Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Dark Eldar: Making it work

Let's give this another go.

For a while now, I've thought about just putting my Dark Eldar army on hold until the new book.  Rumors have been circulating that we'll see a new book by the end of the year, but like anything GW-related, I tend not to hold my breath these days.  Even though I feel that the book is really showing its age, I've decided to get a list together and play a game of 7th in the upcoming days.

Before I get into the list details, I want to expand a little bit to why I feel the book is showing its age.
  • First and foremost is the points associated with the units and how much bang for the buck you get for them.  When you compare likewise units from the newer books, you'll see that firepower increased or stayed the same, but the points have decreased from their previous incarnations.  When prices decrease and your firepower stays the same, this is a huge indication that you're playing with overpriced units.
  • Second, is that the game has changed radically from 5th to 7th.  Many of the special rules that the Dark Eldar book associates with has been nerfed repeatedly either voluntarily or involuntarily.  What does this mean exactly?  Well, FNP is now 5+ from the 4+ it was before, explosions inside Open-Top vehicles is no longer S3 but is now S4, Night Fighting only giving Stealth, the inclusion of hull points, the vehicle damage chart changing to benefit all vehicles, Overwatch being a thing, Allies being included..etc.
  • Third, is that while other armies get stronger and receive more toys, the power of Dark Eldar has declined from 5th to 7th.  It's been a constant stream of decline due to voluntary and involuntarily nerfs, but it becomes a double-whammy when Ignore Cover and Overwatch run rampant.  I believe Dark Eldar were designed to be a glass-cannon faction.  It moves fast, hits hard and cannot really take a punch unless you were clever in execution and cunning in placement.  Ignore Cover simply doesn't give a shit and Overwatch made our premiere assault unit (Wyches) look overpriced.  Not to mention that the new 7th Ed. Jink makes shooting relatively pointless on vehicles that are designed to shoot on the move.

While I understand there are a few good things to come out of these editions, I can't help but feel we got the short end of the stick here.  No matter, because I pride myself as a good player and I've beaten netlists throughout the editions with good plays.  As good ol' General Patton once said:  "Good tactics can save even the worst strategy."

At 2k points, here's what I plan on taking for my Dark Eldar/Eldar allies.

2000
19 kp

HQ:
Succubus (VB, Haywire) = 75
Farseer (JB, Spear, Mantle) = 160*

TROOPS:
5x Warriors (Raider FF/AS, Blaster) = 135
5x Warriors (Raider FF/AS, Blaster) = 135
10x Warriors (Raider FF/SR, Blaster, SC) = 195
10x Warriors (Raider FF/SR, Blaster, SC) = 195
5x Dire Avengers (Holo/SS/Scatter/SC) = 220*
5x Dire Avengers (Holo/SS/Scatter/SC) = 220*

FAST:
Crimson Hunter Exarch = 180*

HEAVY:
Ravager (FF) = 115
Ravager (FF) = 115
Ravager (FF) = 115
Night Spinner (Holo/SS) = 140*

With this list, I hope to accomplish two things:  Maximize on firepower, and maximize on Objective Secured troop choices.  I felt a good balance between the core army and Eldar allies was to maximize on poison shooting, Dark Lances, and bring enough high-powered shots as possible while still maintaining a good spread.  By that, I mean I have poison to cover MCs and high toughness, multiple all-purpose S6 shots from the WS, Ignore Cover shots from the WS, anti-air from the Crimson Hunter, Dark Lances from the Ravagers, and a Spinner to keep blobs honest.

For scoring, I have two durable ships in the form of the Wave Serpents, fast back-field lanceboats with the two Aethersail Raiders, and two fully geared Raider gunboats carrying full mans.  Also, I changed all of my Raiders and Ravagers from Night Shields to Flickerfields.  There's just too much Ignore Cover out there and sometimes, I will want to shoot over Jink on my Ravagers.  As always, I refuse to use the disgusting Haemonculi and I would rather see a Succubus run the show at a few points more.  It's purely for principle at this point.

Lastly, I think the Farseer will be rolling with Divination.. although the thought of Telepathy's Shrouding and Invisibility looks great.  What you guys think?  Looks pretty good to me.

5 comments:

Jahz Calhoun said...

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rathstar said...

Looks good, but I'm not sure what the 2 x 5 warriors with a blaster will achieve. With an AP2 weapon needing a 6 to explode a vehicle I don't think the single blaster will achieve much (he occassional hull point).


With the increase in vehicles I think you'll need extra anti-tank, and although you have to assault the tank nothing gets it done better than wyches with haywire grenades. It's a straight swap for 5 warriors with a blaster vs 5 wyches with haywire grenades. I would try it out and consider swapping out both small warrior squads. I'd keep them in a raider for the extra hull point.


I don't think it's necessary to maximise objective secured troops for all races. Don't forget all your transports are objective secured (because they are for troop choces), so I don't think it would be a bad think to still use trueborn or reavers.


I'm not sold on the night spinner, I'd rather have another wave serpent, from the Eldar Elites to bring, although expensive, the effective fire dragons. More anti-tank, notice a theme :)


It will take all on average three ravagers to kill one av12 vehicle, unless one of the 2 (on average) penetrating hits rolls a natural 6 on the damage chart. What I took away from my only tournament of 7th edition is that Mech is back. With Guard coming back onto the tournament scene and vehicles getting harder to one-shot av12+ vehicles were everywhere.


Rathstar

fala said...

In 7th FF doesn't make sense as it is always better to jink and get 4+. I'd suggest NS instead or nothing. If you get shot by ignore cover it has so many shots 5++ doesn't matter, like the serpents.

Prince Yrellian said...

I was just curious your choice of Night Spinner. Ive been on the fence of taking night spinner and the fire prism. Maybe you can shed some light on both choices? I mean in the context of Dark Eldar with Eldar allies.

HERO said...

Hey! The Fire Prism's versatility is welcome, but it covers mostly the same targets that the Ravager does when firing its focused beam. S5 is decent, but I'd rather have the larger blast, strength and wounds from the Night Spinner. This gives you a better weapon overall vs. blobs of units and the torrent spray option is also very welcome.

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