Eldar are the Anti-fun" thread where a poster claims that shining spears are overpowered.

Yep and that poster either had some seriously bad dice rolls, his opponent had some extremely amazing ones, the IG list sucked worse than the eldar one, or the IG player is really bad.

Either way shining spears are bad.

Well, you could always say that a (comparatively) powerful aspect of them is the 50% reduction in cost over the editions since 3rd edition, lol. I have always found Striking Scorpions and Banshees to be just as useful as anything, but I play smaller games than what is normal nowadays, where you have tons pf points to spare that make other units seem much more palatable.

Wraiths aren't gunline.

It sounds more like you're into Tau than Eldar, the way you tell it.

Eldar can do gun line, granted not so much with wraiths. I assume masses of guardians would be better for that.

With my limited knowledge, it looks like a wraith army is more akin to a draigo wing style of play perhaps?

I despise the entire tau line. So boxy and bland. Bleh!

You could probably do it with Guardians but I'd use Dire Avengers for longer range.

Ah ok. I had forgotten about dire avengers since I usually hear about them being used in MSU to spam wave serpents.

Masses of guardians with heavy weapon platforms and war walkers could be decent. Khaine and a Wraithknight give you some CC punch. There are a few people on this forum that have experience using Foot Eldar.