Friday, July 13, 2012

DE: Time to add in some allies!

I can't wait for the new Eldar book.

It's Friday! I hope everyone is having a pretty good week so far.  Next week, depending on how lazy I feel, I might get a game in with my DE with Eldar allies.  I don't think allies will be good for anything less than 1850 because even bare bones stuff takes a good amount of points.

Let's see now.. as Dark Eldar, we don't have many options for really good allies.  However, we gained one of the best armies in the game to partner up with and that's none other than Eldar.  Given that we're the same race, one can only accept that by the way fluff has advanced that Eldar and Dark Eldar are no longer hating eachother.

This is one of those rare times that I'll ever talk about fluff, but I think for this particular topic, fluff is important.  First thing's first:  Dark Eldar and Eldar are not like Dark Elves and High Elves.  They don't hate eachother to death, they just don't agree with eachother's life style.  If you read through the Dark Eldar codex, there's a section in there that says Dark Eldar even helped the craftworld Iyanden when they're about to be overwhelmed by Orks.  Regardless, the old idea of the Eldar hating on their over-indulgent cousins is being pushed aside and they are now Battle Brothers.

Now that fluff is done, we can talk about army lists.  Hmm.. what can I bring at <2K points that can incorporate the strengths of both armies?

Well, I drafted up an army list for you guys:

1999
19 VP

HQ:
Succubus (Agonizer/BP, Haywires) = 105

TROOP:
5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130
5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130
10x Warriors (Raider, NS, SR, Blaster, SC) = 195
10x Warriors (Raider, NS, SR, Blaster, SC) = 195
9x Wyches (Raider NS, Hekatrix/Agonizer/BP, Haywires) = 225
10x Wyches (Raider NS, Hekatrix/Agonizer/BP, Haywires) = 235

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS) = 115
Ravager (NS) = 115
Voidraven (NS/FF, 4x SF) = 205

Allies:
Farseer (Jetbike, Guide, RoWarding, RoWitnessing, Spear) = 133
3x Guardian Jetbikes = 66
3x War Walkers (Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon) = 150

By some form of insane luck, I ended up with 1999 points on the nose.  That's pretty hysterical, it's almost like the two books were made for eachother.

Here are the changes I made to my original 1750 army list:
-Dropped a Succubus to make points for allies.
-Dropped the PGL and re-added the Agonizers just because it's more all-comers.
-Kept everything else the same, the units, the upgrades, the Voidraven, everything.
-Added a Farseer on a Jetbike to fly around with Guardian Jetbikes.
-Decided to take 3x War Walkers with dakka dakka.

The idea behind this list is to supply my army with some well-needed psychic defense.  In my last game as Chaos, I noticed how devastating how certain spells can be.  There was Hallucination, which thankfully he rolled poorly for on the table, and then there was Invisibility.  Now these were spells he were able to get off because I had nothing to stop him.  His Sorcerers were really well protected (either by strong cover or 2+ armor saves), so they were able to cast their spells without any issues.  That's just unacceptable once the games go into larger point ranges.  I mean, can you imagine the pain and frustration of having your shit not striking your enemies in combat because they're too busy swinging at themselves?  No way man.

So with that said, I've added a Farseer to hang out with some Jetbikes.  Jetbikes are scoring and they move really fast so they can keep pace with my mechanized army.  The best thing about Jetbikes is that they can get an outrageous amount of cover from my LoS-blocking and cover-hugging Raiders.  The Farseer will swap out Guide for Prescience (which is a 12" better Guide) and he'll cast this awesomenesss on anything that needs it.  Some common targets include the Voidraven when he needs to dogfight or place his templates down more effectively, Warriors who are out of their Raiders and need to fire more accurately, Wyches who need a little more combat potential (imagine Guide + re-roll wound drugs), and the War Walkers, who can Outflank and put out 21 S6 shots on the turn they come in.

Speaking of the War Walkers, they are actually one of the most effective Eldar units for their points.  You take with them Scatter Laser and Shuriken Cannons and they absolutely shred shit with S6 shots.  Outflank a Aegis Line emplacement and cast Prescience on them.  Your Farseer will have to be in a good position for him to cast Prescience because it's a Blessing and you must do it at the beginning of your movement phase.  After you cast, you can GTFO because Eldar Jetbikes have an insane amount of coverage now.  The fact that he's traveling with a unit that's scoring is just more gravy.  I guess you can also opt to take Doom, which is a fantastic spell because of the range and awesome effect (re-roll wounds).  Doom on a unit that's being shot at by Splinter Rack gunboats just scream agony.. which is exactly how the Dark Eldar like it.

As most of you know, Runes of Warding is the best psychic defense in the game.  You don't even need to do anything, you just need to be alive.  Runes makes all psychic spells cast to roll 3d6 instead of the normal 2d6.  Anything that scores 12 or above takes a Perils of the Warp.  Perils got even deadlier this edition because you get no saves of any kind, you just die if you're a 1W model.  The average dice roll from 3d6 is a 10.5, which statistically should auto-fail every psychic spell in the game.  It's pretty fucking amazing, and one of the reasons why Eldar is considered the king of psychic defense.  My other wargear is just the standard Guide, which I will sub-out for Prescience, Runes of Witnessing witch will increase my chances get my spells off, and a Singing Spear just because I can.

If you guys are big on Forgeworld stuff, I also suggest looking into a Warp Hunter as a Heavy choice rather than 3x War Walkers.  The Warp Hunter can take Holofields for 160 points of raw badassery:  A 36" Large Blast, D-Cannon is just nothing to fuck around with.

