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I'm new to BFG and really like what the Eldar fleet does.

The League starts at 500 points and escalates to 1000. Not very big games at all.

This leads me to my question; at 500 points do you think Eldar are more or less efficient with a cruiser?

Assuming you are talking about Corsair Eldar, I think you would be better off sticking with escorts. At that points level, your cruiser would be half of your points (well, a little less than a third if this is a CL we are talking about), and thanks to the effects of crippling/critical hits you could lose a major portion of your fleet quickly.

Of course, this is the problem with Eldar cruisers in general, but the problem is more pronounced in small point games!

Ruckdog wrote:Assuming you are talking about Corsair Eldar, I think you would be better off sticking with escorts. At that points level, your cruiser would be half of your points (well, a little less than a third if this is a CL we are talking about), and thanks to the effects of crippling/critical hits you could lose a major portion of your fleet quickly.

Of course, this is the problem with Eldar cruisers in general, but the problem is more pronounced in small point games!

Not sure what the Corsair Eldar is. If it is the one with the Shadow and Eclipse cruisers then yes that's what I'm playing. And I thought maybe an Aurora would make a good cruiser for 500 and I can still get 9 40 point escorts. Also, the Eclipse gives me access to the awesome Fighter/bombers of Eldar.

Corsair Eldar = as you say from rulebook (blue) and armada.

Craftworld Eldar = pdf's called Doom of the Eldar/Yriel's Raiders.

Eldar are, at a 500pts, not in need for a carrier (fighter/bombers).

You certainly don't need a cruiser at 500pts. But for flava (leader ship) an Auroro Light Cruiser (in Armada) would be a nice add indeed.

Without an Eclipse, what would the plan be against enemy Fighter/Bombers? I know they get a 2+, but at 500 3 enemy bombers definitely isn't out of the question, and 3 bombers is a lot of hits without turrets.

In 500pts you'll see a maximum of 4 launch bays in most fleets.

Your Nightshades and/or Aurora have torpedoes -> these are so good enemies will use fighters -> no worries about bombers.

Use the single Nightshade battery at enemy ordnance if option arises.

The maximum number of bomber attacks vs an Eldar ship is per marker: six.
Six dice vs 4+ armour = 3 hits per average.
That is 3 times a holofield save of 2+.
And Brace for Impact is also available.

horizon wrote:In 500pts you'll see a maximum of 4 launch bays in most fleets.

Your Nightshades and/or Aurora have torpedoes -> these are so good enemies will use fighters -> no worries about bombers.

Use the single Nightshade battery at enemy ordnance if option arises.

The maximum number of bomber attacks vs an Eldar ship is per marker: six.
Six dice vs 4+ armour = 3 hits per average.
That is 3 times a holofield save of 2+.
And Brace for Impact is also available.

Good point. Them taking fighters against my Torps kind of scares me a bit though, I really want my Torps to hit more important targets.

Here's what I think my 2 list options are:

1x Eclipse

2x Nightshade / 1x Hemlock

2x Nightshade / 1x Hemlock

or:

4 Squads of 2 Nightshades and 1 Hemlock.

This is my 500pts take:

2x Aconite (for weapon batteries)
6x Nightshade (=6 markers = good)
3x Hemlock (for armour cracking pulsars.


edit:
oh, your new: keep in mind with learning to play Eldar you will not learn Battlefleet Gothic.

horizon wrote:This is my 500pts take:

2x Aconite (for weapon batteries)
6x Nightshade (=6 markers = good)
3x Hemlock (for armour cracking pulsars.


edit:
oh, your new: keep in mind with learning to play Eldar you will not learn Battlefleet Gothic.

LoL you aren't the first one to say that. I think I have a pretty decent teacher though, he usually plays against me with Imperials.

Now with the list you suggested, is that how you'd run the squadrons? And Also, I know most fleets combine Torpedoes so turrets hurt them less, but with Eldar Torpedoes is it a decent strategy to just have separate torpedoes if they are running fighters?

Teacher doesn't matter. What I am saying is that Eldar play so differently compared to other races you'll learn to play BFG with Eldar. Other fleets work very differently, more like BFG really works.

Indeed a 2 Aconite squadron, 3 Hemlock squadron.
Nightshades: with vps give away in mind I would do two squadrons of three.

As for the torp question, keep in mind that, as Horizon said, at 500 points you will be facing probably 4 fighters (Tau and Nids would be the exceptions). So, if you have 6 Nightshades, the torpedoes of at least two will be getting through.