Goatboy’s 40K – The Bad Touch of Dark Eldar
Goatboy here again and I have a real love/hate relationship with the Dark Eldar.
First – I do like the overall look of the models and find them to be a beautiful looking army. The designs have a ton of movement, all the parts make sense, and there is a ton of options to create your own Kabal/Coven/Gangs. It is the closest thing I have to something Chaos like but mixed in with a nice Space Elves design. But I do hates them.
Raidin Old School!
They are one of the few armies that have kicked the crap out of me throughout my entire 40k experience. I initially started at the tail end of 2nd, so I was ready for the incoming sexual creeps that were the Dark Eldar. I remember those terrible little spikey dudes/dudettes from the starter box and how you always seemed to break something spikey off of them. I have bad dreams of games where this one random winged guy would drop a portal, and a rain of death would come streaming out. Heck if it wasn’t for the lackluster years of 6th and 7th edition Dark Eldar I might have always been afraid of those jerks.
Onto the New Codex
Enough of this skip down memory lane – let’s go into what I like about the new book. I like how you get three armies in one single codex. Each Cult/Kabal/Coven feels like a fully realized army. They have choices, rules, abilities, and options that all make each group feel entirely distinct. This is great as you have a plethora of build options that can go from the sleek raider force or the creepy parade of pain freaks we know the Tau don’t always like too much. I love it as it feels so different from the standard Chapter/Legions/Septs we normally see, and instead, we get a ton of customization.
Let’s gloss over what I like out of the book, what I feel is eh, and what I wish was better.
Good
Just about everything got cheaper. Like how the Craftworld book got a ton cheaper, these guys definitely went down in points. I don’t expect any Chapter Approved adjustments for them in the future.
Guns just about all got better. From going to d6’s to getting cheaper everything about got better.
Ravagers – holy crap Ravagers are going to be all over the place. Expect a five pack of Ravagers in a Spearhead with the Kabal of +6″.
Reavers might be the newest character sniper with a Stratagem, Red Grief, and super speed. Flying over an Infantry character, throwing out a chance for nine mortal wounds seems pretty dang good.
Kabal has 4 Obsessions, Cult has 3 Obsessions, and the Coven has three as well. Each one has the “best” one, but all the others have their uses. The Kabal has two depending on the type of detachment you want to take. One is better for overall (Kabal of the Black Heart – access to a neat stratagem and +1 to Power from Pain is good) and the other is great for Ravagers. The Cults are all good – I prefer the Red Grief as I like the Reavers. The Coven really has one that is probably the best – Prophets of the Flesh as it makes them a heck more survivable.
Relics seem all very flavorful. There is a ton of weapons so expect any Dark Eldar Character to stab, whip, or murder you from just about any angle.
The ability to take 3 Warlord traits is pretty neat. I really think the Kabal of the Black Heart one will be critical as any chance to gain back CP is just too good to pass up.
Mandrakes… just a much-improved unit. Better shooting, ability to appear anywhere, and hard to heat. Use them as a harasser unit mixed with some Reaver bikes and other fast options.
Meh, um… Ugly
I really think they missed a chance to add some kind of massed Patrol Detachment. It would have been interesting to see, and while it is good there isn’t a blanket – everyone can build armies out of patrols to get around the three detachment limit – it does feel like you limited some of the Dark Eldar flavor potential.
Some of the stratagems seem a little bit too high of a cost. I really like the Kabal of the Black Heart stratagem, but 3 CP feels a little too heavy.
Lots of things need 2+ to resolve, and while it means it should happen most of the time, it can be so devastating when it feels – even through a reroll.
I feel that the army pushes towards a horde mentality with such a cheap basic unit. This can always be an issue when trying to get set up and complete a game.
We lost both the Blood Brides and the Trueborns. While from a building standpoint it just makes more sense to use massed Warriors as they are a heck of a lot cheaper. The Wyches gained an extra attack so it’s almost like they all got married to some blood somewhere along the way.
Bad
No real information on Ynarri in the book. We know a Spring FAQ is coming and I was wondering if something would be listed about them in there.
The Casket of anti Psyker got worse. I don’t know why it has to work on a unit on a 4+ – it should just be all psykers within 12″ take d3 or a flat three mortal wounds. It is all these rolls that make the option just worthless as it fails 50% of the time.
The other two Coven Obsessions just feel weak when compare to Prophets of the Flesh (one is leadership stuff, and the other is an additional -1 to AP on weapons). The 4+ Inv save is just way too good when looking at having central blobs of say Grotesques holding your objectives.
No Vect rule at all??? I know he is the ultimate bad guy but, come on, we got Abbaddon, Eldrad, and Primarchs – why can’t we have one of the main villains in the game?
Why didn’t the Venom go up to a six man capacity? Now you have to characters their own small ride? I mean the idea of having a skull throne based Venom is cool but seriously? There is nothing worse than watching your Vehicle explode, roll that 1 for your bad ass in the back, and then fail that reroll, or you ran out of CP.
Overall I think the book is pretty dang neat. I think it fits well in the game right now – just waiting on the updated FAQ to get a real feel for how it fits. I think if it can get the Jump on some Tyranids it can pop the current boogie man out of the sky. The book feels like the Dark Eldar with lots of speed, high damage output, but still a somewhat Glass hammer. There is a ton of other goodness, and I expect all my friends who love the bad touch of the pain obsessed space elves to be very excited this week.
~How good do you think the Dark Eldar are now?
