New to DE - what to get first?

Title kind of says it all really. Heard Dark City was the premier Dark Eldar forum, so here I am!

I'm a long time Marine Player, looking to try out a Xeno faction for something new. I'm more of a modeler than I am a true gamer, and DE provide so many wonderful looking opportunities for modeling, they were an obvious choice!

My personal desire is to pervert a wraith lord into a Talos.

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What does a new Dark Eldar player get first? The Battleforce seems like it has a little bit of everything, and is an obvious first choice. However, what exactly is in there?

I'm a soldier in Afghanistan, and only have access to shopping via Amazon.com. It says 20 warriors, a Raider and 5 Reavers, which is pretty fantastic if true, but I'm leery, as it sounds an awful lot like the older Battleforce.
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Anyway, assuming I don't want to go "whole hog" and get a Battleforce, what should I get to start off with? Warriors? Wyches?

Thanks for your help!

-Cheers!-
Phos

Not quite right, it's 10 Warriors, 10 Wyches, the Raider and 3 Reavers. This is a pretty decent start as you've got two troops units with a transport for one of them and Reaver can be useful as anti-tank too.

You'd probably want at least another Raider as I've found that footslogging Dark Eldar don't do too well.

What you plan on buying will really be down to how you want your list to play. If you want more shooting then go with the Warriors, if you want to tie stuff up in combat then go with Wyches. Dark Eldar units need to be bought with a purpose in mind, we are not a cheap army and are often outnumbered, and we have no armour really and die to a stiff breeze. Take a look at some of the lists on these forums and go from there.

Welcome to the Dark City! (watch your back)

I was going to go for the Battallion box when I started, but I shopped around a little and managed to get some cheap stuff on eBay - don't suppose you have access to that?

As Urien said, have a good think before you start grabbing stuff left and right - unless you can afford to, of course - and have an idea of what you ultimately want.



For example, I've wanted to start Dark Eldar ever since I saw their old codex and was told that they'd never have a resurrection, so I'm aiming to get 3000 points' worth of these gloriously evil creatures.



Whatever you do, have fun!



Raucir

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053GBLZE/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

This is what you want.

http://www.amazon.com/Games-Workshop-Dark-Eldar-Battleforce/dp/B00005O0DW

This is...well...*I'd* be happy with it because I'm a sick puppy and still a fan of a lot of the old models - but probably this is what you don't want.

Please make sure you know which you're getting prior to order.

For generic army collecting I think the new Battleforce is a great start, and dollarwise is the best value of any Battleforce out there.

Moving beyond the Battleforce competitively - you probably want to get some more vehicles (Raiders, Ravagers, and Venoms) and probably Haemonculi. Another box or two of Warriors/Wyches and you'll have a very solid core to work from. Frankly, if I wanted a starting army in the most simplisitic and competitive fashion I'd want 2x Battleforce 3x Ravager 4x Venom and 2x Haemonculi which would give me enough of the core units and a lot of ability to build multiple forces up to around 1500 in a very competitive way.

Moving beyond the Battleforce in a fluff/modeling way. Well - frankly I think a lot if that decision making process needs to be tossed back on the modeler because it starts to become a question of what you want to work with and which models excite you.

With the basic idea that you want to make a Talos - probably a good core concept would be to go WWP which will be reasonably competitive and a lot of fun, but hardly eat your face competitive. Buying for this army would steer you towards wanting Beastmasters, so 1x box of Hellions for conversion and getting around 5-10 Kyhmarae and 4-8 Ravorwings would be a good hoping off point. Scourges, Haems, Wracks, Grots, and Wyches would all have solid roles in the army - and it would be a vehicle light army, needing only 2-5 vehicles for most competitive loadouts.

Hope some of that helps,
Thor.

The box that you are talking about is the OLD box (yes, I bought 2 or 3 of those back in the day!). The new box or two is a great start as Thor665 mentioned. The whole range is sweet as hell and you really can't go wrong(unless you use Madrakes-look cool, not that great in games)

First - Thanks for all the great advice!

Second - Thanks for setting me straight on the Battlebox differences.

Third - While Venom/Raider spam seems the most competitive force, it also seems very expensive. And while MSU is pretty fantastic for redundancy, duality, and durability...I only have SO MUCH money

I have to say, the DE book is very impressive with the number of usable builds included within. I like Baron+Hellions, the mobility and dakka they bring is just sick! Similarly its hard to argue with 3 Trueborn with Spinter Cannons + a Venom with Doublecannon for pure killiness. (or the obligatory 4 Blaster Build)

Toss in Reavers with Eldar Jetbike rules + Heat Lances /drool

I'm going to have to do a lot of army-list testing and/or proxy testing before I buy...but with so many great options it seems hard to go wrong.