Eldar Farseer Painting Steps

After priming the model I first did a quick blue base paint on the cape with Kantor Blue.  I then painted the face plate with Alaitoc Blue simply to help define the edges of the helmet before painting my yellow.  All yellow started with Averland Sunset.  I then worked my way up to Flash Gitz Yellow with a number of thin coats.  I also added more layers as I painted out of the recesses to help provide depth.  Final step for yellow was to edge high light with a 50:50 mix of Flash Gitz and White.

This just shows the back side of the model from first photo.  Yellow is done and only one blue base coat.

Worked quite a bit on the cape.  Layered out of the crevaces using Alaitoc Blue Hoth Blue and Ice Blue (old paint line).  Also panted the leather and wraithbone bits a brown base that I will differentiate with layers on the next step.  I think it was bestial brown from old paint line.

Painted the wraith bone bits bleached bone (old line).  The staff handle is not painted yet but will be bleached bone as well.   Also applied a wash of Asurman Blue (again old line) to cape to tone down the highlights.  Leather bits are painted with a lighter brown (not sure of name old line something leather).  The staff head I was trying to go for a purply weapon effect.  Failed.  Need to practice on other models before I go back and try to fix.

Backside again.

Gems painted up and washes applied to wraithbone (earth shade).  The belt was simply a green wash over the white primer. 

Model is done for gaming purposes.  Looking at these photo's I think I should go back to do a few touch ups.  Notably the yellow splashes on the blue collar.  Also not happy with singing spear.  I really want to work on painting weapons up with a sheen to make it pop.  

And started working on a squad of Avengers last night.

Farseer Dumuzi Painted

Really happy how the yellow turned out.  Blue cape is good as well.  Not very happy with singing spear.  Not sure if green sash was a good idea.  He is done though.  Going to paint up a squad of Avengers next then finish their wave serpent.  Will tackle another troop choice after that.

Forging My Eldar Narative

In my mad rush to build a list I almost forgot this game is focused on forging a narrative.  I'm all for it.  So I looked back to a story that really struck a chord with me in the recent demon codex.  The whole affair where Nurgle battled the newly (or always) formed Slaanesh for the now defunct Eldar deity Isha.  Great story about an against all odds attempt to rescue the goddess that ultimately failed.  Because the Eldar codex did little to advance the fluff I've decided to theme my army off that tale.

Looking at the general back story of the Eldar I suspect games workshop drew heavily upon Sumerian mythology.  This is very cool when one looks at the Necron fluff as well.  Clearly a similar backdrop appears in Eldar and Necron origins.  Ultimately entrenching the links between the two oldest mortal races of the 40k universe.  With this in mind I did some internet skulking to do some rudimentary research as to the background story to my Eldar army.

I came across a great tale involving Ishatar who went down to visit a relative in the underworld.  Funny thing about the rules of the Sumerian underworld is that gods are trapped there even after a benign visit.  So what does Isha do, cuts a deal with the demons down below to switch her spot with her demi-god boyfriend Dumuzid.  Dumuzid, the shepherd, takes her place and becomes the god of the underworld and fertile agriculture.  Seems like he cut his own deal with the demons where he could leave the underworld for 6 months out of the year to come topside.  Hence the cycle of life and death becomes attributed to his domain of influence.

What really makes this story great is that the lord of the underworld prior to Dumuzid's involvement is Nergal.  A real bad ass who inflicts plagues and disease on mortals as his whims please him.  Now Nergal or some other derivative of his name is a fairly strong center piece in the eclectic and diverse Mesopotamian pantheon.  Apparently there is even reference to him in the Old Testament.  What a great backdrop to forge a narrative.

Enter center stage Farseer Dumuzi.  A juxtaposition to be sure.  While in no real fashion a rival to Eldrad's tenure as the longest living example of his people, Dumuzi is ancient by all standards of his race.  That being said, poor Dumuzi has only recently begun his journey along the path of the seer.  And it will be the last path he treads in his mortal life.

