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You still haven't answered the question. If I don't take an Archon how are you activating the Retainers rule and what rules are you using to govern its effect?

Like for instance Hatred (Orks) doesn't do anything when Orks aren't present. How is Retainers doing something when an Archon isn't present?

 BlackTalos wrote:
Please read the post you are Quoting. I did not paraphrase or even quote the techmarine rule.

My apologies. I knew that the first person I quoted was the one to do that, but I carelessly used the name of my post's first person (which would be you, since you were quoting SharkoutofWata). My mistake.

 BlackTalos wrote:
The exact rule you posted is clear: Without another HQ, you may not select a techmarine as your only HQ.

I agree, which is why I stepped in when it was (somewhat incorrectly quoted) to say the opposite.

Completely re-wording a rule often changes its meaning, even if it does not seem that way to you.

It does not seem to me that my re-wording of the rule changes its meaning in any way; it just makes it easier to understand. However, I would say that, wouldn't I?

 FlingitNow wrote:
You still haven't answered the question. If I don't take an Archon how are you activating the Retainers rule and what rules are you using to govern its effect?

Like for instance Hatred (Orks) doesn't do anything when Orks aren't present. How is Retainers doing something when an Archon isn't present?

It's not a question of activating a rule (What does that even mean?). It's a question of having to follow a rule (per RaW).

When you are fighting Orks, Hatred (Orks) is a rule in play for the unit with Hatred, even if you choose not to re-roll.
When you take a Court, Retainers is a rule in play for the Court, even if you choose not to take the Court.

When there are no Orks, can you choose to re-roll because you have Hatred (Orks)? Say if you have a Blast weapon that simply needs "the ability to re-roll". Fighting Eldar, can you re-roll your blast weapon?
When there is no Archon, can you choose to field a Court on its own? Say you choose to field a Court per normal means as an HQ. With no Archon, can you take a Court?

For consistency, both situations need the same Yes or No answer.

 BlackTalos wrote:

blaktoof wrote:
You can count it as a slot other than the slot it normally is if you have 30 termagants.

this does not mean you cannot take a tervigon unless you take 30 termagants, as no such rule exists anywhere.

Thanks Blaktoof, such a simple example has solved the issue. (To me anyway) Meks, Techmarines and Lone wolves are still on the other side though (just in case this is quoted)

I case you missed the above post, i stand by my logic, but precedence of the Tervigon has swayed what the RaI should be.

By very similar wording it seems that the Retainers rule was meant to work in the same way as the Rule posted by Blaktoof. The Court HQ can be taken on its own or in addition to an Archon with a new set of permissions.

Now do you simply debate/argue for the sake of it, or is there another reason i missed?

It's not a question of activating a rule (What does that even mean?). It's a question of having to follow a rule (per RaW). 

When you are fighting Orks, Hatred (Orks) is a rule in play for the unit with Hatred, even if you choose not to re-roll. 
When you take a Court, Retainers is a rule in play for the Court, even if you choose not to take the Court. 

When there are no Orks, can you choose to re-roll because you have Hatred (Orks)? Say if you have a Blast weapon that simply needs "the ability to re-roll". Fighting Eldar, can you re-roll your blast weapon? 
When there is no Archon, can you choose to field a Court on its own? Say you choose to field a Court per normal means as an HQ. With no Archon, can you take a Court? 

For consistency, both situations need the same Yes or No answer. 

Right so by activate the rule I mean apply its effect. What is the effect of Retainers when an Archon isn't present? Where are you finding those rules?

Normally you can take a HQ choice, Retainers modifies how that works if you have an Archon.

Normally you roll to hit at your I step in CC, Hatred (Orks) modifies how that works if you are fighting Orks.

Your assertation that no Archon means you can't take a HQ, is the same as saying no Orks means you can't strike blows. Do you really play that Hatred (Orks) prevents you from striking blows against non-Ork models? Really?

 FlingitNow wrote:


Right so by activate the rule I mean apply its effect. What is the effect of Retainers when an Archon isn't present? Where are you finding those rules?

