Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, I've played fantasy and toyed around with getting into 40k for the longest time. Now I actually have friends getting into 40k, so I will be taking the plunge. Having decided that three heldrakes is too much for the group of us, I settled on Dark Eldar. (NOTE: ANY SIMILARITIES TO DARK ELVES ARE PURELY COINCIDENTAL AND FICTIONAL.)

Now, the issue. I have no idea about what's good in 40k and what works. But, I'm not the sort to go on the internet and find the deathstar of the week. So I sat down for a few moments and wrote a list! Yay!

Without further rambling, lets get into it:

HQ:

Archon: 150
Huskblade
Ghostplate
Splinter Pistol
Plasma Grenades
Haywire Grenades
Soul Trap
Shadow Field

Duke Sliscus 150

TROOPS:

5 Kabalite Warriors: 185
Blaster
2 * Darklances
Venom (Splinter Cannon, Night Shields)

5 Kabalite Warriors: 185
Blaster
` * Darklance
Venom (Splinter Cannon, Night Shields)

ELITES:

4 Incubi: 163
Venom (Splinter Cannon, Night Shields)

5 Kabalite Trueborn: 190
Shardcarbine
Blaster
Dark Lance
Venom (Splinter Cannon, Night Shields)

5 Kabalite Trueborn: 195
2 Shardcarbines
2 Darklances
Venom (Splinter Cannon, Night Shields)

4 Kabalite Trueborn: 181
2 Shardcarbines
Blaster
Darklance
Venom (Splinter Cannon, Night Shields)

Ravager: 125
Night Shields
Flickerfield




So, rip it apart. Or not. I dunno. I like the idea of a fast moving shooty force, and I will always include 1 unit of incubi, and the archon. The models guarantee that.

I would look into putting squads together that have the same strengths. For example, put shard carbines on everyone in a group so they can all effectively use their poison weapons against the same squads. So you would have squads dedicated to killing troops(shard carbines, splinter weapons, shredders) and others that are good at killing vehicles and monstrous creatures (blasters, dark lances).

You have 4 elites and your troops at 5 man units can't take dark lances so the list is a bit on the illegal side.

If you are taking sliscus he needs to be in a Raider with 9 trueborn (7 shardcarbines and 2 splinter cannons) to get best use out of him.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and 3 incubi, archon and haemonculi is the optimal so you have fnp off the bat. Also make sure you take a phantasm grenade launcher on the Archon or the incubi will be attacking last.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
No grenades*

Shingen wrote:
You have 4 elites and your troops at 5 man units can't take dark lances so the list is a bit on the illegal side.

If you are taking sliscus he needs to be in a Raider with 9 trueborn (7 shardcarbines and 2 splinter cannons) to get best use out of him.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and 3 incubi, archon and haemonculi is the optimal so you have fnp off the bat. Also make sure you take a phantasm grenade launcher on the Archon or the incubi will be attacking last.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
No grenades*

Oops, I meant to say I was gonna drop one of the 5 man Trueborn units. Which one would you keep?

As for the Raiders, I'm not getting any because the models are bad, IMO. So that rules out the 9 man unit.

Also, good shout on the warrior units.

I would say drop them all and pick either poison or dark light weapons in each one as you can use them for either killing troops or killing MC / Vehicles.

Crap as the Raider might be its a pretty amazing tool.

Dropping in near something with 8 Splinter Cannon Shots and 21 shardcarbine shots (or splinter rifles in rapid fire range with twin linked from splinter racks upgrade) which also wound on a 3+ is nothing to sniff at.

If you dont want to do that though I would suggest dropping sliscus as you wont get the best out of him. His best use if dropping 3 full trueborn units in behind enemy lines and shooting the living crap out of them.

Of course you can have a foot list and just take loads of venoms and deep strike them but they have a lot less shots and any old space marine squad with bolters can take them down.

