Eldar

The Eldar were my first tournament army for Warhammer 40k. Similar to my Warhammer Empire Army, I tried to focus on troops and tactics rather than the mighty heroes that were popular in the early 2000’s.

The paint scheme is the same purple and bone that I used for my Warhammer Empire army (which came afterwards). What can I say, I like the colours and they paint up easily. The exception to this are the aspect warriors which were a separate contingent as I only used Howling Banshees in the tournament force. Decades after this army went into retirement, I updated the bases to the new 28.5mm and 32mm sizes with a more thematic alien world style.

A unique feature of the army is the use of 3M multi-layer optical film for various aspects. This film – invented at the time but not even commercially available yet – reflects/transmits light differently depend on wavelength. The resulting prismatic effect seemed very appropriate for the holofield technology of the Eldar and looked pretty on the battlefield.

Tournament Army

Leaders

The Eldar host is led by the mighty Avatar of Khaine and a Farseer (slightly converted to give me the option of sword or spear). At the time, the psychic powers of the Farseer were a great way to boost the damage output of the large guardian formations.

Troops

The bulk of the army is made up of large units of Guardians. This was a somewhat unconventional approach in an era of big heroes and monsters, but it worked for me. The three core units worked in combination and were typically deployed in three layers: At the front were 20 Guardian Defenders with the Conceal psychic power used by their attached Warlock. This “mobile cover save”, combined with the size of the unit, made them a formidable barrier against enemy shooting. Behind them came 20 Storm Guardians with Warlock and two flamers. They could be unleashed against any objective and typically hold it by sheer unit count for the duration of a game. The rear line were another 20 Guardian Defenders with grav platform acting in support. With the era’s focus on small, high damage units, there often weren’t enough attacks in an enemy force to make any significant dent in 60 concealed guardians. And I got to roll a lot of dice! Even mighty heroes fall if you fire enough sharp discs into them…

Guardian Defenders. The optional “Conceal” shields are made from 3M multi-layer optical film that reflects the surrounding but at different angles depending on wavelength. Very futuristic, or so I thought at the time!

Storm Guardians. Converted from metal parts at the time since the release of plastic figures came much later.

Guardian Defenders. My typical grav platform choice was a Star Cannon for it’s ability to deal with Space Marines, but I made up a Brightlance option as well.

A small unit of Stormguardians completed the Craftworld infantry. These were mounted in a Wave Serpent to take out enemy vehicles with grenades and their two Fusion Guns. The Warlock has a Singing Spear for additional killing power. The relatively large size of the unit often allowed me to block all exits of an enemy transport, destroy the vehicle, and then auto-kill its cargo – much to the annoyance of opponents I am sure. Nothing like wiping out an elite Terminator squad with lowly guardians without even fighting…

Two small units of Rangers provide the ability to pin enemy formations and take out smaller units.

Aspect Warriors

My tournament army featured a single unit of Howling Banshees as a mobile assault force mounted in a Wave Serpent and a very small unit of Dark Reapers for long ranged support. These were tied into the paint scheme of the force, unlike the earlier aspect warriors shown below. Phoenix Lord Jain-Zar of the Howling Banshees was added much later and never included in tournament play.

Spirit Warriors

Two Wraithlords –one first generation and one second –offer close combat crunch. Only the newer figure was typically used in the actual tournament army.

A small unit of Wraithguard, led by a Warlock, can take out heavily armoured enemy characters or vehicles. These were a rarely-used part of the force but sometimes swapped in to replace the Dark Reapers.

Vehicles

I converted two Wave Serpents –no figures at the time –to carry the Howling Banshees and Storm Guardians. The Wave Serpents was my first experiment with illumination. The central rod is clear plexiglass coated in 3M multi-layer optical film which spreads the internal lights into different colours depending on angle. And yes, I know what it looks like…

A Falcon provides mobile fire power but is otherwise a stock figure.

Two Warwalkers –again with holo-fields made from multi-layer film –provide a stable base of fire while a sole Vyper can snatch objectives (or at least could do so in the mid-2000s). the holo-field effect is difficult to capture on camera, but looks quite neat in person as everything shifts to different colours depending on the angle of view.

Aspect Warrior Force

This collection was painted separately from the tournament army and doesn’t fit into its visual style. Still, Aspect Warriors are such an integral part of Eldar lore that they had to be included.

The force is lead by a small, first generation Avatar painted in the “drybrush style” of the 90’s.