Any good ideas for an Eldar army?

[TonyaPatrick]

I am a newb to warhammer 40 k. I decided on Eldar as my army of choice. I am not really very sure of how to compose the best army list or how to determine what is most competitive. So far I have an old eldar battle force -the one with the War walker-, a Fire Prism, 8 Eldar Scouts from the 80s and 90s, a box of Eldar Rangers, a Farseer, Prince Yriel and Illic Nightspear. I really like the Iyanden craft world and am partial to magic. What suggestions do all of you have?

[pauljc]

I suggest researching any Eldar info you can get your hands on. Get that new Codex, immerse yourself in the fluff, and see if any of the particular Craftworlds speak to you.

Please, please, please, PLEASE do NOT pick an internet list. By all means use the internet for reading about Eldar stuff, tactics and lists. Use internet lists as informational guides when you make your own, but don't take it as gold when some website or another says, 'A is better than B' - that's horse poop.

See, the miniature hobby is about collecting miniatures, not army lists. So buy miniatures that appeal to you, build a collection. That way you can make a hundred army lists.

Personally, what I usually do with a new army is start with a basic idea, say 1500 points, that I determine to be fun to play, fluffy, and at least somewhat efficient and capable. Then I just collect miniatures. Doesn't have to be huge purchase. Just a box a month or something. Right now I am aimlessly painting Black Legion Marines. They don't have a specific purpose yet, but when the day comes that I want to field three blobs of twenty of those evil *******s, I can do it.

So yeah, my top tips:

1. Research
2. Collect minis, not lists
3. Read the internet
4. Then forget the internet
5. Buy stuff you like, to hell with what people say is 'better'

[DarkLink]

It really doesn't matter, you'll probably lose your first games anyways, and it'll help you in the long run because you'll at least be less likely to be stuck with money wasted on crappy units. I've met and played quite a few people who started 40k, bought random units they thought were cool, then quit because they just happened to assemble a terrible, terrible army and realized they'd lose a bunch of games and/or have to buy a whole new army just to be halfway decent. It's not like netlists are really as much of a thing as people make them out to be. I'll add that you're here looking for a bit of advice for how to assemble a halfway decent army, and saying "ignore all the advice we give you" isn't very good advice.

You'll want a farseer, probably one on a bike, some jetbikes as troops, some Dire Avengers and/or Guardians, a couple Wave Serpents, a big unit of Warp Spiders, some War Walkers, possibly a Wraithknight, and then maybe some Wraithguard, Fire Dragons, an Autarch on a bike, and maybe a nightspinner, maybe. That's pretty much the list that makes it into competitive Eldar armies. There are other units that work, namely the Seer Council, and maybe Swooping Hawks for fun, but you'll have to get some experience as a player before you really know what you're doing with them.

[Dave Mcturk]

absolutely no way to build a cheap eldar army... so play with some mates and 'proxy' the units you fancy until you get comfortable with them...
if you like speed go wave serpents / jetbikes... maybe spiderz and some heavy support - reapers / prisms/ spinners
if you like solid 3+ armour saves and dont like vehicles so much,... go spiderz, walkers, reapers, wraith units...
in almost all cases a farseer and autarch are very useful until you develop a taste for a pheonix lord...

enjoy ... the new codex is a vast improvement !

[TonyaPatrick]

I don't care about the price of figures. I figure I can get a box of guys or a figure a month. I love the journey to build up the whole army. I will primarily be playing my husband at first. And he plays space marines and blood angels. I know I will lose at first -be ing new and all...but I want to at least make it interesting and maybe give me chance at winning once I know what I am doing. How should I prepare given those parameters?

[Badlands]

I would say the first thing to do is start working on the core of your army, an HQ and 2 troops. From there you can decide ic you want to run footdar, tank heavy or whatever. Based off what you have asksd I would say go with either a Farseer and 2 squads of Dire Avengers or Guardians in Wave Serpents. You could also start with a Spiritseer and 2 squadz of Wraithguard in serpents ic you like the ghost warrior idea.
Both setups give you good anti-troop fire, the DA's can be ok in close combatand the wraiths are just damn hard to move off of an objective. Then with a seer backing them up any of these squads can be devastating. Your Wave Serpents will keep them safe until they get where you need them to be and are also a solid main battle tank.

Good luck and hope this helps.

[Archon Charybdis]

You mentioned liking Iyanden and magic (which Iyanden does a fair bit of with Spiritseers). If you're definitely set on Iyanden, you should look at collecting Wraithguard/blades, Wraithlords, and a Spiritseer or two (though your Farseer can proxy in a pinch). The units you have already can certainly go in an Iyanden army, though obviously the focus is on Wraith units, so that's what I'd recommend collecting to start with.

If you're not 100% sure on Iyanden, I'd recommend keep reading up on the fluff and check out the model gallery. Ulthwe is known for doing lots of psykers, so that might interest you as well. For most people it's the fluff and the models that initially grab their attention, and once you pick an army theme/craftworld you want to go with you can always refine your actual army list from there. Really there's only two really sub-par choices in the codex, Banshees and the Wraithfighter, neither of which is really essential to make a particular Craftworld list work. Further, the collection of models you've got could be reasonably worked into any kind of Craftworld really.

[Dave Mcturk]

spiderz will really annoy marines as their weapon 'counts' st7 v vehicles [except walkers]
the exarch can also pull off 3 ap1 shots at bs2... so side armour shots will pop most marine vehicles easily... and they are far cheaper and more mobile than the 'suicide' unit that firedragons are...

i also like reapers now even if its a teeny-tiny unit of 3 [with or without ex.] as they have a 48" range and 'ignore jink' ... if you cost up for the ex.. you get night vision options, fast shot and AA capability...