Wednesday 15 October 2014

3 Ways to troll people with your new Dark Eldar (i.e. how to lose friends)

THE INTERNET HAS SPOKEN and the collective neckbeard wisdom is that the new DE codex has been *nerfed*.  This is wildly inaccurate as there are many subtle builds that can be made from the new book.  However for those of you who seek a more a more immediate WAAC approach read on....

1. Take Multiple detachments / formations from the Coven book for maximum LD shenanigans.



From pg 50: "Freakish spectacle: Enemy units within 12" of one or more units from this detachment suffer a -1 penalty to their LD value" 

[Games Workshop Design Studio, Haemonculus Covens, (GW: Nottingham, 2014)]

The keen eyed among you will note that this stipulates the specific detachment.  It stands to say then that if you have two Covenite detachments in your force, both will place the LD penalty on an opponent separately.  Even better, the formations also have this rule (referring you to pg 50 quoted above).  Combine with deepstriking misery armour and tank shocking venoms for maximum troll value.

NB if you want to double down on the fear, throw in some 'terrify' from the Eldar Codex.

2. Adopt a hard 'RAW' approach to Soul Fright.



Main codex pg 105: "At the end of the Shooting phase...unit...must make a Leadership test...Wounds cannot be allocated to models with the Fearless or ATSKNF special rules (any excess Wounds are lost)" 

[Games Workshop Design Studio, Codex: Dark Eldar, (GW: Nottingham, 2014)]

The important bit here is that only models with the fearless /ATSKNF special rule are unaffected. There are a few repercussions here.  

  •  Models with the 'Zealot' USR can be affected by the test.  The counter argument to this is that their unit automatically passes the 'Leadership' test imposed by Soul Fright.  To counter this, point out to your opponent that what it's asking them to do is take a 'Characteristic test' based on their Leadership.  Zealot means you automatically pass Morale tests; if GW wanted you to take a Morale test they would have specified.  Instead they used the capitalised form of Leadership, which has a specific game meaning.
  • If you follow the above, you'll also now see in a big unit with one Fearless model, only the individual model with the Fearless USR is immune.  The whole unit may automatically pass Morale, Pinning checks etc., but Fearless does not confer the USR itself to the rest of the unit.  Again, this is not a Morale test (which they automatically pass) but a Leadership characteristic test.  Hence a big blob of Guardsmen are vulnerable (even if they have a Zealot-priest). 
  • This also means that Daemons are vulnerable to Soul Fright, as are any units (i.e. Orks over 10 men) that "automatically pass Morale tests".  To state it one more time: Soul Fright doesn't ask for a morale test, it asks for a characteristic test based on "Leadership".  Say it enough times and you might start believing it yourself.
Here are the key passages from the BRB:

Morale Tests
"Morale represents the grit, determination, or (sometimes) plain stupidity of warriors in action. Morale checks are a specific kind of Leadership test."

Fearless
"Units containing one or more models with the Fearless special rule automatically pass Pinning, Fear, Regroup tests and Morale checks, but cannot Go to Ground and cannot choose to fail a Morale check due to the Our Weapons Are Useless rule. If a unit has Gone to Ground and then gains the Fearless special rule, all the effects of Go to Ground are immediately cancelled."

Zealot
"A unit containing one or more models with the Zealot special rule automatically passes Pinning, Fear and Regroup tests and Morale checks, but cannot Go to Ground and cannot choose to fail a Morale check due to the Our Weapons Are Useless rule. If a unit gains the Zealot special rule when it has Gone to Ground, all the effects of Go to Ground are immediately cancelled."

[Games Workshop Design Team, Warhammer 40K: The Rules (Digital Edition), (GW: Nottingham, 2014)]

One point it is worth noting here is that the Fearless special rule does talk about the 'unit' gaining fearless in the second highlighted section...

3. Use your Deepstriking Skimmers like Evil Drop Pods without fear!


This relies on a passage in the Skimmer rules of the BRB:
Moving Skimmers

"Skimmers can move over friendly and enemy models, but they cannot end their move on top of either.
Skimmers can move over all terrain, ignoring all penalties for difficult terrain and Dangerous Terrain tests . However, if a moving Skimmer starts or ends its move in difficult or dangerous terrain, it must take a Dangerous Terrain test. A Skimmer can even end its move over impassable terrain if it is possible to actually place the model on top of it, but if it does so it must take a Dangerous Terrain test.
If a Skimmer is forced to end its move over friendly or enemy models, move the Skimmer the minimum distance so that no models are left underneath it."
This combined with the fact that 1: Deep Striking units count as having moved in the shooting phase, and 2: when else would a skimmer be forced to end its move over friendly or enemy models? means that you can argue any DS skimmer which hits an enemy unit while scattering, does a Drop Pod and stops just short.

A WORD OF CAUTION

I do not recommend you use any of the above in games with friends/ever.  Doing so may make you a massive twat.
I will add more troll tactics to this page as they occur to me / the internet.
Enjoy!


4 comments:

  1. If you really want to work your first point to its full potential - take an allied unit of shadow spectres from forgeworld - and watch your opponent take those Leadership tests on 3D6 using the highest 2 results.

    ps. I think so long as you talk the second and third points through with your opponent you should avoid the twat issue. If they disagree with the interpretation of the skimmer rule (and that one is more of an interpretation not just clear understanding of how the rules combine) then roll off to figure out whose interpretation applies this time. I find going through these points clearly with your opponent first avoids that debate part way through the game when success or failure hinges on how a particular rule works. It's like agreeing cover saves from scenery before you start!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Nick, I'm not convinced about the deep strike thing. It strikes me that saying something 'counts as moved' is a way of saying it has not, in fact, moved.

      Agreed on talking things through though and if in doubt - refer them to the most important rule!

      Delete
    2. The part that sold me on it is where the deep strike rule says (quote) In the movement phase during which they arrive, Deep Striking units may not move any further...

      If they can't move any further, they must by definition have moved already, otherwise the wording should be:
      In the movement phase during which they arrive, Deep Striking units may not move

      Delete
  2. Here's a few more then based on further examination of the codex and supplement.

    Take a single Lhamaean as an HQ choice (definitely an option as written in the codex - definitely pushing the boundaries of being a massive twat if you do it)

    Claim that the Dark Artisan formation allows you to take a unit of Talos and a unit of Cronos, not just one of each (I personally disagree that this is RAW, but it has been argued)

    ReplyDelete

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