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Howdy all,

I finally recieved my dark eldar army in the mail and while sitting on lunch last night looking through my codex I figured I'd throw together a list! Here goes;

Edit #1- Took out 1 incubi, added in 2 wyches + trophy racks in wych squads. Added Horrorfex on both wych raiders. Fixed points totals. The last 8 pts will be used for another warrior in a raider squad

HQ
-----
1x Archon
- Punisher, Drugs, Shadow Field, Tormenter Helm, Animus Vitae, Plasma Grenades
152 pts
w/ 5 incubi and Drazhar retinue
- Plasma Grenades
225 pts
All mounted in a Raider (no upgrades)
55 pts

Elites
-------
8x Wyches w/ Succubus
- Plasma Grenades/Wych Weapons
- Agonizer
- 2x Blaster
- trophy rack
- Mounter in Raider w/ horrorfex
225 pts

8x Wyches w/ Succubus
- Plasma Grenades/Wych Weapons
-Agonizer
- 2x Blaster
- trophy rack
- Mounted in Raider w/ horrorfex
225 pts

Warp Beast Pack w/ Beastmaster
75 pts

Heavy Support
------------------
3x Ravagers
- 3 Disintigrators on each
- Night Shields
420 pts

Troops
---------
3x Raider Squads
- 5 warriors mounted in each w/ 1 dark lance each
315 pts total

3x Heavy support Warrior squads
- 10 man squads
- 2x Dark Lances in each
300 pts

total 1992 pts

So my basic plan is: deploy the warrior foot squads into some sort of cover and use them as a heavy platform, picking off mech for my wyches/incubi/beasts to go chew on their cargo. The raider squads will stay mobile, getting onto high ground or deploying its cargo into some cover in a good spot for shots. The warp beasts will move around, getting close to heavy support teams/footsloggers. The archon/Wych squads will move rapidly to the front. If dark lances fail, I ensured I can probably down vehicles by taking tons of blasters. These will also help as prior to assault I can kill off a few guys before charging in (useful for fighting things like Space Wolves or terminators). Disintigrators will be used as bombardment, unloading into disembarked squads for maximum ownage. Also great vs MC's, named charecters, and terminators!

My army is basically half shooty, half assaulty. I was trying to find a way to fit in some horrorfex's, but I couldn't seem to cut points anywhere! they seem to be a great addition for wyches, pinning squads you might not get to assault this turn, thus keeping your raiders (and wyches) out of trouble

Any C&C is greatlyh appreciated! Currently I'm in the process of working up some disintigrators and some blasters for my wyches haha

Your Ravagers, and Wyche squads point costs are incorrect.

Haven't played Dark Eldar for years, but I have a couple observations:

Warp beasts were always a bit dodgy for me - in an army full of cheap vehicles and warriors, you've got a random dismounted assault unit. Warp beasts are cheap, but not that cheap considering that they're T3 models with no real save.

I would scrap them and buy something else, after saving points in the following ways - archon can give the benefits of plasma grenades to his retinue, they don't need them. Also (I no longer have my DE codex) if an agonizer+splinter pistol is significantly cheaper than a punisher+tormentor helm+animus vitae, just get those. Incubi should never, ever have blasters. It's not worth it when you realise they trade in their punishers.

That may give you enough points for a tank-hunting unit of reaver jetbikes (3 w/2 blasters), sorry I can't count it. I think that kind of fast, shooty unit works a lot better in your list than the warp beasts (not that fast at crossing the board) who can't hurt vehicles and are pretty vulnerable.

Note on tactics: it may often be better to not deploy the raider squads on their vehicles at all. You increase your first-turn dark lance volley (which I think is very important against most mechanised opponents) by deploying them on foot.

Good luck with the army, not the easiest kind of force to win with, but I'm sure it's possible with the right units. Some experience may be needed to figure out how to get your CC units to the enemy.

