Dark Eldar Tactics versus Mech IG

[rcm2216]

I usually run a mixed Kabalite/Wych Raider list with the Baron and Hellions in tow, plus three ravagers. I was wondering what are the best tactics against saw a Mech IG list that consist of say:

1 Manticore
1 Leman Russ
1 Demolisher
2 Vendettas
1 Hell Hound
6 Chimeras @ 5 various vet squads and 1 HQ squad

How do I confront and stand a winning chance against such list that can shoot down all my tanks before I have a chance to close the range between us.

What success has any other Dark Eldar player experienced?

[thecactusman17]

I dont know how you kit out your units, but step one seems to be bum rushing their lines asap. On the occasions where I did well against mech ig in games I was hyper aggressive to the level of recklessness, mixed with a bit of luck. I can only out shoot guard when they are unmounted, and that is only because I run the jets with full missiles.

[Wolf Brother Hellstrom]

I havent gone up against a real mech list yet. however I look at my DE as a scapel doing surgery. dont spread yourself out and focus in on one thing at a time. I personally would start by popping the chimeras to get your wyches and stuff safe in combat then worry about the bigs guns. with your troops in combat he cant shoot at them and your raiders and ravagers can focus in on the big guns. with the chances of scatering and flickerfields you should mop up or stun the crap out of the tanks. any tanks that dont have a weapon that scatters i would take out first

[Rissan4ever]

I'm an IG player. The way to beat Mech IG with Dark Eldar is to use Dark Lances and get into assault as soon as possible. If your Raiders and Ravagers don't have Dark Lances, they should.

If you have 1st turn:

Turn 1: Point the Ravagers at the heavy armor and blow it away. Three Dark Lances will kill a Leman Russ with no problem. Fly your Raiders right up in his face, going flat out so you get the cover save. His Vets will get out of their Chimeras. The Chimeras will shoot at your Raiders, and kill a few of them. The deployed Vets will then shoot whoever was in the Raiders. However, since Raiders blow up so easily, your troops will be in cover from the craters.

Turn 2: Deploy anything that didn't get shot out of its Raider on Turn 1. Shoot your Dark Lances at the Chimeras and any remaining tanks and artillery. Assault!

If he has 1st turn:

Deploy in reserve. This will disable him from shooting up your Raiders before you get a chance to attack. Then do the same tactic as above, but concentrate on a single flank.

I have lost to this DE tactic many times. It's not 100% (nothing is), but it's pretty effective.

[w7west]

Usually my playing full mech IG will come down to whether or not I can pull off this move:

First we will need some guys on foot, near other vehicles. Focus a large percentage of firepower on the middle chimera/valk. It must be near multiple vehicles for this to be effective but most IG players dont spread out very much so this shouldn't be hard.

Good, we have some guys on foot now. 3 raiders full of wyches should be turbo'd and ready to assault next turn. In addition, any distraction units you can afford such as 5 warrior blaster blast pistol in venoms x 4-6 or reaver jetbike squads should be making themselves as threatening as possible. Boost them right into the ig teeth, make them such irresistable targets that your opponent doesnt focus everything he has on the wyches.

The point of this is to have a solid number of wyches still ready to do business on your 2nd turn. If the IG player bites the bait, you should be golden with at least 2 squads of wyches left. If they don't bite the bait, you have a large number of close range blasters that can easily get to that armor 10.

So they bit, and blew 4 venoms out of the sky and massacred the warriors inside, and maybe even had time to blow up a bloodbride raider and pin them or wipe them out. But we have exactly what we need, where we need it now.

2 squads of bloodbrides both move up and dismount, then fleet into a position where if they assaulted the ig squad on foot, only one wych will make it into cc. Do this for both squads. Other than the one wych in range for cc, the rest of the squad should be spreading out and getting close to as many vehicles as possible. You would be suprised how wide a 10 man squad can be when they spread out.

Now the IG player is starting to realize what is about to happen to him. He may at this point say something like "wait what to haywire grenades do again?" this is where you show him. When you launch your assault, try to get around 2 wyches on each vehicle in range. Done properly this move will completely shut down IG core, and whats more, you will be able to strike again in your opponents next turn on any vehicles that couldnt move out of base aka like 90% of them.

And the beauty? Your wyches are immune while at least one of them is in cc with a foot squad. Use this to your advantage and you should be able to even the playing field a great deal. Just be careful and protective of your wyches in these situations since they are your best anti tank against parking lots.

[ShotDownMind]

These are good tactics. Make sure to keep in mind what kind and where the enemy flamers are, deploy and move at all times with enemy flamers in mind.

[thecactusman17]

West, you have to consolidate into any units you ar locked into combat with. So your wyches in that scenario will consolidate into the combat with the guard unit after the fight.

[Xas]

*1 Manticore
*1 Leman Russ
1 Demolisher
*2 Vendettas
1 Hell Hound
6 Chimeras @ 5 various vet squads and 1 HQ squad

the trick is picking the propper targets. I see 4 vehicles that are a considerable threat in a vehicle war (marked *) and you should have enough dark lances to deliver propperly while relying on your mobility/range/fields to protect you from the rest.

if you dont have turn one and cannot hide behind a los blocker you should deploy reserved. its better to have half your army arrive in turn 2, ready to shoot and the other half in reserve than to have half your army killed in turn 1 before you can do anything.

[w7west]

West, you have to consolidate into any units you ar locked into combat with. So your wyches in that scenario will consolidate into the combat with the guard unit after the fight.

You dont have to move any models that are in base with a vehicle

[tabyrd]

Unfortunately (or fortunately) depending on what side of this tactic you are on, this is addressed in the GW FAQ:

Q: In a multiple combat involving opposing vehicles
(except walkers) and non-vehicle units how would a pile in
move work? (p63)
A: Pile in moves must be used to try and make it into base
contact with the non-vehicle units.

after that first round, you get sucked off those vehicles.