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So, I have a friend who may be selling me a Dark Eldar army at a very good deal. The only problem is, I have no experience whatsoever with Dark Eldar. I have played Eldar for the past year and a half or so, hopefully that will make the transition a little easier. In any case, here is the list I put together, C&C very welcome.

Archon - 135 points.
Punisher, Tormentor Helm, Night Field, Combat Drugs

Retinue x 9 - 174 points
Incubi x 6, Warrior x 3

Raider - 70
Night Shield

Wych x 10 - 140
Wych Weapons

Raider - 70
Night Shield

Warrior x 10 - 110
Blaster x 2, Splinter Cannon x 2

Raider - 70
Night Shield

Warrior X 10 - 100
Splinter Cannon x 2

Raider - 70
Night Shield

Warrior X 10 - 100
Splinter Cannon x 2

Raider - 70

Ravager - 140
3x Disintegrator, Night Shield

Ravager - 130
1x Disintegrator, Night Shield

Ravager - 125
Night Shield

Total 1504. - if my opponent really presses me, I can drop a blaster or something to make the points limit.

Again, having not played them, I am a little unsure as to tactics. I have 10 dark lances for my main anti vehicle, and hopefully with that I can take out any lascannons/long range weaponry which can shoot me even at max range with the night shields. If I am at least moderately succesful in that, against most armies I am hoping I can dance outside of their range while pelting them with fire. If i am facing a horde force, I feel the disintegrators and splinter cannons should be able to help me thin their numbers before they reach me. Wyches are there for counter charge/tarpitting, and my HQ can hit pretty hard with a couple warriors in there as fodder.

My main concern is monstrous creatures getting into close combat. Besides tarpitting them with wyches, I feel like I am pretty susceptible to getting hit hard by that. My hope is that most monstrous creatures will be too slow to catch me, and those that have wings will be made a high priority with all of my heavy weapons.

Another thing I am wondering is if maybe I should drop the night shields on my close combat oriented squads. My first instinct is no, because in these kind of vehicles they can be dropped in a second, and my experience with the Eldar is once you are out of your vehicle, you are ineffective, and probably dead before you get to do anything. However, I also feel like it could easily end up as wasted points if I am having to move towards an opponent and nullify the night shields effect.

Ideally, I'd drop the night shields off the raiders, drop to smaller warrior squads and take max troops in raiders. Take a succubus with agoniser in the wych squad. the incubus retinue could be dropped a little as well to shave points.

I'm also assuming since you bought the army this way that you have splinter cannons. I'd go with more dark lances. Nothing is worth doing that isn't worth overkilling -o

Like I said, I have very little experience for the DE, so I am open to any advice. That being said, I would appreciate some clarification as to the reasoning behind some of those suggestions.

For instance, if I drop the night shields off the raiders, and I am within a useful range for them (24-36 inches) they become visible to be mowed down with a large assortment of weapons all the way down to heavy bolters. If I have the night field and am between 30-36 inches, I can fire at the enemy, but only need fear weapons with a range of over 40 inch such as a lascannon. This seems rather necessary for such a fragile army to me at least.

Second, I would love to take dark lances in the warrior squads, but it seems that it conflicts with the basis for a raider army. I either sit still in my vehicle at somewhere less than 36" range so the warriors can fire their heavy weapons, leaving me vulnerable to enemies moving up and striking me, or I move with my vehicle and am unable to fire my dark lances. As I said, I have experience with eldar, and my experience has always been, if you aren't taking advantage of your mobility, you are going to lose. Not sure if its different with DE.

As for dropping the squad size, I can definitely see that as being useful, but I think the army I am buying only has 7 raiders in it at the moment. It is probably a good idea though, and if I expand the army that is probably the first thing I will do.

P.S. Forgot to ask about the agonizer for the wych squad. I guess it would make it more viable for fighting against MC with toughness of 6 or more, but I still wouldn't put money on them being able to take it down, and is it worth the additional 28 points?

