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Looking to start a new army and I hav decided on either Eldar or CSM. The new chaos codex definitely looks interesting and dark vengeance could serve as a good start. However I hav wanted to start Eldar from day 1. If I started Eldar, should i start now or whait for a new codex? Also I have not tried 6th edition so how does each army stack up. i am assuming chaos would be better because they just got a new codex. so which one would be a better choice?

I'd wait for the new dex. They're pretty badd

the only thing about waiting for the new dex is what if they drastically change the look of some models. The reason I like the Eldar is because they look so dang cool. then again the new chaos models loook insane.

I like and play Eldar. I frequently win with them in my gaming group. If you are looking for Tournament competition they may not work for you....but anything mildly friendly they are fun and easily useable.

I play eldar and csm, and I say go with what you like more. From your two posts that would be eldar. My eldar have treated me.very well.in 6th, against some competitive people and people.on dakka will be able to help you get better.

As for playstyle, eldar are more of a finess army- you win by relying on your fantastic mobility to dodge your opponent's main thrust, focus down on their threats to your army with concentrated fire, and focusing on the objectives. If you want an army you can send headlong into the enemy and engage in a straight up shoot out/tussle.... eldar will not win you many games.

Chaos on the other hand isn't very subtle. They have good stats, good weapons, and will soon have some Phil kelly cheese. They will be a pretty rough and tumble army for a while, and you can throw them right at your opponent's throat in a way you just can't do.with eldar.

So? Do you want to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee? Then pick eldar. Eldar are still good- especially with 6th edition's focus on objectives, and they are a very tactically fulfilling army.

Or do you just want to straight up smash your opponent's face in? In which case chaos. They will be quite powerful for a while because they are new, but be warned- when eldar and tau get updated [read soon] they will probably be more powerful than the csm release because 6th edition is truely all about shooting. And eldar /tau are very shooting oriented while chaos has traditionally focused heavily on close combat

So pick what you like, I like them both. But unless playstyle means a lot to you- I think you will be happier with eldar.

Eldar are easily a bottom tier codex right now, and that bottom tier is WAY below even the worst mid-tier codex. Additionally, Chaos is likely going to be a rather powerful codex, and will be getting a ton of nice new models over the next couple of months. Additionally, as for your concerns about Eldar models changing, they only tend to add to model lines, and any changes they make will either be updating old models, turning a model that was previously meta/finecast into a multi-part plastic model (the could theoretically release plastic Wraithguard with the next Eldar codex, for example), so I wouldn't worry too much about the look you like in Eldar going away when their codex is eventually released.

I say go with Eldar. You've wanted them from the beginning and love their look, so you'll enjoy building your force and learning how to play it. And when the new dex comes out (which seems a ways off yet) you will have an army ready to go with hopefully only minor additions needing to be made.

 mercurialman wrote:
the only thing about waiting for the new dex is what if they drastically change the look of some models. The reason I like the Eldar is because they look so dang cool. then again the new chaos models loook insane.

I think most of the old stuff will stay the same. I wouldn't mind an updated Chaos Marine/Terminator box for the new look, but I think they will stay the same.

Usually I recommend that people start a new army well in advance of their new codex coming out. The simple truth is that it's going to take you awhile to get your army up and painted, so it would make most sense to start well in advance of when you intend to play. Also, minis are always cheaper before a new codex comes out. Plus, having some experience under your belt before a new codex can sometimes be helpful.

In this case, though, I might avoid it, actually. Most eldar infantry models are still metal, which means that when the new eldar codex comes out, they're going to be releasing a lot of new plastic models. Plastic models which will undoubtedly look cooler than whatever 15-year-old metal models you'd be buying and painting right now.

Furthermore, the longer a codex goes without being redone, the more drastic the redo, generally speaking. You're actually starting to accrue some risk by this point. Yeah, the next eldar codex will have farseers and guardians, but they may, perhaps, drastically rewrite the rules for swooping hawks, or seriously change point values on certain things (like how all eldar players had to re-model bright lances after the last codex came out).

If you can pick up some stuff for cheap, then I'd give eldar a go. I wouldn't start a different army right now if your heart is really set on eldar, though. Their codex will be out soon enough to make that a bad idea. If you want, start small, and start conservative. Get a farseer and a couple of wave serpents or some guardians - something already in plastic, and play some small games until their next codex is released.

I agree with the above, it will take time to get your army painted and to the table top, so starting in advance on the eldar would be good and you said you like the units so it's not a big loss when new stuff comes out.

to avoid being a little demoralised when new eldar come out and you think hey damn i like those too, start with a small army project, 500-1000 points. That way you can get the very core coolest looking units that you like whilst leaving room for expansion when future things come out.

on the other hand chaos is ready to go and the dark vengeance box set is very good value in my opinion. By th etime you get that box made and painted you will know where you stand on your army prefrence, and will have potentially saved alot of money because you won't buy stuff that will either go out of date or that you will not like...that and atm the dark vengeance box has good resal value in my opinion, i would love to pick one up second hand in the coming mo9nths.

So in the end it's your call, which models excite you the most, keep it small and simple, paint as you go and you will find your true path.

in a sound bite, go with eldar, they sound like they will make you smile the most and be expandable in the future.

If you like Eldar for their current look, go with Eldar. Metal models really aren't as bad as people make them out to be IMO, and if you have the models that you like now and then they change how they look after the new dex, you can still use the older models. It's very unlikely that any of the units will be taken out (most, if not all are pretty vital to the fluff), so any model updates will just be aesthetics, and possibly some new units.

Both are awesome armies and both have monsterous creatures - although the demon prince is the better model imho.

Don't be put off by detractors bashing the current eldar codex. There is plenty of scope to come up with excellent tactics that'll wrong foot your opponent and use fantastic model; any army with wussy CC troops imagine infiltrating all your ranges and 3 full units of striking scorpions complete with tanks; 6 with a double organisation force - woo ha ha. Also the falcon grav tank has access to one of the best weapons in the game the pulse laser - its a shame the other units in the army can not take these as options.

Agree with the poster about metal miniatures being good; just give them a good few coats of varnish to stop them chipping. Reasearch this on the internet and don't be suckered into the GW branded varnishes. Humbrol do some good ones and some people swear by gloss varnishes for the first few coats followed by a matt one.

I'm currently putting together a CSM force I don't like the bike models or the old raptor models and was stuggling to get a non-rhino rush force together (only got the older codex three months ago - dooh!) and it was thinking about using the CSM that got me looking at my old eldar codex again. I've never collected eldar but I'm certainly going to give a small force a go.

If your going to start collecting before the new codex I imagine you should stick to blander units as I imagine it will be the specialists which get tweaked. I'll probably start off with some rangers and striking scorpions just to give me something to paint not sure about HQs at the moment will ponder this further.