Enemies 101

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Thats quite a nice comprehensive Deathwing section, nicely done!

 

Just Ravenwing and regular flavours for DA to go!

[Iron Father Ferrum]

So someone did cover the Eldar, but the article was short in length and on actual help. Due to the nature of the Eldar, no single article on them will cover every aspect (no pun intended) of the army, but some generalizations can be made. As a veteran Eldar player of various tripes, I figured I'd do the honors.

 

CRAFTWORLD ELDAR

 

How They Play:

 

The Eldar, like their Dark Kin, epitomize the concept of the Glass Cannon; they are capable of hitting extremely hard and wield weapons and wargear of such an arcane nature that even Space Marines rightly fear them, but most of them lack durability and are points-intensive, meaning that every casualty is a deeper wound than they can truly afford. Nonetheless, with the appropriate upgrades, some Eldar units -- specifically, their vehicles -- become nigh on impossible to kill and those same tanks provide them with speed and maneuverability that is difficult to match on the tabletop. To fight a fully mechanized Eldar army is to fight without the initiative, because your opponent will inevitably be able to attack where and when they wish.

 

 

Strengths:

 

- Squad Specializations. The elite squads of the Eldar, the Aspect Warriors, are hyper-specialized units, capable of fulfilling a specific role on the battlefield with greater efficacy than any Space Marine squad ever could. When matched to an appropriate target with properly supported, this makes Aspect Warriors exceedingly deadly. Even non-Aspect squads, such as Guardian Defenders and Rangers, are designed for a specific role.

 

- Exotic Wargear. While their stat-lines are impressive, it is the weaponry and equipment of the Eldar that makes them so formidable on the battlefield. Whether it is the Banshee Mask (Initiative 10 in CC), the Reaper Launcher (S5 AP3 Heavy 2 guns), or the Laser Lance (S6 AP2 Lance or S6 power weapons on the charge), Eldar gear is across-the-board superior to what is available to most Imperial armies. There is no longer a single Rapid Fire weapon in their entire arsenal, with almost all of their weaponry being Assault weapons.

 

- Speed. On foot, the Eldar stand out by having Fleet of Foot as an almost-universal rule across the Codex, and even those units that lack it have some other method for closing quickly with the enemy (for instance, Warp Spiders are Jump Infantry and Striking Scorpions can Infiltrate). But their vehicles are one of their greatest assets, with both of their APCs being Fast Skimmers capable of completely ignoring terrain while delivering their infantry payloads at high speeds. A good Eldar player is capable of exploiting these advantages to take and hold the initiative throughout the game, forcing engagements exactly where and when they want to.

 

- Psychic Powers. The Eldar have traditionally had some of the most potent psykers in the game. The most commonly encountered powers are not direct-damage, but support powers that are capable of completely turning around the game by providing rerolls to armor saves, to-hit rolls, and to-wound rolls amongst other things. It may not seem so devastating when first mentioned, but when two Farseers are on the board, the killing power of an Eldar army almost doubles. While they do not have psychic hoods, Eldar Farseers can also take an upgrade that acts defensively against enemy psykers, providing a modicum of protection against Librarians.

 

- Devastating Special Characters. The Eldar have a large number of SCs to pick from, and all but a few provide a ridiculous amount of killing power to an army. Combat characters like the Avatar, Yriel, Maugan Ra, and Fuegan are capable of carving through entire squads of Space Marines in a turn or two by themselves, while Eldrad Ulthran is one of the most commonly used SCs of every codex currently in use. Beware these HQs and kill them on sight -- if you can.

 

- Vehicles. Each Eldar vehicle is powerful in its own right. War Walkers can take pairs of weapons that do not become twinlinked and are capable of laying down ungodly numbers of shots, while Vypers are at their best with low-cost, high-strength guns that are more than fast enough to achieve side and rear shots on our tanks in the early game. The Falcon, AV12 across the front and sides and capable of gaining a 4+ cover save when moving Flat Out, has a reputation as unkillable when equipped with Holo Fields, and the Wave Serpent is immune to the extra die from half-range meltas and ordnance rolls, and all attacks aimed at its front and sides is automatically reduced to S8. These tanks take lots of concentrated firepower to reliably put down permanently.

