DE: Making it work again

Is this DE kicking IG ass?  Only in GW's magical fantasy.

I've been playing Dark Eldar for a very long time (14 years now), and I have been very successful both in a casual setting, and in a competitive setting.  What you might not know, is that I have done it all these years playing pure Kabal aka no Haemonculi units at all.  I do not like the look, the fluff, the feel, or the look, yes, that gets hit twice.

You can find many of my articles on my gaming blog, and most of the lists and tactics there will still apply with this new book.  So without further ado, let's get down to business, to defeat the huns (basically everyone that's not the Dark Kin).

Here are some key notes that I will write out first:

• The HQ section is really tricky for me because right now, I do not like the Succubus in her current place.  She went up in price, lost a lot of cheap weapon options, and the newer weapon options seems like you need the stars to be aligned to get any real profit.  The reason why I took her in the past is because 1. Wyches were good, 2. Thus allowing me to have a reason to take them and put them into combat, and 3. She was cheaper with better weapon options.
• The Archon is not looking so bad in comparison.  Sure, his Huskblade now sucks, he lost combat drugs, and he's pretty much a more expensive and useless version of his Craftworld cousin who comes with a 4++, an awesome ability and is only 10 points more.  When you compare this to the fact we have to buy the Clonefield, you pretty much want to torture the GW designers, but its OK, let's move on.  So you look at the Archon and you see a couple of neat things.  The first one is the Shadowfield being able to tank all the shots in any given phase:  Let's say he's in front of a unit of Wyches (for some reason) and your opponent opens an entire squad of Tacs on him.  Cool, take it all on the Archon, for his shield doesn't go away until the end of the phase.  Sure, he might die horribly, but this option is still there.  He is also the cheapest option to buy a WWP, which can lead to all kinds of cool possibilities.  I'm not sure if I like the investment factor yet, as +35 points for it is still much better for Eldar than it is for us (mainly because they can hit harder via Wraithguard and Fire Dragons).  Lastly, he is a Blaster caddy, very cheap, 75 points gives you an HQ that can shoot a lance from 18" away at BS7.
• Combat obj-sec still comes in the way of Wyches.  I have 40 of the damn suckers and I'll be damned if someone will tell me they're useless.  Sure, they're not as multi-purposed, but hopefully on a decent drug roll you can still apply 1 unit of these girls into someone's face with decent chances of holding them up or killing some of them.  These girls are also the only way to deliver a combat Archon (hurr hurr) or Succubus, but I would much rather do a Succubus because of her high I which will allow you to sweep units much more easily.  Just be careful who you're actually challenging and be careful on the layout of your characters.
• Then comes the workhorse of the list itself:  Min Raiders used for capping and Lance support, and then fully upgraded Gunboats that come with all the bells and whistles.  Before I talk about this in more depth, I want to touch upon how I feel about Night Shields.  To me, they're very expensive for +1 cover.  If you guys are used to having a blank board where your DE are being shot all the time, this might be worth the investment, but if you consider the fact that they're literally a quarter of the price of that paper airplane Raider that you're flying, you might as well face the facts here.  That vehicle is going to die, either by sheer number of glance/pens or there's Ignore Cover in the game.  In order for you to make a cost-effective choice whether or not to take Night Shields, you have to analyze your meta:  Do you play with a lot of ruins and builds and cover that will allow you to gain natural cover, do you have a lot of opponents that take Tau or Eldar (Ignore Cover), are you in open ground a lot?  All of these things matter when you're making this choice.
• Now, onto the actual discussion about Warriors.  You will always take a Blaster first and foremost.  Whether or not you rock them in a cheap ass Raider boat, they will be a mini-Ravager for you that can reach out and touch something with high-powered shots.  Otherwise, they will be mainstay damage dealers focused on killing enemy infantry.  This means that you're taking a full unit, Blaster, Splinter Cannon (maybe), inside a Raider with at least Aethersails and the mandatory Splinter Racks.  The main difference from this is that one unit is a solid support piece and is cheaper, and the other is an expensive (for what it does) infantry-shredder that makes Tyranids slimey tears.
• Venoms are still in, in fact, a lot of people urge that they're the thing to go.  I, however, completely disagree with this because the meta is filled with a lot of Tau big-suits, flying Demon FMC, double Dakkaflyrant, and Mechdar with plenty of WS.  You need Lances in order to touch some of these things, or at least threaten them with invul/cover saves and not their standard armor save.  This is why I like to be lance-heavy on the ships, and poison-heavy on the occupants.  With WWP in the game, reserve manipulation via Eldar allies (boo-hiss), and Venoms in our inventory, we will hopefully have the tools for the job regardless of matchup.
• You must vow to always take Aethersails on every single one of your vehicles if you can spare the points.  Why?  Because this is the best single upgrade to be given to our codex, as the thought of 24" consistent TB for 5 points gives even the saddest Archon a raging hard-on.  This will allow you to relocate behind enemy vehicles from a poor DS, find cover behind the most unlikely of places, or allow you to fully take advantage of obj-sec when you need it most.  DE is all about mobility and no single upgrade captures this as well as this 5 point upgrade.  In fact, it's such a given that you should just pretend all your vehicles costs 5 points more, minus Ravagers of course.

