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But I need some sagely advice. I've been browsing Dakka for a little while and thought it might be the right place. First off, hello!

I recently got into 40k, literally the last week of January. I bought a battleforce kit on impulse and got the Eldar. My other friend bought the Tau, and my other friend the Orkz. Our fourth already had some models made of both Tyranid and Blood Angels but had never played. After we learned the basics it became quite fun, but I've found that Eldar while fluff and appearance-wise suit me (Or was it Dark Eldar, my friends always toss around the word guile when it comes to me), the tactics are frustrating. While this sounds odd, I'm never targetted in game because I'm lowest priority, I do the least. Dire Avengers squad, a Guardian Squad, Wave Serpent, War Walker, I bought a Farseer + Warlock retinue and some Striking Scorpions for the Orkz.

Regardless, I've been eyeballing a few other armies and was wondering if I could get some feedback, either on my current Eldar army or one of the others I might buy come March.

Space Marines, preferably Raven Guard or White Scars.
The current Chaos Space Marines Battleforce.
Or the Cadian battleforce.
Also: Would have enough money to buy a troop transport for any of the armies listed above, 30-40 spare dollars for the transport/extra squad.

Again, I love the Eldar because they can hit hard if used right, but are unforgiving for the careless. I'd like something quick and hits like a truck, but with enough tactical flair to keep me interested. I like the idea of the Orkz that my friend has, but the strategy of "Get stuck in, hit it, hit it again, then hit it harder", isn't quite appealing to me. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I would just stick with the elder if money is tight its prolly best to just keep expanding on your force untill you have something viable.

On a side note farseer with seer council is badass and so are firedragons in transports.

Guardians are bad so they the one horrible choice that it seems all battleforces must come with.

Mako wrote:While this sounds odd, I'm never targetted in game because I'm lowest priority, I do the least. Dire Avengers squad, a Guardian Squad, Wave Serpent, War Walker, I bought a Farseer + Warlock retinue and some Striking Scorpions for the Orkz.

Post up the list you are using and what point value you are playing at. Right now just looking at the list top-down it looks pretty unfocused and weak. Post up a proper army list and maybe we can help you out.

Eldar really shine when they can get their army together. They have some absolutely incredible units, but you've got a slow start with the battleforce. Guardians are not very good, but jetbikes are totally awesome. Dire Avengers are very good, and Wave Serpents and Falcons are incredibly durable with some upgrades.

"Something quick that hits like a truck" is really the Eldar's whole schtick. They're a very fast, and very high damage army. They're fragile, but with good maneuvering, enough armor, and the right troops in the right place they can be incredible.

Roughly 800 points, we've been doing 2v2 annihilation. Trying to get the rest on to Objective capturing, should be soon. Hopefully.
5 Dire Avengers (Exarch included) = 122 points. Double Shuriken Catapult and Bladestorm.
3 Warlocks, 1 with Singing Spear= 78 points
Farseer = 55 points
Guardian Squad with Starcannon Platform = 105 points
6 striking Scorpions (Exarch Included, with Scorpion's Claw) = 155 points
War walker with Bright Lance and Starcannon = 95 points
Wave Serpent = 90 points, with differing upgrades so far it's gone to 115 or 125

Sorry if the list is a little sloppy, first time doing this.

Aiming for a 1,000 point army over time. Nothing to big for a few months.

War Walkers with scatter lasers are incredible for the amount of high strength fire for few points they can spit out. If you can up your squad to 3 you can kick a LOT of ass with them. You probably want a second Serpent/Falcon for the Warlocks and Farseer. Objective capturing is generally a far more rewarding game in my experience, and you may do better that way. The Guardians, while not great, can be used to hold an objective with that starcannon.

Alright, I'll look into it next time I go by the hobby shop with the buds. Thanks!
What of the other armies?
Space Marine? One of the widely played, versatile, etc.
Chaos Space Marines? Don't know anything of them.
Imperial Guard? I've heard a lot about them being the best army currently.

Brother SRM wrote:War Walkers with scatter lasers are incredible for the amount of high strength fire for few points they can spit out. If you can up your squad to 3 you can kick a LOT of ass with them. You probably want a second Serpent/Falcon for the Warlocks and Farseer. Objective capturing is generally a far more rewarding game in my experience, and you may do better that way. The Guardians, while not great, can be used to hold an objective with that starcannon.

+1, this is good advice.

Also, I wouldnt give upon your Eldar yet. You have a nice little force going and from your description of what kind of army you want to play I think the Eldar are perfect.

Thanks, really appreciate it.
I'm not buying anything until March comes around, so I've got time to try a few more rounds with Eldar as well. I do like them, but I hate the squish inherent in the majority of their units. It will most likely come down to sticking to Eldar, or going CSM.

STAY WITH ELDAR,

Don't go with Space Marines! (or Chaos Space Marines!), once you go to an actual store you'll realize how 90% of people play Space Marines vs. Space Marine battles (or spiky space marines) and how thankfully you are that you're not one of them.

Eldar has a steep learning curve but is extremely rewarding in the end. Space Marines are for noobs with no skills so they have to rely on their 3+ save all the time. It makes it so they don't even have to use cover.

People start with space marines when they are beginners and move on to other more challenging armies NOT the other way around. Since you started with Eldar consider yourself a step up from all those smucks who started with Space Marines because they didn't have the balls to play an army that requires no mistakes. Space marines are 1) overplayed 2) general jack-of-all trades boring and 3) tactically too forgiving - it might make your 40k play WORSE.

If you really need another army I'd recommend Imperial Guard, they are forgiving thru sheer number of models.

Despite Dorian's standard irrational hatred of Space Marines and their players, he has a point, and there are going to be a lot of Marines in most environments you play in.

However, if you find you enjoy the Space Marine fluff, don't hesitate to pick them up! They can be a fun army if you so want. Even though, I recommend that you stick with Eldar. You're still starting out, so I'd recommend building up and expanding your existing force before branching out. Eldar are one of the factions that you need lots of time to learn how to play them...but once you DO know how to play them? They are nigh unstoppable.

Well, when given something like that I suppose I don't have much of a choice do I?
I'll give Eldar another try and then, if in a month or so I'm still not liking it, I'll look at another army. Between Chaos or IG.

So I need to find some more War Walkers, another transport vehicle. Even though the Dire Avengers are a small squad, I love using them. Especially for their Bladestorm ability. If I had to get another squad, what would be good? Rangers? Fire Dragons? Reapers? I'm sorely missing long range, beyond vehicles.

Well, Wraithlords in Low-point games are really a pain to bring down since they dont have enough firepower to bring it down efficiently

War walkers are best with dual scatter lasers, that 8 str6 shots, pretty awesome despite them being BS3, so stuff like bright lances, dont depend on them.

Fire Dragons need a wave Serpent, and then you pretty much point and explode any vehicle they tuch. You see that land radier? well now its a crater

More Dire Avengers are always a good buy, as they are very good units.

Storm guardians are also good, with 3 flamers or 2 fusion guns and a spearlock in a serpent.

Theres lots of good units the eldar have, althouh non-vehicle long range firepower other than the wraithlord is not availible (unless your counting guardians, but they suck, only good for forming walls around your vehicles to protect them from drop podders/deep striking intending to melta our weapons and/or holding objectives.