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Hiya all,

I'm a complete beginner when it comes to dark eldar. My friend has played them for a while, but his army always loses to my Tyranid and guard lists horribly. I tried using his army for him once and made up a raider based list, but I died just as horribly as he always does.

As such, I figured it'd be a great start to read a few strategy articles, on which note I quickly found most of the articles about DE are either stuck in 3rd ed, or they're woefully incomplete. Also, finding an online hub for DE activity (like warpshadow for tyranids, kauvash tauva for tau, the ctan support group for necrons, bolter & chainsword for marines or igig first for imperial guard) has yielded no success for me.

With this in mind I figured I'd just post his current 1000pt list and get some feedback. Feel free to completely gut it if need be, he has plenty of extra warriors and raiders painted, and is looking to buy some more models anyway, so change is good.

As to what problems he's having - getting into assault is hard against the guard, *winning* assault is hard against the nids, shooting the enemy rarely inflicts enough casualties before the DE are in 'lets all die' range, and the raider approach got most of the infantry killed on the first turn.

Ok, here's the list:

 -- HQ --
1xDracon - shadow field, plasma grenades, Gruesome talisman, Combat drugs, Agoniser,  -  = 109

-- Elites --
5xWyches - 5xplasma grenades, razorsnare + falchion, shardnet + impaler, 3xclose combat weapon, 3xSplinter pistol,  -  = 60
 --1xWych succubus - plasma grenades, Gruesome talisman, Combat drugs, splinter pistol, shardnet + impaler,  -  = 48

-- Troops --
12xWarriors - 2xsplinter cannon, 10xSplinter rifle,  -  = 116
12xWarriors - 2xsplinter cannon, 10xSplinter rifle,  -  = 116
12xWarriors - 2xsplinter cannon, 10xSplinter rifle,  -  = 116
10xWarriors - 2xdark lance, 8xSplinter rifle,  -  = 100

-- Fast Attack --

-- Heavy Support --
1xRavager - 2xDisintegrator, Dark lance,  -  = 115
1xRavager - 2xDisintegrator, Dark lance,  -  = 115
1xRavager - 3xDark lance,  -  = 105

Models = 56
Total = 1000pts

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

~Sylph x

Have you got an old armybook? the wyches get a 4+ inv in cc. This means they need a raider to get their. Plus the wychweapons are much easier (and IMHO better) now.

I would drop 2 ravagers (or all of them even) and get a raider for the wyches. The darklances for anti tank can go in the troops. (2 units wiith splintercannons and 2 units with DL is good enough in 1000 pts imho. )

For anti horde scourges might be nice, 4 Splintercannons can really ruin the day of a unit gaunts...

Also a small unit mandrakes would work nicely. They can support the wyches in a charge and are halfway decent on their own too with fairly high I and a lot ofd attacks... (if they get hit back they will die however, as their save is only 5+...)

Trie that and you should be able to win some games.

Your Dracon is foot slogging it all the way to combat. I don't care how good the shadowfield is, odds are it'll die before it gets there.

Completely agree with getting a raider for the wyches. In fact I'd get a few more wyches as well. They're a great stall unit, but with S3 and 2 attacks base, they're meh at killing stuff. Load the Dracon onto this Raider as well, free transport for him and he gives some much needed punch to the wyches.

I'd trade in some splinter cannons for dark lances to take care of any armour/monstrous creatures you might be facing. The remaining Ravagers should be outfitted with 2x Disintegrators and a dark lance (or 3 Disintegrators if you're feeling lucky). Use these babies against any army are your opponent will weep.

Dark Eldar's tricky, I still haven't gotten my 1000 list together yet and I've been playing this for almost a year. Best of luck!

 

The problem with putting you dracon with the wyches is that all your major threats are in one easily destroyable transport.

How about:

Dracon with Agonizer, Splinter pistol
5 Incubi with Raider, Disintegrator

10 Wyches with Wych Weapons, 2 blasters, Raider, Disintegrator

10 Raider Squad with Splinter Cannon, Blaster, Disintegrator, Horrorfex
10 Raider Squad with Splinter Cannon, Blaster, Disintegrator, Horrorfex

115 Ravager with 2 Disintegrator
115 Ravager with 2 Disintegrator

Total: 1001

Now you have a list with a variety of threats, each one capable of doing huge amounts of damage if left unchecked. The army also isnt crippled if you lose a certain raider.

you could try on the warseer forums, there's a thread named "dark eldar tactica" or something like that with 1000+ posts of...tactica !

as for your list,
1. take an archon
2. remove all the wargear on the succubus except the agonizer, up the squad to 8 and give them a raider
3. i'm not to fond af ravagers, even if they do blow up quite a lot of things quite easily they are paper thin themselves and die to HBs. that and the fact that you only have 4 vehicles in your army, odds are that every AT weapon your opponent has will target them and kill them.
4. dark lances are the way to go for the majority of your "sniper squads". your AP capacities are in close combat, not for the majority of your shooting (ever tried blowing up a leman russ with an agonizer ? i did, and odds are quite awful...)
5. don't take incubis. they rock, but lack mobility (no fleet of foot) and cost as much as 3 DE warriors. wyches are better in most situations.
6. i dont know at 1000 pts, but webway portals are the only thing that work for me at 1700 pts. they make the first turn irrevelant as all your important units in raiders should be hidden in it.

also remember that all raiders armies died with 4th ed and entanglement rules. you should play your raiders as disposable transports with a mobile dark lance. never leave your units in them if the raider can be shot, because if he can be shot, he'll be destroyed (a glancing hit destroys them on 4+)