Building an eldar fleet

[radu lykan]

I have recently bought a load of bitz to kit bash/scratch build an eldar fleet, I have enough parts for 4 cruisers, 2 light cruisers and a large number of escorts. Given these vague parameters, what should I build?
I don't really have any experience playing eldar so any opinions will help
Thanks in advance

[Talos]

The Eldar full cruisers eldom see use, and of the two the Shadow is more popular. Light cruisers are more common with the aurora seeing more play.

Escorts are a matter of taste, but generally most Eldar corsairs run large amount of hemlocks and nightshades, with a few fringe people running aconite squadrons and helebore squadrons. Helebore's are commonly mixed in with other squadrons as well, so are seen in a "fleshing out" role as well.

At 1500 pts, most Eldar fleets have a Void Stalker (the battleship), and aurora or two and as many squadrons of nightshades and hemlocks as possible.

[Gothmog Lord of Balrogs]

Can you combine the bits for the cruisers to make a BB?

Is this Craftworld or no?

[radu lykan]

am leaning towards the corsair list as i prefer their looks
i could combine parts for a battle ship but am not sure i want to do that yet, am open to the idea of getting more parts if need be.
what are the major differences between the craft world and corsair play styles or are they pretty much the same?

if i go with the battle ship then i am probably looking at a list like this
1 void stalker
2 shadow
1 eclipse
1 aurora
1 solaris
6 hellebore
6 aconite
6 nightshade
6 hemlock
prince  + 3 re-rolls
2840     
what would people round this up to 3000 with?   
i realise this might not be optimised but i do like to have a lot of variety in my fleets. are there any other corsair ships i might have missed from my pdfs?

Edit= what of the nebula battle cruiser and the ikaros light cruiser from the book of nemesis? any good? balanced/over or underpowered?                 

[Gothmog Lord of Balrogs]

Edit= what of the nebula battle cruiser and the ikaros light cruiser from the book of nemesis? any good? balanced/over or underpowered?               

Those are going to be in ASC 2.0 once I start Eldar

[AndrewChristlieb]

Corsairs focus on large numbers of escorts with a handful of capitols mainly for attack craft. Craftworld can go pretty much entirely without escorts as their cruisers are the bomb.

[afterimagedan]

radu, I would get another aurora and another eclipse. Then some more nightshades. Nightshades and hemlocks tend to be the bulk of the corsair fleet, from what I can tell.

[unseelied]

Craftworld and Corsairs generally play the same way .  Hit and run, duck and cover.  As a previos poster mentioned the craftworld uses capitol ships mostly while the Corsairs use escorts.  The void stalker battleship is extremely good.  Its also the only ship that has any shooting over 30cm which sometimes makes a difference.  If I wasn't going for a battleship I'd stick with just the carriers and escorts for the most competitive load out.  Hemlocks, Nightshades and even Acconites are the best.  Not personally fond of the shadow, the light cruisers or the helebore.  I find them not effective for their points, especially the helibore.  At 1500 pts I normally run a void stalker, an eclipse, a squad of hemlocks, squad of nightshades and a squad of acconites.

[horizon]

Hi,
First at talos: from what I know it is the eclipse that is more popular (if the excellent void stalker is not being used!).
The Shadow has always been regarded as a poor ship.

Unseelied:
The hellebore saw a significant price drop in Faq2010. Aconite as well. Aurora is good, Solaris poor.

But still the hemlock and nightshade remain the backbone.

Above is all about the official rules. With house rules (bfg:r) all changes in the fact all ships are more equal.

[Zhukov]

Why build for power gaming? Build at least one of everything so you can have colorful games. That's what I've done with every fleet I get. Regardless if the ship ''sucks,'' I build it just to have it. Collectors mentality I suppose.

-Zhukov

[Talos]

@horizon Yeah, I just got the names mixed up, as I don't actually play eldar myself.

[unseelied]

I think catagorizing having good ships that will help you win games as power gaming is a bit unfair.  Dude did ask on the forum what ships he should scratch build.  I assumed he wanted to get the best ships for his collection.  Since he is scratch building them he can't be asking us what the best looking ships are as his ships will probabally not look anything like the standard fair.  That means he is looking for the best working ships.  I like to collect and I like to play but hobby time and hobby money are both limited so I want to get the most out of my ships.  I don't think it is unreasonable to want a fleet that not only looks good but also plays well.  Especially now when its difficult and expensive to get certain ships. 

[Gothmog Lord of Balrogs]

Out of curiosity what kits/bits are you using?

[radu lykan]

right, after some consideration i am going to make my fleet usable as both craftworld and corsair.
after reading that light cruisers are quite important to the eldar i have ordered some more bits, when they arrive i will be making 1 void stalker/flame of asuryan, 1 nebula/ dragonship, 2 shadows magnetised to fit extra bits to bump them up to dragon ships, 2 eclipse/wraith ships, 4 light cruisers/wraith ships with around 24 escorts usable as lance or wb variants. are there any obvious problems with the above lists?

on the subject of power gaming, its not for me, its all about the fun, as long as i win lol
i just want a varied fleet that has a chance of winning, all of my fleets have almost got 1 of everything i have found written for them

bits wise i have a LOAD of dark eldar sails, plan is to use 3 sails per cruiser and 4 on the battle ship/cruiser. for the light cruisers i have 4 sets of the sails off the high elf sky cutter and the escorts will mostly be made from sky cutter bits as well. just need to work out if i will be sculpting the hulls or trying to find other bits.
the reason for trying to stick to bits is so the fleet will show new players how easy it can be to kitbash fleets now gw are pulling the plug

[horizon]

Really curious on how your fleet will lool like.