 

 

Weaknesses:

 

- Squad Specializations. The Eldar take specialization to an extreme, and these power-units can be easily defeated by creating mismatches. You can't outshoot Dark Reapers, but an Assault Squad can wipe them out in one average round of close combat; Howling Banshees should never be assaulted by Space Marines, but they fall easily to a few heavy bolter or heavy flamer shots. Learn each squad's specialty and fight them out of their element.

 

- Low Strength. The Eldar are no stronger or tougher than a normal human, and thus have trouble when dealing with Space Marines in close combat due to our ubiquitous S4/T4. Bike-mounted troops exacerbate this disparity with their T5.

 

- Fragility. Of the five vehicle types available, two of them are a mere AV10 all around, and the best armor save available to any Eldar model is a 3+ -- and even those are fairly rare, with 4+ and 5+ much more common. Combined with their T3, they can easily be killed by massed bolter fire, and any AP4 weapon will chew through the majority of their units with little complaint. The bolter is truly one of our greatest weapons against the Eldar simply because of their lower Toughness.

 

- Points Intensive. While there are cheap Eldar units, their best weaponry and models have points cost that make Lascannon Devastators seem attractive. Your average Eldar army is going to be outnumbered (even by Space Marines), so every casualty you can inflict upon them is crucial in reducing their effectiveness.

 

 

Look Out For:

 

- Fire Dragons. The most popular Aspect squad in the Codex, each Fire Dragon comes with a meltagun and meltabombs standard. Some army lists are built around three such squads, providing hideous firepower against Space Marine infantry formations which simply cannot stand up to that kind of concentrated firepower. Keep anything with an Armor Value away from them if at all possible; counter them by locking them in combat where their weapons give them no benefit.

 

- Howlong Banshees. Initiative 10 power weapon squads, Banshees' main drawback is the S3. This, however, is often countered by a Farseer casting Doom on the squad they are about to assault, providing rerolls on to-wound rolls and making them just as good as S4. They are capable of cutting through Tactical Squads with relative ease and should be countered using heavy weapons whenever possible.

 

- Scatter Laser War Walker Squadrons. A three-Walker squadron equipped completely with Scatter Lasers (36" S6 AP6 Heavy 4) can put out 24 S6 shots in a single shooting phase; when Guided against a Doomed target, they are capable of swamping a Space Marine squad's armor saves by sheer volume, and will glance Rhinos to death. Luckily, they are only AV10 all around, so they are fairly easy to kill.

 

- Jetlock Councils. Short form for "Jetbike Warlock Council," Jetlocks are extremely dangerous and fairly popular. Warlocks on Jetbikes become T4 and have a 3+/4++ save and come equipped with weapons that wound on 2+ flat and are S9 against vehicles, making them both durable and capable of inflicting grievous harm against even the hardest targets. They normally come with a Farseer on a jetbike supporting them, and Fortune (re-roll failed armor saves) only increases their survivability. They are also fast thanks to their jetbikes. If your opponent brings a jetlock squad to the table, be prepared to scream in frustration trying to kill them.

[Dragax]

Weaknesses:

 

Orks have a large number of weaknesses that an enemy can play on. The first is their poor armour save. They may as well wear cardboard for the most part, as a good amount of shooting should whittle them down. Naturally this isn't too much of a deal for an ork player, but template weaponry can tear out chunks of the army at a time and seriously hamper the power of the ork hoarde. Also Orks shooting is poor, they cannot go toe to toe with most other enemies and expect to out shoot them, Orks can manage weight of fire, but it wont be quality fire like the enemies will. Instead they must run a gauntlet of firepower to acheive their full potential which will inevitably whittle them down. Also Orks like all armies, should try and get off the charge as if the enemy pulls off the charge on them it will seriously reduce the full power of the Ork assault. Orks MUST make use of cover to try and get most of their units to the enemy with as little damage as possible. Orks also suffer from being able to deal with high armour targets, AV 13+ which means that they are going to suffer heavily and only able to deal with such things with a close combat power klaw, or deffrolla. Orks also rely on their Lootaz to deal with most other armour and although it is effective, if they lose them, they are stuck trying to deal with enemy armour efficiently.

 

While they arent the best shots, hell they couldnt even hit a squiggoth from 100 metres, what they have is massed numbers, for the price of a tooled out Tactical Squad, they can lay out alot of shots, 9 strength 5, and 52 strength 4, quite alot of them will hit home, they are about as effective, if not more then the tactical squad, although obvipusly the Marines have the advantage of the Special/Heavy weapons.

