How to Beat the Dark Eldar with Black Templars
I was thinking about something the other day and realized I didn’t have a reasonable answer to give myself. So I decided that I should probably do a thought exercise here to try and clear some things up, as I suspect, many of my readers (whom are BT players) will begin asking them soon enough. The question that I came across occurred as I was trying to put together a competitive and balanced Dark Eldar list. It is: “How are the Black Templars going to beat the Dark Eldar?” It’s a simple, yet, important question that needs to be addressed. Hopefully I can start to glean some answers for the players out there.
HQ
* Tyrandus Derayn (Haemonculus) w/ Liquifier Gun. [60]
Elites:
* Trueborn Nemesis; 3 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3 Blasters. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [146]
* Trueborn Nightmares; 3 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3 Blasters. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [146]
* Trueborn Shades; 3 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3 Blasters. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [146]
Troops:
* Twilight Raiders; 10 Warriors w/ 1 Dark Lance. Mounted in a Raider w/ 1 Dark Lance. [175]
* Eclipse Raiders; 10 Warriors w/ 1 Dark Lance. Mounted in a Raider w/ 1 Dark Lance. [175]
* Shadow Raiders; 10 Warriors w/ 1 Dark Lance. Mounted in a Raider w/ 1 Dark Lance. [175]
* Midnight Constructs; 5 Wracks w/ 1 Liquifier Gun. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [125]
* Nightfall Constructs; 5 Wracks w/ 1 Liquifier Gun. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [125]
* Darkness Constructs; 5 Wracks w/ 1 Liquifier Gun. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [125]
Fast Attack:
* Angelic Nightmares; 5 Scourges w/ 2 Heat Lances and 3 Shard Carbines. [134]
Heavy Support:
* Malicious Phantom (Razorwing Fighter) w/ 2 Dark Lances, 1 Splinter Cannon, and 4 Monoscythe Missiles. [155]
* Fallen Spector (Razorwing Fighter) w/ 2 Dark Lances, 1 Splinter Cannon, and 4 Monoscythe Missiles. [155]
* Vengeful Apparition (Razorwing Fighter) w/ 2 Dark Lances, 1 Splinter Cannon, and 4 Monoscythe Missiles. [155]
Total Points: [1997]
Like any 5th Edition codex, there are near innumerable builds for the Dark Eldar that are competitive. I have been tweaking and playing around with their builds for weeks now, and the list we’ll pit against the BT is one of those lists. I have dubbed it the “Venomwing” (several weeks ago), and I already see people using the term. Makes me smile, because that means people are reading my website. Anyway, it’s a list that makes heavy use of the Venom transport and its weaponry, the Splinter Cannon. The Splinter Cannon is a beast. It has a range of 36”, Str X, and an AP 5. It is also poison (4+) and Assault 4 or Heavy 6, depending on your needs. It is important to note that DE poison weapons count as defensive weapons, so they may always be fired up to 12” movement (because all the DE vehicles are fast). The Venom has the ability to take two Splinter Cannons per vehicle, so they can put out 12 poison shots a turn, with built-in Flickerfields (5+ invulnerable save), for a mere 65 points. The downside is that they can only transport 5 models.
Taking another look at the list, we see that there are 12 Dark Lances (36” Str 8 AP 2 Heavy 1, Lance) in the list, along with 9 Blasters (18” Str 8 AP 2 Assault 1, Lance). There is also one unit with melta weapons that will be pretty survivable if a pain token is given to them (via the Haemonculus). Lastly, the Razorwings each have 4 Monoscythe Missiles (48” Str 6 AP 5 Assault 1, Large Blast, One Use Only). These missiles can ruin any infantry’s day if fired in mass. So how do we beat it?
Now, I know there is a huge upswing of popularity for the Dual-Land Raider Crusader list with the coming of the DE. The thought is that Blessed Hull will save you from a DE player. This is somewhat true, as the Dark Eldar rely on lots of lance shots at AV12 or lower to blow up your vehicles. If they can’t reduce your AV12, then they will not be able to reliably get into the vehicle without Haywire Grenades. However, remember that while good against the Dark Eldar, the dual-LRC list isn’t very good against most other opponents. It is an average list at best, that can be easily dealt with on the top tables. In other words, don’t fall for the trap and build this army unless you really like its style.
