What craftworld would be the best one to start for someone who has never played Eldar

[Blood Angel]

Looking for advice because I'd like to get painting.

What craftworld would be the best one to start for someone who has never played Eldar before?

And why?

Help me decide which Craftworld would be a good one to start with.

Also, Aspect Warriors are basically the same colors no matter which craftworld they come from right? So getting painting on Striking Scorpions or Warp Spiders should be just fine to do BEFORE deciding on a craftworld? (that is assuming whatever craftworld I decide on uses those units). I haven't bought aspect warriors yet anyway, I do however have the Wraithknight I'd like to start on and I'd like to paint some parts before they get glued on for a clean look.

Also, Guardians are usually their craftworlds color but the dire avangers are pretty much always blue and yellow though, right?

Thanks for any info or advice.

[eagleboy7259]

Iyanden is really the only one with unique rules right now, although if you're talking about theme-ing an army to be one specific craftworld they're all pretty legit right now, with the exception of Alaitoc - there are just too many better troop options than rangers and pathfinders.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

In general, Saim-han (red/black/white) uses lots of biker troops, Iyanden (yellow/blue) uses lots of Wraith units, Biel-tann (white/green) focuses on Aspect Warriors, Alaitoc (blue/yellow) focuses on Rangers and Ulthwé (black/bone) focuses on Guardians. However, all of them could reasonably field armies with few/none of those "signature" units.

Aspect Warriors are usually their "default" colourscheme, but could have any colourscheme you please - their colours varies per shrine (for instance, one of the Iyanden Dire Avenger shrines uses lots of yellow where most Dire Avenger Shrines use white).

In this case, I'd recommend choosing by colour scheme - something you like the look of, and think would be fun to paint. Don't rule out making a new craftworld either (take your fave colour, pair with black/white/its complementary colour, then figure the fluff out later :P).

[Tyrendian]

yeah, that's pretty much what I did... picked a color scheme (bluish grey with smaller parts of black and white, separated in gold... still loving it :) ), bought the units I wanted, and just played... in that respect Eldar are more forgiving than Marines, where playing Blood Angels more or less forces you to use Assault Squads, not to mention Wolves or GK... you can field just about anything painted however you like without offending your resident fluff bunnies :)

[Blood Angel]

Thanks for the Info so far.

Yeah, I'm kind of starting out painting units that kind of already have a color scheme like green for SS or black and red for WS. I bought one hemlock fighter that I'm using as a hemlock, so The description of it in the codex makes me visualize black as a base, and if used as crimson fighters, I can use red as a base. I got mine from a FLGS that sells at 20% off all the time and the Hemlock was still 52 or 53 bucks and then Washington State tax on that is about 10% (9.2 - 9.8 depending on what city or county you are in) so that was the better part of 60.00 discounted. So I bought only one hemlock and I bought two Razorwings to proxy as crimson fighters. I figure with them painted red with Eldar symbols and Eldar weapons on it, it should proxy pretty well. They were only 36.00 a piece before tax. so significant savings. but Since I have those paint jobs figured out and most aspect warriors are pretty easy to figure, that leaves the guardians and the other (falcons, anti-grav weapons etc... to figure out) I have thought of doing a lot in a bone color with trim to represent the wraithbone that things are made of. But again, are the Dire Avengers usually blue? are they like the Aspect warriors where they have a (usually) main color? or do they change depending on the craftworld's colors? Sorry, Usually I'm a SM or IG player. You should have seen how I agonized over painting my Tyranids. It took me forever and I ended up with the color I chose (bone, Green and purple) after buying some units from a guy on craigslist. I repainted his because they weren't up to the standard I like, but It was the inspiration for my color choices. lol. Marines are easy. pick a chapter and paint as needed.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Yeah, Dire Avengers are Aspect Warriors, usually have the Blue/White-style, but some Shrines mix it up a bit.

Edit: There's one shrine called the "Sable Helm Shrine" which have black helmets instead of white helmets, for instance. It wouldn't be unfluffy to paint them in bone if you feel like it, or just add bone trim?

[Xenith]

Since all Craftworlds are covered by the basic rules, pick the one that you like the colour scheme and background of the most.

All craftworlds use all units from the codex, just in varying amounts.

Craftworlds ally and come to one another assistance when needed, probably more often than things like Space marine chapters do.

Aspect warriors can be either traditional aspect colours, or whatever colour you like. It'r your army.

