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Ok, so I don't have anything yet; no rulebook, codex or minis. I'm looking to get started playing as the Dark Eldar once I do because I like the look of them and I tend to prefer a more glass canon style of play. With all the prefacing done I guess it's time to jump into some questions that I have now.

- How will 8th edition affect me? Can I buy the models now and then get the books once 8th comes out? I read that the rules will be freely available, what format will that be in?

- I would like to have a good blend of ranged and melee characters to use, the ranged being more sniper like. Is this even possible? how would that play?

- What sort of options do you have for using other races in your army? I like the look of the Eldar Rangers and hear that the Tau have good ranged.

Finally, What sort of resources are currently available to me? preferably free since work has been slow the last few weeks and I want to get started learning what I can.

Thanks for any input on this.

Welcome to 40k and Dakka.

We are kinda in a state of flux right now, where we are getting a lot of info in little bits from GW/rumors, but not the whole picture yet. So take everything with a grain of salt.

GW should be releasing the 8th ed rules as a PDF, and probably in an app as well. The exact format for what we get where is still a little fuzzy. Basic rules are free, but they still sell a rulebook with more stuff. Not sure if we are going to get the whole of what we need as far as units are concerned onine, but they are going to be selling army books. Sounds like the xenos one with the eldar would probably serve you well.

Not sure exactly how allies are going to work. I suspect that you should be able to do something with mixing eldar/dark eldar without an issue though.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/724730.page is a good summery of what we know so far. Heading over to GW’s community page is also go if you want to get stuff direct.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/05/17/warhammer-40000-faction-focus-drukhari-may17/
Here is a DE specific article.

We don’t know how things are going to work out as far as play styles go. Snipers looks to have some perks from what we’ve seen in the new rules, but we don’t have a whole picture. If you like Eldar Rangers you should be able to work them into a list without too much problem. Might need to take a HQ or something else to fit into a detachment.

If you want to buy a squad of models you think look cool and start painting, that should be fine. The rules might be meh in a few weeks, nobody knows. But it’s always good to have minis you like. I’d hold off on getting any books until the new stuff is out.

just about any army should fit what you want eldar might do it, but most of their ranged is based around mobility. as I assume you want an army whose ranegd works best camping out a spot, while having good CC to protect the encampments, off the top of my head...

Maybe space Marines? with the new primaris Marines they'll be able to take a basic troop unit with a 30 inch range.

Thanks for the great info, I had found that DE article and thought it was a good read. I'm still pretty confused on the main rules and terminology, any quick references I can look at?

Out of curiosity, are there any rules I should follow when building or painting my models?

Most of the plastic kits will have a variety of 'special' weapons, like special weapons, heavy weapons, close combat weapons, etc. However, when playing a game there will be limits on the amounts and types of those weapons that a squad can take. For example, you might be able to take 1 blaster and 1 dark lance as weapon options for a kabal squad, or 1 blaster and 1 splinter cannon. And the leader might be able to take a power blade or husk blade.

I don't imagine the weapon options for squads will change much in 8th (but then again it might, idk), so your best bet is just asking here what the general composition of a squad is in terms of gear.

As for painting, well that's more of a situation for space marines (where some people get very angry if you paint them one colour but use the rules for another colour of space marines), but i don't think dark eldar need to worry so much about that.

I guess I only have a few weeks until 8th comes out, probably won't get in any models by then anyways since my local shop doesn't seem to have any dark eldar boxes.

Hopefully it doesn't take me too long to get the books I need, core rules and xenos 1 I believe.

For familiarizing yourself for the rules, the basic presumably free rules appear to have been leaked:

http://natfka.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/8th-edition-40k-huge-rules-leak.html?m=1

And it probably isn't an awful idea to wait until the rules and index drop to decide on what models you want to get. How well rangers work with dark eldar for example isn't really known yet.

Also, if you want to be sure of getting the books at release, most shops do preorders for those as well as things like starter sets and the core rules.

Genesaika wrote:
Thanks for the great info, I had found that DE article and thought it was a good read. I'm still pretty confused on the main rules and terminology, any quick references I can look at?

Out of curiosity, are there any rules I should follow when building or painting my models?

Rule #1) do what you like, build what you like, and do it well.
Rule #2) see rule 1 , above.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Genesaika wrote:
I guess I only have a few weeks until 8th comes out, probably won't get in any models by then anyways since my local shop doesn't seem to have any dark eldar boxes.

Hopefully it doesn't take me too long to get the books I need, core rules and xenos 1 I believe.

If you like certain models like wyches for example then I would just search up eBay and get em on the cheap before others try to snap up 8th friendly models after rules are released. Remember rule #1 ...

 jeff white wrote:

Genesaika wrote:
Thanks for the great info, I had found that DE article and thought it was a good read. I'm still pretty confused on the main rules and terminology, any quick references I can look at?

Out of curiosity, are there any rules I should follow when building or painting my models?

Rule #1) do what you like, build what you like, and do it well.
Rule #2) see rule 1 , above.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Genesaika wrote:
I guess I only have a few weeks until 8th comes out, probably won't get in any models by then anyways since my local shop doesn't seem to have any dark eldar boxes.

Hopefully it doesn't take me too long to get the books I need, core rules and xenos 1 I believe.

If you like certain models like wyches for example then I would just search up eBay and get em on the cheap before others try to snap up 8th friendly models after rules are released. Remember rule #1 ...

So what you are saying is I won't get too many complaints about building my models with different weapons than I have on my sheets?

I'm figuring I'll build an army at 1000pts to start. Using an archon, heamunculus, incubi warriors, reavers, venoms, raiders, and a razorwing. I'll also use a ranger group and I'm thinking about using the Harlequin cast of players. Does that sound like a decent mix? I really don't even know what to expect since I don't have the rules yet.

Edit: I should probably post this in the army list forum, I've been meaning to all day. I'll get to it at some point tonight while I'm at work.

If you're looking for ranged fire balanced with melee, DE have ranged in abundance with Dark lances and can throw down some wicked melee with Incubi and Wyches. I wouldn't have any problem with you allying with Eldar rangers too, and that might very well be a possibility with the new index books. If you like the look of a model now, you're free to snag it and it will be supported in the new rules.