40K: Uplifting Imperial Primer to Cleansing Kabalite Eldar
Attention Imperial Commanders. the Departmento Munitorum directs all of His most senior officers to distribute this list of techniques for destroying the resurgent Dark Eldar to your battlefield command staff.
Penal Legion – Dark Eldar will kill your guardsmen in assault; this is a given. But Penal Legionaires can hold out for a couple of rounds through sheer numbers, giving you the chance to get more valuable units away or firepower into position.
Hellhounds – The Hellhound was the bane of the Dark Eldar before; now it is even more deadly to them.
Colossus – Instant Death and No Cover makes Wyches and Warriors cry (for about 1/2 a second).
Armored Sentinels – Unkillable in close combat for most Dark Eldar units; these are best used as countering and fast reaction units near your board edge.
Sternguard with Combi-Plasmaguns – Special ammunition is great against the Dark Eldar, and the Plasma shots are especially good for cracking tough units like Talos and Cronos.
Astartes Command Squads with 2 Flamers and 2 Plasmaguns – This unit provides fire support from a Rhino as long as possible, then jumps into close combat if need be. Marines with Feel No Pain are difficult for most Dark Eldar units to deal with.
Scout Bikers with Cluster Mines – No other army needs that cover more than the Dark Eldar, and no other army is as easily killed by Cluster Mines. Unleash the 10th Company!
Thunderfire Cannons – Strength 5 shots that ignore cover and Strength 6 shots that kill through FNP (and incidentally are hard on Dark Eldar Vehicles, too) make this great model a much better performer against the Dark Eldar than most other armies. Deploy the Cannon so that it’s midrange firepower can sweep anything moving against it – making the Thunderfire Cannon both an efficient, brutal killer or the perfect bait; either way, you win.
Drop Pods with Deathwind Launchers – Deathwind Launchers on Drop Pods make every DropPod a threat to everything in the Dark Eldar Codex. Drop a couple near a Webway Portal for good disruptive hilarity.
Assault Cannons – Strength 6 is the new Strength 8. Four shots of Instant Death and reasonably reliable anti-vehicle fire mean that I’m glad my multimeltas are magnetized on my Dreadnoughts and Land Speeders.
Plasma Cannons – Plasma Cannons on Sentinels, Russes, or in Devastator Squads will make a nice comeback against the Dark Eldar. Those 3″ templates are awesome for chucking downrange at that pack of Hellions, for instance.
The Departmento Munitorum requests and any battlefield officers send feedback on these and any other first hand tactics and tips for defeating the Dark Eldar in the comments below for review by your peers. Officers dismissed.
