Space Wolves Help vs. Dark Eldar

[YourMomsBox]

Am in need of some tactical help.

I run Space Wolves, with the same underlying difficulty every game. How to defat my oppoent's Dark Eldar Army.

My buddy typically runs a Raider heavy army, (10 Raiders, 2 Ravagers), kitted out typically with 4 Haemonculi, and 2 Scourge squads.

Whether he has the first or second turn, he always puts all of his units into Reserve. Long Fangs are nice, but only when they have the range as well as line of sight. Wolf Scouts are decent, but take up a valuable Elite slot. Land Raiders have some decent fire power, but with Dark Lances knocking down the AV to 12, that's only a 50% survivability. Drop Pods are nice with Meltagun toting Grey Hunters, but with having to drop down half of them on the first turn, they're cannon fodder when the Dark Eldar do come on the board.

I'd appreciate any suggestions, as I'm having a tough time cracking this nut. thanks in advance to all your help.

[Katie Drake]

10 Raiders. Full of what, exactly? I assume there's at least one unit of Wyches and at least one Lord + Retinue. We'll need some more information to give the best possible advice, I think.

That being said, you're going to need to approach Dark Eldar entirely differently than you would any other foe. This is one enemy that you can't just charge at screaming praise to Russ and the Allfather and expect to win.

There are a bunch of units that are just plain dead weight when playing Dark Eldar. Here's a list of what you should avoid taking, in my opinion.

Land Raiders
Predators
Vindicators
Blood Claws
Extremely expensive characters

When fighting Dark Eldar, you'll need to keep your forces together. Drop Pods aren't so good because they cause many of your units to land far ahead of the rest of your army which will make them easy prey for the Dark Eldar. Instead, mount up in Rhino and Razorback transports. Your Grey Hunters should be kept as efficient as possible - don't bother spending points on shiny toys just for the hell of it. Units should be at least 8 strong so that you don't hand over too many easy Kill Points in Annihilation missions.

Keep in mind just how soft most Dark Eldar units are. Their infantry are usually stuck with a Toughness of 3 and a save of 5+, while their transports are even less resilient than a Land Speeder. Heavy bolters, assault cannons, flamers/heavy flamers and missile launchers are your best friends. Dreadnoughts are fantastic against Dark Eldar, especially equipped with either an assault cannon and heavy flamer, or autocannon(s). Since their AV is no higher than 12, the 'Lance' ability of Dark Lances won't have any additional effect against them, saving valuable points.

When it comes to close combat, try to shoot up whatever you're going to assault before getting stuck in - it's oftentimes worth firing bolt pistols before assaulting even against the toughest units like Incubi or Talos. Every wound you cause before combat will mean less incoming attacks, which will in turn leave more of your models alive and able to attack in return.

Hope this is a bit helpful. I'll post back later if you'd like more advice.

[Chumbalaya]

All their units travel around in cardboard boxes and have tissue paper for armor. What they do have, however, is unrivaled speed and some nasty firepower at long ranges.

TLAC Dreads, Long Fangs with missile launchers, cheapo WG with cyclones, Typhoons, Living Lightning (infinite range S7 shots, suck it night shield!) and even doggies/Thunderwolf cav will help.

You have to get in there, smash the Ravagers above all things (dropping 3 plasma cannons per turn is not nice) and secure objectives while weathering their fire. Living Lightning and Missile Launchers will drop their vehicles.

[ZCMI_Nig]

Probably shouldn't be betraying my DE brethren, but that's life in Commoragh!

Secrets I have found of surviving as a DE player is cover, numbers and Initiative.

As Warriors and Wyches have next to no armour, cover is our friend, so flamers are not fun for DE!!

DE can field almost as many figures as guard, and they are faster, better shots, and have faster transports! Template weapons wipe out vast numbers of warriors very quickly, as does concentrated bolter fire on units "running the gauntlet" (Stupid idea for DE! Take advantage!)

Initiative- DE are quick. Warrioirs are I5. Even Grotesques are I4!! Check if he has grendaes. If not, tempt him to assault through cover, or shoot on the way into assault. Thin the numbers that hit you before you get a chance to hit him!

Don't let his Archon assault your HQ. Chances are he'll butcher it!

Take out the transports early, make him walk/hide and don't let him assault you!

And don'tbother with Land Raiders unless you want to sacrifice it. He'll shoot at them early (assuming the dice gods don't keep qiving him '1's).

In a nutshell. Stay tight, keep shooting, and focus your fire. Think Porcupine ;o)

[Herald of Nurgle]

- Take Living Lightning on your Rune Priests, and pick Murderous Hurricane/Jaws as your second. Lightning deals great hits on this crazy 10 armour, and is unlimited range - good combo - while Hurricane/Jaws is anti low toughness infantry.
- You will be tactical - Dark Eldar has a reason to be Attackers only, you know. Let them come to you, and remember to keep Blood Claws ahead of your Hunters lol.
- Elite forces don't do well, as far as I know.

Other than that, no real advice lol.

[Erik Morkai]

I'd use Long Fangs with Missile Launchers. You can quickly start dropping his vehicles, then move on to fragging his warriors. Getting rid of his speed advantage is key, so drop transports quickly.

If you do have Blood Claws, then take advantage of the free flamer you can get for them, in my opinion the best upgrade possible for Blood Claws. Personally I'd also give my Wolf Scouts a flamer, if you intend on fielding them.

Since they have I5, I wouldn't assault with Grey Hunters, instead rapid fire (preferably from cover) and then counter attack if he assaults.

Take cover. Even if you feel you don't need it (Gotta love 3+ saves) by placing your men in cover you deny that piece of terrain to the lightly armoured Warriors.

Finally, check out the Tempest's Wrath power for Rune Priests. You can force his skimmers to risk being immobilised if they come too close, and with the amount of skimmers he's fielding it sounds like you'll probably get a few by using this power. Even if you don't, this power has great potential as a deterent.

[BuFFo]

As one of the few true Dark Eldar master players around, what some people have said here is good advice, but, there is one thing that you need to do to win, without fail...

Never ever ever ever ever ever divide your army. 99% of the time, regardless of mission and deployment, keep your force clumped together and concentrate fire at the following models, in order.... Raiders, Ravagers, everything else.

I don't care if your opponent has Scourges blasting away at your tanks, or Taloses getting closer to your lines, you NEED to neuter the Dark Eldar's speed (Raiders) and anti-Marine weaponry (Ravagers) before you can mount any sort of meaningful offense.

I don't mean to sound douchey or arrogant, but, the Dark Eldar army, be DESIGN, is made to slaughter power armor armies without even trying, so if you and your opponent are of even skill, you will get bent over 100% of the time. The only chance you have is to take away DE's transport speed and plasma toting ravagers to even being to stand a chance at winning.

Honestly, if your opponent is taking Scourges, you should be winning every single game.... :eek: