1000 pt Very first Eldar list

[SimulatedSnowman]

I've been wanting to play Eldar for awhile now, and since I just went out and bought the Codex, I figured I'd bang out a smaller list which basically includes the units I like most. I would have liked to include more Pathfinders, as I think the models are awesome, but I was a little concerned with having my anti-tank be limited to a command squad and 1 tank.

I have very little experience with Eldar, as only two other guys in my local club use them, so my grasp on the tactics is very limited. I'd appreciate any tips and pointers very much.

HQ:
Farseer w/Spirit Stones, Doom, Fortune and Guide

Warlock Retinue:
3 Warlocks w/Singing Spears

HQ TOTAL: 234

ELITES:

Striking Scorpions:
1 Exarch w/Biting Blade, Shadowstrike, Stalker
9 Scorpions

ELITES TOTAL: 202

TROOPS:

Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders

Dire Avengers
1 Dire Avenger Exarch w/2 Catapults, Bladestorm
5 Dire Avengers

Guardians
9 Guardians
2 Guardians w/shuriken cannon

TROOPS TOTAL: 315

HEAVY SUPPORT:

1 Falcon w/Bright Lance and Twin-Linked Shuriken Catapults

Support battery:
2 D-Cannons

GRAND TOTAL: 996

Also a few questions. I like Pathfinders, so obviously I'm leaning towards Alaitoc for a craftworld. Are Alaitoc lists less competative than other Craftworld lists? Are there any other characteristics to Alaitoc besides their amount of Rangers and ties with Harlies?

Thanks for your help in advance.

[Mad Cat]

HQ: Farseer should only have 2 powers. A redundant power might be a nice to have but in a 1000 point list it is a waste.

Retinue: 3xT3 chaps with only a 4+ save and they are very expensive. They will never see an enemy tank to use the spears or anything else for that matter. 5 Marines will bolter them to death with rapid fire. Drop them entirely. This also means you don't have to cast fortune on them so drop that too. The independant character status of the farseer should keep him ok.

Scorpions: Good sized unit. I always go for the claw on the exarch. It's important to have at least one power weapon in an army.

Pathfinders: hmmm not that great and they don't kill things fast enough but one unit is ok.

Dire avengers: either get 10 men with bladestorm or drop the exarch entirely and just get as many vanilla chaps as possible. Bladestorm on 5 man units is a complete waste of points. Also casting guide on 5 chaps isn't half as good as casting guide on 10 bladestorming avengers.

Guardians: Cheap and in my opinion the best of the guardian squad loadouts. Others might suggest a better weapon or adding a warlock but I say just keep them cheap and put them in cover plinking with the weapon platform. As the enemy approach within 17" range then rush out, cast guide on them and shuriken cattapult the enemy to death.

Falcon: Needs holofields! Needs Spirit stones! Get rid of the BL. If you fire it and the pulse laser you can't move fast so the "all hits glancing" rule doesn't protect you. Suggest a scatter laser (still good with 4 shots on flank armour) or a statcannon for terminator hunting.

D Cannon: Never used them myself but they seem ok. Split them into 2 individual batteries. Have you thought about warwalkers with 2 scatterlasers each or Vipers with 2 shuriken cannon each?

In summary: Tone down the HQ, drop the retinue, max out the avengers and redesign the falcon.

[Exarch Thomo]

First off, welcome to the Eldar. That's not a bad list at all to start with. Here are my suggestions:
Farseer: 3 powers is too many - you can only use 2 a turn with the stones and the cost for the power (and the size of the game) means that you are sacrificing models/upgrades elsewhere that are vital for a power that will be redundant at least 1/3 of the time. I would even go so far as to suggest dropping him back to one power - either guide or doom. I would probably recommend doom as it will be more useful for the majority of your army, but if you wanted to you could guide the D cannons or something, but I would go for doom over guide with this army set-up.
Warlocks: Cool idea, but personally I don't like running the bodyguard at this level - although with fortune they can be a veritable tar pit for any unit in close combat and should have tank commanders giving them a wide berth. However, I suggest dropping them entirely - too many points for too few models at this level.
Scorpions: Good size - handy unit to have. I would consider swapping the biting blade for the claw - sure you strike last but you also get an extra attack and ignore armour saves - and seeing as the rest of your army doesn't contain anything with a power weapon, this could be vital.
Pathfinders: Great unit, I use them in everygame and they haven't let me down yet. Great psychological weapon too.
Dire Avengers: These really need more bodies. Bump the size up to 10 (or a minimum of . Nice load on the exarch too.
Guardians: Personally I don't use them (I play a Biel Tan list) but looks like a good set up. Use one of the warlocks from the discarded retinue here to boost them with conceal - a 5+ cover save will practically double their survivability.
Falcon: As MadCat said, this needs holofields and spirit stones. Also drop the bright lance in favour of a scatter laser or star cannon - you cannot fire both the lance and pulse laser in the same turn. Keep the shuriken cannon upgrade.
D-Cannons: Can be very destructive but their range can be a little prohibitive. Still, the look ok - try them out and see.