Dark Eldar: First turn or lose?

So I ran into a pretty interesting conversation today with an experienced gamer on how Dark Eldar will play.  I can't say I was happy to hear what he had to say.  Hypothetically, Dark Eldar will be the strongest if they take first turn and get to apply pressure early on.  What if they don't?  If they don't or if someone manages to seize the initiative from you, then you've got yourself a serious problem.  Let's quickly examine some common lists we see on the table.

Take these 3 armies for example:

• IG Mech list with Chimeras.
• Space Wolf RB spam lists.
• Blood Angels 3/3 Baals and AC/LC Preds

All of these armies are capable of putting out an incredible amount of shooting in their first turn.  Mech IG can shoot out of their hulls and their basic Chimeras can put a serious amount of hurt on AV10 open-top vehicles.  Space Wolf lists can put out 15 S8 rockets per turn and a obscene number of Lascannon/Plasma shots.  Then there's Blood Angels:  Their vehicles are Fast so their AC/LC Preds can move 6" and shoot everything and their Baals can also blow their load at 6-12".  In terms of firepower, these armies are no joke since their purpose is to deliver game-changing results with their first round of shooting.


So how does this effect Dark Eldar?  Well on paper, it looks like DE will just fold over and die.  Everything on their side of the table is more durable than yours and all their firepower is arguably stronger vs. your armor.  In a way, I agree with them.  If your enemy is fielding a strong shooting list and they take first turn, the odds is heavily against you.  You must make positioning top priority and abuse Night Shields as much as you can.  Out-range the enemy guns while maintaining cover will minimize a good amount of damage.  If I take Vect however, I can play a little more ballsy and rely on my opponent's greed be his own downfall.  With 3x Ravagers and a healthy number of Raiders and Bikes, you can Seize that Initiative on a 4+ and roll him over.  Sadly, if he Seizes the Initiative on you and you've deployed in open space, there's going to be a problem if he has long range guns (and most anti-armor has pretty good range).  Maybe that's why Aethersails are 5 points lol.

The conversation goes a little further into mid-late game and this time, it's time to capture some objectives.  With most of your transports down or out of the game, how much chance will T3 5+ units have at securing objectives?  My philosophy was simple:  I kill all their chances to score and contest whatever else.  By killing his units, I get Pain Tokens that can give my troops FNP.  Sure, the 5+ armor save is going to suck, but at least I have a 4+ FNP to cover my ass.  Not the best and not the worst.

So what do you guys have to say about this?  I know damn well that Dark Eldar is going to be a glass cannon and I know a swift breeze will blow them over.  Do you think this bothers me?  Hell no.  But it sure will be a different game than 3rd and 4th Ed.