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Yo, was here a little while ago saying I was going nids. Well I decided to wait till the DE codex came first, and god damn! I love their units! So have switched to the "dark" side as it were.

Only issue is, I'm a helpless noob and, aside from a warrior, and wych squad, as well as a transport, I've no clue what I should buy.

I would buy some stress balls first if I were you, good luck playing an army so difficult it tells you in it's own book.

But really it depends on what your playstyle is mainly, and you can't go wrong with using units that look epic, although if you ask me you should buy 30 Mandrakes just because : )

If you like the hobby, dont buy dark eldar first.

get helions they are apsolutly epic

Namica wrote:Yo, was here a little while ago saying I was going nids. Well I decided to wait till the DE codex came first, and god damn! I love their units! So have switched to the "dark" side as it were.

Only issue is, I'm a helpless noob and, aside from a warrior, and wych squad, as well as a transport, I've no clue what I should buy.

Warriors, wyches, Archon and raider will start you nicely due to being able to swap parts onto the Archon model with little difficulty. Once you have enough points and models for doing combat patrols start experimenting with setups before you invest in a 1000-2000 point army. There are many options to field and its up to you to find what you prefer the most that suits you. Dark Eldar were my first army and have been my favourite in 40k these last 8 or so years. If you can get used to their tactics and abilities they will reward you greatly. And so far I don't see that changing in this codex.

Namica wrote:Yo, was here a little while ago saying I was going nids. Well I decided to wait till the DE codex came first, and god damn! I love their units! So have switched to the "dark" side as it were.

Only issue is, I'm a helpless noob and, aside from a warrior, and wych squad, as well as a transport, I've no clue what I should buy.

Personally I'd reccomend CSM to start. Nice simple codex, still pretty competitive. I am also hopelessly biased in favor of chaos.

Namica wrote:Yo, was here a little while ago saying I was going nids. Well I decided to wait till the DE codex came first, and god damn! I love their units! So have switched to the "dark" side as it were.

Only issue is, I'm a helpless noob and, aside from a warrior, and wych squad, as well as a transport, I've no clue what I should buy.

Don't listen to them, DE can be a pretty good army even for a beginner - just keep it simple to start.

Simplest is the "Gun Line" DE, where you use its formidable firepower to subdue enemies at long range befiore closing in for the kill. Key to this is a wealth of dark lances and splinter cannons, the rule of thumb is 1 D/L per 100 pts.

I don't know how many points you will field, but a Ravager and a Warrior squad w/ Splinter Cannon & Blaster on a Raider w D/L, and a decent H2H unit for every 500 pts is a start (LOrd, Incubi and Raider for the first 500 pts).

agroszkiewicz wrote:

Namica wrote:Yo, was here a little while ago saying I was going nids. Well I decided to wait till the DE codex came first, and god damn! I love their units! So have switched to the "dark" side as it were.

Only issue is, I'm a helpless noob and, aside from a warrior, and wych squad, as well as a transport, I've no clue what I should buy.

Personally I'd reccomend CSM to start. Nice simple codex, still pretty competitive. I am also hopelessly biased in favor of chaos.

As much as I like the concept of Chaos, I only really like their bad ass HQ units.

I like nids as well, but there are various problems I had with them that I don't with DE (cost, uniformity, no vehicles)

I really like Orks as well, but I've a friend into this who is also Ork, and think it'd be kinda weird to have alot of my fights being greenskin v greenskin. I know they are heavily customizable, but still. I like the Orks vehicles, most of their units, and general feel, I just don't want to do the same thing as my friend.


So it leaves DE, I like just about every units in their army aside from the Talos Pain Engine (I was going to get a wraithlord and customize it as a proxy talos), and the Haemonculus. I like the sound of their style to, hit fast, hard, and hope you can hit fast and hard enough right?

Greenskin VS Greenskin sounds fun! I guess you could always model you orks on a specific clan to differentiate them more. Though if you enjoy it go for it.

Hmm Dark Eldar are tricky to play at first, Well to start an Archon will be a very good choice, more warriors and raiders too (or more wyches if you like) lances and splinter cannons (also raiders) will be your best friends. Also dont worry DE arent this insanely hard army that many portray them as it just requires that extra bit of thought so even a beginner can understand their playstyle easily. However another thing you have to understand with the DE is you need to use cover I cannot stress this enough, also you have to be willing to take risks with them also for your heavies I'd suggest a ravager it has great anti-tank (can be changed to great anti-infantry S5 AP2 Assault3? Might be Heavy 3) but it has three guns and it can move 12 inches and shoot everything not to mention both its guns have 36inch range so its very beginner friendly and cheap add a sail and nightfield onto that sucker and your enemy will have a hard time keeping it within their range!

Also final note all of their units arent all-purpose troops per-se they generally focus on anti-infantry or pure anti-tank capitalise on that it is your absolute greatest asset, and beware of your speed while it is a huge thing for DE it can also be your demise if not used properly.
Goodluck out there always great to see a new DE player also be sure to give those lesser being hell

Lexx wrote:Greenskin VS Greenskin sounds fun! I guess you could always model you orks on a specific clan to differentiate them more. Though if you enjoy it go for it.