For the sake of argument, we’re going to assume that you’re using a competitive, tournament list for the Black Templars. As I’ve already pointed out in numerous places around Implausible Nature, we really cannot afford to mess around with our builds in the days of 5th Edition. We don’t do things very efficiently because of our old codex, but we can manage if you properly build an army. Non-optimized BT lists will have huge issues with the Dark Eldar, I’m not going to lie. This new Dark Eldar codex proves once again why fielding balanced, all-comers lists will put you in a position to win every time. I’m sure by now, you’ve figured out the list we’ll be comparing to. Just in case you haven’t, here it is:
HQ:
* Emperor's Champion w/ Black Sword, Bolt Pistol, Armor of Faith, and the Vow: "Abhor the Witch, Destroy the Witch." [110]
Elites:
* Venerable Dreadnought w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons, Heavy Flamer, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon, Extra Armor, and Tank Hunter. [170]
* Dreadnought w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons, Heavy Flamer, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon, and Extra Armor. [140]
* Dreadnought w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons, Heavy Flamer, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon, and Extra Armor. [140]
Troops:
* Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates w/ 3 Bolters, 1 Plasmagun & 1 Lascannon. Mounted in a Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons. [191]
* Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates w/ 3 Bolters, 1 Plasmagun & 1 Lascannon. Mounted in a Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons. [191]
* Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates w/ 3 Bolters, 1 Plasmagun & 1 Lascannon. Mounted in a Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons. [191]
* Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates w/ 3 Bolters, 1 Plasmagun & 1 Lascannon. Mounted in a Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons. [191]
* 5 Inquisitorial Stormtroopers [WH Allies] w/ 3 Hellguns and Targeters & 2 Meltaguns. Mounted in a Rhino. [120]
Fast Attack:
* Land Speeder Tornado: Multi-melta and Heavy Flamer. [75]
* Land Speeder Tornado: Multi-melta and Heavy Flamer. [75]
* Land Speeder Tornado: Multi-melta and Heavy Flamer. [75]
Heavy Support:
* Predator Destructor w/ Autocannon and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons. [110]
* Predator Destructor w/ Autocannon and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons. [110]
* Predator Destructor w/ Autocannon and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons. [110]
Total Points: [1999]
I won’t go into a deep look at our list, as I’ve already done it several places around the website. And by reading my BT 101 guide, you should know why this list works. The BT mechanized gunline is, in my opinion, the best possible list we can put out right now. It does well against every army out there, and as we will discover, the Dark Eldar aren’t an exception. Does it have weaknesses that might get exploited by unbalanced enemy lists? Potentially, but the beauty of a balanced list is that you can adapt to whatever circumstances are presented to you.
So what do we have here? Right away, there are a few problems that we have to overcome as the Black Templars player. If the Dark Eldar player goes first, you know that your Razorbacks and Land Speeders will be eating lots and lots of lance fire. They are the easiest target to eliminate reliably, so they will go down first. Their next target will be the Predators, as Eldar armor does not like bolters of any variety. Three dakka Predators will be a huge problem that the “Venomwing” will need to address. And finally, for our gunline list to work, we need our crusader squads on foot so they can fire their lascannons. Unfortunately, that puts them at risk of being blasted away with the Splinter Cannons.
This means that deployment is critically important to the success of our game plan (when isn’t it though?). Our infantry needs to be in a position where they are out of sight/out of range of most of the Dark Eldar forces. Unfortunately, it is difficult to outrange the DE as all of their transports can go at least 24”. Obviously, you want to be as far away from them as possible, but still in range of the battle objectives. It is a balance that I cannot teach via text. Basically what you need to get out of this is to minimize their shooting if it’s possible. It’s dangerous, but we have enough separate targets to present a problem to the Dark Eldar.
Unlike their predecessor codex, the new Dark Eldar will be having much more difficulty getting into vehicles. You have to remember that a single Dark Lance only has a 11% chance to destroy an AV11 vehicle (i.e. Razorback, Rhino). While the dice could end up being much better than that, on average, you need 9 lances to kill one Razorback. Good news for us. Unfortunately, the game never works out like that as any vehicle damage result is detrimental to our firing (minus Immobilization). A simple shaken result is sufficient to neutralize the vehicle for a turn.
This means that we need a great many redundant vehicles to be successful. But really, this is the same story as any other opponent. But what really hurts is the Dark Eldar anti-infantry. The DE poison weapons will do naughty things to our infantry if we let them. In our list, the Venoms likely will be one of the first targets for our weapons. Because the Dark Eldar vehicles are mostly open-topped, even a glancing hit has the potential to down them. Plus, you never need to worry about more than AV11, as it doesn’t exist. That means even your dakka predators can be used to punch holes in the Dark Eldar vehicles. Once de-meched, the Dark Eldar present a much less threat to our army. Even with cover and FNP (from pain tokens), their infantry quickly falls to concentrated firepower and assaults because of their low toughness and armor saves.
