The Dark Kin (WIP)

[Lord Melvin]

I wasn't sure where to put this, but I've been thinking about starting a guide to killing Dark Eldar. I know, I know "No one plays Dark Eldar anymore" Well, that's where you'd be WRONG! Dark Eldar do exist out there, and although their codex is outdated by around 4 or 5 editions, they remain a highly effective fighting force( when played right). If anyone thinks this is a good idea, please give feedback. I'll try and post a few examples.

 

Glory to the Imperium!!!

[Spacefrisian]

I will be waiting (laughing) for what you will be coming up with. I've seen this done many times before and everytime they were coming with the most lamest solutions. Most often treating them like Craftworld Eldar.

 

You have been warned. Good luck.

[Hazard]

As an elf hater Im looking forward to anything that is somehow connected with killing elfs.

[Koremu]

I wasn't sure where to put this

Tactica Astartes

[Br.Pat]

I think there was a thread a few months back about tips facing Dark Eldar. They're not too tough imo, as their infantry and vehicles are fairly weak. I'm not too much a fan of these flimsy hit and run armies as although they can be quite powerful, you're pretty screwed if something does not go according to plan.

[Hellios]

Dark Eldar generally win fast or die fast, however 5th Ed hit them pretty hard with new LOS, slower vehicles + everyone else moving fatser with run, moving fast no longer makes things auto-glancing and you can only make so many 4+ saves from zooming around... you can no longer do real raider drive-byes either...

 

Dark Eldar can still put the pain on necrons tho..., personally I think that we will see a DE codex in 2010.

 

Dark Eldar lords inc wych lords can kick ass but if things go wrong they die fast.

 

Homonculi (sp) cheap as chips for the price i guess you can't go wrong but not fantastic...

 

Incubi are good but expensive however if your shot down they will slow you down, consider taking them mixed in with warriors with splinter cannons to give you some fire-powah!

 

Vect is a good laugh... just for AV14 fast skimmer goodness... can also mess up low S units in CC.

 

Urien Rakath is a great character tho 100pts with a flamer (automatically hits) that automatically wounds and has 1d6 variable ap so 1/2 it will ignore 3 plus saves and 1/3 it will ignore 2+ saves and being a template weapon ignores cover.

 

All the pinning weapons are good if you are facing an army you can pin and keep pinned but if the space marines are just getting up and shooting you anyway it makes no difference (or not being pinned to start with)

 

wyches are pretty good in CC crap anywhere else. mandrakes are meh but can be brought out where they are needed..., warp beasts are ok I guess in combat but I wouldn't write home about them. Grotesques can be good and I would always take them vs Necrons with a lord and transport as outside of combat they can't be hurt by anything but destroyers(and heavy) and the monolith (maybe the staff of light and tomb syders but I can't remember what S they are) and then you win in combat make the necrons run away and you run them down.

 

Warriors are meh if the raiders go slow :'(, I've never been one for big shooty units unless they have cover and even then a 10 man marine squad will give them a good fight (i know marines cost more :evil:) and in combat the only advantage they have is I5.

 

Reavers are also meh as now they have lost lots of the stuff that made them unique like Turbo boost... hellions I hate anyway... Talos is to slow unless you play a portal army which can be risky. scourges should only have splinter rifles otherwise the jump pack is wasted... so if you need more shots to kill orks and stuff go for it... Ravagers are ok if you can keep them alive... triple lances will take care of most armoured vehicles and disintigrators will kill marines easily and take out light transports.

[DarkGuard]

Dark Eldar are certainly still alive (and not dying anytime soon) at my local Games Workshop. One chap has a nasty 1500pts army which is rarely beaten, consisting of the following:

 

Archon with shadowfield, nasty poisoned power weapon

Incubi ret, around 5/6 people with incubi lord. Both in Raider with dark lance and horrofex.

 

6x Warrior squads with 1 blaster in Raiders (all have dark lances and a few have horrofexs).

 

2 Ravagers.

 

This army is nasty, as he will tend to try and deploy out of sight then swarm one area of the enemy with all his raider, getting the cover save. Next turn he starts shooting out of them. The Ravagers are nasty, the Incubi and Archon (he hardly ever dies) are also nasty.

 

However, I think one the the main advantages of his army is the horrofex, which causes pinning checks on the unit it fires at. What's more, if it hits two or more people you take the check at a modifier which is the same as the amount of hits eg. hits 4 people in a Space Marine squad, pinnning test at -4 Ld. So as can be seen this is nasty. My solution to it, use Pedro or Lysander, thereby making your army immune to negative modifiers.

 

If your opponent uses lots of Raiders (with standard infantry), focus on them first, as they are wafer thin and will probably kill more people when you blow them up. Remember that they are open-topped. In myexperience, heavy bolters work wonders, and the standard transports slayers should work. Also, S10 pie plates can be good as they will hopefully hit another couple and get a chance at killing that.

