The Dark Archives

Greetings, fellow Archons, Haemonculi, Succubi and other denizens of the dark city!

Threads like these are common sights on other places with different names but all share the same purpose:

To gather our collective knowledge on the game-to-game performances of our units.

Unlike other dedicated tactica- or units-threads, this one isn't about creating a guide on how to use a certain weapon/unit/tactic. It is just a place where you may come after you have returned from another realspace raid to boast about how your Grotesques made that 12" charge or how your jinking Ravager weathered a whole storm of fire. Or how your 200 points Archon lost his Shadowfield against overwatch from a single remaining Guardsmen.

If you wish to, you can post whole battle reports in here or just a few lines. It is up to you.

Now gather around and let's hear who's got the best story to tell!

I'll go ahead and take the opportunity to share my findings on the first few games with my Deldar:

Over the weekend I've played some games against my buddy's Orks so it wasn't a competitive environment.

Overall Observations:

The Dark Eldar rock when it comes to objective based games! Our fast vehicles are a real advantage when you have to get Ascendency etc. The Orks had a good deal of vehicles and Deffkoptas (which are jetbikes, so his list was by no means sluggish).

Our Venoms die to a stiff breeze, no surprises here. It really hurts them that they can't get a Shadowfield...

Units

Grotesque

They are solid but not as much of a tanky unit as they are made to look like online. T5 is nice but only a 5+ FNP isn't something to write home about. Sure they can take some punishment but a single round of shooting from 10 Flash Gitz can mow down a whole squad. They are really strong against normal flamers and small-arms fire and every time I roll their D3 for Rampage I have to chuckle as images shoot through my head how the Grots get injected with unhuman doses of drugs and just freak the f*ck out. :') The best way to take them is the Grotesquerie (no surprises here, again). I lucked out and rolled a 4 so they all got Shred which makes them absolute CC machines. Along with a Solitaire, 3 Grots took down a Morkanout (who was doomed by Eldrad).

Venoms

Oh boy, he's shooting at our paperboat! Better tighten those buttcheeks and hope that he doesn't roll a penetrating hit! Here it comes! Jink! 3+... BOOOM!

Nothing unusual to report here either. The Venoms are a ton of fun since they hit like a ton of bricks (especially with Guide and in RFR) but die at the mere thought of S6+ weapons. My buddy learned to fear them real quick and they attracted a huge amount of fire. I need to build my 4th Venom. 3 are just not enough but they are awesome anyway!

Dark Artisan

I gave the Haemy a WWP and the Sump and the Talos a Heatlance. The Chronos had the Spirit Probe ofc. Deepstruck them next to a vehicle that was about to flame my Kabalites. Heatlance hit, Vehicle go boom. After that the Dark Artisan smashed into 30 Ork Boys (who couldn't hurt the monsters but stayed because of Mob Rule). 5 Koptas and the Waaaghboss on Bike (S8 on the charge, S7 otherwise) joined the party. They dooked it out for about three rounds. None of the Dark Artisan died but they steadily squished some Orks. It was very frustrating for my opponent because he threw everything at them but they just didn't die. IWND and Zaelot are just awesome to have in the later rounds.

Ravager

I only have one so he didn't do much. Still alright though. Tanked a lot of fire with his Nightshields and jink.

Harlequins

Since this thread is predominantly about the Dark Kin, I'll just briefly skip over these:

Their bikes are overpriced garbage. Waaay too fragile for the point cost.

The Solitaire is awesome. Keep him back and out of LOS. He is a real clean-up machine that can pick off most targets. His Ini 10 makes it easy to overrun fleeing dudes.

Death Jesters are real troll-units. Fun little guys!

Shadowseers are alright with Phantasmancy and pretty good with Telepathy + Mask of Secrets.

Troupes are only good if they have a vehicle to transport them, since their 5++ will see them die in droves from the merest fire.

I played a small game a few days ago reavers my reavers were great. They spent the majority of the game turbo boosting around the battlefield for 2+ jink. I deep striked everything else which also worked well. The guy I was playing had terrible dice and rolled a doubled one for charge and missed with both a multi melta and a plasma pistol against my venom.

How do the Reavers get a 2+ jink from turbo boosting?

The people I was playing with seemed to think that should you turbo boost you get plus one top jink(will check the rules.

Looked thorough the rules couldn't find the rule that said that, never mind.