So let’s break it down. The Dark Eldar will do bad, bad things to our crusader squads if on foot. So much so that it’s possible all four crusader squads will be killed turn one if all of their Splinter Cannon shots are in range. The “Venomwing” needs to have infantry on the ground in order to have the most effect. However, that doesn’t mean that the Dark Lances won’t do anything to hurt you. They superior mobility and can easily get favorable shots on side/back armor. They can also use that maneuverability near the end of the game to claim table quarters or objectives. Lots and lots of firepower will hurt almost any army it faces.
However, if you survive the Dark Eldar’s onslaught, you’ll be in good shape to start eliminating vehicles. Having the first turn helps as well against this type of army. It really isn’t difficult at all to kill DE vehicles, even with their 5+ invulnerable saves. So concentrate on bringing down all of the vehicles, and once they are out of the way, the infantry is much easier to deal with. The “Venomwing” cannot deal with assault, so it is a good option if the chance presents itself. This will also help save you against shooting if you don’t kill them all. The BT gunline has tools to deal with everything an enemy can throw against you. No DE vehicle is out of harm’s way, nor are dedicated DE assault units impossible to deal with. “Glass Hammer” is the name of the game here. Survive the punishment that they can put out, then you have a good shot at taking them out.
Just remember, this is only one type of Dark Eldar build. Some rely on “toughness” to survive, while pinging you from a far (Haemonculus builds). Others will do their best to wipe you out in close combat. Nearly everything is dangerous in the Dark Eldar codex, but if you stick to your game plan as best as you can and prioritize your targets, you’ll do just fine. Good luck!
HQ
* Tyrandus Derayn (Haemonculus) w/ Liquifier Gun. [60]
Elites:
* Trueborn Nemesis; 3 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3 Blasters. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [146]
* Trueborn Nightmares; 3 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3 Blasters. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [146]
* Trueborn Shades; 3 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3 Blasters. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [146]
Troops:
* Twilight Raiders; 10 Warriors w/ 1 Dark Lance. Mounted in a Raider w/ 1 Dark Lance. [175]
* Eclipse Raiders; 10 Warriors w/ 1 Dark Lance. Mounted in a Raider w/ 1 Dark Lance. [175]
* Shadow Raiders; 10 Warriors w/ 1 Dark Lance. Mounted in a Raider w/ 1 Dark Lance. [175]
* Midnight Constructs; 5 Wracks w/ 1 Liquifier Gun. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [125]
* Nightfall Constructs; 5 Wracks w/ 1 Liquifier Gun. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [125]
* Darkness Constructs; 5 Wracks w/ 1 Liquifier Gun. Mounted in a Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons. [125]
Fast Attack:
* Angelic Nightmares; 5 Scourges w/ 2 Heat Lances and 3 Shard Carbines. [134]
Heavy Support:
* Malicious Phantom (Razorwing Fighter) w/ 2 Dark Lances, 1 Splinter Cannon, and 4 Monoscythe Missiles. [155]
* Fallen Spector (Razorwing Fighter) w/ 2 Dark Lances, 1 Splinter Cannon, and 4 Monoscythe Missiles. [155]
* Vengeful Apparition (Razorwing Fighter) w/ 2 Dark Lances, 1 Splinter Cannon, and 4 Monoscythe Missiles. [155]
Total Points: [1997]
Like any 5th Edition codex, there are near innumerable builds for the Dark Eldar that are competitive. I have been tweaking and playing around with their builds for weeks now, and the list we’ll pit against the BT is one of those lists. I have dubbed it the “Venomwing” (several weeks ago), and I already see people using the term. Makes me smile, because that means people are reading my website. Anyway, it’s a list that makes heavy use of the Venom transport and its weaponry, the Splinter Cannon. The Splinter Cannon is a beast. It has a range of 36”, Str X, and an AP 5. It is also poison (4+) and Assault 4 or Heavy 6, depending on your needs. It is important to note that DE poison weapons count as defensive weapons, so they may always be fired up to 12” movement (because all the DE vehicles are fast). The Venom has the ability to take two Splinter Cannons per vehicle, so they can put out 12 poison shots a turn, with built-in Flickerfields (5+ invulnerable save), for a mere 65 points. The downside is that they can only transport 5 models.