So which units are actually useful for the purposes of this discussion?  I encourage you guys to FIGHT me on this.  As it stands..

• Archon - Viable, one of our few HQ choices, has some good stuff going for him mentioned above.
• Archon Court - I just don't like these guys because it further compounds the fact that you're trying to keep things cheap and min-max cost.  If you think the AP3 flamers will benefit your army because of your meta, please, by all means keep them.
• Succubus - One of our few HQs and viable because of her CC abilities. 
• Lelith Hesperax - Too expensive for she offers IMO.  If only her A League Apart just flat out re-roll hits and wounds she would be a much better buy.
• Drazhar - Too expensive.
• Kabalite Warriors - Our bread and butter unit that can fit anywhere and in any way.
• Wyches - The only way to deliver our CC boys and girls, but they were nerfed themselves to be not as multi-functional.  I am fine with that, as long as you guys are willing to accept this fate as well.
• Incubi - No grenades, no buy.  Their high-I killing potential is literally wasted if their defenders can kill T3 3+ models (which should be everyone).
• Mandrakes - They're ugly, no one owns these guys, but they got better and can potentially harass enemy troops.  I bet they're meta-dependent because I play in a pretty mechanized meta, these guys are no good for me.
• Beastmasters - With the Baron or someone to tank for them, I think they got a lot worse.  The lack of WWP utility also hurts them a lot.
• Raiders - Bread and butter transport with anti-tank potential.
• Venoms - Bread and butter transport with anti-infantry potential.
• Hellions - Garbage units, don't even bother.
• Reavers - Yes, these guys are really good. They lose a lot of movement opportunities for damage, but they got cheaper and have Rending HoW. Not bad overall.
• Razorwing - Got 5 points cheaper if you take them with Lances, and I encourage all of you to do so because you need something to shoot things out of the air.  Keep them cheap, buy multiples.
• Scourges - One of the best things we have our book as you guys probably noticed.  Haywires is a solid answer but so are DS Heat Lances.  However, you have to admit that these guys are still bare-naked ladies with the amount of protection they have going for them.
• Ravagers - The Ravager is still viable despite its many nerfs.  The lack of Aerial Assault will hurt them greatly since that can be the difference between a side-shot vs. front, cover or no cover.  Some people seem to think that Scourges will replace these guys, but I don't think so.  The AV11 will put them out of kill potential for Bolters and immune to small-arms fire that can threaten Scourges.
• Voidraven Bombers - Take them cheap and keep them that way.  Just buy the 160 stock and they should be worth their points with their Blast Lances.  Void Lances are also very solid at killing enemy armor and flyers, so the decision is whether or not you want to subject them to AT/Flyer or killing ground units.

OK, enough with the boring, now onto actual list construction.  With each of these lists, I'll note some thinking behind it and hopefully draw some discussions from it.

1850
19 KP

HQ:
Archon, Blaster = 75
Autarch = 70*

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS = 120
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS = 120
10x Warriors, Blaster, SC, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 185
10x Warriors, Blaster, SC, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 185
5x Dire Avengers, Holo/SS/Scatter/SC = 220*
5x Dire Avengers, Holo/SS/Scatter/SC = 220*

FAST:
Razorwing, Lances = 140
Razorwing, Lances = 140

HEAVY:
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125

Very little change to how I ran DE last book, with some major notes.  First, the Autarch to call in reserves when we want, in combination with me dropping the Night Shields from all my vehicles.  I took 2 units of Dire Avengers here and have the Archon in one of the 5-man boats acting as a psuedo-lancer, while the Autarch rides in the safety of his broken WS.  Two Razorwings will be in Reserve, complete with any other Gunboats I deem not safe for the battlefield while my Ravagers seek targets of opportunity.

1750
18 KP

HQ:
Archon, Blaster = 75
Autarch, Fusion Gun = 80*

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS = 120
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS = 120
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 170
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 170
5x Dire Avengers, Holo/SS/Scatter/SC = 220*

FAST:
Razorwing, Lances = 140
Razorwing, Lances = 140

HEAVY:
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Night Spinner, Holo/SS = 140*

Just an example of how things can be trimmed down with the same mentality.  The Autarch can actually go into a Raider boat this time to apply his Fusion Gun into someone's face.  With the decreased points, I somehow managed to fit in a Night Spinner to mess with my opponents.

1847
18 KP

HQ:
Archon, Shadowfield, Blaster, Agonizer, Haywire = 145

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/NS/AS = 135
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/NS/AS = 135
9x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/NS/AS/SR = 177
10x Warriors, Blaster, SCannon, Raider Lance/NS/AS/SR = 200
10x Warriors, Blaster, SCannon, Raider Lance/NS/AS/SR = 200
10x Warriors, Blaster, SCannon, Raider Lance/NS/AS/SR = 200

FAST:
Razorwing, Lances = 140
Razorwing, Lances = 140

HEAVY:
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125

Here is an example of a pure DE list, fully loaded with all the bells and whistles.  You now load up everything with Splinter Cannons and Night Shields, this adds about +30 to every Raider so its a good amount of points.  The Archon is also built to be well-rounded, doing a little bit of shooting, a little bit of fighting, and probably a whole lot of nothing because he's overpriced.

