Eldar question

[Dreadlordpaul]

Hey guys so as 6th ed is coming out this summer in the summer i have decided to start a new 40k army and i have chosen Eldar so what i would like to know is as i already have a DE army how different are the eldar play style wise?

PS im not mega competitive

[nagash66]

This should really be in 40k tactics sub forum and not in general.

[Dreadlordpaul]

I wasnt sure where to put it sorry

[carlisimo]

Dark Eldar depend on speed. Craftworld Eldar depend on using the right combinations of units, because their units are small and only good at thing. For example, you might get a good round of shooting in with your 12"-range Guardians, and then you'd better have an assault squad with them or they'll be slaughtered.

[Dreadlordpaul]

Dark Eldar depend on speed. Craftworld Eldar depend on using the right combinations of units, because their units are small and only good at thing. For example, you might get a good round of shooting in with your 12"-range Guardians, and then you'd better have an assault squad with them or they'll be slaughtered.

They definately sound like a good challenge for me

[Starchild]

They definately sound like a good challenge for me

Indeed. In a non-competitive context it's a lot of fun to figure out the best combinations of units to use versus different opponents.

[Zaonite]

As stated above, Eldar are a "specialist" army. They have a unit dedicated to taking out tanks, they have a unit dedicated to shooting up space marines, they have a unit dedicated to slicing up armour in melee, etc... There is no "we can do everything" unit like marines.

Eldar can play fast and they can hit hard. But the fun is working out how to do it against each and every different opponent.

[Dervos]

Their transports are much more expensive points wise yet just as crucial for most Eldar lists since our troops are very weak like our dark cousins.

Even with the cheapest option a wave serpent will run you 100 points.

There are a lot of choices to make since you said your not mega-competitive, there's a lot of fun units, like swooping hawks, move like jump infantry, shoot like guardsment, trolllol yell that sends you back to reserves and throw a sack of grenades at people when they deepstrike. Hawks are not competitive at all but I love them to death, such a pretty model too.

It's a very finesse army, I'd recommend reading Irisiado's Eldar guide along with the codex which can be found in the tactica sticky. of the tactics forum.

Welcome to the brighter side of the webway, just don't let slaanesh in please ;-;

[Spell_of_Destruction]

I appreciate that you have qualified your post by saying that you are not mega competitive but it's worth noting that the new edition (and codex) could have a major impact on how Eldar play. The sad truth is that 5th edition is not a friendly ruleset for Craftworld Eldar.

The above posts are all correct in describing how Eldar ought to play and is more or less how they did play up til the release of 5th ed. As Eldar are a specialised army, most points are spent on specialised troops. 5th ed forces you to spend more on Troops and ours are not much good at anything, unfortunately. The best choices are Dire Avengers (who are kind of middling and work best with a transport, or can be taken in a 5 man squad to make a holo-field upgraded Falcon scoring) and Jetbikes (reasonably resilient and nice cheap shuriken cannon upgrades).

The main point I'm trying to make is that, even against non optimised lists, you will likely find yourself outmatched by most of the newer books (and even some of the older ones).

I would do as others have suggested and check out some of the tactics threads. Eldar should be one of the most rewarding armies to play but they have basically been sidelined this edition by both the core rules and the absence of a codex update.

[Dreadlordpaul]

Well im planning to do a themed force based around craftworld ulthwe as i really like their paint scheme and fluff.
@Dervos don't worry slaanesh is currently getting his ass kicked by my archon

[Spell_of_Destruction]

So are you planning to build something similar to the old Craftworld Eldar Ulthwe list with lots of Guardians and Warlocks?

Seer Councils are still fairly decent but they are expensive. Guardians...well all I'll say is that not a lot of people will be expecting a Guardian horde these days so the shock factor may allow you to come up trumps. I would keep the suads to minimum size to maximize the number of gun platforms you can take. There's not much advantage to going above 10 these days.

What I would do is take a few Guardian squads with Scatter Lasers to hold 'home' objectives. They would be supported by a Seer Council and maybe some ML/BL Wraithlords.