Your HQ squad is way too strong. Averaging 11.3 MEQ kills on a charge, or 7.5 terminator kills. The objective is to win combat on your opponent's turn, so you don't open yourself up to shooting on their turn. i like drazhar, but I'd drop the regular incubi to 4, lose the animus and change the punisher/helm to agonizer/pistol. It's nice to be able to wound a wraithlord or C'tan if you run into one.

You have some point irregularities in your list - for example the 3 Ravagers with all dissies and night shields should be 420

Zid wrote:HQ
-----
1x Archon
- Punisher, Drugs, Shadow Field, Tormenter Helm, Animus Vitae, Plasma Grenades
152 pts
w/ 6 incubi and Drazhar retinue
- 2x Blasters
- Plasma Grenades
272 pts
All mounted in a Raider (no upgrades)
55 pts

For starters drop the blasters - there is no reason to pay out the points for an incubi and then pay out *more* points in order to not have a Punisher. Don't do it. I'd also probably trim back at least one Incubi, as your squad is (as others have noted quite correctly) a little too effective at killing. I disagree with the thought of switching out to an Agoniser as, with the number of lances you have in your list, there is no reason for you to want to put your troop killing squad anywhere near a Wraithlord or its ilk. Shoot things like that and let your retinue eat the footsloggers.

Warp Beast Pack w/ Beastmaster
75 pts

Well...Clthomps will be happy with this choice. They are fast and pretty good at ripping up some stuff, but I submit they are too soft and squishy to be of much use. You could use these points to mechanize more Warriors, and I submit more Raiders is better then Warp Beasts.

3x Heavy support Warrior squads\
- 10 man squads
- 2x Dark Lances in each
300 pts

With some points you might be freeing up from your Incubi drop or if you decide to lose the Warp Beasts you could drop these squads into Raiders. Two lances for 100 points is good, but paying 5 more points for two lances that can fire at separate targets and have the option of moving around the board very quickly? Now that's value!

Heya.

Having never played Dark Eldar before and also making my first list, I've got a thread here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/265152.page worth reading.

Dakka's finest Dark Eldar players have been all up and down my stuff with comments, critiques, and between reading their insights and read the DE tactica, there's a lot you can learn.

Howdy all,

I finally recieved my dark eldar army in the mail and while sitting on lunch last night looking through my codex I figured I'd throw together a list! Here goes;

Welcome to the dark side, young one.

HQ
-----
1x Archon
- Punisher, Drugs, Shadow Field, Tormenter Helm, Animus Vitae, Plasma Grenades
152 pts
w/ 6 incubi and Drazhar retinue
- 2x Blasters
- Plasma Grenades
272 pts
All mounted in a Raider (no upgrades)
55 pts

As mentioned before this unit will blow through who ever you assault in one turn, and leave you out to dry when the opponents shooting phase comes around....

One thing the other commenters missed (shame on you thor ) is that you are wasting points running plasma grenades and Drazhar, since he can't buy them.

Elites
-------
7x Wyches w/ Succubus
- Plasma Grenades/Wych Weapons
- Agonizer
- 2x Blaster
- Mounter in Raider
217 pts

7x Wyches w/ Succubus
- Plasma Grenades/Wych Weapons
-Agonizer
- 2x Blaster
- Mounted in Raider
217 pts

As mentioned the points are off here, but after you adjust that I always throw a trophy rack on the succubus when I get to squads of wyches that are 7 models or higher.

Warp Beast Pack w/ Beastmaster
75 pts

Great choice! In your list I would use these to hide behind your warriors and delay any oncoming units a turn or two so you can move your troops to safety.

Heavy Support
------------------
3x Ravagers
- 3 Disintigrators on each
- Night Shields
390 pts

Again the points are off here, but other than that its perfect!

Troops
---------
3x Raider Squads
- 5 warriors mounted in each w/ 1 dark lance each
315 pts total

3x Heavy support Warrior squads\
- 10 man squads
- 2x Dark Lances in each
300 pts

Have you been peeking at my posts? Everything here is great. If you are up against a meta game with a low tank content, I would swap the sniper raiders squads out for raiders with 5 X warriors, w/ Splintercannons and blasters.

total 1993 pts

Ummm not quite.... Its actually closer to 1930 if i remember correctly.

