Tactical Tidbits - Skaris Book of Wisdom

Hello fellow Denizens!
Tread lightly, for this is the Dark City. Having been threatened *ahem* compelled by the High Lords, I feel obligated *ahem* It will be my pleasure to share with you the small tidbits of Tactical Wisdom that I have gathered from playing many, many games with 8th edition Index Drukhari...

I am quite faithful to the Dark Kin, and rarely use Ynnari or Eldar to supplement my army...

I use all sorts of units, Wych Cults... Beast Packs (all kinds) even Coven stuff!

I hope that you follow along with glee, and may our knowledge cause pain for more and more of the enemy.

Follow the main post here as I will be adding it in compilation. Also feel free to quote each part and DISCUSS what your experience has been, the aim is to create a -realistic- tactical thread based on real gameplay and not just theory or math hammer.

Enjoy!

TACTICAL TIDBIT - #1
Heamonculus is AMAZING - I love this character, he is tough, has an invul save. In the current meta with a lot of psykers the Crucible of Malediction has been quite handy in some tight situations! He also has access to the coolest CC wargear, an agonizer with D2.. whats not to love! This combines well with a great number of attacks that hit well in combat.
Lastly, he buffs all <Coven> units within 6" and makes them +1 T. This is ... AMAZING, as it also affects vehicles. Sadly not all vehicles can be Coven units (I'm looking at you ravager) BUT the TANTALUS can (making it a whopping T8...) and the REAPER can making it T7; granted these are ForgeWorld vehicles but keep that in mind when making your lists. any raider and any venom can also be deemed Coven making them T6 when they are within the radius. I highly recommend that ALL your vehicles be from the COVEN so you can take full advantage of this rule.

TACTICAL TIDBIT - #2
Beastpacks
Wanted to make a small write up about the Beasts in the Dark Eldar Codex.

Beast packs are a unique unit in the dark Eldar index and I have been playing with them on a consistent basis, there are three types of beast packs and they all fill a different role, individually they add some tactical flexibility to any Drukhari force ... but , as I have found, in unison they are a force to be reckoned with.

What are the three types ?
Clawed Fiend - this is the brute of the bunch, the fiend is fast, tough and packs a punch with his ap-1 and D2 attacks !
Alone , they serve as backfield holders, they can easily hide and jump out to tackle any pesky deep strikers or outflankers. They are vulnerable to incoming fire with only a 5+ armour save and they are not characters so they can’t hide unless behind things that block LOS and with 5 attacks your opponent will make sure they are targeting them.

The Kymerae - the puppies ! They are relatively inexpensive and they only have T4 with a 5++ but what they bring is a high number of efficient attacks ! Hitting on a 3 + and having 3 attacks per puppy... they can come in and really put a high number of wounds on a target unit , individually they are great to string out and prevent deep strikers from getting behind the army and then pup up to the line later with great speed to plug a gap or push into enemy units that are larger but not as tough or Well armoured (looking at you conscripts).
Once again , this unit is very vulnerable to high rate of fire weapons and a low armour save means that you need to be conservative with their movement and don’t expose them too soon.

Razorwing Flocks - these are the work horses of the beast packs, and probably the most famous thanks to the infamous internet ! Even with a DOUBLE price increase in points from the index to the FAQ they are still amazing ! Individually , they are a fantastic screening unit, they move fast and fly and tie things up and ... they just take for ever to kill! Because they have 4 wounds each. All in all they are all round a very versatile tarpit unit ... biggest drawback? They don’t kill anything ... they have a crazy number of attacks and are scary to light units but their main purpose is to soak up firepower and tie thing up!

And how to tie it all together? Well the beastmaster of course !

The beast master is an integral part of the beastpack unit and you have to make sure you have at least one , or two to maximize on a few things.

Leadership and Re rolls !!! Beasts use the beastmasters leadership within 6” but they also re roll misses in combat ... in an index that does not have a lot of aura buffs this is SUPeR important ! Makes the damage output of the beasts (especially the clawed fiend and the kymerae) a lot more reliable, it also prevents them from running away and keeping them in the fight longer.