Normally you can take a HQ choice, Retainers modifies how that works if you have an Archon.

Normally you roll to hit at your I step in CC, Hatred (Orks) modifies how that works if you are fighting Orks.

Your assertation that no Archon means you can't take a HQ, is the same as saying no Orks means you can't strike blows. Do you really play that Hatred (Orks) prevents you from striking blows against non-Ork models? Really?

I have never asserted that no Archon means you can't take a HQ. I asserted that "Retainers" is a rule which needs an Archon to be valid. No Archon, no Court. Because a Court without Archon cannot "apply the effects" of Retainers.

Hatred (Orks) works in the same way, although there is no choice (that Retainers has). It is a Rule which need Orks to be valid. No Orks, no Hatred. Because Hatred (Orks) when fighting Eldar cannot "apply the effects" of Hatred.

This has nothing to do with "Normally you roll to hit at your I step in CC". Hatred is not even an "option" Rule like Retainers is, using it as an example was to address another point even though you now seem focused on this.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BlackTalos wrote:

 FlingitNow wrote:

So how are you activating the Retainers rule if I don't have an Archon? What rules are you using to determine the effect of Retainers when an Archon is not taken?

How are you activating the Deep Strike rule if you are not allowed reserves? What rules are you using to determine the effect of Deep Strike when Reserves are forbidden?
How are you activating the Hatred(Orks) rule if I don't have Orks? What rules are you using to determine the effect of Hatred(Orks) when there is no Orks?


Easy!

No Archon = no Court. Pick another HQ
No Reserves = No Deep Strike. Deploy them on the Board.
No Orks enemies = No Hatred(Orks). Find an Ork opponent.

Here's the original point that was made. You were asking "how the Retainers rule works without an Archon". Simple answer: It doesn't. You can't have a Court without an Archon.
Just like Hatred(Orks) doesn't work on Eldar. You can't re-roll failed To Hit rolls against Eldar (or claim a Blast Re-roll).

Retainers rule works without an Archon". Simple answer: It doesn't. You can't have a Court without an Archon.
Just like Hatred(Orks) doesn't work on Eldar. You can't re-roll failed To Hit rolls against Eldar (or claim a Blast Re-roll).

So all units with Hatred (Orks) now can't be used at all against a non-Ork army? Because you're not saying you can use Retainers without an Archon you're saying you can't use the default action of selecting a unit (in this case the Court, in the Hatred example it would be rolling to hit) without an Archon.

What does retainers do when you don't have an Archon. That is the question. Now please answer it.

Hatred (Orks) when there are no Orks does nothing. Agreed? So retainers what does retainers do when there is no Archom?

 FlingitNow wrote:

Retainers rule works without an Archon". Simple answer: It doesn't. You can't have a Court without an Archon.
Just like Hatred(Orks) doesn't work on Eldar. You can't re-roll failed To Hit rolls against Eldar (or claim a Blast Re-roll).

So all units with Hatred (Orks) now can't be used at all against a non-Ork army? Because you're not saying you can use Retainers without an Archon you're saying you can't use the default action of selecting a unit (in this case the Court, in the Hatred example it would be rolling to hit) without an Archon.

What does retainers do when you don't have an Archon. That is the question. Now please answer it.

Hatred (Orks) when there are no Orks does nothing. Agreed? So retainers what does retainers do when there is no Archom?

Agreed for Hatred.
When you have a Unit of Court of the Archon on the table, when there is no Archon, have you followed the Retainers rule?
Pretty graph comes back: "Retainers" is in Orange. Yes/No is the may/ may not option in the Rule.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ghaz wrote:

The Scuttling Swarm: For every Termagant Brood of 30 models included in your army, you can include one Tervigon as a troops choice instead of an HQ choice.

The highlighted is giving you an alternative option to field a Tervigon as a troops choice as 'can' is often used in place of 'may' and the definition of 'instead of' is "... As a substitute or alternative to; in place of..." The wording for the 'Retainers' rule lacks the '... can... instead of...' wording.

Actually, this is the perfect example. I retract my concession from that rule.

"Mekaniaks", "Master of the Forge", "Retainers" are all, as you said quite well If / Then statements.

