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Would SC box be the best way, or should I go Harliquins and wait for the Eldar box in 2023? I just want to give up my Imperial armies and start building a Xenos faction. But I have no idea the best way to start with Eldar.

Dark eldar Patroll box is a good place to start.

Other options is to buy a used harlequin army.

For craft world eldar they have a start collecting box with the dead robots. It is no good if you do not want to run them. Most eldar units are bad. So you need to be really picky of what units you want to buy.

My local store has a few boxes of guardians marked down to like 20/box. Is it worth picking up Guardians?

Guardians are kinda trash right now. But for $20 for 10 guys isn't a bad deal. You could do the Guardian bomb list.

For craftworld buy what you like.

They generally have been broken good as an army in most editions. But have piss-poor internal balance. So figure out which units won the cheese lottery in the latest codex, and spam them to victory. Because next edition the wheel gets spun again and new units are going to be the hottness, and your current collection is going to be trash. The GW nerfbat pendulum swings wild and hard. If a meta chasing Eldar player never sold minis, they’d probably have 3+ copies of every unit in the book due to the shifting tides of power.

With solid rumors pointing at a new book/partial revamp to the range next year, who knows what it will bring.

Unless you can read the skein of fate, it’s hard to guess what will be worth owning soon. Which is why I suggest getting units you enjoy. If you play in a very competitive meta, obviously this is not going to help you win games. For that, look at tournament results and follow their lead. (Probably the Dark Kin for pointy ears). For more casual play, get a solid TAC core of stuff you like. To that you can add some of the latest FOTM to boost your power if needed.

Why Eldar? Not just that you want to start a xenos army, but what caused you to pick Eldar? What aspects of the army? What models look cool?

Start with an army that you enjoy and makes you happy.
Then figure out how to make it work.

Unless you are playing on the top tables at tournaments, there is a lot of flex on how to build/play. But for long term happiness and enjoyment of the hobby, figure out what you love, and then make that work. Rather than get what works, and try to love it.

Honestly, I wanted to choose the most Anti-imperial faction I could think of, that isn't orks (Boring for me) and Eldar always looked really cool. I bought a box of Harlequins back before 9th dropped, is it possible to include those into craft world? They were the most fun I've had painting minis ever, and I'd hate to see them relegated to shelf pieces.

Also, I feel like Eldar are the farthest thing in the game from legit contenders for Meta, barring tau and Knights.

Harlis are their own army these days. You should be able to make a viable army with them, but not sure how competitive they are (as I’ve not really paid attention to their rules for a couple editions). I don’t think there are particularly high costs to souping elves, but again, I’m just a craftworld guy.

Once Craftworld Eldar get their codex for 9th, I suspect they will do OK. But we will cross that bridge when we get there. It seems like as time goes on parts of the game that favor them get cut, or other aspects get buffed, leaving them behind. But they have so many tricks and specialists, there are normally enough arrows left in the quiver to make something work.

Harlequins where one of the most powerful factions upon edition launch. They where better then SM and Necrons even with their 9th codex. It is unclear how well their fere VS sisters, admech, drukhari and orks.

Buy a 3D printer and save yourself a fortune is the first step

I have a 3d printer, but my prints look like lumpy piles of crap. lol. I am a worse printer than I am a painter.

The SC! Craftworlds box is a good way to get started with some solid and core units for the army, you'll always need a Farseer, the Wraithguard can be taken as Blades which are better (even better is to magnetise), the War Walker is a great choice at a range of points levels and the Wraithlord is fine, probably the weakest option in the box.

I'd say it's worth picking up the box if you like the units and they're usable while you wait for the codex. The rumour is Harlies are getting rolled into Craftworlds again but I wouldn't rely on that.

With a new codex coming we won't know what will be good and what will be just meh. You should think about the style of army you want. You could lean heavy into Guardians and run an Ulthwe style list, you could run a ghostwarrior themed list (with SC boxes) although I'd go custom Craftworld for that one, or you could go with a hvy aspect themed list but then you're stuck with banshees and dire avengers (don't buy expensive resin aspects because some may be replaced with plastic soon enough).

Which Eldar models do you like the most visually?

 bullyboy wrote:
With a new codex coming we won't know what will be good and what will be just meh. You should think about the style of army you want. You could lean heavy into Guardians and run an Ulthwe style list, you could run a ghostwarrior themed list (with SC boxes) although I'd go custom Craftworld for that one, or you could go with a hvy aspect themed list but then you're stuck with banshees and dire avengers (don't buy expensive resin aspects because some may be replaced with plastic soon enough).

Which Eldar models do you like the most visually?

So I feel bad saying this, because I know they are terribad, but I love Howling Banshees, or Harlequins. I love the deadly in your face rush down style units. Only problem is that I keep forgetting they aren't Custodes.

If your open to non GW models, raging heroes is releasing their not eldar line soon, (current stl files on their subsidiary company, but will make its way to their main store as models at some point)

Cons: typically more expensive than GW and lower quality resin

Pros: wont be 30 year old sculpts

 Nevelon wrote:
For craftworld buy what you like.

They generally have been broken good as an army in most editions. But have piss-poor internal balance. So figure out which units won the cheese lottery in the latest codex, and spam them to victory. Because next edition the wheel gets spun again and new units are going to be the hottness, and your current collection is going to be trash. The GW nerfbat pendulum swings wild and hard. If a meta chasing Eldar player never sold minis, they’d probably have 3+ copies of every unit in the book due to the shifting tides of power.

This is surprisingly true. I'm not sure I can think of an Eldar unit that hasn't been crazy good at least at one point in the last 15 years

As an Eldar player, specifically Craftworlds, my advice is to lean towards units which have been updated in the recent past as I'm expecting (hoping) for a few new sculpts next year. Guardians being one.

The SC box is a good start. Personally I would recommend two. WraithBlades are one of our strongest units and I don't expect that will change in the next codex. War Walkers are also excellent.

As for the Wraithlord(s), at the moment I'm not a huge fan but I know others are. I personally would kitbash or proxy into a Wraithseer which is far superior as it currently stands.

After you've bought the SC you need troops, and transports, so a couple of boxes of Dire Avengers (again, fairly recent sculpts so no dangers there) and a Wave Serpent or two. Serpents are admittedly old sculpts, but I defy you to find a single Eldar player that complains about the way they look. GW aren't about to change them any time soon.

Finally, a spiritseer to run with your wraiths will give them rerolling 1s to hit while also providing a bit of extra Psychic buffery on the field.

On that 2019? Craftworld vanguard battalion is it worth buying at $220 including the shipping? It's like $85 off retail pricing of them all seperate but $45 more than it's original cost as a box set.

Frankly, I'd wait for the new codex in the 9th edition which should be released early next year.

Actually, you cannot go wrong with Dire Avengers, Dark Reapers and flyers like Serpents.
As HQ, I'd go for a Farseer on bike.

So which Farseer is the most versatile option? The one on the bike or the one with the wings?

It really depends on what you're getting out of it and what your build is. My current build runs both a Jet-seer and a wings-seer, but generally the former is more versatile.

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
My local store has a few boxes of guardians marked down to like 20/box. Is it worth picking up Guardians?

I'm jealous, a FLGS had mmm maybe an old mid 1990s sealed guardian box of 10 or 20 models for $65. I was a bit stunned to see it.

If Eldar are indeed the army you want to get started with and move forward with deals are always good because if you stick with the army edition/book/points changes can change and suddenly 10 Guardians become really handy to have on hand even if they weren't a few months before. And building an army on deals for a long term investment is wise.