Alright, that's it.  Let me know what you fellas plan on taking for your allies, I'm eager to hear how effective mixed armies will be.

14 comments:

jwhite1078 said...

So my game store is having a sort of unique tournament that I'm currently planning for. The point size is 1500, BUT 500 of those points have to be in the form of allies.

My Current List:

HQ:
Archon w/ sf, blast pistol, agonizer, and haywire grenades
Haemonculus w/ venom Blade

Troop:
1x 10x warriors w/ blaster and splinter cannon in a raider w/ splinter racks
1x 8x wych squad w/ hekatrix (agonizer, blast pistol) hydra gauntlets and haywire grenades in a radier w/ aethersails
1x 10x wych squad w/ hekatrix (agonizer, bp), Hydra gauntlets, and haywire grenades in a raider w/ aethersails


Heavy Support:
2x Ravager

Allies:
HQ:
Farseer w/ guide + doom, runes of warding and spirt stones

Troop:
9x Pathfinders

Heavy Support:
3x War walkers w/ shuriken cannons


I cant decide how i want my DE troops. Two warrior gunboats and 1 wychboat, or 2 wychboats and 1 warrior boat? I think I like the idea of taking d-cannons with my eldar allies to deal with TEQ, since i think artillery got a boost this edition. thoughts?

Yeeman said...

Great article! I agree with pretty much everything you say.
Your list seems very solid as well. However, I think Eldar bikes are pretty damn good and can pump out the shots and live to tell about it now! What fif you used the points from your two 5 man squads of Warriors and put them towards upgrading the 3 man to a 6 man and getting another 6 man Eldar Jetbike squad? Can grab some more Str 6 shooting and still keep up with the rest of your army. That'd be the only suggestion I have for you though as I think the list is pretty solid and I know that you like running Raiders and full Warriors.
I plan on bringing this to the Golden Throne GT in August. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.
Haemonculus w/ Power Maul
x5 Warriors, Blaster, Venom w/ xtra Cannon
x5 Warriors, Blaster, Venom w/ xtra Cannon
x5 Warriors, Blaster, Venom w/ xtra Cannon
x5 Warriors, Blaster, Venom w/ xtra Cannon
x5 Scourge w/ x2 Haywire Blasters
x5 Scourge w/ x2 Haywire Blasters
Ravager w/ NS, x3 DLs
Ravager w/ NS, x3 DLs
Ravager w/ NS, x3 Dessies
Farseer w/ RoWa
x5 Dire Avengers
x3 War Walkers, x2 Scatter Lasers each
No CC threats at all, but I think I can shoot with the best of them. Scourge get a much needed boost and provide some AI firepower when needed as well. Doom + Venoms = Win for me! I agree with War Walkers, they tackle anything, and with so many shots, they can roll some 6's reliably for flyers.

HERO said...

Where is the Farseer going to go? Nice list. I'm assuming the Farseer will be walking with the Dire Avengers in cover? Does the Farseer have any spells?

A lot of Venoms man, HF with that!

HERO said...

I think your Pathfinder squad is too big. If you drop the Pathfinders to 5, or maybe even keep them as cheap Rangers, you can take more units in your DE list. You can even buy a unit of Reavers and put the Farseer on a bike. If the Farseer is on a bike, he can join the Reavers for Skilled Rider on the majority of the units, and thus +1 to your Jink save. As for your troops, since you're only running with 1 assault-based HQ, I would probably run 1 squad of Wyches and 2x Gunboats.


How do you like 2x Shuriken Cannons over 2x Scatter Lasers?

Yeeman said...

Damn I had Doom written on the Farseer. For some reason I have trouble writing in your comment section.
He does sit with the Avengers in cover and out of LOS hopefully, still casting Doom from 24'' away. Haemonculus sits with them as he has no where else to go.

spifferson said...

Hey great to see you mention the fluff once in awhile. I'm wondering if it goes both ways with allies?
As an [mech]eldar player what should I be looking at in the DE codex to bring some variety to the table?

yvraith said...

I think guided Pathfinders, shooting at a doomed unit are an excellent unit with the Precision fire rules.
Hitting on 5+ gives AP 1, on a 6 you pick who it is.
With doom, if you need more rending on your non-ap1 hits, just re-roll them to try and rend with them.....
My eldar army never left home with out 2 units of 5, in 5th ed, now I'm even thinking of adding a 3rd.

Anonymous said...

Pathfinders aren't ic so thy can't precision fire correct?

HERO said...

I think access to a Voidraven is very nice to have :)

jwhite1078 said...

My only problem is that the tournament limits me to a maximum of 1000 points for my main army, in this case DE. I would love to take scatter lasers if given the points, I think they might be a reliable answer to flyers if guided. Part of me wants to take fire dragons too, i feel like i'm a little all over the place with the allies. I need more playtesting!

scott christofersen said...

I played with my 9 venom list from 5th ed recently. I didn't change anything and feel like it would do well against most 2k lists in 6th despite the 2HP on the venoms. There are simply too many to put down effectively before they do nasty things to your line. Of course some lists will make a junk heap of it but my point is that the venoms are still pretty impressive for their points.

Brent said...

Pretty nifty, HERO!

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ace said...

things i would take from the eldar codex w/o any mandatories:
faseer w/ RoW and presience
war walkers w/ SL or SC
maybe a wraithlord w/ flamers/wraithsword/SC
and nothing else. it needs an update.
from playing against DE, the thing that hurts them an awful lot is the 44% average death rate on explodes results vs 16% for marines. I haven't played them in 6e yet, but after getting the rules down, I imagine they've gotten a lot better with all the vehicle cover saves and the larger metagame focus on troops outside of their tin cans

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