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I have been trying to find another army for awhile now, and have posted several lists, though none have caught my attention over the others. However, I was able to take a look at the dark eldar codex last night and it stood out. The insane number of models you can field plus their speed is really appealing.

The general plan is to start with the Raider Squads on the table. Second turn I will unload and start peppering the enemy with my warriors. I will also drop the webway portal (two in the list to make sure one goes down). From there, my Archon and the 3 wyche squads with come out, pin what they can (terrorfex) and assault.

HQ

Archon – 60 pts

• Agoniser – 20 pts
• Splinter Pistol – 1 pt
• Plasma Grenades – 2 pts
• Hell Mask – 5 pts

Total – 88 pts

  Dark Eldar Retinue

• Warriors (x5) – 40 pts
  • Splinter Cannons (x2) – 20 pts

• Incubi (x4) – 100 pts
• Raider – 55 pts

Total – 215 pts

  Elites

  Wyches (x10) – 100 pts

• Blasters (x2) – 10 pts
• Plasma Grenades (x10) – 20 pts
• Wych Succubus – 8 pts
  • Agoniser – 20 pts
  • Terrorfex – 15 pts

• Raider – 55 pts

Total – 228 pts

Wyches (as above) – 228 pts
Wyches (as above) – 228 pts

<strong style="">   [/b]Troops

Raider Squad (x10) – 80 pts

• Blaster – 5 pts
• Splinter Cannon – 10 pts
• Raider – 55 pts
• Sybarite – 6 pts
  • Webway Portal – 50 pts

Total – 206 pts

Raider Squad (as above) – 206 pts

  Raider Squad (x10) – 80 pts

• Blaster – 5 pts
• Splinter Cannon – 10 pts
• Raider – 55 pts

Total – 150 pts

Raider Squad (as above) – 150 pts
Raider Squad (as above) – 150 pts

<strong style="">   Army Total – 1849 pts [/b]

First question : is this a competitive list or a fun list ?

the main problem you need to adress while playing dark eldar is their fragility. Raiders get popped by enough bolter fire and the whole army has t3 5+

to counter this, you need to either put some numbers or go with portals, or better yet a mix of the 2.

all raiders hordes got reaped by the new entanglement rules in 4th ed, so they're not really viable anymore.

so that leaves us with warrior hordes, which you can combine with portals to carry wyches (good call !) and the evil archon of doom.

also, like many lists, dark eldars win big by cutting the fat in unnecessary items, like terrorfexes (in your list, i count 3 for a total of 45 pts. that's 5 more warriors !). Blasters are also unnecessary in wyches, since you want to make sure they get in h2h to be locked and safe from ennemy shooting (and don't kill THE marine that was in range, leaving you stranded and dead 1 inch away from the ennemy). in the same line of tought, wyches squads need to be just a bit smaller in order to avoid killing the whole squad they get in h2h with so they stay locked in the opponent's shooting phase (8 is a good number). they also need wych weapons. period.

the archon is better left to his own devices WITH A SHADOW FIELD. you have no idea how many saves he can make before failing the one that kills him since he's instadead from s6+. the best you can do with the archon is putting him with a wych squad in a portal, then the turn they arrive, move 12'' in the raider, disembark 2'', detach, fleet d6'', then assault 12'' with combat drugs. this effectivly gives our little hero a charge range of minimum 26'' with 6 attacks at i7 on the charge rerolling misses, killing on 4+. usually quite impressive...

you might find it hard to deploy the portal with in a squad of 10 warriors (even "worse", in a raider. entangelment ?). i suggest you either take 2 in 2 walking squads of 16, or 1 on a naked haemonculi running along a big squad of about 20 (IC, can't be targetted, even if he is he has 2 wounds and needs s8 to be instakilled).

a good idea would be to max out on dark lances. at 10 points apeice they're actually better than lascannons and you can have more in your army.

any questions ?

Thanks for your response. I understand most of the points and will revise my list to match.

My main question is, where should I keep the raiders and where should I dump them? I would like to keep 1 or 2 for the speed, though I wouldnt mind the rest footslogging.