 

I run a Shooty Ork army, and youd be amazed how many people underestimate it.

[chaplain belisarius]

no mention of my favourite eldar troops choice-the dire avengers! other than that, great post..B)

[Br0ther Rafen]

Eldar Jetbikes are actually T4 (T3+1)

Really they can get sythed down fairly quickly with rapid firing bolters.

Also, Heavy Bolters work charm against them aswell, even though lots of people dislike them.

[Finn]

As for the Tyranids, ALWAYS remember one thing - their main assaulting units have I 6 (genestealers), I 5 (Hormagants) or 4 (termagants) but don't have frag grenades. So don't let them catch you outside cover - if you stay inside terrain, you will hit them before they hit you during their assault, allowing to decrease the number of attacks you will have to deal with.

 

Moreover, keep your guys 1,99 inch inside the terrain, as you will deny them cover save from shooting through 2 inches of terrain or more and maybe, just maybe they will fail the charge. If such thing happens, they will be standing in the open, vulnerable to your rapid fire and flamers. But don't rely on that too much :pirate:

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Eldar Jetbikes are actually T4 (T3+1)

Really they can get sythed down fairly quickly with rapid firing bolters.

Also, Heavy Bolters work charm against them aswell, even though lots of people dislike them.

 

I was referring to Space Marine bikes, actually.

[H.C.118]

So a few questions-

1) Can we get the thread cleaned up, put all the summaries in a locked thread, along with the revisions that others have suggested?

2) What else is missing?

3) Could we get all the advice together in ONE post? It can help clear a ton of stuff.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

We're missing:

 

Black Templars

 

Dark Eldar

 

Dark Angels (we have deathwing)

 

 

I've still got a few bits to add to some of my own posts, but once i have the time and i have the remaining sections catered for i'll put everyones posts into one section and hopefully it can be put in the librarium or something :P

[Chengar Qordath]

It will probably be a while before anyone can do a proper Dark Eldar guide; it will take a couple games against their new codex to really figure out how things work.

[LardO'Blood]

I don't think Greenwing warrants its own response (to close to C:SM) so we really just need ravenwing and death-raven for dark angels.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

I don't expect a Dark Eldar response for a while, though i would venture a guess to say they shouldn't have been changed too much (like their old key units probably have more or less the same effects)

 

Dark Angels is probably worth referencing that they are similar to C:SM in their own right as it is an important point ;)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I don't expect a Dark Eldar response for a while, though i would venture a guess to say they shouldn't have been changed too much (like their old key units probably have more or less the same effects)

 

Dark Angels is probably worth referencing that they are similar to C:SM in their own right as it is an important point :P

 

 

The units may not have changed much, but the Power of Pain (or whatever its called) rules alter the dynamic of the army entirely, and give tissue-paper units like Warriors a measure of staying power and lethality that is hard to imagine for such a Glass Cannon army. I for one want to see the Codex before anything more than sweeping generalizations (ie, "kill the Raiders and make them walk") are made.

[Ash]

I'll take a shot at Dark Angels, the Deathwing specifically. I will focus on pure Deathwing, as that is the only DA army I have some experience with.

 

Things to watch out for.

 

 

- Deathwing is always outnumbered, but never outgunned. Do not underestimate them by the small number of models on the table!

 

- Deathwing Terminator assault squads, mixing TH + SS, TLC and possibly Heavy Flamers, combined with the Deathwing Company banner (+1 attack) and a Interrogator Chaplain (re-roll to hit) in LR Crusaders. They hit (very) hard and they hit fast.

 

- Deathwing Assault. Sure, deepstriking can be unreliable. But just like Daemons deploy, they can also give you a nasty surprise when 3 Deathwing Terminator squads stand on your doorstep on turn one.

