Question for Eldar players/collectors/fans?

What is it about the Eldar that motivates you? Models? Fluff? Extremely powerful codexes/codecies in nearly every edition?

I have about 2k worth of Eldar that have been sitting in a box since 2009 or so because I cannot find motivation for them. I bought them from a friend who was leaving the hobby...thinking that I would get them restored and painted up. I really want to do something with them just to give myself an excuse to buy Eldar titans...which was my major motivation for buying them in the first place...I want to own/build/paint a Phantom...an armorcast phantom would have been my first 40k model if I had had another $100 on me when I found them (opted for a warhound)

In any case, please tell me what it is that you love about them.

Style and Fluff. Then again I also played Dark Elves in WHFB.

The models are what do it for me. I find the boxy aesthetic of marines a bit boring and I don't really care for the other armies. Eldar are sleek, beautiful models (for the most part).

For me it's mostly the models/aesthetic and the fact that more exotic paintschemes do make more sense on them (at least, to me it makes more sense). It's a nice break from all the grimdark stuff 40k offers otherwise. Tau offers this as well, but this mecha theme isn't much for me I guess.

Eldar gave me more reason to actually try out painting orange cloaks and stuff... something my Orks or Chaos don't really have.

The entire Aspect warriors thing does appeal to me, since it doesn't make a unit use that ambigious... yeah, sometimes I like stuff to be less ambigious on the battlefield. If I'm running firewarriors at least I know why I'm running them.

I'm not much of a fluff junky, so I don't have much to chip in there.

As for powerlevel... From what I read and hear the army is quite powerful as it is now, but that never was the reason I ended up with any armies... not that much of a gamer, though having decent options pretty much all over the codex makes gaming a bit more fun. Playing once every few months with a poorly written codex doesn't add a lot of fun I guess.

The aesthetic and the background.

I started collecting Eldar back in 1991. For me it was, "well we already have space marines and chaos... hmm these look cool..."

I had a fully painted "army" (one or two of each aspect and an Avatar), but somehow they disappeared around 1995 =(

I got back into 40K around 2000 and picked up again with Eldar because I knew them and because I enjoyed playing them and their background. Sadly though, I am just not finding the motivation to paint them up again. I want to, I really do and I still enjoy playing, but finding the motivation to paint just isn't happening.

Paint has been a big hang up for me. Prefer to play a painted army...but not motivated about colors for them. Don't want to just paint each aspect in it's traditional colors...prefer a theme to the army. And if I'm gonna bite the bullet and get a Phantom, really want colors that I like. Thinking about priming up a squad of guardians and just painting each a different pattern til I find something I like...

In the middle of a fustercluck of grimdark I can zoom around on sleek, art-deco grav tanks? YES PLEASE!

I've never liked playing human armies. If I'm given a choice, I almost always choose a non-human character/army. Also, I prefer speed to toughness. Eldar just seemed the natural choice.

Power level wise, I've never thought the army was over powered until this edition. Never played 2nd edition so I can't speak to that era.

I play a lot of armies, Eldar for me is about the bright colours, it's a change to paint something that isn't grim and dark. :) Of course I know there are 'bright' marines too but still.... Not quite like the pointy eared tree hugging hippies... haha :)

1) Fluff - mainly the ex-supreme race/verge of extinction/tech humans can't comprehend etc
2) Models/style - original metal Scorpions and Banshees are what brought me into the game
3) Overall look - the only army where every unit being a completely different combo of mixed, bright colours works absolutely fine
4) Not a main thing but the 'Path of' series of Black Library books really got me back into the Eldar mood swing of things

Like Eldar_Atog (and probably many others in that topic) I've always preffered speed to brute strength/toughness. Elves are my favourite race in Pen&Paper RPG, cRPG, I've played HE and WE in WHFB long before my first encounter with 40K.
I'm also big fan of Tolkien's Silmarillion and when I first heard about Eldar in 40K (many, maaaany years ago) I thought "meh, they even steal that cool name of Firstborn..." But then I saw their miniatures and my second thought was (to quote Crimson Turkey) "In the middle of a fustercluck of grimdark I can zoom around on sleek, art-deco grav tanks? YES PLEASE!" ;)

When I started 40k, I saw the artwork on the 3rd ed codex, I thought "That guy looks mint", so I bought the book and read the background. I was hooked immediately.

It's everything about the Eldar that appeals to me. The beauty of their race, their arrogance and their desperate need to see themselves survive for as long as possible.

