Why DarK Eldar?

Someone asked me the other day why I chose the Dark Eldar. This made me curious to see all the reasons why you guys decided to choose the Dark Eldar?

For me it was all the nautical imagery; such as the Gunboats and the fact that the entire race essentially lives of piracy. Fell in love the first time I read the description on the GW website, still in love with them to this day

Models are awesome.
The fluff is interesting.
They fit my aggressive playstyle.
No one plays them at my FLGS.

Back in the day, a few of my friends and I played an earlier version of Rogue Trader and I liked the concept of the Eldar, this is what initially got my interest into the Warhammer 40k universe. After that I had read several of the 40k books and played the Dawn of War games. Then when 5th edition hit I had a friend who was building an Ork army (Speed Freeks) who convinced me to look into collecting an army. When I finally got around to going to the store to pick up a few boxes of Craftworld Eldar Games Workshop had just released the Dark Eldar 5th edition Codex. Their fluff and new models immediately caught my attention and I found myself purchasing this army instead of the Craftworld Eldar army I had originally planned.

While I took a break from the game for 6th edition I came back not that long ago for 7th edition and despite the new codex still find myself enjoying my Speed Freek styel Dark Eldar Kabal . I've expanded my Kabal and have about 2000 points of models for them now and just purchased some forgeworld Corsairs and Hornets to ally in to them. When I get things assembled I might put up a Project log but I'm not that good at painting and my Void Dreamer won't be anything spectacular in the field of conversions but what the hell.

My buddy and I got the battle starter pack back in 2001. Space marines and dark Eldar. I chose the dark Eldar because they were supposed to be a real difficult army to play with and I was up for the challenge. There are tons of reasons why I have stuck with them, but the main one is loyalty to commorragh

I started with Black Templars. I love them. Still figured I should try my hand at a xenos race. So I took a look and I love the dark eldar fluff, the look and feel of the incubi, and Talos.

I started 40k with a very slow, resilient army. (Drop Pod Salamanders.) I loved the Deep Strike aspect, but had begun to really hate how slow the army was, and how few special weapons they had access to. The Dark Eldar seemed to be the polar opposite of that, while still giving me the Deep Strike tactics I'd learned how to use.

Once I started them, it helped that the models are completely gorgeous and the fluff is very unique. The rules brought me in (also, the army had a reputation for being "40k hard mode," which interested me) but the background and models keep me here.

And seriously--this website is a big reason I stick with the army. An inclusive, useful community is a great resource for DE players. On the flip side of the coin, ATT is one of the main reasons I quit playing Tau.

It's the most difficult army to play in 40K, and the models look cool. Rules wise, they were really cool back in 3rd, then got cooler in 5th, then turned to ass in 7th, and now I'm waiting patiently for the next book.

Cool models.
Nobody else is playing them.
I was sick of playing 3+ Chaos Marines that so many guys in my group play an equivalent to.
And I wanted to paint some color instead of silver all the way.

Models primarily but I am also a long time Eldar player and they fit nicely into that when the allies system was introduced.

A few things for me:
- I liked the aesthetics - especially with all the shiny new 5th edition models.
- It seemed like they had a fun and interesting playstyle
- They had some great fluff
- Their book (the 5th edition one) looked like a lot of fun. There was a lot of flavour in their rules and a wide selection of wargear.
- Finally, my friend was looking to sell his Dark Eldar collection - so I had an opportunity to buy an entire army and case at a discounted price.

Sadly, several of these points evaporated when our latest book came around, but hindsight is 20/20...

Models primarily - I didn't really play when I started the army (I'd been a collector for about 15 years playing on and off) and when i did start playing regularly my marines needed such a massive overhaul i used the DE instead. Only player at the club to use them too (though there's now three others) so they kinda became 'my thing'.

I still love playing them, my club doesn't see too many really cheesy lists and my tactical play has improved out of all recognition from my first forays.

I also freely admit to liking the current codex, though cheaper toys (in points terms) would always be welcome.

Honestly for me, It was the Harlequin. Granted I'm super super new to 40k as a whole let alone Dark Eldar. I walked into my FLGS for a Magic tournament, and saw the super sick Harlequin Codex art. Asked a buddy about them and he said "Pair them with Dark Eldar." (I have yet to do that successfully.) Looked up Dark Eldar, saw that the Reaver was simply the coolest model in the game and here I am a budding little Archon.

Models mostly. If it was not for the amazing Juan Diaz Kabalites and Wyches I would have dumped them as soon as I took my first deep breath upon reading that army book.