Well first off you have a few illegal selections, namely all of the warrior squads.

You can only take one heavy and one spec weapon if you take a raider.


After that I would suggest you read Thors Tactica (just ignore the bit about warpbeasts )


If you have the models available this is probably the best list you can run at 1500 pt

1500 Pts - Dark Eldar Roster

1 Dracon @ 106 pts (Agoniser; Splinter Pistol; Combat Drug Dispenser; Shadow Field)

5 Wyches @ 177 pts (Close Combat Weapon; Splinter Pistol; Wych Weapons; Blaster x2; Combat Drugs; Plasma Grenades)
. . 1 Succubus (Agoniser; Splinter Pistol; Wych Weapons; Plasma Grenades (Squad))
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance)

5 Wyches @ 197 pts (Close Combat Weapon; Splinter Pistol; Wych Weapons; Blaster x2; Combat Drugs; Plasma Grenades)
. . 1 Succubus (Agoniser; Splinter Pistol; Wych Weapons; Crucible of Malediction ; Plasma Grenades (Squad))
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance)

5 Raider Squad @ 110 pts (Blaster; Splinter Rifle x3; Dark Lance; Raider)
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance)

5 Raider Squad @ 110 pts (Blaster; Splinter Rifle x3; Dark Lance; Raider)
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance)

5 Raider Squad @ 110 pts (Blaster; Splinter Rifle x3; Dark Lance; Raider)
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance)

5 Raider Squad @ 110 pts (Blaster; Splinter Rifle x3; Dark Lance; Raider)
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance)

5 Raider Squad @ 110 pts (Blaster; Splinter Rifle x3; Dark Lance; Raider)
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance)

5 Raider Squad @ 110 pts (Blaster; Splinter Rifle x3; Dark Lance; Raider)
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance)

1 Ravager @ 120 pts (Disentegrator x3)

1 Ravager @ 120 pts (Disentegrator x3)

1 Ravager @ 120 pts (Disentegrator x3)


Total Roster Cost: 1500

Hmmm. I am not sure why I would only be able to take 1 heavy and 1 special weapon in a warrior squad in a raider. I assume if it is true its because you have to have max squad size to take 2 of each, but I don't see anything in the codex that says that. If that is true, it would indeed pose a problem for me. If you don't mind me asking, could you tell me what rule prohibits me from taking 2 splinter cannons on a 10 man warrior squad in a raider?

Look in the codex under the 10 man warrior squad. Do you see an option to buy a raider?

The second troop option is a raider squad because they come with a raider.


If you wanted to you could buy a 10 man unit with your options and a 5 man unit with a raider and have them swap on the first turn. But I would not reccomend it.

Archon - 135 points.
Punisher, Tormentor Helm, Night Field, Combat Drugs

I'd take the punisher and splinter pistol for the +1 attack. No need for the tormentor helm. Shadow field and combat drugs are a must. I like the hell mask for 5 points. Against most of the fearless sleazers you play against it won't matter but against others it would be nice.

Retinue x 9 - 174 points
Incubi x 6, Warrior x 3

6 Incubi seems like a good a number. There doesn't seem like much of a need to take the warriors. Drahzar for 90 wouldn't be a bad investment as he is kill city.

Raider - 70
Night Shield

Not much of a need for night shield on a Raider. You will be likely turbo boosting in anyway and if not hiding in cover. 15 points is too much.

Wych x 10 - 140
Wych Weapons

Raider - 70
Night Shield

I'd almost say that you need a Succubus with agonizer. The agonizer is the DE powerfist and allows you to wound anything. Drop the night shield.

Warrior x 10 - 110
Blaster x 2, Splinter Cannon x 2

Raider - 70
Night Shield

Warrior X 10 - 100
Splinter Cannon x 2

Raider - 70
Night Shield

Warrior X 10 - 100
Splinter Cannon x 2

Raider - 70

I'd say that you should take 1 blaster for anti-armor per squad. Then have a syrabite with agonizer for CC punch. Drop night shields.