 

Infantry should be easy, even in combat.

 

You may want to consider combat squadding, as those splinter rifles won't do much damage, and you can minimize hits from the blast weapons (though if they hit don't expect the squad to do much).

 

About all I can say from my experience. Good luck with this.

[Koremu]

Make sure you take something (bikes) capable of replying in kind to their speed advantage. As a bonus, remember that Bikes are IMMUNE to pinning while turbo-boosting.

 

Other than that, attrition is your friend, because Dark Eldar can't survive it.

[pip]

I think there was a thread a few months back about tips facing Dark Eldar. They're not too tough imo, as their infantry and vehicles are fairly weak. I'm not too much a fan of these flimsy hit and run armies as although they can be quite powerful, you're pretty screwed if something does not go according to plan.

 

 

This has made me laugh so much, I think I have wet myself.

 

You have obviously either never played against Dark Eldar, or never played a competent player.

 

I play them far more regularly than I do anything else, and my favourite opponent is anything in Power Armour, as they are almost a guaranteed win. I often table my opponent (often by turn 4).

 

Yes, they are fragile, but don't equate fragile with weak.

[Br.Pat]

I once played an army with about 10 lances in it against my Landraider heavy list. He was slightly unlucky a couple of times but I still won. He poured the fire on the raiders (couldn't blame him really, with lances). But my tactical squads picked his skimmers off one by one.

 

I didn't equate fragile with weak. "Not too tough" generally means fragile.

 

Oh and what's funny is that the guy I played had the same opinion about Space Marines as you.

[pip]

I'm shocked, noly 10 Lances?

 

I agree though, I have lost on occasions to Marines. I faced a 3 Land Raider list, and for one turn I hit nothing.

 

I lost cos his last Rhino tank shocked a unit of Warriors, who fled off the table, and lost by 1 Kill Point.

[Gavotte]

A veteran DE player gave a pretty good hint to a newer Marine player he was playing against when I was playing at a local hobby store yesterday (who seemed to be playing with 2 or so AOBR sets) to TAKE DOWN THE FLIERS first.

[Hellios]

Want to know whats funny? A raider DE army with nightfields against pure Grey Knights....

 

 

 

Imfamous Villans

 

Asdrubael Vect: Basically this is a Ravager (fast open-topped skimmer) which has been on MTV's pimp my ride. First to shooting attacks it counts as AV14 so deal with it as you would any other AV14 vehicle or get close where it becomes 11/11/10. However note in combat it gets 5 (unless it charges) I7 S4 WS6 power weapon attacks so make sure the unit will survive long enough to blow it up. On the note of combat if the dias of destruction moved no more than 12" it may charge 6" and as a vehicle it will never fall back. Shooting wise its BS6 so will be hitting you with a dark lance and two disintegrators (think plasma cannon with two fire modes) and also two splinter pistols that fire as transported troops, so only if it hasn't moved very fast but they may also target another unit compared to the one the Dias' guns fired at.#

 

How to deal? If you can get it into combat an iron clad will mess this thing up but getting it in is the hard part, powerfists and relic blades should also deal some damage as well although unless they have invunerable saves you might lose some. For this reason I advocate if you have them using their cheap units such as scouts (as long as they have bombs/powerfist) to blow up the dias or expensive units with good invunerable saves as would be provided by a stormshield.

 

Kruellagh the Vile: I don't rate this one to much... only has a 5+ save and no inv (T3, can you say relic blades, or even standard nemesis force weapon). Only two things really make her stand out. Every model she kills in combat gives her +1 attack for the next player turn, however as she always wounds on a 2+ but allows armour saves this isn't a big problem.

 

What I would be more concerned about are Damnation grenades with a range of 6 but a blast with an AP of 3 these can kill a few MEQs but nothing a normal lord can't do better in combat.

 

Lelith Hesperax: Personally I take this as an automatic choice of HQ if I want to run a Wych cult. For the same price as a normal Wych Archite with an agonizer you get one with +1 WS and an agonizer, splinter pistol & a shadowfield, not only that but you can choose the effect the combat drugs have on her bodyguard... my prefered effect is a 12 inch assault meaning that if you deploy 12 inches from the board edge you can be between 39-44 inches across the board after your first turn.

 

Also as she has wych weapons she reduces models with a unmodified S of less than 6 (so relic blades/power fists wont help) to half their WS meaning a captain will be WS 3 and as she is WS7 you will need 5's to hit.