 

Deathwing Venerable Dreadnaughts .... look out for either rifledreads or CCdreads. Vendreads are damn near unkillable, see one of these in cover at the back of the table and you are going to have make a conscious decision either tolerate the shooting or go after it because even though its AV is 12 the venerable status means the DA player can ask you to re-roll armour penetration rolls. Dark angel smoke turns all penetrating hits into glancing.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Dark Angels:

 

How they play:

 

Dark Angels are a 'specialist' chapter in a similar way to say the black templars and blood angels. However not in quite such an obvious way. They can run themselves almost the same as a regular space marine army, operating in much the same fashion. However it is the fact that they have two divergent offshoots that make Dark Angels so unique. For instance the DA have Deathwing and Ravenwing. These two particular offshoots are lethal and can be addressed as armies in their own rights and they should be! Generally Deathwing is an all terminator army (or largely terminator) and Ravenwing is a biker based army (consisting of almost entirely bikes)

 

Strengths:

 

A Dark Angels Army should be looked at like a regular space marine army as they have many of the same strengths, able to pick from a variety of wargear and making tough but adapatable squads. It is really when we get to the specialist armies that Dark Angels have a major difference:

 

Ravenwing can be introduced through the special character Sammuel. He himself can be outfitted with a speeder or a bike but as a character on a bike you can expect some lethal fast moving death from this guy (as with most special characters) but the main reason he appears is for the bikes. As many people know bike armies are tough and mobile. A biker is a tougher marine, that needs no transport and is relentless. This combination makes them exceptionally fearsome as they can perform many battlefiled roles and adapt very quickly. There is almost no actual vehicles to destroy which means it is very hard to slow them down and they are tougher than a marine with a jump pack. The Ravenwing will be accompanied by other fast moving units such as speeders which will help bring anti armour to the field to assist them.

 

 

Weaknesses:

The weaknesses of a Ravenwing army are the same as a biker army, that they have fewer bodies on the table due to the increased cost. This is much the same as many armies who gain specialised troops. It is not a crippling problem for them, it merely means they must be careful with their troops as they cannot afford to throw them away and must play carefully and conservatively in order to maintain a strong presence on the field, lack of vehicles also means that the ravenwing are prone to any kind of fire and must use their speed in order to mitigate damage done to their numbers.

 

 

Things to watch for:

 

Sammuel: A character that spells Ravenwing on the field and thus an all biker army

 

Belial: A character that spells Deathwing on the field and thus an all terminator army

[thade]

I run a Shooty Ork army, and youd be amazed how many people underestimate it.

Not I. Shooty Ork Armies are terrifying. Such a ludicrous volume of shots that - despite their lack of accuracy - the deliver a stunning amount of wounds. Not to mention they're virtually all assault weapons, so they're getting closer with every turn.

 

Orks are my hardest game.

[dragonknight4275]

Since no one (on the first page, I'm too lazy to look elsewhere ;) ) has done Black Templars and I happen to be a veteran BT player myself, I guess I'll do them...

 

How they play:

Black Templars are monsters in assault. Their Crusader Squads (Tactical Squad equivalents) have the handy little option of switching their bolters with bolt pistols and CC weapons that no other Space Marine Chapter has (barring Space Wolves). That means that each Marine will have 3 attacks on the charge, and a squad of ten will pound you with 30 attacks. Not a pretty prospect if you have a low Toughness like Eldar or Tau or if you have a terrible armour save, like Orks. Or both. Although they are decent shooters, like all Space Marines, they have a special rule called Kill Them All that I'll go over in the "Weaknesses" section (hint hint). So basically, against a Black Templar opponent, you better run like hell if you're even within a couple turns' assault range.

 

Strengths:

Like I said before, their style of play is assault. That means they're good at it. Really good at it. Something I didn't go over yet is the Emperor's Champion, which is a 5-attack monster who hits at I5, S6, and has WS6. He also must take a Vow, and just about the only one a Black Templar player will use is Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds. Although pricey at 50 points, it grants EVERY MODEL in the army the Preferred Enemy USR. That makes them even better. With 30 attacks that will probably hit, Black Templar Crusader Squads are definitely one of the best standard units at close combat. And don't even get me started on Assault Terminators or Independent Characters.... Also, they have a 3+ armour save because they are Space Marines, which makes them hard to kill with small arms fire or with standard CC weapons.

 

Weaknesses:

Black Templars have two special rules that are supposed to benefit them, but in reality, they usually do more harm than good. The first of these rules is called Righteous Zeal. It forces any Infantry unit that took casualties in the enemy shooting phase to move D6 inches towards the nearest enemy unit. Although it could be incredibly useful if the unit is placed well, but most times, units are drawn out into the open, and they will usually be vulnerable units without any form of good protection (except their armour, of course). If you place your units well, you can use this rule to manipulate enemy Black Templars and draw them into death traps, or worse.

