I just ran a low-Rank Deathwatch session featuring Dark Eldar as the adversaries; since they are not ‘standard’ DW opponents, I thought I would share my thoughts based on the experience.

I used the DE stats from the Rogue Trader supplements The Soul Reaver (plus some critters from The Koronus Bestiary ), with very little alteration- the only weapon stats I ‘amped up’ to take on Space Marines were for Splinter Cannons, which, as presented in SR , have minimal chance of damaging an Astartes (neither do Splinter Rifles, of course, but I planned to field those in Hordes- a tactic not suitable for heavy weapons). I added 1 point to the Splinter Cannon’s Damage and AP, which gave the Cannon about a 1 in 3 chance of inflicting a wound per hit; this felt about right to me for a weapon usually portrayed as a ‘middling’ heavy weapon. I found out too late that the Killteam’s Techpriest would be completely immune to the Splinter Cannon due to The Flesh Is Weak; in hindsight, I probably should have increased Splinter Cannon damage to 1d10+8 Pen 5, to make them a bit more of a threat.

The basic unit I fielded was a 25 Magnitude Horde of Kabalite Warriors ( SR p.122) armed with Splinter Rifles (with melee attachments), with a single Splinter Cannon and a Sybarite (basically a Warrior with Command) armed with an Exotic Weapon (either missle or melee) from SR p.110 & 112, benefiting from the cover of the Horde.

The ‘scary’ adversary I fielded this encounter was a Talos Pain Engine, which I statted as a hybrid of the Cronos Parasite Engine from SR p.127 and the Talos stats from the Adversaries section of the Only War rulebook, but with the number of Wounds and power of the Stinger Pod increased substantially.

For the ‘command squad’ I used Archon Salaine Morn from SR p.119 as the template for a Dark Eldar ship captain, scaled down slightly and with the Huskblade replaced with a Djin Blade (since there are no official stats, I treated it as a high-end power sword with the added ability that the wielder can make a Willpower test to goad the sword into making an extra attack- but if the test fails by 2 or more Degrees, the sword attacks its’ owner). The leader’s retinue consisted of two Sslyth bodyguards (from KB p.93)- one upgraded with a power sword and one with a Liquifier Gun ( SR p. 110), 3 Trueborn ( SR p.123) with melee weapons, a Medusae (from KB p.17) attached to a host (a generic Eldar), and two Ur-Ghul ( KB p.35) acting as ‘guard dogs’ and cannon fodder.

No Wyches this time out- I’m holding them back for a specific future encounter.

So, how did they perform against Marines? In the first encounter, a single Splinter Rifle-armed Horde with a Splinter Cannon did a smattering of damage, pretty much as I expected. One thing I screwed up was that I forgot to apply the Toxic quality from the Splinter weapons- even though there is only a small chance of the toxin effecting an Astartes due to their Unnatural Toughness (making tests 1 step easier) and a built-in re-roll against toxins, the Eldar can inflict enough hits with their rapid-firing weapons that an occasional check is bound to fail; plus, the constant threat from poison is an integral part of the character of dark Eldar. So:

TIP #1: DON’T FORGET THE TOXIN TESTS! Trust me, they’ll start to add up over the course of the mission.

The Killteam caught this first group of Dark Eldar unaware, and as a result I staged some individual Warriors outside the main body of the Horde, engaged in various tasks. This proved to be a serendipitous circumstance, allowing the individual Eldar to use their Dodge (an advantage lost to Hordes), and the Marines expended a surprising amount of resources trying to put down combatants who were by and large no real threat. I liked this effect, and subsequently added 3-4 basic Warriors positioned in a ‘skirmish line’ in front of each Horde, operating independently and thus able to use their Dodge. It occurred to me that these extra guys could really earn their keep by laying down Suppressing Fire with their Splinter Rifles, or hucking plasma grenades ( SR p.109) when they couldn’t fire full-auto. Which results in:

TIP #2: SUPPORT WARRIOR HORDES WITH SKIRMISHERS PROVIDING SUPPRESSING FIRE! Sure, Space Marines have a free re-roll against Pinning, but the sheer nuisance value will almost certainly force the Killteam to split resources between the Horde and the skirmishers- who can Dodge. And Dark Eldar have some models with Fear ratings- and the Willpower penalty from failing a Fear test (see the And they Shall Know No Fear rules) apply to Pinning tests.

The Syberites armed with Darklight weapons ( SR p.110) proved to be quite dangerous; between high damage, very high AP, and Felling, these weapons require no enhancement from their Rogue Trader stats to menace Space Marines.

TIP #3: DON’T UNDERESTIMATE BLAST PISTOLS/ BLASTERS! They don’t need any increase in power, unless you really, really hate your players!

What about the Talos Pain Engine? This proved to be a major screw-up on my part. Dark Eldar are usually quite fast, and I didn’t think to check the Talos’ Movement rate when I launched it at the Killteam; I just assumed that it would be able to close to Charge range fairly quickly, but after I brought it into view (in a long corridor with no cover) I realized that Pain Engines are pretty freakin’ slow, allowing the Killteam to blow it to bits well before it could present any threat to them…

TIP #4: TALOS ARE SLOW ! Deny the Killteam line-of-sight until a Pain Engine is within Charge range, or it will be reduced to so much Difficult Terrain before it can get any licks in against the Marines.

Since Ur-Ghul can’t normally damage a Space Marine, I had them attempt Grapples against one of the Killteam. They never connected in this combat, but they did keep a Marine tried up for a couple rounds before they went splat.

The Sslyth, on the other hand, are pretty well-matched against low-Rank Astartes. Unfortunately the one with the Liquifier Gun never got to fire a shot before being thrust into melee combat, so I never got to see its variable AP in action.

