Why did you decide to collect Dark Eldar?

For me, it's absolutely the models. I hated the old 3rd edition stuff and was pretty neutral on the background. Seeing the current sculpts though i just had to buy them. Initially I wasn't sold on the Coven side of things, particularly the floating crucifix haemonculus but I did love the Talos model, and the wracks are growing on me.

All my friends, who play 40k, have either the good armies, like Marines and the crystal cuddlers,
or Chaosmarines, who also are Marines of some sort, so I decided, I want to play the evil ones.
About that time the 5th codex came out, so it was an obvious choice. Great models, great rules, great evil.
Damn, that's three outa five. Hm, my first motive was the background, so I take that.

I actually started collecting Dark Eldar due to Battlefleet Gothic and wanting to be able to build a narrative personality to my fleet. I'd originally been playing Tyranids, and though I'd created loads of Imperial designations for each bio-ship and ideas of that ilk to my mind as soon as you were in Hive Fleet scale actions all individuality was really lost between the individual ships, 2 Brood Mother Hive Ships were effectively interchangable. This was before the Swarmlord, and the rise in individual personality he is linked to in my head, really existed, the most we had were the Red Terror & Old One Eye, so tales of 'The Wyrm of Ithrak' - for example - worked on the small scale not the large.

A progression to something completely different led me to the DE who I knew very little about at the time. And the Fleet of Dread Archon Isdraab was born, then the new models came out and the progression into the Envenomed Mark and the Shattered Helix (and all the Haemonculi that brought) has left Isdraab as more of a bit character in comparison, though I'll work something out there.

And that was a needlessly detailed explanation to your question.

@Zenotaph Crystal Cuddlers is possibly the most amusing name for them I've heard, I may have to taunt a friend on mine with it. Thank you!

I like to play foils.

I play a number of gaming systems. 40k, MtG and others. Most of the others I play with have the standard collections, and some are heavy competitive players, and others are the usual casual gamer.
Most go for safe options, but they never go for the outsider, the strange and the unique.
Thats what I like to play, the armies, crews, decks, whatever who are in some outside the norm and act as a great foil to the standard competitive armies whilst still be fun against casual forces.
Dark Eldar are maybe not quite what they were in previous books, but they still fulfil the role extremely well, and for that reason I'll always be a Dark Eldar man.

All of the original models. I much more preferred the old style than the current one.

As a longstanding Blood Angels player I was getting a bit bored with them by the end of 5th edition and started looking for another army to start playing. I toyed with Necrons for a while, just after their new codex arrived, but they didn't really appeal to me and I eventually plumped for the Dark Eldar, mainly based on how gorgeous the models were.

@PartridgeKing wrote:

@Zenotaph Crystal Cuddlers is possibly the most amusing name for them I've heard, I may have to taunt a friend on mine with it. Thank you!

Be my guest. It's not like I own the copyright. But our Eldar player named my DE-Army a bunch of poison syringes,
so I had to come up with something.

@Cavash wrote:

All of the original models. I much more preferred the old style than the current one.

For me it was a need for speed, Then i read the lore and fell in love.

I liked the lore but didnt like how old models look. Then they release new ones. And immediately i thought - thats my kind of bastards ))

The new models!
Followed by fast playstyle and the lore.

My friends who introduced me to the game had Eldar, Blood Angel and Imperial Guard armies. Being a "good guy, hero type" doesn't appeal to me, and it was right when the Dark Eldar 5th ed codex dropped that I knew this was the army for me. Had not played 40K before, was attracted by the look of the army and of the playstyle. So not only learning the rules of the game but also how different the Dark Kin truly play on the battlefield, had me hooked right from the start. I've been a one-army-man ever since

Meh. It's no secret my introduction to dark eldar came from Dawn of WarSoulstorm. The units in that game were based on the original models. To be honest when I first started to play warhammer two years ago I was shocked my Archon couldn't wear a human face. I think rules has zero votes so far because you don't really understand the rules until after you've played with them a bit. Yes wounding everything on 4+ is awesoe but that didn't click at first. To be honest... I don't like the playstyle of Dark Eldar. Yeah, it can be fun but I inherently play defensively, and prefer toughness over finesse. So boy did I pick the wrong army there. If I had started in 3rd I'd probably never won a game. The fact that you can play defensivle in 5th and 6th and win says a lot. (Recently started building a CSM nurgle army)

So with those elimated, it has to be the lore. The pitch in soulstorm got me interested, the internet wikis got me educated, but the stories and the dark city got me hooked.