The second rule is called Kill Them All. This rule forces any Black Templar to take a Leadership test with a −1 modifier if they want to shoot at a unit that is not the closest to them. So for example, let's say that a Crusader Squad with a bad boy plasma cannon wants to shoot at your unit of, say, Meganobz that is 20" away. However, there is also a unit of all-too-expendable Boyz that is 12" away. The Crusader Squad would have to take a Leadership test at Ld7 (because of the modifier) to shoot at the Meganobz, and although they will still probably pass, there is still a chance that they might have to shoot at your expendable Boyz, now isn't there. Although half of this requires luck being on your side, again, good placements of your valuable units may well save them from a sticky end. Use these rules to your advantage, and show the good-for-nothing-but-close-combat Black Templars that there is true power and epicness in shooting, too.

 

What to watch for:

Land Raider (Crusaders) - Just like every other Space Marine army, the Land Raider is undeniably the mightiest armoured unit that can be put on the table. Black Templar Land Raiders can transport any type of squad (15 Marines, 5 Terminators), and are armed with a fearsome array of weapons as well as a near-impenetrable armour value of 14 all around. Make sure you have some kind of a melta weapon if you know you'll be facing a Land Raider, and a Strength 10 weapon just might work too.

The Emperor's Champion - A totally unique unit for the Black Templars, this bad boy strikes with 5 attacks on the charge, each at WS6, I5, and S6. He has a 2+ armour save and a 4+ Invulnerable Save, so he's pretty tough to crack too. However, he only has 2 Wounds, and has a sucky BS of 4. The best cure for the Emperor's Champion is another savage, CC-type Independent Character (cough cough Wolf Lord), a bunch of AP-really-low weapons, or just staying out of reach.

Assault Terminators - Paired with the Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds vow, Assault Terminators are all but unstoppable in assault. Armed with lightning claws, they will be able to reroll failed rolls to hit AND to wound, and they also must have either the Furious Charge special rule or the Tank Hunters special rule. Naturally, it'd be Furious Charge, so those lightning claw termies will be S5 and I5 if they charge too. Thunder hammers, on the other hand, will always strike last (or with other power fist/power klaw weapons), but will be able to reroll failed hits to hit and will probably wound. Also, thunder hammers will likely mean Instant Death for most units, and I almost forgot to mention that on the charge, each Assault Termie will have 4 attacks. With thunder hammers, that's a big, bad bunch of S9, no armour save attacks that will almost always wipe out a unit. Kill these beasts by STAYING FAR, FAR AWAY and shooting the crap out of them with AP2-or-below weapons, the perfect example being a plasma cannon (small template, S7, AP2...).

 

So that's all about fighting Black Templars, but unfortunately I just spit out all the secrets on how to beat me... Better hide my head in shame and never show up at GW again... JK, I don't care if you beat me, after all, everyone knows that it's not about who wins or loses, all that matters is how much you kill. ^_^

[Marshal Wilhelm]

I run a Shooty Ork army, and youd be amazed how many people underestimate it.

Not I. Shooty Ork Armies are terrifying. Such a ludicrous volume of shots that - despite their lack of accuracy - the deliver a stunning amount of wounds. Not to mention they're virtually all assault weapons, so they're getting closer with every turn.

 

Orks are my hardest game.

 

*sits down with a cup of lime tea* Do tell brother.

Who do you play as and what sized game?

 

 

Since no one (on the first page, I'm too lazy to look elsewhere ;) ) has done Black Templars and I happen to be a veteran BT player myself, I guess I'll do them...

 

So that's all about fighting Black Templars, but unfortunately I just spit out all the secrets on how to beat me... Better hide my head in shame and never show up at GW again... JK, I don't care if you beat me, after all, everyone knows that it's not about who wins or loses, all that matters is how much you kill. :)

 

The Champion has 4a when charging.

 

No need to blab our secrets! We are trailing Ultras, Bloods and Wolves at the moment, and Grey Knights shan't be that far off. Boo!

*shakes 4th ed. fist at dragon knight*

:)

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Exellent....now Dark Angels and Dark Eldar are the only 2 left unfinished, and deathwing has been covered, could use ravenwing and any DE input anyone has!

[Chengar Qordath]

I'll see what I can do with Dark Eldar; while this at least a decent start, there will probably be more to add as people get more experience with facing the Dark Eldar codex.