So my basic plan is: deploy the warrior foot squads into some sort of cover and use them as a heavy platform, picking off mech for my wyches/incubi/beasts to go chew on their cargo. The raider squads will stay mobile, getting onto high ground or deploying its cargo into some cover in a good spot for shots. The warp beasts will move around, getting close to heavy support teams/footsloggers. The archon/Wych squads will move rapidly to the front. If dark lances fail, I ensured I can probably down vehicles by taking tons of blasters. These will also help as prior to assault I can kill off a few guys before charging in (useful for fighting things like Space Wolves or terminators). Disintigrators will be used as bombardment, unloading into disembarked squads for maximum ownage. Also great vs MC's, named charecters, and terminators!

My army is basically half shooty, half assaulty. I was trying to find a way to fit in some horrorfex's, but I couldn't seem to cut points anywhere! they seem to be a great addition for wyches, pinning squads you might not get to assault this turn, thus keeping your raiders (and wyches) out of trouble

Any C&C is greatlyh appreciated! Currently I'm in the process of working up some disintigrators and some blasters for my wyches haha

Well first don't ever bother dropping off the units inside a raider, unless your wyches or archon need a quick transport. The raider is far more protection than the bushes will ever be. (remember all it takes is 2 deaths to make you run.)

Next Wyches are not killy units, don't play them like they are. If they are going to tool around with the archon their job is to hold units in place so the archon can bounce from combat to combat mopping up. Other than that use them to tarpit assualt units that are advancing on your warriors.

The biggest piece of advice for people running a list like this is to think like you are tau (or more properly how tau should be) you have overwelming firepower and a glass jaw, but the good news is that you are very mobile, you also have one unit of meatshields (wyches or how kroot should have been) that will hold a line for a long time before finally fleeing off the board. If you get shot or assaulted you will die... so just save some time and pick up the models. The one exception is your bad ass archon, he is the on par with a demon prince, use him as such.


Well enough of that... I will leave you with one final suggestion. At 2000 points you should always take Vect. Always.

Well...Clthomps will be happy with this choice. They are fast and pretty good at ripping up some stuff, but I submit they are too soft and squishy to be of much use. You could use these points to mechanize more Warriors, and I submit more Raiders is better then Warp Beasts.

I am ecstatic

Its nice to see you softening up, at least you mentioned some good aspects of them

On a side note there are already points to mechanize the warriors, a unit of warriors on the ground is almost the same cost as in a raider since you get 5 less warriors.

And I will submit that a raider is not as good as a unit of warpbeasts. First its unfair to compare them as they have entirely different rolls, and in his list he wouldn't be gaining a Darklance, the only thing it would do is give the squad a little more mobility.


Also on a side note in a heads up battle the warpbeast would destroy the raider everytime, just look at the mathammer I posted earlier on attacks vs armor 10, and with fleet of foot there is no way you could dodge me enough to get any shots off.

Clthomps wrote:

Howdy all,

One thing the other commenters missed (shame on you thor ) is that you are wasting points running plasma grenades and Drazhar, since he can't buy them.

Doesn't that just mean Drazhar wouldn't be able to go at initiative like the rest of his ilk when they assault?

Anyways, great suggestions! And your right about the ravagers; 105 + 15 + 20 = 140 each, so 420 for all of em. I'll rework the points and see what I get!

I also see what everyones saying about the incubi group! I might use the dropped points for more Wyches or maybe a few guys in the raiders for S&G.

So drop the blasters on the incubi? kk!

@thor: I would drop them in raiders, but saddly I only have 6 raiders. So between my wyches/archon and 3 raider squads I'm out of em :( Also I like having a few units on the board at the beginning of some games

What does everyone think of Haemonculi w/ Destructors? I'm thinking of making a suicide squad of Haemunculi riding around in a raider w/ warriors, give em splinter cannons, and make it a deep-zone kill squad! Ap D6 flamers could be awesome against horde/meq's!