Taking another look at the list, we see that there are 12 Dark Lances (36” Str 8 AP 2 Heavy 1, Lance) in the list, along with 9 Blasters (18” Str 8 AP 2 Assault 1, Lance). There is also one unit with melta weapons that will be pretty survivable if a pain token is given to them (via the Haemonculus). Lastly, the Razorwings each have 4 Monoscythe Missiles (48” Str 6 AP 5 Assault 1, Large Blast, One Use Only). These missiles can ruin any infantry’s day if fired in mass. So how do we beat it?
Now, I know there is a huge upswing of popularity for the Dual-Land Raider Crusader list with the coming of the DE. The thought is that Blessed Hull will save you from a DE player. This is somewhat true, as the Dark Eldar rely on lots of lance shots at AV12 or lower to blow up your vehicles. If they can’t reduce your AV12, then they will not be able to reliably get into the vehicle without Haywire Grenades. However, remember that while good against the Dark Eldar, the dual-LRC list isn’t very good against most other opponents. It is an average list at best, that can be easily dealt with on the top tables. In other words, don’t fall for the trap and build this army unless you really like its style.
For the sake of argument, we’re going to assume that you’re using a competitive, tournament list for the Black Templars. As I’ve already pointed out in numerous places around Implausible Nature, we really cannot afford to mess around with our builds in the days of 5th Edition. We don’t do things very efficiently because of our old codex, but we can manage if you properly build an army. Non-optimized BT lists will have huge issues with the Dark Eldar, I’m not going to lie. This new Dark Eldar codex proves once again why fielding balanced, all-comers lists will put you in a position to win every time. I’m sure by now, you’ve figured out the list we’ll be comparing to. Just in case you haven’t, here it is:
HQ:
* Emperor's Champion w/ Black Sword, Bolt Pistol, Armor of Faith, and the Vow: "Abhor the Witch, Destroy the Witch." [110]
Elites:
* Venerable Dreadnought w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons, Heavy Flamer, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon, Extra Armor, and Tank Hunter. [170]
* Dreadnought w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons, Heavy Flamer, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon, and Extra Armor. [140]
* Dreadnought w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons, Heavy Flamer, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon, and Extra Armor. [140]
Troops:
* Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates w/ 3 Bolters, 1 Plasmagun & 1 Lascannon. Mounted in a Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons. [191]
* Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates w/ 3 Bolters, 1 Plasmagun & 1 Lascannon. Mounted in a Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons. [191]
* Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates w/ 3 Bolters, 1 Plasmagun & 1 Lascannon. Mounted in a Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons. [191]
* Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates w/ 3 Bolters, 1 Plasmagun & 1 Lascannon. Mounted in a Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannons. [191]
* 5 Inquisitorial Stormtroopers [WH Allies] w/ 3 Hellguns and Targeters & 2 Meltaguns. Mounted in a Rhino. [120]
Fast Attack:
* Land Speeder Tornado: Multi-melta and Heavy Flamer. [75]
* Land Speeder Tornado: Multi-melta and Heavy Flamer. [75]
* Land Speeder Tornado: Multi-melta and Heavy Flamer. [75]
Heavy Support:
* Predator Destructor w/ Autocannon and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons. [110]
* Predator Destructor w/ Autocannon and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons. [110]
* Predator Destructor w/ Autocannon and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons. [110]
Total Points: [1999]
I won’t go into a deep look at our list, as I’ve already done it several places around the website. And by reading my BT 101 guide, you should know why this list works. The BT mechanized gunline is, in my opinion, the best possible list we can put out right now. It does well against every army out there, and as we will discover, the Dark Eldar aren’t an exception. Does it have weaknesses that might get exploited by unbalanced enemy lists? Potentially, but the beauty of a balanced list is that you can adapt to whatever circumstances are presented to you.
So what do we have here? Right away, there are a few problems that we have to overcome as the Black Templars player. If the Dark Eldar player goes first, you know that your Razorbacks and Land Speeders will be eating lots and lots of lance fire. They are the easiest target to eliminate reliably, so they will go down first. Their next target will be the Predators, as Eldar armor does not like bolters of any variety. Three dakka Predators will be a huge problem that the “Venomwing” will need to address. And finally, for our gunline list to work, we need our crusader squads on foot so they can fire their lascannons. Unfortunately, that puts them at risk of being blasted away with the Splinter Cannons.