That was in 6th. I still mix it up occasionally.

I just played a Necron Decurion last weekend, who is my main opponent. I suited up with both a Grotesquery and a DA with the WWP.

As usual his Harvest Wraiths were an absolute nightmare, but I managed to bring them slightly out of position by deploying second then splitting my forces. They still managed to kill a kabolite venom, ravager and helped mop up half the grotesquery. While this was happening, the second Grot squad overran two warrior blobs and was about to charge a Destroyer unit, presumably going to kill it.

It was a close game, and I may have been able to eak out a win if not for my DA arriving T4

I definitely learned a lesson about taking MOAR VENOMS. In the future I will try to fit in at least 3 into any list. Really should have remembered that I bought two single beastmaster objective grabber units too...

Nice to see some participation in this thread.

The +1 to jink when turboboosting is actually a pretty nice rule. Would be neat if we would get something along those lines in a future update.

@Fisheyes: Sounds like a fun game, even though the Necrons are tough as nails. MOAR VENOMS are always a good choice. I wouldn't leave the house without 4 or at least 3 of those, since you need abundance in order to actually have a Venom left that isn't jinking or destroyed.

Shame that the DA got so late to the party. :/ They did some heavy lifting when I brought them and against Necrons they should be brutal too, once they reach CC.

Causalis, the DA is beautiful vs the Crons. They just dont have the high S low AP shooting required to put it down. With the 3+ 4+++ (rerolling 1s for warlord) means that even after 2 rounds of half his army shooting at me, its usually still good to assault stuff. Turn 4 IWND is just icing.

I figured that bringing 2 venoms, 2 raiders and 2 ravagers would present enough threads to survive, but I was wrong. It didnt help that both ravagers were Lances, and he didnt have any tanks. In the future I will be sure to reserve them so that I can grab objectives late game.

What else have people been having good luck with?

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They just dont have the high S low AP shooting required to put it down

He said, until a Destroyer Cult was put on the table, reducing the DA to its smouldering remains in one turn of shooting. But those are actually not very point-efficient against Deldar, since the Destroyer Cult wants to kill annihilate your vehicles. And since we only have paperboats that's very much overkill.

Take 3 or 4 Venoms. That's enough to deal with the Warriors. Depending on your opponent's playstile you may get away with taking a Razorwing which will help you mop up remaining infantry. Ravagers are also good. With Disi Cannons they'll take care of stuff like Lychguard and with Lances they can damage his vehicles.

But all of this has counters of course. Overlord w/ Veil of Darkness + Lychguard + Cryptek w/ Solarstaff will rain on your parade. He can DS them right where he wants to and then just pops the Staff so you may only fire snapshots at the Lychguard.

Im having a blast with multiple 3 man reaver squads with caltrops and heat lance. They singlehandedly won me the last game vs mechanised Eldar, a matchup I lost most of the time before. They are cheap, disposable, very dangerous if left unnatended and 3+ cover plus FNP makes them surprisingly resilient. A perfect distraction unit. I always include at least 3 in any army list now.

@ BizarreShowbiz - I hear you with the reavers! I also find units of 6 with/without guns do serious work.

@ fisheyes - Lure those wraiths forward (not too hard) the spyder has to follow. Gut the spyder with shooting and CC reavers. Poison then charge wraiths to death. Sounds so simple .

Grotesquerie, DA, reavers, and dissies on raiders and ravagers wreck the robots.
Reavers are great against destroyers and tomblades too.

@ Causalis - Recent game vs SM battle company.

He swarms the table with obsec rhinos, razors, pods, muhreens, bikes and centurions (no grav).

I take few losses as im hiding. Grotesquerie and 3 units of reavers hit his left flank as venoms, raiders and ravagers provide supporting fire. Warriors hold obj and shoot a little

The terrain and his wrecked hulls form a wall that hides my grots and reavers. His shooting does little.

My grots and reavers move and charge again as my skimmers provide supporting fire. Can you see a pattern? I charge every turn with multiple units and he cannot bring his firepower to bear.

I almost table him over 5 turns and win 13 - 4 on objs. Glorious!

Causalis - I was playing against the Cult. 2 shot S5 basters just are not that scary (even if they are AP 3), and they rarely do much for him other than grab objectives or kill a single light vehicle.

