Dark Eldar Light Cruiser
Dark Eldar Light Cruisers are the kid brother of Dark Eldar Cruisers. Everything they do, the Cruisers do it better. The one big advantage they have is the obvious cost affordability and, if the fleet is especially Battleship-heavy, they may be the only vessel capable of both keeping up and defending their big cousins with relative cheapness.
Class[edit]
Basic[edit]
Bladed Lotus[edit]
Your conventional missile boat. The Bladed Lotus-class is a highly adaptable Dark Eldar vessel that does not cost too much, yet, is capable of easily defending itself from ships several classes in weight. Of the three special weapons Light Cruisers, the Bladed Lotus is probably the most all-around useful thanks to the standard sized quad torpedo tubes it carries. Working on its own at close range or with other torpedo-carrying vessels the Bladed Lotus can dole out decent damage at a relatively good cost while having the benefit of being able to shut down engines with the optional Splinter Torpedo upgrade.
Even working solo, thanks to the speed of the Bladed Lotus and its inherent stealth, it is more than capable of flanking otherwise preoccupied capital ships and swooping in for a torpedo run from a blind spot in the enemy ships firing arcs, then using its Aeldari engine skills to dart away and re-stealth before the capital ship can fully turn to respond.
These Light Cruisers are armed with 4 Torpedo Tubes and 3 Scythe Missile Artillery Batteries.
- Length: 4km; approx
- Mass: 15.6 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 20,100 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 9 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Carrier[edit]
Burning Scale[edit]
The Fiend Ascendant's little kid brother. The Burning Scale-class Light Cruiser is a general-purpose light aircraft carrier. Nevertheless, of the Launch Bay fielding Drukhari vessels such as Razorwing Bombers, Raptor Fighters and Slavebringer Assault Boats, the Burning Scale is the least efficient points use for fielding squadrons. The Burning Scale costs 193 points for a single launch bay, while the Fiend Ascendant-class Cruiser takes 2 for 293 points (146.5 points per) and the Iron Thorn-class Battleship costs 448 points for 3 bays (just a fraction above 149 points per). Because of this, the expensive cost of Drukhari ships and the general need to go "all in" with carrier fleets, bringing as many launch bays as possible for best effectiveness, the Burning Scale is going to be limited in its usefulness in your typical 1,200 point fleet.
If you really need just the bare minimum carrier force to supplement your fleet's main strategy, a pair of Burning Scales gives you the option of deploying two different squadrons in pairs, though you are doing so at the cost of a third of your fleet point pool.
These Light Cruisers are armed with 1 Launch Bay carrying Razorwing Bombers, Raptor Fighters and Slavebringer Assault Boats, and 3 Scythe Missile Artillery Batteries.
- Length: 4.4km; approx
- Mass: 16.2 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 15,800 crew, including 4,000 pilots and support staff; approx
- Acceleration: 9 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Baleful Gaze[edit]
The boarding-troop carrier of the family. The Baleful Gaze-class is your first foray of the Impaler Assault Modules. The Impaler squadrons are an interesting feature of the Drukhari as they are essentially super-sized, single craft wings of assault boats that deal more troop damage than normal, seem to travel faster and have a better chance of getting through defence turrets. Basically, it's like having a guaranteed, supercharged assault boat launch.
Considering the sacrifice of a weapon mount to get them, it is really worth taking into consideration how you are going to make good use of them. Coupled with the powerful Dark Eldar assault actions and the cheap cost of Impaler equipped ships, one could stack these weapons in their fleet and use them to quickly gain an upper hand through devastating assaults on the enemies capital ships, right at the opening of the fight. This strategy has a lot of inherent risks and would take practice and timing to pull off, but could be very effective against factions that rely on fewer stronger ships.
If you are trying this strategy versus Necrons, make sure to bring something to bait their Starpulse Waves or stagger the Impalers to avoid a devastating loss of multiple squadrons. Honestly, they have a pretty hard counter to this tactic so a smart Necron player will really mess with your plans here.
These Light Cruisers are armed with 1 Impaler Bay carrying an Impaler Assault Module and 3 Scythe Missile Artillery Batteries.
- Length: 4.4km; approx
- Mass: 16.8 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 16,100 crew, including 6,500 pilots and support staff; approx
- Acceleration: 9 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Lance-Boat[edit]
Dark Mirror[edit]
A lance-boat. The Dark Mirror-class Light Cruiser is both the only ship in the Light Cruiser category with an armour-piercing lance weapon and a second main offensive weapon besides a trio of Scythe Missiles, making it the overall best on paper damage dealer without relying on special weaponry. Dps and crit number wise, the rest of the ships are all tied thanks to their cookie-cutter loadouts.
Points wise the Light Cruisers all hover around 150-160 points with the exception of the Burning Scale light carrier, which makes the Dark Mirror a very reliable choice for filling up line ships.
These Light Cruisers are armed with 1 Phantom Lance Artillery and 3 Scythe Missile Artillery Batteries.
- Length: 4.6km; approx
- Mass: 16 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 19,400 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 9 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2[edit]
The Drukhari Light Cruiser class of vessels offers one base underlying flavor with 4 variations of "toppings" so to speak. No matter what option, you start with 3 Scythe Missile turrets that are all on equal footing damage, range and firing arc wise, then add in either a lance, torpedo rack, launch bay or Impaler squadron on top and you have one of each of the four light cruisers available. The Drukhari Light Cruisers is where it begins to demonstrate the Dark Eldar's very strong boarding actions through their abilities. Now compared to a faction like the Space Marines, the Dark Eldar do not do as much actual troop damage, though their numbers are decent, their strength lies in their top tier critical chances when assaulting, making them the fastest to knock out subsystems with assaults. Unfortunately, as it currently stands, Slavetaking isn't really useful at all as that one troop is unlikely to make much of a difference.
| Vessels of the Dark Eldar | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spaceships | ||
| Battleships | Battleship | |
| Cruisers | Light Cruiser - Cruiser | |
| Escorts | Escort | |
| Combat Spacecraft | Slavebringer Assault Boat Impaler Assault Module | |
| Landships | ||
| Superheavy Tanks | Tantalus | |