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I was thinking of an army that No one else around my area plays. Around my general area. Medford Oregon is nothing BUT Tau and Space Marines from what I have heard. Maybe one out of ten or so has a different army. Eagle Point what very few plays. (like 6-7) are mostly orc players. We have one Eldar player, I know someone who plays Chaos space Marines and someone who wants to play Necrons and we had someone who wanted to play Tyranids but we banned him from the shop even after countless warnings about behavior...I and the owners of the Shop are close to DCI black listing him.

Anyway. I want to play an army no one else I know of plays. Dark Eldar are something I heard about that no one else does. How good are they? What are their strong points and are they a good army to play?

New codex out for them in early 2010 so wait and see...

At the moment I presume they are horrible since they haent had a codex since 2nd edition

They are very fragile and high point cost, but can bring the pain in the form of a lot of dark lances, incubus + Drachon chanrges, and raider spam. They aren't too bad, but some of their units are useless and they have some outdated wargear; I've heard they have ugly as sin models as well.

They've got ugly models, some useless gear, but also some outdated gear ala Space Wolves (2+ invuls for you HQ? Hellz yeah). Because they are so fragile, they require a VERY good player. They're probably the single least forgiving army in 40k. I don't recommend them for you until you can place well at 'Ard Boyz with another army or something.

Dark Eldar are an effective army in the hands of an experienced player. They are the opposite of a beginners army. They handle like Eldar without the safety nets. Extreamly powerful but punishing of the slightest error.
The model line is horrible however. Some of the sculpts are just terrible. There is an ever present rumour that they are getting a new codex just after (insert codex name here).

SgtDavi wrote:New codex out for them in early 2010 so wait and see...

At the moment I presume they are horrible since they haven't had a codex since 2nd edition

Youd be surprised. With the right list, and a capable player, the DE can seriously rip the gak out of other armies. They are basically an all or nothing type of race.

SgtDavi wrote:New codex out for them in early 2010 so wait and see...

Correction: Early 2010 is the earliest possible date that they could come out, but nothing confirmed yet. Unless Reds8n said something I missed, I wouldn't be surprised if they got put off until 2011.

captain.gordino wrote:

SgtDavi wrote:New codex out for them in early 2010 so wait and see...

Correction: Early 2010 is the earliest possible date that they could come out, but nothing confirmed yet. Unless Reds8n said something I missed, I wouldn't be surprised if they got put off until 2011.

GW said that DE were at least a year away, a month or so ago, so I'd read that at late 2010 as the earliest they could appear.

As GW said they shelved the DE project, one presumes GW is once again embarking on an all-new Codex that cannot appear for at least 2 more years.

That said, the DE are still a strong army list. Just don't expect any help or updates from GW, and you'll be fine.

Dark eldar are tough to play.
The basic troop model are rather ugly.
The have no support from GW (update, codex, no new model) for the last 267 years.
So few person love them.

Also, they will be update in 2094. Probably. Maybe they will push the DE update to 2095, so 2094 will see a new SM codex.

Am I the only one who likes the DE models?????

But yes, from what I've heard DE are an all or nothing race. You either win big, or lose big.

i remember hearing about one DE amy that ended up getting banned from the local GW because it won all the time

Yeah, my GW has a similar story. We have two semi-TFGs, both nice guys, but one runs DE Lance Spam (back when it actually worked in 4th Edition) and a drop Smurfs. Both of their lists got sort of banned because one of the two always won, and the DE player went to Tau while the SM just switched to Salamanders with the new codex.

I don't mind the models of the Dark Eldar either...except that they're still sporting a great deal of metal - then again, so does my CSM list.

As far as the army goes, it was my first codex purchased and thus, I was expecting so much out of it. I was sorely disappointed (where is the fluff??).

I was disuaded from actually collecting the army because I just didn't see me being able to work with the list. I really liked the Wych cult units, but the army would be as small or smaller than space marines and die a whollllle lot quicker.

All that being said, I played a DE player at a tournament last year and he whomped my orks.

yani wrote:Dark Eldar are an effective army in the hands of an experienced player. They are the opposite of a beginners army. They handle like Eldar without the safety nets. Extreamly powerful but punishing of the slightest error.
The model line is horrible however. Some of the sculpts are just terrible. There is an ever present rumour that they are getting a new codex just after (insert codex name here).

Space Wolves, something unknown and never before seen, Necrons. THEN Dark Eldar.

I have done very well with my Dark Eldar since 5th edition came out. I have won both peliminary 'Ard Boyz rounds, alot of local tournies, took best general at the Kalm Before the Waaagh and tied for Best general at the Battle for Stones River. The problem is, my list is pretty much consists of my hqs and 3-4 different units repeated over and over again. Troops=squads in raiders, Elites=wyches in raiders, Heavy=Ravagers with x3 dissintegrators. Sure there is some variance (some of the raider squads have splinter cannon and blaster, others have dark lances) but not alot.

They are most certainly a paper tiger. They can rip your face off with shooting or close combat, but they take hits like a tissue in a hurricane.