The Medusae is a one-trick pony, but Eyeburst is a decent little trick, forcing Fate Points to be spent to overcome Stunning. One hit and it pops like a zit, though, so place it carefully.

TIP #5: FOCUS ON VARIETY IN THE LEADER’S RETINUE. A broad range of abilities and weapons in one tight group will force the players to make tough choices about what order to target their opponents.

The Archon stats I used were a bit overpowered for the PCs current Rank; between sky-high Dodge and armour with a built-in Field, the Archon took only a single hit, despite being swarmed by Marines (admittedly that one hit dropped him to single-digit wounds; when he returns I’ll be sure to include someone with Medicae in his retinue), and forced every Astartes who went toe-to-toe to Withdraw to the Apothecary after a single round. I wanted there to be a good chance of his escaping to return another day, but ‘Salaine Morn’ wasn’t in too much real danger from low-Rank Astartes, especially with the Sslyth’s Guardian Talent and Fate Points.

So, that’s my experience. Dark Eldar from Rogue Trader work well at lower Ranks of Deathwatch , but you have to plan their use carefully or the Killteam will go through them like a hot knife through butter.

When my PCs have a bit more experience under their belt, they will encounter the Dark Eldar again; being prepared to fight Space Marines next time, the Warrior Hordes will be 35 Magintude with 2 attached Splinter Cannons. And I’m very curious to see how a Horde of Wyches performs…

I hope these observations are useful to some of my fellow GMs.

Many thanks for this, Adeptus-B.

Very interesting information. Thanks for sharing.

Let's resurrect this thread to keep the DE info in one place.

I'm planning to run an adventure based heavily on The Alien Hunters by Andy Chambers (found in the Xenos Hunters anthology), because most of its motifs tie in nicely with what I'm planning to do with the Kill-Team on the long run, and also because the machine spirit logs of an automated Watch Station will make a very nice handout. The Kill-team is quite big now, consisting of 6 Marines, around Rank 4-5. The ideas above are well-thought-out (as expected from Adeptus-B), but does anyone have more recent experience with using DE as adversaries, against higher-rank players? Is there anything requiring special attention? Or just a good story? I'm all ears

I'll share the specifics here when I'm done putting them down on paper, but at this stage it's a bit malleable.

If I GM a session with DE, I pay most attention to the atmosphere. It's not easy to get that sick terror into the heads of the players, but that's always my first aim with DE.

Sadly, I can't find my notes from my last DE session anymore. It took place on a space station raided by DE (at first unknown to the KT), and I had a ton of descriptions for random floors/rooms, in which crew members have been tortured, slaughtered, etc. Also crew members who comitted suicide as they couldn't stand the terror anymore, as well as a couple of survivors that went completly insane, but had bits of thruth in their stutterings. Furthermore, distant screams of agony from time to time. It took them quite a while to see the first DEs, hanging some of the crew from a balustrade with their own bowels whilst still alive, while others were torturing them even more.

I agree with the strong atmosphere idea, but in this case I can't have a big build-up for DE atrocities, mainly because I want to focus on intra-Deathwatch animosities. In the short story serving as a basis for the adventure, the Kill-team is unwittingly used as a bait by the DW leadership to draw the DE out. After my Kill-team royally botched the Ebongrave job in Rising Tempest, I plan to introduce Watch Captain Andar Scarion (the resident Canis Salient captain, found in The Jericho Reach) as a rival, since the team caused him endless headaches. Such a move would be fitting to introduce him in person as an antagonistic character, keen on pushing the Kill-team to (and beyond) its limits. This time, the DE will be a surprise, but if they work well, a second adventure is in store, where I can better explore the themes of cruelty and depravity.

In line with the story, the KT will arrive in an asteroid belt to investigate pirates possessing suspected xenos technology. After entering their lair, they'll find a webway portal, and pirates shipping slaves through it to the DE in exchange for and endless supply of drugs. The DE anticipated the arrival of the Marines (tasty torture subjects and fine gladiator material for Comorragh), so a trap will be sprung, and if the KT is bloodied enough, the Captain & co will teleport in, dressed in Termie suits, to turn the tables.

What I need to achieve is the DE to make an impact and actually feel dangerous for the KT - both for the story to advance, and to have a proper début for the crazy junkie space elves. Adeptus-B raises some very good points above, but if someone has other ideas how can I make the DE more challenging for my mid-level (Rank 4-5), 6-strong Kill-Team, I'd love to hear that.

Have a look here and here . You will have to make your own rules for those, but there are some that will grant you a lot of fun with your KT

For example you could use the Mask of the Damned as following: Anyone attacking a DE wearing a Mask of the Damned has to make a Fear-Test, because the mask transmits horror into his mind. On failure not only his WP will be decreased(fear), but he only has a half action for this turn as well. Maybe with enough DoF he will lose his complete turn.

If you want the Dark Eldar to feel dangerous, you can't go far wrong with giving him an Incubi cadre bodyguard. Incubi are designed to be at least vaguely menacing to Black Crusade chaos marines, so will be able to put up a decent fight in numbers.

You can't forget about DE speed and agility. If PC's come too close - run. If they try to flank you - run again. Never allow the enemy to shoot you in the open. Cover is the key.

Hey, thanks! The adventure is postponed, because half the team can't make it, so I'm putting a quick shoot-'em-up together for the rest, but you all gave insightful advice - when I have the chance to use it, I'll let you know how it went.

And remember that DE are hard opponent to manage for a game master. Their weapons are made in a min-max way - with their basic rifles you either deal no damage or deal lot of damage. It's very random.