Trueborn

[w7west]

For those who have been under a rock for the last couple weeks, trueborn are the elite versions of dark eldar warriors. They have access to a lot of gear and can really be decked out in any way you would want. Unlike a lot of the other squads in the codex, there is no required number of models per weapon upgrade, so MSU players should be very happy with this unit. Here is a unit that will probably be making it into a lot of lists:

4-5 trueborn, 4 of which have blasters, put them in a raider or venom and call it a day.

This squad clocks in at a little bit under 200 or possibly 163 if you take 4 guys in a venom with no vehicle upgrades. Having four blasters for less than 200 points is very appealing to say the least.

However, taking a deeper look into these guys proves that they can serve a much larger role than expendable antitank. In fact, if an archon is willing to spend around 100 more points on his trueborn court they become the ultimate supporting unit. I like to run two courts of trueborn supported by a nearby archon and his incubi. As the fluff would suggest, these trueborn are equipped with some of the best war gear available.

10 trueborn, 4 blasters, 5 with ccw/pistol, dracon with phantasm, agonizer, blast pistol

Of course they have their own raiders with flickerfields and nightshields as one would expect of these nobles.

With the transport this squad comes in at a solid 320 points. I will be the first to admit it may seem hard to justify this many points for a single squad, especially in a fragile army like dark eldar. For the extra 100+ points I could take another troop squad on foot, pay for a ravager, or just use them to bulk out other squads. So why does this squad deserve the precious points?

Simply put, one or two of these squads will win you games. With a loadout like this, the squad goes from antitank to one that can handle armor with ease, down elite infantry with 5 str8 ap2 shots, at least tie if not win in cc even while being charged, and mount a charge capable of taking out most troop units. The ability to deal the death blow to squads combined with a full squad size means getting a pain token is quite achievable for these guys. This is particularly true if two courts are used to support each other, as their strengths play off of each other greatly. It is also wise to use these with your archon as a concentrated strike force. The archon with incubi can rescue the courts if they bite off too much to chew in close combat.

Another note is that this squad makes very effective use of pain tokens. Once your opponent finds out what these guys are capable of it will most likely be very high on target priority. That is why it is important to use your court wisely. At least until they get the first pain token they should only be disembarking in cover and well supported areas. Once they get the first pain token you now have an amazing squad that is also quite hard to kill. 4 or 5 turns of concentrated blaster fire is extremely potent and your opponent will be cursing these guys by the end of the game. Once they receive a second token they become very dangerous in assault. A volley of blaster fire followed by a nice handful of dice at str 4 will allow them to branch out from the archon and get into fights on their own. And finally, if you manage the third token, which may happen to come quite quickly once the squad has furious charge, your opponent will have no choice but to kill them to the last man. Even a squad that becomes whittled down to just a dracon or two blasters is effective on its own with fnp fc and fearless.

Spending this many points on trueborn squads may take away from a kabal that focuses on winning on the first turn, but in the long run the rewards can be substantial. Either way you choose to play, trueborn are among the most useful elite squads an archon can use.

[DrBored]

I grant you that Trueborn are useful, but they are useful with ranged weapons, whether they be long-range Dark Lances or mid-range Splinter Cannon/Shard Carbine combos... whatever you choose, they are great at range.

I don't understand why you would ever want them assaulting. Yes, you can give them a boatload of attacks, but why would you, really? They won't get as many attacks as Wyches will, and they won't hit as hard because they don't benefit from Combat Drugs. They also don't get any defensive bonus for assaulting, having only a 5+ save versus the 4+ invuln that Wyches get. Oh, and by the way, all those attacks? str 3. You have to roll 5's to wound Space Marines, and then they get to roll 3's to ignore it.

Let's just do some math... 5 Trueborn with close combat weapons and pistols, no other upgrades will get 20 attacks on the charge. Half of those have to get through Weapon Skill, so 10 will hit. Of that, 1/3rd will be ignored by Space Marine toughness of 4, so about 4 wounds will be dealt. Of that, the Space Marines will ignore 2/3rds of them, so 1 dead marine. Even at a full squad of 10, that's still only about 2-3 dead marines.

Let's look at the other way around. 5 Space Marines with close combat weapon and pistol will get 15 attacks on the charge. Half hit, so about 7. 2/3rds wound, so about 4 wounds. The Trueborn ignore 1/3rd, so 2-3 will get through. 5 Marines will trump 10 Trueborn.

So the question remains.. why would you ever have assaulty-Trueborn when you can have Incubi or Wyches or Grotesques or even Mandrakes that do so much more? Shooty Trueborn can't be beat. They're amazing with tons of Blasters and all that jazz, but do not assault them. This is silly.

[eldargal]

Ten Trueborn with shardcarbines could put out 30 shots that wound on 4+, far more effective than their assault abilities. They are in my opinion one of the finest ranged units in the game, all attempts should be made to keep them out of assault and shooting.