To finish this up a small note on unison, use the razorwings to tie up and distract the enemy , then hit weak points with the kymerae and direct the fiends to heavier units in the enemy army where they will shine the most !

Thanks for sharing. I'd love to see wyches & beasts analyzed ^^

Absolutely! I have been using Clawed Fiends, Kymerae and the Flocks as well! Usually all at once, and they all do great.

I too would like to see your take on beast packs in 8th.

I very much agree with the analysis. The Haemonculus has hands down the best buff in our army and is a beast in combat. The only downside I see is that Coven units are quite underwhelming and are in dire need of his buff to get anything done.

I tried him with Grotesques but in the end, I considered this only a huge point sink. It's interesting that you emphazise on the Venom/Raider aspect by making them <Coven>. I started trying a squad of Medusae, but that article gave me a new perspective.

Several Kabalite Venomboats + a Haemonculus and perhaps some cheap T5 Wrack meatshields. With some additional darklight and Mandrakes/Scourges/Beasts for surgical strikes this could work quite well.

So tactically, how do you use him?
As he is one of the only units in our army with a d2 weapon in cc, do you aim to get him in there? Are their certain targets you will choose over others?
How do you deploy him? It sounds like you would have him very close to your raiders and venoms, like a big blob. Do you continue with that in first round? Moving around in one big blob? Although doesn't the haemonculus get out paced and left behind?

LordSplata wrote:

So tactically, how do you use him?
As he is one of the only units in our army with a d2 weapon in cc, do you aim to get him in there? Are their certain targets you will choose over others?
How do you deploy him? It sounds like you would have him  very close to your raiders and venoms, like a big blob. Do you continue with that in first round? Moving around in one big blob? Although doesn't the haemonculus get out paced and left behind?

I use my Haemonculus just as Skari described above so I can speak to it a little. The trick, first of all, is to leave your options open. I always leave a transport that he could jump into if moving top speed is a higher priority than +1T on vehicles.

If you leave him as a dedicated foot slogger, you're right, he soon will be outpaced and will struggle to get into CC.

That being said, 7+D6" move, is still fast enough to lend the aura for a turn or two, once you consider the length of our raiders. Often times, I will deploy them sideways at the edge of my deployment zone (with their prows pointed at one another) and the haemonculus between them. It kinda looks like this:

(===}> o <{===)

This leaves plenty of space to fill in with more raiders or venoms behind, or if necessary, a screen of wracks in front (to counter deep strike or 1st turn charges).

When I move out, I'll move and advance the haemonculus first since the advance is random. Then I'll move the raiders as close to their full 14" as I can, but rotate them 90 degrees to be pointing at the enemy and, more importantly, using their incredible length to ensure they're still within 6" of him.

Hopefully, after a turn or two, most of the serious long-range threats to the transports have been either neutralized or pre-occupied and he can safely mount up and the vehicles can move out unhindered. If necessary, he can pop out again the next turn after the vehicles have covered some serious ground.

It's also worth mentioning that sometimes you don't need his aura based on the strength of the attacks coming your way. Missile spam doesn't care if your vehicles are T5 or T6 because they need a 3 either way so there is no need to have him on (or, technically, hovering just slightly above) the ground. In these cases, aim to try to leverage that aura as you get close to the enemy and small arms fire and/or CC attacks start flying.

Hope this helps!

I really like the Heamonculus to be close to my tantalus.

We have such long range that you can easily make the bubble count from far away in your deployment zone... also keep track of a lot of str 5 and 6 weapons in the enemy army as well!

I've done 2 Reapers 1 Tantalus Next to a Haemi a few times, with beast in front for bubble wraping, i really like it.

IMO the Hameonoculus is our best HQ, anti-psyker, good in melee, good aura, etc..

I'm hoping he gets some war gear for a better save in the coeex. A clone field or a way to improve his Fnp would be handy. His aura is definitely the best.

