I need help from you Dark Eldar players!

[loeldrad]

Stopped by my local shop during lunch and I caved and snagged a box of DE Wyches.

For now I just want to keep it small as the main reason for this is to ally with my Eldar to test the new ally system. I'm just looking for some friendly advice on where to go from here. The last time I played vs a DE player was a year or two before their update so I honestly don't know much about them.

Next purchase will be their Codex (shop was out but they put in an order for one) but after that I will most certainly need at least an HQ. I really like the wyches models so a small force based around that would be something I'm shooting for to throw in with my Eldar. Down the line it will hopefully be built up to a 750 or 1k points level army list.

For an HQ at first Lelith seemed like the obvious choice but since its a small points force I'm not sure if that would be a great idea. Maybe the Succubus? Any suggestions? I personally think the Haemonculus model looks pretty BA but that probably wouldn't flow as well with the Wyches theme id guess?

One thing I'm thinking is they will need some type of delivery system which to my limited knowledge would be WWP, Raider, or Venom. What do you guys recommend? I'm leaning towards Raiders at the moment but like I've said I don't know what I'm doing haha.

As for the Eldar I'll be attaching them to I've been collecting Eldar for some time now and have all kinds of choices to combine them with. I've been thinking of possibly mixing them into one of my Harlequin Eldar lists to possibly write a story line based on Harlequins encouraging the alliance between my Eldar and this small DE force?

Thanks in advance!

[Naser Al-Istikhara Cyrus]

Here is a quick guide to wyches

- If they are shot at and they aren't in cover, they die. Always. If you are ever in a position in a game where your wyches are not in a transport and are not in combat, you should EXPECT them to die when planning your next turn.
- I'd never take a full size squad. The odds of a raider going down and killing enough passengers to render the squad useless is pretty high, so you want less points in a risky basket - so instead of taking a squad of 10, see if you can get 2 squads of 6 or 7 instead.
- They require a baiting unit to soak up the overwatch rule. 6+ armour and T3 means quite a few will drop, and compared to Orks or Nids, wyches are very expensive.
- You want to win a combat in 2 phases with a wych squad. Win it in one phase and you will be shot in your opponents next turn. Win it in two and you'll be tangled up in combat for their next shooting, then can finish off the squad, and prepare for their next target.
- They are excellent at disrupting deathstar units (Particularly ones with fewer, but more powerful attacks) thanks to their dodge rolls. This means charge into terminators...and avoid things like large squads of Nid Warriors (Talons) or Ork Nobs (Pistol/CCWs) because they have such a huge amount of attacks that you will struggle to survive the return attacks.
- They aren't superstars! Wyches are amongst the most dangerous melee fighters in the 40k universe, but they are not superheroes. 5 wyches will not kill 10 ork nobs, or 20 ork boys. If your squad isn't looking good on the numbers game, countercharge them with a friend! This rule works with all DE units (Except for grotesques...they are fine by themselves )
- Haywire Grenades make an absolulte mess of mech lists, especially in this edition. I wouldn't take a wych squad without one. IIRC its easier to attack walkers with grenades too in this edition.

If you're going for a wych cult theme, i'd either go with lelith or a succubus. Haemonculi look great on paper, and can work with wyches, but they lost fleet with the new dex, meaning they will slow down the entire unit. Also fluffwise, it makes more sensefor a Succubus to be running a breakaway cult, whereas a Haemonculus would instead use a small force of his own experiments, showing off his work and hiring out to whoever pays the highest (in slave currency, of course!)

With regards to a delivery system, i'd cross out the WWP straight away as you can no longer assault out of it. This means you will be shot - and hence, bye bye wych squad. I'd probably go with raiders with shock prows and night shields personally, take 2 squads of 7 wyches, chuck lelith in one. Eldar HQ with fleet can always go in the other! Why the Shock Prows? Because Eldar/DE lists should have plenty of lances, which means little vehicles after a few turns - and you want your raiders to be able to do something after they deliver their cargo - so the Shock Prow lets them move your enemy around to where you like - and their extremely fast speed makes this very powerful. The Night Shields is for survivability. With Rapid Fire weapons being able to be shot at max range while moving, guess where all your opponent's bolters are gonna be shooting? That's right, at that AV10 open topped cardboard box! Night Shields reduces their effective range to 18''. If you are 19'' away from your target, you can move your raider, unload wyches, and charge pretty confidently (thanks to fleet), while remaining safe from most weapons thanks to those night shields.

Hope this helped.

