Venom

The Venom, and no, it's not a Batmobile.

The Venom is one of the fastest units available to the Dark Eldar, or any faction for that matter. It is so fast that it is sometimes employed by Eldar Corsairs and Harlequins. The Venom personifies the military doctrine of the Dark Eldar: it is fast, incredibly mobile, deadly, and it explodes if anybody looks at it for too long. The Venom looks like a arrowhead-shaped skimmer that carries an elite group of Dark Eldar warriors into battle. Rather than present one obvious target, Dark Eldar strike forces attack in waves, with a veritable horde of their skimmer craft pouring out of the Webway portals they open in the tortured skies of targeted worlds. Often working in conjunction with other fast units such Reaver Jetbike squads, Venom squadrons act as a first strike arrowhead to decapitate (both literally and figuratively) the enemy leadership while deploying elite shock troops in order to silence enemy heavy vehicles, guns, and infantry.

Though the Venom's booster engines and the anti-gravitic emitters implanted within are similar to that found on other Dark Eldar skimmercraft, the transport is so agile and sensitive to the commands of its pilot that it can maneuver through a hail of incoming fire, with its holographic Flickerfield confounding enemy snipers and Auspexes. This means that even dedicated anti-air vehicles have a tough time trying to shoot one down. A skilled Venom pilot can even maneuver his craft into those segments of the Webway designed only for the passage of a single individual at a time. It is for this reason that Venoms are very popular with Commorrite hunters and those Dark Eldar nobles of the Dark City's upper spires who enjoy running down their enemies as a form of sport.

Basically, it's a high-tech chariot.

On the Tabletop

Despite its small size, the Venom can carry a small squad of up to 6 hand-picked elite warriors who have been trained to enter combat as a coordinated unit. The Venom is armed with a Twin-linked Splinter Rifle, Splinter Cannon and Holographic Flickerfield. The twin Splinter Rifle can be replaced with a second Splinter Cannon, and the vehicle can also be equipped with Chain Snares and/or Grisly Trophies. Unlike the vehicles of most other races, the Venom is actually semi-competent in melee. It also counts as a Dedicated Transport, which means that it makes a nice companion and/or alternative to the Raider, while also not using up valuable detachment slots. Being Open-Topped, any embarked models can still shoot normally.

8th/9th Edition

The Venom was brutally nerfed following the 6th and 7th edition changes to defensive weapons, open-topped vehicles, and assault vehicles. However, since then it has regained some of its stature as a fast, cheap harasser with good firepower, and it remains a very important element for the deployment of small, elite units. If you need to push a scattering of defenders off a distant objective, then the Venom is your vehicle. Just keep in mind that even with the Flickerfield, one round of good shooting from a squad of slack-jawed Guardsmen can potentially wreck this vehicle's day- so don't get shot at.