the dark eldar

[Brother Gathurn]

HOw do you kill dark eldar I'm playing a gang of 'em soon I'm taking a

 

standard dread

tac sqaud of 6 in a razorback w/ las

scout sqaud w/ 2shotguners 3 snipes and a heavy bolter

an assault sqaud w/7guys and a chappy w/ one plasma pistol and a powere weapon

a landspeeder w/ heavy bolter and assault cannon

 

I/ve never played him before and have no idea what he'll take

[drakkhenkc]

My friend plays a witch-heavy DE list with a bunch of raiders and mandrakes and regularly wins...I'll tell you how a regular game with him goes...

 

The raiders deploy 12" away from the edge then zoom 18" (fast skimmer) and deploys the witches 2" from the hull. Witches run up to 6", then assault 12" (with the right drugs, of course - 1 in 6 chance of him getting those). That's a 45 to 50" threat range to get into close combat on the first turn! Once in CC, the witches have a 4+ invulnerable, will halve the weapon skill of their opponents, and negate the extra attack for having 2 close combat weapons.

 

Mandrakes are completely hidden - he gets to put down three markers that move like a normal unit. He can deploy the mandrakes on whichever marker he wants and you can't target them until he does - while they're not very deadly in CC or shooting, they can tie up key fire support units, making the path clear for the witches and raiders.

 

Sometimes he'll throw in jetbikes - like the mandrakes, they aren't a huge threat in shooting or CC, but they are fast and will tie up units in CC while the big threats come in.

 

Occasionally he will take a ravager that will eat heavy armor apart with dark lances (S8, treat all armor over 12 as 12). Oh yeah, and the raiders all mount dark lances too.

 

 

My suggestion - put an assault cannon on the dread and perhaps a missile launcher if you have one. Otherwise, upgrade the storm bolter on the CCW to a flamer. It's the only unit that has had any appreciable success in CC with witches - outside of shooting, DE can't do much to dreads unless they take haywire grenades or agonizers - still, they get the 4+ invulnerable save even against the S10 dread weapon.

Also, DE only have a 5 or 6+ armor save on most of the units, so load up on heavy bolters. Don't bother with a multi-melta or lascannon on anything - the raider armor is paper-thin, even heavy bolters can penetrate it. The landspeeder looks good, just try to keep it out of LOS of the dark lances. For the scout squad, I suggest ditching the shotguns and having 4 snipers with either missile launcher or heavy bolter. Missile launchers are great - the frag blast is a serious threat to the squads and the krak will consistently destroy raiders / ravagers. I would advise against taking an assault squad - you want to stay far away from CC. The plasma pistol is overkill also - the basic bolt pistol will puncture their puny armor.

Your strategy should be one of shoot shoot shoot. If they get to CC, it's pretty much over unless you can throw them a 'sacrifical' squad and then shoot them up after they win the combat. This is, of course, if he takes witches. If he takes warriors, then laugh and shoot them.

[Stargazer]

i play dark eldar as well as marines and if you take flamers they will die in droves!!!!!!!!!!!!! no armour save and no cover save

 

Destroy their transports early and always if possible take the first turn to give you a turn of shooting at them

[Nyyman]

The raiders deploy 12" away from the edge then zoom 18" (fast skimmer) and deploys the witches 2" from the hull. Witches run up to 6", then assault 12" (with the right drugs, of course - 1 in 6 chance of him getting those). That's a 45 to 50" threat range to get into close combat on the first turn! Once in CC, the witches have a 4+ invulnerable, will halve the weapon skill of their opponents, and negate the extra attack for having 2 close combat weapons.

 

I thought you cannot charge from flat-outting trasport.

Or is it even flat-outting if it goes 18"? I'm not sure.

[srpelicano]

The raiders deploy 12" away from the edge then zoom 18" (fast skimmer) and deploys the witches 2" from the hull. Witches run up to 6", then assault 12" (with the right drugs, of course - 1 in 6 chance of him getting those). That's a 45 to 50" threat range to get into close combat on the first turn! Once in CC, the witches have a 4+ invulnerable, will halve the weapon skill of their opponents, and negate the extra attack for having 2 close combat weapons.

 

I thought you cannot charge from flat-outting trasport.

Or is it even flat-outting if it goes 18"? I'm not sure.

 

Yeah I think you're right. >12" is flat-out. The Witches shouldn't be able to disembark from the raider, let alone assault out. But the rest he has dead on. The raider goes 12", they come out at 14" from where the raider started (2" disembark), fleet roughly 3, then assault 12 (if they got the right drug) giving an effective 29" threat range. That's not counting if it is already 12" from the board edge. That could very well be all up in your face turn 1.

 

I'm just starting a Dark Eldar army for variety and would love to read more "how to kill them"s :D

[commander alexander]

The raiders deploy 12" away from the edge then zoom 18" (fast skimmer) and deploys the witches 2" from the hull. Witches run up to 6", then assault 12" (with the right drugs, of course - 1 in 6 chance of him getting those). That's a 45 to 50" threat range to get into close combat on the first turn! Once in CC, the witches have a 4+ invulnerable, will halve the weapon skill of their opponents, and negate the extra attack for having 2 close combat weapons.

 

I thought you cannot charge from flat-outting trasport.

Or is it even flat-outting if it goes 18"? I'm not sure.

 

Yeah I think you're right. >12" is flat-out. The Witches shouldn't be able to disembark from the raider, let alone assault out. But the rest he has dead on. The raider goes 12", they come out at 14" from where the raider started (2" disembark), fleet roughly 3, then assault 12 (if they got the right drug) giving an effective 29" threat range. That's not counting if it is already 12" from the board edge. That could very well be all up in your face turn 1.

 

I'm just starting a Dark Eldar army for variety and would love to read more "how to kill them"s ;)

 

Are any of the DE units relentless or have special rules allowing them to assault from a transport? cuz if the do... Bye Bye

[srpelicano]

The raiders deploy 12" away from the edge then zoom 18" (fast skimmer) and deploys the witches 2" from the hull. Witches run up to 6", then assault 12" (with the right drugs, of course - 1 in 6 chance of him getting those). That's a 45 to 50" threat range to get into close combat on the first turn! Once in CC, the witches have a 4+ invulnerable, will halve the weapon skill of their opponents, and negate the extra attack for having 2 close combat weapons.

 

I thought you cannot charge from flat-outting trasport.

Or is it even flat-outting if it goes 18"? I'm not sure.

 

Yeah I think you're right. >12" is flat-out. The Witches shouldn't be able to disembark from the raider, let alone assault out. But the rest he has dead on. The raider goes 12", they come out at 14" from where the raider started (2" disembark), fleet roughly 3, then assault 12 (if they got the right drug) giving an effective 29" threat range. That's not counting if it is already 12" from the board edge. That could very well be all up in your face turn 1.

 

I'm just starting a Dark Eldar army for variety and would love to read more "how to kill them"s :)

 

Are any of the DE units relentless or have special rules allowing them to assault from a transport? cuz if the do... Bye Bye

 

All of the transports are open topped and units are allowed to assault after disembarking from an open topped vehicle even if it moved.