My Warp Spiders are White and Black. My Dire Avengers use my craftworld colour scheme. My Scorpions are gloss black, blue tint, with yellow warning markings.

[Chris*ta]

I'd say the best advice would be to go through the background and painting sections of the Codex and pick a craftworld you like the colour scheme/the background for. Alternatively, you could go to Lexicanum and read through the pages for the craftworlds there.

For example, if I ever get a chance to make an Eldar army, I'd go with Altansar, partly because their stuck-in-the-Eye-of-Terror-for-ages backstory is cool, but mainly because I like their crimson with black helmets colour scheme.

As for aspect warriors they do have standard colour schemes, but how "standard" they are varies from aspect to aspect. For example, Dire Avengers are mainly blue, with details in white, yellow and black. The precise use of these colours varies from shrine to shrine. There are some commonalities, though, e.g. their helmet crest is always in alternating stripes of black and white/yellow, at least when GW paints them.

Some aspects have less commonality, such as Fire Dragons. Their always in colours of flame (red/orange/yellow/scarlet/pinkish/purple) but there's no one standard colour that all Fire Dragons paint their armour. So, one shrine might have most armour painted red, another most of their armour painted violetish (unlike, say Dire Avengers, whose armour is always blue). Again, they will have details picked out in other appropriate shades.

Of course, what exact shades you use are up to you, so, some Striking Scorpions might be quite a dark green, others fairly light.

The info on the aspects various schemes should be in the Codex, or else look at various people's pictures on the net for inspiration.

The main rule for Eldar is that the colours are (nearly) always bright. Even Dark Reapers often have details picked out in a bright blue or purple or something.

Of course, they're your miniatures, so you're free to paint them however you like. I remember seeing an Eldar army in an old WD where nearly all the miniatures (even the aspect warriors) were in shades of grey -- they were meant for an urban setting -- they actually looked really good, and still managed to feel quite "Eldar-y".

[Dave Mcturk]

the new codex is a blast... time for new and old eldar players to enjoy some new toyz...
especially liking my black widows ! ;-}

[GrauGeist]

In general, you can paint and build as you like. Craftworld-wise, about the only real problem force is Biel-Tan, which wants more than just Avengers as Troops.

[Blood Angel]

I'd say the best advice would be to go through the background and painting sections of the Codex and pick a craftworld you like the colour scheme/the background for. Alternatively, you could go to Lexicanum and read through the pages for the craftworlds there.

For example, if I ever get a chance to make an Eldar army, I'd go with Altansar, partly because their stuck-in-the-Eye-of-Terror-for-ages backstory is cool, but mainly because I like their crimson with black helmets colour scheme.

As for aspect warriors they do have standard colour schemes, but how "standard" they are varies from aspect to aspect. For example, Dire Avengers are mainly blue, with details in white, yellow and black. The precise use of these colours varies from shrine to shrine. There are some commonalities, though, e.g. their helmet crest is always in alternating stripes of black and white/yellow, at least when GW paints them.

Some aspects have less commonality, such as Fire Dragons. Their always in colours of flame (red/orange/yellow/scarlet/pinkish/purple) but there's no one standard colour that all Fire Dragons paint their armour. So, one shrine might have most armour painted red, another most of their armour painted violetish (unlike, say Dire Avengers, whose armour is always blue). Again, they will have details picked out in other appropriate shades.

Of course, what exact shades you use are up to you, so, some Striking Scorpions might be quite a dark green, others fairly light.

The info on the aspects various schemes should be in the Codex, or else look at various people's pictures on the net for inspiration.

The main rule for Eldar is that the colours are (nearly) always bright. Even Dark Reapers often have details picked out in a bright blue or purple or something.

Of course, they're your miniatures, so you're free to paint them however you like. I remember seeing an Eldar army in an old WD where nearly all the miniatures (even the aspect warriors) were in shades of grey -- they were meant for an urban setting -- they actually looked really good, and still managed to feel quite "Eldar-y".


Thank you. This gives me what I was looking for to begin with. So I figure the Hemlock is black (to me the way they wrote it up as being the ultimate horror screams black with trim) Crimson Hunters are, well, crimson, Dire Avengers are blue based, the aspects are their main aspect colors, that leaves guardians, heavy weapons, tanks and WraithKnight as needing to decide what main color based of what craftworld. I decided that any wraith lords and wraith guard would be bone (to represent wraithbone) with the craftworld's color as trim. I also picked up a unit of jetbikes to get started with, so they would be the craftworld color (at least the hood/front).