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Made in pl
Tough-as-Nails Ork Boy




So I was looking over the Dark Eldar range, and realized that aside from the Tantalus that there are no vehicles within their range that have the heft of other races/factions in this game. I was wondering if in their lore there's any mention of larger creations beyond the raiders/Ravagers and their actual warships.

I know Craftworld Eldar have their own Super Heavy tanks and the like but there is no counter part to the Scorpion or the Cobra. Even a Dark Eldar gunship like the thunderhawk is absent though it could easily match their feel as a raiding focused faction.

Makes me wonder if they don't build these for lack of need or if its just because GW doesn't produce much material about the DE. If anyone knows more I'd love to hear it.
   
Made in ro
Servoarm Flailing Magos




Germany

panzerfront14 wrote:
So I was looking over the Dark Eldar range, and realized that aside from the Tantalus that there are no vehicles within their range that have the heft of other races/factions in this game. I was wondering if in their lore there's any mention of larger creations beyond the raiders/Ravagers and their actual warships.

I know Craftworld Eldar have their own Super Heavy tanks and the like but there is no counter part to the Scorpion or the Cobra. Even a Dark Eldar gunship like the thunderhawk is absent though it could easily match their feel as a raiding focused faction.

Makes me wonder if they don't build these for lack of need or if its just because GW doesn't produce much material about the DE. If anyone knows more I'd love to hear it.


The sad truth of the matter is that Dark Eldar are somewhat the red-headed stepchild for GW, and since their major range expansions never coincided with a run of Epic and Forgeworld had no sculptors really interested in them they never got much of a presence in the superheavy game, even if their revised fluff could easily justify stuff up to say battle-titan levels if it were fast and fragile enough. There's just almost nothing there aside from only semi-endorsed fan work for the old Epic lists and the occasional mention of large pain engines or arena beasts. AFAIK it's so bad that even the stuff that got mentioned offhand doesn't even have a name.
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





There's a BL novel (either Lukas the Trickster or one of the stories in the Salamanders Omnibus) where we see what appears to be a dedicated slave transport. It's essentially just an oversized raider with more platform space for recently captured prisoners to kneel on. There's a chance that it was meant to just be a raider, but the number of bodies and movements described in the scene suggest it was somewhat bigger.

But beyond that, not much in the way of big craft. I headcanon that as a matter of preference/practicality for the drukhari. Flying around in something the size of a land raider or baneblade or imperial knight would make you a (literally) bigger target and make it harder for your pilot to dodge. or hide behind terrain. You could probably reinforce the thing with protective shields (the Dais of Destruction had a shadowfield iirc), but then you're the slow guy who gets hit a lot and hides behind shields instead of being one of the graceful guys who feels the wind in his hair while bullets plink off your open-topped hull.

That said, Commorragh is a big place full of weirdos who spend obscene resources to satisfy passing whims. I'm sure there have been a few archons that really wanted to personally shoot their scorpion-sized guns at the enemy from time to time. I'm sure the covens could make a giant meat monster the size of an imperial knight. I'm sure there's a wych cult with some Godzilla-sized megafauna that they like to show off in the arena. They're just maybe more of an exception than a norm.


ATTENTION
. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
 
   
Made in pl
Tough-as-Nails Ork Boy




I always liked to picture a huge "battleship" to the Raider's Destroyer/Torpedo boat, styled after a French Predreadnought so that its tumblehome design fit in with the shapes of the Dark Eldar Raiders, Ravagers and the like. 2 huge turreted weapons, on either end of this skimmer, two single barrel but smaller turrets, each on the sides and then some smaller tertiary weapons like say Splinter rifles fitted into smaller mounts.

But yeah DE really need a serious range refresh in my opinion. Wish that Xenos got more release slots given to them.
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





Honestly, I'm kind of dreading our eventual range refresh. I love our current models and the way you can mix and match limbs/weapons across kits and change up the poses.

As nice as the newer models look, I feel like the locked-in poses have cost the hobby something.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/02/06 21:19:19



ATTENTION
. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






In-universe? They’re Swift, Predatory Raiders.

Strictly speaking, any battle with Dark Eldar is the result of a miscalculation, as it’s rarely in their interests to engage in anything approaching a fair fight when they’re on a slave raid.

