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Hi guys,

I have a very specific local meta. IT consists of a number of non-competitive players, then a Death star, a Guy who swaps between deathstar and spam, a nids player and another deathstar (me).

We have had Beasts of Dark Eldar in our meta since the codex came out, with one of my friends making it very hard for us to get wins with his excellently aggressive dark eldar.

Two of my common opponents currently run beast packs, one runs two with 6 flock and 10 khymerae, a farseer and baron in one or other squad. The other plays one unit with two farseers and baron (they're hoping for fortune.)

I'm starting to notice more and more that other people are taking dark eldar's beasts, and that the units as a whole are becoming quite common.

My question is, has this become a standard build component, along with venom spam and wave serpent churning?

Beasts gained 6" of movement on their movement phase move, and ignore all kinds of terrain in 6th edition.

Well, beasts are really fast these days. There are several kinds of beasts out there. Don't forget the Spawn led by a fast HQ.

Dark Eldar Beast Pack became a tournie staple... Spring last year I think. It saw some solid wins late 2012 and then people started using it alot.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, beasts are really fast these days. There are several kinds of beasts out there. Don't forget the Spawn led by a fast HQ.

But they got their speed increase at the start of 6th ed. Have they been a staple since the start of sixth ed?

 Scipio Africanus wrote:

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, beasts are really fast these days. There are several kinds of beasts out there. Don't forget the Spawn led by a fast HQ.

But they got their speed increase at the start of 6th ed. Have they been a staple since the start of sixth ed?

I've been staring down walls of scarabs ever since the option became available. I'm putting together my own Dark Eldar beast pack now, and can't wait to be on the other side of that action.

They look/looked good in the codex. Maybe the goodness really shines with all the psychic buffs?

They've been fairly popular in general since the dawn of 6th (for a while there Invisizoo was one of the nastiest Armies in the game), but have really started to gain popularity in the last few months because they counter a lot of the other top of the meta Armies out there.

With two Bikeseers or one Bikeseer and Eldar they are likely to get Fortune. With a rerollable 4++ Beasts simply do not care about your Ovesastar, your Centurion Deathstar, or whatever other kind of low ap, ignores cover shooting you have out there. They are going to run into your backfield and kill weak units, they are going to tarpit your Riptides or Daemon Princes, they are going to make a muck of things. It's a really cheap unit and it counters a lot of the "top of the meta" type lists really well. If beast stars keep dominating, you might see a shift back to the "mid 6th" style of list, like Pulsebombs and maybe even Ravenwing. But superelite shooting is completely wasted on them.

 Scipio Africanus wrote:

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, beasts are really fast these days. There are several kinds of beasts out there. Don't forget the Spawn led by a fast HQ.

But they got their speed increase at the start of 6th ed. Have they been a staple since the start of sixth ed?

Spawn were absolutely horrible before 6th, and even during it, it wasn't till the 6th edition CSM codex that made them good.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 Scipio Africanus wrote:

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, beasts are really fast these days. There are several kinds of beasts out there. Don't forget the Spawn led by a fast HQ.

But they got their speed increase at the start of 6th ed. Have they been a staple since the start of sixth ed?

Spawn were absolutely horrible before 6th, and even during it, it wasn't till the 6th edition CSM codex that made them good.

Now they are very good when led by a fast HQ.

However, they compete with Helldrakes for the FA slots.

Since the game went shooting heavy throwing an ultra fast unit that is survivable at someone is kind of shocking.

 Ravenous D wrote:
Since the game went shooting heavy throwing an ultra fast unit that is survivable at someone is kind of shocking.

An army with 3 Helldrakes and 3 Maulerfiends (beasts) can also be tough to beat.

 wuestenfux wrote:

 Ravenous D wrote:
Since the game went shooting heavy throwing an ultra fast unit that is survivable at someone is kind of shocking.

An army with 3 Helldrakes and 3 Maulerfiends (beasts) can also be tough to beat.

Exactly. Peoples mind sets haven't changed at all over the years when it comes to this game, you still see people setting up in static gun lines. Disrupt that, and it all comes apart.

 Ravenous D wrote:

 wuestenfux wrote:

 Ravenous D wrote:
Since the game went shooting heavy throwing an ultra fast unit that is survivable at someone is kind of shocking.

An army with 3 Helldrakes and 3 Maulerfiends (beasts) can also be tough to beat.

Exactly. Peoples mind sets haven't changed at all over the years when it comes to this game, you still see people setting up in static gun lines. Disrupt that, and it all comes apart.

Well, I've seen CSM armies with this set up and Necron allies with 2 Night Scythes. Ouch!

Also beast become better with the use of Eldar allies, or as part of an allied force with Eldar.

They are nasty but compete with hellions. I prefer jetbikes myself but i am swayed into getting a decent sized beast pack