Tactical Tidbit ! Beastpacks
Wanted to make a small write up about the Beasts in the Dark Eldar Codex.

Beast packs are a unique unit in the dark Eldar index and I have been playing with them on a consistent basis, there are three types of beast packs and they all fill a different role, individually they add some tactical flexibility to any Drukhari force ... but , as I have found, in unison they are a force to be reckoned with.

What are the three types ?
Clawed Fiend - this is the brute of the bunch, the fiend is fast, tough and packs a punch with his ap-1 and D2 attacks !
Alone , they serve as backfield holders, they can easily hide and jump out to tackle any pesky deep strikers or outflankers. They are vulnerable to incoming fire with only a 5+ armour save and they are not characters so they can’t hide unless behind things that block LOS and with 5 attacks your opponent will make sure they are targeting them.

The Kymerae - the puppies ! They are relatively inexpensive and they only have T4 with a 5++ but what they bring is a high number of efficient attacks ! Hitting on a 3 + and having 3 attacks per puppy... they can come in and really put a high number of wounds on a target unit , individually they are great to string out and prevent deep strikers from getting behind the army and then pup up to the line later with great speed to plug a gap or push into enemy units that are larger but not as tough or Well armoured (looking at you conscripts).
Once again , this unit is very vulnerable to high rate of fire weapons and a low armour save means that you need to be conservative with their movement and don’t expose them too soon.

Razorwing Flocks - these are the work horses of the beast packs, and probably the most famous thanks to the infamous internet ! Even with a DOUBLE price increase in points from the index to the FAQ they are still amazing ! Individually , they are a fantastic screening unit, they move fast and fly and tie things up and ... they just take for ever to kill! Because they have 4 wounds each. All in all they are all round a very versatile tarpit unit ... biggest drawback? They don’t kill anything ... they have a crazy number of attacks and are scary to light units but their main purpose is to soak up firepower and tie thing up!

And how to tie it all together? Well the beastmaster of course !

The beast master is an integral part of the beastpack unit and you have to make sure you have at least one , or two to maximize on a few things.

Leadership and Re rolls !!! Beasts use the beastmasters leadership within 6” but they also re roll misses in combat ... in an index that does not have a lot of aura buffs this is SUPeR important ! Makes the damage output of the beasts (especially the clawed fiend and the kymerae) a lot more reliable, it also prevents them from running away and keeping them in the fight longer.

To finish this up a small note on unison, use the razorwings to tie up and distract the enemy , then hit weak points with the kymerae and direct the fiends to heavier units in the enemy army where they will shine the most !
Best of all all the beasts in the pic above are only about 500 pts there is so much you can do with that !

Hope you found this useful.

I love beasts too, but I struggle to find the right composition. How many beasts do you actually like to use?
Also, do you prefer to use them as a strong attack force or as a minor force to deal with certain threats or harass the enemy? And what do you back them up with?

@The Strange Dark One : For the moment I run 6RWF and 3 clawed fiends (I'm lacking $ and time to pump up those numbers) and they always have done pretty fine versus marines.

@Skari : Few more things to add:

• Beastmasters are wych cults and can benefit from drugs. Usually the +2Ld is recommended as it makes him Ld9 & allowing larger units of beasts. It's also usefull for wych armies to fill in drug "taxes" (more than 6 and you can pick whatever you want).
  
• Unlikely to the army, beasts don't benefit from Power From Pain, so you must be carefull (no 6+++ nor reroll to advance/charge nor +1WS, etc.). The Beastmaster does though.
  
• As you said, with 8th edition, you can target whoever you like who isn't a character. So versus a clever general it's usually a bad idea to put CF or khymerae right behind flocks, as they will be targetted first.
  
• Clawed fiends 2dmg also works nicely to get rid of single hp models with ignore wound on 6+/5+, as they'll have to pass the test twice.
  
• Even if flocks don't hit hard, with their high number of attacks and everything wounding on 6+, you are more likely to still do a couple of damage ; so better make them attack high toughness models as it will still be 6 to wound, to make those attacks count.
  