1845
19 KP

HQ:
Succubus, Glaive, Blast Pistol, Haywire = 115

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS = 120
5x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS = 120
9x Wyches, Hekatrix/Haywire, Raider Lance/AS/NS = 185
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 170
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 170
10x Warriors, Blaster, Raider Lance/AS/SR = 170

FAST:
Razorwing, Lances = 140
Razorwing, Lances = 140
Razorwing, Lances = 140

HEAVY:
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125
Ravager, Lances = 125

This one is actually pretty hilarious, showing you just how many points you can save if you took out those meta-dependent upgrades.  At this point, I'm just not convinced that the 4/6 Salvo on the SC is worth the 15 points, I'm leaning towards no, because you're just missing out on a few shots if the dude still had his Splinter Rifle.  Anyways, look at the prices!  All of a sudden you can take 3x Razorwings in the same list, while keeping the rest of your army mechanized and looking damn fine.

+++++

There are tons of more lists I plan on constructing, so I'll be actively this thread periodically as I flood the page with lists and ideas.  This is only the surface area guys, there's still tons of lists to be had with Scourges, WWP play, Eldar allies, heavy-Eldar emphasis, the lists go on and on.

I welcome every one of you share some of your lists so we can collaborate together.

The importance of theory and experience

The tree of knowledge is infinitely tall.

I found a discussion the other day about something that has come up time and time again.  Just recently, I wrote an review on Dark Eldar that got a ton of flak.  In fact, after 5 years of running this blog, this was the first time I received hate mail!  I was literally labeled "Betrayer of the Dark Kin" after what I wrote about the new book.

By now, you folks know that I dislike the new book, a lot.  But at the same time, tons of people posting all over the net has made one audible remark: "How do you even know?  You haven't played any games with it yet?"

This, my dear friends and readers, is called theory.  Theory, its hypothesis and predictions are exactly what it sounds like:  A well-educated guess.  After 14 years of playing 40K, WHFB and several other game systems in both a competitive and casual setting, I feel pretty comfortable with my state of knowledge and experience.  I might not play as much as I used to, but I'm very up to date with the meta and the new army books.  This is evident in the fact that I have many friends that play in the tournament circuit, I purchase and thoroughly read every new book that comes out, and I sometimes write a review for them.  At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself who you're reading the article from before questioning the predictions.  After all, you wouldn't go to a car salesman for financial advice would you?

Here is the discussion I'm referring to.  It's by AbusePuppy on 3++ and I don't usually agree with what he says.  However, he was criticized for making a review on the new Dark Eldar just like I was, and he was forced to justify his assumptions.  I quote:

Commentator: And to address Abusepuppy directly: Though I'm not the hugest fan of your attitude, I like your articles and appreciate the candor to a certain degree. I recognize that you're an intelligent player and come from a long background of competitive play and respect your opinion even when I don't agree. This comment is more stemming from the fact that there's been a steady increase online to rush and declare a codex weak and stupid and garbage before players even have a chance to play it. The least that authors can do is be straightforward at the beginning of the article and note that it's all speculation and theory.

Commenter: Its not hard to tell if a unit is good or shit at first glance most the time. especialy when youve played the game alot and are aware of the power level of other options. if you had to pay 20 pts for a guardsmen statline with a 5+ but he has ws 5 and ini 4 you wouldnt need to play test it to know he is shit

AbusePuppy: No, you just don't understand- those theoretical models are theoretically very skill-based. You can't just dismiss them because they are terrible, you have to lose game after game with them before you are allowed to have an opinion, just like you can only tell whether or not you like doing anything by actually doing it. This is why I placed my hand inside the garbage disposal and turned it on yesterday- I didn't know whether it would be enjoyable or not.

(It turns out that it is not very enjoyable, and neither is the emergency room. But that was only my left hand, so I'm gonna give ol' Righty Righty a shot tomorrow and see if it's any different, so wish me luck!)

Commenter: It's not about "being allowed to have an opinion." Obviously people can have opinions and can express them however they like, but that opinion should at least be put in the proper context. Making the definitive declaration that the DE are "really, really shitty" without ever having actually rolled a dice just feels premature and a little defeatist to me, especially since the rest of your article does a good job of identifying the strengths in the codex.

What it comes down to though, is that these articles and other similar ones are actually beginning to brand these armies before people have actually played them. Like I said above, there may be something in there that people aren't seeing because it isn't obvious until it plays out on the tabletop, but less people will be eager to search it out if they feel that there's no point since their army is just awful and that's the way it is. To make wide reaching blanket statements without at least some scientific evidence or testing doesn't sit well with me personally, so I'm expressing my opinion on it.