If you want to go down the CC route with the Incubi I would suggest taking Wyches or Bloodbrides, however again they work best in units of 9 with a Haemonculus because they only have a 6+ save out of combat. Also as they have Grenades you can actually hit first which is nice. The models look cool but they are exceptionally squishy.

The only way to really run a CC DE list with Incubi would also be to take a Beastpack, the size of the unit and the 4+ invul makes them a nightmare for opponants to deal with. Normally you would add in a Fearless unit with them then just multi assault everything you can and tarpit them all. Then bring in the heavy hitters like the Incubi to finish them off.

With any CC DE list though you need the Wyches or Bloodbrides as you wont have many Blasters or Lances and you need the Haywire Grenades they carry to kill vehicles (and those stupid imperial knight things which are completely crap when it comes to getitng haywire grenades tossed at them)..


Think I went off on a tangent there but it gives you something to think about

I'm not really interested in optimal lists. I'm only going to be playing against friends. And as such, I will take what actually interests me, and keep my competitive side for fantasy.

This also means that there will be 0 raiders in my army as I do not like the space longships.

I think I will look into haemunculi. I'll rejig the list, and see what I can come up with.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So: UPDATED THE LIST.

Here it is:

Archon: 150
Huskblade
Ghostplate
Splinter Pistol
Plasma Grenades
Haywire Grenades
Soul Trap
Shadow Field

Haemunculus Ancient: 110
Flesh Gauntlet
Liquifier Gun

3 Incubi: 141
Venom - Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Trueborn: 160
5 Shardcarbines
Venom - Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Trueborn: 230
3 Blasters
2 Dark Lances
Venom - Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Warriors: 120
Venom- Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Warriors: 120
Venom- Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Wracks : 125
Venom- Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Wracks : 125
Venom- Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

So, The plan is for the wracks to disembark onto objectives and stay there, hopefully, whilst the rest of the list does it's thing. Warriors are there to provide venoms and some shooting. The Carbine Trueborn are there to deal with infantry at range, the blaster/lance trueborn deal with tanks. And the Incubi mop up.

Your second list s much better, more refined and focused. All I might add is maybe some retrofire jets on a few of those venoms, especially the blasterborn one so you can just pop that down and take out what you need to before the enemy has a chance to take you down first. Maybe also try to get 2 splinter cannons on that one trueborn squad. I don't know what your points are like, but you could probably take something off the archon to free up 10 more points for it.

Also, IMO, Raiders are one of the coolest models out there.

I dunno what I'd take off him though.

Oh. As a side note, how would this list fare against sisters, grey knight and tau.

I don't want to be too competitive, and neither too soft.

UPDATED THE LIST.

Here it is:

Archon: 150
Huskblade
Ghostplate
Splinter Pistol
Plasma Grenades
Haywire Grenades
Soul Trap
Shadow Field

Haemunculus Ancient: 110
Flesh Gauntlet
Liquifier Gun

3 Incubi: 141
Venom - Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Trueborn: 160
5 Shardcarbines
Venom - Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Trueborn: 230
3 Blasters
2 Dark Lances
Venom - Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Warriors: 120
Venom- Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Warriors: 120
Venom- Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

5 Wracks : 125
Venom- Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

Ravager: 125
Night Shields, Flickerfields

Ravager: 125
Night Shields, Flickerfields

Aegis Defense Line: 100
Emplacement with Quad Gun.

The ravagers give me anti tank, and the quad gun gives me anti flyer.

Looks like a fun list. I'd try to get a liquifier on the wracks if possible. Dropping either the ghostplate or haywire grenades from the archon will free up points. If the Archon loses his shadowfield due to a failed save a 4+ armor save probably isn't going to save him later. Giving the wracks a liquifier will probably have a bigger impact on the game. Have fun!

Who is going to man the quad gun?

Shingen wrote:
Who is going to man the quad gun?

If I come up against an army with fliers, I'll probably stick the archon on it behind a tonne of venoms.

 thedarkavenger wrote:
I dunno what I'd take off him though.