Path of the outcast, avenger and many others are well known to Dumuzi.  He is a paragon of Alaitocii society.  It is whispered that the lineage of his house predates the fall a tenfold.  That his pedigree can be traced back to the wondrous time of Asuryan.  His family name is found in the same ancient texts analogous with the Eldar gods of old.  Who is Dumuzi?  What do the runes of fate portent for him?  Why now, in the twilight of his lifespan, has he finally succumbed to the whispers urging him onto the path of the seer?  Only time will tell...

I have my protagonist.  A rough start to forging my narrative: but a start none the less.

1850 Built Eldar Army

1850 points of Eldar built (with a couple of minor exceptions):

HQ:
Farseer - spirit stone, singing spear

Elite:
5 Wraith Guard - wave serpent, holo, lasers

Troops:
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers
2 x 5 Rangers

Heavy:
2 Fire Prisms - holo
1 Wraith Knight

Total Points: 1850

So this is it.  Army is built and now onto finishing up magnetizing and painting.  I need to figure out something for the tank bases.  I refuse to continue with the GW supplied ones.  I'm thinking golf tee's shaved off at either end glued onto a thin piece of round plywood.  Magnetize the top of the tee to the tank.  I'll play around until I find something I like.  Not a big fan of the plastic bases.  Especially since my tanks are 3-4 years old.  The stands have worn a bit so my tanks flop all over the place playing any given game.  Need to magnetize the last serpents gun and magnetize the serpents underslung gun.  After that do one glance over the unprimed models for mold lines then bring on the primer.  I need to dig around all my bits boxes as well.  Missing the turret mount for last wave serpent.  Also need to find one more scatter laser.

As for the army, I know I have been talking about dumping the fire prism's but they serve a function and I don't really want to spend more money on the army right now.  Now is the time to get as many games under my belt before I make any drastic changes.  Besides, I think I may have come up with a solution to the fast in your face armies after chatting it up on the 11th company forums.  I was lamenting about my loss to the raven wing when a seasoned Eldar player suggested I use rangers to block the opposing bikes.  I did not think about the game turn priority between infiltrating units and scout moves.  With my 2 ranger squads I can deny my opponent their scout move thereby pushing back their initial movement 12 inches from my deployment zone.   This would also work for korne dogs I suspect.  No more double tapping into my tanks turn one if I go second.

I think this is especially potent if you are playing on a nova style table top.  Rangers can infiltrate on the mid ruins out of site.  This splits the opponents army up to the flanks as I've denied the scout move down the middle.  I can then in turn refuse a flank to focus on the other army piecemeal.  Big bonus points for bringing it back to my Alaitoc theme as well lol.  Also like the idea I'm not screwed if I go second.

I do think I might be better served swapping my fire prisms for a wraith knight, but with my rangers blocking the initial thrust, my fire prisms might actually do a good job.  Also, been watching the killadelphia tournament that the 11th company put up on Ustream this weekend.   The extra long range shooting from the fire prisms might be worth keeping.  Especially against tau.  It would be nice to get rid of those skyrays turn one if possible.  4 wave serpents and 2 twin linked fire prisms could take out 2 skyrays.  This then leaves the Eldar army out of range from the remaining broadside unit or riptides from retaliation.  Next turn focus on killing off remaining marker lights.  Its a rough plan but I'm glad I was able to see some hard tau armies at play.

So no more changes I hope, as I want to start on the next stage of completing my army.  I also have lizardmen coming down the pipe to think about.  What great ways will I be able to expand my fantasy army.  So for now this is my list.  Could be better, but it could be a lot worse.  I have a plan and at the end of the day it is my list and not a net list which is nice.

Leaked Lizardmen Photo?

Was taking a break from trolling forums for Eldar info to trolling forums for new lizardmen info.  Came across this photo on Lustria Online.  Looks like the terradons are moving to plastic.  Great news if true. Only issue I have with it are the 3 metal ones I bought at the beginning of the year lol.  Ah this is my year for the hobby.  Lots of stuff to get excited about.

