If DR are hardly ever seen with a shield, it is for a good reason: most DE players consider that they are not worth the pts.
The reason is because S-DR (Shielded Dark Riders) loose the “fast cavalry” rule, which is probably DR’s best asset.
In this thread, you'll find another reason: you need many shielded DR to hope to become effective.
With this thread, I don’t try to advocate the use of shielded DR. I will not myself invest the money and time required.
What I want to do is to examine honestly what are their qualities and how to make the best use of them, in order to help anyone who wishes to give a try.
In order to write the thread, I summed up (and sometimes paraphrased) several older threads on the topic, in which many D.netters expressed their opinions, which were very often negative. This said, I will now concentrate more on the positive aspects.
2. Characteristics, compared to DR.
A shield is bound to be useful 1 out of 6 armour rolls, preserving the life of a 17 pts model for a mere additional 1 pt.
The cost is 1 pt, the benefit is 17/6= 2.8 pts. A bargain! All the more since DR are often shot at, spelled at and seen in melee!
Beware: each wound taken still costs a lot, this unit is not to be used as a shield for other units! This unit is worth screening and should rather flee than accept an uneven combat, in order to fight another day.
With the shield, DR loose the rule “fast cavalry”, so they become tremendously different from unshielded DR. And they should be played differently! DR vs S-DR should be considered as different as spear warriors vs RXB warriors.
RXB are not interesting at all for S-DR: the unit cannot double-march and shoot, it does not shoot at 360°, the unit is not nimble enough to get in position to shoot without risking to be charged or shot, and the cost of each shot is prohibitive.
In the rest of the article, I will not consider anymore RXBs.
S-DR don’t have the exceptional mobility of DR. Instead of reforming at will, they have to wheel. They are not able to squeeze between enemy’s units. They can flee if charged, sure, but they cannot move after rallying.
The most interesting difference is probably that S-DR get rank bonuses. In order to get actual rank bonuses, 10 of them are required, but loosing just 1 would suffice to loose the advantage, so you should rather take at least 15 of them. A smaller unit would be better off with no shield but with the fast cavalry agility.
What S-DR have in common with DR is the double-movement / charge at 18”.
The other common characteristic is two attacks per model, one being S4 on the charge. They will actually kill some foes, however, often they will get a low or negative ACR (active Combat Resolution), even if S-DR are slightly better protected than DR.
This is why the rank bonuses are important! While DR are limited to easy charges, S-DR can be set up to charge frontally the largest units. Their exceptional speed allows them to be quite sure to get the charge. Their ACR will not suffice usually, but they can get an effective SCR (Static Combat Resolution) in order to win any combat on the charge.
Final thoughts:
S-DR are core, so they fill in a minimum core requirement.
S-DR are hardly ever seen (maybe for some good reason!); so an additional advantage is that the opponent is not prepared to meet that unit. Surprise!
3. Specialized use: fast SCR provider.
S-DR are the best assault core unit. They are not as cost-effective as infantry, but they are the only core troops who can charge and expect to win against most opponents. However, they lack of punch in combat and need SCR.
S-DR in a big block (4 ranks & full command) will win all their charges against any characterless unit! Expect a margin of 1 or 2 CR, against either horde or elite units or monsters alike, not taking into account numeric superiority, as long as there is no nasty character inside – which can be compensated by adding our own nasty characters within or alongside the S-DR. With maxed SCR, they should be able to charge even HE spears and ethereal units!
This unit is the fastest hitter we can have, save Manti & Dragon. S-DR are the only troops who can provide a real threat at 18” distance, therefore providing an excellent likelihood of getting the charge, contrary to COK who charge at 14”… when they are not stupid.
They can charge alone, or they can support a charge from another unit lacking SCR.
The risk is to remain in prolonged fights, because they would present a very large flank to the enemy. In their use, they look like a “lite” Bret lance: almost guaranteed to get the charge, but rather cumbersome to move, and presenting a large flank.
In case they were flank-charged by a dragon, they need all the SCR they can get, but could well survive and win!
Our three cavalry are as follows:
DR are light cavalry, polyvalent, useful for side-charges only or charging light foes, besides other uses.
S-DR are medium cavalry, specialized in charges, counting on SCR to win melees even in frontal charge against any foe.
COK are heavy cavalry, specialized in melees, counting on ACR to win melees, even if they are charged themselves.
4. Drawbacks.
S-DR are vulnerable to shooting and magic.
The 4+ armour save is quite good but still not much facing a gunline with S4AP shots, nor a warmachine or magic missiles. Therefore, you need a large unit to be able to absorb a few shots and remain effective; and you need harpies to screen that unit. Harpies will block LOS, so when you place the harpies, you need to preserve some small free space for one DR to see the intended target. Next turn, the surviving harpies will charge away a very distant foe while the S-DR will get their coveted charge.
The harpies don’t block LOS from warmachines on hills. However, the said warmachines can be charged by the said harpies.
S-DR are cumbersome.
We have seen that S-DR are specialized in charges, counting on SCR for that.
It means that they must be taken in large units, 15 at least. A 5x4 unit of cavalry is a huge block that takes a lot of space, is hard to manoeuvre even with its M9, and is so large that it’s easily flankable / outmanoeuvred. Realistically, you won’t ever get a flank charge, all you can do is deploy the unit opposite to its target and charge straight away.
They are vulnerable to side charges.
Winning a single charge is easy, but the aftermath could be painful when playing against a subtle tactician. The risk is to get glued in some tar pit such as unbreakable troops or rerollable stubborn troops, and get flank-charged.
Final drawback:
15 or 20 models cost a lot of real world money. Sure, you can later on get the shields off and make them regular DR but you may find yourself with too many DR…
For your first tries, I’d recommend the use of proxies until you’re more confident with this unit.
See also the Painting and Modelling > Dark Riders for cheper solutions.
. See the testimony, end of next post.