Ravager - 140
3x Disintegrator, Night Shield

Ravager - 130
1x Disintegrator, Night Shield

Ravager - 125
Night Shield

Daddy likes. Night shield is worth it here bc of the range. Perhaps each could be 2x disinegrators for the blasts though.

With any leftover points I'd try to fit in a 10 man warrior squad with 2 dark lances for 100 points.

If you did my changes you would have 58 leftover points minus the 4 over from before you'd have 54. That's halfway to a Talos which seems incredibly interesting...

As is my usual wont I will open up by pointing out that I feel the DE Tactica here on Dakka (the link is in my sig) is an excellent resource for new DE players and almost all of the advice I'm about to give you about basic builds is discussed there in greater detail. I'll also say you should listen to Clthomps as his head is connected. Some of the other advice here...not so much in my opinion. I'll also run down your list briefly and note a few thoughts.

Doomenbot wrote:Archon - 135 points.
Punisher, Tormentor Helm, Night Field, Combat Drugs

Retinue x 9 - 174 points
Incubi x 6, Warrior x 3

Raider - 70
Night Shield

The equipment on the Lord is a classic build and I approve of it. However, six Incubi and an Archon at 1500? What exactly at this point build cost do you see as a likely unit you'll run across that you will need 18 power weapon attacks against? I personally think you're dropping way too many points into this unit and are hamstringing the rest of your army because of it. I will point out that a Dracon is almost as good as an Archon and is much cheaper. Also, You could easily drop 1-3 of the Incubi and 2 of the Warriors and still have a very potent and effective unit. I'd personally advocate just 5 Incubi and maybe 1 Warrior if you really want an ablative wound. I'd also note that at 1500 you'd probably be better served by more Wyches then by an Incubi squad - but I understand how cool it can be to field Incubi so it's really your call.

Wych x 10 - 140
Wych Weapons

Raider - 70
Night Shield

This is covered at length in the tactica but you really need the Succubus upgrade and an Agoniser. Like Orks with a Nob and powerklaw Wyches really win fights via the Agoniser and being difficult to kill, not by being capable of killing stuff with Str 3 non power weapon attacks. I also strongly entourage the inclusion of 2 Blasters in the unit, it will make the Wyches much more adaptable and better at killing pretty much everything. If you have the models you could really benefit from 2 Wych squads (and they don't need to be 10 man, 6-7 Wyches can do quite well for you, remember it's the Agoniser and the Blasters that are really doing the killing)

Warrior x 10 - 110
Blaster x 2, Splinter Cannon x 2

Raider - 70
Night Shield

As Clthomps noted - this is an illegal build as the only way to get a Raider is with a Raider squad. I like that you're trying for a Gunboat build as it is my preference as well. I advocate 1 S.Cannon and 1 Blaster per Gunboat.

3 Troop options is woefully too few for DE. All of our Troops are very fragile and in 5th Troop slots are king (and on top of that out Troop options are all really good). I would quite frankly happily drop your whole retinue for two additional Troop slots and consider the army quite superior for the shift.

Ravager - 130
1x Disintegrator, Night Shield

I approve of both of your other Ravager options but have to point out that I feel this particular build is just silly. Since Dissies can be fired as defensive weapons if you want a mixed loadout 1 lance and 2 dissies can still let you fire all weapons if you move over 6" 2 Dissies can also still be good for anti-infantry and 1 lance is okay for anti-tank. But 2 lances and a single Dissie? You don't get optimal firepower if you move over 6" and if you move under 6" you don't have enough Dissies to really dent a squad. Either save points and go all lances (which considering your other army selections is what I would advocate) or pay out for 1-2 more Dissies.

Again, having not played them, I am a little unsure as to tactics. I have 10 dark lances for my main anti vehicle, and hopefully with that I can take out any lascannons/long range weaponry which can shoot me even at max range with the night shields.