The "If" part is a compulsory requirement (Special Rule) for the optional "Then".

Same as Hatred(Orks) - The Unit with that rule is forced to use the Hatred rule. You can't face Orks and decide that you don't want to re-roll. The "If" statement is compulsory.
You can't decide "Oh i'm against Orks, but the "if" is optional so i'll decide to not re-roll"
"Oh, I have no Archon, but the "if" is optional so i'll decide to not make the choice to take Slot-less".

Nice graph, and makes the point perfectly. I choose to stick to the left of it and completely ignore the retainers rule since it does not come into play as I answered no to Archon as HQ.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually Mekaniks is worded differently and cannot use the same graph as displayed for the court. You would have to say yes to the other HQ first.

deevil wrote:
Nice graph, and makes the point perfectly. I choose to stick to the left of it and completely ignore the retainers rule since it does not come into play as I answered no to Archon as HQ.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually Mekaniks is worded differently and cannot use the same graph as displayed for the court. You would have to say yes to the other HQ first.

Thank you. The part of the post i highlighted is what Ghaz & I (&Others) disagree upon. Can I "completely ignore" the Gets Hot rule? (Or any other Special Rule?)
"completely ignoring" a Rule is not how we believe you play 40k.

As for mekaniaks, not really:

Replace "Is it an Archon?" with "Is it a Mek?" and swap Yes/No around for it. Same situation.

If you don't roll to hit with a gets hot weapon then yes you completely ignore the Gets Hot rule. I wonder why you think this is incorrect? Just like you ignore Hatred (Orks) when not fighting Orks.

 FlingitNow wrote:
If you don't roll to hit with a gets hot weapon then yes you completely ignore the Gets Hot rule. I wonder why you think this is incorrect? Just like you ignore Hatred (Orks) when not fighting Orks.

Basically, it comes down to this, being an If/Then, the "Retainers" rule contains an "If": "For each Archon included in a Detachment" or, in the case of the other 2:
"For each HQ choice in your army" (Techmarine)
"For each HQ choice in a Detachment" (Mek)

Followed by a "Then":
"the Detachment can include a Court of the Archon that(...)"
"you may include a Techmarine"
"you may include a single Mek chosen from this datasheet."

The "Then" is a choice, but the "If" is compulsory. Just like Hatred and the other Examples. "If" CC V Orks "then" re-roll. You can't decide to ignore the "If" clause.

"If not" Orks, you don't get the "then" re-roll.
"If not" Archon, you don't get the "then" Court.

You can't field a Unit with Hatred(Orks) in their profile, and decide you will ignore the "If" clause. Just like you can't put a Court Unit with "Retainers" in their profile, and decide you will ignore the "If" clause. Simple logic & consistency.

"If not" Orks, you don't get the "then" re-roll. 
"If not" Archon, you don't get the "then" Court without taking up a HQ slot. 

FTFY

This is the issue you are ignoring what the then is and choosing it to be something entirely different. The then is not taking a court but taking a court with out it taking up a HQ slot.

If I take an Archon, the Retainers rule allows me the option of taking a Court of the Archon without using an HQ slot.

If I take an Archon, the BRB allows me the option as a seperate action to take a Court of the Archon which uses an HQ slot.

If I don't take an Archon, the BRB allows me the option as a seperate action to take a Court of the Archon which uses an HQ slot.

There is no rule anywhere that says the equivalent of "If you take an Archon in your army list, all Courts of the Archon must be slotless and chosen using the Retainers rule."

There is no rule anywhere that says the equivalent of "If you don't take an Archon in your army list, you may not use the standard methods in the BRB to take a Court of the Archon."

The BRB presents method A for selecting a Court of the Archon.

The Codex presents method B for selecting a Court of the Archon.

There is no contradiction, therefore basic versus advanced does not come into play.

You have two methods to select a Court of the Archon. One uses an HQ slot while the other doesn't.

I have yet to see a single rules citation that revokes the permission granted in the BRB to select a Court as normal OR a single rules citation pointing out a basic versus advanced contradiction that would invalidate the BRB method.

