Hey again readers! Things have been getting pretty busy lately so it's been tough to post, let alone get in many games! Even though I haven't been able to play much recently, my mind has been hard at work creating some new dark eldar lists. Just as a heads up, these lists are highly experimental, don't follow my normal formula, and utilize some units that may seem questionable at first glance. So make sure to take these ideas with a grain of salt, as I have not been able to test them yet, but hopefully my theories are sound enough to make them work! With that being said, let's take a look!
List #1: Shining Spear-Star, aka "Hooked on Sathonyx"
HQ
Baron Sathonyx - 105pts
Troops
10x Warriors w/ blaster and splinter cannon, raider w/ splinter racks - 185pts
10x Warriors w/ blaster and splinter cannon, raider w/ splinter racks - 185pts
10x Wyches w/ haywire grenades and Hekatrix (Agonizer), raider w/ aethersails - 215pts
Heavy Support
Ravager, 3x dark lances - 105pts
Ravager, 3x dark lances - 105pts
Razorwing Jetfighter w/ flickerfield - 155pts
Allies - Eldar
HQ
Farseer w/ jetbike, Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing, Fortune, Doom - 185pts
Troops
3x Guardian Jetbikes - 66pts
3x Guardian Jetbikes - 66pts
Fast Attack
5x Shining Spears w/ Exarch (skilled rider) - 197pts
Heavy Support
3x War Walkers w/ Scatter Lasers - 180pts
Total - 1749pts
To begin, this list is fast. And I mean really fast. All of your troop choices can soar across the board to far-off objectives, but the real focus of this list is the shining spear unit. Now, shining spears may not be the most well-liked or underpriced unit in the Eldar codex (I've seen people even claim they are the worst unit in the book, and I do agree that they are grossly over-costed) but I definitely believe that they don't get as much credit as they should. Here's how it works: The Farseer and Baron join the spear unit, and turbo-boost turn one. Now understand that the Baron cannot turbo-boost, but the squad still gets the cover bonus from boosting and you can keep baron in coherency in the back. The combination of skilled rider from the exarch, stealth from baron, and fortune from the farseer all means that you will have a 2+ re-rollable cover save on the first turn you turbo boost. Even against cover-ignoring weaponry, you still have a re-rollable 3+ armor save on the squad. Furthermore, Baron grants the squad hit and run and assault + defensive grenades with his PGL. Now your goal should be getting into an assault by turn 2, as this is where the spears shine. Against either vehicles or infantry, their S6 power weapons and hammer of wrath should easily be able to get the job done. If you happen to not finish off a unit, that is actually great, because then you can stay locked in your opponents turn to avoid getting shot at and then just hit and run out of combat to charge your next target. You have to be extremely careful when using this unit, however. In your first turn, it is very important that you don't get too close to any enemy assault unit, as power weapons will make short work of you if you don't have the charge, and your re-rollable coversave is for nothing. If this does happen, your best bet is to try and tank all the wounds on either baron or the farseer and then hit and run the heck out of their as soon as possible so you can get the charge. The shining spear-star can devastate your opponents backfield, but only with careful, strategic play. Also, a helldrake is your worst nightmare. Basically your only hope is to get locked into combat on turn 2 and then try and take it down with your war walkers, razorwing, and/or ravagers.
The rest of the army provides solid fire support, war walkers and ravagers in the rear and warrior gunboats keeping pace with the head of your army to rapid fire and grab some pain tokens. The wyches provide another assault threat that can easily take out enemy vehicles as well, so use them wisely while your opponent is distracted by the spears. The way I see it, your opponent has two options: Ignore the spears and focus on the rest of your army, leaving the spears to cause havoc, or focus their entire army on destroying them, leaving the rest of your army safe to bring the pain. The biggest weakness of the list is the lack of anti-air, thus the included razorwing for as cheap as I can take it, but hopefully the war walkers can help. Also, you can use your speed to mitigate most of the damage from enemy fliers. I believe that if you can work out the nuances and master the movement phase, this list could be exceptional. In addition, no one will see it coming.