At 1500 I think you are a touch light on lances at the moment. Though there is no hard and fast rule for how many pieces of dark matter to have in an army I think approximately 1 per 100 points is not an unreasonable gauge for a new player to consider. Though i find lances quite effective many newer players complain that they are not good enough. Only time will truly teach you what is the right amount for you.

If I am at least moderately succesful in that, against most armies I am hoping I can dance outside of their range while pelting them with fire. If i am facing a horde force, I feel the disintegrators and splinter cannons should be able to help me thin their numbers before they reach me. Wyches are there for counter charge/tarpitting, and my HQ can hit pretty hard with a couple warriors in there as fodder.

This is a good basic nutshell of a DE battleplan but quite frankly you sound like you're planning for a DE Gunline battle while bringing a Gunboat build. Gunboats you'll find tend to be more of a midfield aggressor and usually work best paired with assault elements that are intending to be aggressive, not reactive in nature. Defensive assault plans and dancing on the outer edges tends to favor more of a Gunline build that usually involves Warrior/Raider squads equipped with more Dark Lances.

As mentioned, I am not a fan of your Lord and retinue build. He's too effective and is likely to obliterate whatever he charges. At that point it will be easy for your opponent to shoot at them. Also - with only 2 assault units and one of them being so drastically more dangerous then the other (and both in flimsy armor 10 vehicles) any opponent with a brain rattling around in his head will probably easily deny your lord of his ride as part of his first shooting phase. This is one of the advantages of more Wyches and a smaller Incubi build - it makes the units more equal in threat level and forces your opponent to choose between equally threatening options for what to kill.

My main concern is monstrous creatures getting into close combat. Besides tarpitting them with wyches, I feel like I am pretty susceptible to getting hit hard by that. My hope is that most monstrous creatures will be too slow to catch me, and those that have wings will be made a high priority with all of my heavy weapons.

You've basically hit the nail on the head here. Any army with lots of MCs (basically the Nids and Daemons) tend not to have vehicles and vice versa. Against MC armies your anti-tank is now anti-horrible slavering thing. This is another point where Blasters become incredibly useful as they allow Gunboats to threaten MCs and also allow Wyches to poke holes in them prior to the assault. It is also another good reason to have multiple Wych squads as they really are a perfect tool for locking down and killing many types of MCs.

Another thing I am wondering is if maybe I should drop the night shields on my close combat oriented squads. My first instinct is no, because in these kind of vehicles they can be dropped in a second, and my experience with the Eldar is once you are out of your vehicle, you are ineffective, and probably dead before you get to do anything. However, I also feel like it could easily end up as wasted points if I am having to move towards an opponent and nullify the night shields effect.

Your basic instinct that loss of vehicle = dead squad as that maxim probably holds even more true for Dark Eldar then their less shadowy kin (yes, we are even weaker then Eldar...but at least we have a BS of 4).

Nightshields are a topic of...contention in the DE community. Some players swear they are the best thing since sliced bread and should go on every vehicle without question. Other players claim they are a sad waste of points since most major anti-mech weaponry will have the range in any case and the points are better spent on additional units (I tend to be of the latter opinion myself, a good offense being the best defense and all that). In the final analysis N.Shields are really something I think all new DE players should play both with and without so they can draw their own conclusions of how much their army is helped/hindered by them.

I will offer the following list to help you if you want to maybe trim some N.Shields but not all;

Night Shields are best on
Ravagers
Your Lord's Raider
Mini Sniper Raiders
Wych Raiders
Gunboat Raiders
___________________________
Night Shields are most useless on

JGrand wrote:

I'd take the punisher and splinter pistol for the +1 attack. No need for the tormentor helm. Shadow field and combat drugs are a must. I like the hell mask for 5 points.

You need the t. helm to get the +1 A, since punisher is a two-handed weapon. Also, since the Incubi are a retinue you can't target the lord anyhow. So the hell mask offers no benefit.