 Kriswall wrote:
If I take an Archon, the Retainers rule allows me the option of taking a Court of the Archon without using an HQ slot.

If I take an Archon, the BRB allows me the option as a seperate action to take a Court of the Archon which uses an HQ slot.

If I don't take an Archon, the BRB allows me the option as a seperate action to take a Court of the Archon which uses an HQ slot.

There is no rule anywhere that says the equivalent of "If you take an Archon in your army list, all Courts of the Archon must be slotless and chosen using the Retainers rule."

There is no rule anywhere that says the equivalent of "If you don't take an Archon in your army list, you may not use the standard methods in the BRB to take a Court of the Archon."

The BRB presents method A for selecting a Court of the Archon.

The Codex presents method B for selecting a Court of the Archon.

There is no contradiction, therefore basic versus advanced does not come into play.

You have two methods to select a Court of the Archon. One uses an HQ slot while the other doesn't.

I have yet to see a single rules citation that revokes the permission granted in the BRB to select a Court as normal OR a single rules citation pointing out a basic versus advanced contradiction that would invalidate the BRB method.

This. This this this this this.
I think it's as simple as Kriswall puts it; The Court has its own Datasheet in the Codex, therefore you're allowed to take it as an HQ slot with or without an Archon present.
If you weren't, it wouldn't have the little HQ symbol in the top corner telling you which slot it takes.

Unfortunately, the icon is not an indicator.
In 6th Edition, when this was a less of an issue as the answer was more obvious, these Units will still be found listed under HQ or Fast or Heavy headings. When Game Workshop changed the format to datasheets, instead of grouping these Army Lists together under a heading, they did not remove the previous Battlefield Roles these Units held. Simply because they are following the new format and have an icon does not mean anything for the way the Rules interact with that Battlefield Role.

JinxDragon wrote:
Unfortunately, the icon is not an indicator.
In 6th Edition, when this was a less of an issue as the answer was more obvious, these Units will still be found listed under HQ or Fast or Heavy headings. When Game Workshop changed the format to datasheets, instead of grouping these Army Lists together under a heading, they did not remove the previous Battlefield Roles these Units held. Simply because they are following the new format and have an icon does not mean anything for the way the Rules interact with that Battlefield Role.

Um... it means everything. Are you arguing that the actual details on the unit entry be ignored? I'm confused.

Which units can fill the mandatory and optional HQ slots? The ones with HQ icons. The icon is absolutely important.

Kriswall,
The point of my post was to correct this:
If you weren't, it wouldn't have the little HQ symbol in the top corner telling you which slot it takes.

The Icon alone is not enough to indicate what the Authors Intent, as a HQ choice could very well still have a Rule which states 'can only be taken if X is present in the Army.' We already have president for this concept for, in 6th Edition, Units which contained such Restrictions where still found under the headings of Head Quarters or Elite, instead of being found under some 'other' heading. As the move to Datasheets is nothing more then a formatting change, we can not say for certain that simply having the 'correct icon' is enough to be selected for the Role.

By default, yes, but other Rules could revoke that permission without changing the little icon itself....

Ah! Gotcha. Well in that case, the Court has the icon and doesn't have any rules revoking the permission to be taken as a normal HQ.

Other rules CAN, but Retainers fails to do that. There is no question that in other codecies that is the case. When the rule is properly worded. But again, Retainers isn't written to get rid of the HQ Battlefield Role by default, only by option with the inclusion of an Archon.

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
Other rules CAN, but Retainers fails to do that. There is no question that in other codecies that is the case. When the rule is properly worded. But again, Retainers isn't written to get rid of the HQ Battlefield Role by default, only by option with the inclusion of an Archon.

To be clear, Retainers doesn't remove the HQ battlefield role at all. It just allows you to take a Court without taking up one of the slots in your Detachment.

 Kriswall wrote:
If I take an Archon, the Retainers rule allows me the option of taking a Court of the Archon without using an HQ slot.

If I take an Archon, the BRB allows me the option as a seperate action to take a Court of the Archon which uses an HQ slot.