This fluff motivation keeps me going through every game I play. The models are stunning IMHO, as well as the varied paint schemes that can be applied.

In a nutshell what Eldargal said: The aesthetic and the background.

FEAR THE RAINBOW!!

Style and backstory. I also enjoy how they play.

Seeing serpent spam makes me a sad Eldar fan.

Biel-Tan for me, death of fire, blood and rainbows. Most of the time in my force it's only the vehicles and HQ that have the craftworld colours, unless I'm playing a particularly big game, then the Guardians and Wraiths come out, which I feel is a fluffy way of doing things. I love the idea of the massive force of deadly aspect warriors telling the militia to stay at home and strolling out to 'mow the lawn'.

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Originally Posted by Anggul

Most of the time in my force it's only the vehicles and HQ that have the craftworld colours...

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I have found a quite easy way to weave in my Alaitoc colors onto the aspects without disrupting their color scheme. For Banshees it was a dark Blue Loincloth and a yellow bandage around her leg, for falcons i was a dark blue helmet with yellow ventail, ect

I plan to eventually have a ghost-army of Iyanden; after I've finished collecting an entire armored battalion (29 leman russ tanks so far...).

They make for such great background lore and are also not too shabby on the board top either.

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Originally Posted by CrimsonTurkey

In the middle of a fustercluck of grimdark I can zoom around on sleek, art-deco grav tanks? YES PLEASE!

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pmsl.>>> but yes something along these lines; pointy ears / tails / forehead ridges; something different and 'eternal' - though they seem to 'die' quicker than you can say - "but I'm initiative 5! - I can see for 5 miles and shoot a bow while 'boarding' down the trunk of an elephant"

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Originally Posted by Anggul

Style and backstory. I also enjoy how they play.

Seeing serpent spam makes me a sad Eldar fan.

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^ this... serpents as per fluff should get a ONCE only use from their shields - would solve the whole issue - both in competition and friendly games!; always suspect that a lot of green womble major ball drops are just poor editing / checking and they dont have the gumption to own up to it !

I love the Eldar because I was introduced to them when I was twelve and the things I liked about them then are the things I like about them now. You get robot zombies, dudes that wear ninja star guns on their faces and use chainsaw swords, all your guys go to special ninja school or are retired from ninja school or are a nerd that can/will flip out and kill dudes. And let us not forget the friggin Avatar of Khaine, a statue so angry it melts its insides and spews Evil Dead amounts of gore from its hand! The only things they've lost that I miss are their wicked mohawks and power fists on Guardians.

Because they are frikkin cool!

Seriously though, the aesthetic and the back ground is why for me.

Mostly because they have a fluff and design which reminds me of the si-fi version of the Elfs in my alltimefavorite RPG (the dark eye/ Das schwarze Auge. Yes, it is older then GW's Eldar)

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Originally Posted by Crydon Games

What is it about the Eldar that motivates you? Models? Fluff? Extremely powerful codexes/codecies in nearly every edition?

In any case, please tell me what it is that you love about them.

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I like that they were free. Found an old box with 30+ old metal guardians, half a dozen jetbikes, some swooping hawks, fire dragons, a couple of wraithlords and a war walker, among other things. I'd thought they looked neat back in the day when the aspect warrior article appeared in WD, but never had much of an interest in building an army. Now, 20 odd years on I'm really enjoying working with the lead again and converting or scratch building bits that are missing.

The 'Oh it's an Autarch' excuse covers a myriad of sins.

When I first bought into WH40k, it was 2nd Ed boxed set for my boys who both wanted to be marines so I took on the Orks. Then when the last Ork codex butchered my Ork mob set up I decided to choose an army for myself. I remembered the first WH40k picture I ever saw. It was a vyper flying over an industrial sight and I did not know it was not human. Then when I decided on the change I thought back to that picture and went back to Eldar. Better WS & BS make up for the lower toughness. At the time Scorpions could match it with SM and Banshees had better odds carving them up. So I was confident of taking on anything.

As for the lads looking for motivation, think again and see if it is inspiration you need. I find I can't paint a figure or unit unless I have it in my head what they will look like. I took me 5 years to paint an Avatar and that was after I had pinned him together. I am now painting a Wraith Seer I bought 18 months ago because I settled on the image 2 months ago and had to scratch build his spear haft because the resin one was warped out of shape too badly. Definitely get the image then feel the excitement as it develops in front of you.