Count Adhemar's (Yet Another) Dark Eldar Homebrew Codex

Few recent changes:

Wyches revert to WS4 (13/5)
Wyches increased to 14 points per model (13/5)
Access to Wych Weapons changed to 1 per 5 Wyches (rather than models) and 1 per 3 Bloodbrides (13/5)
Gave Lelith Hesperax Shardnet & Impaler option (13/5)
Added Rending to Ur-Ghul special rules (13/5)
Gladiator rule amended with “This rule has no effect on models with no Initiative characteristic, such as most vehicles” (13/5)
Reduced the minimum number of units in Core Choices for a Commorrite Raid from 3+ to 2+ as the Raids were too expensive and left few points for anything else (17/5)
Included a sample 1850 list using the Commorrite Raid meta-formation (17/5)
Vect’s Sceptre changed to Power Maul with Poisoned (3+) (18/5)
Vect’s Supreme Overlord ability changed to only allow traits from the rulebook or DE, Eldar or Harlequin codexes plus supplements (18/5)

This has become a bit of a labour of love for me so I'm still plugging away at it, tweaking things here and there, reading comments on various threads on TDC and saying "That sounds like a good idea" etc. So here's a few more recent changes:

*Changed the name of the Lethal Dose ability to Dessicate (only on Huskblade). Same rules (18/5)
*Removed Shred from 2H profile of Archite Glaive as the 1H profile was inferior in pretty much every instance. Added Precision Strike to both profiles to differentiate the Glaive from the Demi-klaive, which was otherwise identical (26/5)
*Re-jigged the points cost for ranged weapon options on Talos and added option for twin-linked Ossefactor (31/5)
*Added re-roll on vehicle damage table to Heat Lance as it was otherwise inferior to the blaster in most cases (31/5)
*Added ability to wound gargantuans on a 5+ to all Splinter Weapons (31/5)

I also did a comparison between Blasterborn and Fire Dragons. In the official rules, that's a comparison that Blasterborn lose in pretty much every category. With my rules they're actually pretty evenly balanced.

I have also compared the various combat drugs to see if there is a clear winner when my Wyches use them. +1WS comes out slightly ahead as the preferred result but every other option also has a clear benefit so overall I'm happy with the balance.

How much play testing have you done?

My testing has been via mathhammer as our group is currently on a hiatus from 40K. I'm hoping to get some games in over the summer though and will implore my group to let me test these rules. Given that my normal opposition is Eldar, Space Marines and Necrons I think they should be prepared to at least try!

Cool. I have been playing my homebrew rules with a couple of my buddies for almost a year. The way we play is actually pretty cool. You know the chaos path to glory campaign, well, we all made one for each army, including my Dark Eldar. We play a couple times a month and after each game, we roll on the table to randomly assign our army list. We average out the points (usually ends up being 1250 or so) to make sure it's fair for the next time we play. This forces us to play units we normmaly wouldn't consider. (It also forces me to buy more models and keep up with my painting)

It seems that after every game, especially the first 5-10 or so, I changed some of my homebrew rules. I havnt changed anything drastically, just minor stuff to make it fair. The opponents my army has faced has been Eldar, Space Marines, Neurons, and Tyranids. So far I'm winning more than I am loosing, never by a landslide. Id say that my army was definitely OP when I first tried it out, even when I thought the math hammer averaged out. I guess my point is to be open to your buddies criticisms.

Here is an example of what one of my friends suggested:
In my homebrew rules, I have trueborn haywire Grenades because, why not. When playing with them, they were pretty over powered. Instead my buddy recommended a single use haywire grenade. (Termed Kabalites Grenades) this was a perfect compromise and led to another idea. If the trueborn can have them, why not my regular kabalites. So for 2pts per model , each Kabalite can get a Kabalite Grenade. This rule has been so fun. 5 man unit of Kabalites with Grenades in a venom with 2 cannons is 120pts. This little unit can threaten alnost ANY unit the game. Just food for thought

Instead of +1I why cant we go back to 4th ed and just have always strikes 1st...

Added the Forge World Tantalus and Reaper.

The Reaper is mostly unchanged except that it is now available in squadrons and has a benefit for when there are 3 Reapers in the squadron (Ignores Cover and Tank Hunter). I've also made the Storm Vortex Projector twin-linked and given it a slight point increase.