For the rest of the list, definitely slim down the wych squad and give them a succubus w/ agonizer. As others have mentioned, you'll probably want more lances. Especially since so many of your vehicle lances will be dropping quickly (get used to losing just above every raider every game). With the ravagers, I'd recommend arming them as either triple lance or triple diss.

First, I'd like to thank everyone for the replies. I read the codex rather quickly before I put this list together, and I missed some pretty obvious stuff like the raider squad.

One of the main reasons I took the retinue was to protect the lord in CC. Having used the farseer for a long time, even with the re-rollable invulnerable (or in this case the shadowfield) all it takes is one hit from a power fist, Demon Prince, Tyrant or whatever to turn him into a sticky paste that the enemy has to scrape off their weapon. That being said, I will probably cut it down to 2-3 incubi and the rest warriors. The more wounds I can shunt off of the lord the better, especially at 8 points per warrior.

For some reason, I mixed the rules for the poisoned blades and the agonisers, so I thought they weren't power weapons. Having looked back at it, I am definitely going to start including some agonisers once I update this list.

@ thor

I do want to bring more troops, but may be limited by the number of raiders I will have at the moment. I think I will probably end up taking the some of the 5 man raider sniper squads you suggest from the tactica and giving their transport to better equipped warrior squads, so that will help.

As for the ravager build you dislike, I can see your point. I will probably change it to 2 of the dark lance ravagers and one pure disintegrator ravager.

This is a good basic nutshell of a DE battleplan but quite frankly you sound like you're planning for a DE Gunline battle while bringing a Gunboat build. Gunboats you'll find tend to be more of a midfield aggressor and usually work best paired with assault elements that are intending to be aggressive, not reactive in nature. Defensive assault plans and dancing on the outer edges tends to favor more of a Gunline build that usually involves Warrior/Raider squads equipped with more Dark Lances.

I am a little confused as to what you mean by this. In my experience, gunlines are not very mobile, and with my main guns being heavy dark lances, I either have to sit still and shoot, letting the enemy get ever closer, or run back 6" at a time and forgo my shooting.

The current list I had would have had the warrior squads on raiders at intermediate range shooting any infantry visible, ravagers in the back pounding away at the heavies, and wyches/lord boosting forward to engage high priority targets.

As for the night shields, I can definitely see where people who think they are a waste are coming from. Dishing out 15 points to protect a 55 point vehicle when that upgrade may not ever come into effect can easily be a waste of points. However, I feel like the best possible defense for a low armor vehicle is to make it so it can't be shot, which is what the night shield gives you if you play it right. I will have to see if I am skilled enough to make use of them, or if I just need more warm bodies on the table.

I did play a test game today, and I ended up getting tabled. Its what I expected in my first game with them. I had some of the worst luck on the rolls I have ever had, was hitting with maybe 10% of my dark lance shots, and my night fields fell 1-2" short of saving my lords raider and one of my ravagers. But, much like the eldar, you either win big or lose big. I already like them better than eldar because IMO their offensive capabilities are much higher not only because of the cheaper point costs, but the large number of units on the field. I have had too many games where my 2 or 3 of my wave serpents spend the majority of the game shaken and unable to fire.

Finally, thanks to you in particular Thor. The extra effort you put into your response gives me a lot of insight. They are well reasoned, and well explained, which is invaluable to me at this point. I'll post another list soon and see if I can give it a little more oomph.

Doomenbot wrote:Finally, thanks to you in particular Thor. The extra effort you put into your response gives me a lot of insight.

If I'm good at anything it's being long-winded But thank you for the compliment.

This is a good basic nutshell of a DE battleplan but quite frankly you sound like you're planning for a DE Gunline battle while bringing a Gunboat build. Gunboats you'll find tend to be more of a midfield aggressor and usually work best paired with assault elements that are intending to be aggressive, not reactive in nature. Defensive assault plans and dancing on the outer edges tends to favor more of a Gunline build that usually involves Warrior/Raider squads equipped with more Dark Lances.

