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I'm interested in whether or not the codex has been successful at bringing Dark Eldar back to the table top. I am still one of two people I know in the whole of my suburb, let alone my city who plays with this race. While I have only ever played warhammer 40,000 since 3rd edition with the dark eldar, the other guy I know started in 4th.

Have you noticed an increase? Are they competitive (tournament level) or more of a social gamer?

We have two players, though both have had them for a while. One bought them as a follow up to his Eldar a couple years back, and the other has been playing them since they came out. And they seem relatively competitive, especially compared to my Dark Angels.

I have like 4 people that have bought and are assembling Dark Eldar armies, but only one that has actually fielded any of them, and he doesn't have anything competitive, he just plays for fun. They can be very competitive if you play them right, but they are also good for building strange lists that people will look at and go, "Huh???"

I saw one the a couple weeks ago, but tbh I don't frequent my FLGS nearly enough to give a comprehensive statistic.

I know I enjoy playing, I'm not a super competitive player myself. I have had two dark eldar armies that played very different, one for the older codex, and my new army for this new 'dex. My tactics haven't changed drastically but it has augmented what I am able to do with the squads I have.

One of the guys in my ad-hoc group plays DE. I'm joining with his DE in a doubles tournament next weekend.

There's a couple at my local, only one's painted though

From what I see, three new players, but one moved away.

Theres a couple of guys playing them at my local club, one had them ages ago but dusted them off and the other has started with the new dex.

At my local GW, which I don't go to very often, there appears to be only 2 DE players, and only one that I have ever seen playing.

I don't go to my local gw much but i can say i am a new DE player and i'm enjoying them immensly, as my first real foray into xenos armies. (I did start nids as a genestealer army but then the new 'dex hit).

This is actually pretty interesting. Most players appear to be people who have played dark eldar previously and have dusted old armies off or started new ones.

I have heard of a lot of new Dark Eldar players, but I've only met... one, maybe.

There's four gaming stores in my area.
My FLGS, Bad Moon, is a little small, but everyone who goes there loves the place. There's me and around 5 other regulars, and I'm the only Dark Eldar player.

The other store, Gamers' Inn, where I go to get all the bitz I need to get super discount armies, has quite a lot of regulars, but as I don't really game there I don't know who's who.

Pop Culture Paradise, the store right off of ASU campus, just recently started stocking GW products, and already there's quite a number of people who go there to play Whorewhammer. There's me, and another guy who's been playing Eldar and Dark Eldar. I think he's been playing DE since before 5th.

Then there's Empire Games, but I haven't been there in months, so I don't know who's who, either.

So, uh, yeah - if there's a glut of new DE players, I have yet to meet them!

OP:

In answer to your first question, the new codex has significantly increased the number of Dark Eldar players. I travel around the United States to play in tournaments. Last year, aside from myself, I saw a single Dark Eldar player in California at the SoCal Slaughter in Space GT, and one more in Atlanta at one of their circuit tournaments.

This year, I often see Dark Eldar at tournaments - at the tournament I attended this past weekend, I was one of three Dark Eldar players in a field of 16 players. I can't pretend to have any statistics, but a good number of current DE players were previous DE players.

In answer to your second question about whether they are competitive or not, they are. Check out the links in my signature to the DE Kabal and Wych cult threads. I'm probably the "winningest" 40k player in the country, maybe the world? And I've primarily done it with Dark Eldar over the past two years.

Dashofpepper wrote:OP:

In answer to your first question, the new codex has significantly increased the number of Dark Eldar players. I travel around the United States to play in tournaments. Last year, aside from myself, I saw a single Dark Eldar player in California at the SoCal Slaughter in Space GT, and one more in Atlanta at one of their circuit tournaments.

This year, I often see Dark Eldar at tournaments - at the tournament I attended this past weekend, I was one of three Dark Eldar players in a field of 16 players. I can't pretend to have any statistics, but a good number of current DE players were previous DE players.

In answer to your second question about whether they are competitive or not, they are. Check out the links in my signature to the DE Kabal and Wych cult threads. I'm probably the "winningest" 40k player in the country, maybe the world? And I've primarily done it with Dark Eldar over the past two years.

I have used your wisdom in the past and looked at it before committing to building my current list, thanks for that! The change from one 'dex to the new one was a little bit of a tactical shock for me. But I have started winning frequently again.

Thank you for responding dash, your answer is very eye opening. As I am not a tournament player myself (i play for the roleplaying/fun side of things) it was interesting to hear a response from someone in the circuit.