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Having a game against very competitive Dark Eldar player tomorrow and I'm kinda wondering what I should take against him. I don't know his list but I expect it to be something like most people post on forums. Based on the models I have this is what I came up with. Any comments/advice?


Captain with Thunderhammer and bolter

Dreadnought with Twin-linked Lascannon and Missilelauncher
Dreadnought with Twin-linked Lascannon and Missilelauncher

10 man Tactical Squad with Missilelauncher and Flamer. Sergeant with chainsword and boltpistol. Rhino with Hunter-Killer missile
10 man Tactical Squad with Missilelauncher and Flamer. Sergeant with chainsword and boltpistol. Rhino with Hunter-Killer missile
5 man Tactical Squad. Sergeant with chainsword and boltpistol. Razorback with Twin-linked Lascannon

Landspeeder Tornado with Heavybolter and Assault Cannon
Landspeeder Tornado with Heavybolter and Assault Cannon
Landspeeder Typhoon

Predator with Auto Cannon, Heavybolter sponsons and Stormbolter
Thunderfire Cannon

Your main priority is taking down his raiders before they can unleash their units, they are only AV10 open topped, so Autocannons are probably your best choice for heavy weapons. Another priority is downing his ravagers before they can cause havok with your armour.

If you can keep him at distance and stop him taking on your army bit by bit then you're taking away his advantage. Castle up and use as much S6-8 weapons to down the paper planes, then flame and bolter your way through the infantry (beware the incubi!).

Relic Blades are enough to instant death our HQ's so the thunder hammer is over kill.
I'd drop the Lascannons for Autocannons if you can and use the points to get a 4++ on your captain.

Hope this helps

Thunder555 wrote:Having a game against very competitive Dark Eldar player tomorrow and I'm kinda wondering what I should take against him. I don't know his list but I expect it to be something like most people post on forums. Based on the models I have this is what I came up with. Any comments/advice?


Captain with Thunderhammer and bolter

Dreadnought with Twin-linked Lascannon and Missilelauncher
Dreadnought with Twin-linked Lascannon and Missilelauncher

10 man Tactical Squad with Missilelauncher and Flamer. Sergeant with chainsword and boltpistol. Rhino with Hunter-Killer missile
10 man Tactical Squad with Missilelauncher and Flamer. Sergeant with chainsword and boltpistol. Rhino with Hunter-Killer missile
5 man Tactical Squad. Sergeant with chainsword and boltpistol. Razorback with Twin-linked Lascannon

Landspeeder Tornado with Heavybolter and Assault Cannon
Landspeeder Tornado with Heavybolter and Assault Cannon
Landspeeder Typhoon

Predator with Auto Cannon, Heavybolter sponsons and Stormbolter
Thunderfire Cannon

The most competitive flavor of DE you are gonna see is raider/venom spam supported by ravagers. The best way to counter this is volume of mid-str shots (Autocannon is gold). Take down his skimmers and it is just cleanup after that.

Your list is actually quite good for facing DE right now. There are things you can do to make it more competitive if you are willing to aquire more kits.

Captain- Captains are no good. Drop him and get a 100pt Librarian with null zone and avenger. Null zone is very nice against DE because it counters their flickerfield saves.

Dreadnoughts- OK loadout, but the ideal loadout is two twin-linked autocannons. The best way to convert this is to buy the aegis defense line, and use the autocannons for the dreadnoughts arms.

Tacticals are good. Flamers are not really necessary as bolters should do the trick when raiders are down. Go with a melta (2+ on damage table against most DE vehicles) and a matching combi-melta. HK is good on rhino for extra long range shot.

Speeders are good, although if you still have the left over parts I would make all 3 speeders into typhoons. They can fire 2 str 8 and 3 str 5 shots when moving 6", or fire 2 frag blasts plus the heavy bolter when moving 12". Very versitile speeder.

Predator is good, but I would drop the thunderfire cannon and pick up a second predator. Storm bolters are not necessary on preds. HK would be better for that initial barrage.

Your list should look something like this:

Librarian, null zone, avenger- 100pts
Dreadnought, 2x TL AC- 125pts
Dreadnought, 2x TL AC- 125pts
10x Marines, melta, combi melta, ML, rhino with HK- 230pts
10x Marines, melta, combi melta, ML, rhino with HK- 230pts
10x Marines, melta, combi melta, ML, rhino with HK- 230pts
Typhoon speeder- 90pts
Typhoon speeder- 90pts
Typhoon speeder- 90pts
Predator, HBs HK- 95pts
Predator, HBs, HK- 95pts


1500 on the nose.

scubasteve04 wrote:Captain- Captains are no good. Drop him and get a 100pt Librarian with null zone and avenger. Null zone is very nice against DE because it counters their flickerfield saves.

+1 this. I'm on board with most of scubasteve04's advice, but the HQ switch to a libby is prolly most important. Make sure he stays in a rhino, that *stays* safe, and offers Null Zone to hobble the wyches and others whose Invulns are 4++ in h2h.

Don't know how much use avenger will be. Unless he brings incubi a flamer is pretty much the same thing, and even if he does, he's gonna see it coming a mile away.

Call me crazy but I suggest null zone/machine curse...

Almarine wrote:Don't know how much use avenger will be. Unless he brings incubi a flamer is pretty much the same thing, and even if he does, he's gonna see it coming a mile away.

Call me crazy but I suggest null zone/machine curse...

So he can use the list as an all-comers. The avenger will auto hit and wound on 2 and kill anything up to incubi so its not terrible. Against a meq army is when it shines.

You should probably listen to scubasteve OP. To be sure, an all-comers list is an admirable ambition to have, and people usually run avenger because it's great. Also, if the guy is really competitive and knows you'll run marines, you probably will have some incubi to fry.

Personally I couldn't pass up such an opportunity to run an unconventional librarian successfully, it would feel just awesome : P

Thanks everyone for the feedback. =) Learned something new again.