 

My advice is take her down before she gets in to combat if you can and unless something more dangerous appears shoot her when she is exposed after a combat as well. All her bodyguards will die as they have only got a 6+ save (but 4+ inv in CC) and are T3. She might last longer as she has a 2+ inv save but once that is failed she cannot use it again and is stuck with a 6+ and a 4+ inv in CC, without her bodyguard she should die due to pressure of numbers., avoid sending elite units in CC against her as they have no advantage (needing 5's to hit, and even S4 will wound of 3's and she will get an inv save), if you have to take her in combat you may as well (assuming the bodyguard is dead) send in scouts, otherwise assault marines or veterans because they have more attacks (although also more exspensive) and once more models with stormshields just because they will survive. S6+ will cause instant death on her.

 

Drazhar: Basically he is a super incubi and an upgrade for incubi squads. If he is in the new codex for DE I expect him to be much like sergeant telion(as an upgrade). On the charge he can get 4 attacks and for every hit he rolls twice as many dice to wounds and he is S4 and they count as power weapons so against a mrine you could face up to 8 PW wounds but with about half of them wounding. expect him to kill 2 marines a turn or 3-4 if he charges not to mention what the rest of the boidyguard and the lord do.

 

Urien Rakarth: Ome of the most overlooked special characters in the game. Basically he automatically wounds with every weapon he has.

 

One is a pistol with a range of 12, luckily it has an ap of 6 (sucks to be orks) if someone is killed place a blast makrer over their head this explosion has the same S as the killed models T (so S4 for a marine) and the same AP as the models armour save (AP3 for a marine) however I don't see this being ysed much when he has a destructor which is a flamer (hit automatically ignores cover and thanks toh is rule wounds automatically) in addition to this it has a variable AP of 1d6 which means 1/2 the time you ignore meq saves and 1/3 of the time even terminators aint having fun. He also has an anti-psyker device that can kill one person a game basically a leadership test (with some modifiers good or bad) is involved and if you fail the psyker is removed from play regardless of anything else.

 

He can also take a retinue of super grotesques which are basically just a bit better than normal ones but just kill them in the same way.

I would kill this guy at range because he is pretty dangerous with close range shooting and his bodyguard can't shoot at all. However note that only weapons of S6 or higher can hurt his bodyguard when shooting (lower S works in CC) so a vindicator for example will ruin his day.

 

The Decapitator: He can be pretty nasty in combat, hits on a 6 count as s6 (he is armed with power weapons), and always counts as having a 5+ cover save and counts as being in cover if assaulted. Normal mandrakes also get +2 to any cover saves they might get this is not mentioned for the decapitator but I would think this is an error (maybe its been FAQ'ed by GW) but I'll let you decide that with your opponent,otherwise he has a save of 5+.

 

His deployment method is probabbly he best advantage. His user picks any place on the board outside both players deploymentzones and jots it down on a peice of paper. Then at anytime (any phase or players turn) you can reveal the decapitator by showing showing your opponent the bit of paper where you marked his position. However you must reveal him on your thirs turn if he hasn't been revealed yet.

Flamers will kill this guy pretty easily as they ignore his shadowskin and armour, a flamestorm will cause instant death as long as you don't roll a 1.

 

More to come :D

[Spacefrisian]

Archon with shadowfield, nasty poisoned power weapon

 

Than you should smack him one with the BRB, as much as i like Dark Eldar that isn't posible.

 

As a sidenote their pinning weapons can still pin feraless units such as berserkers or 11+ Ork units cause they force the opponent to make a Leadership test instead of a Morale test.

[Hellios]

Archon with shadowfield, nasty poisoned power weapon

 

Than you should smack him one with the BRB, as much as i like Dark Eldar that isn't posible.

 

 

 

Hmmm whats not possible? I assume this is a shadowfield and an agonizer(a power weapon that always wounds on a 4+ so while not poisoned it works much like poison, DE poison weapons wound on a 2+ :huh:)

[DarkGuard]

Archon with shadowfield, nasty poisoned power weapon

 

Than you should smack him one with the BRB, as much as i like Dark Eldar that isn't posible.

 

 

 

Hmmm whats not possible? I assume this is a shadowfield and an agonizer(a power weapon that always wounds on a 4+ so while not poisoned it works much like poison, DE poison weapons wound on a 2+ :))

 

Yeah that's it. agonizer. Couldn't remember the name of the top of my head. Remember that poisoned weapons in the main rulebook 'do not rely on a comparison of Strength and Toughness to wound- they always wound on a fixed number'. So the agonizer is pretty much a poisoned weapon in my book.

 

The nasty thing about the shadowfield is that it can go forever. Or, such as when I last played him, pack up when he allocated a Relic Blade hit on his Archon, Vulkan's finest moment to date.

[gdeathlegion]

Terror and Horrorfexes are pure doom for any army. I was destroyed by DE the only time I ever played them, only ever seen 2 DE armies at my game club, I've been playing for 2 years.

I hate those damned things.

[Spacefrisian]

Archon with shadowfield, nasty poisoned power weapon

 

Than you should smack him one with the BRB, as much as i like Dark Eldar that isn't posible.