As for charging the wraiths... I assume you have not played against them before? 3++ then 4+++ on a T5 guy is bonkers. Shooting with venom warriors works OK, but my tried-and-true approach remains "RUN AWAY!!!". Recent Mathhammer has told me that I may want to put my DA in front to catch them, then hopefully tie them up all game while the grots kill everything else. Charging grots into wraith is like pissing on a house fire. It doesnt work and just makes everything smell bad

I just played against the new Chaos formation, but the guy wasnt very good. Didnt take any transports, and the fastest unit he had was a squad of 5 raptors who DS turn 4 (and did nothing). By turn 3 it was obvious I couldent loose, so I started charging up the middle of the board. Still didnt loose a single model all game (ok, he killed a single objective grabbing beastmaster, but who cares). It felt like I was beating up a toddler...

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As for charging the wraiths... I assume you have not played against them before?

Until last week I owned a Necron army (sold them because they are boring). :/

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It felt like I was beating up a toddler...

So... satisfying? *Dark Eldar intensifies*

Tomorrow I'll hopefully get a 1500 points game in. If I do, I shall report here.

fisheyes wrote:

As for charging the wraiths... I assume you have not played against them before? 3++ then 4+++ on a T5 guy is bonkers. Shooting with venom warriors works OK, but my tried-and-true approach remains "RUN AWAY!!!". Recent Mathhammer has told me that I may want to put my DA in front to catch them, then hopefully tie them up all game while the grots kill everything else. Charging grots into wraith is like pissing on a house fire. It doesnt work and just makes everything smell bad

Yes I have played vs wraiths before, often.

Did you miss the part about gutting the spyder first? Then shooting the crap out of them? THEN charging?

Once you get rid of the 4+++ they aren't a problem.

How do reavers get a 2+ cover save?

Jink (4+)
Skilled Rider (3+)
Nightfight (2+)

wala- reavers with a 2+ jink save. Thats why I ALWAYS hope for nightfight- turbo em over to the other side, weather 1 round of shooting, then mop up.

Back home again. A bit mad because we didn't get a game in. My opponent was playing someone before me and he said that after their game he would play against me. So I waited for them to finish and then he say "Sorry buddy but I'm exhausted. Next time". Meh. -_-

My list would have been:

Grotesquerie

3x Grotesque
Aberration w/ Scissorhand

3x Grotesque
Aberration w/ Agoniser

Haemonculus w/ Sump, Scissorhand and WWP (joins Grots with the Agoniser)

Dark Eldar CAD

Succubus w/ WWP, Glaive, AOM, Haywire Grenades (joins Grots with the Scissorhand)

3x5 Kabalite Warriors in Dual Splinter Cannon Venoms

5x Blasterborn in a Dual SC Venom

3x Reaver Jetbikes w/ CC and Heatlance

Ravager w/ 3x Lances and Nightsiehlds

Talos w/ Chainflails and TL Heatlance

Chronos w/ Spiritprobe


These are all the Dark Eldar minis I own (minus an Archon and a Raider). I know I'm lacking anti-tank stuff. C&C welcome.

Good thread Brings back memories.

I remember thread such this "Today Kharn killed...."

Causalis, looks like a tough list, but I am curious why you didnt get the DA when you are already bringing the Talos and Chronos.

I played against a SM guy who wanted to bring 4 Stormhawks and a 500 pt knight to a game. After politely asking him to tone it down a little, he conceded to drop the knight and take a centrion star (3 grav cents in a pod with Cortez) instead. Needless to say it wasnt a good game. By turn 4 I had killed off most of his ground presence, but the 4 fliers just ran around killing anything that they could see. Didnt help that (apparently) they are Vector Dancer, so they were pivoting like crazy to get all sorts of shots off. Simply unbelievable that they cost the same as our razorwing.

However the game has finally made me realize I need a IC who as AP2, so it looks like my agonizer archon will be retiring, and a glave succi will be taking over.

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Causalis, looks like a tough list, but I am curious why you didn't get the DA when you are already bringing the Talos and Chronos

Because I would need a second Haemonculus for that, which I don't possess.

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and a 500 pt knight

Any idea what kind of knight that is? A normal Imperial Knight will breach 400 points with upgrades. But to reach 500 points I would assume it's a forgeworld model...?

I think he said it was 400 and change. I just rounded up to 500. It had the battle cannon, gatling gun, missile launcher, and maybe something else.