This means that deployment is critically important to the success of our game plan (when isn’t it though?). Our infantry needs to be in a position where they are out of sight/out of range of most of the Dark Eldar forces. Unfortunately, it is difficult to outrange the DE as all of their transports can go at least 24”. Obviously, you want to be as far away from them as possible, but still in range of the battle objectives. It is a balance that I cannot teach via text. Basically what you need to get out of this is to minimize their shooting if it’s possible. It’s dangerous, but we have enough separate targets to present a problem to the Dark Eldar.
Unlike their predecessor codex, the new Dark Eldar will be having much more difficulty getting into vehicles. You have to remember that a single Dark Lance only has a 11% chance to destroy an AV11 vehicle (i.e. Razorback, Rhino). While the dice could end up being much better than that, on average, you need 9 lances to kill one Razorback. Good news for us. Unfortunately, the game never works out like that as any vehicle damage result is detrimental to our firing (minus Immobilization). A simple shaken result is sufficient to neutralize the vehicle for a turn.
This means that we need a great many redundant vehicles to be successful. But really, this is the same story as any other opponent. But what really hurts is the Dark Eldar anti-infantry. The DE poison weapons will do naughty things to our infantry if we let them. In our list, the Venoms likely will be one of the first targets for our weapons. Because the Dark Eldar vehicles are mostly open-topped, even a glancing hit has the potential to down them. Plus, you never need to worry about more than AV11, as it doesn’t exist. That means even your dakka predators can be used to punch holes in the Dark Eldar vehicles. Once de-meched, the Dark Eldar present a much less threat to our army. Even with cover and FNP (from pain tokens), their infantry quickly falls to concentrated firepower and assaults because of their low toughness and armor saves.
So let’s break it down. The Dark Eldar will do bad, bad things to our crusader squads if on foot. So much so that it’s possible all four crusader squads will be killed turn one if all of their Splinter Cannon shots are in range. The “Venomwing” needs to have infantry on the ground in order to have the most effect. However, that doesn’t mean that the Dark Lances won’t do anything to hurt you. They superior mobility and can easily get favorable shots on side/back armor. They can also use that maneuverability near the end of the game to claim table quarters or objectives. Lots and lots of firepower will hurt almost any army it faces.
However, if you survive the Dark Eldar’s onslaught, you’ll be in good shape to start eliminating vehicles. Having the first turn helps as well against this type of army. It really isn’t difficult at all to kill DE vehicles, even with their 5+ invulnerable saves. So concentrate on bringing down all of the vehicles, and once they are out of the way, the infantry is much easier to deal with. The “Venomwing” cannot deal with assault, so it is a good option if the chance presents itself. This will also help save you against shooting if you don’t kill them all. The BT gunline has tools to deal with everything an enemy can throw against you. No DE vehicle is out of harm’s way, nor are dedicated DE assault units impossible to deal with. “Glass Hammer” is the name of the game here. Survive the punishment that they can put out, then you have a good shot at taking them out.
Just remember, this is only one type of Dark Eldar build. Some rely on “toughness” to survive, while pinging you from a far (Haemonculus builds). Others will do their best to wipe you out in close combat. Nearly everything is dangerous in the Dark Eldar codex, but if you stick to your game plan as best as you can and prioritize your targets, you’ll do just fine. Good luck!
How to Beat the Dark Eldar: Part Two
As most of my readers know (or have discovered if you are a new reader), I play the Dark Eldar as my second army. This has given me an unique perspective on how to beat my armies WITH my armies. This part will talk more about what each side will be looking for when they play the other and some things to get around this. I'll start out with the Dark Eldar.
What the Dark Eldar player is looking to do:
First, they want the first turn. It isn't required, but you have to know that if you are playing a gunline variant of Dark Eldar, they want to blast you off the board as quickly as possible (i.e. Alpha Strike). They have a few tools to accomplish this goal: Duke Sliscus (+1 to deployment/go-first roll) and Vect (seizes initiative on 4+). If the Dark Eldar player does get the first turn, expect several of your vehicles and transports to disappear. Also a possibility is a first turn charge, as the DE player will likely deploying aggressively to pull this off. As such, you need to ensure you try to eliminate easy targets for the DE player via Refused Flank, Reserves, or deploying your vehicles in a LOS-blocking position. If you can weather the storm, you can get into the fight and slowly bring the DE down. They are not built for long-duration fights.