Guess games workshop was correct. They are a model selling company, not a game selling company.

I already had a full army minus a few new toys (Voidraven and Wracks), so not much investment.
Rules sell models. That is probably why I got more Fleshhounds for my Khorne Daemonkin and more Hawks/Spiders for my Eldar and not more Mandrakes/Hellions/Wyches/... for my Dark Eldar.

I wanted to play evil space elf pirates and be one of the few.

@CptMetal wrote:

Guess games workshop was correct. They are a model selling company, not a game selling company.

One thing I feel I should say - whilst it's always nice to have good models, for me the rules/playstyle are far more important.

Worst case scenario, if I hate the aesthetic, I can convert models in place of the ones I dislike. I've done this with my Necron Destroyer Lord, my DE Grotesques and also messed around with conversions for other models for the fun of it (my Necron Wraiths are made of spare bits).

However, if I don't like the rules... I'm pretty screwed. Getting people to accept converted models is easy (often they'll even prefer a cool conversion to the original). Getting them to play altered rules is another matter entirely.

In fact, there's something really depressing about having nice models and crap rules. e.g. I can convert some really nice HQs, but I still have to face the fact that they're a useless waste of points on the table. That sort of thing really doesn't endear GW to me.

I got into DE because I wanted to paint, convert and game with something other than marines, which I was sick of. A friend suggested I look at the dark eldar models, as he thought I would like them and they had a very different playstyle. Well, I saw them and fell in love. This is where the roots of my current Harlequin carnival was born......lots of research and thinking later and I bought my first box of wyches and set to work. Never looked back since

SC

Got into dark eldar because of this site actually! Also because I wanted to play a fast hard hitting assault army...... now I keep my toes in it still because the community is awesome!

Because any game worth playing is worth playing on hard mode. The models are obviously beautiful. Rules-wise, I've always been attracted to high-risk-high-reward glass cannon archetypes, and DE seemed to fit the bill.

Me too but DE are a high-risk-no-reward glass cushion archetype.

Depending on the opponents army you need to outplay them to be on even footing while they outgun and outsustain you.

@Klaivex Charondyr wrote:

Me too but DE are a high-risk-no-reward glass cushion archetype.

Depending on the opponents army you need to outplay them to be on even footing while they outgun and outsustain you.

Sad but pretty accurate.

Compare DE with the recent books (Eldar, Necrons, SM, Ad Mech etc.) - as well as having much more flavourful and interesting books (i.e. they didn't just have virtually every character and unique special rule stripped out), you just get so much more for your points.

Just a minor example, but do you like CADs for Objective Secured on your troops? Well now SMs have a formation that gives their entire army objective secured.

But, the best way I can put it is this - when I play my Necrons, I have the freedom to mess around a bit. My Overlord and/or Destroyer Lord probably aren't worth spending many points on, but screw it - I'll do it anyway - give them a bit more flavour. Most likely I won't miss the points I spend on them.

In contrast, with Dark Eldar I feel that I have to squeeze my list for every advantage I can get - just to break even with other armies. And even then, I often feel like I'm starting on the back foot, as it were. Virtually anything I want to do that's even remotely fluffy is done at the expense of my army's overall strength.

Truth. I like playing though and as much as one may laugh at 4chan they are correct on one thing. This is 40k on hardmode. A lot of times when I win I have wrecked havoc on my opponent. When I lose it sucks but generally close. I agree you have to outplay. If you make a small mistake your entire army could go upm with my Black Templars I didn't have that issue.

The other day, (1000pt game) I deployed second with 2 ravager on the far left, (daen of war) in cover, with night fighting, in range of an auto cannon dread. My plan was to jink with one and fire with the other next turn. Maybe a little aggressive but nothing I would consider reckless. Well, he blows up the jinking one, and the other missed all its dl shots. The following turn I lost my second ravager. The rest of the game was uphill as the bulk of my anti tank was gone. I have a few games under my belt, but man, you learn so quick as a dark eldar player, how to minimize your mistakes. Other wise, u lose

I used to play Tau. My mates called them OP. So I wanted a new army. My first thought: Not Imperium, I'm xenos through and through. My second thought:Not Orks, I want to something a bit more uniform. Not Eldar, they're too OP. Not Nids, I'm not interested in monsters with little conversion possibilities. Dark Eldar. Wow. Incubi. One months in, they're still my favourite unit and I so want to get some.