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Got a few queries re Eldar expansion and wouldnt mind some advice from experienced players-


Bare in mind none of my games are serious...not looking for THE best stat/pointwise for games. All friendly at home games.

1- Was going to buy Striking Scorpions or Warp Spiders but then noticed they were Fine Cast thats available. Heard bad things about finecast? Are they ok to buy in your op? Also maybe Scorpions re released soon or is that no chance?

2- Looking to get Howling banshees. Impossible question but will they be released soon do you think(given the were in the new Eldar mixed box)?

Basically worried, with the Psychic Awakening and the new eldar mixed box, they might soon replace the older lines of fine cast right after I drop a load of money.


Thanks for any answers and sorry for so many threads asking questions ;]

You could pretty easily get the Howling Banshees, and maybe also Jain Zar, the Wave Serpent and Vyper if you want, by going to eBay. That's how I got the Drukhari half of Blood of the Phoenix without having to buy the whole box.

But there's no guarantee on boxed set characters coming out before the set goes OOP. I know people STILL waiting on the Loon King (or whatever it was?) and Arch-Revenant from the AoS Bad Moon set.

Finecast is great if you're working with chunky models, but awful if you're working with anything skinny; most Eldar models make for terrible finecast sculpts. In my experience Dark Reapers and Warp Spiders are the thickest Aspects with the fewest skinny pointy bits and work reasonably well, the rest have weak points you have to be very careful with.

Sometimes you can find people on Ebay parting out the box and just selling the Howling Banshees or Jain Zar.

Hey buddy

If you are not playing super serious then the Blood of the Phoenix half is actually not too bad of an expansion... It got a lot of bad rep because the original price is atrocious and the models were pretty old and not great.

However with the new phoenix rising custom traits both the falcon and the viper have really gone up in viability. (falcon especially post CA 2019 is pretty solid now)

The aspect troops with the new exarch powers and custom traits are definitely viable in casual games and you wont be gimping yourself by taking these so much.

I would vehemently advise against buying any sort of fine cast product. I have bought 5-6 fine cast troop boxes/upgrade sprues in the last 7 months and they have been crap fest to clean and not enjoyable.
However, YMMV.

There's been no rumours as far as I know regarding new plastic kits.. I do not believe we will be getting any more plastic replacements for aspects any time soon.

Ebay is your friend if you want to hunt for OOP metals or cheap finecasts. Last I checked you can get the plastic banshees on their own form re-sellers on ebay for about £26.. The OOP metal sculpts look £10 cheaper. Not sure what you already have in your collection. If you check out Goblin Gaming/Wayland 3rd party shops you can get some nice discounts.

perhaps listing what collection you have, so that we can help you better. I typically go for what's cool, usage in game viability comes second. I hate clones, with some of the new mono pose models, I would just get 1 set unless I can figure out a easy way to repose them, even a small head swap would do.

troops and transports you can always use more, the elites/fast/heavy/super heavy I typically get no more than I can use with some exceptions. Maybe some eldar related terrain, like the gate, ruins, or homemade statue.

 Big Mac wrote:
perhaps listing what collection you have, so that we can help you better. I typically go for what's cool, usage in game viability comes second. I hate clones, with some of the new mono pose models, I would just get 1 set unless I can figure out a easy way to repose them, even a small head swap would do.

troops and transports you can always use more, the elites/fast/heavy/super heavy I typically get no more than I can use with some exceptions. Maybe some eldar related terrain, like the gate, ruins, or homemade statue.

Thanks for the input folks.

Re what I have now:

The Start Collecting Box
A Falcon
2 units of Guardians
1 unit of 5 dire avengers
1x Wave Serpent
Plus I have a strong suspicion that my wife has bought me a Wraith knight for xmas.

Just short of 1k points without the Knight

As I say, really not after the most efficient tournament list....just a a force to have some good games at home vs friends. Initially I will be providing both forces.

Get whatever you think is cool and want to paint man.
Unless you are playing cut throat competitive games then you can slot all sorts into your army.

Aspects are certainly cool and nothing says Eldar more than aspects
The only downside is finecast but current sculpt OOP metals seem to have come down in price somewhat. My suspicion is people are holding out because plastic aspects are potentially in the pipeline.

You can probably pick Falcons up pretty cheap 2nd hand on ebay, they actually are viable now.

Grav tanks of all flavors (Falcons, Prisms, Spinners) are in a great spot post CA2019.

Finecast may be more work, but it´s cheaper than plastic. I had no problems with the Striking Scorpions, maybe a bit more work than plastic, but not much.

But when they get changed to plastic you´re only going to get 5 models in a box, and you´ll probably see a price bump too.

So I´d advise you to get the Aspects in Finecast, if cost is an issue. The only one´s I´d be wary of are the Swooping Hawks, those feet have a flimsy connection to the base.

But you´ll never see Reapers at this price in plastic.

They set a terrible price precedent with the Dire Avengers. They basically doubled the price when they cut them to 5 (admittedly they were already plastic), and realised that Eldar players will pay top dollar.

This will be demonstrated when they finally release the Banshees for real. Expect a 25% increase in cost per figure, compared to Finecast....

If you’re okay with 3rd party striking scorpions, go look at Artel miniatures, they have one of hell of a sub, better than the original imo.

https://artelw.com/28mm-scale-miniatures-c27134181?offset=30

Most of it is available relatively easily in metal on eBay.

Yeah hunting down the metal versions is probably better to be honest.

Metals all the way. ... a start collecting box seems right for you too. Maybe a wraithlord and or some walkers and or support weapons