I am a little confused as to what you mean by this. In my experience, gunlines are not very mobile, and with my main guns being heavy dark lances, I either have to sit still and shoot, letting the enemy get ever closer, or run back 6" at a time and forgo my shooting.

I'll hopefully explain better;

First off - be aware that DE Gunline is not as static as most other armies. This is because the classic DE gunline will look something like this;
2x Lord w. a retinue with 2 dark lance armed Warriors in Raider
6x Raider squad with dark lance
3x Ravagers with whatever (usually Dissies)
some amount of tarpit (Wyches most likely, and in Raiders of course)

The gunline will shoot as the enemy advances and send out the Wyches to tarpit. However they will generally stay in their Raiders so that if it is needed they can all move flat out to move away from the approaching assault. (or 12". DE Gunline never moves 6" as once they move 0.1" they can't shoot the lances on the squads inside but they can move up to 12" and still fire the lance on the Raider itself. Thus they either do not move, or move 12"+ to maintain distance) This then can provide them additional turns of shooting and generally is rewarded by cries of 'cheese' from your opponent. They will also, after they have de-meched their opponents, quite often send in the Wyches and Lords to assault the now disembarked passengers. So, in my opinion a DE gunline does include mobility and staying away from their opponent by dancing around a bit.

Conversely the DE Gunboat build usually features the classic gunboat which is a Raider squad with both a Splinter Cannon and either the Blaster or Shredder. Since you cannot take multiple S.Cannons without performing some turn one transport hopping tricks you have a single weapon with a range over 12" if the Raider moves at all. This then shows the Gunboat's optimal range is 12" since then they can rapid fire their splinter rifles and also bring to bear the potent power of the Blaster in addition to the S.Cannon. Operating at 12" doesn't let you really play the game of "dancing at the edges" since to inflict real damage you are basically moving into assault range. Thus Gunboat builds usually use Wyches to lock down dangerous targets and will use Raiders to block up and control the ability of the enemy to move around - but in the end the Gunboat tends to operate at a shorter range.

That's why I said your 'dancing at range' commentary suggested a Gunline strategy concept whilst your list was more Gunboat. It looks like I possibly just misunderstood you, but the above is just explanation of where that misunderstanding came from.

I did play a test game today, and I ended up getting tabled. Its what I expected in my first game with them. I had some of the worst luck on the rolls I have ever had, was hitting with maybe 10% of my dark lance shots, and my night fields fell 1-2" short of saving my lords raider and one of my ravagers. But, much like the eldar, you either win big or lose big. I already like them better than eldar because IMO their offensive capabilities are much higher not only because of the cheaper point costs, but the large number of units on the field. I have had too many games where my 2 or 3 of my wave serpents spend the majority of the game shaken and unable to fire.

DE usually seem to either table or be tabled. If the lances go bad on you you're pretty much doomed in the current environment. You'll learn that's one of the reasons so many players have strong opinions about how many lances is the "right" amount to have in any given army list. I know we have one player on Dakka who pretty much scoffs at anything under 20 lances. Meanwhile I tend to be pretty happy with 13-15 in my lists, but I also field a lot of blasters and am usually accused of having loaded dice for my lances.

I will say a very important lesson to be aware of is that the dark lance is okay at popping vehicles - it is not great. In general you're looking at a 4 to glance and a 5-6 to pen, which means half the time you won't do anything to a vehicle even if you hit and they're not in cover. A concept I've shared with a few new DE players is to be aware of what you need to do each shooting phase. Always be aware of high threat vehicles (ones that can tear apart a Raider/Ravager every round (Most side sponson equipped Predators for instance) or vehicles that are very dangerous because of what they carry (Battlewagons usually fall into this category)

Use your shooting to target the threats in order of what's most dangerous to you each turn, and also *never* fire more lances then you need to accomplish the job. For instance - with the Predator I mentioned earlier; the danger is when the Predator can shoot because statistically it's pretty much going to kill a Raider every turn. Therefore, only fire lances at it until it's not shooting that turn. You don't need to kill it since you probably have some other vehicles that need to be shot, so just shake it and forget about it until next turn. I personally think some of my accusations of being 'too lucky' can be traced to just being mindful of never shooting lances at something I don't need to shoot anymore so I have enough lances to accomplish my next goal.