Zambia

[crisis_vyper]

Here is a quick guide to wyches

- If they are shot at and they aren't in cover, they die. Always. If you are ever in a position in a game where your wyches are not in a transport and are not in combat, you should EXPECT them to die when planning your next turn.
- I'd never take a full size squad. The odds of a raider going down and killing enough passengers to render the squad useless is pretty high, so you want less points in a risky basket - so instead of taking a squad of 10, see if you can get 2 squads of 6 or 7 instead.
- They require a baiting unit to soak up the overwatch rule. 6+ armour and T3 means quite a few will drop, and compared to Orks or Nids, wyches are very expensive.
- You want to win a combat in 2 phases with a wych squad. Win it in one phase and you will be shot in your opponents next turn. Win it in two and you'll be tangled up in combat for their next shooting, then can finish off the squad, and prepare for their next target.
- They are excellent at disrupting deathstar units (Particularly ones with fewer, but more powerful attacks) thanks to their dodge rolls. This means charge into terminators...and avoid things like large squads of Nid Warriors (Talons) or Ork Nobs (Pistol/CCWs) because they have such a huge amount of attacks that you will struggle to survive the return attacks.
- They aren't superstars! Wyches are amongst the most dangerous melee fighters in the 40k universe, but they are not superheroes. 5 wyches will not kill 10 ork nobs, or 20 ork boys. If your squad isn't looking good on the numbers game, countercharge them with a friend! This rule works with all DE units (Except for grotesques...they are fine by themselves )
- Haywire Grenades make an absolulte mess of mech lists, especially in this edition. I wouldn't take a wych squad without one. IIRC its easier to attack walkers with grenades too in this edition.

True to a certain extent.

When it comes to Dark Eldar, always hug the terrain. If you do it right, a Raider can survive for a while in 6th edition. Also, never charge headlong into a Termie squad unless you weakened them to a certain extent. The idea here is never play fair.

If you're going for a wych cult theme, i'd either go with lelith or a succubus. Haemonculi look great on paper, and can work with wyches, but they lost fleet with the new dex, meaning they will slow down the entire unit. Also fluffwise, it makes more sensefor a Succubus to be running a breakaway cult, whereas a Haemonculus would instead use a small force of his own experiments, showing off his work and hiring out to whoever pays the highest (in slave currency, of course!)

No Dark Eldar player in their right mind would let the Haemonculus out from the Raider to charge a target. Leave him in the Raider and let the Wyches come out and play and take his pain token. The Haemonculus should always stay inside a Raider and if he has the liquifier gun, always flame from the relative safety from within the Raider.

This is how they are always been used in 5th with Wyches, and in 6th even more so.

With regards to a delivery system, i'd cross out the WWP straight away as you can no longer assault out of it. This means you will be shot - and hence, bye bye wych squad. I'd probably go with raiders with shock prows and night shields personally, take 2 squads of 7 wyches, chuck lelith in one. Eldar HQ with fleet can always go in the other! Why the Shock Prows? Because Eldar/DE lists should have plenty of lances, which means little vehicles after a few turns - and you want your raiders to be able to do something after they deliver their cargo - so the Shock Prow lets them move your enemy around to where you like - and their extremely fast speed makes this very powerful. The Night Shields is for survivability. With Rapid Fire weapons being able to be shot at max range while moving, guess where all your opponent's bolters are gonna be shooting? That's right, at that AV10 open topped cardboard box! Night Shields reduces their effective range to 18''. If you are 19'' away from your target, you can move your raider, unload wyches, and charge pretty confidently (thanks to fleet), while remaining safe from most weapons thanks to those night shields.

Nightshields are cool for sure, but the shock prow would actually negate the advantage of the nightshields. Not to mention that overspending points on a Raider is not in your best interest.

In my personal opinion, make things simple for a Dark Eldar ally. Take a Wych squad with the Haemonculus, and take a Ravager and be done with it. The Ravager and Raider would provide some cheap lances that would help an Eldar list in more ways than one. If you can chunk in some Blasterborn in a Raider or a squad of Reavers in the mix, more power to you.

The main reason why Eldar likes Dark Eldar as an ally is because of all the cheap lances that they can get in the list that will compliment your Str 6 weaponry, Psychic powers, and speed.

[Naser Al-Istikhara Cyrus]

Nightshields are cool for sure, but the shock prow would actually negate the advantage of the nightshields. Not to mention that overspending points on a Raider is not in your best interest.

This all comes down to playstyle and strategy. Everybody plays every army differently - dark eldar are one of the army types with a very diverse range of player strategies and playstyle (A few others are Orks, Tau and Guard). We have 8 dark eldar players in our area, and we all run different raider setups to the next person. I run night shields/shock prow, another guy runs aethersails and flickerfields, etc etc.

Different things work for different people, and it comes back to the playstyle. My goal is usually to hit the middle and spread them out so nothing can support eachother. When this is done, shock prowing a unit will only put you in danger of one of your opponents units (if they are thinned out and spread out enough) leaving your Raider in minimal risk from any range support they may have elsewhere. Furthermore, with a raider's speed, you can pivot, tank shock, and be more than 12'' away from the unit you just tankshocked. With night shields, it means they can try their best but they won't be able to rapid fire on your raider.

Raiders with shock prows are best used as escorts on falling back units. Make a unit flee with the wyches, herd them off the board with the raiders next turn.

Again, comes to playstyle. My only true recommendation is to try out the different wargear the raiders have available to them. Multiple combinations. See what works for you and with your playstyle.

Zambia