From Idea to Reality, Part 4: Transports
Raiders are what will hopefully make this army an effective assault force—without them, each squad would be easily picked off by ranged weaponry as they ran like mad to get into the fight, and Dark Eldar can’t absorb as many casualties as foot-slogging Orks or Tyranids. Many players think of transports as an afterthought—I think they are crucial, and especially so in this army.

Of my 5 Raider Squads, 2 Raiders will bear dark lances and the other 3 will be armed with disintegrators. Following the axiom of don’t sweat the big guns, sweat the little guys, I’m more concerned with enemy infantry than enemy tanks. Disintegrators are ideal anti-infantry weapons, strong enough to vaporize Space Marines, with enough Blast markers to take out clustered Orks. And they don’t suck against light vehicles either. 

Having more dark lances would be good for dealing with Imperial Guard, but I do have lots of blasters available as well (and I’ll be moving in close to the Guard anyway). I suppose an all-tank Imperial Guard army might give my Scorpions some trouble, but I’ll just deal with the situation if it ever arises. 

To keep point costs down, I’m keeping vehicle upgrades to a minimum. Each Raider with a dark lance will also have a horrorfex, to use against troops as it moves in close. Remember, one does not always have to kill the enemy to defeat them; often it is enough to break them. 

Modeling and Painting the Raider
One of my problems with Dark Eldar armies is they all tend to look the same. I used some suggestions from the Making Your Army Distinct article to jazz up the basic guys, and I recalled Suggestion #10 ("Convert your vehicles") when working on the Raiders.

How I model my Raiders is (like the Dallas Cowboy look and the Drow paint scheme) another one of those things that people will find either cool or unbearably stupid. If you like the concept, fine; if you don’t—well, at least it got your attention, eh?

Real scorpions have these tails that curve over their back and end in a sting, Well, the Raider has a tailpiece that also comes over the back. I left off the “wings” of the tailpiece and glued the dark lance on the end of the tailpiece—now my Ozone Scorpion Raiders each have a “sting” at the end of their “tail.”

By not mounting the gun near the prow of the Raider, I give up a few inches of range (which I’m not pressed about—the overall plan is to get up in the enemy’s face anyway). I also free up some room on the Raider to actually put a figure on and keep it on while I move the Raider around (I hate the thought of putting Dark Eldar on the running boards only to have them tumble off when I move the transport). I’ll put each Sybarite where the gunner should stand—that should look nice and intimidating as each Raider zooms across the board!

Speaking of the gunner, I’ll use him as another Dark Eldar Warrior for my squad. “So who’s going to fire the gun on the Raider?” you ask. The driver, of course. As far as using the Raider in actual games goes, it doesn’t make a difference if I take the gunner figure off: the Raider still moves and fires the same. It just looks different.

Like my Space Marine Land Speeders,  my Raiders are mounted very low to the tabletop, both for stability and because I’ve always thought it’s more in keeping with the word “skimmer.” I took the easy way out and converted a leftover Space Marine Rhino auto-launcher for a horrorfex. 

You’ll notice that my Raider is missing those nifty-keen blades and such that come in the kit. I’m saving those to use when I convert my Eldar jetbikes into Reavers. The Raider doesn’t look any less like a Raider without them, and has, in my opinion, a sleeker look to it. 

Just about every Raider I’ve ever seen has been mostly black. I agree it looks cool and it’s easy to do, but I thought my Raiders would better match the squads they carry if they too were mostly silver and blue. For a final touch, I painted the Ozone Scorpion symbol on the prow. 

Next time, I’ll talk about what I did for my 20-Strong Warrior Squad.
 
 

Next page (pg 5): Warriors Previous page (pg 3): Raider Squads

Related Pages
Themed Army Idea: Kabal of the Ozone Scorpions
FAQ about the Ozone Scorpions
 

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© Copyright Kenton Kilgore, February 2001. 
 

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