AbusePuppy: And what I'm saying is that _not all propositions need to be tested_. Even if you're being wholly rational and scientific about things, you don't have to sit down and test literally every possibility on the off-chance that it is true; in fact, that is an idiotic method of understanding things. Instead, you typically take a look at your new data point (in this case a codex or unit) and compare it to existing ones, taking note of the differences and similarities and extrapolating your expectations of what it will be like based on your previous theoretical models of the phenomena.

Yes, at some point you do want to put rubber to road and make sure your predictions are right. But in many cases this is essentially a formality, if it's even done at all- scientists don't need to test how 11.1kg of uranium decays as compared to 11.7kg because our models tell us that the difference between the two should be inconsequential. Likewise, I can look at a unit like Wyches and say "this unit is bad because it is fragile, ineffective, and not cheap enough" and be reasonably sure that my conclusion is correct because I can base it on other, similar units.

Commenter: You don't really go in depth into the synergies the units provide with each other or with the army wide special rules

AbusePuppy: I don't think it's realistic to expect every article to cover every possible consideration, point of importance, or angle. You're right, I don't talk about those things because this is an _overview_ of the codex. If I talked about how every other unit interacted with all the army's special rules and strategies I'd have hundreds of thousands of words of text and most of it would just boil down to "this unit isn't good enough to be worth it." I did that with the Tau codex, breaking it up into many smaller parts (that were each 2000-6000 words long, not exactly brief) because most of the units in that codex are good enough to consider using. That isn't the case for Dark Eldar- Wyches simply aren't worth my time to write about.

Commenter: I simply can't believe that the community as a whole should completely write off an entire codex the day before it's even released

AbusePuppy: Do you think people aren't going to play with Dark Eldar? I don't like the GK book, but I still used it to see how it worked. There were a few little interesting twists on things, but for the most part it came out just about how I expected from reading it initially. An initial verdict does not forever commit one's opinion to that stance and yes, playing with a book will give you a more in-depth understanding of things. But you consistently seem to think that there is NO legitimacy to assessing a book before having... well, I dunno, how much experience do you need before forming a valid opinion? If I play with the book for a week, couldn't you just say that I need a month to "truly" assess it? If I play for a month, couldn't you say it takes a year? Etc.

Playtesting and experience should inform your opinions, to be sure- but you need a theoretical framework to hang your experience on or it's not going to do you a lot of good. When a new book comes out, using that theoretical framework to point out the aspects of the book that are most worthy of notice- unit A looks like it has a lot of potential, unit B is going to struggle with these problems, unit C has a very useful niche in the current metagame, and so on- is important. Collating many different points of view and understandings of the book and particular insights is very critical to making a good judgement of things, and that's why I do my best to read and discuss things with people every time a new codex is released because there's inevitably things I miss, or misjudge, or flat-out read incorrectly. That's why I try to be active in the comments section and discuss things with people, because I realize that my own particular assessment of the codex is hardly going to be all-encompassing. But I can't compare my assessments with those of other people if I- or they- don't say what those assessments are, and that's why I do these articles.

So please, if you have a difference of opinion on the book by all means speak up and explain why and about what. We've got half a week with the new book in circulation now, so if your experiences with it contradict some of my thinking, then certainly write a response- or even a whole post, as I know Kirby is generally happy to accept guest posts if they are reasonably well-composed and intelligent- and explain how you see things differently. But if the only issue you have is that I am putting my opinions out for others to discuss and debate, then I'm afraid there's not really any way I'm going to give ground in that respect, because doing so is the very reason I bother to write these sorts of things.

+++++

As you can see guys, at the end of the day, I don't tell you you have to read my material and agree with it.  Just know that what you're reading is backed by over a decade of experience and is coming from a guy who generally knows what he's talking about.  If you disagree, I implore you to discuss it with me and together, we can figure out some loophole that I might have missed.  I have made very accurate predictions about the impact of army books in the past and I encourage you guys to check out those reviews as well.  Having worked in professional game design (multiplayer/balance) in the past, and actively working in the gaming industry has given me fresh perspectives to all games.  I don't think I need to say that I really think things through before writing it on the internet.

In fact, I loathe people who post garbage just to get views.  Hence why I don't post unless I have something to say.

DE: Dark Eldar Codex Review

How the mediocre have fallen..

Here it is guys, sorry for the long wait.  I just got back from a wedding in SF and I just got my hands on the book today.

Here is the review, starting with the units:

Archon - Strictly worse than it was before.  You don't have access to combat drugs anymore to boost your fighting potential, absolutely no source of AP2 to fight Terminator armor, and not even PGL to be a grenade-monkey for Incubi.  Speaking of PGL, it no longer gives the unit grenades either.  You can still buy a more expensive, but slightly better Shadowfield, but he has nothing else going for him besides from fluff.

