Unit of the week #3 Dark Eldar Trueborn

omfg! haha watching some show and this sasquatch commercial comes on and it shows some guy in like night vision and you hear AWHOOO or some weird sasquatchy noise, and hes just like "LOVELY"...Sorry thought I had to add that in,

*disclaimer* Im doing this from a competitive aspect. KthnxBai

So yeah trueborn, lets start with some +'s and -'s eh?

Positives:
Lots of options
Fairly cheap
Accurate
Sick looking :P

Negatives:
Some options are pitfalls
Can get expensive
Have some retarded builds you dont wanna use
Have the usual DE survivability

Now if blood brides are your veteran CC unit then the trueborn are your shooty veterans (for you noobie power armour kids out there, think sternguard).

Lets look at some of the options available for them!

(gets off couch to go to game room and get codex)

I will rate these 1-5, 1 being a horrendous choice IMO and 5 being Insta take.

Splinter pistol and CC weapon: 1
Remember them being shooty units?...Well they are...dont take it unless its for fun.

Shard carbine: 3
 Interesting choice, could be combined into a giant anti infantry killing machine if thrown into a large group with similar load out and the duke. Expensive

Shredder: 3
Cheap, short ranged anti infantry. I would take these only if the whole squad was armed with them and you were lacking Anti infantry in the rest of your list.

Blaster: 5
I love blasters, they kill everything! Great choice if given to a min squad and put into a venom very popular also. Only problem is the range but if your any good with DE it shouldnt be a problem.

Heavy weapons selection.

Splinter cannon: 3
Anti infantry again...would only take if your lacking in other places which would be rare in a DE army.
It also suggests static gameplay which is boring IMO.

Dark lance: 2
I know I know, lots of people like this option. I hate it, inspires static game play while pouring more points into a easy to kill squad. Sure you get 2 more lances but its more expensive then a ravager! (in certain builds of this unit)

Plasma grenades: 1
Why? Why would you take assault grenades on a shooty squad that you dont want in CC?

Hay wire grenades:2
The only reason I gave it a 2 is because of the visual of 5 trueborn rocking up in a venom, hopping out, blasting the tracks off a tank and running up to plant haywire grenades on it and blow it up. Wouldnt take these in a competitive game.

Character options:
Dracon:1
5 points for one more attack? NO THANKS

Only viable option I could think of for taking him is for a blast pistol for just that one more blaster shot, but 20 points is steep.

Transports:
Raider:3
I could see someone taking a raider only if they have enough AI in the rest of the army, I have an undenied love for venoms so I cant say much.

Venom:5
Cheap, shooty shooty shooty, and fast. I love venoms, they also look visualy cool as your trueborn should get their own pimpin ride. Almost always take one.

Now lets look at some common trueborn builds.

*insert weapon name* born:
These are usually 3-4x trueborn all armed with the same weapon, either shredders or blasters jammed into a venom and rocketed up the field to hop out/stay in and blast tanks. This is what I run, keep it cheap and it can add great amounts of AT or AI into your list. I prefer blasters but thats because I can never seem to kill tanks (except against space wolves,but thats because they deserve it)

Lance born:
3x trueborn with 2x dark lances in either a venom (if lacking AI) or raider to make a pseudo ravager. I dont like this build because I like moving fast, and it encourages static gameplay. (dumb Grey knights...)

Cannon born:
3x trueborn with 2x splinter cannons (dur). In a venom to complement their target range. Never seen these run as blaster born are more versatile.

Gun boat o' doom!:
9x trueborn in a raider all with shard carbines, and 2x splinter cannons. The raider has splinter racks and the squad is joined by...DA DUKE! Never seen this run before but thought it would be fun to run. Almost any infantry unit that comes in 18 inches of this stationary vehicle will probably die. (unless its wearing the Ward armour, oh I mean power armour :P)

Common tactics used with trueborn.

The poisoned tip:
This is a common tactic that I use. It involves your trueborn at the tip of your flotilla shielded by a horde of hellions (because their fun to use). It looks like this:

The wracks are in the very middle to zoom out and capture objectives, but thats for another time.

The trueborn venoms are the 2 in the very front so they can pick the prime targets (tanks). Once those are cracked open the rest of the fleet can draw LOS on the biologicals that spill out of the bawks and promptly gun them down.

Tips to using trueborn.
Always be open to versatility. I learned this from a recent tournament (which allowed me to win). If their is infantry that needs to die (scoring GK in my example) shoot them with blasters! Never be afraid to use them outside the box

Always use cover.
(should be obvious for DE but still) When you move your trueborn up to kill something, always consider what terrain is near by. If theres a ruin, make sure you can disembark 2 inches into the ruin WHEN your transport dies. If it explodes you dont have to worry haha.

Decide when to suicide.
Suiciding is (to me) going 12 inches hopping out and blasting something, only to promptly die to return fire as you left your invincible paper airplane. Consider ranges, I do this all game. Remember your blaster born have a 24 inch range with the venoms 6 inch move, you dont always have to suicide!

Thats all for now, im sick and really dont want to be typing this as before it deleted my entire post -.-.

Tutaloo...