Seeking List Advice: Epic Eldar

[Stormwind]

Hello all!

I bought a partial Epic Eldar army years ago and I am stripping it - filing off the god awful flash and have gouged out all the gunky super glue with acetone.  I've bought new Epic era bases and am using the old spare square ones as bases for dreadnoughts and things - along with some small Flames of War bases (wonderful for basing Epic with!) for the Falcon tanks.

This is what I have, physically, in metal:

Avatar (Plus plastic bits to make a Webway portal)

19 Falcon Tanks
6 Wave Serpents
13 Vypers
14 Dreadnoughts
2 Cobra Super Heavies
(2 night spinners but I think they are frakked and might have to go through hell trying to pin the broken turret pieces together)
(1 revenant titan but it is the super ugly "Orkified" one - and I might just use it as an objective and buy the newer ones from GW as I like them)

And in plastic:

Tonnes of Guardians and Rangers, but only a few stands of each Aspect warrior.
Lots of Wraithguard
Some jetbikes
Lots of support platforms

I'm wondering what the biggest "hole" in my model collection is.  I'm not looking for some super competitive list - just an all rounder.  I've got about 3000 points of space marines I've bought with the idea that if I have 2 armies of a system then I can learn to play with someone who is interested but not willing to buy one themselves!

Suggestions appreciated. =)

[Dave]

If you want to play Biel-Tan you'll need some Aspect Warriors. However the Ulthwe list is good for a Guardian heavy army.

[Spectrar Ghost]

If you're planning on using Biel Tan, more Aspects. You could probably get away with a Warhost (2 stands of each except Fire Dragons, Dire Avengers, and Shining Spears), plus a couple blisters of FIre Dragons and Dire Avengers (4 of each per blister, including an Exarch of each). Also getting a few blisters of Avatars (one for the Avatar and Wraithgate, and one or two more for the Exarchs) wouldn't hurt. Void Spinners are also nice to have, and are generally taken over Night Spinners in Biel Tan lists, though others can't take them.

Now I always prefer Wave Serpents, and would get more. However, if you're looking to do a webway assault list you probably have enough but will need at least two Storm Serpents. The third option is of course Air Assault, though your marines are better at it. I prefer the FW Aeronautica models for Epic fliers.

Hope that's somewhat helpful.

[Stormwind]

Thanks guys!

Heh - ironically, I just stripped them from the original Ulthwe paint job! x-D

I honestly didn't know that there were multiple Eldar lists - gosh this is confusing.  I painted them Ulthwe when I got them as a job lot as it was the easiest thing to do at the time.  I hate the stupid heart symbol they have - but my plan for these was to repaint them as Biel Tan - since Swordwind was the last "official" list by GW...

I'm trying to buy a Warmaster army right now - so was hoping not to spend /too/ much more on the Eldar --- If I'm going to spend it - it would be nice to have it on the newer models like the gorgeous Forge World aircraft perhaps.

What do you think about me maybe painting them like Iybraesil or Mymera (Such pretty blue and white schemes!) - so that I can experiment with different lists? Would that be frowned on?

[nealhunt]

The only thing you need is AA - Firestorms and/or some Nightwings for interception.  Other than that, you can build a good army with what you have.  You can do a Guardian-heavy list just fine with the Biel Tan list.

The only thing you might have an issue with is deployment of an Aspect Host.  They get very expensive if you buy transport, but you need to move them in close.  Storm Serpents and gates are popular options due to that.

There are some things you might want to tweak later by adding units, but you can decide on that after playing a bit.

For hosts:

Guardians plus Wraithguard are a standard (Wraithguard to soak up hits and maybe place a BM, Guardians for lots of cheap FF power) core formation.  A lighter version is Guardians with a few support weapons mixed in (more dependent on using cover, obviously).  And a mechanized Guardian Host is ridiculously fast for assaults, including the Eldar "rolling assault" tactic.

You can mix-n-match aspect units into very good hosts, but preferred and optimized mixes are a fairly extensive discussion.  I'd suggest grouping them by general roles and experimenting until you find something you like.

For support:

Rangers are good for screens and flanking units.  A formation of 6-8 is common.

Falcons make great mobile fire support.  Add in Firestorms if you get them.  They are fast enough and have good enough FF to support assaults.

A formation of Bikes for fast assault/rolling assaults.  Maybe add in a Vyper or two so it can place BMs, maybe not.  Opinions vary.

So, as a theoretical list...

Avatar
Wraithgate

Guardians + Wraithguard
Guardians + Wraithguard
Guardians in Wave Serpents
Aspect host

Falcons w/ Firestorm
Falcons w/ Firestorm
Falcons w/ Firestorm
Jetbikes w/ Vyper
8 Rangers
Cobra (a "just in case" for enemy war engines)

Roughly 2700 points, 10 formations.  Another formation at the 250-300 point range takes you to 3000.

The only thing you'd need to buy is one pack of Firestorms.  However, a Storm Serpent would allow you another gate to deploy, making those infantry formations noticeably more versatile.  I would suggest that for your 11th formation.

With a titan formation and a formation of Nightwings, you're up to a 4000-point, generalist army.

[Stormwind]

An Army Puma helicoptor just flew over my house - shall I take that as a sign from Vaul that I need to buy some more airpower? =-D

Thanks muchly for the reply - Thankfully the gorgeous FW firestorms are still available so might get a packet of them to try out!

Are the dreadnoughts just dead weight?  That's a shame as I'm quite fond of the models!

I think the cobra is a "must have" for good luck.  The only couple of GW games I ever played of anything was an Epic 40k match against a friends Orks - and a single Cobra shot took out his great gargant in one go!  Well worth the risk.

[nealhunt]

The dreads are okay if you want to ramp up a Guardian formation.  They add firepower and are good CC defense.

They aren't taken frequently because of a combination of expense and the fact that they are AVs, so they can't use terrain the same way as the rest of the formation.  It's not horrible, just not what most people consider to be optimized.

==

If you are interested in alternate craftworld lists, I would recommend the Tactical Command boards.  There's an Army List Compendium that's down to the proofreading.  It has a lot of lists that range from having general approval to relatively experimental.  It has Iyanden if you want to field a lot of wraith constructs and Alaitoc if you have enough Rangers to build a force around.

And don't get hung up on the title of the list.  Even though it's "Alaitoc" it could just as easily represent a Biel Tan army that happens to have been able to call a lot of Rangers in for support at that particular battle.

[Irisado]

Wraithlords aren't that bad, even though they cannot advance through terrain in the same way the Guardians can.  If you're using the Guardians in more of a support role, then the Wraithlords add a little bit of solid fire support, and an extra dimension in terms of durability.

The downside is that Guardians are horribly brittle when they come under fire, and even if you add Wraithlords, and possibly some heavy or support weapons, they simply don't have the range, or the quantity of shots to last a war of attrition, as I've found to my cost, so you need to ensure that you've got other units to work with them, and not leave them isolated at the back if you're going to use them on foot, and with most Eldar infantry being assault oriented, that means using tanks.  This is where Falcons may come in handy, but they aren't cheap, and you may wish to use most of them as Wave Serpents if you are thinking of investing in Aspect Warriors in the future, or of transporting some of those Guardians.