If I don't take an Archon, the BRB allows me the option as a seperate action to take a Court of the Archon which uses an HQ slot.

There is no rule anywhere that says the equivalent of "If you take an Archon in your army list, all Courts of the Archon must be slotless and chosen using the Retainers rule."

There is no rule anywhere that says the equivalent of "If you don't take an Archon in your army list, you may not use the standard methods in the BRB to take a Court of the Archon."

The BRB presents method A for selecting a Court of the Archon.

The Codex presents method B for selecting a Court of the Archon.

There is no contradiction, therefore basic versus advanced does not come into play.

You have two methods to select a Court of the Archon. One uses an HQ slot while the other doesn't.

I have yet to see a single rules citation that revokes the permission granted in the BRB to select a Court as normal OR a single rules citation pointing out a basic versus advanced contradiction that would invalidate the BRB method.

 Kriswall wrote:

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
Other rules CAN, but Retainers fails to do that. There is no question that in other codecies that is the case. When the rule is properly worded. But again, Retainers isn't written to get rid of the HQ Battlefield Role by default, only by option with the inclusion of an Archon.

To be clear, Retainers doesn't remove the HQ battlefield role at all. It just allows you to take a Court without taking up one of the slots in your Detachment.

I'll try to keep it simple.

"Retainers" never has any effect on Court of the Archon taken as an HQ. I highlighted the part that is incorrect. There is only ever 1 method of selecting a Court of the Archon Unit: Following the method as described in the BrB.
Once you have selected to take a Court of the Archon Unit, it must follow a set of Special rules:

Lhamaean have Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain
Medusae have Fleet, Power from Pain
etc,
And the Unit has "Retainers".

What does fleet do?
What does Night Vision do?
You know these answers.

What does "Retainers" do? It says that if an Archon is present, you can take this Unit. Oh and by the way, they are Slot-less

Now as FlingitNow has correctly noted: What happens when there is no Archon? You cannot complete the Rule, ie you cannot take the court.

There is a big difference between your belief:
-Take Archon (per BrB) > "Retainers" > Get free Court
-Take Court (per BrB) > completely ignore "Retainers" > have Court alone

And how i currently see it:
-Take Court (per BrB) > "Retainers" (Is there an Archon?) > Yes, get free court.
-Take Court (per BrB) > "Retainers" (Is there an Archon?) > No, "Retainers" can't give you free court.

Selecting a Unit per the BrB is how you take the Court of the Archon Unit. That Unit has a rule called "Retainers" that you must follow "IF" and gives you a choice "Then"

 BlackTalos wrote:

 Kriswall wrote:
If I take an Archon, the Retainers rule allows me the option of taking a Court of the Archon without using an HQ slot.

If I take an Archon, the BRB allows me the option as a seperate action to take a Court of the Archon which uses an HQ slot.

If I don't take an Archon, the BRB allows me the option as a seperate action to take a Court of the Archon which uses an HQ slot.

There is no rule anywhere that says the equivalent of "If you take an Archon in your army list, all Courts of the Archon must be slotless and chosen using the Retainers rule."

There is no rule anywhere that says the equivalent of "If you don't take an Archon in your army list, you may not use the standard methods in the BRB to take a Court of the Archon."

The BRB presents method A for selecting a Court of the Archon.

The Codex presents method B for selecting a Court of the Archon.

There is no contradiction, therefore basic versus advanced does not come into play.

You have two methods to select a Court of the Archon. One uses an HQ slot while the other doesn't.

I have yet to see a single rules citation that revokes the permission granted in the BRB to select a Court as normal OR a single rules citation pointing out a basic versus advanced contradiction that would invalidate the BRB method.

 Kriswall wrote:

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
Other rules CAN, but Retainers fails to do that. There is no question that in other codecies that is the case. When the rule is properly worded. But again, Retainers isn't written to get rid of the HQ Battlefield Role by default, only by option with the inclusion of an Archon.

To be clear, Retainers doesn't remove the HQ battlefield role at all. It just allows you to take a Court without taking up one of the slots in your Detachment.

