The DE got a new book recently to update their 12 year old one and they got a bit of a boost with it. These guys are very much of a "Glass Cannon"...They can dish out some serious pain, but aren't all that durable. They do have some dirty tricks to help with this, but don't expect a squad of DE to take fire like other armies. We also have another army that can be built to focus on shooting or CC and do either well. For shooting, you have lots of poisoned weapons to deal with infantry and Lance-based guns to cut through armor. If you prefer to get in close, there are some nasty things to shred enemies up close, too. Getting close also gets you Pain Tokens. This is a mechanic that's unique to DE where their units get to be better at waging war as they kill more enemy units. This is a bit complicated for a new player, but not horrible compared to things like Faith points (we'll get to them in a few armies...) The other thing to consider about these guys is they are FAST. They have Fast skimmer transports, but remember they are also open topped and about as armored as your average snow blower. Upgrades and speed will help you here, but a Raider will never be confused for a Land Raider as far as durability goes. Still you have jump units and jet bikes, as well as a "flyer" and a heavy weapons skimmer that gets to ignore its movement to fire its weapons and you have an army that can stay on the move and hit your opponent when and where you want to,
Affordability: A-. Plenty of plastic here, plus you hhave a surprisingly decent Battleforce unlike some armies. There's still some overpriced finecrap*, but it's largely in units that aren't too hot to begin with. They're on their 6th wave so most of the codex has a model, too. (sorry 3 year old armies that haven't had a second wave yet, DE are a few units from being the only non-imperial book with every unit in the book represented but you don't count)
Tactics: Mixed. You're probably best focusing on one or the other, but you can do both pretty well. Just remember your army is mostly T3 and has pretty light armor.
Useless Unit: Beasts. Actually they aren't totally horrible, but there are better units, and being finecrap, a unit will run over $100 which is beyond unreasonable in my book.
Final Grade: B. This is a finesse army and while very capable, may be a bit tricky for a novice. If you're ready to seriously dedicate to the hobby once you learn to use your tools well, you'll have a potent force, but you'll likely lose more then a novice with a different army. In 6 months that will change, but if you're one that may get discouraged by a learning curve, go with something simpler
*A note on finecrap. As I refuse to use the GW name for this severly price-gouged new line, I think it's pretty obvious I don't think too highly of it. One or two HQ units in an army is acceptable as it's similar to the old blisters, but if an army has units only available at the cheaper-material-but-somehow-pricier-model finecrap, they will get penalized for it. And don't give me the "they had to pay for new molds" line because their unnecessary pricing means they've likely already done so and are now just bending us over and ramming resin up our collective asses.
The Beasts are the biggest pricing joke going, even bloodknights offer better monetary value-per-point.
ReplyDeleteyou are right over 100 for a single unit is beyond the pale