Dorky Goodness

Okay, I’m frequently asked my opinion on Dark Eldar Reaver - jetbikes for you rubes who play anything other than the slickest army in the 40K universe. And all I have to say is this: blech.
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Okay, I had a chance to try out the GD list last Thursday. It was a 1500 point game against the Emperor’s Children. The mission was “The Hunted”. Basically, the gist of the mission is that each player nominates an enemy unit (not HQ) and they get double victory points if they can destroy (or cause to flee) the nominated unit.

Here’s the short version: Myng game wasn’t bad but ultimately I was defeated.
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Okay, so I’ve had a bit of time to consider my Games Day 2004 Rogue Trader List. Upon careful consideration I decided against fielding my Deep Strike List. Why? Well mainly because I don’t think it’d be very fun to play against. My single use of this list was great for gloating but in the end I think it actually was detrimental to the fun of the game. Oh sure, I had fun. “Hahahahahhahahaha! Your preliminary bombardment is nothing to me, you Imperial fools!”. But in the end I have decided it’s not much use for competative or group games.

That said, I’ve been seriously considering going full on shooty. There’s a lot to be said for a full shooty Dark Eldar list. But ultimately I have decided to field a reasonably mixed list. Granted, it’s considerably more shooty than the average Dark Eldar player. But that’s okay. I think it’s a pretty solid list.

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Well, for starters, this article should probably have been titled “Tactica Dark Eldar Heavy Weapons” since that’s really all I’m going to chat about… Sort of. I’m also going to be talking about how Dark Eldar Heavy Weapons compare and contrast with some of the other armies in the 40K universe.

I suppose I could have also titled this, “Why Space Marine Players Whine about Dark Eldar Army Composition.” I liked this title and considered it for a bitsy. As the discussion continues you’ll find that there’s a tendency amongst Imperial players (Space Marine, IG, and the others) to gripe about the prevelance of Dark Lances (specifically) in Dark Eldar Armies. Well, there’s no reason to try and explain it to them why that happens. They’re Space Marine players and that means they’re slow. If they wanted to play a challenging army they’d've opted for something a little less common. Don’t even bring it up with Necron players. Tactical discussions with them are pointless.

But enough waffling. On with the discussion.
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Here’s a post I made at DP in regards to a new concept for my Dark Eldar army:

Okay, I’m working on a new concept army for my Dark Eldar. It’s been in the back of my mind for some time (long before the article on a similar tactical approach was posted to Eldar Online) but I just wanted to see what thoughts, if any, you fine folks have.

The concept is simple. The first turn is hideously important when fighting against the Dark Eldar. Depending upon the mission and the terrain, Dark Eldar armies live or die based upon the first turn of shooting or the ability to redeploy on the final turn. Consider that a sacred axiom of playing a successful Dark Eldar army.

However, it is entirely possible to field a Dark Eldar army where the entire force is immune to fire for the first two turns. How’s that? Well, two things:
1. Mandrakes. Mandrakes are completely unassailable for three turns (unless I opt to reveal them). A squad or two of them would deploy on the first turn but because of their special rules, they wouldn’t be able to be assaulted or fired upon until turn three. Sweet.

2. Deep Strike. There’s a nifty vehicle upgrade available to the Dark Eldar that allows Raiders and Ravagers to Deep Strike (if the mission allows - which in a way cripples the idea for a RTT). So for the first couple of turns at least, the bulk of my forces would be held in reserve until the Reserve rolls are made.

Additionally, my Scourges (and Hellions, but I rarely take them) can always deep strike.

So my thought is a nasty little list of Raider Squads, Mandrakes, and Ravagers. The list would primarily be fire power oriented (with THREE Ravagers! Heh.) The vehicle mounted troops would represent shock troops deployed from low orbit ships (I’m thinking Impaler Assault Modules kitted out with some sort of launch bays for the Raiders and Ravagers). The Mandrakes would represent forward scouts/infiltrators which have made planet fall in advance of a planetary assault (something like what lictors do in a Tyranid force). Once the mandrakes have located a tasty target they trigger the landing force.

Last Thursday I dropped into one of the GW retail stores while I was waiting for a haircut. I had the opportunity to chat with one of the regional sales guys. After berating them soundly for archiving the Dark Eldar range, he mentioned that he had taken a glance at the next three years worth of release schedules and that as a Dark Eldar player I had some things to be happy about. Evidently there’ll be some new model releases for the DE army in about a year and a half.

Of course I couldn’t get anything else out of him. He claims that it’s his job if specific details were released.

Now, what I can’t figure out is this: What harm would it do to let Dark Eldar players (who’re already feeling like the GW red headed step-child) know that there’s some concrete hope for their armies? I really can’t see why GW would care that folks know that new toys are coming out. One would actually think that it would engender some good will and excitement.

But that’s just me.

Well, the league is over and the final results haven’t been published, but I think I can still comment on my list’s results.

As far as battle points went I ranked 11th out of 38. Not too shabby. Of the folks I played, two of them ranked higher than I did (one was Necrons and the other was Tau). The rest of the folks (13th Company, White Scars, Black Legion, and Space Marines) all ranked beneath me. Strange that!

Of course, to be fair, one of my opponents declared a forfeit and as a result I received full battle points for the fight. But that happened to a number of people so I don’t think that was such a huge factor (on the other hand, it was the game that was supposed to be against the Iron Warriors so I probably would have been trounced!).
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Okay, I’m excited but I have to bitch. They’re not pre registering the Rogue Trader Tournament this year!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I hate to tell you this, GW, but that’s bullshit. The GD Rogue Traders are hellishly popular. If I haven’t bought my ticket within the first two weeks the tickets are on sale I don’t get in. And that was when the tourney lasted two days (one of ‘em being a work day). Now I have to compete with a bunch of folks (who may be local) for a slot on a one day tournament? It’s likely to be even more challenging to get a spot.

But let’s not forget I’m travelling all the way from Boston for the event. I’m spending serious dough (oh, and they upped the ticket prices, don’t you know) to go down there when you consider travel and hotel and now I may not even get a spot in the RT? What’s up with that?

I’m irritated. I think I’m going to tone down the profanity and sent me a letter.

Grrr….

As expected, the Necrons defeated my Dark Eldar in Thursday’s game. Now granted, the battle was closer that I would have thought. If we had been playing in a Rogue Trader the game would have been a draw! Mike beat me by a mere 217 victory points. Pretty darned close for a 1750 list.
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I think that everybody who fields a Dark Eldar or Chaos 40K army should possess the WHFB Skeleton Regiment and the WHFB Fantasy Regiment.

If you’re not playing Chaos you should also attempt to procure some of the Chaos Vehicle spikey bit sprues.

If you’re playing Dark Eldar you should also pick up a WHFB Dark Elf Warrior Regiment box.

all of the above contribue immense possibilites to your conversions!