Monday 9 November 2015

DARK ELDAR: FAST, NOT FURIOUS



So as I was watching a twitch feed from Frontline Gaming I decided to plug my blog there.  Fankie scoffed and said "I'd like to see what you do with Dark Eldar."
Well Frankie, this one is dedicated to you.

Now before I go into the actual good stuff I want to talk a little about the feel of a Dark Eldar army and what it means to players.
As you guys have seen, I like to include a lot of pictures in my posts, almost one for every entry I talk about and I rarely use model shots.  I like to use artwork as it gives a look into what the fan base think of the army and holy fuck was I disappointed.
When I searched for pics on Dark Eldar, there were way too many nearly naked women with nearly pristine creamy white skin and huge tits who don't strike bowel quivering fear into my heart.




I found all 3 of the above pics and went through dozens more before I got to one above, and I feel like it embodies what the army is supposed to look and feel like.

Anyway, onto the content and boy to I have my work cut out for me as almost every unit in the codex is so rarely used its going to feel like I'm doing a whole army review.  As many of you know, the typical Dark Eldar army consists of as many Venoms as you can cram in with some ravagers as back up and maybe a Razorwing or 2.  Typically in the Venoms is either full of Kabalite warriors or Trueborn with special weapons.  That's about it, this army heavily relies on it's shooting ability and it's poison to do any damage to infantry, and on it's lance weapons for the heavy lifting, but I feel that this army can be so much more and has far too much potential in the close combat phase for it to be so largely ignored.

So, to start things off once again, lets take a look at the special rules, of which there are only 2 and only one of them is really an army rule.
Power from Pain is a rule with potential, however I feel that they got the order of the rules mixed up.  The idea behind the rule is that as the battle rages on, the Dark Eldar army gets stronger as more and more pain is inflicted on anyone in the vicinity as Dark Eldar seem to absorb it like some kind of emotional sponge and use it to fuel them to even greater deeds creating more pain and feeding them more.
There are ways to boost this though, such as the Crucible of Malediction, the Haemonculus's Master of Pain rule, and the Architect of Agony rule from the formation.  This boost almost makes the Crucible a worth while upgrade even though it's not a sure thing, but getting this rule boosted up to Turn 4 is critical to get any kind of results from your normal grunts, not that their rapid fire guns will allow them to charge anything.

The Combat Drugs are an improved version of what they were, as they are free.  I'm sure the cost of them is incorporated some how in the cost of the model, but that is tricky to do when only half of the results will actually benefit you in any meaningful way.  +1 to WS, I, or Ld is not going to make or break the game, but at the same time, +1 to A, S, or T could.  This is totally random and included so there isn't really much I can tell you by the way of tactics.


The Archon is pretty much a close combat killer no questions about it.  His biggest downfalls being his S and T of 3.  Now his low S can be mitigated as many of the weapons available are poison weapons.  I see many builds focus around him with a Husk Blade, but with his low S I feel that giving him a weapon like an Agoniser will be more useful against regular schmoes, which are far more numerous in every list.  His I and WS are very high and with an Agoniser he is likely to dish out 2 wounds per turn regardless of the enemies T.  Pair this with a Soul Trap and he is likely to be re-rolling failed wound rolls in no time.  Watch out for guys with 2+ saves though...  There is something that I noticed people playing wrong, when he loses his first wound with a Shadowfield, he doesn't loose the Shadowfield save until the END OF THE PHASE.


I have seen many lists that have an Archon Court, or at least one member from it, as the sole HQ choice.  This is done in order to minimise points "wasted" and could instead be used for more venoms.
However, when you look at what this unit has to offer, and how it can be used, it's pretty amazing.  This unit has several different uses.  You all remember the old version of the Flamer of Tzeentch right?  With the AP3 template, well the Medusae has that for about the same cost, add a web way portal and they won't scatter.  But you don't want to just load up on those as you will only kill EVERYTHING within template range, so add in a couple Slyth for some Assault 3 poison guns and since they have T5, make sure they outnumber the rest of the T3 models and the whole unit gets T5.  Put an Archon with the Court (go fucking figure right??) and have the Archon tank all day long with T5 and a 2++ and when you get to those dodgy S6 shots you can LOS those to the Slyth who have FNP all on their own and actual T5.
Now the Medusae and the Slyth are expensive units, but 3 Slyth, 2 Medusae, the Archon with WWP, and the transport you will want to use to make sure they can get the best movement and range (you can disembark from a vehicle that Deep Strikes) will run you a little over 300 points.

Suitably scary, yet still uncomfortably sexy.

Honestly, I'm not sure if there is much of an actual in-game difference between the Succubus and the Archon.  There are a couple different weapon options, and the Succubus comes with a 4++ in combat, but they will essentially do the exact same thing once they hit the table.  There is one big difference that I can see, the Succubus can take an Archite Glaive which gives her an AP2 option.

Now, the Haemonculus is a pretty popular choice and is usually more popular than both the Archon and the Succubus.  He has a wide array of exotic weapons he can choose from, many of which are useful.  He is also the only HQ choice allowed in the Covens supplement where he is better with even crazier gear.

The Kabalite warriors are the mainstay of most army builds.  They can upgrade into Trueborn which make them better with more weapon upgrades available to them.  In the typical list you see both units min-maxed to the balls and shoved in Venoms only to be release when the damn thing blows up.


Here we go again with the boobs.  Wyches suck.  They are not nearly deadly enough to even be considered a "glass cannon" and they have such a variety of weapons that its almost as much work keeping track of them as it is a Seer Council's psychic powers.
They will, however, benefit from all but 2 of the outcomes from their Combat Drugs.  The extra I and Ld isn't going to do them much in most circumstances.  There is also this weird push to take them in units of 10 which lets 3 of them choose special Wych weapons instead of 1 in a smaller unit, the problem being that once you take 10 of them you can't add a character to the unit and sill have them fit in a Raider.  What the fuck is that all about?  Anyway...
The special weapons that they can take are AP5 and have special rules that all revolve around re-rolling failed hits and failed wounds.  This helps make up for their low attack count and miserable stats (pray you get a good roll on the Combat Drugs).  Their low AP is frustrating as it is really only useful against units where you weren't really worried about their armour save.
The Hecatrix can at least get some AP3 weaponry by way of a power sword or Agoniser and can also get Haywire grenades and a Blaster Pistol.
The key to using them is target choice.  You can take a big unit in a Raider and use them to hunt small units that they can kill.  They should be able to handle a small scout unit, and anything with fewer than 10 models and a not scary overwatch with a save of 5+ will go down to these guys.
You can also use them as a tar pit against a unit or model with a low number of high S low AP attacks as they have a 4++ once in combat.
Alternately you could take small units of them with a Hecatrix armed with a Blaster pistol and Haywire and use them to open vehicles.  This essentially makes them a rather expensive suicide unit and is probably the least effective way to use them.

That's it for this post, special rules, HQ's and Troops are all secured neatly with a bow, next time I'll move onto Elites.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time, keep them dice rollin.

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