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Hey guys!

Just started to collect Eldar (I'm completely new to 40k so this is my first!) Just wondered if anyone has any advice or good links, as to what sort of units I should be starting off with to make a small 500 - 750 point 'take all comers' list.

I have so far a box of Dire Avengers, and have been theming them around Ulthwé.

Any comments will be muchly appreciated!

Well, playing Eldar is a good decision even if some members here will tell you that the codex is a bit outdated.

In a 500 pt game, I'd take 2 DA units in Serpents (shuricannon, stones) and a Farseer with doom.

I also think that it's important to have a plan for what you want later. AKA. Don't go with Serpents unless you're going to play mechdar by the point you get to higher levels. I think it's important in any army to have a theme or strategy that your army is based around, and from there you can see what you want. So, to see what kind of models you should buy, what kind of Eldar Army do you want? Off the top of my head, there's mechdar (everything in transports and vehicles), foot-slogging eldar, jetbike .... eldar, and eldarzilla, aka mostly wraithguard and the like.

wuestenfux wrote:
Well, playing Eldar is a good decision even if some members here will tell you that the codex is a bit outdated.

Why outdated? i mean, ok it's a 4th ed codex, but that's nothing compared to the Necron and Dark Eldar codices (3rd ed & 2nd ed).

Back to the topic, I would first get a codex, and as I play Eldar too, I would definitely get Farseer Eldrad, a unit of Guardians, and one unit from either the Elites section, the Fast Attack section, or the Heavy Support section in your codex, for starters. This gives you a reasonable 500pt army. From then on, after you have played a few games, it's your choice of what next to collect. hth.

YmeLocSquirrel256

Its outdated in the sense that its a step below all the 5th edition codices in terms of power and has far less diversity/options available, there are one maybe two competitive builds you can make with the codex. I would almost consider the Dark Eldar codex more powerful than the Eldar list, its just there is only one competitive build with it and its tricky to use (Lance Spam) + very few people play DE. Necrons are just bad.

YmeLoc you do realise that thats not a legal 500pt army right? You need another troops unit. Eldrad is good but he is too expensive for lists under 1000pts. Avoid the Fast Attack slots, certainly when you are just starting off.

For starters I suggest working out if you want to go the mech or foot route. If mech get Dire Avengers and Fire Dragons along with a bunch of Serpents to get you started. If foot get a few Guardian squads, probably a Wraithlord, and maybe a squad of Harlies and an Avatar for support. Farseer works wells as an HQ choice for both lists.

Yes, Eldar are definitely a tier 2 army in terms of pure power level. You can still win with them, but they are not a powerhouse any more like they were last edition.

@aime_Dakesis

You need to figure out what type of list you want first as TharVerdam stated. Once you know what type of list you want, then you can begin to plan.

Check out this article I wrote about List Building, it is really useful for a new player. It is a four part article and the last three parts are linked at the bottom of each article.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/04/40k-list-building-101-part-1.html

The main things it to decide on a strategy for your list, then determine how you are going to win games, then build the list from there.

Once you decide on the type of army you will use, you can start getting more useful advice. Right now you are asking to broad of a subject. Once you narrow it down, then you can start getting some really pointed, specific advice that will really help you to fine tune a list.

Hopefully that helps.

YmeLocSquirrel256 wrote:

wuestenfux wrote:
Well, playing Eldar is a good decision even if some members here will tell you that the codex is a bit outdated.

Why outdated? i mean, ok it's a 4th ed codex, but that's nothing compared to the Necron and Dark Eldar codices (3rd ed & 2nd ed).

Back to the topic, I would first get a codex, and as I play Eldar too, I would definitely get Farseer Eldrad, a unit of Guardians, and one unit from either the Elites section, the Fast Attack section, or the Heavy Support section in your codex, for starters. This gives you a reasonable 500pt army. From then on, after you have played a few games, it's your choice of what next to collect. hth.

YmeLocSquirrel256

I just found the old 3rd edition codex, and there's surprising what has changed. It's not very far from the 3rd edition codex. When I picked the 4th edition codex up, I thought it was just a re-release of all the erratas.

There's three things that stand out:
War Walkers are cheaper but a lot more fragile
Fire Prism is useful
But most importantly - Star Cannons are no longer worth taking instead of being the best thing about the codex.

amie, I'm in the same boat - I just started Eldar after playing Orks for a few years.

My 1,000-point plan is two 10-man squads of Dire Avengers in Wave Serpents, an 8-man Fire Dragon squad in a Wave Serpent, and a Farseer. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the last 60+ points.

If you're planning mech, for 1k points I'd do the following:

Farseer, guide, fortune, runes of warding/witnessing, spirit stones

5 dire avengers

Falcon w/ EML, underslung shuriken cannon

5 dire avengers

Wave serpent w/, EML underslung cannon

5 dire avengers

Wave serpent w/ EML, underslung cannon

5 fire dragons

Wave serpent w/ TL-shuriken cannon, underslung cannon, stones.

More tanks is more better than more dire avengers. The list up there has 60 points left over that could be used to buy a war walker, or to upgrade the fire dragons.

Powerguy wrote:
YmeLoc you do realise that thats not a legal 500pt army right? You need another troops unit.

Remember, he has got a unit of dire avengers.

YmeLocSquirrel256.