Next, they will be looking to open up all of your transports as quickly as possible. Other vehicles will find themselves a secondary priority after they have been shaken/stunned. The reason for this is that nearly all of the units in the DE codex require access to the enemy's infantry to be successful. The longer that the DE player has to mess around with vehicles, the less time they have to deal a crippling blow to win the game. Obviously, this is not the ideal situation for the Dark Eldar, as they are extremely fragile and cannot withstand a sustained fire-fight. Once they've gotten you out of your transports, you'll be subject to incredible amounts of poison weaponry (which do not affect vehicles). They can put out huge numbers of shots (torrent of fire), so even your terminator/power armored warriors will quickly fall. As such, you need to protect your tranports as long as possible. Fortunately for us, we have smoke launchers that will allow us to prevent a kill for at least a turn. If playing a gunline army, use your Razorbacks to block LOS to your infantry when its not your turn. Cunning positioning will open fire-lanes for your weaponry, while protecting your marines from incoming fire. Unfortunately for their opponents, the DE have plenty of weaponry spread around the entire army that is able to, at the very least, silence vehicles for a turn.
In addition, they will use your lack of transports to tie up your units with cheap throwaway units (better known as "bubblewrap"). Or even worse, they'll toss Wyches at your dedicated-CC units to tie them up for several turns. Armed with Shardnets & Impalers, they can easily reduce your attacks and with favorable combat drugs, wreck havoc on your unit. With the amount of attacks they can put out, 2+/3+ armor saves will not save you for long. Alternatively, they send Beastmaster Packs or Incubi units your way. If so, whatever they charge will die. A very horrible death. It is essential to provide a "speedbump" if you have one of these units coming your way, one they cannot help but to charge. If you're lucky, they will kill the unit and be forced to take lots of fire in your turn. Fortunately, there are other ways to minimize their impact on the game. The Beastmaster Pack is extremely vulnerable to tank shock because its so big and suffer from a lackluster Ld 8 (even lower if the Beastmasters die). If they fail, they'll be running in a very favorable direction. If you can get another unit within 6" before their regroup test, you can just escort them off the board. The Incubi's ride can be shot down rather easily. If you can do that early on, you might be able to eliminate them before they become a problem.
Finally, the main thing they'll be looking to do is board manipulation. With their extreme mobility, reserve manipulation (via Web Way Portals), and deep striking capabilities, the Dark Eldar are perfectly suited to this task. The DE player wants to herd you into a certain direction on the board, before zooming off in another direction, leaving those units ineffective for several turns. In addition, this means they are able to quickly reinforce faltering parts of their line, capture/contest objectives at will, and forces you into reaction mode because of the speed of the army. Obviously, the primary way of distrupting this is to shoot the transports down. With only AV10 and being classified as open-topped, they will die to sustained fire.
What the Black Templar player is looking to do:
Now that you know what the DE player is planning on doing during a game (in a nutshell), a plan of your own can be formulated to combat the threat. While it is said that no plan survives the first shot, having a gameplan is essential to the success of the Black Templars. Especially when playing the Dark Eldar, as they can easily manipulate the game to their whims. Of course, this gameplan will depend entirely on the archetype of army you are planning on running.
Nevertheless, there are a few things you need to look out for when playing a Dark Eldar player. The first and foremost, is to ensure that their mobility is non-functioning as soon as possible. If they are allowed to move around the board at will, they can easily force you into kill zones or get into optimal fire lanes to your forces. It also means they have the ability to reach your forces in a turn or two. Against a CC-oriented lists or Blaster-armed Trueborn, this is bad. DE mobility also hurts your play at objectives later in the game, so the sooner those transports go down, the better off you are. Fortunately, both the Raider and Venom are relatively fragile (even with Flickerfields/Shadowfields). They cannot stand up to sustained firepower for long. If you manage to explode those transports while carrying passengers, chances are a few of those models are going to die because of their poor armor saves. Some of those units will have Feel No Pain, however, so be aware of that.
Once their transports are dead, you need to marginalize their firepower elements. Like the transports, this isn't too difficult to accomplish. Fortunately, a lot of the Dark Eldar's firepower comes from Raiders and Venoms. But other sources could be Blaster Trueborn (usually 3-4 models with blasters), Ravagers, Scourges, Reaver Jetbikes, or Razorwing Fighters. You could also face some Dark Lance fire from Warrior squads, but those are easily neutralized by AI fire or charging them. The DE use MSU very well, so their firepower will be spread across the army. That is why they are so easy to kill. Just make sure you focus on something, make it dead, then move on. Sometimes shaking/stunning will be enough to tide you over.