 

 

 

Hmmm whats not possible? I assume this is a shadowfield and an agonizer(a power weapon that always wounds on a 4+ so while not poisoned it works much like poison, DE poison weapons wound on a 2+ ;))

 

O Agoniser, i got confused. Th eAgoniser aint a poisoned weapon it might work similar but it isn't.

[BoonKin]

Make sure you take something (bikes) capable of replying in kind to their speed advantage. As a bonus, remember that Bikes are IMMUNE to pinning while turbo-boosting.

 

Other than that, attrition is your friend, because Dark Eldar can't survive it.

 

Off-topic:

 

I would like to see a match between DE and DG :P

[Chengar Qordath]

Archon with shadowfield, nasty poisoned power weapon

 

Than you should smack him one with the BRB, as much as i like Dark Eldar that isn't posible.

Codex > BRB, and in any case there's nothing the BRB that says you can't have a poisoned power weapon.

[DarkGuard]

Archon with shadowfield, nasty poisoned power weapon

 

Than you should smack him one with the BRB, as much as i like Dark Eldar that isn't posible.

Codex > BRB, and in any case there's nothing the BRB that says you can't have a poisoned power weapon.

 

You are indeed correct Chengar Qordath. However, we have confirmed that the weapon was called an Agonizer, a power weapon that always wounds on a 4+, and so acts very much like a poisoned weapon. However, as it seems that most Dark Eldar weapons wound on a 2+ and aren't powered, this was what caused the confusion.

 

Needless to say, an Archon with an Agonizer and Shadowfield can be a fearsome opponents, and in all honesty, there isn't much that could be said on how to deal with it. Either avoid him or hope you got lucky (or your opponent is unlucky, either on will do). If you're gonna take him in combat then a Relic Blade, Thunder Hammer or Power Fist is a must, and a Storm Shield is recommended. He'll always be going before you (I'm pretty sure it can take assault grenades), and so initiative isn't an issue, Instant Death is, to capitalize upon a failed Shadowfield save. Otherwise shoot assault cannons at him.

[Hellios]

Needless to say, an Archon with an Agonizer and Shadowfield can be a fearsome opponents, and in all honesty, there isn't much that could be said on how to deal with it. Either avoid him or hope you got lucky (or your opponent is unlucky, either on will do). If you're gonna take him in combat then a Relic Blade, Thunder Hammer or Power Fist is a must, and a Storm Shield is recommended. He'll always be going before you (I'm pretty sure it can take assault grenades), and so initiative isn't an issue, Instant Death is, to capitalize upon a failed Shadowfield save. Otherwise shoot assault cannons at him.

 

The last game I played againsty DE my dread took down thw wych Archites raider (exploded 4 wyches died)and I had 3 storm claw bikes who rapid fired into killing another 4, however he opted to take a save on his archite and rolled a 1 XD. I then charged then 1 wych, the lord with agonizer and succubus with agonizer only manged to kill one biker, I then killed two of them in combat he failed his leadership test and rolled a 1 while I rolled a 6 for chasing him down XD. Basically torrent of fire is your friend (assault cannons or more bolter shots are good, save the assault cannon for when the field is down :D)

[Chengar Qordath]

Needless to say, an Archon with an Agonizer and Shadowfield can be a fearsome opponents, and in all honesty, there isn't much that could be said on how to deal with it. Either avoid him or hope you got lucky (or your opponent is unlucky, either on will do). If you're gonna take him in combat then a Relic Blade, Thunder Hammer or Power Fist is a must, and a Storm Shield is recommended. He'll always be going before you (I'm pretty sure it can take assault grenades), and so initiative isn't an issue, Instant Death is, to capitalize upon a failed Shadowfield save. Otherwise shoot assault cannons at him.

Assuming you don't mind bringing in some Inquisition allied forces, they have some really good toys for taking down an Archon with a Shadowfield, Psycannons are great for the job since they have S 6 and ignore invulnerable saves; it's hard not to like a weapon that can insta-kill an Archon and ignores the Shadowfield's effects. The Callidus Assassin's C'tan weapon also ignores invulnerable saves, though it's not as good of an option since the assassin has to survive the Archon's Agonizer attacks first.

[Spacefrisian]

And you think a good DE player (like me) will give you even 1 chance of firing a Psycannon bolt at the guy having a Shadow field. Expect them to be 1 of the 1st targets for some cc madness, and belive me that an Archon or Archite is capable of reaching them 1st turn.

[Hellios]

Thats all very well and good but you have to take the transport down and the bodyguard :P and hide at the back of the board (to avoid 1st turn charge) and make sure you have LoS, and make sure you kill it the first turn because you may very well not get another chance.

 

Oh and while you do that don't get to focused on it because although the big bad boss will give you a bad time so will afew of his cronies if you let them get to you while trying to take him out :D