Between Thor and myself we span the gamut of viable DE lists. He is a gunboat wyche guy and I prefer Hit and run gunline.

What you are trying to do is spit the difference. Its not going to work.

Since you mentioned not having enough raiders as the problem here is the list I would run with the number of raiders you do have:

1500 Pts - Dark Eldar Roster

1 Dracon @ 106 pts (Agoniser; Splinter Pistol; Combat Drug Dispenser; Shadow Field)

1 Haemonculi @ 45 pts (Scissorhand; Destructor)

1 Haemonculi @ 45 pts (Scissorhand; Destructor)

5 Raider Squad @ 115 pts (Blaster; Splinter Rifle x3; Dark Lance; Raider)
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance; Horrorfex)

5 Raider Squad @ 115 pts (Blaster; Splinter Rifle x3; Dark Lance; Raider)
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance; Horrorfex)

5 Raider Squad @ 115 pts (Blaster; Splinter Rifle x3; Dark Lance; Raider)
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance; Horrorfex)

10 Warrior Squad @ 100 pts (Splinter Rifle x8; Dark Lance x2)

10 Warrior Squad @ 100 pts (Splinter Rifle x8; Dark Lance x2)

5 Wyches @ 182 pts (Close Combat Weapon; Splinter Pistol; Wych Weapons; Blaster x2; Combat Drugs; Plasma Grenades)
. . 1 Succubus (Agoniser; Splinter Pistol; Wych Weapons; Plasma Grenades (Squad))
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance; Horrorfex)

5 Wyches @ 202 pts (Close Combat Weapon; Splinter Pistol; Wych Weapons; Blaster x2; Combat Drugs; Plasma Grenades)
. . 1 Succubus (Agoniser; Splinter Pistol; Wych Weapons; Crucible of Malediction ; Plasma Grenades (Squad))
. . 1 Raider (Dark Lance; Horrorfex)

1 Ravager @ 125 pts (Disentegrator x3; Horrorfex)

1 Ravager @ 125 pts (Disentegrator x3; Horrorfex)

1 Ravager @ 125 pts (Disentegrator x3; Horrorfex)

Total Roster Cost: 1500

you mentioned taking a retinue because you wanted to protect your HQ. That totally against Dark Eldar thinking, let the 2+ invuln save cover his ass, if it fails who cares!

The list I posted is a mobile gunline, Set up the warriors that don't have a raider on opposite ends of the map (hopefully on an objective) then place all of your paper airplanes off to the side with the best firing lanes using the warriors to shield them from assaults. When your turn starts move the ravagers 6" and fire your 9 plasma cannons, then keep all the rest of your units stationary and fire your 12 dark lances. Do this for 2-3 turns, As soon as they are within a threatening distance of your gunboats Jet 24 inches to the other meat shield..... err... invaluable foot soldiers, then with your other two boats roll up 12" deploy 2" off making sure to split the Heamons and the Dracon out of the unit, double flame template, double horrorfex and assault 12" with the dracon, then just tarpit the largest units with the wyches, and warriors (make sure you assault the warriors into a separate unit since they are going to take a lot of wounds and lose combat. Sure the warriors are going to die but they are going to be stranded in a corner with only a couple of turns left to do anything.

When turn 5 rolls around just jet 24 inches and contest / capture anything around.


I honestly have not had even a close game in anything under 1500 points with this type of list.

Hmmm. This has given me a lot of food for though. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I can playtest a little more and see what works for me. Thanks again for the advice, now lets see if I can't go out and get some slaves.