It should go without saying that their assault-oriented units need your attention. Wyches are fairly easy to deal with if you knock their transports out of the air. Most will die in an explosion, while the rest will be extremely vulnerable to bolt fire. If facing Beastmaster Packs or Incubi, preventing them from reaching your lines is essential. While Incubi will flail uselessly against vehicles, the Beastmaster Packs will not (rending). As I mentioned previously, tank shock works wonders here. With only a Ld 8, you'll have a pretty good shot at making them fall back. If none of that is possible, you'll have to feed them "bubblewrap" units. Hopefully the Incubi/Beastmaster Pack will kill off your unit so you can shoot them. Remember, Incubi are only T3. Put enough shots into them (or low AP weapons) and they will fall. Never give your opponent the opportunity to multi-charge you, as their dedicated CC-units will maul you before you strike back.
When playing the Dark Eldar, it is imperative that you do not commit your forces against the Dark Eldar unless you know for sure you can get at them. This means no transports. If there is no option available to you, protect your units as best as you can until your firepower does the job for you. Making a foolhardy charge at a mobile opponent will just cause your unit to be isolated, mauled, and left for dead. Or they could simply just fly away, causing you to waste time moving that unit back into the battle. Obviously, some of our archetypes do this better than others.
Lastly, deny the Dark Eldar player the initiative in battle. They rely alpha strikes and precision fire/assaults. Present targets to your opponent that are not optimal for their gameplan. If you force your opponent to think about what you're going, rather than what they are going to do, you have a chance to keep them on their heels. This might result in them making a mistake in battle and it is up to you to capitalize on it.
That really is all there is. If you can de-mech the Dark Eldar player and neutralize their firepower (which is relatively easy to accomplish), you'll win the game the majority of times. It is just being able to survive their initial onslaught that is difficult, as the DE can put out wicked amounts of firepower and assault units.
What the Dark Eldar player is looking to do:
First, they want the first turn. It isn't required, but you have to know that if you are playing a gunline variant of Dark Eldar, they want to blast you off the board as quickly as possible (i.e. Alpha Strike). They have a few tools to accomplish this goal: Duke Sliscus (+1 to deployment/go-first roll) and Vect (seizes initiative on 4+). If the Dark Eldar player does get the first turn, expect several of your vehicles and transports to disappear. Also a possibility is a first turn charge, as the DE player will likely deploying aggressively to pull this off. As such, you need to ensure you try to eliminate easy targets for the DE player via Refused Flank, Reserves, or deploying your vehicles in a LOS-blocking position. If you can weather the storm, you can get into the fight and slowly bring the DE down. They are not built for long-duration fights.
Next, they will be looking to open up all of your transports as quickly as possible. Other vehicles will find themselves a secondary priority after they have been shaken/stunned. The reason for this is that nearly all of the units in the DE codex require access to the enemy's infantry to be successful. The longer that the DE player has to mess around with vehicles, the less time they have to deal a crippling blow to win the game. Obviously, this is not the ideal situation for the Dark Eldar, as they are extremely fragile and cannot withstand a sustained fire-fight. Once they've gotten you out of your transports, you'll be subject to incredible amounts of poison weaponry (which do not affect vehicles). They can put out huge numbers of shots (torrent of fire), so even your terminator/power armored warriors will quickly fall. As such, you need to protect your tranports as long as possible. Fortunately for us, we have smoke launchers that will allow us to prevent a kill for at least a turn. If playing a gunline army, use your Razorbacks to block LOS to your infantry when its not your turn. Cunning positioning will open fire-lanes for your weaponry, while protecting your marines from incoming fire. Unfortunately for their opponents, the DE have plenty of weaponry spread around the entire army that is able to, at the very least, silence vehicles for a turn.
In addition, they will use your lack of transports to tie up your units with cheap throwaway units (better known as "bubblewrap"). Or even worse, they'll toss Wyches at your dedicated-CC units to tie them up for several turns. Armed with Shardnets & Impalers, they can easily reduce your attacks and with favorable combat drugs, wreck havoc on your unit. With the amount of attacks they can put out, 2+/3+ armor saves will not save you for long. Alternatively, they send Beastmaster Packs or Incubi units your way. If so, whatever they charge will die. A very horrible death. It is essential to provide a "speedbump" if you have one of these units coming your way, one they cannot help but to charge. If you're lucky, they will kill the unit and be forced to take lots of fire in your turn. Fortunately, there are other ways to minimize their impact on the game. The Beastmaster Pack is extremely vulnerable to tank shock because its so big and suffer from a lackluster Ld 8 (even lower if the Beastmasters die). If they fail, they'll be running in a very favorable direction. If you can get another unit within 6" before their regroup test, you can just escort them off the board. The Incubi's ride can be shot down rather easily. If you can do that early on, you might be able to eliminate them before they become a problem.