Well that's it for my first experimental list. This is going to be one of the first armies I test, so I will make sure to update you all on its successes/failures and provide any modifications that I think are necessary. Until then, stay tuned for further list ideas, and let me know what you think in the comments!
A solid theory list. The biggest thing you would have to watch out for is only having 5 fragile troops in 2k, and Helldrakes. Other than that I think you have a decent idea.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest though switching to Eldar as a main army and get a Autarch to go along with the Shining Spears for some AP2 goodness with a power axe. That way he is another multi-wound jetbike with the unit. You can still get about the same firepower if you take more war walkers, a ravager for DE heavy, and grab a few nightwings/hornets for the Eldar FA slots
The list is at 1750, so while the troops are fragile I still think they are sufficient to get the job done. I definitely agree that heldrakes just ruin my day, but hey you can't win 'em all right? The Autarch is a great idea. I've played around with making the Eldar the primary, but around my parts forgeworld usually doesn't fly so I find that it doesn't have enough high strength firepower (although enough war walkers can glance most anything to death). I definitely want to play around with it and see how an Eldar-primary list would work, but I'm also limited by the fact that my eldar army is very small, and I just don't have the models! Still though, definitely worth a shot.
DeleteI would be one of those people that say Shinging Spears are possibly the worst unit in the Eldar Codex.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea is nice, but I think is beter executed with a different unit. DE Reavers I think are much better and can cause more damage. They Turboboost over a unit and can actually hurt them and still have their 2+ Cover save. Now a single Flamer kills the unit and you cant have the Fortune. They come with Skilled Rider automatically and Combat Drugs. They are Int 6 and brings 3 Attacks on the Charge. Their upgrade character cn have a nice weapon upgrade if you want.
But you can have more bikes (8-9) for a slightly higher cost. If you want to get them for cheaper, 6 Reavers with x2 Heat lances is 156pts. 9 Reavers with x3 Heat Lances is 234.
Now the weaknesses is obviously the Fortune reroll and their survivability. But you can have more models in the unit to make up for losing 2-3 from shooting.
I think Shining Spears can be ignored because their damage output is horrendous and they dont do much. Reavers can threaten with their Bladevanes or their Heavy Weapons they bring. They can hide in CC and leave whenever with Hit and Run.
Reavers don't have hit and run.
DeleteNeither do shining spears, that's what Baron is for.
DeleteThe problem with this idea is that Baron can be focused fired when you turboboost the bikes so he'll be the first to die.
Not sure this will replace the beaststar.
I should say neither do the shining spears, unless you have points to spare on an exarch with withdraw.
DeleteWhat Tarrasq said. The Baron gives them Hit and Run. Sorry if thatwasn't clear.
DeleteThe Baron could be focused on but placement and target priority are key. This isn't a point and click unit that takes no skill unit. It is in fact the opposite.
"The Baron could be focused on but placement and target priority are key. This isn't a point and click unit that takes no skill unit. It is in fact the opposite."
ReplyDeleteI think what was suggested was focus firing on lower cover save. The bikes have a 2+ cover save, the baron at best has a 3+ cover save if behind 4+ cover. I you focus fire on worse than 2+ cover save all hits go on the Baron. Of course he could still "Look Out Sir", so I don't think it's that much of a weakness as the Baron would have to fail a 2+ Look Out Sir and the fail his 2+ Shadowfield.
This is an interesting tactic, and I don't think it could be done with Reavers, who are too fragile for this (lower save, and no Fortune reroll).
I'm interested to see how this tactic does, but I suspect it doesn't out perform the Baron with Beastmasters.
If you really want this tactic to work I think you need up pay the points and use a seer council rather than the spears.
Rathstar
A thought provoking list! I've recently started to dabble with Dark Eldar and will be running a Duke/Baron combo list to begin with.
ReplyDeleteI've found your blog very informative on Dark Eldar tactics and am looking forward to getting my DE onto the table. Keep up the good work!