I continue playing Dark Eldar for all the reasons above, but I decided to start playing them after reading "The Torturer's Tale" in White Dwarf. So I guess that's a vote for background.

I also appreciated the models they showed off that issue, with a particularly swanky green marbled look, and realised that the (3ed) models could indeed look cool. My favourite was always the sybarite with wolverine claw agoniser. Funnily I never painted my own anything like the models that initially inspired me - and I much prefer the new ones. But there were plenty of good times with the old.

As an CWE player I decided that I didn't have an urgent need to add to my 25k Elder army. Dark Elder had also interested me but I disliked most of the models. Eventually I started converting guardians with dark elf bits and a decent amount of greenstuff... Fairly soon after.... A new DE range was released.

For me I wanted a cc army (I started with a shooty space marine army) and so it was a toss up between orks and Dark Eldar. As I read more of the forums (including this one) I determined that I like the speed of this army and thus started this one. And then I became more shooty than even my space marine army because I play competitive.

@Thor665 wrote:

@Cavash wrote:

All of the original models. I much more preferred the old style than the current one.

I started playing them seriously in late 3rd edition (NOT because of the models) because everybody locally said they sucked and were hard to win with. Thought I'd be a stubborn contrarian and prove them wrong.....for 14 years

The new models definitely would win me over today if I were to start playing today.

Great pic ESE. I think what really sells it is not the fact that it's a guy throwing up, but that it's also coming out of both nostrils too! If only it were a vile green colour I could think he'd just been hit with an ichor injector!

I first played Eldar in 4th. I had a real mish mash force and I didn't like the space hippies really. Then I dabbled with Tau and other friends armies but none were quick or pretty. Then out comes this amazing model range. I fell in love with them immediately, the sleek vehicles and lightning fast playstyle. I sold my Tau and Eldar immediately and used the funds to buy the battleforce set and other bits. Then later the mega-force set. My friends even encouraged me to get them as they were something different, there regret is delicious

Back in 3rd a friend was trying to convince me to play 40k and Cradtworld Eldar, specifically Saim Hann, where the only army i was even slightly interested in. Then the 2nd ed codex came with Wych cult lists and i was in love, shame they pretty much suck these days lol

@Grub wrote:

I first played Eldar in 4th. I had a real mish mash force and I didn't like the space hippies really. Then I dabbled with Tau and other friends armies but none were quick or pretty. Then out comes this amazing model range. I fell in love with them immediately, the sleek vehicles and lightning fast playstyle. I sold my Tau and Eldar immediately and used the funds to buy the battleforce set and other bits. Then later the mega-force set. My friends even encouraged me to get them as they were something different, there regret is delicious

CW Eldar are not Space Hippies, although I will grant that an army full of Aspect Warriors looks like Gay Pride in Space. Eldar are as full as themselves as the Dark Eldar, they still think (know) that they are better than everyone else (other races). If they help others is is to use them for their own ends, or because it pleases them (some have a sense of honor). The difference with the Dark Eldar is that the Dark Eldar give into themselves, they are less restrained (they are more like hippies in that sense).

Haha interesting spin on it I just saw the Eldar as these healing stone, crystal obsessed, good (psychic) vibe, space caravan rainbow warriors! As a geologist I can not give anything (fantasy or not) any respect when it comes to magic rocks

If any eldar race are hippies, it's the exodites...

A friend and I shared a statingbox with spacemarines and dark eldar. He wanted the spacemarins and I liked the spike darkelves in space :p