[somerandomdude]

One of the best/most cost effective loadouts in my opinion is:

3 Trueborn (2 with Splinter Cannons)
Venom Transport (with additional Splinter Cannon)

That's 121 points for 24 poison shots at 36". You can move 6 and still get 20 shots, or move 12 and still get 12. I think sitting in the back though, out of range of the opponent's backline firepower, is the best option. I'm not a huge fan of the suicide blaster squad.

[Duke]

Dark elder and elder have one thing in common that I think is important. Because they are both glass cannon armies it is very hard to do "all-comer," squad. And even if you can build one they die too easily to sink onto one unit. Remember that these are not marines, so each unit should have a dedicated battlefield role which it can excel at.

Though this unit you have built sounds tough, I think your better off giving it one role and keeping it cheap.

Just my two cents

Duke

[BuFFo]

Dark elder and elder have one thing in common that I think is important. Because they are both glass cannon armies it is very hard to do "all-comer," squad. And even if you can build one they die too easily to sink onto one unit. Remember that these are not marines, so each unit should have a dedicated battlefield role which it can excel at.

Though this unit you have built sounds tough, I think your better off giving it one role and keeping it cheap.

Just my two cents

Duke

Never put Eldar in the same category as Dark Eldar when referring to glass cannon. Eldar don't know what a glass cannon is. lol.

Trueborn should always stay out of assault. They are strength 3 toughness 3 models. They should just shoot all game.

[w7west]

Valid points guys, and I am also a fan of the pure shooting versions of trueborn. Even with my full courts they wont be taking any full strength dedicated cc squads head on. I prefer to use them to prey on weaker squads since they have the ability to deliver knockout blows to damaged tac squads, scouts, any guard squad, damaged nids, and a lot of msu styled squads. Because of the units ability to alpha strike a squad both through shooting and the following assault they can minimize their losses and in a lot of cases be consolidating in the following turn since their cc is not overwhelming. Having feel no pain on my trueborn is a signal that the game has just swung in my favor.

Still I am sure many will choose to use their trueborn in more expendable specialized roles, but don't be afraid to try these guys out to their full capabilities sometime. They make for very dramatic squads once you add the dracon (I use archon models with agonizers and blast pistols) and all of those sexy power weapon swords you have on your left over sprues can also make very sexy ccw's for the squad.

I may not be squeezing every shot per point that I can get on my first turn but damnit they look sexy as hell and used wisely have been winning me games for 2 weeks now.

[Duke]

Yes, the "sexy as he'll," status should always be considered when making an army, lol. Seriously though, I have some squads I love because they are sexy beasts and often I will include them because they look awesome. As you said though you must use them wisely, or else.

@buffo: elder know what a glass cannon is, they just point at their fallen brethren... Plus banshees are pretty glass cannon.

Duke

[Xas]

Trueborn benefit from the "gaunt-paradoxon" that also makes me laugh every time I own SM with my traitor guard (in melee).

Most oponents that have t4 will think they are invulnerable to your s3 melee attacks. The average results are only 33% less wounds/kills than from s4 (s4 wounds on 4,5,6 and s3 on 5, 6) and the potential to get more than that average is bigger (thats also the reason why shooty orks can work!). most s3 units have more attacks per point than the prey they feast upon. take gaunts for example. you get 30 gaunts for the price of 10 marines. even after reducing that number by above 33% due to lower strenght you get the damage output of 20 marines or 10 aussoult marines. so basically if your tactical squad thinks 30 gaunts arent a problem because they are only s3 they are saying a space marine assoult squad isnt a problem either.


I personally love trueborn but I have found to take carbines on those "filler" ones instead of pistol and cc weapon. this makes you that much more deadly in shooting infantry at 18" (4 blasters and 15 poisoned shots) as well as makes your inital charge more powerfull (3 shots that hit on 3+ and wound on 4+ instead of 1 shot and 1 attack with ws4 s3).

on the question of survivability in melee it isnt much of a deal as the first pain token buffs you defense to power armor (5+ armor and 4+ FNP is equal to 3+ armor to stuff that isnt s6 and still allows armor). finally killing on units of that good defense is usually done by special close combat weapons. and then I'd rather take the 4 attacks of the drakon than the 2 of a fist-seargent.

[BuFFo]

@buffo: elder know what a glass cannon is, they just point at their fallen brethren... Plus banshees are pretty glass cannon.

Yeah, because I always face Banshees running around on foot... Wait, no I don't!! All Eldar infantry are always inside vehicles, which are harder to destroy than a Landraider...

Even in third edition, triple Wraithlord builds sure weren't glass cannon type material....

You know I love you, right?

Just give Trueborn Splinter Carbines and call them Melee at range, lol!