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table licked his lips and smiled, pulling his Tactical Squad
out of his case, and lining the men up carefully along the
edge of the table. “Cool.”
“Played against Dark Eldar much?” I asked.
“Not really,” he replied. “I’m surprised to be playing
against them at all, since they really suck. Nobody ever
uses them.”
This scene actually happened at the local gaming store two
weeks ago. Ultramarine Guy looked down at my Dark
Eldar with a mix of disdain and arrogance. He really liked
my painting and modeling, but felt sorry that my troops
were so inferior.
For many people, Dark Eldar represent that great unknown: what will I do without a 3+ save, or huge numbers
to compensate for not having a 3+ save? For others, those who choose to walk down the path of the Dark
Eldar, they represent that greatest of all feelings: knowing your army can make your opponent cry, if you play
the game well.
“You can’t take Dark Eldar to a tournament and win,” my buddy said to me three months ago, when I first
bought the models I’d be working on for the Los Angeles Grand Tournament.
“Well, I took them and came in third overall,” is my response now. I’d say that’s a pretty decent showing for
what is widely regarded as the “worst army in the game.”
With that said, these are my ten commandments for playing Dark Eldar, and playing them well.
#10) Thou shalt not treat your Dark Eldar like some common Space Marine. Space Marines can blindly charge
into battle, knowing they have a 3+(or 2+) save to fall back on if it turns out to be tactically inept to make that
decision. You do not. You have armor made out of cardboard and masking tape. Choose your assaults poorly,
and you will die. A lot. Go running straight at your opponent, and you will die. A lot. Dark Eldar are sneaky. Be
sneaky.
#9) Thou shalt not forget that you can move 24” a turn. 24” is HUGE. It’s a major, major distance in 40k.
Realistically, your entire army could be in your opponent’s deployment zone on Turn 2. Use this to your
advantage. Deploy all your troops on one flank. Then, on the first turn, zip them all 24” to the middle of the
table. On Turn 2, zip them all 24” to the other flank. Over half of your opponent’s army will be left in the dust,
and you can bring your entire force to bear on 25-40% of the enemy army. No one can stand up to those kind
of odds. Do not fight fair under any circumstances.
#8) Thou shalt not waste points on Incubi. They’re expensive, overrated, and unnecessary. I believe Incubi are
the biggest point sink in the entire Dark Eldar list. You’re paying extra points essentially for Space Marines.
Which, as I’ve already said, the Dark Eldar are not. Besides, you won’t be able to take Incubi when you get up
to commandment number four anyway.
#7) Thou shalt not leave home without a Shadow Field. Let your buddies call you “cheesy” or “beardy” or
“bastard.” The Shadow Field is the single most useful piece of equipment in the game. Anyone not want a 2+
invulnerable save? Show of hands? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Your best character should have this strapped
to her back at all times.
face it. Naked chicks are not going to win
you a lot of battles. They just aren’t.
Wyches are a great tar pit unit, and can
bog down a battle line with the best of
them. But taking more than one squad
(unless you’re using a Webway Portal) is
just not smart. They’re expensive, they
die in droves if you breathe on them
before they get into combat, and S3
makes most people laugh. Unless you get
the +1 Strength drug, don’t expect your
Wyches to be much more than a
Succubus Delivery System. They are a
bus for an Agonizer, and nothing more.
one Archon. One Dracon is still better than one Archon. Why? Points. Points that you’ll need elsewhere. Paying
the upgrade for one more attack and one more leadership (the only two things that matter about an Archon) just
isn’t worth it. A Dracon with Combat Drugs, Reaver Jetbike, Shadow Field, Power Weapon, and Plasma
Grenades will run you around 130 points, and will be just as deadly as an Archon. You can’t run this character
at big, ugly monsters (use your lowly Warrior or Wych squads with their Agonizers for that), but she will
DESTROY rank and file troops. Boost her with +1 Strength and Reroll Misses drugs for fighting Space
Marines, or +1 Attack and Reroll Misses drugs for T3 opponents. I never shoot for three combat drugs,
because you’re almost bound to roll doubles, and I don’t like taking unnecessary wounds. The only time to take
an Archon is in really big games (2500+ points), where you’re bound to meet some Greater Daemon you’ll wish
you had the extra wound against. Even then, I probably wouldn’t take one, but I’d forgive you if you did.
#4) Thou shalt always mount thy Dracon on a Reaver Jetbike. Always. Always. Because the Reaver Jetbike is
the best bike in the game, bar none. Space Marine bikes tremble in its wake. Eldar Jetbikes are a joke. The
Reaver Jetbike is a steal at 25 points, and you should be running at least two squads of five. I run three squads
of five at 1850 points. They’re that good. And you’re going to want your Dracon running with a retinue of those
bad boys, because that’s a game-breaking unit. I’ve wiped out entire squads of Khorne Berzerkers in one turn
before, with that unit. Get lucky and hit the “always strikes first” drug, and you’ll make Howling Banshees cry.
