Ben's Eldar - OWAC VII - Introduction

"Every fight leaves us diminished, a few more souls lost to the warp forever."
- Warlock Karhedron

For this, my second entry into the Old World Army Challenge, I'll be expanding my 2nd Edition 40K Eldar force. Eldar were always my friend's army in 40K, but my first army was an Alaitoc army for Epic, and painting this feels kind of like a homage to teenage days when it seemed like we could regularly spend all weekend playing games.

I'm firstly aiming to fill out the army with missing troop types - a squad of each Aspect, more Guardians and Scouts, some Wraith constructs and a mighty Avatar. My additional challenge is to include some unique conversions - including Aspect Warriors from shrines other than the main ones, a Farseer on Jetbike, and converted Guardians on Jetbikes - and to decorate my forces with handpainted banners. Overall, I'm aiming for bright blues/yellows for an Alaitoc theme, avoiding reds to try to keep a coherent colour scheme.

My plan for four loosely-themed troops slices, a HQ slice, and remaining stretch goals / wildcard entries is as follows:

Troops 1: Wraiths (Dreadnought, Wraithguard, Warlock/Wraithseer).

Troops 2: Firepower (Dark Reapers, Fire Dragons). I aim to include a Fire Dragon Exarch once it arrives in the post.

Troops 3: Close Range (Howling Banshees, Warp Spiders).

Troops 4: Rangers (Scouts, War Walker, Farseer on Jetbike)

HQ: Avatar, plus a handful of Phoenix Lords if time permits...

Bonus/Wildcard models: Warlocks, Jetbikes, and Scout/Dire Avenger Aspect Warriors (working name: Dusk Stalkers).

More wildcard stuff: Finish off a squad of Guardians and Support Weapon, expand some existing Aspect Warrior squads.

A rough list shows this, if achieved (fingers crossed), would top 3,000 points - although you would probably never field all the characters together...

CHARACTERS – 1587 pts
Avatar – 300 pts
3 Warlocks, Witch Blade – 198 pts
Warlock, Singing Spear – 76 pts
Exarch (converted), Shuriken Catapult – 55 pts
Exarch, Dark Reaper Range Finder, Missile Launcher – 100 pts
Exarch, Banshee Mask, Power Sword, Laspistol – 69 pts
Exarch, Warp Spider Jump Generator, 2 Death Spinners – 90 pts
Karandras – 150 pts
Fuegan – 176 pts
Baharroth – 186 pts
Jain Zar – 187 pts

SQUADS – 1495 pts
8 Guardians, Shuriken Catapults – 112 pts (3 part-painted)
2 Guardians, Jetbike with Shuriken Catapults, Jetbike with Shuriken Cannon – 67 pts
4 Dire Avengers (converted) – 88 pts
8 Fire Dragons – 224 pts
4 Dark Reapers – 268 pts
3 Swooping Hawks – 84 pts
4 Howling Banshees – 81 pts
3 Striking Scorpions – 78 pts
4 Warp Spiders – 164 pts
7 Scouts – 154 pts
5 Wraithguard – 175 pts

SUPPORT – 255 pts
Dreadnought, Extra Distortion Cannon – 200 pts
Distort Cannon on Anti-Grav Platform – 55 pts

Finally, if I get the time, I want to add in some converted heavy close-quarters Dark Reaper/Striking Scorpion Aspect Warriors (working name: Sun Basilisks), and some Guardians with lasguns.

And good luck to all fellow challengers - may your paint pots never dry out!