[Gardeth]

Greetings! I have been away for a while and have been away from my Dark Eldar just as long (they have been slowly recovering after the 'Ard Boyz Finals in Chicago). In truth I have been thoroughly distracted by my new daemon armies (managed to win the fantasy 'Ard Boyz semi-finals with my Vamp Counts, Man do I love 'Ard Boyz!)

So I am preparing for a rather largish local tournament (The Battle for Stones River) in February and my Dark Eldar will once again take to the field. The main reason for this post is to see how well my fellow DE players have faired against the sons of Russ. My Daemons have had a rough time with them and I imagine the DE have some issues with them as well. My main worries are the army wide counter charge and the Thunderwolf calvary.

Any imput/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

[VitalSpark]

I've had two games against em so i'll tell you what I have learned.

Kill the Rune Priests at all costs. Living Lightning destroys our vehicles.

If you can take out the longfang squadrons it will pretty much be smooth sailing, I haven't noticed any problems with the counter charge (we still go first so whooooo cares).

No one takes thunderwolf cav so it isn't much of a concern. Dark lances or dissies if you find out there are some across the field, though.

I like fighting them. Like normal space marines except less shooting more coming at us for some reason.

 

[Archon Charybdis]

It really varies based on the build of the army you face. Rune Priests and Longfangs can cause some but some hurt on a mech list, but die just like normal marines or can be pinned with a horrorfex. TWC I've not had the "pleasure" of facing with my DE yet. Just as my gut reaction, the unit I'd use to deal with them-- besides dissy ravagers-- would by a Wych Lord retinue w/ succubus and two agonizers. If you've got two throw 'em both at it just to be safe. I think they'd be able to tarpit them the best and the agonizers negate the advantage of their higher T.

If somebody decides to go Grimnar Wing on the other hand though, that's something we can handle pretty well I think. Low model count army depending on 2+ saves and combat superiority to win? Hah!

 

[Toloran]

Generally speaking, Space Wolves are my easiest opponents. As others have mentioned, Rune Priests with Living Lightning and long fangs in general are priority targets. Otherwise, we're generally better or as good as at assault as they are but faster.

 

[Axle_Gear]

From what few games I've played against them, I've found you can pretty much treat Space Wolves like you would regular Space Marines, with the exceptions of Rune Priests and Longfangs as noted above. I would try to make sure to reinforce any charge you make against them to thin out their numbers and reduce the harshness of their counter-charge.

In my most recent game against SW, I hung back and just pelted him with dissies (he tried to go the melee route). I would say the golden rule of DE applies here: melee the shooty stuff, shooty the melee stuff. Stick with that, and things should go well.

 

[Toloran]

In my most recent game against SW, I hung back and just pelted him with dissies (he tried to go the melee route). I would say the golden rule of DE applies here: melee the shooty stuff, shooty the melee stuff. Stick with that, and things should go well.

Actually, some of the melee stuff you can melee just fine (and with rage inducing results). Example: Against a SW player a week or two ago, He had a unit of Thunderwolf Calvary with an attached Wolf Lord on a Wolf. I had my incubi assault it and managed to wipe them all out and only lost like 2 incubi from the wolf lord. :3

 

[Archon Charybdis]

Actually, some of the melee stuff you can melee just fine (and with rage inducing results). Example: Against a SW player a week or two ago, He had a unit of Thunderwolf Calvary with an attached Wolf Lord on a Wolf. I had my incubi assault it and managed to wipe them all out and only lost like 2 incubi from the wolf lord. :3

How big was the Incubi unit and how big was the TWC unit? I'd be willing to try it unless the TWC are really Deathstar and have stormshields, then I'm not sure what I'd do. It's too difficult to kill, and too dangerous to ignore. I suppose you could try and pelt them with dissies, but I'd be leery of meleeing that without two full squads of either wyches or incubi.

 

[kharandhil]

Marines no matter their chapter will always be the same marines, incubi make them cry no matter waht chapter they belong to.

Dark Lances, blasters, disintegrators are all the way t go against any marine army.

Biggest concern we have are hordes or orcs, nids or maybe IG coming at us, we have very few problems with heavily armored marines XD

 

[Gardeth]

The unit of TWC i have been comming across with my daemons has been 4-6 TWC with a couple of stormshields thrown in with Canis and a Wolf Lord attached. That 1 unit has caused untold destruction to my daemons.

 

[Krovin-Rezh]

That unit should be pinned with 'Fexes (Achangel of Pain, etc.) since they aren't fearless and you will need extra time to whittle them down before they can be safely charged. So pin them, and focus on the other threats (Rune Priests, Long Fangs, Grey Hunters). With enough pinning, you should have enough units free to deal with them, especially if take some pot shots at them in the meantime. Heck, they may never be a threat at all if the SW player doesn't get lucky on his Ld tests.

 

[Gardeth]

Horrofexes HA! Here is a reminder that sometimes the simplest answers are often the best. This is EXACTLY the type of solution I was looking for, you have eased my mind.

Rep to you.

 

[Splata]

Heck, they may never be a threat at all if the SW player doesn't get lucky on his Ld tests.

hehe, funny you should mention that. For some reason I always feel, "ahh I landed a horrorfex on them. Well they are pinned now." Just totally forget about the LD test because enemies so often fail it!

One issue iwth horrorfexes will be how big the bases of the enemies are and how many guys thats means you can cover with one shot.

 

[Krovin-Rezh]

I would assume you'd have to use the same base size as Canis for the TWC, since he rides a wolf as cavalry and that makes a pretty strong precedent. 60 mm round is a fairly large base for a squad, so they'll take up a lot of space on the board if they spread out to the 2" coherency. I'd try to disincentivize that by placing some impassable and/or dangerous terrain in their way. It's hard to not clump together when you're maneuvering a huge squad around obstacles. Even difficult terrain might work if it's faster to go around than risk rolling a 1 on the move test.

Alternatively, I could see the 40K bike/cavalry bases being pressed into service. They would actually be easier to deal with, since they clump together better.