My Attempt at a Reasonable DE Decurion/Formations. Let's make a thing!

Hi all, lurker for a while. I love/hate my DE these days for their style and wasted potential respecrively. The Freakshow Formations gave us a lot of interesting, decent buffs but what of our poor Kabalites and Wyches, who need it most? To that end, here's some stuff I came up with to fill the need for some decent buffs. My aim here is threefold:

1)No alterations to Special Rules or units beyond what's listed as bonuses in these formations. Wishlisting is great but I'm looking for a workable band-aid for a book that falls just short of awesome. So no repoints or whatnot.

2)Make the army work without resorting to Allies. While that can be fun, the Dark Kin deserve the in-Codex strengths to play well without friends.

3)Try to keep within the realm of reasonable benefits. They messed up, making the huge Necrons Iron Hands and Ad Mech Formations too strong in my opinion. It leaves the rest of the books looking weak and skews competetive play too much. So, much as I'd take a bunch of free Raiders like Marines get Rhinos, I didn't go that route. I mostly looked at the constant gripes and universally noted weaknesses and tried to mitigate them. Similarly, there are tax units as we usually see.

Most of this work is mine, the initial Kabalite Formation is not. I think that one may be a bit strong although some of it is good, notably the units (Maybe not the Scourges). I do think that Assault from Cruising Speed is probably too strong on Fleet troops though.

jade_angel wrote:
Here's a proposal for Dark Eldar:

Kabalite Raiding Force

1 Archon
0-2 Court of the Archon
2-6 units of Kabalite Warriors
0-3 units of Kabalite Trueborn
0-3 units of Scourges
1-3 Ravagers

Restrictions: None

Command Benefits:
Evasive Action: All Ravagers in this formation and all Raiders taken as Dedicated Transports for units in this formation gain a 6+ cover save if they move Combat Speed, 5+ if they move Cruising Speed, and 4+ if they move Flat Out.
Swift and Sure we Strike: Any unit from this formation embarked in a Raider may disembark from a Raider that has moved Cruising Speed. If they do not disembark, they may fire at full Ballistic Skill, rather than firing Snap Shots. Units that disembark in this way may shoot, run and charge normally.
Deadeye: Ravagers from this formation may fire all their weapons at full Ballistic Skill, even if they move Cruising Speed.
Ultra-virulent Poison: If the Archon from this formation joins any other unit from this formation, any splinter weapons in that squad gain the Shred special rule.

The rationale here is to encourage the use of Raiders over Venoms, and to give Raider-borne squads even more mobility options. With the ability to fire at full BS after moving Cruising Speed, using Cannonborn in a Raider with Splinter Racks actually makes sense.



That would make a pretty cool Core formation for sure. I think maybe under Restrictions all the Kabalite Warriors should have to purchase Raiders as Dedicated Transports. Maybe the Courts too, unless they are deploying via Webway Portal.

Here's a quick go at an overall Detachment:
Dark Kin of Commoragh
1+ Core, 1-5 Auxiliary per Core Choice
Command Benefits:
Lord of the Dark Kin: Warlord may reroll Warlord Trait if chosen from Dark Eldar Traits.
Hunt From the Shadows: As in the Codex.
Heart of Darkness: If the roll indicates a Night-Fight scenario, the Dark Eldar player may choose Dawn or Dusk. If Dawn was chosen, Night Fight my be extended to the next game turn on the roll of a 5+ each turn. Once this roll is failed, Night Fighting rules end. If Dusk is chosen, roll each turn after the first- on turn 2 it is a night fight on a roll of 6, on turn 3 a 5+, turn 4 on a 4+, and so on. Once a night fight is rolled, Night Fighting conditions last until the end of the game.

Then, another Core for Wyches:

Wych Cult (Core)
1 Succubus
2-6 units of Wyches
1-3 units of Bloodbrides
0-2 Unit ofBeastmasters
1-3 Units of Reavers
0-2 units of Hellions

Restrictions: None
Benefits:
Taste for Excitement: All units in this Formation may re-roll any result on the Combat Drugs table. The second result must be kept in this case.
Swift and Sure We Strike: (as above)
Dance of Death: Wyches, Bloodbrides and the Succubus from this Formation may use their Dodge save against Overwatch attacks.

Command (0-1 per Core)) One Archon, Haemonculus or Succubus

Auxiliary:
Incubi Shrine
1-3 units of Incubi
0-1 Drazhar

Aelindrach Stalkers
1-3 units of Mandrakes

Outcasts
One unit of the following: Scourges, Hellions or Beastmasters

The Altered
One unit of Grotesques or Wracks

Pain Engines
One (1) Talos or Cronos

1 Voidraven Bomber

1 Razorwing Jetfighter

I figure that Haemonculi Covens has done all it needs to to make those units interesting and effective so haven't done anything with them.

Detachments and Formations

I'm sorry this post never got a reply when it was originally made but, I don't want to start a new thread when there is a perfectly good thread already started. Hypothetically, our codex could be fixed with some wacky formations allowing Darklight weapons to be fired more efficiently (i.e. without the lance rule against armor 12 and lower) and other numerous shenanigans. Above is a link to the Detachments and Formations section of my Fandex, the rest of which is included in my signature below. Keep in mind some of these formations only make sense given the fandex unit entries but most of them could be straight copy-pasted into our codex without the need for further explanation. Several of the Coven formations are heavily inspired from the Covens book, but several are very different and Wracks are also different in my fandex (they have 2 wounds and can be taken in squads of up to 30).

Hopefully my contribution is significant enough not to constitute threadomancy. I did read the guidelines before posting, but if my judgement was off, I sincerely apologize admins. If I were to start a new thread I would be asking the same question as aushio.