Dark Eldar: The Next Step

Dark Eldar: The Next Step

So after a relatively mixed tourney 2 weekends ago and having just watched my favourite grand prix driver get his first ever podium (GO KOBYASHI!!!) I’ll move onto talking about the changes to my list
for Brighton GT.

A little background to the tourney is that the Brighton warlords normally hold 3 tournaments a year
and, as its no restrictions, was a logical step to hold the 2nd of the 3 GT heats here. It’s held above a
pub which is great however irritatingly Brighton is pretty pricey for accommodation so no nights out!
There’s a car park opposite and it is very easily accessible. This is the first Major tournament of 6 th
for us and so with a little bit of trepidation it’s time we present my army list!

It’s important to note by the way that the meta up north seems to represent a major shift towards
infantry with guard allying with a battle brother. I have mixed feelings about this but I’ll get into that
later. But now…. Onto the show!



Baron Sathonyx

3 Trueborn, 2 Blasters, Haywire Grenades in Venom with Extra Splinter Cannon x 3

5 Wychs, Haywire Grenades in Venom with Extra Splinter Cannon x 4

Beast unit: 5 Razorwings, 10 Kymera, 5 Beast masters

Ravager with Dark Lances x 3

Eldrad Ulthuan

3 Jet bikes

So… Allies… What I may not have mentioned a lot last time was that I had a long discussion with
Kiran and Sharan Reddy who both took Eldrad. Turns out he’s a total beast. In an Eldar army he’s
good. In a Tau or Dark Eldar army he is an awful prospect. Why? Divination. If you listen to our
podcast (which soon should be back now Ru is back touring the US!) We love this tree and for good
reason! There is only 1 rubbish power which is fine because that can be swapped for the primaris
power. Lets have a little run through these powers then.

Primaris power – Prescience: a guaranteed roll as it can be swapped out for the less useful powers
which will be done 100% of the time as this power is awesome. Reroll successful to hit rolls. That
may not sound too useful just yet but wait. Imagine this on the beast unit there turn of charge. A
horrific prospect. This really makes the Ravagers a lot better and with Eldrads staff he can cast it
twice a turn. That’s 2 twin linked Ravagers which will help against errant flyers.

Dice Roll (1) – Foreboding: a very nifty power. A unit gains counter attack and over watches on full
BS. Think of this on the beast unit. Now mix this with prescience above. This will mean anyone who
charges the beast unit is going to be totally savaged before they get to attack.

Dice Roll (2) – Forewarning: 4+ invulnerable save. Means I can add this to my beast unit or a in the
open flyer. Probably the worst of the useful spells, that’s how strong this tree is!

Dice Roll (3) – Misfortune: the opponent rerolls successful armour saves. Now mix that with venom
fire. Now mix that with the beast unit who already have prescience. I cannot tell you how powerful
this spell is. It can be resisted however, eldrad can cast the same spell twice. There is very little
chance to escape this and with the damage output on infantry that Dark Eldar already have, this
spell is devastating.

Dice Roll (4) – Perfect Timing: this units weapons now ignore cover. This is a secretly good power.
Ignoring cover means ignoring jink saves on vehicles and anyone getting a good cover save from say
shrouded can no longer use it.

Dice Roll (5) – Precognition: Eldrad turns into neo. He gets his 3+ rerollable av from this as well as
rerolling to hit and to wound. Eldrad with this will take all the hits in close combat shielding my beast
unit from the worst of damage. With the baron taking the challenges it’ll make killing the beast unit
in combat incredibly difficult.

Dice Roll (6) - Scriers Gaze: This allows you to reroll reserves and outflank and mysterious terrain.
Unfortunately he can only cast this after reserves have been rolled for already making it quite
useless.

As you can see there are some very powerful spells there. The best thing about Eldrad is that he’s
going to get 3 off a turn as he rolls 3 dice for powers and removes the highest dice. He can also cast
each power up to twice which means he’ll never probably run out of things to cast. His Ghost helm
also means he’s not gunna take much psychic backlash from perils in the warp either.

Aside from his psychic might, Eldrad brings the ultimate psychic defence forcing the opponent to use
3 dice to cast. Even then if they do cast, his mastery of 3 will probably mean his unit gets a 4+ deny
the witch roll, keeping the beast unit safe.

The Jet bikes take the role of the 3 man wrack unit with the added bonus they can boost onto
objectives.

So I’m very happy with the list. I’ve replaced what was essentially chaff (Wracks Haemonculus
Voidraven) with pure damage output and psychic defence.

In a week I’ll be back talking about Brighton and talking about the best tournament on the calendar
Mayhem in which I’ll be forced to tweak the army (what with it being 100 points less than Brighton!)

I’m looking to join the bandwagon and get myself a biiiiig troop unit! But well talk about that at a
later date. Until then!

Mike