•  When removing casualties, the usual scenario for melee models is to remove those from the back. Pay attention to not break the aura buff doing so if the beastmaster is slightly behind (he moves less than the pack and tends to get behind at T2/T3)
  
•  Even if beasts are MOSTLY a melee unit, don't forget to shoot with your beastmaster.
  
•  Beastmaster can use heroic intervention to help out in fights.
  
• Flocks are a cheap way to prevent Deepstrikers / 1st turn charges.
  
• Miniatures are expensive. You can use alternatives miniatures : Zombicide murder of crows, dire wolves & crypt horrors are the most remanent/cost effective in this forum.
  
• Khymeraes are decent to do the "surround vehicule" shenanigans, same as reavers, to prevent disembark & instakill every model inside when the vehicule is destroyed.
  

Thanks for sharing, can't wait for the next episode

Just want to add that despite not matching the official model as well, I like Dark Elf Cold ones as clawed fiends.

I used the Crypt Ghuls things from AoS Undead, they are painted now, i just dont have a pic of them, will take one later.

Love it !

I usually use two units of 9 flocks in my competitive lists. But one of 12 , a unit of 8 dogs and 2 clawed fiends in any froendlybmatch .

This is fantastic! Greatly appreciated, Skari! I have struggled in the past to optimize the use of beasts. Going to give some of these tips a try!

Does the Harmoc buff vehicles while he is in a vehicle?
My understanding is he does not and must be on foot

DARK_ARCHON_GAZ_NZ wrote:

Does the Harmoc buff vehicles while he is in a vehicle?
My understanding is he does not and must be on foot

What? lol, are you talking about the Hemlock? the flyer? Or something else?

The Hemlock cast 1 power a turn, and conceal is now "target a infantry or biker within 18" of the psyker"

I think he was talking about the Haemonculus toughness buff. The answer would be no, the buff doesn't apply while he is inside the vehicle.

hekatrixxy wrote:

I think he was talking about the Haemonculus toughness buff. The answer would be no, the buff doesn't apply while he is inside the vehicle.

LOL, oh that makes sence

It's really funny how the Haemie can boost a transport better while running to keep up with it than he can while reclining on the deck on a hammock of human skin sipping fine wine.

The Buff that a heamonculus gives the raiders and venoms is not to be underestimated!

OK! So, here is another small Tactical Tidbit:

Raiders are your best friend during a charge.

The Raider is one of two dedicated transports available to the dark eldar in the Index. They hold 10 infantry models, fly, and have 10 wounds!

There are two main reasons I use raiders during an assault.

The first is that the raider is durable enough to soak up some overwatch that would otherwise annihilate your not as tough assault units such as wyches or wracks! So, you simply declare a charge with your raider BEFORE you declare a charge with your other units... once the raider gets stuck in then the wyches, or incubi can charge in unscathed.

This leads me to the second use for the raider (to tie up enemy units ! ) The raider is LONG and can FLY... this means that when you declare a charge, as long as it has movement it can fly over units and be placed behind them when it charges, then when it activates, you can spin the LONG model during its pile in, and later consolidation, to bring it within 1" of other enemy units locking them in combat when they thought they would be free to act in the next turn! This works great against tightly packed enemy units such as tanks, or other fire support elements that are behind a screening unit. Even if your raider does die, stopping the enemy from shooting for even a turn can rob the enemy army of key momentum while you eliminate key targets!!

remember that this will not negate the raiders effectiveness in battle as it can simply move away from combat to shoot in your next turn if needed ! (this is best done when paired up with a second raider that can take its place to tie up the units the original raider had).

I hope you found this interesting.

That's a great tip Skari, i'll definitively use it in my next game. That way my raiders can do something more useful then just blowing up whenever someone gives them a sideways glance.

Agreed, nice skari, I will definitely use that. Additionally, you can use the long body to make a different model the closest, and therefor consolidate towards a different model to which you piled in