Thursday, February 24, 2011

Post RTT Thoughts: Dark Eldar


Post Tournament Thoughts:
  • Night Shields and Flickerfields proved to be absolutely worth it.  In my first game they were huge.  My second game he just wanted to ram me, so Night Shields didn't matter but Flickerfields did.  When you have massed Orks charging you with S4 and you can mitigate 1/3 of their damage, you're in a good spot.  With Guard,  Flickerfields and Night Shields don't play a huge role, but it did prevent his Veterans from shooting at me.
  • Overall, close combat is still lacking.  Wracks and Wyches can certainly mop up units, but they're not especially "scary" for the vast majority of close combat units.  I'm considering running a list that has 5-man Warrior squads in Venoms and Raiders exclusively as Troops, and adding in a unit or two of Beasts.  I lose the survivability of the Wrack troops, but gain some CC nastiness.
  • Dark Eldar should follow the mantra; if your opponent can out-shoot you, reserve (even if you get first turn).  By shortening the game, and playing to the Eldar advantage of speed I believe Dark Eldar can compete with the likes of Space Wolves and Imperial Guard.  They just can't win in a strait up slug fest.
  • AV12 is still a pain.  Even with 12 Dark Lances and 11 Blasters, I have trouble with AV12.  I might considering adding in a few Dark Lance Trueborn squads for more of a ranged threat.

3 comments:

  1. AV12 is a right pain. Particularly when our only AP1 weapon has to be within 9" to have decent chance of doing anything.

    I tempted to add in a beast master unit as well, it adds some rending attacks with the flocks to help against heavy infantry, as normally our lances and blasters still have vehicles to deal with.

    Have you tried a.small squad of incubi (say 6) with no upgrades in a raider. Even on their own they'll take a chunk out of a marine squad, and wych support they should wipe out a marine unit with few casualties.

    Rathstar

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  2. I've tried Incubi but found them to be too situational in tournaments. If I get matched up against Marines, they can be great. Otherwise they're kind of overkill. I like the Beasts because in addition to their rending, they can also serve as a bit of a tarpit in close combat.

    Incubi also take away from my Trueborn and overall lance output, which if anything, I need more of.

    I suppose another option instead of Beasts would be to go full shooty and add in 2 squads of Scourges with Haywire Launchers.

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  3. Going full shooty always brings the risk that if you face an army that out shoots you you'll have little chance of winning. Having the beasts always gives you options and makes the list more balanced between shooty and close combat.

    I've found the incubi a nice insurance policy, because wyches and wracks struggle with heavy infantry. However I only advise a small squad because there are those games where they aren't that effective, and a large squad with upgrade char can be an expensive point sink.

    For more anti tank you could try a unit of reavers or scourges with 2 heat lances.

    Rathstar

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