First Loss With Eldar

Had another game against Raven Wing last night.  This time I did not steal initiative.  He hit my lines hard knocking out 2 wave serpents and pinning one squad.  Being put on the defensive turn one, I screwed up my target priority with him breathing down my neck.  Everything looked really grim as I tried to consolidate my avengers into terrain and circle the wagons so to speak.

Big advantage to the Raven Wing is hit and run.  I could not tie up his models with my wraith knight and when they jump out of assault on my turn they get an extra 3d6 movement.  It was looking grim as by turn three I was down to a full unit of avengers and an unscathed wraith knight.  Was going to call the game there but I decided to see what kind of punishment the wraith knight could take.  I almost tabled him lol.  Through combat and assaults my wraith knight took down  all but 1 of a squad of bikers and 1 squad of raven knights and a command squad on bikes.  My avengers took down an attack bike and flubbed against his dark shroud.  Game ended on turn 6, he had 1 bike with plasma gun, 1 attack bike and the dark shroud left.  My avengers were still 10 strong and my wraith knight was down to one wound.  After the game I realized I forgot completely that the wraith knight has hammer of wraith hits as well lol.  Could have made a difference but c'est la vie.  My opponent played a strong game and out played me.

Man the raven wing is a tough nut to crack if you don't have first turn.  Especially the raven wing knights.  From here on in they are target priority number one.  Still like my wave serpents though so I don't plan on making any drastic changes in the immediate future except perhaps dropping my fire prism.  Perhaps its because my opponents have treated it as a large target priority is why I've found it underwhelming.  This could be a good thing.  But I can drop 2 fire prisms to pick up another wraith knight.  And that thing is simply boss.  I'm also going to start turning my mind to allies.  That is all I guess for now.

Eldar 1850 Tournament List

I've never really been all that interested in tournaments.  Usually there are 2-5 decent ones in my neck of the woods a year.  I've gone only to watch other players but never felt the desire to play myself.  That's all changed though with the recent Eldar codex.  I've had great success with my games to date and really want to start playing at a more competitive level.  Anyway,  1850 is becoming standard in my parts so I've come up with the following list that I think is very strong in the current meta and can take on all sorts of opposing lists.  Here we go:

HQ:
Autarch

Troops:
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers
2 x 5 Jet Bikes - shuriken cannons

Fast:
3 x 5 Warp Spiders

Heavy:
2 Fire Prisms - spirit stones
1 Wraith Knight

Total: 1850

The 3 Avenger wave serpents have been simply amazing.  Backed up by a wraith knight and 2 fire prisms, I can dish out heaps long range fire power.  The farseer has not been that great for me so I figure the stock ability of the autarch would provide more utility by helping keep my jetbikes off the table as well as deep striking my warp spiders should I choose to do that.  Its the warp spiders though that really bring this list together.  Having hit and run really buys my tanks some breathing room.  Turn 2 assaults are a lot less scary as I can set up my bladestorm turn one then move my spiders into position to block assaults thereby allowing me an unmolested turn 2 bladestorm.

Tau are a big problem, but my list does out-range tau and I can focus my first turn on taking out marker lights.  No flyers means any given tau has wasted points on skyfire/intercept.  Storm ravens are a problem, but they are expensive so they come in limited numbers and I think I have enough volume of shots to glance them to death.  Five flying MC's can wreak my face but every gun in my list from little to big can bring the pain.  Necrons on Eldar is a bloody affair but I think both armies match up fairly well against each other so a win would come down to game play rather than lists.

In my opinion Eldar have changed the meta.  Not as obviously as the Tau but the rise of our hover tanks will require other armies to rethink their builds.  I suspect when Marines come along we will see some cheep hard counters to Eldar with twin linked melta shots aplenty but that is mere conjecture.  As it stands Eldar are a very strong army and I plan to revel in it for as long as it lasts.

