Dark Eldar

A squad of Dark Eldar Warriors

In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Dark Eldar are a Kindred of the Eldar, an ancient and advanced race of elf-like humanoids. Their armies usually have the advantages of speed, though they are often lacking in resilience. They are the thematic equivalent of the Warhammer Fantasy Dark Elves, and indeed Dark Elves in general. Because of their affinity for bloodlust and inflicting pain on their foes, they are generally considered an evil race and the miniatures reflect this, with spikes and jagged armour plates being common features.

Game background

The Dark Eldar are depicted by Games Workshop as a race that is sadistic in the extreme, revelling in piracy, enslavement and torture. Like all factions of the Eldar race, the Dark Eldar have access to technology that is extremely advanced by human standards. Players of Dark Eldar armies may select various anti-gravity skimmers such as Raiders and Ravagers (Troop transports and mobile weapons platforms, respectively) to launch high-speed attacks. They strike with little or no warning, using an inter-dimensional labyrinth known as the Webway to traverse the galaxy safely and far more quickly than most races are able to with their Warp jumps.

The Dark Eldar are unique amongst the Warhammer 40,000 factions in the sense that they do not occupy one or more planets, but rather one huge dark city - Commorragh - which was revealed in November 2010 to be in actuality an amalgamation of several cities and realms located within the Webway. Dark Eldar are mainly depicted as a piratical race with no loyalty to anyone except themselves, though they are reportedly sometimes employed by various races as mercenaries. When describing the raids of the Dark Eldar, Games Workshop literature focuses on the capturing of slaves, which appear to be the main currency of Commorragh.

The Dark Eldar have technology far advanced of those of other species. They make use of technology, including anti-gravity devices, splinter weapons, dark matter (in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, something more akin to antimatter) weaponry, nanotechnology and psychic artifacts. While Dark Eldar do make use of psychic devices, they do not use psychic powers themselves: psykers could be tracked down by Slaanesh (one of the Chaos gods) and Commorragh destroyed. Because of this, using psykic powers is the worst (and possibly only) crime in Commorragh. In the back story released in the most recent Dark Eldar Codex, it is revealed that the Dark Eldar gradually lost their natural psychic ability during the millennia following the Fall of the Eldar race, and that they are sustained only through the absorption of the psychic power released by pain, torture and anguish of other sentient beings.

Development

Games Workshop decided to make the Dark Eldar as a separate army, after it became fairly common to see gamers collect "Dark Eldar" armies, which are total conversions/customizations of Eldar miniatures while still retaining the standard Eldar rules. It was also relatively convenient to add the Dark Eldar to the existing Eldar storyline without any conflict, right at the catastrophe that destroyed the Eldar home-world.

Since the 3rd edition release of Codex: Dark Eldar in 1998, no new army book had been published until 2010 (most armies received an updated army book during the 4th edition era). A revision of this book was made for the 4th edition of the game, but it said "revised, 2nd edition". It was released in 2003 and was the same book save for some changes to Wyches (including Wych led armies), and the addition of arcane war-gear and vehicle war-gear options.

A complete overhaul of the Dark Eldar model range and rules was hinted at in a statement that Rick Priestley made in White Dwarf 343 (US issue 342) saying, "I think it's time that the Dark Eldar, Space Wolves and a few others have their time in the spotlight again..."

The new edition of Codex: Dark Eldar was released in November 2010, along with a completely new range of miniatures including new versions of the Dark Eldar Warriors (now Kabalite Warriors), Wyches and Reaver jetbike models. Subsequently, new models for the Talos and Scourges were released, as well as a new skimmer called the Venom, which is a version of the Vyper used by the Craftworld Eldar, though used for transport instead of fire support.

Trivia

The Dark Eldar were featured as a playable faction in the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War computer game expansion, Soulstorm.

The Warhammer 40,000 expansion book 'Battle Missions', released in 2010 includes three scenarios designed specifically for Dark Eldar armies.

Tactics

Most of the time, the Dark Eldar use the hit-and-run style of warfare. All of their transports and warriors follow this same pattern as all of their army is as lightly armored to increase movement. All of the Dark Eldar vehicles - the Raider, Ravager, Voidraven Bomber, Venom, Razorwing - are lightly armored and rely upon speed to keep safe from any incoming fire. Fortunately, some vehicles come with ["Flickerfields"] which allow them a small degree of protection; or "Night Shields", which reduce the enemy's effective weapon range.

Kabals and Wych cults

After Asdrubael Vect destroyed the Old Order in the Dark City, he introduced the Kabalite System, in which anyone who kills a Kabalite Warrior had better have influential friends, as the dead Warrior's entire Kabal will be after them for revenge. There is only one person who can wipe a Kabal out to the last Eldar without there being a revolt, and that is the Supreme Overlord of the Dark City, Asdrubael Vect himself. The wych cults are gladiatorial warriors who fight for the ecstasy they get from pain. As with any Dark Eldar, there is hierarchy within the cults. The wyches report to the hekatrix of the squad. The Hekatrii report to the cult's leader, the Succubus.

The Court of the Archon

The Court of the Archon is a squad of 4-9 bodyguards and a Archon. This court was completed in September 2011, with all of the models being available in Citadel Finecast (a special range of superbly designed models). With allowance for the squad to be transported in a Venom or a Raider, this squad can be lethal.

• Archon - In Games Workshop literature, Archons are the masters of the Dark Eldar Kabals. They are masters of intrigue and extremely skilled warriors, with in-game statistics to reflect this.
• Lhamaean - In Dark Eldar society, Lhamaeans function as courtesans to a Kabal's Archon. Whilst they may be part of an Archon's harem, they are a sisterhood devoted to the study and use of poisons. In the game, they have highly poisonous weapons and enhance the efficiency of any poisoned weapons the Archon carries.
• Medusae - Depicted as Dark Eldar slaves possessed by extra-planar creatures whose bodies store emotions and sensations, Medusae are used by Archons to record the sensations of a battle, but in-game they have a special attack that uses a template to fire, much like a flamer.
• Sslyth - The Sslyth are a race not previously mentioned in Warhammer 40,000 literature until the introduction of the Dark Eldar Codex in 2010. They are described as a race of snake-people with four arms carrying a selection of weapons and function as bodyguards to the Archon.
• Dark Eldar Ur-Ghul - They are a sightless species whose sense of smell has become highly advanced. They may be compared to the Ghouls of fantasy armies and function as warriors biased towards close combat in the game.

The Rise of Asdrubael Vect

After the Fall of the Eldar,(In the 31st Millenium) Commorragh was to find out that a slave, known as Vect would rise to become a Dracon of the Kabal of the Black Heart. Vect had risen in pure guile and a murderous ambition. He became Dracon when the Imperium sent the an elite force to invade Commorragh.

References

• Thorpe, Gav. "The Torturer's Tale". Games Workshop. http://uk.games-workshop.com/darkeldar/torturer/. Retrieved 2006-02-21. 
• Johnson, Jervis; and Thorpe, Gav (2003-11-30). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Dark Eldar. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 978-1-84154-307-9. http://books.google.com/?id=BaRTAAAACAAJ.