Wrath of the Damned: An Old Collection Revisited.

 Greetings, gentle readers! In today's article I want to focus on one of my armies that hasn't gotten much love in many, many years. These past few weeks I have been cheating on my lover power armour with a old flame. That's right folks, I busted out the Eldar! I first started collecting Eldar way back in the mists of time (aka Third Edition). In fact, if memory serves (which it does only occasionally) the Eldar were either my second or third 40k army ( Dark Angels were the first). Back in the day, I themed my army around a force from Ulthwe Craftworld. That meant more Guardians and fewer Aspect Warriors, and of course a large contingent of Farseers and Warlocks. Ulthwe Craftworld in the lore has a large force of professional soldiers in the form of Black Guardians with a smaller number of Aspect shrines than most other Craftworlds. This, coupled with a large Seer Council, made for a challenging force to play. In the old Craftworld book the Ulthwe army could take a dedicated Seer Council as a HQ choice. This allowed for up to five Farseers and a large number of Warlocks ( I can't remember how many exactly) as a single HQ. This made for a rather ridiculous amount of psychic powers on the table potentially. The times I played them I really enjoyed the army. The last time they saw the light of the gaming table was around the introduction of 5th edition. So with that in mind, a trip to my folk's house inspired me to retrieve them and get them back on the table.    

So what all do I have in my collection? Well, not as much as I remembered. The collection looks something like this:

Autarch
Farseers (5)
Spirit Seer
Warlocks (12)

Howling Banshees (9)
Wratihguard (5)
Wraithlord
1 Heavy Support Platform
Dire Avengers (15)
Swooping Hawks(7)
Guardian Defenders (56)
Storm Guardians (16)
Scatter Laser and Starcannon Platforms
3 Jet Bikes
1 Vyper
1 Falcon
1 Wave Serpent (old Forge World conversion kit)
1 War Walker with Bright Lance and Scatter Laser

Getting Them Back on the Table

 Recently I have gotten two games in with the Eldar. One was 1850 points against the Blood Angels and the other was part of a unholy alliance with the Necrons (with Kaldor Draigo and Paladins) in a 2v2 2000 point battle. The game against the Blood Angels was pretty bloody (har har). I got destroyed rather convincingly, but it was a lot of fun. The star of the game was definitely a lone Wraithguard who absorbed a hilarious amount of firepower for most of the game. Howling Banshees performed well in close combat and managed to wipe out a unit of ten Sternguard with a Priest and Warlord Librarian. Some other things I have learned is that: managing psychic power is a pain in the ass, Shuriken Catapult range is a major issue, cover is my friend, and lastly I need to pick up a few things to make the army more effective. Next time I use them I will try and get a proper battle report written up. 

Painting

I don't really have a lot of the army painted, and what I do have was painted many years ago (aka not as well as they could be). Despite my painting abilities in my youth, I don't plan on repainting anything that has been completed. So to take a break from painting my Heresy era Marines I have decided to paint a "test" model for each unit. Here are the work in progress models for Guardians, Dire Avengers, Wraithguard, and Howling Banshees. 

So, moving forward I have a few ideas about what to add, but I would welcome suggestions from people who have more games under their belts. That being said, I DO NOT want to make an army that is a min/maxed Jet Council. I abhor internet power lists. Until next time, happy gaming!