An alternate list using same principles as above is as follows:

HQ:
Autarch - banshee mask, avenger gun, scorpion sword

Troops:
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers
2 x 3 Jet Bikes

Fast:
2 x 10 Warp Spiders

Heavy:
2 Fire Prisms
1 Wraith Knight

Total: 1850

Points shaved to add more spiders.  The autarch now can combi assault with the wraith knight to drop opponents initiative (handy against deamon princes allowing the wraith knight to get a strength 10 hit in a pinch).  I like the first list more though.

Dreaming of Iyanden

I started putting my unit of wraithguard together and have instantly fell in love with the models.  Very dynamic and individual.  I'm giving some serious thought to starting an Iyanden army.  Painting wise I think If I use the same blue and yellow colours as on my tanks but reverse the priority (ie body yellow head blue) that I would not be looking at painting a completely new scheme.  Just awesome looking models that are really imposing on the table top.  To provide a sense of scale matched a model up with a couple of regular sized models below.

Not sure how a pure army would play on the table.  Seems that there is a lot of poison and plasma in the game right now.  But the rule of cool is calling me: 5 spirit seers, 30 wraith guard, 2 wraith lords and a wraith knight would look spectacular on the table.  I'll pick up the codex supplement and see if any of the fluff grabs my attention.

Game 3 with Eldar

Got my third game in with my 1250 Eldar list.  Did not make changes with Rangers as I forgot to pack the models.  Played another Raven Wing army (different player).  The above photo is his 1250 list.  He is also a strong player at my local game store so I was glad for the challenge.  Off my memory he had:

Samuel
Command Squad with FnP banner
2 full squads of bikes with 4 plasma guns and 2 multi melta attack bikes.
6 bike strong of black knights

I had:

Farseer - spear (rolled mind war, guide, eldritch storm, warlord power 12 in bubble reroll wound rolls)
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, laser
5 Avengers

Heavy:
Fire Prism - holo
Falcon - holo, star

He had first turn and scouted real close.  It was really daunting looking at his army to tell the truth.  In fact the most important die I rolled was to seize the initiative of which I did.  Tables completely turned at this point.  I was able to unload my army into his bikes and set up my jink saves.  So, I moved my tanks up 6 inches and disembarked my avengers and farseer.  Battle focused my infantry into 18 inch shuriken range.  Then poped my warlord power and tore into him.  Killed Samuel, 8 bikes, attack bike and the dark shroud.  I really crippled his momentum.  I must say though the kill tally likely would have had an extra 4 or 5 bikes but for his FnP banner.  Picture bellow shows the kill tally from my turn one shooting.

Picture below shows the bottom of turn 2 after my opponent moved.  He did quit a bit of damage he blew up some avengers and the fire prism.  Then charged into my lines.  Assault result he blew up tank and broke 2 of my avenger units.  The avengers rally and fall back right to my board edge.  I managed to kill another 6 bikes or so.





Photo bellow shows bottom of turn three before he moved or shot.  He charges into my Avengers once again.  I killed the assault bike in overwatch.  Last bike squad charges avengers and farseer.  One avenger dies to hammer of wraith and my squad kills 2 bikes.  He kills remaining avengers and farseer is down to one wound.  Farseer breaks and runs off board.

Top of turn 4 he only had 2 bikes left on the table.  I had everything above but for the farseer and his squad.  We called the game here and shook hands.  It was a fun game.  Could have easily gone the other way if I had not seized initiative.  Big plus for the warlord power that lets me reroll 1's to wound for one turn of shooting.  Those first two warlord powers really work with my list as I tend to set up a big volley once per game.  Re-rolling those ones easily accounted for 3 extra bikes dead on the first turn.

I'm absolutely loving ten avengers in a serpent.  It is so versatile and can really handle anything thrown at it.  I don't know why anyone would run min squads of avengers.  The extra 6 inch range, leadership 9 counter attack and the 4+ armour save is totally worth spending an extra 4 points a model.

