Dark Eldar Tactics: Quick Tips.

Dark Eldar Tactics: A few quick tips on how to play (and win) effectively with Dark Eldar.

When I first started Dark Eldar I was entranced with the idea of playing a "glass hammer" army. The problem was, In reality, I really didn't understand what this meant. For the first six months of gaming with them I lost repeatedly through a combination of terrible list design and bad tactics. Recently though, I have begun to win more and more games both socially and competition level.

The codex, in my opinion, is fairly balanced (in that way that we have vicious offence but cardboard defence) and as such falls prey to players believing they can transfer common tactics over to them (like I did). Here are just a few points that changed my win/loss ratio:

They are not marines...........or Eldar.

This sounds obvious but is usually the most common downfall of Dark Eldar players. We do not have reliable armour saves or the ability to re-roll them (barring the Eldar allies shenanigans). If you run your troops out of cover or intentionally move them into range of enemy weapons, they will die. Which brings me on to the next point......  

Survivability.

The best kind of save for Dark Eldar are the ones that never have to be rolled. This comes down to three things:

1. Speed.

Using speed to avoid enemy weapons is our best form of defence. A Ravager can move 12" and still fire all of its weapons which means if you find yourself being rapid fired by bolters you have serious problems.

2. Line of sight.

What better kind of protection is there than your enemy not being able to see your models? Best used for raiders zooming across the battle field.

3. Night Shields.

Take them on ALL your non assault carrying vehicles....no excuses. 6" may not seem like a lot at first but it becomes hilariously frustrating for an opponent without many long range weapons or when someone realises that their Melta range has been halved.

4. Measuring.

Pre-measure everything. You need to measure and move so that your enemies guns are useless in their shooting phase. This is simple if you are facing Necrons but more difficult against long range armies.  

5. Cover.

If your battlefield has 4+ ruins on it, get your vehicles behind them. For the facings on a raider and ravager, check out:

http://www.thedarkcity.net/t4106-1-coversave-on-facing-question

If you are not getting a cover save from terrain, you need to either be moving constantly (which you already should be!) or equip vehicles with flicker fields.

I will be start a Dark Eldar tactics page and post/edit it as we progress over time. We should also see an Imperial guard guide in the near future.