And I don't have vect (yet) or I would run em! I'll probably pick one up with the TDY bonus I'll be getting this coming paycheck

Zid wrote:@thor: I would drop them in raiders, but saddly I only have 6 raiders. So between my wyches/archon and 3 raider squads I'm out of em :( Also I like having a few units on the board at the beginning of some games

Good lord, yeah I can recall the halcyon days when I didn't have enough Raiders for all my squads. If you don't have the Raiders then the Sniper Squads make more sense. Don't worry, if you keep playing DE you'll soon probably have more Raiders then you can shake a stick at. Clthomps is correct in noting a more optimal use for your Warp Beasts will be to hang back and try to serve as bodyguards/counter chargers to protect the 3 Sniper Squads of Warriors. If you just run the WBs out into the field they'll be shot at and wiped in one turn pretty reliably.

What does everyone think of Haemonculi w/ Destructors? I'm thinking of making a suicide squad of Haemunculi riding around in a raider w/ warriors, give em splinter cannons, and make it a deep-zone kill squad! Ap D6 flamers could be awesome against horde/meq's!

Haemonculi w. Destructors are awesome and can be paired quite nicely with Raider squads equipped with a Splinter Cannons and Blaster/Shredder combo (I suggest Blaster). You could also add them into your Wych squads - but leave them in the Raiders or wandering around on their own when the Wyches assault.

Clthomps wrote:Its nice to see you softening up, at least you mentioned some good aspects of them

Hey, I've always said they were awesome...in 4th ed. rules. That said, I did have a friend point out to me that my affection for fielding a minimized double blaster squad of RJBs is not really that different in a functional or KP sense then your habit with Warp Beasts. That made a lot of sense and forced me to at least try to sound more neutral towards them for the sake of avoiding hypocrisy if nothing else.

And I will submit that a raider is not as good as a unit of warpbeasts. First its unfair to compare them as they have entirely different rolls, and in his list he wouldn't be gaining a Darklance, the only thing it would do is give the squad a little more mobility.

But surely you agree that extra mobility is often the key to DE success. Also I will note I said more Raiders is better then Warp Beasts. You are correct, in a pure head to head a Raider will have trouble versus Warp Beasts (of course if it explodes it might make it a draw...). I do stand by the belief that dropping Warp Beasts and mechanizing 3 Warrior squads into Raiders is generally superior then fielding Warp Beasts and 3 footsloggin' DE squads (though of course...blah, blah, blah [insert disclaimer language here depending on particular army build and strategy])

@ thor: Good advice! I'll definitely do that with the beasts! And yeah, I need more raiders, but saddly I think I'll get 3 homunculi w/ destructors and vect first haha! And I need a drakon too >.>

Thread Hijack!

I do stand by the belief that dropping Warp Beasts and mechanizing 3 Warrior squads into Raiders is generally superior then fielding Warp Beasts and 3 footsloggin' DE squads.

Like i mentioned before he has the points to mobilize them without dropping anything but one DL and 5 warrors. So in essence he could do that and pick up 1 Heamon with distructor and scissor hands. (Which is a better Idea if he goes completely mobile.)

won a couple games tonight with my DE, I'll post the first games battle rep sometime tonight or tommorrow (was vs necrons)! Stay tooned

You won your first couple games with Dark Eldar? Man.. it was a good 20+ games before I managed a win.

kuro_khan wrote:You won your first couple games with Dark Eldar? Man.. it was a good 20+ games before I managed a win.

Well the game vs necrons was a giveaway (you'll see in the battlerep). I then faced Ultramarines @ 3000 pts and it was a pretty epic battle.... but my 20+ dark lances owned lol

With the edit you made to your list, it looks exactly like one I would make. (is that good or bad??).

With good tactics, you won't lose with this list.