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[Primarch]

Moved Badruck's apoc info to the games finder section.

[Admiral-Badruck]

So what are we going to talk about now?

[Danguinius]

I kind of brought this up at Nagoyahammer, but it seems worthy of discussing more. Let me put it in questions form:

What does the "new" Dark Eldar need to have to make you want to start a DE army?

What rules, models, design, playstyle, etc. would you like to see?

Danguinius

[me_in_japan]

I reckon Im a natural born Dark Eldar player, but when I started the game Deldar didnt exist. It took me over ten years to grasp the concep of "second army", and when I did it had become clear that the dark eldar models were poo.

Anyway, what id like to see in a deldar list:

army basics: Dark eldar infantry stats should be either the same as aspect warriors (who train like kung-fu obsessed shaolin monks) or guardians (who train in a regular army trooper kinda way). There is no reason that Dark Eldar units should be any differnt from regular eldar. Physically theyre identical. The stats should reflect this. Say, warriors have guardian stats, and things like incubi, wyches etc have aspect stats.

The list should generally be geared towards making the opposition take as many Ld checks as possible per turn. Confusion, fear, hallicination should be the order of the day. These Ld checks dont all have to be morale checks, but armies like IG or Tau should be seriously scared to play dark eldar, given a sensible deldar player who picks the right units.

The Dark Eldar are masters of the webway, even more so than vanilla eldar. They should have deep striking ability up the wazoo.

mandrakes should be way, way better than they are now. For goodness' sake - theyre Dark Eldar (naturally insane sadistic killers) who train obsessively with witches (even more insane sadistic killers) who are also possessed by daemons. They should ROCK! I'm talking:

Elite unit choice.
Fleet, Stealth, Infiltrate, Deep strike (to reflect their ability to teleport out of the webway wherever they frickin want)
WS5, BS-, S5, T4, I6, A2, Sv5+*, Ld10

No weapon upgrades or anything. Poisoned attacks 4+

So, pretty boss. Not broken boss, but still pretty scary. Dat's wot I fink, anyway...

The floaty tank things are not too bad anyway. Perhaps some kind of holo field would be appropriate.

They should inspire "preffered enemy" in all other eldar

They should get harlequins which are identical in every way to craftworld eldar harlequins.

Those skyboard dudes should get decent CC weapons, or at least options for one or two power weapons. And aspect stats, and a better armour save. Maybe even a "jetbike" rule. (or do they have that already?) so they can move in the assault phase, too.

Warp beasts should be daemons, properly.

They should all be sh*t scared of slaaanesh armies.

They should get Arhra.

Thats my tuppence worth. any further thoughts?

[me_in_japan]

OH! nearly forgot - make em pay 30points for a darklance, like Eldar do. Cheap gits

and the models should all be done by Jes, but since I know for a fact that they are gonna be done by jes, this is a non-issue.

[Primarch]

mandrakes should be way, way better than they are now. For goodness' sake - theyre Dark Eldar (naturally insane sadistic killers) who train obsessively with witches (even more insane sadistic killers) who are also possessed by daemons. They should ROCK! I'm talking:

And yet still get taken out by a humble human scout... (sabbat matyr).

The only thing needed to sell me on D Eldar is nice plastic models. A mobile, shooty, scary army sounds like fun. Having them rely on Ld would let them kick the stuffing out of some opponents easily whilst taking an equal beating against all those fearless (or nearly fearless) guys out there.

[me_in_japan]

Hlaine Larkin is hardly a "humble human scout". The man was personally blessed by the beati and is the top marksman in the Tanith 1st, a regiment which specializes in sneaking up on things and sniping them. That makes him possibly the best sniper in the IG, perhaps even the Imperium. And besides, given the rules I suggested, a guard sniper could take out a mandrake, just like in the fluff.

there's a piece of fluff where a mandrake teleports in and butchers a whole bunch of chaos space marines (in one of the Word Bearers books). That's what I reckon they should be like.

I dont think Deldar should be entirely reliant on Ld checks, I just think it should be an army-build option, and one to which they lend themselves. There should also be potential for a tank-killer army build, or a MEQ killing build, and so on. I just reckon the fear thing should be a dominant flavour.

[Primarch]

Hlaine Larkin is hardly a "humble human scout". The man was personally blessed by the beati and is the top marksman in the Tanith 1st, a regiment which specializes in sneaking up on things and sniping them. That makes him possibly the best sniper in the IG, perhaps even the Imperium. And besides, given the rules I suggested, a guard sniper could take out a mandrake, just like in the fluff.

there's a piece of fluff where a mandrake teleports in and butchers a whole bunch of chaos space marines (in one of the Word Bearers books). That's what I reckon they should be like.

I dont think Deldar should be entirely reliant on Ld checks, I just think it should be an army-build option, and one to which they lend themselves. There should also be potential for a tank-killer army build, or a MEQ killing build, and so on. I just reckon the fear thing should be a dominant flavour.

Actually wasnt it Mkoll?

[Admiral-Badruck]

I hope the new Dark Eldar dex gives the option to take an all Harlequin army that is what I hope for too much to hop for I think not... I would love it as would a lot of old school Harlequin players...

[me_in_japan]

Actually wasnt it Mkoll?

ah, whoever. Mkoll is hardly an average geezer either, is he? Unkillable celtic doom-ninja, leader of the Gereon resistance, slayer of chaos dreadnaughts, ghostier than a really ghosty ghost. Larkin or Mkoll - either way, the poor ol' mandrake never stood a chance...