Court of the Archon - Got better in most ways, both in price and with the amount of semi-powerful weapons you can take.  Is this supposed to make up for the really crappy Archon?  I'm not sure.  But it does seem like a nice way for players to spend X amount of money to buy static-posed models just so you can have the Medusae's S4 AP3 flamer templates and reduce-priced Sslyths.

Succubus - When I first heard the rumors that the Succubus was relatively unchanged, I was pretty happy.  Then I saw that she actually increased by 10 points, kept the same crappy defensive stats otherwise, and is still a T3 model with virtually nothing protecting her from ID in the shooting phase.  She one of the only sources of close combat AP2 in the entire book called the Archite Glaive, but it doesn't mean all that much when you consider her price increase.  Why was this needed, I ask myself?  Was she so overly powerful that they felt the need to increase her points?  You will see that I ask myself this repeatedly throughout the entire book.

Lelith Hesperax - Got a points decrease, but suffers from the same weakness that all Succubus have:  Which is the fact that you're pretty much naked outside of close combat and instantly die to anything S6+ shooting at you.  The Blood Dancer trait is essentially useless on her if she's not by herself, and A League Apart is now changed to re-roll hits and wounds while fighting in a challenge.  This only works in a challenge.  Why?  Does GW really think that S3 ignore armor saves is really that game changing for a pretty expensive character?

Haemonculus - Is basically the Haemonculus Ancient and gives you a slight boost in what round Power From Pain is.  That's pretty much thet only thing he's good for, aside from being a Webway Portal beacon.  Keep in mind that you can no longer take Wracks as troops.

Urien Rakarth - Might actually be worth it considering he has excellent stats and a built-in Ichor Injector and Clone Field.  Tie this in with FNP 4+, It Will Not Die and a bubble 12" Master of Pain (boosts all PfP by +1), he is the only SC worth taking IMO.  You will see heavy Haemonculi love throughout this real book, so if you really like that stuff, stay tuned.

Drazhar - You have standard Phoenix Lord stats with mediocre performance for the points.  He can't even leap around anymore, but he does have Demiklaives so I guess that makes up for the Archon?

Kabalite Warriors - They got cheaper, and have a cheaper Dark Lance at the expensive of a cost increase for the Splinter Cannon.  To put things into perspective, this is only a 5 point decrease from the standard layout of 10x  with Blaster and Splinter Cannon.  Not a huge change, but any points decrease at this point is very much appreciated, especially when the Splinter Cannon is now Salvo 4/6.

Wyches - These girls have been nerfed severely in many ways.  The biggest one is the loss of Haywire Grenades, dramatically decreasing the effectiveness of the unit at being multi-functional.  The PGL no longer provides offensive and defensive grenades, Wych weapons are still very mediocre and Venom Blades are no longer an option.  Worst of all, they stayed at the same price with only nerfs to be had.  I'm very sad that I have 40 of these.

Trueborn - Got cheaper, retained the same weapon options, so overall better.  Or is it?  Because they no longer have the ability to take Shard Carbines, which kills all hope of making them DS in a Raider with the new Splinter Racks, and have a min squad of 5.

Bloodbrides - They're more expensive Wyches, and without the ability to take Haywires.  At least give these gals Haywires right?!  Come on man.

Incubi - They still don't have grenades, the points decrease is nice, and since they're the only form of AP2 melee that DE have, this might be alright.  The Klaivex is also a regular Sergeant now with Rampage.

Mandrakes - These guys got a lot better, with Stealth and Shrouded and S4 AP4 shots.  The Infiltrate helps these guys into range early and they can be a pretty decent harassing unit.  More importantly, Mandrakes are a perfect example of under-purchased units receiving buffs.

Wracks - Now elites with no way of making them troops.  Liquidifer Gun for some reason is now S3 with the same variable AP, and the Acothyst can be given a Venom Blade.  Not much can be said about a unit that used to be commonplace as a reliable troop choice thanks to their T4 and FNP.  Now you only have Warriors and Wyches (but not really Wyches), so really just Warriors.

Grotesques - These guys got buffed quite a bit, receiving Rampage and built-in Flesh Gauntlets.  They come with FNP, T5 and 3W a piece with decent prices will see these guys delivered to you in a nice DS Raider.

Beastmasters - Points decreases all over for the most part with very little changed.  The lack of the Baron to go with these guys will hurt, but otherwise they just received a minor buff because of the better prices.

Raiders - You now have to pay for the Dark Lance so they're literally the same price as before.  All Raiders, Venoms and Ravagers can now DS as normal, but the biggest standouts for upgrades is the Night Shield and Aethersails.  Night Shields gives you Stealth, allowing you to Jink for a 3+ cover, but this does not stack with Night Fighting.  The loss of Flickerfields on these guys means you're now completely vulnerable to Ignore Cover, thus making you more one-dimensional from what you can save from.  Aethersails is the only real buff here for me since it costs the same meager amount of points and is now a 24" flat out.  That's a huge boon in terms of movement, but otherwise both a buff and a nerf to something that I would already consider overpriced.  Oh, and Splinter Racks now affect all Splinter Weapons.