I'll try to keep it simple.

"Retainers" never has any effect on Court of the Archon taken as an HQ. I highlighted the part that is incorrect. There is only ever 1 method of selecting a Court of the Archon Unit: Following the method as described in the BrB.
Once you have selected to take a Court of the Archon Unit, it must follow a set of Special rules:

Lhamaean have Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain
Medusae have Fleet, Power from Pain
etc,
And the Unit has "Retainers".

What does fleet do?
What does Night Vision do?
You know these answers.

What does "Retainers" do? It says that if an Archon is present, you can take this Unit. Oh and by the way, they are Slot-less

Now as FlingitNow has correctly noted: What happens when there is no Archon? You cannot complete the Rule, ie you cannot take the court.

There is a big difference between your belief:
-Take Archon (per BrB) > "Retainers" > Get free Court
-Take Court (per BrB) > completely ignore "Retainers" > have Court alone

And how i currently see it:
-Take Court (per BrB) > "Retainers" (Is there an Archon?) > Yes, get free court.
-Take Court (per BrB) > "Retainers" (Is there an Archon?) > No, "Retainers" can't give you free court.

Selecting a Unit per the BrB is how you take the Court of the Archon Unit. That Unit has a rule called "Retainers" that you must follow "IF" and gives you a choice "Then"

"It says that if an Archon is present, you can take this Unit. Oh and by the way, they are Slot-less"

This is not what it says. Reread the Retainers rule. You are paraphrasing incorrectly. It says that if there is an Archon, you can take a Court which doesn't use an HQ slot.

Again, find me ANY rule that states that I can't take a Court which uses an HQ slot without taking an Archon. I have been unable to find one.

 Kriswall wrote:
It says that if there is an Archon, you can take a Court which doesn't use an HQ slot.

Again, find me ANY rule that states that I can't take a Court which uses an HQ slot without taking an Archon. I have been unable to find one.

That is correct indeed! So how do you follow a Rule that "says that if there is an Archon" when there is no Archon?

Don't forget, we take the Court as per the BrB rules and then have to follow the "Retainers" rule. I insist on the obligation to follow the rule. How are you doing it?

It is not to me to find a denial of Slotted Court without Archon, it is to you to explain how you are following "Retainers" when there is no Archon.

 BlackTalos wrote:

 Kriswall wrote:
It says that if there is an Archon, you can take a Court which doesn't use an HQ slot.

Again, find me ANY rule that states that I can't take a Court which uses an HQ slot without taking an Archon. I have been unable to find one.

That is correct indeed! So how do you follow a Rule that "says that if there is an Archon" when there is no Archon?

Don't forget, we take the Court as per the BrB rules and then have to follow the "Retainers" rule. I insist on the obligation to follow the rule. How are you doing it?

It is not to me to find a denial of Slotted Court without Archon, it is to you to explain how you are following "Retainers" when there is no Archon.

How do you follow "Preferred Enemy" when there is no Preferred Enemy?

 BlackTalos wrote:

 Kriswall wrote:
It says that if there is an Archon, you can take a Court which doesn't use an HQ slot.

Again, find me ANY rule that states that I can't take a Court which uses an HQ slot without taking an Archon. I have been unable to find one.

That is correct indeed! So how do you follow a Rule that "says that if there is an Archon" when there is no Archon?

Don't forget, we take the Court as per the BrB rules and then have to follow the "Retainers" rule. I insist on the obligation to follow the rule. How are you doing it?

It is not to me to find a denial of Slotted Court without Archon, it is to you to explain how you are following "Retainers" when there is no Archon.

I take the Court as per the BRB to fulfill the Mandatory slot in my Combined Arms Detachment. I read the Retainers rule, note that I'm allowed to include a slotless Court IF I've taken an Archon. I haven't taken and Archon, so I'm not allowed to include a slotless Court. I haven't taken a slotless court, so I have obeyed the Retainers rule.

You seem to think that the Retainers rule is useful in situations where we haven't taken an Archon. It's not.

You seem to be reading it as:

If you take an Archon, you can take a Court that doesn't take a slot. If you don't take an Archon, you can't take a Court at all.