If you dont have a second Haemi, kitbash! They surgically alter themselves all the time, so from a fluff perspective he can literally look like anything

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If you dont have a second Haemi, kitbash!

Will probably do so. I even have one of these Green Stuff sculpting tools that lets you create tubes, tentacles, wires etc. so I could model him some Kadeshi Haemovores. I also kitbashed my Grotesques from AoS Crypt Horrors and Talos masks/weapons.

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I just rounded up to 500. It had the battle cannon, gatling gun, missile launcher, and maybe something else.

Then it was probably the Knight Crusader.

I played a lot of games this weekend. Even participated in a small tournament (800 points).

Grotesquerie

I really like that our Roid-Brutes are surprisingly flexible. They took out light vehicles, hordes of infantry and the Aberration with Scissorhand is not bad against heavily armoured foes. However, the Grots can't handle shooting. The enemy only has to wound them a couple of times. Being T5 helps but once they are wounded, the measly protection of FNP (5+) isn't really something that could weather the storm. It has to be said, however, that I run them in min squads of 3 Grotesque (I have only 6 models).

Reaver Jetbikes

I only own 3 but just snatched 6 more on eBay. And with good reason! Even a single squad of 3 guys was so much fun. In the tournament they grabbed me points, soaked up fire, tied an assault unit in combat (due to being T5 because of their combat drugs). The highlight was that the last survivor drove to Trukk and blew it up with his heatlance, killing half of the Orks inside with the explosion. I don't know why people seem to prefer the blaster on them, when they can utilize the melter much more easily. Getting into melter-range is childsplay with the speed of a Jetbike!

Kabalite Warriors with a blaster in Venoms

Sine I only had 800 points to work with for the tournament, I gave those two squads a blaster each. Didn't help though. In the five games I played this weekend, they only took off 1 HP from a vehicle and insta-killed a biker. However, the poison shots were amazing as always.

Ravager

Bad, as always. Since the first time I played this mini it has done absolutely nothing that would come close to justifying its points. The lances either miss or when they hit they don't even glance. And if by any miracle they do glance the enemy (or pen it), the model often gets a cover safe. The "solution" seems to be fielding 3+ Ravager. But that isn't really something I would consider effective. Its just piling on more bad/mediocre units to increase the chance of them doing something. Best thing it did to date was taking off two HP from a Deffdread in a single shooting phase.

Cronos

I ran this guy with my Grotesquerie to boost their FNP. But my good luck(?) gave the Grots FNP (4+) for their Latest Experiments so the points on the Cronos were largely wasted. It is painful to watch that poor thing use its flamer only to kill one or maybe two models with lucky rolls. T_T

Raider

Did its job of delivering a squad of Grotesques (I only own one). Giving it a Nightshield seems almost mandatory to me, since it will be in the face of the enemy turn 1 and receive a lot of attention. Even after it deployed its cargo the Raider got quite some shots coming its way because of the Disi-Cannon and its ability to take objectives.


About the tournament:

I lost really bad to Daemons. He had a big blob of Daemonettes with a Herald with the Grimoire and The Mask. He also had 3 Blight Drones and a squad of Blue Horrors. The book, along with the Cursed Earth spell gave the Daemonnettes a 2+ invuln. And the dance-ability of The Mask is just insane. Lowering the WS by -5 was just death for my Grotesques with their Succubus. He also got to summon two units that game, which is a really big deal at 800 points. He made the first place of course and neither of his opponents was too happy playing against him. We all brought fairly strong but not cheesy lists since everyone was under the impression that there was no need to be that guy at such a small tournanment with only 6 players.

But in the end, I made the third place. The other guys played: Dark Angels, Grey Knights, Orks and Space Wolves. I faced off against the Daemons and the Orks. Funnily the Orks actually tabled the Daemon player because the Ork units have so many attacks on the charge that they could pummel the Deamonetts.

Lol, its always nice when I hear about an Ork victory.

I agree with your thoughts on blasters in warrior squads. I cant think of a single time it has actually done something useful. Every time it either misses, or gets jinked, or just gets a glance (then the tank promptly shoots the bearer to death).

I also concur about NS on the grot raider. 3+ jink is nice. Generally it is still dead by the end of turn 2, but with our 30" movement it doesnt really need to survive past that. How were you able to distract him enough to ensure its survival?

Do you think having the Helm of Spite would have helped against that deamon player?