Advice for 'new' player

[MegaLars]

Long term chaos player, though I've had ~2k points of Drukhari awaiting paint (don't like fielding unpainted models) for a little over a year which I want to start trialling.

 

I've got effectively one of everything in the DE index, and my overall aim would be to have most flavours of DE represented in a larger force.

 

With 8th ed I'm finding list building tricky with no experience with the army. I'm playing a few smaller games, around 500 points, against friends and wanted some suggestions from those with some experience as to what a solid core would be. Some vague tips for tactics would also be nice, but I do want to figure out most of the intricacies for myself before playing larger games.

 

I love how fast the army feels in this edition, and can't wait to learn how to make the most of it!

 

Thanks in advance!

[CrimsonReign]

i keep finding in 8th that the army looks weak when i've built it, and then it outperforms my expectations (drugs changing the statline of wych cult units, and PFP)

what you need will always depend on your opponents lists - but the hardest thing to get enough of (imo) is anti tank - so I've been taking a squad of scourge with dark lances in my lists

[SpiritFox22]

Honestly I'm in the same boat as Crimson with the Dark Eldar.  Just not in the sense of Anti-Tank.

 

In my area I seem to have good luck running multiple squads of Wyches with literally nothing tacked on and multiple Ravagers + Diss cannons x3 as a core.  With everything wounding everything now I don't need the wholesale punch of lances to knock pegs off of my enemies tanks and IMO more shots lower str > less with higher str.

 

Now personally I have a bit of an obsession with Mandrakes in this edition, more due to them being my new character killers thanks to the mortal wounds.  Plus they generally req a bit more firepower that what should be needed to take them off the map.

 

[hushrong]

My buddies main core are raiders armed with a dark lance, loaded with 10 warriors with one armed with a dark lance. He usually brings three for his battalion. They have been a great foundation to this army. Good range to go after objectives or close in on the enemy for shooting and charges (he usually charges the raider in first with shock prow followed by the warriors). He has been good dishing out the shots even more so as he usually can get into rapid fire range on me. And the dark lances treat him pretty well against bigger opponents.

[WarriorFish]

I'm in the same boat so I can't yet offer any specific advice. I think that boys before toys is the way to go, so that's what I'm aiming for if it helps :tu:

[MegaLars]

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

Hellions are my favourite models, and I've always defaulted to the 'rule of cool' when is comes to what I take as a core. Looking back to the old codex it's such a shame that the named characters got dropped, 8th seems to be the perfect edition to bring them all back!

 

WarriorFish, I can't agree more. Unless a model is coming with solid arm and inv saves, higher point units are fighting an uphill battle to justify their cost for me. Without instant death and the new S vs T wounding in 8th, it just doesn't seem to be worthwhile spending on tanks compared to infantry.

 

Considering DE are on the glass end of the glass cannon, how is everyone with foot slogging troops? Any good/bad examples?

[hushrong]

I would say no as you have access to venoms & raiders and those are great. In my opinion DE, like anything Eldar, have great movement thanks to their vehicles and transports will get your guys where they need to be quick.

[Bulwyf]

I haven't played my DE in a bit but am I nuts for thinking that I should forget CC completely and just go with massive dakka?

[WarriorFish]

No, DE shooting is solid so there's good reason to focus on it. Plus shooting is all round good in 8th so weighting your list more to guns is a good idea. It'll be easy to drop in some combat elements to cover those bases, or even go pure shooty :)

[Bulwyf]

I love Incubi but I think you only need at most one unit to drop off and surprise a character or tie up something. Mandrakes could easily be used for the same thing.

[WarriorFish]

That's my plan, a bit of combat potential helps especially if they have some durability and/or tricks up their sleeve. They can tackle some units that you don't want holding up your main shooters for example, or if you're lucky and there aren't any go hunting to do the same to your opponent :P

[Aothaine]

Dark Eldar have a really good amount of anti-tank. The Ravagers with Dark Lances are SUPER strong. Then you can load up normal kabalite warrior 5-man units with blasters.

 

I've seen it run multiple times and it works amazingly well.

 

In fact, the start collecting box for Dark Eldar is outstanding! Check out Table Top Tactics Dark Eldar Batreps to see what I'm talking about.

 

 

I also want to point out that the Dark Eldar are deceptively strong as The Spider from Table Top Tactics points out. The -1 to hit them, Dark Light being -4 armor pen, They hit on 3s, Poison on a lot of their weapons. They have really strong rules right now and it will only get better when when the codex drops.

Edited October 13, 2017 by Aothaine

[Captain_Krash]

That and being a overwhelmingly underplayed/appreciated army has always made them a very strong army as most players don't have much experience against them. Hearing the words "You can do what, with that?" is like music to my ears. Seriously beautiful army model wise and even without a codex I'm sure once their codex comes out it will be fantastic.

 

Krash

[Dr. Clock]

Welcome to Commoragh!

 

I've also been pleasantly surprised by DE the few times I've brought them out this edition.

 

Having never invested enough to do Raider/venom spam I'm sitting at 5 transports, a Ravager and a Hornet (converted Vyper), but make up for this with ~20 Scourges and 10 Mandrakes.

 

A basic core (6CP) for me would be:

 

HQ + Incubi (5-7) in Raider

HQ + Court (2 Medusae, 3 Ur Ghul) in Raider

3x5 Kabalites in Venoms;

 

After that, it's:

 

Ravager (2 DL, Dissie)

6 Scourges, 3 DL

6 Scourges, 3 Blaster

5 Mandrakes

Hornet

Nightwing

Another 6 Blaster Scourges

Another 5 Mandrakes

 

I really like the idea of Hellions, I just never picked any up... They should work pretty well for harrying a flank, but they're more of a support unit IMO, or at least require support to crack transports or vehicles generally.

 

With DE I try and spend turns 1 and 2 at maximum range with skimmers and then 'drop the hammer' with the Scourges and Mandrakes in turn 3. Scourges and Mandrakes can work really well together, with the Mandrakes acting as an assault buffer to Scourges with blasters. Hellions could work in a similar role.

 

For small games I'd consider using one or two specialized detachments if you want a break from Kabalites; at 500 points you'll likely need the specialized gear that Elites or FA can bring alot more than you need 3 troops. I've done something similar with Craftworlders for an Elite/FA Aspect strikeforce, and it was fun to leave the cheap infantry at home and go all-in on the expert deathdealers. 

 

Unfortunately I've found Reavers to be a little lacklustre this edition... if you could just get a Succubus on a bike they might work a bit better, but I find I'd usually rather just have more Scourges lol.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

[Xisor]

Scourges look pretty beastly anyway - manouverable *and* punchy. I could see 15 of them and an HQ+(pals?+)transport as quite a nippy little 500pt force.

 

I think, with Reavers, what I'm conceptually struggling with is that much of their punch is in CC again; but as they're mostly hauling punchy guns too... I'm glad I've got a pile from "Gangs of Commoragh" still to build. Need more experience in flight!