If you're not afraid of the dark now! YOU WILL BE!!

Some people might ask "why play Dark Eldar?". Let me tell you why! Other than having some of the best looking models in the game, they can dish out some mean firepower and have one of the nastiest close combat units out there. I would consider them to be one of the top three armies in the 40k Universe. In order, to play Dark Eldar you need think like a Dark Eldar. You have be murderous, vicious, cunning and just plain evil.
Let's take a look at the Pros and Cons of Dark Eldar!

PROS
- Firepower: dark lances, blasters and poison weapons. Dark lances and blasters take care of high armor & mech armies and poison weapons take care of the mass infantry & high toughness armies.
- Mobility: All our vehicles are fast vehicles.
- Agility: Having an average initiative of 5 or higher making troops faster than your enemy in h-t-h.

CONS
- FRAGILE, FRAGILE & MORE FRAGILE: Most of our vehicles have an armor value of 10 which makes them paper air planes. Having an average toughness of 3 makes our troops vulnerable to taking damage, and an armour save of 5+ or worse means Dark Eldar die easily to most basic weapons.

Now that we gone over some of the pros and cons, let's talk about how we can combine the strengths into a killing force, while minimizing the weaknesses. Dark Eldar need to establish ranged superiority as quickly as possible. It's all about blasters, dark lances and splinter cannons.

Take as many blasters and dark lances as you can. These nasty guns can tear through any armor out there. Being able to treat armor value greater than 12 as 12 makes this little gun a tank killer. Not to mention it's strength 8 and ap 2 can easily take care of those low armor saves and big nasty monstrous creatures. But don't waste your blasters and dark lances on them. We have something for big nasties, and they're called poison weapons.

Every Dark Eldar unit comes with either a splinter pistol, splinter rifle or splinter cannon. Splinter weapons are poison weapons that wound any model with a toughness on 4+. Most of the poison weapons are rapid fire or heavy 6/assault 4, enabling Dark Eldar to pour large volumes of fire into the enemy. Combine that with a ballistic skill of 4, and you have a deadly accurate army.

Shooting isn't the only place were Dark Eldar excel. Get a squad of Wyches into combat and see what these ladies can do. Wyches will strike first most of the time - they have an initiative of 6, three or more attacks on the charge, Power From Pain, and a 4+ invul save in H-T-H. This makes them a must have in any Dark Eldar force. Add in some squad upgrades and your Wyches are ready to kill anything in your way. Give them a much needed pain token and watch them survive the hardest close combat fights.

Mount those units in a raider or a venom so you can position your firepower wherever you need it. Having fragile, mobile transports can be hard to play since you are always looking for cover to keep them alive. No worries, just upgrade them with flickerfields and give them a 5+ invul save, adding much needed protection to your vehicles.

Okay, with that being said here is what I would take:

• HQ
• * Asdrubael Vect
• Tip: Vect gives you that much needed bonus of going first!
• 
  
• ELITES
• * Kabalite Trueborn x4
• * 2x Splinter Cannon, 2x Splinter Rifle
• * Venom: Splinter Cannon
• Tip: This Unit can dish out 20 poison shots on the move!
• 
  
• * Kabalite Trueborn x4
• * 4x Blaster
• * Venom: Splinter Cannon
• 
  
• * Kabalite Trueborn x4
• * 4x Blaster
• * Venom: Splinter Cannon
• 
  
• TROOPS
• * Kabalite Warriors
• * 5x Warriors, 1x Blaster
• * Raider : Dark Lance, Flickerfield
• 
  
• * Kabalite Warriors
• * 5x Warriors, 1x Blaster
• * Raider : Dark Lance, Flickerfield
• 
  
• * Wyches x8
• * Hekatrix - Agoniser
• * Raider: Dark Lance, Flickerfield
• Tip: Add Vect to this unit, to give him some support.
• 
  
• * Wyches x10
• * 2x Hydra Gauntlets
• * Haywire grenades
• * Hekatrix - Agoniser
• * Raider - Dark Lance, Flickerfield
• 
  
• * Wyches x10
• * 2x Hydra Gauntlets
• * Haywire grenades
• * Hekatrix - Agoniser
• * Raider - Dark Lance, Flickerfield
• 
  
• HEAVY SUPPORT
• * Ravager - 3x Dark Lance, Flickerfield
• 
  
• * Ravager - 3x Dark Lance, Flickerfield
• 
  
• * Ravager - 3x Dark Lance, Flickerfield
• 
  
• Army has in total:
• 11 Vehicles
• 12 Dark Lances
• 10 Blasters
• 20 or more poison shots!

This army packs the firepower, mobility, and agility that make Dark Eldar evil. It also has some upgrades that will keep it alive. Now take what you have learned and go terrorize the table top!