The other half of the army would be more mobile - Dire Avengers (Black Guardians) mounted in a Wave Serpent supported by a mobile Seer Council (either in a Falcon/Wave Serpent or on Jetbikes). Some outflanking Warwalkers would be a good idea but this tactic is best employed when there is an Autarch in the force.

Will struggle against optimised lists but has enough up its sleeve to hold its own in casual games.

Not sure if that helps much. Hope you have fun with the army.

[Johnmclane]

If you already play DE you'll love them. Same mindset more or less. Not as powerful right now but that will change when the new codex arrive!

[bobafett_h]

The biggest changes from DE to Craftworld Eldar are that the vehicles can take more of a beating, but also need to be used differently because they aren't open topped. Also, there aren't any poisoned weapons (Wraithcannons and Witchblades are better but not available in the same quantities) and there are few opportunities for min/maxed squads like there is with DE. Playing Eldar has typically been more about knowing the best units to use for each task rather than spamming certain units who can take on just about anything. However, in 5th edition, most competitive Eldar builds do call for lots of spamming of units such as Fire Dragons in Wave Serpents, Jetseer Councils and Scatter Laser War Walkers.

While Guardians are not very common these days because of the abysmal 12 inch range of their Catapults, minimum of 10 models per squad and mandatory weapon platform, they do have their uses and can do fairly well in some situations. I have taken out plenty of light vehicles with them using a Scatter Laser or Starcannon and have tied up monstrous creatures in combat such as Trygons for several turns...

[Dreadlordpaul]

Well for my starter list at 1250 points i was thinking

HQ
Eldrad

Elites
10x Fire dragons with exarch tank hunter and wave serpant with scatter laser

Troopa
10x Dire Avengers with exarch who has dire sword pistol and blade storm with wave serpant with a scatter laser (eldrad goes with this squad)

10x Dire Avengers with exarch who has dire sword pistol and blade storm with wave serpant with a scatter laser

10x guardians with scaatter laser and warlock

[silverstu]

I haven't played in a while but I the problem I see with that list is most of it is mobile except the guardians - basically your foot/fixed element isn't strong enough, your guardians either need to be mounted or better supported [maybe with a wraith lord?] Maybe swap the quardians for jet bikes so your whole force is mobile-similiar to DE in that you can focus the point of your attack and dictate where the battle is fought. I'm sure more experienced guys could advise you on load outs etc. Good luck!

[Dreadlordpaul]

Thanks the guardians are just there to keep the Ulthwe theme. I am tempted to drop them for 5 dire avengers with exarch diresword and blade storm in a double shurikan cannon serpant, but i may just take a wraithlord instead

[silverstu]

Well you basically want to have a foot force which is strong enough to stand alone and work as a pivot for your mobile force to work off- I went for a 50-50 split. Your list is mostly mobile- foot units would get left behind [wether it is a unit of guardians or a wraith lord]. You could use the dire avengers as "black guardians" and add another mobile unit or back up the guardians and lose a mobile unit. I'm not much of a player now so there may be others who would have a better idea how units/load outs work at the moment - the tactics thread is excellent- pop a link to this there and you may get more focused advice.

[Dreadlordpaul]

Well guys i has some news a friend of mine let me proxy my DE as Eldar so that i could try out this list against his grey knights funniest part of the game was my turn 2 as my dragons got out and toasted Mordrak and his ghost knights these same dragons then went on to kill 2 5 man purifier squads while both of my units of avengers blade stormed his 2 5 man strike squads off the board

[Shamana]

Yeah, fire dragons can be very good in wasting power armor/terminator armor squads out of cover. They don't put out a lot of shots, but against small units of very costly models they can definitely get the job done. Especially those tasty, wound-allocating FNP paladins...

Did you win?

[Jo-Jo]

Hey guys so as 6th ed is coming out this summer in the summer

How many times do I have to say it: 6th ed is highly likely and heavily hinted to be coming out in summer.

Then again, it was also heavily hinted their would be a summer of fliers last year.

No matter how much people think it is, doesn't mean it is!