Two blasters, a succubus with a power weapon or agonizer and a tormentor helm, and a Dracon packing heat is
enough to clear any unit of troops off the table in one round.
A word of caution about Jetbikes: you should mount two blasters in every squad (because you won’t forget that
you can fire at one thing and assault another thing), and you every turn you aren’t planning an immediate assault,
you should be pressing that button that says, “Don’t Push This Unless You Mean It.” The 4+ invulnerable save
will make you remarkably resilient. Let your opponent waste their lascannon and krak missile shots at your bikes
instead of the raiders full of warrior goodness behind them. It’s basic human nature to believe the thing closest to
you is the most imminently dangerous. That’s not always the case. Beware, though…don’t press that advantage
against heavy bolters, heavy flamers, or anything else that can cause you to take a lot of armor saves. You have
a really good chance at surviving one lascannon save. You have a really poor chance at saving three heavy bolter
saves. Be smart with your bikes, and they will win games for you.
one of the more versatile vehicles in the 40k universe.
Mounted with three Dark Lances, it will crush any tank in the
universe (even those Land Raider menaces), and is your best
shot against a Monolith. (Three hits at S8 will each need a 6
to glance…but it gives you three chances at it per turn.) Three
Disintigrators will clear off entire squads of Marines. Even a
“two and a partial” hit will multiply into “six and three
partials,” or a potential of nine hits killing without a save on a
2+. I take two of them at 1850 points, and three at 2150,
since the Ravager is a more versatile Heavy Support choice
than the Talos. If I take two, they’re both strapped with
Disintigrators. If I take three, then one gets the three Dark
Lance kit. I don’t upgrade my vehicles, because they’re
designed to die (see below), but if I have a spare 20 points,
anything but a bolter.), so screen them with Raiders or terrain, and make sure the only thing that can see you is
the thing you’re going to annihilate with Disintigrator fire that turn.
#2) Thou shalt not get attached to your Raiders. Repeat this mantra in your head: “Mobile terrain. Mobile
terrain.” Your Raiders WILL get shot down. All of them. The trick is to get them shot down where you want
them, and to get everyone off before they can burn to death in the crash. I used to upgrade my Raiders with
Disintigrators, but I’ve found that they only ever got one shot off before they died. So now, I don’t upgrade them
at all. Turn one, I shoot them 24” across the field, and park them behind terrain. Turn two, I float 12” and
everyone gets out. From then on, it’s just a question of where and when I crash my Raiders. My favorite thing to
do is to fly right in front of a squad that I know is advancing for a charge, broadside my Raider, and dare them to
shoot it down. If they don’t, I can fire on them next turn. If they do, I just created difficult terrain right in their
way. If I can slow them down for a turn, it gives everyone a chance to shoot at them. There are a lot of great
tactics for Raider usage at http://www.eldaronline.com/detactics/tactics_de_raiders.shtml.
#1) Thou shalt not underestimate the basic, standard Dark Eldar Warrior. Let’s see…what do we get for 8
points? WS4 BS4 and I5. That’s AMAZING for 8 points. Plus, you get to pack two heavy weapons into every
Raider Squad, and four into ever foot slogging squad. That’s just plain nuts. My favorite Warrior combo is
Sybarite with Agonizer and Splinter Pistol, plus a Splinter Cannon and a Blaster on my Raiders. This unit is
basically an Agonizer Deployment System, with the added punch of a heavy bolter and a meltagun that treats
AV14 like AV12. I’ve held up 30 gaunts with one of these units before. And a Carnifex. And 10 Assault
Marines. Get the picture? At 8 points each, these boys and girls are born to die. Use them as tar pits to buy time
for you Jetbikes to come crashing in for the kill. Use them to hurry up and capture quarters. With fleet of foot,
they’re awesome for hightailing it into cover and then sitting there, just contesting or holding objectives. I always
take two Raider Squads, armed as above. Also, I always take two squads of 10 Warriors on foot, with 2 Dark
Lances in each. Think about it: how much does a Predator cost, for two lascannon shots? About 150 points?
How much does a twin-linked lascannon cost on a Dreadnought? 50 points. How much do two Dark Lances, a
superior weapon to the lascannon, cost in a Dark Eldar army? 100 points…and that’s with eight other bodies to
meat shield them! One good hit will wipe out a Predator or Dreadnought. You have to kill the ENTIRE SQUAD
of warriors to hit the Dark Lances, which is tough to do when you’re in cover, or spread out to the maximum 2”
coherency to minimize template hits.
There are many, many ways to win with Dark Eldar, but this is the way I battled up to a third place finish in the
second toughest Grand Tournament in the United States. Try it out next time your Kabal hits the table, and
maybe you’ll have similar results.
Oh, yeah: Go Cougs!
