SPACE MARINES:
The Dark Eldar


An alternate army for Space Marine

by
[email protected]
[email protected]

HTMLed by Stefano Lanticina
[email protected]

The Dark Eldar are the original Eldar that went over to Chaos, creating the Eye of Terror form the Eldar homeworlds. Their raids pose a considerable threat to the fringes of the Imperium. However, most of the actual Eldar were killed in the Fall, so now they rely on enslaved Orks to do much of the fighting in battle. The Dark Eldar that survived, however, invented fiendish weapons of destruction, and combined their natural psionic powers with the raw energy of the Warp, making them fearsome oponents. The Dark Eldar stayed in a small region of Chaos space until they were discovered, about 200 years before the present, by a group of Explorators aided by Space Marines, from which point on they have been raiding peripheral worlds of the Imperium. In that relatively short period of time, they have captured several star systems, and have caused serious damage to several more before being driven back. They have also made scattered attacks against Squat Homeworlds, Ork worlds, and, of course, they will savagely attack any Eldar they can find.

Dark Eldar Raiders

The basic Dark Eldar troop type, such as they are.


Move 10, save N/A, CAF +0, shruiken weapons, range 50cm, 1 attack die, 5+ to hit, no save mod, Morale 3+

Heavy Raiders

Dark Eldar Raiders including some carrying heavy weapons.

Move 10, save N/A, CAF +0, heavy weapons, range 75cm, 1 attack die, 4+ to hit, -1 save mod, morale 3+

Lost Soul Raiders

Like Raiders, but they are resurrected Raiders killed in battles past, that have pledged their devotion to a particular Chaos Power. Each Lost Soul Detachment must be dedicated to either Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle, or Slaanesh. A Dark Eldar army may have only one Lost soul detachment of each Chaos Power. Each lost soul detachment gets the Chaos reward normally conferred on a Chaos Marine Legion of that alignment. Therefore: Lost souls of Khorne get Blood rage of Khorne, Lost Souls of Nurgle get Nurgle's Rot, etc.

Move 10, save N/A, CAF+0, Shruiken weapons, range 50cm, 1 attack die, 5+ to hit, no save mod, Notes: Chaos Reward card. Morale 1+

Reaper Jet Bikes

These are Jet Bikes used by the Dark Eldar. They are armed with massive batteries of Shruiken catapults under the canopy.

Move 30, Save N/A, CAF +3, Shruiken weapons, range 25cm, 2 attack dice, 5+to hit, no save mod, Notes: Skimmer, Morale 3+

The Witch King

Witch Kings: Witch Kings are twisted Dark Eldar who once were Warlocks or Farseers. They lead the Dark Eldar into battle, and ride in the Ironhand Super Heavy Tanks. Each Witch-King has powerful psychic abilities that they use to speed the Dark Eldar to victory.

Move 10, save N/A, CAF +2, Shruiken pistols, range 25cm, 4+ to hit, no save mod, Notes: Command unit, Psychic Powers, Morale 1+

The Witch King's powers:

Ironhand Super Heavy Tanks

Ironhand Super Heavy Tanks are the war machines that the Dark Eldar use to keep their prisoners under control, lead the Dark Eldar Raiders into battle, and are also extremely powerful vehicles in their own right.

Move 25, Save 1+, CAF +4, Weapons: Ironhand lasers: range 75cm, 4 attack dice, 5+ to hit, -1 save mod. Shruiken: range 15cm 3 attack dice, 5+ to hit, no save mod. Notes: Used w/ companies, ridden by Witch King, skimmer, Morale 3+.

Warpspawn Thrower

These are hideous parodies of Warp Hunters, but instead of creating a distortion radius, they actually call into being a Chaos Spawn if they kill their original target. If the target of the warpgate is destroyed, then roll a die: on a 5+ it is replaced with a barrage template, which acts as a (slightly smaller than normal) Chaos Spawn, but on a 4- the target is merely destroyed.

Move 20, Save 3+, CAF +3, Warp gate: range 75cm, 1 attack die, 5+ to hit, -1 save mod. Notes: Chaos Spawn on 4+, skimmer, Morale 3+.

Vulture Grav-Tank

The basic Dark Eldar war machine, it is often used to form companies, and can transport Ork slaves into combat.

