Sunday, October 10, 2010

Dark Eldar: No more Raider spam!


After looking at the Dark Eldar codex I think it is safe to say that Raider Spam armies are not going to work like they used because of point cost not with the raider but with the units will be using the raiders. There are some great units in the new book which is a huge improvement from the previous one. I am also glad they made Mandrakes and Hellions awesome. Wyches , I think got scaled back power wise a little bit with their special weapons choices and really you see a push from Phil Kelly to have more bodies on the field. The Pain token idea is a new concept for GW and it will make Dark Eldar tough as the army starts to ramp up they will only get stronger and having Wracks and other units in the list just for Pain Batteries is rough for a lot of armies.

That being said before the book came out I thought Dark Eldar were not going to shake up any of the meta game and IG and Spacewolves were still going to be on the top. Now that might be the case but working out some of these list I see them shaking up the metagame a little bit. Razorbackspam will be dead by mass hellion squads and mobile infantry. IG will have a hard time with killing DE with stealth and FNP throughout the army. There are ways where Dark Eldar can start their whole army with FNP and have 80 guys on turn one 6 inches from IG which will be really tough for any army out there to actually handle.

That being said here is a list going through the book that I worked out with a couple of buddies.

1850 Points
Baron Sathonyx
Haemonculusx 2 Venom blade, anitmas vitae
Hellions x 20 Stunclaw with upgrade
Hellions x 20 stunclaw with upgrade
Cronos parasite engine Spirit probe,sirit vortex
Cronos parasite engine Spirit probe,sirit vortex
Wracks x10 10 man squad with two luqifier guns wrack sarg upgrade
Raider for the Wracks aethersails
Wyches x9 + hetrix Blaster
Raider For Wyches
Wyches x9 + hetrix Blaster
Raider For Wyches
Wyches x9 + hetrix Blaster
Raider For Wyches

Stunclaws are a neat concept as you can take IC's with you when you hit and run. Next turn you’re still in close combat with your opponent‘s IC, which means they can't shoot at you. Hit and run again and you can Dark lance the HQ and if he isn't Eternal warrior you can instant kill him or if he is Eternal warrior just shoot the mass amount of poision weapons you have and kill him by thousand cuts. Parasites I think are going to be important for any army just to have the ability to pass out pain tokens. I want to try them out but I don't know how they will work out as you need to start killing something with them turn 1 or 2 to start passing out pain tokens otherwise they lose their effectiveness and you might as well get something else in there.

9 comments:

  1. I wonder if Pain Tokens will be the template for the new Faith Points, if WH ever get redone.

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  2. Just curious as to what you're seeing in Mandrakes to call them good. I thought they were a dud in the book, personally. No grenades on a unit that should be living in cover is kinda lame.

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  3. Fluger they are a great harassing unit. You can run a raider to them quickly let a haemonculu jump out and join them rather quickly and they have the baleblast or you can get a parasite to throw a token on them and now they are a threat to most armies and they will have a tough time taking them out.

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  4. I was with flugar, but I'll test them out. They didn't seem strong enough in either hth or shooting to be that useful. However, the models are so good, I hope to be wrong.

    What is it about the hellions that you like so much?

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  5. The combo with the Baron really. He gives them stealth and he allows you to pull a pain token from the wracks which will give them FNP. With the two other haemonculus you can have fnp on the other unit and Furious charge to the other squad. Which means having two units of 20 man size guys moving forward with the 4 raiders can be really rough. They can be str 5 or str 6 if you get combat drugs they are jump infantry and they have fleet. You can pull special tricks also with IC and the stunclaws and they have hit and run. Along with being troops I can't see a reason why not to take them :)

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  6. Hmm, interesting. I must've missed how you can get pain tokens from wracks... Have to re-read that.

    Here's the list I came up with when I had the book in hand...

    Baron Sathonyx: 105


    4 Kabalite Trueborn: 108 + 55
    4 Blasters
    Venom

    4 Kabalite Trueborn: 108 + 55
    4 Blasters
    Venom

    10 Kabalite Warriors: 115
    Dark Lance

    10 Kabalite Warriors: 115
    Dark Lance

    10 Kabalite Warriors: 115
    Dark Lance

    16 Hellions: 286
    Helliarch, PGL

    10 Wyches: 155 + 70
    Hekatrix, Power Weapon, Blast Pistol,
    Haywire Grenades
    Raider: Enhanced Aeithersails, Shock
    Prow

    10 Wyches: 155 + 70
    Hekatrix, Power Weapon, Blast Pistol,
    Haywire Grenades
    Raider: Enhanced Aeithersails, Shock
    Prow

    9 Reavers: 244
    3 heat lances, Arena Champion

    9 Reavers: 244
    3 heat lances, Arena Champion

    2000

    Personally, I love it. In your face early and often and lots of anti-tank and anti-infantry.

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  7. It's all the little rules that you just can't get off the internet. I think I just need to wait for a codex :-(.

    +1 stealth and moving pain tokens is pretty nice.I still don't know what the haywifre grenade launcher does exactly.

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  8. Its not a haywire grenade launcher, its a phantasm(IIRC) grenade launcher. Gives the unit offensive and defensive grenades.

    The baron is awesome 'cause he also allows the Hellions to re-roll hit and runs and dangerous terrain checks! As well, they become troops!

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  9. What does "offensive and defensive grenades" mean? DE get plasma, and haywire grenades. Does the PGL launch haywires?

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