Outgoing Dark Eldar

So I have a Dark Eldar force and am neither happy nor sad for the new release.
I was looking over the list of confirmed and yet unconfirmed Dark Eldar stuff at Dark Future Gaming (http://darkfuturegaming.blogspot.com/). I found some of the information interesting, some sad and some just blah.
So I thought I would list what I will and will not miss from the current and ancient codex.



What I’ll miss from the Dark Eldar codex

1. Cheap unit of warriors with 2 dark lances. Wow is it just silly that 2 units of 10 guys each can throw out 4 dark lance shots at BS4. That and only cost 200 points. Just silly stuff and it had to go away. I’ll miss you most of all.

2. The cheap and cheatsie tormentor helm extra attack in close combat.

3. Urein Rakarth’s abilities to auto wound with his weapons if they hit, and his points cost ( hell maybe even him if he isn’t in the new codex ). Nothing says goodbye to squads like an auto wounding destructor, if you roll well enough on the variable AP.

4. Jetbikes that get a 50-50 armor save and +1 strength. If the rumors are true, then this will be gone and replaced with strength 3 and 5+ save. A 5+ save is awful for a probably 20+ point jetbike. Hopefully, there will be something else besides the hit run attack (strength 3/4/5/6 or whatever it is) bit and a melta gun blaster thing. The 4+ armor helped them stay around a bit, but 5+....ICK!

5. Grotesques and their silly ability to negate most main liner shooting. Sure double tough and close combat eat through them, but they made an excellent delivery system for a cheap Dracon.

6. Cheap (and yet overpriced by today’s transport standards ) Raiders. If rumors are true, they are getting more expensive and somehow better? How is open top 10/10/10 getting more expensive and better at the same time? I’ll miss the 55 point cost if they are indeed raising them plus additional upgrade costs.

7. Combat drugs on HQ’s

What I won’t miss from the Dark Eldar codex

1. Combat drugs on units. Way too random for me.

2. Wyches. I never used them before, so I can only hope they look more appealing to me in the new codex. Along with them…

3. Hellions, Scourges, Mandrakes, and Warp Beast packs; these are awful units now. Hell, they were bad way before 5th edition too. I can only hope they get better. It shouldn’t take much to fix how awful they are.

4. All the other special characters. They were just drek. Vect is way too expensive and easy to get rid of in this edition. Lelith is cool, but I hate wyches so she stayed home. Decapitator? Really ? Kruellagh? It is proven science that fielding here causes sterility. Look it up.

5. The Talos and its abilities. Sure it has a nice stat line, but it is just too bad otherwise. It has random attacks, a shooting attack that is just weird, is a skimmer, but moves no faster than anything else on foot. That and it competed with Ravagers which were x3 in my army.

6. The destructor on Ravagers. Sure it might still be there, but will it be have the plasma cannon stats? Will it also have the ability to shoot at 3 shots S4 AP3 24”. A nice little gun on a fast vehicle. So I miss it ( hopefully it will still do all that and not jump the cost too much ).

7. Incubi as retinue only. Boo to that. If they were elite units, then would we have seen wyches at all in armies? Nope. They were good, but not good enough to only field as a bodyguard ( which GW seems to be getting away from thank the maker ).

8. The wargear section. Most of it was drek ( which GW also seems to be getting away from, thank the maker )

Sure the codex is still over a month away. I’m not advocating panic or joy for Dark Eldar players. Yes a new codex is good and new models are good. I however am very meh on it. My army is 1500 points and I have the models to finish and to push it to 1850.
Now those old models will look even worse next to the new range and adding new to the existing old just doesn’t work to well. How many old Dire Avengers do you see on the battlefield? Oblits? Rough Riders? Ratlings? Rhinos? Razorbacks? Stealth Suits? (small metal guys) Everyone can’t get all new toys when their army gets an update. Some have to make do with the old models and that guy is me. I can’t afford to replace what I have with new and shiny (and more costly) fancy new Dark Eldar.

So I’ll more than likely pull a Cavil and box my Dark Eldar like so many 3’s. At least till after the current project is done and the codex has been out for a bit. If I need new/old models, hopefully the old line isn’t marked up to the 9’s on discount sites and e-bay. Then I can cut, paste and pin what I need out of them. Right? Maybe?