Need advice vs Dark Eldar

[brother_contagion]

Any advice on fighting Dark Eldar in an 1850 game? I have a game I just settled on for tomorrow and would like some advice on what to take.

 

I have a Drake, 2 Princes, 3 Sorcerers, 1 Lord on a Bike, 2 4-man Biker Squads w/ Meltas, 3 Rhinos, 2 Marine Squads w/ 2 Flamers, 2 Meltas, 6 Chosen w/ Plasmas, 5 Chosen w/ Power Swords, 10 Possessed, 5 Terminators w/ Combi-Meltas, 4 Helbrutes, 4 Havocs w/ Autocannons, 4 Havocs w/ Heavy Bolters, 3 Havocs w/ Lascannons, 1 Land Raider, and 1 Vindicator.

[Emperors Immortals]

Which supplement do you prefer? What sort of marks do you want?

[brother_contagion]

I haven't tried either Supplement, but I am a fan of Mayhem Pack and Helcult formations. I forgot to mention that I have 20 Cultists. I always run with the Mark of Nurgle but leave certain squads unmarked if I don't have the points, like Havocs and Cultists and sometimes a Sorcerer. I usually give my 6 Plasma Gun Chosen Mark of Slaanesh to give them the Icon of Excess.

[brother_contagion]

Finished my game against his Dark Eldar/Eldar list. His bright/dark lances tore me apart, including the warwalkers and wave serpent multi shot weapons. But that wasn't as bad as fighting against his flying Necron army... I mean, weapons that get 2 extra auto hits on a roll of a 6 to hit? That's insane. And his two huge squads of wraiths each led by a destroyer lord, and 5 flying troop transports. I didn't have the equipment, I don't think, to deal with that. Or else I just didn't play it right.

[Emperors Immortals]

Mate, i totally spaced on helping - though id doubt it would have helped you much.

 

Ive got a lot of interest in DE, both as an opponent and potential side army ( i have an old DE army in boxes at home).

 

What list did you take? I was going to suggest flamers, as the open top rules are pretty brutal now. Apart from that id say just the regular - avoid taking AV, load up on bolter fire and bikers and drive a wall of spawn towards him. Pretty average advice im afraid.

[minigun762]

Dark Eldar are not a fan of autocannons. Rips through their vehicles and denies any FnP they may have.

 

Havocs or even CSM in Rhino pillboxes can work.

[Emperors Immortals]

Dark Eldar are not a fan of autocannons. Rips through their vehicles and denies any FnP they may have.

 

Havocs or even CSM in Rhino pillboxes can work.

 

 

How did I forget about Autocannons? They will shred those cardboard ships so fast.

[Lord Asvaldir]

Finished my game against his Dark Eldar/Eldar list. His bright/dark lances tore me apart, including the warwalkers and wave serpent multi shot weapons. But that wasn't as bad as fighting against his flying Necron army... I mean, weapons that get 2 extra auto hits on a roll of a 6 to hit? That's insane. And his two huge squads of wraiths each led by a destroyer lord, and 5 flying troop transports. I didn't have the equipment, I don't think, to deal with that. Or else I just didn't play it right.

That's why I bring my necrons when I want to destroy whoever I'm up against. I doubt it was about your play style, I mean who brings enough anti air to deal with 5 flyers? Unless you're list tailoring basically no one. Really all you can do is make sure to focus your firepower on one unit each turn and try to eliminate it so they don't get their reanimation protocol rolls.

[Polythemus]

List tailoring is a great and glorious tradition. Sometimes it burns you and sometimes it aids you. When your playing against friends or at least people who play extremely unbalanced lists its the best way to get them to come back to center. I find that when you vary your list then people are less able to predict what your going to do, and as a result cant list tailor against you. Inevitably This means he with the most toys wins but thats just the way these things go.

[brother_contagion]

Dark Eldar are not a fan of autocannons. Rips through their vehicles and denies any FnP they may have.

 

Havocs or even CSM in Rhino pillboxes can work.

 

I did have a Havoc squad of 4 Autocannons, and another Havoc squad of 4 Heavy Bolters. I should have brought in my bike squads, and yeah, the Rhino pill boxes would have worked, which I did have 3, but apparently I didn't initially place them far enough into the forests to get any kind of cover, since he took the first turn. I spammed 3 lvl 3 Sorcerers, which is something I like to do, but probably should have just rolled with my 2 DPs. I had a Heldrake, but he arrived too late as I was tabled by turn 3. I used a Helcult (which worked nicely except for the wave serpent's shield that ignores cover) and a Mayhem Pack, but I think it would have been better if I just had all of my Helbrutes on the table instead of DS them. Don't think my Vindicator would have helped out, and I know the Land Raider would have been a bad idea. Now I'm considering investing in 2 Forgefiends, since they can pump out 8 S8 AP4 shots (also could have been great against those Necron fliers), so that way I could have all of my Dreadnaughts Helbrutes too, giving him more AV to worry about. Maybe also investing in another Heldrake. I also want two squads of Plague Marines as they can be of great use.

 

Both games were 1850.

 

His Dark Eldar/Eldar list was something like this:

 

Dark Archon: 2+ invulnerable save, +3 wounding claw that Instant Kills on a 6.

 

Incubi in a Raider.

 

2 Warrior squads in Raiders.

 

2 Ravagers.

 

3 War Walkers w/ Bright Lances and some other weapon I think.

 

Wraithguard in a Wave Serpent (it had a few multi-shot weapons including its shield).

 

Warp Spiders.

 

Guardian Squad and a Farseer in a Wave Serpent (as above).

 

The Necron list:

 

2 Destroyer Lords w/ Mindshackle Scarabs.

 

2 squads of 6 Wraiths.

 

3 Annihilation Barges (separate units I think)

 

5 Warrior squads of 5 or so in Doom Scythes.