 

How They Play:

Dark Eldar are one of the fastest armies in the game, and have some very nasty hard-hitting weapons. Because of their speed, firepower, and fragility, Dark Eldar armies have two common list types; Alpha strike lists, and hit-and-run lists. The new codex also gives the Dark Eldar options to break out of their traditional list style by playing a haemonculus coven army; going up against a tough and durable Dark Eldar army will be a nasty surprise for anyone who wasn't expecting it. Dark Eldar have a good mix of shooting and assault units, and can make

 

Strengths:

• Poisoned Weapons: Painful for biker armies, Nurgle-themed Chaos armies, or other forces that depend on high toughness to increase their survivability.
  
• Mobility: Dark Eldar assault units can have a huge effective charge range thanks to the combination of open-topped fast skimmer transports and Fleet; unless you find some way to take away their mobility as soon as possible, their elite close combat units will be getting stuck in with you very quickly.
  
• High Initiative: Odds are pretty good that, with the exception of a few I4 units, the Dark Eldar will almost always hit first in close combat. This also gives that Dark Eldar a huge edge when it comes to Sweeping Advances, Hit-and-Run, and any other Initiative-based rules.
  
• Lances: Not much of a surprise at this point, but it still bears repeating that Lances are a reasonably dangerous threat to all armor on the table. The Dark Eldar do get a couple of nasty new variants, like the higher-strength Void Lance, and the especially nasty Heat Lance that has AP 1 and the Melta rule.
  
• Power From Pain: A new rule for Dark Eldar, and one that make them even much more dangerous as the fight goes on. Getting Feel No Pain can give the normally fragile Dark Eldar a major boost to their durability, while Furious Charge allows them to hit that much harder on the charge. This rule is also why combat-squadding is very dangerous against Dark Eldar; the last thing you want to do is give any of their units easy pain tokens.
  

Weaknesses:

• Fragility: Most Dark Eldar only have a toughness of three and a low armor save, while aside from one special character, their vehicles are all armor 10 or 11, and mostly open-topped. However, most Dark Eldar have access to ways to boost their durability, either by gaining Feel No Pain or by taking Flickerfields and Nightshields, so they are often a bit more durable than their stat-line would suggest.
  
• Walkers: Dark Eldar do not heave a good powerfist-equivalent for dealing with dreadnoughts and the like, which can can make them vulnerable to tarpitting. Haywire grenades can be a threat, but they still need a 6 to hit, and have a pretty high chance of not doing any serious damage even if they do hit.
  
• Transport Costs: The Dark Eldar have pay out a healthy chunk of points to get their transports, especially if they want to buy some of the durability-enhancing upgrades for their transports.
  
• Specialists: Like their craftworld brethren, the Dark Eldar have several units that specialize in one particular aspect of combat. The old maxim of "shoot the assault units, and assault the shooting ones" can be especially effective against the Dark Eldar. For example, Wyches are much easier to kill when you're facing a 6+ armor save then when you're up against a 4+ invulnerable save.
  

What to watch out for:

• Incubi: Really nasty in close combat, thanks to the combination of high initiative and strength 4 power weapons, and more durable than most Dark Eldar thanks to their 3+ armor save. Don't let them get pain tokens; it makes them nastier than they already are.
  
• Wyches: Cheap, and surprisingly durable in close combat thanks to their 4++. Invulnerable saves on a cheap basic troop are an especially nasty surprise for units that shell out lots of points for special close combat weapons; power weapons are useless unless the Wyches have Feel No Pain, and Power Fists also give a fairly underwhelming performance since their extra strength is overkill. A pair of shardnets can make them even better at tarpitting much more expensive elite units, and depending what they get for combat drugs and if they have any pain tokens, they can also pack a decent amount of destructive ability. If at all possible, shoot them before they get into close combat; 6+ dies a lot faster than 4++.
  
• Asdrubael Vect in an Alpha Stike list: One of Vect's abilities allows him to seize the initiative on a 4+, which makes deploying units in the open to maximize first turn alpha strike firepower much less dangerous than it normally would be.
  

[Validar]

I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone that posted info in this thread. This gives a noob like me HUGE tactical insight. It is much appriciated!

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Yes indeed it has been hugely helpful and i'd say that the Dark Eldar section is a nice size for an introduction to a foe, the Imperial guard section needs cutting down a lot though, theres lots and lots and lots...probably a bit much for a quick 101! So we need Dark Angels and we're all done!