i have now finished painting about 1250 points of lizzardmen and ive decidd to have a little break for a while(rest asured, ill be back ) and i have decided to have a go at 40k.

At the moment the only 40K models that i have are a couple of marines and a predator that i got because i loved the model aswell as the DoW game. it'll be the 3rd army i have a go at after O&G which i liked for a while untill i realised that they where quite apalling an the battle field and oviousley lizzardmen.

At the moment my heart is set on eldar because of there cool models, technology and the striking scorpion and wraithlord models, also they look realy fun to paint
any advise from eldar players or 40K players would be appriceated
thanks for reading

Geko

As an old eldar player I'd say go for it. The Eldars are one of the most challenging and fun armies to play in 40K. They have wonderful models, excellent weaponry, deadly specialised aspect warriors and very fast moving units.
If you're planing to start up an eldar army you should get a copy of their codex. Everything you'd like to know of the army is in it.

Some general advice though:
As the Eldar is a very specialised force you have to think hard before buying units. If most of your opponents are going to be Marines, then Scorpions, Swooping hawks and guardians might not be the best choises, and if your playing against orcs then Howling Banshees and Dark reapers might not fit in.
Of course you could also chose your units based on how they look or if you like their style (i did )

Also the Eldars are quite expensive points wise. Where Marines can have several tactical squads to fill several roles on the battlefield the Eldars only have a few spcialists, and losing just one such squad can hurt you alot.


If there's anything specific you'd like to know I'd be happy to try and answer.

cheers for an in depth reply most people at my local GW play nids or orcs but there are a couple of tau and space marine players
i wasa thinking of starting with a couple of boxes of dire avengers a box of scorpions and a wraith lord.I dont know which leader i want for my army yet as i am unfamiliar with the psyker powers

Geko

It sounds like you've already decided upon which units you like: Scorpions and Wraithlords.

I don't know how much you know about 40K, but in a standard game you need two units of "troops" and one HQ unit. This can be compared to the 2+ core choise and the general in fantasy.

I'd suggest that you pick up a unit of Dire Avengers as one of your first troop choises as they are highly flexible and can do well in both an attack and a defence. The amount of shots they can fire can be absolutly devastating and their unitleader, he exarch can boost the unit with some nice skills.

The second unit is up to taste and who you're playing. against 'nids and orcs I'd suggest guardian defenders as they are equiped in for the same role as Dire Avengers, (anti light to medium infantry) but can be a bit more specialised as they can include a heavy weapon. They are also cheaper than Dire Avengers

The HQ depends on your own style, which can be hard to decide upon at the moment. The Farseer is a good leader as he has the option of getting psychic powers which can gereatly boos the army. either he can make your units more accurate in shooting or he can make them more resilient. if you want he can even have psychic attacks to deal with entire units or picking out characters to pop their heads. A highly versatile character BUT he's not that good in combat. This is more of a support HQ.

Other than the Farseer you can chose the Autarch. This is a new guy and a very specialised combat character. he can be equiped with a mixture of equipment from diffent aspects. For an example: the wings from Swooping hawks, a Fusion gun from Fire Dragons and a power weapon from the howling banshees.
This character is also a good support as he ensures that your reserve units arrives when you want to (most of the time) also he enhances the armys strategy rating which (if memory serves) helps you to pick deployment zone and who goes first, not too sure in 5th ed. The problems is that he's quite weak, physically, like all Eldar so he needs support from units and should never attack other units by himself, if they're not allready softened up.

Also you have the Avatar. Basically a big burning god of war who can smack most things aside. pretty slow though as he's too big to ride transports and can't fly or such.


The Scorpions you want to get are also great against light and medium infantry but are also adept at sneaking behind enemy lines and have some pretty tough armour, the equivalent of space marines. the WILL massacre most units of orcs and lesser tyranids with their sheer number of heavy hitting attacks, and they will stand up to any punishment they get in return.

The Wraith Lord is a big, nasty dreadnought-thing and though as nails. he's imune to most low strength attacks and can carry up to two heavy weapons as well as flame throwers. he's a nightmare to most armies as you can equip him to fill out most battlefield roles.
His main weaknes is that there's a chance for him to get confused and just stand stll, effectively missing an entire round if there isn't any friendly psycher nearby. If you want the lord, you should probably go with a farseer as HQ.


HQ: Farseer with some nice psychic powers...about 150pts.

Troops: 10 Dire avengers with an Exarch... about 150pts.
10 Guardian Defenders with a heavy weapon... about 110 pts.

Elites: 6-10 Striking Scorpions with an exarch...about 180 for a full squad

Heavy Support: A Wraith Lord with two heavy weapons... about 150pts.
total: 740pts.

This starting army is pretty slow, there's no vehicles and no bikes. You should probably get either a Falcon (hover tank) to add some mobile firepower or a Wave Serpent (hover tank which transports units) for your Scorpions to ensure that they reach combat. also you should be prepared to get anti tank and anti heavy infantry weapons as well as theese guys are more addept at handling orcs than marines.

After getting this you can probably expand to get whatever you feel the need for.

I hope this is what you were looking for and that it'll be of some help!