The Tantalus is now a super-heavy with 6 HP. To counteract the loss of Jink I've given it improved holo-fields (4+ invulnerable unless immobilised). It's available as either Heavy Support or as a Dedicated Transport for an Archon (not Court). I've also given the Pulse Disintegrators the same profile as my version of normal disintegrators but with 6 shots. Other than that it's just got access to the normal DE vehicle equipment and is increased to 300 points. I figure that it's not anywhere near the Eldar super-heavy vehicles as it's got worse armour, lower HP and no D-weapons. It's also worse than an Imperial Knight, for the same reasons so 300 seemed about right to me. I'd take a Wraithknight over the Tantalus any day for the same points but that's because the Wraithknight is hilariously undercosted.

The Tantalus as Heavy - I might be wrong, but is there any other example in the game of a Super-Heavy that isn't a Lord Of War? I know the Tantalus isn't as good as other Super-Heavy vehicles, but if every other Super-Heavy is LoW as I think, it might be better to keep to the pattern.

Squidmaster wrote:

The Tantalus as Heavy - I might be wrong, but is there any other example in the game of a Super-Heavy that isn't a Lord Of War? I know the Tantalus isn't as good as other Super-Heavy vehicles, but if every other Super-Heavy is LoW as I think, it might be better to keep to the pattern.

You could be right there. I'll have a look at some other codexes to see if there are any examples of super-heavy/gargantuans that are not Lords of War. If anyone knows of any, please let me know.

EDIT - Couldn't find any examples of super-heavies that aren't also Lords of War, although there are a few that can be taken in formations and not require a LoW slot.

I've therefore changed the Tantalus to a Lord of War option but have also added it to the Kabalite Stormsurge formation. Interestingly, this meshes quite well with the units in that formation. You could take an Archon, 3 units of Warriors/Trueborn and mount them in a Tantalus for a pretty awesome alpha/beta strike when it arrives automatically, anywhere on the table without scatter on turn 1

I must say I really love the ideas in this fandex.

The highlights for me were the gladiator rule for wyches, the idea to make the voidraven's weapons strength D and giving scourges jet packs. I'd been trying to think of a simple tweak to make the voidraven work for a while that this is just perfect. Gladiator is a very cool idea and I felt that scourges just make a lot more sense as jet infantry for a long time. Glad I'm not the only one!


A couple of criticisms:

The pfp idea is really neat but seems like it would ramp up very differently vs different armies and at different points levels. Isn't scaling based on turn number easier to balance?

The Incubi helm weapon feels like a roundabout way to achieve something simple. Why not just make the enemy unit pinned when Incubi assault them? It cleans up the book keeping and eliminates some randomness.

Also I don't think you have any units that use the dark scythe now so could be removed from the wargear options.

Anyway awesome read, thanks for sharing!

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I'd been trying to think of a simple tweak to make the voidraven work for a while that this is just perfect.

As with the release of the "Death From The Skies" expansion, the Voidmine of the Voidraven Bomber is Strength D. So you can use that, without having to use homebrew rules, as the DFTS rules override the codex rules.

Korona wrote:

I must say I really love the ideas in this fandex.

The highlights for me were the gladiator rule for wyches, the idea to make the voidraven's weapons strength D and giving scourges jet packs.  I'd been trying to think of a simple tweak to make the voidraven work for a while that this is just perfect.  Gladiator is a very cool idea and I felt that scourges just make a lot more sense as jet infantry for a long time.  Glad I'm not the only one!

Thank you kindly. Was hoping to get some playtesting of the codex done but our group has pretty much switched to 30K and Infinity so not much opportunity.

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A couple of criticisms:

The pfp idea is really neat but seems like it would ramp up very differently vs different armies and at different points levels.  Isn't scaling based on turn number easier to balance?

I specifically wanted to not link it to the turn number as that removes any association with pain. My main issue with the current system is that you can hide all battle, inflict no casualties, suffer no casualties, and still get exactly the same benefit from PfP as you would if you were involved in an absolute slaughter.

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The Incubi helm weapon feels like a roundabout way to achieve something simple. Why not just make the enemy unit pinned when Incubi assault them?  It cleans up the book keeping and eliminates some randomness.

Auto-pinning would certainly be easy but seems a bit lazy and at that stage it would be easier to just remove the tormentor helm and give them plasma grenades. Pinning seemed like a nice solution but with a subtle difference, for example, not working against Fearless models.

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Also I don't think you have any units that use the dark scythe now so could be removed from the wargear options.

