/etc/init.d/net.eth0 needs "hotplug" added to the use line in it. As hotplug is needed for things like carbus nics (3c59x) and if one adds net.eth0 to the default runlevel on a machine with that type of nic, net.eth0 will error out it its run before hotplug is. I am using 1.8.6.3 of baselayout. If you have any questions, feel free to ask on irc, or via email. Thanks.
Will be in baselayout-1.8.6.4.