Move 25, Save 3+CAF +1, Lascannon, range 75cm, 3+ to hit, -1 save mod, Notes: Skimmer, can carry 2 stands, Morale 3+

Agonizer Cannon

This cannon actually amplifies the pain of sacrifices put into its rear warp prism, and sends it across the battlefield to burn the minds of the Dark Eldar's enemies. It may only shoot at living targets, as it attacks by causing pain, but no saves apply except for psychic saves. If shot at Titans, it may be disrupted by void or power shields on a 4+ and a hit forces a roll on the head damage table. It may not be shot at Daemons of any kind.

Move 25, save 3+, CAF +1, Agonizer Cannon: Range 75cm, 2 attack dice, 4+ hits, no saves apply, Notes: Special- see above, skimmer, Morale 3+.

Grav Lascannon

These are like the Eldar anti-grav lascannon, except that they take longer to charge up before shooting. This means that their bolts are more powerful, but they have less time to acquire their targets, so they are less accurate.

Move 10, Save N/A, CAF-3, Lascannon, Range 75cm, 1 attack die, 5+ to hit, -3 save mod, Morale 3+

Slaves

A large proportion of a Dark Eldar army is made up of Ork slaves, remnants of Snikborg's Waaargh made into the Eye of Terror, made to fight for the Dark Eldar by a combination of coercion and psychic powers. Ork Slaves are particularly useful, as they may concentrate their innate psychic power to give their Witch-King extra psychic energy. If an Ork Slave Boyz Mob does not move, fire or fight in close combat in their turn, their controlling Witch-King can use two powers in his turn instead of one. Ork Slave Boyz are goaded into a fighting frenzy by their Witch-Kings, and so may not be put on first fire orders. Slaves are controlled by an Ironhand Super Heavy Tank ridden by a witch-king, which must always remain within 25cm of all of the slaves it controls. If, for any reason, the Ironhand is not within 25 cm of its slaves, or it is destroyed, at the End Phase, they must make an immediate Rebellion test. If there is another witch king within 25cm then the slaves make their Rebellion test at -3. If there is not another witch-king, but there is another unit of Dark Eldar within 25cm, then they roll at -1. Roll a D6: 0 or less: they stay under control and may be ordered normally next turn, but if they still have no witch-king within 25cm by the next end phase, they will have to test again then. 1: they are cowed and stay where they are, but are not under control by the Dark Eldar the next turn. They will make another Rebellion test next end phase. 2-3: they try to escape as fast as possible. They will charge towards the nearest table edge, and if a unit gets in their way, they will fight them in close combat, but at -1 CAF. Next turn they will check again, but any result other than 2 or 3 only takes effect on a D6 roll of 4 or more. If this roll is 3 or less they stick with their current behavior. 4+: they attempt to fight back at their captors, and next turn they will be controlled by the opposing player. At the end of the next turn, though, they will take another Rebellion test, at +2.

Move 10cm Save N/A CAF +1, Bolter weapons, range 50cm, 1 attack die, 5+to hit, no save mod, Notes: Can build up Psychic energy, morale 4+.

Units

Dark Eldar support cards may not be bought for Ork Slave Boyz mobs.

Company Cards

Support Cards

Note

There are two reasons why many of the powers and troop types seem like rip-offs of original Eldar stuff. the first is that I wanted the army to be able to be used by people who are not modelers. Simply use the corresponding Eldar troop type. The second is that I wanted to stick fairly closely to the original rules, so that I could give points values that were reasonable.

Making a Dark Eldar Army

I recommend using purples, greens, and golds to paint the Dark Eldar troops and vehicles. Slaves can be painted in orky colors. In case you couldn't figure out exactly what Dark Eldar model corresponds to what Eldar model, here's a list of which is which.

I haven't really playtested the Dark Eldar much, so Please give me feed back on this!

Thanks,

[email protected] or Me ([email protected])

Sorry about the line length, it was a real pain just to get out here :(


Well I hope you all enjoy this. Keep watching this space for more from Mayhem Inc. :) Yours

Last Updates
19 July 1996reformatted
16 April 1996reorganized
Contributed by [email protected]
and [email protected]
Comments or corrections?