How Do I Beat Eldar Wave Serpent Spam with Dark Eldar?

It seems Dark Eldar are having quite a problem dealing damage to mechanized Eldar.  With 3+ saves on the move and AV 12, it's in the dead zone for lances.  That doesn't in any way mean the Lances aren't good to take, but the math on how much of it you need to down one serpent is a little annoying.

To combat this, the Dark Eldar must scheme and plot ways to overcome the mechanized spamming Eldar are justly feared for.  After all, what more delicious a victory is there than to surprise those who can see a thousand years hence with a new trick?  None whatsoever.

Here are a few tools you can use that don't require allies.

1.  Beast Packs are really fast and really good at bashing Wave Serpents.  I use 4 Clawed Fiends.  Arrange the unit this way:  3 BeastMasters in the front, 1 Clawed Fiend,  Beast Master,  3 Clawed Fiends, 2 Razorwing Flocks.  If you mull this for a while it will make sense to you that by doing it this way, you rapidly become Toughness 5 as a unit.  This unit is fast, becomes very tough and hits really hard when it arrives.

Clearly it would benefit from a Phantasm Grenade Launcher and the stealth doesn't hurt.  So Baron Sathonyx makes an ideal attendant for the unit.  If you do, put one more beast Master up front.  This unit can benefit greatly from mobile cover.  The Dark Eldar have a hell of a lot of it available.  Don't leave it behind.

2.  4 Grotesques, with an Abberation (Scissorhands), the Master Haemonculus upgrade and led by the evil Urien Rakarth.  Raiders are assault vehicles.  It can land on the enemy doorstep, wait for the inevitable fusillade to kill it and then the Grotesques assault from the wreckage.  Tough enough to handle the explosions, resilient, and they become a major issue if they get the charge.  Grotesques can declare Disorganized charges without losing much efficacy and if anyone dares get in on the fun against Urien, he's a real bear to take down and can tank wounds like no ones business.

3.  Webway Portals unloading Talos Pain Engines up front and personal.  Best way to pull this off is to have a couple of layers of fast Units (Hellions or scourges perhaps) come out ahead of them to provide them cover.

4.  Sslyth.  Each Archon allows you to take a group of 3.  105 points isn't a lot to commit, it's 6 wounds (which COME with Feel no Pain, regardless of Pain tokens) that are tougher than Wyches when concerning themselves with vehicles they want to kill, and 15 STR 5 attacks is nothing to sniff at.  Best of all, it's an HQ slot so it can be taken without losing much elsewhere.  It's been pointed out that the Royal court will force you to bring along 1 Lhamaean, a Medusae and a Ur-Ghul.  I recognize that these on their own aren't normally used but then, look at the blog you're reading.  Consider for a moment that they ALL get Tough 5 since the Sslyth will be the most numerous toughness (ties go to the higher Toughness) and like the Beast Pack, this makes the unit VERY resilient.  The extra 40 points effectively gives the Sslyth 3 ablative wounds at Tough 5, AND the Ur-Ghul's Feel no Pain makes it an ideal front man.  And where ELSE can you get basically an awesome Liquifier gun at 15 points?  The Medusae has EyeBurst which is a really really fine weapon most of the time.  D6+1 STR D6 AP Flamer template?  That's pretty nice for 15 points.

5.  Overlooked perhaps in 7E is the way Ramming now works.  You're already headed that way anyways.  You may have even accepted the death of the Raiders.  Accept their death on your terms.  Shock Prows can really add to the equation.  Spear the enemy and profit.

These methods don't rely on Lances.  They rely on brazen courage and speed, something the Dark Eldar are all about.  =)

Good gaming