Making my Craftworld Eldar ally with the nasty Dark Eldar

[JMichael]

As a pure Biel-Tan Eldar player I have a tough time justifying a Dark Eldar ally. But I really, really, want my Banshees and Striking Scorpions to be viable again (assaulting out of the open-topped Raider).
So here is my plan...Instead of actual Dark Eldar, have them more of a Corsair look. Mostly Eldar models with a unique paint scheme to clearly separate them from my Biel Tan. No Dark Eldar spikey bits!
Autarch with modified weapons = Archon
Guardians with modified weapons = Kabalite Warriors
Raider without spikes and skulls = Raider
Poss Harlequins with Venom.

Just keep the Kabalite/Guardians on the ground for objective holding and put my Banshees/Scorpions in the Raider!

What do you think?
Anyone else doing something similar?

[ElectricPaladin]

You could just use Forgeworld's Eldar Corsair list. They combine both Craftworld and Dark Eldar units, and can ally with either, plus having some unique awesome options of their own.

[Charon]

Read the Valedor books, its really nice written.
I dont know why people always seem to think Dark Eladr and Eldar are mortal enemies. They are not Highelves and Darkelves, they had no war they have just other philosophical ways.
Every single Eldar faction occasionally raids/kills/assists/ignores/distrusts... the other. There is sometimes civil war on craftworlds, we have craftworld conflicts, we have the exodites ho think of the craftworlders as depraved remnants of the fallen eldar empire, we have the harlequins who work with all to fullfill their own aganda, we have the outcasts and corsairs who raid exodites, corsairs, dark eldar and craftworlders and finally the dark eldar who do the same.
But in the end they are all eldar and alliances happen if all sides gain something out of it.

[JMichael]

@Electric Paladin I do like the Corsair list and if they had Raiders I would certainly use it. I do hate when people do cry when we bring Forgeworld units. Its like they think the only reason I won was due to Forgeworld OP.

@Charon I have to admit that I have not read much material outside of the codices and Imperial Armour 11. I do envision Eldar preferring the company of their Dark kin over any filthy aliens but there is something that internally just seems at odds about Craftworld who may be violent or cruel to justify a goal vs the Dark Eldar who just seem to enjoy it.
I may be totally wrong as I have not read any of the Black Library or other books.

[Finnegan]

I play Craftworld Eldar, allied with Eldar Corsairs. Before new eldar codex they were awesome, even if slightly overpriced army. Now they took huge nerf, compared to new eldar guardians, but I field them sometimes anyway.
I've kitbashed Corsairs using Kabalite Warriors (no spikes), Guardians, bare dark eldar and wood elves archer heads, added winged jet packs and weapons from FW corsair kit.
I'm planning to buy one or two dark eldar units to use them in corsair army, but for now I've got other priorities ;)

[malikjack]

I can see the following problems with your current train of thought.

1. Unbound removes the FOC but does not change unit compositions. (See unbound entry in rules)

2. As Raiders are DT. This means that they can only be purchased with a DE unit capable of taking them. (See Dedicated Transports under vehicles in the rules )

3. At game start the unit that took the DT either starts in the transport or outside of it. (I have not found in rules that states that the unit can start outside the transport but I know it was viable in 5th.)

4. An allied unit can embark onto BB transports but they cannot start on the transport itself. (See Dedicated Transports under vehicles in the rules )

Given the above regardless of how you choose to field your army you would have to disembark the unit in the transport out then embark your Scorpions or Banshee before moving the Raider. This is tricky given that if you do not have the first turn your opponent may have the ability to strike your assault units as they wait to embark on your turn.

[Rough Touch]

stay away from them dark elder raider transports!!! there death traps! believe me

[Charon]

Only for dark eldar.. only for dark eldar. Even an explosion is not so bad when your troops have a 3+ armor.
"There is no escape" from flamers will completely kill all dark eldar embarked but will spare aspect warriors.
Fun thing is that Dark Reapers on a Venom with Nightshields are an extremely potent unit.

[Dave Mcturk]

Only for dark eldar.. only for dark eldar. Even an explosion is not so bad when your troops have a 3+ armor.
"There is no escape" from flamers will completely kill all dark eldar embarked but will spare aspect warriors.
Fun thing is that Dark Reapers on a Venom with Nightshields are an extremely potent unit.

pmsl.. not got around to that one yet!:rolleyes:

[Archon Charybdis]

As a pure Biel-Tan Eldar player I have a tough time justifying a Dark Eldar ally.

I'm not sure why that would be the case. Of any of the major Craftworlds, Biel-tan seems like the easiest of all to justify--they're racists with imperialistic aspirations and a desire to reclaim the lost glory of their empire. Dark Eldar who have a similar disdain of the mon keigh and are willing to offer their services defending a Maiden World in exchange for slaves seem like perfect allies for Biel-tan.