After the game had a good chat with opponent over the pro's and con's of my list.  In his opinion Tau and Necrons could cause me some grief.  He also figured falcon was weakest link and he is right.  Not ready to give up on it yet as I've yet to face any real number of MC's with it.  I have a feeling if I'm facing chaos or even tau MC's that those 4 AP2 shots a turn will come in handy combined with my rending light avengers.  Anyway another game under my belt with the new Eldar.  Thanks for reading.

Refining my Eldar list

As always I've got the Eldar on my mind these days.  With a couple of games under my belt I thought I would turn my mind to fine tuning the list at 1500 points.  The place where I think I should change up the army is with the falcon.  There is a lot of hate right now for the falcon: some of it justified, some of it not.  There is also no question in my mind that the wave serpent is probably the best tank in the new codex.  But it does not help when a unit cannot take it as a squad upgrade.  Enter the falcon then, for units such as rangers, harlequins and warlocks, they do not get the privilege of selecting a wave serpent for a dedicated transport.  So with that in mind I decided to rethink my 5 man avenger unit that acted as a body guard for the farseer in the falcon.

Five avengers by themselves seems like a great waste to me.  The strength of the avenger is in the maxed out squad.  In order to take advantage of their rules you need to be rolling lots of dice.  Bladestorm loses its luster when you only have 10 shots being pumped out.  Also items such as grenades on rear armour ten or counter attack don't really seem worth it when you have only 5 models.  The biggest draw back, however, is giving up the option of a wave serpent.  Does not make sense lol.  So I've decided to replace the avengers with rangers.

What to rangers bring to the table you might ask.  Well first of all a savings of 5 points.  That 5 points goes a long way as I now have room to give my farseer spirit stones (to reduce warp charge 2 to 1).  This is a great bit of kit for any farseer as you can reliable get 3 powers off any given turn.  Now with mechdar you are somewhat limited with the utility of the farseer.  The line of site changes to 6th edition really suck.  So the farseer (when embarked) is limited to only buffing the unit he is attached to and the tank he is ridding in.  Seeing as 2 guides are primaris powers for the farseer, they seem redundant when he is in a wave serpent.  In fact, part of the reason I like the falcon is that the farseer can buff it up tremendously.  Re-rollable 4+ cover save and 4 twin linked AP 2 shots a turn makes for a solid battle tank.  Especially when you consider it is protecting 5 squishy troop models for late game when they need to seize objectives.

To be fair, 6th edition mech lists do not play like they did in 5th.  The most important change is the inability for troops to score when embarked (a close second is the introduction of hull points).  So you must at times during any given game extract your models from the transport.  The 5th edition mantra 'never leave your tanks' just does not fly anymore.  This then provides another reason to max out your Avenger squads.  You have a better chance of surviving when you have numbers on your side.

I suggest it is also to your advantage to bring your farseer out of your transports regularly through out the game as well.  Being able to spreed 2 guide spells is a huge benefit to a BS 4 army.  The avengers do not really help protect the farseer but for soaking up wounds.  Also when using the spirit stones, your farseer forgoes his rune armour protection for a turn.  This cost to using the stone is strongly mitigated when you have rangers escorting your farseer.  With the rangers your farseer gains stealth that now provides a decent save when he draws on the spirit stone (up to a 2+ going to ground in ruins).  The rangers provide your farseer with more durability than the avengers ever (at least at range).

Of course deciding to bring your farseer outside of the protective confines of the falcon is subject to the particulars of any given game.  If your opponent is bringing tau; helldrakes; whirlwinds or the like you likely will start the game with your farseer embarked (not so much with helldrakes).  But if you have first turn and you are not facing a lot of ignore firepower, then there likely will be many times when your farseer should start out the game outside but in arms length of the transport.  Providing you the ability to twin link 2 more items in your list at least for the first turn.

So with all that confusing nonsense done with here is the new 1500 point list I am thinking of.

HQ:
Farseer - spirit stone

Troops:
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers
5 Rangers

Heavy:
Falcon - holo, laser
Fire Prism - holo
Wraith Knight

Minor changes to the list but I think it will perform better now.  All things being perfect (ie first turn, you rolled fortune, guide, prescience) I can start the game with all my long range guns twin linked.  The farseer and rangers try and find ruins to start out in with the falcon and wraith knight (with one toe standing in the ruins as well or best cover available)  close by.  My fire prism needs to then be within 24 inches of the farseer on my set up to get the benefit of guide.  I can be more flexable with the starting arrangement of my wave serpents as they act independently to the other elements of my list.  Finally the falcon upgrades the starcannon to a scatter laser to twin link the pulse laser (miss the star cannon though)  This set up allows me to bring to bear on my first turn the following twin linked BS 4 shots:

2 strength 10 AP shots at 36 inch range
1 strength 9 lance AP 1 shot at 60 inch range (plus the other 2 blast versions of gun)
2 strength 8 AP 2 shots 36 inch range (twin linked range is reduced due to scatter laser)
3d6+3 strength 7 AP - shots at 36 inch range that pin and ignore cover (the bread and butter of list)
12 strength 6 shots (and 4 non twin linked for total of 18) AP 6 at 36 inch range

It is important to note that I can effectively add 12 inches to all of the above ranges with the movement of all of my units with out sacrificing any fire power.  At 1500 points that is a lot of guns for any opponent to deal with.  Thats 28 to 43 pin point accurate shots coming off the top first turn.  Priority targets being an opponents anti tank then poison/sniper shots.  Second turn then my avengers will be in a position to pounce with 60 rending light shots.  As mentioned in an earlier post, the wraith knight acts as a utility character shooting or blocking in coming assaults et al.

I'm thinking that swapping out the avengers for rangers is a good idea.  Bringing my list up to 1850 I'm planning to add another avenger serpent and 5 jet bikes to allow me some late game shenanigans.  Wow what a wall of text.  If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read.

Second Game in With Eldar

Thursdays at my local game store are 1250 point games.  So I brought the following:

HQ:
Farseer - singing spear

Troops:
3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers
5 Avengers

Heavy:
Falcon - holo, star
Fire Prism - holo

1250 points on the nose

I got one game in today, played another Eldar player.  Adding up the points for the blog post I realize he was about 210 points over the limit lol.  He had a footdar list with the following:

HQ:
Illic

Elite:
5 Fire Dragons - exarch, fire pike

Troops:
10 Guardians - EML
9 Avengers - wave serpent, lances
5 path finders

Fast Attack:
Crimson Hunter - Exarch

Heavy:
Wraith Knight
6 Reapers - Exarch, EML, Star missles
War Walker

He got first turn and took out my fire prism with his reapers.  He poured quite a bit of fire power into my tanks but they held up for the most part (lost about 3 hull points across 2 tanks).  After I got my turn the game swung completely in my favour.  Was able to get my 4+ jink saves up.  also had rolled fortune, death mission and guide on my farseer so the falcon was fortuned and guided for most of the game (lost one wound on far seer turn 3 with a peril).  I simply just skirted the edges and focused on killing all his fire power that could touch my tanks.  The Falcon put 3 wounds on the wraith knight that was ultimately taken down by 2 squads of blade storming Avengers.  The Crimson Hunter went down as well to the volume of fire power of the serpents.  I had tabled him on my turn 4.  Stoked that my list did so well with the 200 point difference.  Need to get some more games in.

First Game With Eldar 1500 points

I posted this up on the 11th company forum after my first game today.  Figured I could repost it here as I don't really want to type it up again.

Just had my first game with the new book. Brought mostly my 5th edition list along with the wraith knight stock. I had the following 1500 point army.

HQ:

Farseer - spear

Troops:

3x10 avengers - ws, holo, laser
5 avengers

Heavy:
wraith knight
fire prism - holo
falcon - star cannon, holo, spirit stone

I played against raven wing with guard allies. Not sure exactly what he had in his list but it was lead by samuel. I could not believe the fire power my list put out. I shot 2/3rds of my army turn one and nearly tabled him before we called it quits (had 5 marines left on the table). The wave serpent is simply amazing. The army is a lot like a mech guard army from 5th edition. The closer you get to it the more fire power it puts out. 10 blade storming avengers does a lot of damage to mec. Also the 18 inch range was crucial. Allowed me to run some of my Avengers to squeeze out a few more inchs so they could fire (on the first turn to boot).

