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I just started Eldar and finished assembling and priming them. I was very excited to put them on the field and got to play for the first time yesterday. It was sad. I was facing some orks.. like 22 lootas in two groups. I died really quick. Anyways.. what do you think my next purchase should be? Here is my current list.

Spiritseer x2

5 Wraithguard with Dscythe x2

Wave Serpent with SL and SC x2

I am going for an Iyanden list.. minimial guardians. Ever since reading the Iyanden sourcebook, it makes me sad when an Eldar dies... it makes me sad when a wraithguard dies too. Thats someone's grandma that was just sent to Slaneesh!! Maybe I should go back to IG.. their expendable.

You must have just gotten unlucky. If the ork player went first, and rolled hot with the lootas/you failed jinks, sure your list is going down. Serpents are tough, but only 2 on the board makes them very easy targets, and enough fire will drop em. Your list is good, but it is too few eggs in too few baskets to work at this points level. At 1500 with upgrades it is a VERY solid core.

First things first, get holo fields on your serpents. This extra protection grants your serpents much longer life, particularly when you only have 2. Remember, your serpents are dakka machines, and with some average shooting you should be able to gun down lootas quick. The shield has long range, don't be afraid to fire it and kite the lootas for a bit, then go in for the kill.

You also probably don't need 2 squads of scytheguard in this small of a game. Wraithcannons are totally awesome too, and cheaper! They can also benefit from spirit mark, where the d-scythes can't. That said, if a squad of scytheguard got to those lootas it would have been over.

A second spiritseer is also probably not needed until you pass 1k. They are really great choices and not expensive, just not required for now.

As far as what to add, I would look into some heavy support. You can go with either wraith for tough, long ranged AT. A wraithlord is effectively armor 12 with a 3+ armor save, so they saturate well with serpents. A wraithknight is double this(and double the cost of a stock wraithlord, but stock lords are not very good!) and a great deal. They work great with voice of twilight or renewer. Or if your lucky and get invisibility from telepathy...super good.

While im on the topic of powers, voice of twilight is awesome, albeit expensive. Try to roll protect first, maybe renewer. Default to VoT after that. If you have a roll left, roll telepathy for invis, hallucination, maybe puppet master. Psychic shriek is a stupid good primaris if you roll any of the other powers.

So yeah, go all out Iyanden. It is a very strong, very tough army. Just make sure to balance out your horde control, as Iyanden usually has a problem with this. A great niche unit for this is swooping hawks. Drop them near the lootas using their large blast, then dakka your lasblasters and watch the ork player cry.

Thanks for the reply!

I think I will go for a heavy support choice next. I like that the lord is cheaper, but the knight looks uber awesome so I will probably go that route for my first slot.

Just a quick question about jink. You were right that the ork player went first and just decimated me.. but I did not take a jink save because I hadn't moved yet. Was that correct?

Yeah, in that case there was not much you could have done, other than deployed your serpents out of sight/range.

A wraithlord is cheap stock, but you want 2 guns on the shoulders, bumping it up quite a bit. Scatter+scatter, scatter+star, or lance+lance all work great, and remember wrist flamers. Wraithknights on the other hand are best taken stock.

Also, with the Iyanden book you can get your wraithknight to be your warlord...and with some of the warlord traits available, that knight can become a demigod of the battlefield.

Dr. Serling knows quite a bit Rakur he has my respects. I think Wraith Lord is a good pick for you right now. Though I would also suggest thinking about perhaps a Fire Prism if you want to feel a bit more at home and IG'ish.. This leads away from the pure Iyanden a little. But it would give you focus and blast potential out of a unit that would feel familiar to you and might help you feel a bit more comfortable on the board.

- Viridian

Well, I'd start with an amry without Iyanden models. Such an army is more for the specialist. I'd go for Dire Avengers, a Jetseer, and a Windrider Jetbike unit.

In my humble opinion the wraith knight as your warlord will just make small games child play for you as the wraith knight stock is 240 points and take an average of 60 plasma gun shots to down him and seeing that not many players take 60 plasma guns at once means that you will last a long time if not indefinably.

So yes i would go with a wraith knight.

I'd probably want some more boots on the table. Maybe avengers or banshees?

banshees suck.... dont bother. averngers are good in 5 man sqauds in serpents.
if you want more bodies, i guess you could get gaurdians.
more bodies arent needed in an eldar lsit though.
Most competitive lists dont have a whole lot of "boots on the table"

serpents are so good you dont need em.