Venom - These guys pretty much stayed the same since Splinter Cannons got a little bit more expensive.  Venoms are also the only DE vehicle that have Flickerfields, making them a special little snowflake.

Reavers - While the pricing is competitive for these guys, I hate the fact they lost their signature drive-by damage effect.  While they still have Skilled Rider, if you want to do damage with them now you either have to shoot or get in melee.  Sure, they have Hit and Run, but I see them more as a harassing AT unit with Heat Lances or Blasters.

Hellions - You cannot take these guys as troops since the Baron is gone, so they are very mediocre.  The fact they can no longer do really cool stuff like pull ICs out of units makes them even more subpar.  Simplicity at the cost of cool is fine in some cases, but not when it makes a subpar unit even more unattractive.

Razorwing - Got moved to Fast Attack, but now you have to pay for Dark Lances if you want them, which bumps up their cost.  Why?  They also don't have Vector Dancer like other Eldar fighters, are are pretty much subject to a ground-attack role with cheap Disintegrators.  I guess they can also take Night Shields now so they can Jink for a 3+, but the Aegis Defense Line doesn't really care.

Scourges - Received the biggest buff in the book as far as utility is considered.  They got cheaper and can now take 4x Special or Heavy Weapons out of a unit of 5.  This means that they can take 4x Haywire Blasters if they wanted to, but they're still BS4 and T3 4+ dudes that can get shot at.  A lot of people think these guys will replace the Ravager, but I don't think that's true.  The vulnerability to small-arms fire really raises an eyebrow from me.

Talos - You can now take units of these guys, and with T7 3W and FNP, it might be enough to piss off some Tyranid players.  I'm not sure if I'm happy with their prices, lack of transport and weapon options, but at least you can take a lot of them.

Cronos - Same with the Talos, you can now take multiples of these guys per unit.  I'm still not feeling the application of these guys because they're foot-slogging, and I feel they'll be left in the dust now that DS Raiders can load up improved Grotesques.

Ravager - Went up in price by around 20 if you plan on taking Dark Lances, more if you want Night Shields (which you don't because Jink kills this vehicle's purpose).  I have seriously no idea why you have to spend points for Dark Lances, it wasn't like it was such a huge deal before.  Shooting 3 lances was already mediocre at best when shooting at AV12 3HP (now even worse than before with 7th Ed. VDC), but add in the fact they lost Aerial Assault and you've got tons of Dark Eldar players foaming at the mouth.  Why?!

Voidraven Bomber - The newest kit that people won't be buying because of the price.  It starts at 160 and is upgraded with a Large Blast S9 AP2 Lance bomb and 2x Void Lances (same as before), but all of its missile options are painfully expensive.  Any of the missile options will bump its cost up to 200+, and that's just such a huge turn off for DE players trying to get the best bang for their buck.  Honestly, I would keep it as cheap as possible, naked with 2x Dark Scythes (24" blast lances), but that would mean they're vulnerable to enemy AA.  With only AV10 now, this might mean you'll have to get closer and thus exposing yourself to small-arms fire.

Power From Pain - This has changed from a token system to something that's more reliable as the game goes on.  Take the time to digest this for a second:  As the game goes on.  I don't know about you guys, but I've been playing the army for about 14 years now.  Dark Eldar are at the strongest when they enter the battle without their opponent's knowing what hit them.  What the GW design team did here was push the fact that the Dark Eldar get stronger as the carnage ensues and the battle rages.  Good for the fantasy, but horrible when it comes down to how games are actually played out on the table-top.  DE are an army with very little staying power, and as the battle rages on between two equally-sized armies and well-matched opponents, Dark Eldar will take on more and more casualties.  The gist of the matter is; while a Turn 6 DE with stacked effects of alien-adrenaline is nice, it doesn't matter if there's 2 models left trying desperately to hold a point.  At least what they had before allowed you put FNP into a unit of choice, and actually rewarded players from killing enemy units.  Now, they have some kind of psuedo-attrition that simply does not work with such a fragile army.

Combat Drugs - Random rolls gives you random stat boosts ranging anywhere from WS to S to T to even Leadership.  When you compare this to what they had before, this is not really a buff or a nerf.  Losing re-roll wounds sucks a lot on low S units, but nothing more can be done at this point.  Most units are just getting a free buff so I can't really complain.

Artefacts and Warlord Traits - Very subpar.  In fact, the one that irks me the most from the Warlord tree has to be the +1 to WS.  WS7 to 8 does virtually nothing, but 8 to 9 does.  Or does it, because most of the time, the Succubus will be fighting in a unit, so it's only really useful in a challenge. You're much better taking the default Strategic tree almost every time.  Don't even both with the artefacts, since all they do is bump up the price in your already overpriced characters.

