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So I recently was given a box of kabalite warriors, and well figured I'd try them out! I've always played marines, and have no real experience with xenos at all. I've read on 1d4chan that they're pretty glass cannoney (spelling?) and really hurt if played badly, but they look cool and well it's time for a change! What would be a good starting point? Same friend who gave me the warriors, also plans to sell me his raider, scourges, and an archon; or am I better off going with a start collecting box, and when they're out grabbing a few of those troops/transport boxes, and maybe even that gangs of commoraugh when it's released? Also and last question shooty or melee archon?

 Cptskillet wrote:
So I recently was given a box of kabalite warriors, and well figured I'd try them out! I've always played marines, and have no real experience with xenos at all. I've read on 1d4chan that they're pretty glass cannoney (spelling?) and really hurt if played badly, but they look cool and well it's time for a change! What would be a good starting point? Same friend who gave me the warriors, also plans to sell me his raider, scourges, and an archon; or am I better off going with a start collecting box, and when they're out grabbing a few of those troops/transport boxes, and maybe even that gangs of commoraugh when it's released? Also and last question shooty or melee archon?

It depends on how much he'll price you those things, For 65 euros/80 dollars you get an archon, a raider, 10 kabalites and 3 bikes. reaver jetbikes are amongst the best units of the codex. Now, if it's a reasonable price then go and buy his stuff. Raiders aren't particularly great and I've seen that more competitive lists revolve around venomspam rather than raider spam.



Shooty. And not too expensive.

Lord Kragan wrote:

 Cptskillet wrote:
So I recently was given a box of kabalite warriors, and well figured I'd try them out! I've always played marines, and have no real experience with xenos at all. I've read on 1d4chan that they're pretty glass cannoney (spelling?) and really hurt if played badly, but they look cool and well it's time for a change! What would be a good starting point? Same friend who gave me the warriors, also plans to sell me his raider, scourges, and an archon; or am I better off going with a start collecting box, and when they're out grabbing a few of those troops/transport boxes, and maybe even that gangs of commoraugh when it's released? Also and last question shooty or melee archon?

It depends on how much he'll price you those things, For 65 euros/80 dollars you get an archon, a raider, 10 kabalites and 3 bikes. reaver jetbikes are amongst the best units of the codex. Now, if it's a reasonable price then go and buy his stuff. Raiders aren't particularly great and I've seen that more competitive lists revolve around venomspam rather than raider spam.



Shooty. And not too expensive.

Ah, not melee cause str3 no bueno right? Idk anything about the scourges either, I was also eyeballing that boxed game coming out for maximum bikes. I'm looking at playing smaller games, like maybe 1000pts.

Good luck with your Aeldari. The trick is not to get shot

 oldzoggy wrote:
Good luck with your Aeldari. The trick is not to get shot

Actually I read that dark eldar aren't getting that treatment, though grain of salt and I'll try not to get shot.

My guess is that there will not be dark eldar and eldar past the campaign but just Aeldari space nuns and kinky Aeldari.

Gangs of Commoragh seems like an astoundingly good deal. Hellions are kinda gak, but they are some pretty cool models. Reavers are amazing, they hit hard, are pants-crappingly fast, and can be basically used for anything (harassing, JSJ shooting, bubblewrap, Objective taking, etc etc)

Dark eldar at their core are a melee army, at least in this addition. My DE list uses grotesques to make space and take fire off of my venoms and other shooting units. The grotesques do most of the heavy lifting though.

Most DE lists seem to revolve around taking objectives and scaring the opponent, they very much so rely on mind games, and its incredibly fun to pull a win with them.

Theres also like a 10 page tactica discussion that has been going on in the tactics section for a bit if you want some more advanced strategies and tactics. Normally, I would recommend ID4chan, but I honestly hate their DE article, quite a bit of misinformation and misevaluation of units, not a personal attack on the author(s) just my $0.02

Ok, I'll go look at this tactica thread thanks!

In short:

Lhamaeans, Haemonculi and Succubi are our best HQ's. Lhamaeans are only 10pts so a minimul tax, Succubi can be very killy for only 100pts but don't expect them to hold up to Space Marine Captains and other 200pt kitted out characters, they're double the points for a reason. Haemonculi can do OK with Scissorhands but work more in support of Grotesques. Our other choices can be fun but most of the time wont be worth it, the only time to bothe with Archons is when running a Purge Cotorie formation from the Start Collecting box, where he hands out Prefered Enemy.

Troops wise, Wyches are terrible, just don't bother with them. The Venom is a better choice than the Raider normally thanks to duel Splinter Cannons, so you'll be looking at running 5 man squads of Kabalites in Venoms.

Elites have got good choices. Incubi can be a little squishy but very killy, WS5, S4, AP2 at I5 with 2A means a 5 man unit (or 4 with a Succubus) can butcher their way through marine units without much trouble. Just remember that they can't really take a hit back and have no assault grenades. We're not marines and don't get all the good stuff for free. Grotesques are amazing, S5, T5, 3W with FnP and 5 attacks each on the charge minimum and Poison (4+) and ID on 6's means they can deal with most things short of Wulfen and TWolf Cavalry. Trueborn can be a good shooty unit as they can take 4 special weapons per squad. Mandrakes can be good at Objective holding in cover for friendlier games.

For Fast Attack Reavers are the best unit in the codex, always take Cluster Caltrops and sometimes special weapons can work out for them as well. Scourge are arguably our best anti-tank, either with Haywire or Melta, but it's best to treat them as a suicide unit.

For Heavy Support the Talos is our best choice, it's shooting is mostly mediocre poison shots, but in combat it will tear apart infantry squads, Riptides, Kastellans and anything that doesn't have the massive stats of Daemon MC's or easy access to Instant Death. Cronos is good for support due to the +1 to FnP it can hand out. Ravagers are poor, lance shooting is poor anti-tank all round but with Disintegrators can be useful at anti elite infantry work.

Also, the formations from the Haemonculus Covens are absolutely awesome.

If you are interested in lots of CC or any of the HC units, then it is a must buy. The Dark Artisan, Grotesquerie, and Corpsetheif Claw are all very competitive choices.

All silly name jokes aside, you might want to wait for the next book until you invest too much in units because they are good instead of cool. Since the next eldar possy book might just shuffle some things around.

Lets be honest here, the next campaign book might give us some new formations and even characters but good units are still going to be good and bad units will still be bad. Anyone expecting a comprehensive shift in how units work for DE will have to wait until 8th edition.

Yea, I'm not looking to be super competitive. Just looking for an understanding and where to start with them. Thanks all for the advice.