Hence their vehicles are relatively light - but their guns are efficient. But in a straight fight against a prepared enemy position, they’re more likely to be doing a fighting disengagement than going for it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/02/06 21:57:59


   
Made in pl
Tough-as-Nails Ork Boy




I actually think that the larger Dark Eldar vehicles wouldn't be intended for raids but rather their conflicts within the Dark City, mobile strong points capable of rapidly reinforcing a Cabal in battle to act as a protective asset. As Grotsnik stated it is in the DE's best interested to only strike weak and vulnerable targets, or to shape the battlefield so that their foe's do not get the chance their strongest assets when they undertake their slave raids on any given target.

What I see these heavier assets being used for is security and mobile fire support for their territory, capable of taking on numerous foes and being relatively resilient by Dark Eldar standards.
   
Made in ca
Twisted Trueborn with Blaster



Ottawa

 Wyldhunt wrote:
Honestly, I'm kind of dreading our eventual range refresh. I love our current models and the way you can mix and match limbs/weapons across kits and change up the poses.

As nice as the newer models look, I feel like the locked-in poses have cost the hobby something.

YES. Seconded. I've been saying this for a while: Drukhari are one of GW's most customizable armies, and that's because of their older kits from before GW decided to actively discourage conversions. I wouldn't mind new vehicles, but the current infantry kits are perfect just the way they are. I hope the next range refresh is still a long way off.


Path of the Renegade (first novel of the Path of the Dark Eldar trilogy) has Asdrubael Vect drop by a gladiatorial arena with his private craft to "pick up" an archon he wants to punish. The craft is described as large enough to cast a vast shadow over the arena. Clearly, Drukhari don't limit themselves to small vehicles.

Big walkers like Wraithknights wouldn't really suit them, though.

.

Cadians, Sisters of Battle (Argent Shroud), Drukhari (Obsidian Rose)

Read my Drukhari short stories: Chronicles of Commorragh 
   
Made in ca
Veteran Wolf Guard Squad Leader






I always thought that they didn't have large craft, as they needed to fit through webway gates. Kinda like the harlequins, drukharhi don't have an active presence in the physical world, and need to be able to fit through webway gates to fight, and they are not that big.

Wolfspear's 2k
Harlequins 2k
Chaos Knights 2k
Spiderfangs 2k
Ossiarch Bonereapers 1k 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Anything heavier I suppose would be a Kabal Custom.

The Raider, Ravager, Tantalus and Reaper are of course standardised, with three being based off the same chassis. Between those designs, there’s not a huge amount of stuff they can’t tackle, because as I said earlier they tend to pack highly efficient weapons, letting such light craft punch well above their weight.

But there will be times that something heavier may be needed - such as a more ambitious raid where you need to break down a defensive curtain. Yes you can go up and over, but that risks exposing you to more firepower than knocking a hole in it would.

There’s something in my head that seems to recall that in BFG, some (all?) Dark Eldar ships had some sort of weapon which bypassed shields. Provided I’ve not just plucked that out my arse, I’d imagine there may well be a smaller scaled version of that technology, which might be a nasty surprise for Titan Class adversaries, or indeed anyone thinking an installation’s void shields are protection?

   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





-Guardsman- wrote:
Path of the Renegade (first novel of the Path of the Dark Eldar trilogy) has Asdrubael Vect drop by a gladiatorial arena with his private craft to "pick up" an archon he wants to punish. The craft is described as large enough to cast a vast shadow over the arena. Clearly, Drukhari don't limit themselves to small vehicles.

I couldn't remember if that vehicle was actually huge or if I just remembered it as such. It's worth noting that big, flashy statements are kind of Vect's thing. So while said vehicle makes it clear that drukhari can go big, this particular vehicle might be a rarity designed to remind everyone to be scared of Vect.

jaredb wrote:I always thought that they didn't have large craft, as they needed to fit through webway gates. Kinda like the harlequins, drukharhi don't have an active presence in the physical world, and need to be able to fit through webway gates to fight, and they are not that big.