That second sentence isn't there.

Preferred enemy is the perfect example of a rule that is only followed when the initial requirements are met. Your (BlackTalos) paraphrasing of the Court is incorrect because of the way the rule is actually written in English. ' can include a Court that does not take up a slot on the Force Org Chart'. There is no punctuation there. There is no separation between subject and modifier to the base subject. It is all one subject.

I hope I'm making sense here because I'm sure I'm using incorrect grammar terms.

You keep saying the court can ONLY be slotless but there is nothing in the rules to suggest that. The modification that uses an Archon is specifically for the full term 'court that does not take up a slot on the Force Org chart' is used, but nothing anywhere says 'Court of the Archon (full stop)'. Only the specific version of the Court that doesn't take up the slot. It's not ignoring the rule. It's having a rule that requires a specific requirement to come into effect but there is no OTHER rule that says the Court can't be selected alone.

So models with Fleet have to run every turn as they have the fleet rule and if you don't run you're not following the fleet rule?

Hatred (Orks) means you can roll to hit against non-Orks.

Preferred Enemy (Eldar) means you can never roll to hit or to wound against non-Eldar units.

The rules according to BlackTalos...

the unit "Court of the archon" has the faction: dark eldar, and the battlefield role of HQ

any detachment which has HQ slots can fill their HQ slots with this datasheet, there is no rule limiting how many you can take other than the number of slots in the detachment, nor is there a rule limiting what is required to take the datasheet.

the unit has a special rule which alters its battlefield role from HQ to Slotless.

The boxes on a Force Organisation Chart are referred to as slots. Each slot will typically specify a Battlefield Role. Each slot allows you to take one unit. Black boxes are compulsory selections – you must take at least this many units of the appropriate Battlefield Role to include this Detachment in your army. If you cannot include the compulsory number of units, you cannot include that Detachment. Grey boxes are optional selections – you can include up to this number of units of the appropriate Battlefield Role when including this Detachment in your army.

the entry has the slot HQ, and no restrictions in its datasheet in how it may be taken.

Changing Battlefield Roles
Certain rules can alter a unit’s Battlefield Role, changing it, for example, from a Fast Attack unit to a Troops unit. If a unit changes its Battlefield Role due to such a rule, it maintains its new role for the entirety of the game.

retainers is such a certain rule, and changes the slot from HQ to slotless if you have an Archon.

blaktoof wrote:
the unit "Court of the archon" has the faction: dark eldar, and the battlefield role of HQ

any detachment which has HQ slots can fill their HQ slots with this datasheet, there is no rule limiting how many you can take other than the number of slots in the detachment, nor is there a rule limiting what is required to take the datasheet.

the unit has a special rule which alters its battlefield role from HQ to Slotless.

The boxes on a Force Organisation Chart are referred to as slots. Each slot will typically specify a Battlefield Role. Each slot allows you to take one unit. Black boxes are compulsory selections – you must take at least this many units of the appropriate Battlefield Role to include this Detachment in your army. If you cannot include the compulsory number of units, you cannot include that Detachment. Grey boxes are optional selections – you can include up to this number of units of the appropriate Battlefield Role when including this Detachment in your army.

the entry has the slot HQ, and no restrictions in its datasheet in how it may be taken.

Changing Battlefield Roles
Certain rules can alter a unit’s Battlefield Role, changing it, for example, from a Fast Attack unit to a Troops unit. If a unit changes its Battlefield Role due to such a rule, it maintains its new role for the entirety of the game.

retainers is such a certain rule, and changes the slot from HQ to slotless if you have an Archon.

"the unit has a special rule which alters its battlefield role from HQ to Slotless."

Untrue. The unit has a special rule that give you the option of taking it as a slotless HQ. The battlefield role never changes. A slotless HQ is still an HQ and still fulfills the battlefield role of HQ. A slotless HQ is simply unable to fulfill the mandatory or optional HQ slots on a Detachments force org chart.

edit-

on second thought I think I agree that it is still an HQ selection, but it takes up no slots if the retainers rule is used.