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Hi, I'm new to the forum and wanted to ask a question to those Archons and Succubus in here, regarding to the DE gunboat approach


Basically, how do you players go about using them. Do you move your gunboat (Raider with Warrior squad onboard) full first turn to fire second turn or do you look to be firing straight off, etc?

I'm not a DE player, but from a tactical stand point I would say move flat out then next turn shoot. Purely because its unlikely you'll be in a perfect position in the first turn and you can use the move to A) make it harder to kill it and B) get into a perfect position for when you do shoot. Thats my thoughts, a DE player will be along any min to rip my logic to pieces I'm sure...

depends on terrain and what your fighting. a raider with warriors on board, is generally going to be looking for infantry targets, and be very vulnerable to anything str 6 or higher.

so depending on what enemy units or on field, i would look for a move that avoids any LOS to anti tank units. sit back and snipe with the lance for a turn maybe, then zip up and unload.

your gunboat does no good if it drives up, shoots, then gets shot down next turn. so more caution then all out attack is better imho. - that said i prefer venoms over raiders. a 10 man warrior squad with 2 cannons can put out 28 splinter shots, of wich 16 are twin linked. (assuming 10 men, 2 cannons, splinter racks) however you need to be within 12" for those twin linked shots to work, and you can only move 6" a turn. the venom however, can put 12 shots downfield at 36" range, while moving 12" and if it needs to can move 6" and have the occupants add another 8 shots, plus blaster, or cannon etc. the venom unit is 125, vrs the raider unit at over 200. (dont have dex, so im estimating - raider at around 80 with racks/FF, 10 warriors at 100, 2 cannons for 20)

the venom has a little less offensive firepower at that 12" range, but it makes up for it by being less expensive, smaller profile, can move 12" a turn and fire 12 shots at 36" (so you dont need to get up close and personal) and you can have more of them. the only time a raider would be worth it imho, is if you take 9 trueborn with cannons/carbines, and add the duke. but then you are looking at a significant investment in points, and your loosing a squad of blasterborn for more splinter fire, wich really.... you should have in spades already anyway.

Aha, I normally assumed a gunboat as using a 10 man warrior squad in a raider. Actually though, a gunboat squad would be better off being a 5 man warrior squad with a blaster mounted in a venom with two splinter cannons or would it?

yup. 5 warriors, blaster, venom = 125. better range, better firepower when moving 12" and less expensive so more of them.

I personally just shoot everything on first turn to capitalise on using Vect, Flat out will make our skimmers get killed on a 3+ for a pen that gets through. IMO the 4+++ just isn't worth it for that. Besides, if you run Venoms then you have 12 splinter shots at 36". Raiders have another Dark Lance.

Dark Eldar crumble when shot at. Moving flat out gives your opponent an opportunity to shoot you with the units you would have shot at. Ravagers/Blasterborn can't do everything. Instead of defending, try crippling the enemy so you don't have to defend. A well-built DE list will kill about 50% of an opposing army in the first turn, and good target prioritisation means that the opponent's stuff that is left cannot reliably hurt the tanks.

1: You forgot Haemonculi. Us twisted bretheren don't like to e forgotten.

2: Personally I never like to move my skimmers over 12", due to the as-stated-above death on a 3+ / 5+ instead of a 4+ / 6+. IMO, The 4+ cover is rarely worth it, and you have a 5+ invun anyway, and being I have Night Shields on my vehicles, that extra distance is good.

3: It ultimately depends on your playstyle. Whether it be high mobility, alphastrike, the classic lance spam, a variety of glass hammer builds, or a more resilient tide of flesh.

I would say play a few games where you try rushing forward, and then a few more where you try a more reserved approach. Get a feel for your force and how both tactics work for you, then go from there.

4: Vect is really, really expensive for what he does. Especially when you add his pimp mobile. (not that I don't intend to make one and paint it something ridiculous like bright gold....)

I have another question regarding this approach. I've seen the rules for the flickerfied, but am baffled at how an invunerable save would help a vehicle considering that they have AV not armour saves :/

I assume that after the number of glancing/pen hits are determined you get this save, meaning you can limit the amount of damage your vehicle takes.

after you get glanced or penned, you get a 5+ save to negate them. any that fail, roll damage.

ive seen players however, save against each damage result, instead of the glance pen. in the end i think it works pretty much the same... but thats it in a nutshell.

You basically treat it the same as a cover save, but it works in CC aswell.