It was only one game and it was a bad match up for my buddy (and in all fairness had no clue what to expect) but I don't think there is much in the game right now that can handle mech Eldar. AV 13 Necrons would likely be a challenge but what else? Hell Drakes don't really pose a problem. Missile spam always gave me grief in 5th edition and I would imagine that if it was still prevalent it would be a concern. But at the end of the day its the d6+1 shots that ignore cover that makes mechdar strong. Nothing is safe from those shots at 60 inch range. They certainly would take out entrenched long fangs and the like turn one. The are absolutely brutal for someone to deal with.

Another strong point for the mechdar list I suspect is the ability to pick up secondary objectives. First blood is not something that mechdar will give up easily. Also, with the mobility offered by the fast tanks, line breaker is not to hard to grab either.

Anyway, my list is not even optimized so you could get more fire power into a competitive list. One thing though, I don't think the min davu upgrade is the way to go. At least from my one game, the massed anti-infantry shots that shuriken catapults bring really round out the list.
In 5th edition I exchanged volume of fire for durable fast tanks. It was the trade off that made Eldar an army that had to be very careful with how it moved. But now the army puts out a metric ton of fire power at the cost of hull points. Its a trade off I can live with.

Amazing Asurmen and His Flying Circus

1500 Points or so

HQ:
Asurmen

4+1 Avengers + Exarch - wave serpent, holo, lasers, vectored engines

Troops: 3 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, lasers, vectored engines

Heavy:

Fire Prism - holo

Falcon - holo, star, vectored engines

Probably the most awesome list ever.

1500 Points Plastic Eldar Built

Army is built and largely ready to play.  Need to go back finish painting the fire prisms then the wave serpents.  If I can keep my fickle nature on track I will try and tackle the wraith knight.  All plastic all the time lol its awesome.  The list is the same from my last post.   Expanding the plastic themed list I would like to include 10 jetbikes and 2 crimson hunters, bringing the total points up to 2000.  Though that may change after getting some games with the above list.  Plan to play quite a bit with the above core list adding in and taking away little bits to try out different parts of the Eldar codex.  Also very tempted to add in some Tau...

Wraith Knight Magnetized

Wraith Knight built and magnetized.  Only missing bits are the shoulder mounted weapons that I'll get to later.  Also put together the plastic Farseer (great model).  Behind the Wraith Knight is a 1250 list that is made up entirely of plastic models.  Just need to finish putting together one squad of Dire Avengers.  With the Wraith Knight my 1500 point list is as follows:

HQ:
Farseer - singing spear

Troops:
2 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, scatter lasers, holo-field
10 Avengers - exarch, shield + power weapon, shield of grace, wave serpent as above

Heavy
2 Fire Prisms - holo-fields
Wraith Knight - plasma cannon

Total Points 1500

The Farseer will ride with Exarch to act as his body guard.  100% plastic army.  1500 points is the goal right now as I've a friend who has just built 1500 points of raven wing dark angels.  Going to get some games in to break in this new book.

As for magnetizing it was relatively easy as the kit gives you 2 sets of arms.  Thats all for now.

First Stab With Mechdar 2000 points

Book in hand! Great times ahead with a fresh take on an old army.  First thing I should mention is that I'm having a nerdish breakdown.  Super stoked with new book.  Consequently I'll likely just ramble off lists and spew a lot of giberish over the next while as I digest the new codex.  That said and behind me, thought I would take a crack at a return to my old mechdar.  First the list then my thoughts behind it:

HQ:
Autarch - Fusion Gun

Troops:
10 Storm Guardians - 2 Fusion Guns, Wave Serpent, Twin Linked Scatter Lasers, Underslung Cannon, Holo-Fields
3 x 10 Avengers - Wave Serpent, Twin Linked Scatter Lasers, Underslung Cannon, Holo-Fields

Fast:
2 Crimson Hunters

Heavy:
Wraith Knight
2 Fire Prism's - Holo Fields

Total Points 2k on the nose.