The only one possibly easier is Ulthwe because you can justify anything by saying "We've seen the future and it'd be worse if we DIDN'T do this."

[Charon]

One of the "harder to justify" craftworlds would be Alaitoc as they are quite rigid in their perception of the path.
Even Iyanden got two times major assistance form the dark kin.

[Mr Mystery]

Things to consider.....

1. All Eldar are self centred gits
2. Craftworld Eldar are ultimately pragmatic.
3. The background is not set.

So ultimately, go for it.

Think of when Iyanden has 'allied' with Dark Eldar. At least one of them was because the Dark Eldar found Iyanden's grave robbing funny, and wanted to see it continue.

The relationship between Craftworld and Dark Eldar is one of unhappy families. For example, my cousin Wee David. The guy is a total choob, beyond Black Sheep of the family. I can't stand him, and am more than happy that I've seen him perhaps just once in 10 years. But....he remains family. If he genuinely needs my help, I'll help. If anyone tries to screw with him, the rest of the family will back him. Because, you know, Family. Same with Dark Eldar and Craftworld. Same species, same bloodline. They'll fight alongside each other if it means survival.

[Da Gargoyle]

I like the whole Raider thing, yes as a DT you need a DE crew in it. But if you park this behind a building to switch troops then your unit of standard DE troops with their splinter guns can support a home base Guardian unit so that anyone advancing on them will cop it in the teeth in increasing intensity the closer they get. Or they continually snipe the B'jaysus out of the enemy with the star cannon and splinter cannon. Meanwhile that Raider has just gotta jink enough for one turbo boost to get them Scorpions into combat range.

And by the way. From a corsair point of view. I have mixed Guardian and Wyches to produce Storm Guardians in very dynamic poses. A little more messing with accessories and you can meld a creditable corsair unit which looks like Guardians, but not.

[Anggul]

You could heavily convert a Raider, removing the hard edges and deadly sharp silhouette and making it look like something made on a craftworld rather than a factory. You probably wouldn't even need to convert a raider, you could make it from scratch. The difficulty is figuring out something to count the minimal allied Dark Eldar as. I guess you could just say they're Corsairs with poisoned weapons rather than the usual lasblasters and shuriken catapults.

Striking Scorpions can get on well without a transport anyway, move through cover and stealth help that, as well as their ability to outflank. It's Howling Banshees that really benefit from it, but they still aren't exactly going to be great.

As for allying, it depends on the situation. The craftworlders would ally with the Dark Eldar if the visions of the Farseers demanded it or there was really no other choice, but they aren't going to go out of their way to help them. It's not quite like the cousin analogy given above. If a bunch of Dark Eldar are going to be killed and it won't negatively effect any other non-Dark Eldar, the craftworlders will leave them to die, content with one less group of torturing sadists in the galaxy. They don't care about each other, and will kill each other without a second thought if it serves their interests. The problem is that the Dark Eldar are happy to start a fight for the fun of it and to take loot and captives, so more often than not the two are going to fight. The Dark Eldar have no respect for one another, let alone their self-deprived kin. They'll kill another Eldar just as happily (if not more so) than killing a human. Anyone who isn't them is prey, including other Eldar. Certainly they'll ally if it will benefit them, but they won't do it just because they're the same species. The craftworlders will ally with the Imperium against the Dark Eldar if it will benefit them, they aren't going to side with the Dark Eldar just because they're the same species, they're going to take the side whose victory will give them a better result.

Of course, if it's Biel-Tan (bro-fist), we're probably going to turn around and kill our 'allies' as soon as the initial enemy is dealt with anyway, and the same generally goes for the Dark Eldar, back-stabbing opportunists that they are. Personally I would make them allies of desperation. Sure they might fight for the same cause if they have to, but the craftworlders are always going to be keeping an eye on their dark kin, watching for the inevitable knife in the back at the worst moment (let alone joining each other's squads), and the dark kin are going to be watching the craftworlders for anything they can possibly exploit.

It all really depends on the backstory of the fight you're having. If the situation demands it and the Farseers see that it will help, they'll ally with the Dark Eldar. If the Dark Eldar see that they'll gain from it, they'll ally with the craftworlders. If either one of them doesn't see that they'll gain anything, the alliance won't happen, and even if all goes well there's a chance things might go awry in the aftermath, but for the purposes of the battle it will be okay. I just personally wouldn't join ICs to units etc., to me that kind of thing is just going for advantage in the face of the fluff. me.

[Dave Mcturk]

im using quins and banshees as 'counts as whyches' i mean for 12pts with haywire and a dedicated assault transport - who wouldnt.
in venoms i just run the squad leader with venom blade, in raiders max out and put the phantasm launcher on.

whyches with the 'right' combat drugs are better than quins and almost half the cost.