Tuesday 30 September 2014

Dark Eldar Codex Leaks: Images [Updated]


I am starting to find a trickle of images coming through...  Below are two that have been circulating on a Spanish blog.




The original post can be found here.

There are a few changes here: I have put these in bold below.

Archon:  no change
Drahzar: no change
Haemonculus: WS 5 BS 5 W 3 I 5 A 3 LD 9
Lelith: A 5
Medusae: Sv 3+ (?)
Urien: I 5 W 5 A 4 (?)

The obvious winners here are the Coven units with Urien going up to an impressive 5 wounds and the Haemonculi taking on the statline of the Haemonculus Ancient of old.  I'd imagine this will come with a corresponding points increase.

The second picture is a little too blurry my eyes to make anything out; if you spot something pop it in the comments and I'll add your observation to the blog!

Here is a translation of the Spanish post:

An anonymous reader who wants to remain anonymous has contacted me to give me some breaking news. I think it's quite clear:
"Hi! I have the codex here and I can tell you that asdrubal isn't in it..."
He's also sent me this image. It looks like this reader clears up any doubts. Asdruval Vect isn't in the new Dark Eldar codex and consequently there are only three special characters left: Drazhar, Lelith and Urien. All of the rest are out as they don't have miniatures and Vect, even though he's had a miniature up until now, isn't in it anymore. They've withdrawn the old one and they haven't brought out a new one. What's more, the Dark Eldar don't have a Lord of War. They're the first of the new codex not to have them. The photos have been taken on a phone but they're clear.

I'm afraid he doesn't show up anywhere. It's confirmed then. He also adds this: "Now only the leader of the witches can use disruption grenades" "motorbikes don't do passive (?) damage in turbo" "despite this, a lot of things have had their points reduced. A unit of 5 azotes (possibly undead?) with 4 burning lances costs 120 points"

120 points for a deepstriking squad with 4 heatlances does sound an interesting prospect...

Check back on Fri/Sat when I will be going through my new Archon Edition and Haemonculus Supplement!

A new name

After some deliberation I have changed the name of this blog.  I am sure the literal tens of loyal fans I have will appreciate my reasons for doing so: basically some other berk had a similarly named blog to me.

Shite Dwarf is the future.  The concept can be easily summarised by the below two diagrams.


Exhibit 1: Dwarf



Exhibit 2: Shite

Monday 29 September 2014

7 steps to win with Corsairs in 7th Ed.

I have always loved the idea of Corsairs.  As I often run Dark Eldar & Eldar together their piratical streak seems to encapsulate perfectly the vicious opportunism of different Xenos factions coming together for personal gain.  This fits perfectly with the approach of the Somalian Space Pirates my DE/E strike force.

The corsair rules are a little old now (IA 11) but they translate wonderfully to a 7th edition environment.  Below are some thoughts on a basic battle plan with them; see my next post for a battle report from where I tried the list out.  Any thoughts or criticism are welcome.



Corsairs: Eldar weaponry - Dark Eldar fashion sense.

Preamble


The following assumes you are familiar with the Corsair rules

So a few things struck me about 7th edition.  The first was the improved jink save, the second was the removal of the reserves limit and the third was the improvements to deep strike.

With this in mind I want to build an army around a Corsair Prince's ability to force night fighting for a turn, with an autarch and the Duke for reserves and deep strike manipulation.



Battle Plan

Here's the battleplan in 7 easy steps.

1.  Start with min units on the board (preferably hidden) enough to make sure I'm not tabled (include the Corsair Prince.


2.  Turn two, deep strike EVERYTHING possible into the enemy ranks. This is done via duke S's rule and also the 3x deep strike the Prince confers.


"Holy shit Sarge, that's no Scourge!"


3.  Possible units to do this with: Kabalites in Raiders with SR, Corsair Guardians with 2x SC and 2x Melta, Scourges with Heatlances (+ ablatives), Talos (benefiting from the Prince's ability?), and then some meaty assault units on raiders - 9x wyches plus Autarch (or something similar)

4.  Hopefully get a DE flier or two on - if current rumours are true, the Void Raven might be quite tasty for this.

5.  Shooting phase the Kabbies let rip into anything soft, Corsairs/Scourges blast vehicles and Corsair Prince brings down nightfight.  This grants the Raiders all a nice 3+ jink for the turn 

(NB if the rumours to the change to night-shields are true, this may be skippable).

Alternate take: use the s9 AP 2 pie plate the Prince can drop to soften up some charge targets for next turn / cream some terminators / pop a parking lot.


Surprise!

6.  The fliers who have arrived missile spam (with the pinning missiles) into as many units as possible.  This combined with torture launchers (can't recall their name) on the Raiders should hopefully leave at least some units pinned ready for a charge next turn - no overwatch.  

Again if the rumours about the new DE armour which grants fear to all enemies within 6" and -2 Leadership is true this would be a great combo.  Use a WWP to DS an Archon behind enemy lines (farewell Duke) & within 6" of as many units as possible.  Shooting the animus vitae to try and get the Wyches all 5+ FnP for a turn 3 onslaught might also be wise.  If you really wanted to start messing with the opponent, throw in some of the terrify available in the Eldar codex. 


7.  Opponent faces target saturation in his own lines.  Do you shoot the Kabbies in Raiders or the assault units who will be charging next turn?  Hopefully some of his units are snap firing due to GtG and any nasty vehicles have been haywire/fusion gunned to death (a Corsair squad puts out 2 melta and 6 s6 shots... YMMV)



This seems relatively fluffy (I love the idea of the lights going down just as DE launch their strike) and would bother most armies. 

Your main danger is the risk of tabling on turn 1.  Hide the Corsair Prince well and maybe sprinkle some wracks in cover?


See my next post for a battle report using this strategy


Saturday 27 September 2014

Dark Eldar Rumour Summary + new info!

After ordering my Archon edition last night I thought I'd pull together all the rumours into one place so we can see how accurate they have been once the 'dex is released.

Green means it is likely to be true
Orange means I'm sitting on the fence
Red means it's dubious at best

Universal

Pain token changes to DE: this has been confirmed by White Dwarf #35



Changes to combat drugs: I'd imagine this is true as it would fit with the overall simplification of rules we have seen.  1+ to each of the attributes has been rumoured.  +1 toughness would be very nice indeed! t5 Reavers... Also s5 Hellions is always a positive.  Especially when furious charge (if still included in PfP would make them s6 vehicle hunters).

HQ

New Archon Model: all but confirmed by WD 35 during the battle rep.


New Succubus Model: The best image of this has come from the previews of the enhanced codex on Apple's iTunes store. 

No Vect/Duke/Lady Malys/Baron in the Codex: This looks very likely judging from another screen shot of the enhanced codex.  Interestingly it also doesn't display a slot for LoW.  All we have listed here are the characters which already have models (Lelith, Drazhar and Urien).


However, see this week's WD for a mention of Vect in the codex description.


This points to Vect being a later release.  My money would be on him appearing as part of a Campaign (I have seen unconfirmed rumours of a DE v BA box approaching).  These would also tally with the false rumours of DE being part of the new DV boxset.  This also means that....

Vect is a week 3 release: this now looks false according to the above image.

Lelith and Drazhar have rampage: yet to see anything confirming this.  It doesn't seem ridiculous though.


Vehicles

Void Mine is now a 5" Blast: again this looks to have been confirmed in today's WD.  It's hard to imagine anything other than a large blast doing this.


Raiders + Ravagers have Deep Strike: this has been posted inter alia on Faiet 212.  I've soured the photos and haven't seen any confirmation of this.

Flickerfields only for Venoms: again, no confirmation of this anywhere.  Iff the rumour about night shields granting stealth is true, this may hold some more credence.

Razorwings moved to Fast Attack: the only source I can find ton this to confirm the anonymous post on Faiet 212 comes from the Batrep in WD.


Here we have a detachment 'Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue' fielding 3 Void Ravens and 1 Razorwing.  This points to one of two possible (actually three) things.  The first is that the VR can be taken in squadrons, the second is that the RW is now fast attack.  The third is that this is an unbound army.  Included for completeness is the Guard army they faced.


To me this looks like a battle-forged list.  Of course it could be that DE are playing unbound against them, however given that both armies are split up into 'detachments' of sorts, this seems unlikely.  See also the related rumour below (Beast Squads).

Fast Attack

Beast Squads now have a minimum of 12 models: in the list given above a slightly odd beast pack of 3 beastmasters and 4 khymerae are fielded.  Unbound or bound this points to this rumour being false as even in unbound lists basic squad requirements remain intact.  The only counter to this is that WD sometimes use illegal combinations in their lists.

Hellions have been reduced by 3 points per model: In the images for the datacards included with the Archon & Dracon codex sets the Hellions datacard shows a squad cost of 65 points in the corner.  Given a minimum squad size of 5, this points to 13 points.  A 3 man squad comes out at a non-integer with this points cost.  Of course the minimum could (unlikely) be more than 5, but this would just represent more of a points dip.  I haven't seen this posted anywhere else.


Elites:

Mandrakes reduced in points cost, gain stealth and shrouded, lose their invun and can baleblast as standard: I haven't seen this supported by any evidence and it smacks somewhat of wishlisting.  It's still a possibility though.


That's all for now... if you'd like me to look into any other rumour let me know in the comments!

Best,

Starkadder