That's definitely a consideration, although drukhari seem to be quite good at opening up temporary webway portals as needed. In Lukas the Trickster, we see the drukhari make planetfall on Fenris by (iirc) flying their raiders and venoms through a temporary portal connecting their ship's hangar bay to Fenris's atmosphere. And towards the end of the book, they exit in a similar fashion. (Maybe the exit portal was housed within some sort of carrier ship? I forget.) Plus, we know they can create portals large enough to shunt entire imperial spacecraft into the webway, so doing the reverse for something baneblade-sized is probably on the table.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
But there will be times that something heavier may be needed - such as a more ambitious raid where you need to break down a defensive curtain. Yes you can go up and over, but that risks exposing you to more firepower than knocking a hole in it would.

Agreed, although I think something like that is probably a last resort behind infiltrators, sabotaging defenses, dropping something nasty in the fortress's water supply, etc. I imagine there's a point at which having to break out *too* large of a gun starts to make people wonder if you're not skillful enough to take a more elegant, properly aeldari approach. Also, they have void mines and presumably orbital lance strikes. (Corsairs have them; no reason to think drukhari can't do the same thing.)


ATTENTION
. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
 
   
Made in pl
Tough-as-Nails Ork Boy




Considering the Dark City's sheer size, Vect could've turned up in a smaller Dark Eldar Warship, like a Frigate or Destroyer.

But to keep with my point I do wish they'd expand the Dark Eldar range, even if its just making multipart plastic HQs like the Archon and the Haemy. Perhaps a new Grotesques kit with at least 3 of those brutes in it as opposed to the monopose model currently in the range. Considering some the new Warhammer TV shows coming out this year it could be smart to drop say a Dark Eldar vs Iron Warriors or whoever they are facing in that show, box with some new models to capitalize on the publicity.

Would be cool to see a large vessel with perhaps some of the customization options found in the Baneblade to reflect the nature of these crafts as variable model custom pieces, or at least infrequently produced enough that they see substantial changes between models like German WW1 Dreadnoughts and Battlecruisers.

   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut





In BSF, a Corsair named Veth Raiden steals a prototype ship called Eye of Vect. It is an advanced enough vessel to reach Precipice without accompaniment, and it includes stealth technology, as well as other tech that allowed Raiden to help the operatives... for a price.

Raiden never got a model, which made me furious at the time, but the ship got a card.
   
Made in gb
Battleship Captain




panzerfront14 wrote:
So I was looking over the Dark Eldar range, and realized that aside from the Tantalus that there are no vehicles within their range that have the heft of other races/factions in this game. I was wondering if in their lore there's any mention of larger creations beyond the raiders/Ravagers and their actual warships.

I know Craftworld Eldar have their own Super Heavy tanks and the like but there is no counter part to the Scorpion or the Cobra. Even a Dark Eldar gunship like the thunderhawk is absent though it could easily match their feel as a raiding focused faction.

Makes me wonder if they don't build these for lack of need or if its just because GW doesn't produce much material about the DE. If anyone knows more I'd love to hear it.


Yes and no.

The dark eldar assault boat in Battlefield Gothic is called the slavebringer. Given its speed and capabilities its roughly equivalent to a thunderhawk but less well armed because can't multirole to act as an interceptor.

There's also a much heavier version called the impaler but that's a void warfare only thing.


The semi-official epic list had a bunch of things mentioned which never had models. There was the haemonculus superheavy, the perditor (basically a massive talos), the kabal one, the tormentor* (basically a stolen and brutalised wraith titan), and the wych cult one, the kashnarak (basically a combat drugged rancor yeeted from its cage into enemy lines via a Web way portal)

*

Termagants expended for the Hive Mind: ~2835
 
   
Made in au
Regular Dakkanaut






Sydney

There was a conversion featured in White Dwarf once of a big-ass Dark Eldar vehicle, based on the upside-down chassis of a Falcon without the carapace, plus Raider bits - I believe it had a set of rules, but this would've been during 3rd edition, so not a heck of a lot of use now. Sadly I don't still have my old WD collection (look now I regret it, at the time it didn't seem important), but back then I copied the basic design, but with extra Ravager bits and a couple of Vyper turrets for sponson guns, and I still have that (as I recall the WD one integrated the parts a bit better, but I'm fond of my old monstrosity).

I did homebrew up some rules, but since I was bending over backwards not to be cheesy about it, and particularly wanted to stay true to Dark Eldar vehicles not being that heavily armoured, it got shot down on turn one every time I used it.
[Thumb - dd13-andtherest.jpg]


   
 
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