This just in from the bowels of the Dark City; Dark Eldar are awesome.
Fresh off of my first raid (with the new codex, that is) I'm left with one feeling; wow.
One trick of the army is the ability to move 12" and fire to full effect. This is pretty nasty. Take the humble Ravager - able to move and fire 3 dark lances, this is an incredible anti-armor platform. The extra range is good for both offense or defense, as you can easily mitigate the shorter range of your weapons, and/or better use terrain to your advantage.
Perhaps even more impressive is this same ability on our fancy new jet planes. Why, you ask? Because they have missles. Lots and lots of missles. That you can fire all at once. Have an infantry squad that needs killing? How about dropping 4 S6 large blasts, 6 4+ poison shots, and a couple of dark lances onto it?
I had the fortune of a prime target (10 Dire Avengers bunched up near some Rangers, and an attached Farseer) and some lucky rolling (2 Hits, one Scatter reduced to 0, and one grazing hit). Despite being in cover, where those DA's used to be, only a smoldering crater remained. Took a wound off of the Farseer too.
Overkill? That's half the fun.
Now, this isn't to say that the army is unstoppable. It's still takes a vet's touch; it's chock full of easy-to-kill troops, and the HQ is still rocking T3 and a 5+ (shadow field notwithstanding). I was fortunate to get first turn. With no reserves-enhancing shenanigans, I can see sad things happening if a gunline gets to go first. Then again, this also goes to show the importance of a balanced table (talking terrain, here). You should have probably a good 2 to 3 pieces that will at least give a Raider cover, if not full concealment. The speed of the army can be used to make these count for you.
I am eagerly awaiting the official drop, and can hardly wait to get the next few games under my belt.
Bring them on Wednesday!
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, "a vet's touch" comes off as a joke to me. If the build you were using needed a vets touch it could easily be dumbed down for anyone to run. The one issue I see is proper target priority which isn't hard to teach.
ReplyDeleteI hope the DE work as well as you think they will, however I can see many people picking up the army and figuring out their niches quickly. Good luck and may more wins come your way soon.
The Dark Eldar have always had a steeper learning curve than most. Their defense comes from a high offense (if you're dead, you're not shooting at me) and greater speed/mobility than most other forces (if I'm not where you're aiming, you're not shooting at me).
ReplyDeleteThe trick, then, is learning to use these things to your advantage instead of relying on armor (be it personal or AV) or toughness. Likewise they can't as much rely on numbers... the troops are well over most swarm-style costs (5-6 points), with many choices running higher than Marines.
Target priority is certainly a big part of the army, but given the fragility involved one mistake can really turn the tide against you.
This is not at all to say that not everyone can learn the army - it's merely a matter of practice. The problem with 'dumbing down' the army is... you can't really do anything to change having the lightest armored vehicles in the game, or some of the least protected troops.
I am hoping for someone else around here to pick them up, though. I've never had the chance to put my Kabal against another.
Four S6 large blasts? Now I'm having bad memories of thunderfire cannons blasting my boyz. Bad for me, but good for you, I guess... :P
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel better, they *are* single-shot missiles.
ReplyDeleteWell your hopes are answered. I have been fighting the urge to start playing Dark Eldar for six months now, because I figured if I didn't wait I would have to learn the army twice. I suspect I won't be the only one either. Course it will take me a bit to get some models together.
ReplyDelete