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I've been looking at starting to play Eldar, but didn't know if getting the Battleforce was worth the price. From what I've read on army lists posted, most people avoid using Guardians, and only use the War Walkers in groups...

I haven't gotten an Eldar 'dex yet, but from what I know, the best thing to do is use Dire Avengers for troops, Fire Dragons and Wraithguard as Elites, Farseer as the HQ, and Wave Serpents and Fire Prisms as Heavy Support and Transports.

Any other tips??? I mostly play against MEQs and CSM right now, with some Necrons thrown in for good mearure...

Thanks

I wouldn't recommend the battle force, but you should invest in Howling Banshees, they will tear apart all the opponents you listed.

You're more or less set, you've listed the cream of the codex, though there are variations that can be made to work which uses other units - well, in a tournament setting.

You going for a competitive list or a collector's list?

Thanks for the info so far

I only play casual - have some friends over for some beer and Warhams...I'm mainly looking for a second army to use every now and again...they'll probably just sit on a shelf and look cool most of the time.

How are the Swooping Hawks and Warp Spiders? I never see them listed very often, but it seems like they would fare well...Any tips on those guys?

I personally like the swooping hawks. they are pretty good at several things, and annoy the heck out of an opponent when used right.

That alone makes them worth the points.

Here is how I run Swooping Hawks, squad o 5 or 6, with the Exarch, Sunrifle, Intercept, Skyleap. thats around - 173 points if I remember right.

If I get to deploy second, I use the opponents set up to decide wether I deploy them onboard, or keep em in reserves.

They take out Marine Landspeeders really well, imagine they would do the same on Dark Eldar skimmers too.

If you are fighting Orks, Imperial Guard, and you see your opponent keeping formations pretty tight together.

Bring the hawks in from reserve, and drop that grenade pack (large blast) gets a lot of guys when close together, then immediately hop back into reserves on your movement.

When to use Swooping Hawks to shoot. When there are squads of 5 or so to help clean up. The exarch Sunrifle puts out 6 shots. granted they are only STR 3, but they are pinning, combined with the hail of lasblaster shots from the rest of the squad, you can finish off smaller squads, cause them to break, pin them down.

They are a fun unit. And as a casual player, I have used them to some degree of success, sometimes of course they fail.

For casual stuff, there's not that much I'd recommend you away from, but if you get the slightest competitive just leave the Swooping Hawks on the painting table - they just can't get anything killed to merit their cost.

Warp Spiders can be made to work on tables with a lot of terrain. They are especially good for city fights with thin terrain that blocks line of sight completely.
Generally speaking they are more expensive than they should be, but it's not cutting your arm off deliberately the way it is with Swooping Hawks. Their most annoying use (and remember, you play Eldar to annoy your opponent, not to kill him) is to have a squad of these walk squads off the table - you can't regroup or ATSKNF with a spider near you.

Generally speaking, though, do yourself a favour and forget the Fast Attack section is even there. Technically speaking, Vypers can be made to work in a jetbike list, but it's a special sort of list and it takes a very cunning mind to play.

The best thing to figure out is what sort of list you want: foot, bike, mech (or walker*).
If you go foot, you'll be using clowns, wraithguards, wraithlords, and surprisingly Guardians (as meatshields). An Avatar and a Farseer as HQ are mandatory. You're a moving wall, the Wraithlords provide anti-tank and anti-CC with 'guards and clowns providing cover upon cover for the moving wall.
If you go bike, you'll be looking at Guardian Jetbikes, Vypers, Fire Prisms, and maybe DAVU Serpents. Avoid Shining Spears. Fake movement a lot and turbo-boost to divide and conquer.
Mech is Serpents loaded with Dire Avengers (Bladestorm) and Fire Dragons. HQ load-out should be light, CC infantry non-existant. Fire Prisms provide "artillery" and a Nightspinner can keep an infantry army immobile. Your main goal is to get as many Wave Serpents as possible, Dire Avengers with Bladestorm is a sort of cluster-bomb which they can drop - which can also be used to claim objectives.
A Walker army requires you to buy from Forge World. War Walkers aren't push-overs, even though they rapidly fold if focused on. Forge World sell Wasp variant, which are essentially War Walkers without Scout but with a Jump Pack so they can deep strike instead and have the option to move exactly like a flat-out skimmer - but the biggest benefit is that they are troop! 18 War Walkers means a potential of 144 S6 shots per turn - and this is less than 1300 points (although you'll need some capable anti-tank as well). Walker list is highly theoretical from my side, though.

Well, Serpents, Dire Avengers, and Warwalkers are very useful, but Guardians are not. You could trade them...

Serpent is $50. 5 Dire Avengers are 17.50 and the Warwalker is $30 retail and they want $90 for the battle box? Consider the Guardians a bonus? Seems worth it if you want to play Mechdar. Not so much if you want to play footdar.

You can use the Guardians, just don't use them as Defenders. Each box of Avengers has enough spare bits to turn a couple of them into Storm Guardians (multiple Exarch sprues with swords etc) who are definitely useful in mech lists with 2 Flamers + a Destructor Warlock. You can also use the heavy weapon sprue, it uses the same mounting as the War Walker which is important because you usually want to give them two of the same weapon and it only comes with one of each.

@Mahtamori. There is absolutely no requirement to buy from Forgeworld to do a walker based list (aside from the fact its cheaper for me to buy Forgeworld stuff than GW stuff from NZ, but that's a different issue). For one thing as Forgeworld models (which afaik aren't even in an actual book yet) Wasps are not going to be legal in the vast majority of tournaments, but more importantly they are Troop choices which are not scoring which makes them a terrible unit to fully spam because you instantly losing any objective games. Lists with 9 Walkers are legal, don't require Forgeworld and still put out plenty of S6 shooting if you are really trying to push that as the focus of your list. You can add Vypers to get more without compromising your scoring options or requiring Forgeworld.

I just bought a second Eldar Battleforce since I needed a Wave Serpent and another War Walker anyway. The are Guardians more or less a bonus since the other stuff bought seperately would come at the same price as a Battleforce, anyway.

Also, Guardians were a solid choice for me in 1000 point games so far, to hold objectives and add the support platform shot each round worked out pretty well, as long as they were in cover.

Yes- Dire Avengers, Farseer, Fire Prisms (at least two), Wave Serpent.

Problem, your wraithgaurd and firedragons cannot hold their own in close combat and they have very short range (albeit very good firepower and still a very good choice). If your fighting MEQs and such, your going to need a cc unit to keep them from running over your low Toughness eldar. For your thrid elite choice go for Banshees, Scorpions, Harlies, depending on your play style. IMHO your never going to be able to table your enemy if you have more than one unit of guardians, they are going to sit there and hold even after your opponent is out of their range.
Rangers on the other hand have great range and as pathfinders they can get up to a +2 cover save.

Then again thats all if you want a footdar list. If you really like bikes or wraiths, I've heard that a whole 3 elite choices of 30 wraithgaurd, some seers, and some wraithlords can be devastating.

Hope this helps you a little, I suggest you pick up the codex before you buy though, thats what I did.