Final Verdict: 4/10

While the internal balance of the book is fine for the most part, it really looks to me like a money-grab from GW.  In the book, the most apparent thing to me is that most of the tried-and-true options for Dark Eldar has been nerfed for virtually no reason, and most of the unused, unpopular, and thus unsold models have been noticeably buffed.  It's really quite clear for me that they're trying to sell off the model boxes that have been gathering dust, but at the same time, this conflicts with the fact that Dark Eldar is a very popular army with a lot of new plastic kits.  So if money-grab isn't the problem, what is?  There seems to be a lot of shoddy design flaws in the book itself.  I can't tell you the amount of times I scratched my head, trying desperately to form some rationale and logic from the decisions that were made.  Why was the Power from Pain table designed the way it is?  If I was to have a go at it, I would have flipped everything in reverse, that DE are the most powerful when they enter the battlefield and have the jump on their opponents.  What they have right now goes against function of the army as a whole, and ultimately proves to me that GW have no idea how the army is intended to work.  Who would have guessed that an army of AV10 open-top and T3 models with barely any saves are not designed to fight for 6 game turns?

I'm not really that mad that the army lost 5 of its 8 special characters, but I know a lot of people who are.  What I'm really mad about is that on top of losing so many SCs, the army has lost a lot of its flavor for the sake of simplification.  Reavers losing their pass-by effect, Implosion Missiles not taking W-tests or suffer ID, Hellions no longer able to pull ICs out of squads, these are just some examples of flavor being lost for simplicity.  Then you remove half of the DE artifacts, randomly increase and decrease points (Succubus needed a points increase?  Soul Trap was too powerful? Agonizer needed a points increase?  Were Huskblades too good?), and you wonder at the end of the day if GW wanted Dark Eldar to be Eldar-cheerleaders for life, or essentially punching bags for all the marine armies out there.  We all know anyway that most of Dark Eldar's leadership gimmicks out there is worthless on ATSKNF.  By the time I finished the book, I was thinking about more ways how DS Raiders can benefit my Eldar more than how Dark Eldar can function as an army by itself without allies.  This is most evident with the WWP, providing a much bigger boon to Eldar Fire Dragons than almost anything else in the DE arsenal.  The price to punch ratio for the army is atrocious, especially in an army that's so vulnerable to Ignore Cover are basically running around naked with T3.

It's not like Dark Eldar were a point and click army to begin with, but now they'll suffer even more in the current meta.  They were already in the decline since 5th Ed., and they were involuntarily nerfed several times since then.  Now in 7th, they're barely holding on as an army and this new book does nothing to improve their current situation.  Even before, DE was used primarily as a Baron supplement in the competitive scene, and now that they've lost that, I don't think anyone will think twice about them.  For me, points-wise, my army basically stayed the same with barely any buffs.  This is hardly a good thing considering they were already hanging on by a thread vs. the likes of Eldar, Tau, SM and the like.  It's OK though, we'll always have that Day 1 DLC to make everything better right?  Not even.  Outside of some gimmicky WWP play, I don't see a very bright future for the Dark Kin at all.  Overall, just a very poor showing by the GW design team.

DE: My early DE thinktank

Thinking.. thinking...

These are just some random quotes I've been posting on the forums, thinking of ways to make the new codex work.  At this point, we know pretty much all the bells and whistles, including point costs because of some helpful people on the internet.

Here's what I have to say so far.  These will be mainly used to think about ways I can make this book work:

+++Updated 10/2+++

I see some positives out of all this, and here they are:
1. Deep Strike on all vehicles at combat speed.
2. Aethersails still cost 5 points, now give you 24" of TB movement, and no longer stops passengers from shooting next round.
3. Stealth Jinking is a 3+ cover, Ignore Cover sucks, but it's still better than nothing.

When you combine all these together, you might be able to do some stuff. I'm not saying this release is good, it really kills me inside, but this above is as good as it's going to get.

You literally do not need the Voidraven Bomber at all. It's 160 stock with 2x VLs and the mine without any upgrades, if you take missiles on it the price goes up, and you can only buy them in bunches of 4. So no matter what, you're paying extra for them. I still think 3x Ravagers will be default in Heavy, especially now that the Razorwing went to FA.

With that said, a pure DE army would probably look like:
Succubus
6x Raiders in core with at least 3x gunboats, 1x Wyches, 2x min Warriors blasterboats.
3x Venoms with Blasterborn in Elite.
A unit of Reavers
A single Razorwing
3x Ravagers

I know that's what I would take my first rodeo.

Otherwise, I plan on doing more DS/Reserve Insertion with Autarchs/Voidravens and WWPs.

+++

From what it looks like, the price for my standard gunboat will be..

In the last book..
10x Warriors (Raider FF/SR, Blaster, SC) = 195

That means the Raider has Splinter Racks and Flickerfields.

In the new book..
10x Warriors (Raider NS/SR/AS, Blaster, SC) = 195

Night Shields replace the FF and you gain points to buy Aethersails (which btw, should be on every vehicle that can take it).

+++

I don't play with nasty Haemonculi.  Those basement-dwellers can stay where they are.

If the Succubus points stayed the same, Agonizer/Archite Glaive will put her at 105 points.  I think this will be her best build if your goal will be CC, since you'll benefit from the double specialist weapons for +1 attack.