Breakdown:
14 Kill Points
4 squishy troop selections
6 4+ cover saving fast skimmer tanks
2 glass cannon flyers
+1/-1 manipulation of the reserve roll
Big MC to act as a swiss army knife

Dakka Potential:
69 rending lite strength 4 shots a turn shuriken pistols and riffles (plus additonal twin linked catapults on fire prisms)
12 twin linked rending lite strength 6 shots a turn
16 twin linked strength 6 shots a turn
4d6 + 4 twinlinked ignore cover pinning strength 7 shots a turn
3 strength 8 melta shots a turn
8 strength 8 shots a turn
2 strength 10 shots a turn

Starting with reasons to take the Autarch: I figure with a mech army that pyschic support would be hamstrung as everyone will be mounted in transports.  Also he is one of the cheapest HQ options in the new dex.  Thinking about it some more, his reserve manipulation ability would help out tremendously keeping the Crimson Hunters alive or maximizing their dakka during any given game.  Intercepting quad guns and the like will own the new jet fighters with only av10 armour.

I figure if you are going to take a Crimson Hunter, why not take 2 lol.  Great at knocking out flyers.  Also figure if I only take one there is the chance that I completely loose the utility of including a flyer.  Redundancy is king and with 2 flyers I can improve my odds that I can get the most out of them.  Also the reserve manipulation helps out a ton.  One thing I noted about the Autarch ability is that you can decide to add or take away one from your roll on a model to model basis.  I like this as I can stagger my jets coming in from reserve if I wish.

Wave Serpent I talked about before.  After some more thought I don't know if the underslung cannon is required.  Moving 12" a turn only allows me to fire 2 guns at full ballistic skill.  With the holo-fields I plan to be shooting off the shield most of the time.  Mind you, if I take the underslung cannons it allows me to keep my options open if I need to keep the serpents defensive in nature.  On added benefit to keeping the shields defensive of course is that if my tank is removed from play it likely will be to loosing hulls points turning it into a wreak.  This allows my MC then to take advantage of a 4+ cover save from standing in a wreak.

The Wraith Knight I plan to run behind the Serpents to get a 5+ cover save and hunt down models that are required to be doubled out or immediate threats to my tanks.  Also plan to use it like a line blocker jumping in front of my tanks if required to prevent the enemy from assaulting my tanks.  A real swiss army knife lol.  The 2 strength 10 shots are backed up with the 2 fire prism shots.  Really dig fire prisms as they allow you to remain flexible through out the game.  Strength 9 lance will be the bane of av13/14 vehicles.  Large blast ap3 and blast ap2 are not to shabby either.

30 Avengers stock, with 6th edition one can no longer sit the game out in transports so I need something to actually reach out and score on objectives.  With the inherent leadership 9 I'm thinking the best build for them is on the cheap as they get so many great abilities stock.  With me taking an Autarch I figure I could kill a couple of birds with one stone by equipping him with a fusion gun.  The Storm Guardians allow me to get 2 more fusion guns  along with him.  Still a very fragile unite but at least if required I can tank incoming shots to the squad with the 3+/4++ save of the Autarch.  BS 4 and WS 4 I 5 gives them a bit of an edge against the weaker races of the 40k universe.

That is that and another list plotted out.  Scaling it back to 1850 I would remove one of the Crimson Hunters.  Also, I could drop the underslung cannons to give the Wraith Knight the points to upgrade his weapon to the heavy 3 plasma cannon and 5++ save.  Going to play around with the list.

As it stands I've picked up my new models so I will start focusing on building the army as soon as tonight.  Stay tuned for more nonsensical rambles...

P.S.

Here is question that I will need to look up, does the crimson hunter get a cover save by obstructing 25%  line of site with the wraith knight?