[Hurricane]

I'm curious as to what you all think of taking up the Eldar right nowish. Based on the couple threads I've thrown up in the past days it seems they aren't very popular and I can see why. For me, however, they would be a more fun army as I have my razorwolves list available if I really want to play competitively. It really seems at lower point levels they can really shove other lists around with some of their options like the Avatar and Harlequins and such. I would only play low point level games with them as well.

So basically I'm asking if now (now being from now until the end of the year as I'm still filling out my wolves list) is a good time to begin Eldar for a more fun army, or if I should wait until their new codex. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[KingOfCheese]

Cant see a new codex hitting the shelves till at least 2012.

They are still competitive(ish), but like most armies they require certain builds to be effective.
A lot of units in the codex are not viable in todays metagame.

 

[Hurricane]

I agree with what you said KoS as on a couple readthroughs of the codex showed me that a lot of what they have is overpriced (imo) or simply outdone by obviously much better stuff. I was thinking that at a much lower point level (not any more than 1000) they would be fairly devastating however. I would want to field a primarily footslogging army and the cheap price of a lot of their footslogging stuff like the Avatar seems to me to complement that point level very well.

 

[gen.ahab]

I should think a razorwolf list at that point level should be equally devastating but eldar are always fun to paint.... Or so I hear.

 

[CLT40k]

Hey, I'm starting an Space Elf army too.... I don't see playing anything other than the full mech version... but I think it can still be competative and lots of fun....

Here's the scheme I've settled on...

 

[Hurricane]

I should think a razorwolf list at that point level should be equally devastating but eldar are always fun to paint.... Or so I hear.

They certainly are. I suppose when I say "fun" I just mean "different" since I'm a fairly competitive player either way.

 

[Bubblematrix]

Eldar suffer at low points, although you can take an Avatar you will find that the higher than average points cost hurts you badly.

I would estimate a codex some point next year as there is an IA book coming out and on the back of the current codex it wont do that well

 

[Lord Rahl]

Eldar are ll worth getting, they are very competitive and are not overly priced in points, what are u all talking about? I have been playing witm for the last 18yrs and i think they are better than ever before. My army doesnt consist of entirely mech, its more a build between half foot and the other half mech, it does well in a competitve enviroment and it always done, its all about they way you play the Eldar, you need to be a experiaplayer and know the army like the back of your hand.

With that said i think you should Defo collect a Eldar army, even if its just for fun you will always win at least 7 out of 10 games you play. At least that is what i find true to be the case.

 

[Culler]

I'm also looking at starting up a low-points eldar army for kicks when I've gotten my Orks all painted up. I've built out a few lists and when you play off the right synergies they can be really nasty, especially at low points. Mostly I see their psychic powers as being able to put them over the edge with things like fortuned avatars or guided scatter laser war walkers or guided/doom-aided dire avengers.

 

[Bubblematrix]

Eldar are ll worth getting, they are very competitive and are not overly priced in points, what are u all talking about?

I am talking about all of the units which are sub par compared to most 5th ed and a lot of 4th ed units for their points. 4+ save and 3 toughness means dead units atm.

Yes it is possible for Eldar to keep winning, but it's not an easy army and you can loose far too easily on a bad run of dice rolls as everything you do has to count. If you are going 7/10 with a half mech build then I am not sure what you are playing against, the only way mine and my friends Eldar seem to do well in this build is when the opponent hasn't built a very competitive army either - which is often as we only play casually.

I would however recommend Eldar, they are fun to play and can be quite varied (so long as you aren't trying to win tournaments or anything).
Just don't expect amazing things sub 1500pts as you won't be able to keep up with better costed armies such as marines or orks.

fortuned avatars or guided scatter laser war walkers or guided/doom-aided dire avengers

Fortuned avatars are very expensive, worth it, but too high for low points. I have found they spend half the time bogged down in combats - which you win, but its far too easy to keep it tied up with less than the 300ish points it costs to field an avatar and seer.

Walkers are good in low points, but tend to be easy to kill, the trouble with lower points games for Eldar is that once you have taken one of these bomb units you have very few options for filling the rest of the army cheaply. At higher points you can field these and still fit in enough other units to perform roles such as objective capture.

If you want really cheesy in low points then take guardian jetbikes and a wraithlord, at 500 points wraithlords are really hard to kill and jetbikes are a cheap way to get shuriken cannons onto the field - and they are unusually survivable for Eldar troops.

 

[Hurricane]

Ya I won't be running the list in any tournament setting. I play with a group of about 6-7 people at my college for kicks and among the group are some more competitive minded players and some more leisurely players. I feel Eldar would be a good balance there.

 

[Bubblematrix]

How many points are you looking at?

 

[Lord Rahl]

Yes it is possible for Eldar to keep winning, but it's not an easy army and you can loose far too easily on a bad run of dice rolls as everything you do has to count.

This is what i said, you need to be a very experianced general/player to do well with them if you want to play competitively.

Like i said my 7/10 win ratio is based on my overall eperiace using the army i have and it does well in the tournaments i go to. I have only lost the last 2 games i played against a very competitve SM and Nids list. All the other games i have won so far.

I still say they are a very good army to collect, they are fun to paint and with some practise and carefull trickery on the field of battle they can win most of the time. Just remember that your units will need to support each other or they will die if left on thier own.

 

[Hurricane]

How many points are you looking at?

I'm not looking to go above 750 and I'm not looking to buy this army right now. I'm just thinking ahead to what my next army will be.

 

[Cyklown]

Eldar are a lot of fun. They really take off north of 1.5k points, but at 1.5k points their manageable, and in small games (like, say, 500pts and below) I'd recomend playing 40k in 40 mins anyways, where the game changes a bit.

Meching up really is a must. Having cars while everyone else has tin boxes on wheels has been a huge boon, even if they are a points sink. Fire Dragons are awesome, and generally our HQ, Elites and HS slots are solid. For troops you can either take jetbikes or else use Dire Avengers to allow tanks to hold objectives.

They're a lot of fun, but they can be frustrating, and their firepower is, while still there, not really their key point. Their battle plan is generally to dodge the enemy like made while selectively whittling down key targets, up until they can go all in.

 

[CLT40k]

I'm also looking at starting up a low-points eldar army for kicks when I've gotten my Orks all painted up. I've built out a few lists and when you play off the right synergies they can be really nasty, especially at low points. Mostly I see their psychic powers as being able to put them over the edge with things like fortuned avatars or guided scatter laser war walkers or guided/doom-aided dire avengers.

Sorry man, I'm having a hard time seeing Footdar as a winning strategy.... You're advocating a gimmick. There is too much anti-psy out there to reliably get your powers to work enough to lynchpin your list around. And pretty much any good list will have a way to shut down your psy.... Space wolves do it on a 4+... Codex with rolloff.... Perhaps I'm just misguided (or doomed) but "right synergies" seems to equal "bad players" -- but again, I'm real new to Eldar so help me understand where you're coming from....

At this point in time, I truly believe the only really good list for Eldar is full mech that dosen't rely on psychic powers to win. YMMV