I guess you can can a cheap Archon as well for a little bit more.  Shadowfield, Soul Trap, Huskblade makes him 135.

This is without any of the fancy new artefacts. I only see Wyches as a bodyguard unit now, 1 max per army if you're taking a CC Archon or Succubus.

I also see Autarchs playing a heavier role in our army than an allied Farseer because of our vehicles ability to DS.

+++

I will probably have her with a unit of Wyches and call it a day.

A unit of 9x in a Raider, NS, AS, with the Hekatrix and Agonizer/Haywire is 200 points on the nose. The Succubus herself runs 110 with the Agonizer/Archite Glaive/Hawywire for a unit that's semi-decent in combat for 310 points. It will make marines cry, but you need to stay away from Terminators.

The Archon, I think is dead in the water. Just too expensive for a S3 dude with no way to take Combat Drugs. Too bad, because the Huskblade is literally the coolest melee weapon I've ever read about fluff-wise.

+++

I invite all of you to come think with me!

DE: Things are not looking too good

Stare into the void.

The rumors have been floating around the internet these days about DE are being confirmed by several sources around the world.  Let's just say that it's not looking too good so far for the Dark Kin. That's a damn shame really.

I'm still holding off until I have the book in my hand, but nothing I read so far has been great.  In short, if there's not drastic point decreases in all areas, I don't think DE will have anything going or them.

Check out the rumors here and here.  Let me sum it up for you:

• Combat drugs offering stat boosts can be useless to decent.  I would say they're worse than the current ones.
• Nothing looks great from the Warlord Traits.
• No ways to take troops outside of Warriors and Wyches.
• Raiders/Ravagers lose the ability to take Flickerfields.  This is gigantic because this means they have no protection vs. Ignore Cover now.  Even with a 5 points cost decrease, the 15 point Night Shields make them the same price they are now.
• This also means that Ravagers lose their ability to maintain fire and reap some kind of protection from Flicker Fields.  They must hug cover at all times or continuously Jink.
• The Glaive thing that the Succubus gets is the only form of AP2 melee outside of Incubi.  It's as if they never want us to kill SM characters.
• All the artefacts look subpar and generally not worth it.  Most of the psychology-based stuff is wasted on ATSKNF.

A little disappointed so far, but I'll wait for the final book to do a full review.

VC: Playing as Undead Legion

I googled Blood Knights and I got boobs.  Was not disappointed.

Before you dig any deeper, please see the article I wrote about VC/TK interactions here.  I'll start off with my VC list because I have the most experience with them (I got into them when they got their new 7th Ed. book).  My playstyle has always been a killy armored Vampire Lord because that's how I envision myself if I was to personally take command of the army.  It just sings well with me.

For now, I'll skip the Special Characters and all the Nagash Vol. 2 units.  I want to concentrate on the original army books.

Vampire Counts Unit Bucket:
Vampire Lord, Master Necromancer, Necromancer, Vampire, Wight King, Tomb Banshee, Zombies, Skeleton Warriors, Crypt Ghouls, Dire Wolves, Grave Guard, Black Knights, Crypt Horrors, Vargheists, Fell Bats, Spirit Host, Bat Swarms, Hexwraiths, Terrorgheist, Mortis Engine

Tomb Kings Unit Bucket:
Tomb King, Liche High Priest, Tomb Prince, Liche Priest, Necrotect, Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Horsemen, Skeleton Horse Archers, Skeleton Chariots, Necropolis Knights, Ushabti, Khemrian Warsphinx, Sepulchral Stalkers, Hierotitan, Necrosphinx, Screaming Skull Catapult, Casket of Souls

WHFB: Army tiers and hypothesis

The lost art of dominating with an outdated book.

Now, I will talk about uncomped and very slight comp based off the WHFB 8th system (2400 and 2500 games).  I will rate the armies based on tiers from what I've experienced. Here is what I think of the tiers in respects to the armies under them.

Tiers Explained

• Tier 1 - This tier represents the pinnacle of army power in the current metagame.  There are a lot of viable, competitive choices and they're all strong vs. netlists and cookie-cutters from other armies.  This level also indicates that regardless of build, the army is able to minimize on the number of bad matchups it will most likely encounter in a tournament setting.  Most of these armies have flexible magic, multiple viable builds, and strong options all over the book with some major power units that just soars above the rest.

• Tier 2 - This tier demonstrates a solid book with many competitive choices. Whether it is due to good internal balance or a few stand-out units, the army preforms fluidly on the table.  While certain builds are strong vs. netlists and can compete on equal footing with other armies out there, there are not as many as Tier 1 armies.  There will be more bad matchups that exist in this army tier, but not much since the majority of the book has the answers it needs.

• Tier 3 - This tier demonstrates workable unit choices with few competitive options. While some of these options are strong, the rest of the book suffers from not enough viable choices for a tournament setting. Whether it is due to subpar internal balance, or just that the units are not powerful enough compared to the other armies, there are noticeable weaknesses.  As a result, the number of bad matchups increases.