Finally, the main thing they'll be looking to do is board manipulation. With their extreme mobility, reserve manipulation (via Web Way Portals), and deep striking capabilities, the Dark Eldar are perfectly suited to this task. The DE player wants to herd you into a certain direction on the board, before zooming off in another direction, leaving those units ineffective for several turns. In addition, this means they are able to quickly reinforce faltering parts of their line, capture/contest objectives at will, and forces you into reaction mode because of the speed of the army. Obviously, the primary way of distrupting this is to shoot the transports down. With only AV10 and being classified as open-topped, they will die to sustained fire.
What the Black Templar player is looking to do:
Now that you know what the DE player is planning on doing during a game (in a nutshell), a plan of your own can be formulated to combat the threat. While it is said that no plan survives the first shot, having a gameplan is essential to the success of the Black Templars. Especially when playing the Dark Eldar, as they can easily manipulate the game to their whims. Of course, this gameplan will depend entirely on the archetype of army you are planning on running.
Nevertheless, there are a few things you need to look out for when playing a Dark Eldar player. The first and foremost, is to ensure that their mobility is non-functioning as soon as possible. If they are allowed to move around the board at will, they can easily force you into kill zones or get into optimal fire lanes to your forces. It also means they have the ability to reach your forces in a turn or two. Against a CC-oriented lists or Blaster-armed Trueborn, this is bad. DE mobility also hurts your play at objectives later in the game, so the sooner those transports go down, the better off you are. Fortunately, both the Raider and Venom are relatively fragile (even with Flickerfields/Shadowfields). They cannot stand up to sustained firepower for long. If you manage to explode those transports while carrying passengers, chances are a few of those models are going to die because of their poor armor saves. Some of those units will have Feel No Pain, however, so be aware of that.
Once their transports are dead, you need to marginalize their firepower elements. Like the transports, this isn't too difficult to accomplish. Fortunately, a lot of the Dark Eldar's firepower comes from Raiders and Venoms. But other sources could be Blaster Trueborn (usually 3-4 models with blasters), Ravagers, Scourges, Reaver Jetbikes, or Razorwing Fighters. You could also face some Dark Lance fire from Warrior squads, but those are easily neutralized by AI fire or charging them. The DE use MSU very well, so their firepower will be spread across the army. That is why they are so easy to kill. Just make sure you focus on something, make it dead, then move on. Sometimes shaking/stunning will be enough to tide you over.
It should go without saying that their assault-oriented units need your attention. Wyches are fairly easy to deal with if you knock their transports out of the air. Most will die in an explosion, while the rest will be extremely vulnerable to bolt fire. If facing Beastmaster Packs or Incubi, preventing them from reaching your lines is essential. While Incubi will flail uselessly against vehicles, the Beastmaster Packs will not (rending). As I mentioned previously, tank shock works wonders here. With only a Ld 8, you'll have a pretty good shot at making them fall back. If none of that is possible, you'll have to feed them "bubblewrap" units. Hopefully the Incubi/Beastmaster Pack will kill off your unit so you can shoot them. Remember, Incubi are only T3. Put enough shots into them (or low AP weapons) and they will fall. Never give your opponent the opportunity to multi-charge you, as their dedicated CC-units will maul you before you strike back.
When playing the Dark Eldar, it is imperative that you do not commit your forces against the Dark Eldar unless you know for sure you can get at them. This means no transports. If there is no option available to you, protect your units as best as you can until your firepower does the job for you. Making a foolhardy charge at a mobile opponent will just cause your unit to be isolated, mauled, and left for dead. Or they could simply just fly away, causing you to waste time moving that unit back into the battle. Obviously, some of our archetypes do this better than others.
Lastly, deny the Dark Eldar player the initiative in battle. They rely alpha strikes and precision fire/assaults. Present targets to your opponent that are not optimal for their gameplan. If you force your opponent to think about what you're going, rather than what they are going to do, you have a chance to keep them on their heels. This might result in them making a mistake in battle and it is up to you to capitalize on it.
That really is all there is. If you can de-mech the Dark Eldar player and neutralize their firepower (which is relatively easy to accomplish), you'll win the game the majority of times. It is just being able to survive their initial onslaught that is difficult, as the DE can put out wicked amounts of firepower and assault units.
