When all you have is a hammer-Dark eldar Hellions

I think i'm going to try a new thing  here, i'm going to call it "when all you have is a hammer" the gist of the article is a coping mechanism easing the retirement of certain models within codex transitions. IE, when a unit that was suited for several combat roles is now relegated to one niché, or when something that you have a soft spot for and bought a couple of, but now, due to an errata or a new edition for your codex. But you've still bought it, so maybe there's a different way to use it, or at least get a different perspective on it's usefullness.

First up!

Hellions

looking at my blog it sure seems i love these dirty gangers.

Ok, let's be honest, i trawled a lot of DE blog's when i started getting a Dark Eldar army, and i cannot remember anyone ever saying that Hellions were a real game changer. At best they are harassers, flankers or possibly mobile assassin's.

So let's see how the differ from their previous iteration.

changes from 5'th Edition to 7'th

• +a unit of five are now 15 pts cheaper
• +better HoW
• -no chance of getting FnP for combat drugs
• +Phantasm grenade launcher cheaper.
• -Pgl is no longer of&def grenades, IE no charging into cover easily, nor reducing impact of chargers on themselves.
• +Stunclaw for hellarch (sergeant equivalent) is now +1S and ID in challenges, as opposed to +1S and the ability to pull a character from a group after a hit&run
• -No sathonyx (meaning, no way of making them troops, no way of giving them an automatic cover save when in the open or enhancing while in cover)

Now, to me, these units have a suffered a multitude of sorrows. And it all amounts to their main weakness getting all the more glaring. They have about as much durability as a cardboard umbrella. And being in the Dark eldar codex that is something of a competitive place to be, and that is all they are competitive about, true story.

But seriously,let them hug cover like a forlorn lover,stalk it, move in it, ignore the cover when moving in it, but reap it's benefit. That 5+save or 6+ FnP isn't going to save you. And the 5+ FnP isn't exactly bringing home the glory, especially as anything has 6S AP5 is going to straight out murder you either way. 

So why the hell even mention them? 

Well, i bought 'em, i was happy with the paint job, and i don't have a lot of models to replace them with. So let's see what they can do.

Their splinter pod is the straight ordinary bs4 4+ poisoned shots with 18" range, a slight advantage is that they have assault 2, and not rapid fire, this is to allow them to shoot twice and THEN charge, hopefully to mitigate that overwatch. Which will kill you if you aren't careful, everbody except AM is going to laugh at your armour save. 

The Hellglaive is +1S,so yay, S4, possibly S5 if you get decent Drug result, the +1T might be preferable for some, but let's face it, in 7'th a +1 difficulty to wound doesn't make a lot of difference. The Hellglaive is two handed, which doesn't really matter as no one can get a pistol and glaive combo. Your hellarch can have a Power sword (AP 3) stunclaw, covered above, or an agoniser (ap3 poison 4+).

I cannot fathom why you would buy an agoniser for five more points, unless you want to charge T5 or better, Ie you want to tarpit a MC. otherwise, the sword is better, particularly with a good drug result.

Now,the board allows you the +5 Armour save, and the HoW and status as jump infantry. But it also allows you to deep strike. 

Now, lets jazz y'all. 

This is how i use them.

A) Deepstrike assassination squad. 

Turn two you position them to allow them to fire 10 or more poisoned shots into a bunch of guys being evicted out of a transport. Also creating a threat that allows you charge into a flank or tie up some heavy weapons if they aren't eradicated.

B)HEY-LOOK-OVER-HERE

Start them in cover turn one, have the formation that gives you the 6+ cover save and have night fighting. If they don't flee, run them up the side and tie up a unit, combine with a stun claw and some PgL shenanigans to make sure there is a real threat.

C)operation human shield. 

Deploy in front of a loved raider with night shields, pretty much guarantees another turn of survivability for your paper boats. 

Why you probably will skip out on them.

• 65 pts minimum is still more expensive than a group of kabalites with a dark lance.
• Their leadership is pretty bad. 
• overwatch will ruin your day,erry day. 

Now, if nothing else, they do have one other purpose. If you want the kabalite realspace raider detachment you have to have at least one group of hellions. 

The detachment allows your troops a 5+ cover save turn one, and everybody else a 6+ cover save turn one. And the same on night fighting. It also make your power from pain one turn better (IE 6+ FnP turn 1) and if you can get a good hit with the Animus vitae (20 pts for a 8" S4 AP2 shot) then you get two turns better,and with a haemonculus you get a three turn better for whatever unit you put him in. 

These effects are stated to be cumulative. So this isn't RAI, but i'm uncertain if it's worth it. But i am going to try it. 

There you have it, i probably won't be able to make my hellions make their points back, but i will keep running them, and if i find a way to  make them work, i'll be sure to tell HOW.