Oh. As a side note, how would this list fare against sisters, grey knight and tau.

I don't want to be too competitive, and neither too soft.

The only thing I'm wondering is, an Archon carrying a Huskblade insta-kills on an unsaved wound (AP2), however with a Strength from your Archon coming in at a 3 vs ICs of Sisters, Grey Knights and (possibly) Tau (not too familliar with them) you're going to need fives and sixes to wound because of their toughness generally being above 4 or 5, not even counting the times they save said wound using their 3 plus invuln, for GK. How much unsaved wounds are you actually going to do in CC? Dropping the Ghostplate to free up points you could get an Agoniser, which wounds on a 4 plus. Sure you might need more succesful unsaved wounds to be able to bury a character but you will have a more steady flow of said wounds...

YMMV, void in winsconson

I would drop Ghostplate, you'll rarely ever use it as everyone he'll want to wack with that Huskblade will usually instant death you when you fail your Shadowfield.

I would suggest going with a Venom blade instead of an Agoniser because it's 1/4 of the points and wounds everything on 2s, though it is AP- instead of the Agonisers 3. BUT if you wanted to go with an Agoniser, you could bump your Haemonculus down from an Ancient and it should be about the same pointswise.

 Drk_Oblitr8r wrote:

I would suggest going with a Venom blade instead of an Agoniser because it's 1/4 of the points and wounds everything on 2s, though it is AP- instead of the Agonisers 3.

Without the AP wouldn't it be difficult to get through the heavily armoured Marine lists (also I know Orks with 'ard boys and stuff like that generally need some AP to get through...)?

I'm new to the game and am not aware of the in depth rules regarding this, so please correct me if I'm wrong. Just asking questions and looking to learn!

Yes, if it has no AP they'll have to take their armour save as normal. But if something AP3 hits something with a 2+ armour save, it'll still get to take that 2+ save.

Also, that AP- is pretty useful because it doesn't negate armour saves. I know it's weird to hear, but a good idea is to win combat in your opponents turn, and this is especially true with Dark Eldar. If you win during your turn, and they flee your unit can be shot during their turn, and Dark Eldar are about as durable as a wet paper bag.

I usually have both a Venom blade and a Huskblade, and I try and use the venom blade during my turn to try and tie combat during my turn and whichever I think will do the most damage during their turn.

You had Sliscus in the list earlier...I'd sub him back in there for the Archon. He's got two venom blades, and they ignore armor on a 4+, so you can make short work of most marines, even in Terminator Armor. He also gives your whole army deepstriking capabilities.

I don't think the Aegis line fits so well with your list. 5 guys on foot manning it are probably in trouble. I'd recommend dropping it for a Razorwing jetfighter equipped with Flicker Fields. You could pay for the difference by:

Dropping Night Shields. I question the value of them. I know people swear by them, but the only thing I find they really help against are bolters. Too many other things that can hurt you have a longer range, or can move 6" and still get you.

Or

Switch out your Haemonculus Ancient and the Flesh Gauntlet for a standard Haemonculus with just a liquifier gun. You save 50 points and still let Wracks be your troops.

Lastly - I don't get mixing up the Blasters and Dark Lances on your trueborne unit. Assault and Heavy Weapon just don't go together. I'd switch the 2 Dark Lance guys for 2 Shardcarbines in the other Venom. That Venom can hang back, while the Blaster unit deep strikes in, or flies towards the biggest threat.

Like most have said: Drop the ghostplate. Your archon is going to eat it once he fails his shadowfield save anyway, so it's a high cost/ low benefit upgrade.

I also agree with the AP, throw Sliscus back in there -- unless you really wanted the Archon with the incubi as your CC monster unit.

Unless your gaming group is flier-heavy I'd drop the aegis. In my experience you're throwing out enough lance shots that glancing is a real possibility -- provided you can keep your ravagers alive.