Dark Eldar - The Good, The Bad, The Pointless

[Xas]

I've learned to love FF.

I'm still undecided on Nightshields however.



Why I love FF?

Most straight forward it statistically upgrades your AV10 vehicles to an AV11 equivalent when shot at by s7 (actually you also ignore 1/3 of all glances so your slightly better) and your AV11 become AV12 equivalent when shot at by s8. The better the weapon strenght, the better your Flickerfields get.

Another way to see it is that it roughly cancels out beeing open topped (2 destroyed results turn to 3 desroyed results of which 1 is ignored statistically) without any of the negative aspects of beeing closed topped (s4 explosions, no disembark-charge, ...).

But I love it because it is an upgraded that exploits the best part of statistics in wargaming. You dont expect much of a 5++ or 1/3 chance (for which you will pay less than 5% of your total army points) but when the extreme tail of the bell curve hits you are going to mentally waste your oponent. It really is hilarious when things that would ruin a landraider easily chip of a silly raider. We all know that it WILL happen sooner or later that you pass 3-4 of these saves in a row (I just yesterday made 7 out of 8 flickerfield saves in a 2v2 resulting in 1 lance loss in a raider while my CSM ally got shot to bits in his "sturdy" rhinos. HAH!)

Last but not least it is a subtle upgrade. Your oponent will usually not take it into account in his battle plans (how should he? a 4+ cover save is easy as you basically need double the firepower but multiplying ONE lascanon with 1,5 is a hard thing to do in a natural universe) and therefore each save you make can disrupt his battle plan.

[Cereal n' Milk]

I'm still undecided on Nightshields however.

I honestly love nightshields. I have them on every vehicle. Theyre nice on ravagers so that those oh so annoying autocannons have to move to get in range of my ravagers and my raiders are protected a little more against bolters and meltaguns. It makes meltaguns so much harder to get in range.

I think it's well worth its points. But that's just me.

[Sorrowshard]

Last time I checked Auto cannons had a 48 inch range , so knocking off six inches does not help you at all , what with your 36 inch range lances .....

Nightshields in my experience thus far only seem circumstantially useful and only on Ravagers. I dropped them off my test list and saw no difference, maybe if they added the range to night fight , like the name might suggest ? most of the weps that are an actual threat to your raiders wont give to figs about -6 range .

Dont know about you , but most of my DE list currently end up being fairly close to the enemy ATM as their damage output is highest close in , I'm finding offense to be DE's strongest defense, just jack the fools before they can hurt you.

[w7west]

Night shields are very powerful against space marine armies or IG. You know those melta guns? Yeah don't even worry about those anymore they can't touch you. You know those assault cannons and multi meltas? Yeah don't worry about those either they don't have a chance. What about all of those multi lasers and heavy bolters bull**** that IG have 3 of on every piece of plastic? Yeah just sit at 30-36" cool scenery bro.

It's not as clear of a benefit as ff since you have to play kinda dirty to make the most out of nightsheilds, but my ravagers don't leave home without them.

[arch_inquisitor]

Things like FF will just force other armies to do the same thing that they have to do to SM and that is force saving throws.

The more and more I look at this book the more it feels like another MEQ but with better and faster stuff -except the Archon, he sucks-.

[w7west]

Things like FF will just force other armies to do the same thing that they have to do to SM and that is force saving throws.

The more and more I look at this book the more it feels like another MEQ but with better and faster stuff -except the Archon, he sucks-.

don't know if serious

[arch_inquisitor]

I am serious, I'm not saying they are a MEQ but with all the saves they can generate (+, ++, FNP) they come pretty close to being just as annoying to kill as a spash muhreen.

[w7west]

-except the Archon, he sucks-.

still don't think serious

[DrLove42]

Either he can't be serious, or hes kitting the archon out completly wrong or sucks at playing. An archon can take mephiston, a demon prince, a wraithlord or the swarmlord out in one turn....theres not much else out there that can do that! Blast Pistol shot first to inst-kill the weaker ones, then 6-7 attacks with a huskblade/agoniser at WS7, Init 7

DE are the polar oppsoite of MEQ its just they get an extra save. Doesn't make them as durable. Hit them before they get change to earn those saves and they're die easier than a lot of other armies. Theres not a single unit in the DE codex that is a tough as a marine. When you factor in lower toughness, a default armour save that is high enough that most default weapons (bolters, shuricatapults, flamers) ignore it and the fact FNP is a worse save than a marines 3+ and is ignored by anything high strength or low AP, they're considerably worse than a marine who gets his better save, at higher toughness, when he gets shot out of his AV14 vehicle...

[Sorrowshard]

Heh , I did point out that the NF's are ok on the ravagers , I continue to use them unless short on points.

The archon is a machine, I have managed to get one running around with 9 str 10 PW attacks !! he can just shred a weakened or sub 10 man squad himself,

pop him next to a couple of shardnets and he can be very hard to kill