Dark Eldar Tactics
Dark Eldar - Dirty Tricks - part 2
Dark Eldar Dirty Tricks
3   Archons and Grotesques - Generally, dark eldar players use a haemonculus as a HQ choice to lead a squad of grotesques.  While this may be a fluffy choice, a much more potent combination is to use a fully kitted Archon to lead the grotesque squad.  Grotesques have a unique ability to cause any foe they beat in close combat to fall back automatically which can be devastating when combined with a cross-firing unit.  Unfortunately, grotesques are slow and unarmored so they will be hard pressed to win any close combats against foes in power armor.  Even the addition of a haemonculus to the combat will be unlikely to allow them to win.  An Archon with agonizer and combat drugs on the other hand will almost certainly allow the grotesques to win the fight.  The key is to focus your Archon's and grotesques attacks on only a few models in the enemy squad.   This will maximize your attacks while minimizing your opponents.  The odds are in your favor to win such a battle.  This stratagem will even work with the new assault rules provided you take care to set up your cross-firing units so that they completely block your opponents fall-back corridor and result in a Trapped unit.

4.  Divide and Conquer This stratagem utilizes a raider squad with an attached independent character such as an Archon.  Ideally, the Archon should be equipped with the appropriate wargear for close combat (agonizer & pistol, shadowfield, combat drugs.)  The raider squad will be deployed normally during the battle.  Typically, the raider will advance the full 12" toward the enemy followed by the squad disembarking.    The trick here is that as the squad disembarks from the raider you detach the Archon from the squad so that he/she can function as an independent unit.  The best way to do this is to disembark the squad on one side of the raider and the Archon on the other.  As long as the Archon is over 2" away from the squad he/she is detached.  The advantage to this is that the Archon is now free to charge an enemy unit while the raider squad can shoot and/or assault another enemy unit.  They could also assault the same enemy unit as the Archon, but they will now be considered as another unit for purposes of leadership checks for fallback etc.   Keep in mind that the Archon can utilize both fleet of foot and a 12" charge from combat drugs to close with an enemy unit.  Theoretically the Archon could move up to 32" and assault in one turn (12" raider move + 2" deployment + 6" fleet of foot + 12" charge from drugs = 32".)  This is a terrifying amount of movement for any unit in Warhammer 40K, let alone a HTH monster like a fully equipped Archon, and it will most certainly catch your opponent off-guard.
5. In praise of Urien - As special  characters go, Urien Rakarth is probably the most overlooked and yet one of the most lethal in the game.  With the same stats as a regular haemonculus but a 100 point cost he would seem to be overpriced.  Don't let appearances deceive you.  Urien probably has the most devastating short range weapon in the 40K game.  How so you ask?  If you read the description for Urien you will note that it says that he is equipped with all of the standard haemonculus weapons.  More importantly, these weapons are of such high quality that they ALWAYS wound.  Consider that one of these weapons is a Destructor which uses a flamer template and ignores cover saves.  Any enemy model which is touched by the template is AUTOMATICALLY Hit  AND Wounded.  As if that was not enough, the destructor also has a variable armor penetration based upon d6 roll.  This means that 1/3 of the time the destructor will ignore the 2+ armor saves of terminators and 1/2 the time it will ignore the 3+ save for power armor. Urien could quite possible vaporize an entire squad with a single shot regardless of toughness and armor saves.  That is definitely worth 100 points.
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