Oh, I had intended on doing such, was going to make them a luck based clan, lots of blue and what not, each Ork having a blue streak down their face over their eye in the least.

The issue is, we both like alot of the same stuff, bikes and tanks, so our armies would have been very alike XD


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Really, I'm just doing a small army, 1k at most, something as cheap as possible, why?


I'm always the holy sort of player in games and what not. Once the new SoB come out, I'll likely fall into that full force.

I know SM is the cheapest, but they turn me off, THAT MUCH.

Namica wrote:
I know SM is the cheapest, but they turn me off, THAT MUCH.

I wouldn't say cheapest really. I think that Orks, Nids, and Chaos fill that bill due to the fact that with Nid's and Chaos you can honestly end up using almost an entire kit building things if you have some imagination. More bitz used = more cost effecient!

Orks are similar except from what I've seen its geared more towards the building of vehicles and structures. Anyone who has purchased a Land Raider can see the advantages in ramshackle plasticard that actually ends up looking good.

Necrons are also a very cheap starter army...and there is always eBay - try and buy an entire army


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Namica wrote:
So it leaves DE, I like just about every units in their army aside from the Talos Pain Engine (I was going to get a wraithlord and customize it as a proxy talos), and the Haemonculus. I like the sound of their style to, hit fast, hard, and hope you can hit fast and hard enough right?

Too many DE noobs think that "hit hard" means go in early with the n2h - DE work best if you spend 3 bounds at 36" range just shooting everything. A typical DE outfit will have (at 1000 pts) 9 Dark lances and 3 Splinter Cannons at least....that's 6 x 8/2 D/L hits and 4-6 Splinter Cannon wounds a bound - multiply that by 3 bounds and you can see there is a whole world of shooty "hit hard" to do first (For example, vs Orks that is every vehicle and probably an entire mob off the table). With the DE speed you have plenty of time in bounds 3 - 6 to charge things, shot in first of course.

If you have your heart set on the DE, get the codex first and take a look at what you want. Also, if you can, try and convert your Archon from Warriors to make the cost a little bit cheaper (you can use the rest of the warriors to reinforce other squads and the like). Kabalite Warriors and/or Wyches are a must, since they will form the backbone of your army and the kits can also be used as Trueborn Kabalite and BloodBrides respectively.

Well freecloud is just espousing the old DE DL spam. It has it's place, but if you are thinking a small force at the start, it's quite impractical. What's nice about the new DE codex is you're going to have to play around w/ various things.

If it were me, I'd say take 2 Haemonoculi, 9 man Warrior Squad in Raider, 9 man Wych Squad in Raider and a Ravager for heavy. Attach the Haemi's to the Troop squads. Without looking and figuring out exact points that's somewhere around 600 pts. Gear will drive up the cost ofc.

Above that is where you'll get some choices that will reflect your play style. Trueborn in Raiders would be an excellent option at this point maybe 2 to get up to 1k pts.

Rymafyr wrote:Well freecloud is just espousing the old DE DL spam. It has it's place, but if you are thinking a small force at the start, it's quite impractical. What's nice about the new DE codex is you're going to have to play around w/ various things.

I am using the classic DE Gun Line army, but my point is that it is a fairly easy to master and a pretty darn useful DE army. For 1000 pts I would field as a starter army:

HQ - Archon, Shadowfield, Agoniser + 4 Incubi, Venom w/2 Splitercannon

Troops

- 1 unit of 10 Wyches, incl Hex w/Blast Blast Psitol, Raider w/Dark lance
- 2 units of 10 warriors w/Blaster, Splinter Cannon on Raider w/Dark lance

Heavy weapons - 2 Ravagers

That gives a long range strike of 9 Dark lances + 3 closer range D/L weapons and 4 Splinter cannons - 3 bounds of taht is going to really hurt any 1000pt army - and then to attack you have a unit of wyches and a pretty tough Lord & Retinue. If I were a advising a DE noob this is what I'd suggest they start with. Once you've mastered it, add/replace other units eg the Wyches are a strike unit, feel free to replace with one of your own chiice. I find the DE overall are so quick that "fast attack" units are not that useful.

One of the most exciting new units in my opinion is the Hellion Special Character.
You could base your army around him.
Whatever you do, make sure every singly one of your units either fly's or has a transport.

Gutsnagga wrote:One of the most exciting new units in my opinion is the Hellion Special Character.
You could base your army around him.
Whatever you do, make sure every singly one of your units either fly's or has a transport.

I definitely agree with this. Dark Eldar have great mobility and it's a waste not capitalizing on this to the fullest. Webway portals can also be used but are very risky due to focus firing the bearer before its deployed or blocking off the portal so reserves cant enter play.

For troops,a good direction to head is a couple of squads each of Warriors and Wyches, all with raiders.