Hi there, and welcome to Farseer Fail!
I've been playing Warhammer 40k since 1999, and the very first army I bought into was the Eldar. They remain my favorite army to play; they offer a very different style of play from Space Marine armies and horde lists, and while they offer some distinct and specific advantages over other armies, they are also fragile, a real house of cards in which the entire list can come tumbling down if one key element is missing or removed.
Now let's get something straight right off the bat; I suck. There's a reason this blog is called "Farseer Fail". In 2010 my tournament record is something like 1-4-1. That's 1 win, 4 draws, 1 loss, and I consider that something of a personal best. On at least one forum I am known as "Doom of the Eldar". However, I used to lose pretty much every game I played, no matter against whom. Now I'm pulling draws and wins more often and I finally feel like I'm learning how to play this game, as well as this army (more coming in a future article; "How not to learn to play 40k".
The intent of this blog is to provide some useful advice to the new Eldar player, or possibly the not-so-new Eldar player who feels like they are spinning their wheels and NOT progressing in skill, or list-building, or what-not. Having been that guy for quite a while, and not having much luck interpreting the wisdom of the true Eldar wizards out there (sometimes what they say is just beyond my tactical understanding) these are things I feel I can write about with authority.
What I will do is try to show you what NOT to do, hopefully using examples from my own experience. What I will NOT necessarily do is tell you WHAT you should do or HOW you should do it. There are plenty of other places to find that sort of information (in particular I've found Fritz's advice from SaimHann.blogspot.com on running Eldar very helpful). I am NOT a super-competitive player, and in all honestly I'm not that GOOD of a player. All I'm doing here is sharing a few of my painfully acquired lessons in what not to do. From my own experience, learning what NOT to do in 40k is at least as important as learning what you SHOULD do. This is particularly true of the so-called "glass hammer" armies out there like Eldar.
So keep your eyes peeled for the first article, which is all about the worst enemy of a starting Eldar player: HYPE.
Okay, so, I am thinking about getting into 40k. I am really intrigued by the Eldar fluff, but am having trouble figuring out exactly how they work tactically. Are they mostly fast-moving, with a lot of long-range shooting? Or do they rely more on assault? I'm getting conflicting messages from the Internet, so I thought I'd ask a reliable source.
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