Observations from a casual gamer vol. 1 : Eldar/Aeldari edition

"They still have Games Workshops?"

- me 2017

The small shop in Windsor UK brought back a flood of memories as I browsed through the store. It was 2017 and I hadn't picked up a brush or or even thought about Warhammer 40k in 30 years. A few weeks later I was pulling out of storage old minis and surveying the scene in Atlanta only to discover that yes, Games workshop and the gaming community surrounding it was very much alive and well. 

Stepping away for video games and binge watching TV shows as my primary free time activities, I decided to reconnect with something that brought me joy as a kid. My first priority was to get back up to speed with painting (I'm a painter first). A lot had progressed since the late 80's and I spent months trying to get back to the respectable level of painting I had reached in my teens. I watched youtube videos, collected depressingly good examples of painted miniatures, and read painting blogs. I am just now getting to a level where I can take a picture of my mini with an iPhone and not cringe when I zoom in. 

After completing a few units, I wanted to DO something with the miniatures I was painting.  I began surveying the gaming scene and reading up on the rules. 8th Edition was just landing and all I needed was someone patient with noobs and a spot to play. 

The next few years flew by as I learned to play the game and build my Eldar..er.. Aeldari army into some semblance of respectability. Here are a few of my observations along the way. 

• Aeldari, as they are now known, are a tough faction for newbies. The synergy needed with psychic powers took a while to get a hold of. I spent my early games kicking myself over forgetting buffs, stratagems and sometimes even the entire psychic phase itself. 

• After being slammed in close combat a few games against marines, I tried introducing Harlequins to my lists. This addition was too much too soon. I wound up simplifying my lists and using Harlequins separately. Sticking to one primary faction made games more enjoyable and more competitive (not to mention quicker), as I didn't end up shuffling through multiple profiles and differing faction stratagems all day. 

• Unit speed is key. HQ units on bikes became essential as I needed the flexibility to get into psychic range and snag objectives. I liked moving my minis across the board so much that Speed became an essential component of my playing style. This approach carried over to both my Harlequins and Ork lists. 

• I started using a stratagem cheat sheet that arranged the stratagems under each phase. I found this helpful and less cumbersome that shuffling cards around. 

• Reapers are essential. When in doubt add more Reapers. Don't group them together and get them killed. Worth burning CPs to keep them alive, especially if you don't have many more heavy support options. 

• Aeldari are a vehicle led army. If I were to take my list up a notch in competitiveness, I would need to start duplicating my vehicles, which I wasn't very interested in. My list was mainly of the troop variety--many repurposed from the Rogue Trader sculpts I purchased in the early 90's, with a sprinkling of vehicles and wraith. After painting only one of a each vehicle unit (Waveserpent, War Walker, hemlock, Wraithlord, Wraithguard) I ran out of willpower to paint multiples. I decided that this was ok, I wasn't going to do a tournament anytime soon, and that I liked the variety over and above the list optimization. 

• I had to be sure I was familiar with my objective cards, and understand which ones I needed to discard or not include all together. This was something that I came to understand later in my gaming career (if you even want to call it that)

So that's a short synopsis of what I've learned so far. I'll post some more general observations about the hobby at a later time. The comments section is below, so feel free to share your story.

Below I've included a few photos. For a large gallery, check out my craftworld page here >