There is something Ive been considering. Dumping the raiders on the wyches and maxing them out would double my numbers. Also, since he is ending up on his own with a shadow field, would it work to give my archon the protal? He would benifit from the same pros that you mentioned the haemonculus having.

The final thing I was considering was putting the portal on a squad of hellions. They have jetpacks to get up close in the first turn and a better armor save that my warriors. Would this work or is it too spendy?

I would like this list to be fairly competitive, as that is how most at my store play. However, I don't want it to end up like a 15 assault cannon marines list.

I sat down with my codex and came up with a new list. It incorporates most of your suggestions and I like the way it turned out. I kept the wyches as 10 man squads (except for the Archon's however), though the rest is quite abit different.

HQ

Archon – 60 pts

• Agoniser – 20 pts
• Splinter Pistol – 1 pt
• Plasma Grenades – 2 pts
• Hell Mask – 5 pts
• Shadowfield – 25 pts
• Combat Drugs – 25 pts

Total – 138 pts

  <strong style="">HQ Total – 138 pts [/b]

Elites

  Wyches (x10) – 100 pts

• Plasma Grenades (x10) – 20 pts
• Shardnet and Impaler – 0 pts
• Hydraknives – 0 pts
• Razorsnare and Falchion – 0 pts
• Wych Succubus – 8 pts

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o       <!--[endif]-->Agoniser – 20 pts

• Raider – 55 pts

Total – 203 pts

  Wyches (as above) – 203 pts

  Wyches (x9) – 90 pts

• Plasma Grenades (x9) – 18 pts
• Shardnet and Impaler – 0 pts
• Hydraknives – 0 pts
• Razorsnare and Falchion – 0 pts
• Wych Succubus – 8 pts

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o       <!--[endif]-->Agoniser – 20 pts

• Raider – 55 pts

Total – 191 pts

  Warp Beast Pack

• Warp Beast (x5) – 60 pts
• Beast Master – 15 pts

Total – 75 pts

  <strong style="">Elites Total – 672 pts [/b]

<strong style="">   [/b]Troops

  Warrior Squad (x17) – 136 pts

• Dark Lance (x2) – 20 pts
• Blasters (x2) – 10 pts
• Sybarite – 6 pts

<!--[if !supportLists]-->o       <!--[endif]-->Webway portal – 50 pts

Total – 222 pts

  Warrior Squad (as above) – 222 pts

Warrior Squad (x16) – 128 pts

• Dark Lance (x2) – 20 pts

Total – 148 pts

Warrior Squad (as above) – 148 pts

Raider Squad (x10) – 80 pts

• Splinter Cannon – 10 pts
• Blaster – 5 pts
• Raider – 55 pts

Total – 150 pts

Raider Squad (as above) – 150 pts

<strong style="">Troops Total – 1040 pts [/b]

<strong style="">Army Total – 1850 pts [/b]

I would pm Xtapl for a DE list. If I remember correctly he plays (or played) DE and has a very good grasp of the army.

This list doesn't take into account any of the changes made in Chapter Approved 2k3 (also in Dark Eldar Codex Rev. 2). There are differences in points, most notably wyches being 12 pts each, and wych weapons costing +1 point per model for the squad. Also, neither hellions nor reavers can take a webway portal.

Ok OK let me give you a little adive on Dark eldar Dont take that much war gear
my 1850 point list is effective and won lots of games
here a low down


Hq the lowest one possible ok the drachon
give him drugs and SF and agoniser plasma grenedes. spinter pistol

with 6 incubi and master incubi with drugs
(secret here is that you let the MI and LT take the 12 in assault with extra attack and rolles) In the BBB there a section on were aslong as you maintaint coherery you can assault which i have many times and i will give you the page number too you later in raider


second Hq wytitle
give her plasma grenades and drugs and agoniser
and a 8 man wytch retinine with wtych weapons and plasma grenade and the succubus drugs and agonier in raider

elites
well i love my mandrakes take ten of them

Troops
10 warriors with two dark lances times 5

then heavy support
two ravagers with disssis all around I can remember how many points but it under 1850 and if you want you can throw in a WWB or another raider