Dark Eldar Dangerous Tactics "Ramming Raiders"

Model by Lordscythican

This is probably something most people will not want to do. I will be the first to tell you, it is a ton of fun, and the suprise on your opponents face is priceless.

First off, there are several advantages to doing this. Lets knock those out quickly. Popping smoke, or being mostly behind another vehicle will not give you a cover save. Second its possible to fly over units or vehicles to do this and deliver a priceless S10 hit where it hurts. While doing this is situational, I have been doing this now for awhile, and can tell you it is effective. Here is the load-out I use.


Raider: Shock Prow, Aether Sails, and Flickerfield. = 80pts. Ive considered Grisly Trophies, but it seems a little overboard. (this would be used when people place their troops in front of the vehicles. Around here Terminators in front of valuable vehicles is common. The models are big enough to grant cover.)

Here is how it works. Deploy them properly spaced  in your deployment zone. I also use them to shield other raiders that are carrying assault units at deployment since the raider will be getting a 5+ invul. Give yourself enough room to rotate your Raider. You will need to do this in order to ram round 1.

1. Declare moving flat out and your Ramming Target and roll your Aethersail bonus movement.
2. Rotate and point towards your opponent.
3. Move the distance needed to hit your target. You only need 24" to get a S10 hit.
4. Place your model in contact with the target.
5. 24"/3 = 8. Then roll for your bonus (shock prow) front armour D3 and add this number to the Strength of the hit.
6. Resolve the damage to your opponent and then to yourself. Don't forget that you are moving flat out, and an immobilization will wreck you. (do not have units on board for this reason or they are lost).

First off it is amazing when you end up with a front AV13 vs the ram and you survive. If you don't make this, you still have a 5+ invul to keep yourself together.

Even though it is possible, I have not yet attempted to break Land Raiders or other heavy armour this way. My goal is simple, to break and disrupt enemy transports. Get them out of their tanks so my incoming Archon/ incubi/ talos/ or other  can rip them apart. If I want to slow a Land Raider, I will park a flat out Raider in front of it.

Any game where kill points are not the issue (2/3rds of all games are objectives) I am generally ramming if I get the chance. If I lose my raider, and don't damage the opponent, then I missed out. Most often I did something though, a stun, destroyed a Weapon, or immobilized a transport, or even a wreck.

I go into games knowing that my raiders are going to get blown out of the sky. I have lost many to bolter fire (which is irritating), so when I get to choose how to lose my raiders over my opponent I am taking charge of the game. I have wrecked a Raider in front of a Vindicator before that I immobilized. The rest of the game, it had to shoot through my Wrecked Raider, and did very little damage to me.

I don't have to roll to hit, there are no cover saves, it is S10 compared to my S8 lance. It offers me more opportunities on the table top. Even just using the aethersails to move my raider into a blocking position to hamper enemy movement makes it worth while. It suites my playstyle, and is fun.