Good catch! They could technically remain as an option on the Voidraven but I can't imagine any situation in which you would want to 'upgrade' them.

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Anyway awesome read, thanks for sharing!

No problem. Thanks for your comments.

Causalis wrote:

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I'd been trying to think of a simple tweak to make the voidraven work for a while that this is just perfect.

As with the release of the "Death From The Skies" expansion, the Voidmine of the Voidraven Bomber is Strength D. So you can use that, without having to use homebrew rules, as the DFTS rules override the codex rules.

You sure about that? I thought it is only Str D if it is taken inside of a formation.

Oooh is there a page reference?  Any way to make the voidraven remotely useful would be great.  I love the model but there's no point getting one if it won't be used.

@ Count, I agree that encouraging players to engage with the enemy is a good idea.  I feel like the fragility of the army already encourages offence as the best defence, but really a lot of the ideas need to be played with before coming to any real view.  Now the issue is finding someone crazy enough to let me play this against them!

I know it's been a month sense last updated but it's the first time I've read this. Wouldn't it be a good idea to give Vect eternal warrior that way he isn't ID by anything S6 and above?

Rhivan wrote:

I know it's been a month sense last updated but it's the first time I've read this. Wouldn't it be a good idea to give Vect eternal warrior that way he isn't ID by anything S6 and above?

I did toy with the idea but he's actually pretty tough to damage at all. If he's in a unit (and he should be) then he gets a 2+ Lo,S! roll and, if you choose the right Warlord trait, he effectively gets a rerollable 2+ invulnerable save. Putting EW on top of that would have been over the top IMO.

The reason I ask is because he's more points then a Wraithknight, along with the fact that Draigo is a thing makes it not seem TOO ridiculous. If I invest 340 points in a model I loath the idea of losing him to Scatbikes or the like. In his current form Vect is only just as survivable as a Solitaire except the Solitaire won't die to ID.

By my reckoning, a 2+ Lo,S! roll followed by a rerollable 2++ save means that only something like 1 in 216 wounds will be unsaved. Even under ITC rules, which limits rerolls to a 4+ maximum that's still 1 in 72 unsaved. Short of a 6 on Stomp he's pretty much invulnerable, at least until he fails that first Shadowfield save.

I did toy with trying to represent his 'doppelganger' or whatever it was called in Path of the Archon but decided to avoid that as it became a bit silly.

I had some free time last night, so decided to spend some of it going over your Homebrew Codex. Personally I think Vect is fairly OP as is, no need to make him any better.

Really liked what you did with they Wyches. That psedo rending along with the point increase really made them interesting. Not sure if they needed the extra attacks for the Initiative difference though (that could make them OP also).

Anyway, my $0.02

Yeah I too love the idea of giving Wyches Bladestorm. Very fluffy, and gives them a CC punch that they're missing in their current incarnation.

Ya, TBH I would consider bringing a 5 man squad at 13 pts each, with only the Bladestorm ability. A 10 man squad would be too much (with a raider as much as a squad of Termies), but I think that 5 guys in a raider would help fill a roll I currently am lacking (low AP CC for cheap)

Yeah that'd be a solid use for them.

Might step on Incubi toes a little, but if the Tormentor Helm negated overwatch then that'd give them their own little niche of murderising D-Scythe Wraithguard and other nasty flamer squads

Well I guess my inexperience with WH in general was talking with my opinion on Vect... That and my paranoia with 2+ saves and lack of mathhammering.

As for assault troops I'd love to be able to make use of Wyches and more importantly INCUBI, I really want to start playing with Incubi and their negating overwatch makes them feel awesome to me. Combined with Soulharvest and i feel like having a mobile assault force for my Deldar is an option.

Eh, I think we still have a place for Incubi in their current form, its just not what we want.

A 3 man squad in a dual SC venom is fairly reasonable cost, with a good amount of damage output, and operates as a decent back-field babysitter. If a pod of 5 marines drops down, it can easily handle it, then return to throwing the poison downfield at 36".

Its just that we want them to be like space marines, who walk up the field and kill everything they touch. That they are not.

I didnt see the rules for his Tormentor Helms, so if they prevent OW, then that should be awesome (although, I have yet to see Banshees on the table in 7th even with their own version)

My problem with Incubi is that they are simply too fragile to have to endure overwatch and then swing last in combat. 3+ saves are great but when you're T3 it's still not exactly turning you into Iron Man!