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So I'm thinking about joining a local escalation league that starts up in a few weeks and haven't quite decided on what army I want to do. I have a bit of a CSM force, but I kind of like the idea of starting something new for this escalation league. Until a month ago I was out of the hobby for a few years and hadn't played a real game for a year or so before that. So much has changed since the days I played regularly that I feel like a fish out of water. Before I took my hobby hiatus I collected a bunch of the new (then) Dark Eldar models . I completely forgot I had them! So I'm thinking of building a Dark Eldar force for this escalation league starting up in a few weeks, but I'm at a complete loss on where to begin building my list. If any veteran Dark Eldar players out there can give me a hand based on the list of models I own, I would greatly appreciate it. I have about $100 to spend to round out my options if need be. So, here are the models I own:

Ravager x 1
Raider x 2
Razor Wing Jetfighter x 1
Venom x 1
Scourges x 1
Reaver Jetbikes x 2
Talos Pain Engine x 1
Kabalite Warriors x 2
Wyches x 2
Hellions x 2
Mandrake Box x 1
Incubi Box x 1
Wracks Box x 1
Haemonculus x 1
Archon x 2
Lelith x 1
Urien Rakarath x 1
Webway Portal x 1

I don't have a preference for playing any particular way. In fact, I would prefer a good balance of units and be able to use as much of my collection as possible. Not that I imagine it matters much, but I like the look of The Kabal of the Black Heart and plan on basing most of the relevant untis on this paint scheme. I plan on basing my Wyches of on Leliths Cult of Strife, as I have her model and like the look of the paint scheme. Fits my abilities, ha. So yeah.

If any veteran DE players out there wouldn't mind pming me or responding here for a friendly discussion on how to go about building this army or links to known army lists of renown. I'm not looking to dominiate on the battlefield either, so I'm not necessarily looking to build a super competitive list; it looks like I'll be playing against others at my newb level. I have seen list builds that include allies and such, but I'm really just wanting to start out with a self contained army. I also don't want to start building models without having an idea of how I should be assembling them with a direction in mind. Thanks in advance!

 StormBringer328 wrote:
Ravager x 1
Raider x 2
Razor Wing Jetfighter x 1
Venom x 1
Scourges x 1
Reaver Jetbikes x 2
Talos Pain Engine x 1
Kabalite Warriors x 2
Wyches x 2
Hellions x 2
Mandrake Box x 1
Incubi Box x 1
Wracks Box x 1
Haemonculus x 1
Archon x 2
Lelith x 1
Urien Rakarath x 1
Webway Portal x 1

I am going to assume you meant you had 2 boxes of warriors and 2 boxes of wyches, otherwise you might have to spend a bit more on getting some troops.
With what you have, you could go a lot of ways. Warriors in raiders with splinter racks are great troops that can pump out a lot of poison shots. 5 wyches with haywire grenades in a venom are great at taking out any tank. Wracks (which can be taken as troops if you have a Haem) are good objective holders and decent in cc, plus liquifiers are always fun. I prefer to play Haem lists with tons of wracks and grotesques boosting straight at the enemy turn 1. Very fun to play, and it's go big or go home. Kabal lists are also fun and can be pretty balanced.

Based on what you have, I would run something like this as a basic 1000 point list:
Haem
- venomblade, liquifier
9 warriors
- Raider w/ splinter racks
10 warriors
- Raider w/ splinter racks
5 wyches
- haywire grenades, venom w/ 2 splinter cannons
5 wyches
- haywire grenades, venom w/ 2 splinter cannons
3 reavers
- blaster
Ravager
- night shields
Razorwing Jetfighter
- splinter cannon, flickerfield

This list is basically TAC with some anti-infantry (warriors, razorwing), anti-tank (ravager, wyches, reavers), anti-flier (razorwing), and 4 troops to hold objectives. It's not necessarily themed, but I think it would be a fun list to try out and build on as the league builds up.

Try giving either an Archon or a Hamonculi a webway portal. Rush your venom up as close as possible and then lay that sucker down. Then you can rush wracks and incubi and wytches all out of that portal and just wreck. It's something you can have fun with and not specialize. Buy some grotsques, shove that pain engine in there, whatever! Furthermore, why not convert an archon to the Duke. If you have 10 hellions and 6 reavers (give them heat lances instead, cheaper and better if you use them right), plus the wyches, and you put him in a raider with 9 trueborn, then you could give all those units (except the trueborn) rerolls to combat drugs, your trueborn 3+ to wounds, and deep strike the trueborn and whatever the hell other raiders, venoms and ravagers you want. I would also replace the razorwing with a void raven for better anti-air.

Portal is pointless as you can't charge from it. About the only useful thing that can come from it is talos, cronos and reavers. Bit of a point sink.