1500pts Dark Eldar "Council of Bones"

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**Aires**

See hereafter, an experimental list that I intend to be testing thouroughly. Constructive Criticism is most welcome!

HQ
"Council of Bones" (Haemonculus x6) - Reaver Jetbike, Destructor, Scissorhand, Plasma Grenades & hell mask

Elites
Wyches (8) - Wych-Weapons, Plasma Grenades, Blaster x2, Succubus with Agoniser

Troops
Raider Squad (10) x3 - Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Raider with Horrorfex
Warriors (10) - Dark Lance x2

Heavy Support
Ravager x2

Total, 1499pts

The plan is to have the raider squads in a first wave, to whittle down infantry squads while the raiders/ravagers pop the tanks, and then mop up what's left with the Haemonculi sweeping around by my enemy's flanks. All the while, the Warriors are camped on an objective, sniping whatever they can with the Dark Lances (preferably vehicles, but really whatever's in range).

Any thoughts?

**rashad**

That is a lot of kill points to be giving up, but I suppose that with the DE, that's kind of a given anyway.

What is the role of the Wytches?

**Kabal of Night's Wish**

i've seen lists like this do well in the past, but once the haemies start dieing, this list loses all of its punch. it relies a little too heavily on them.

I woul assume the wyches are a counter assault unit if anything too big and bad assaults the haemies (although with that many scizzorhands they could kill anything, lol)or to prevent said assaults... you might consider dropping the wyches for a dissie rav and another raider squad or sniper squad.

**Aires**

Yes, sorry, I should have clarified: The Wyches are a tarpit for any Monstrous Creatures, and similar, hence the blasters and Agoniser.

I will certainly consider ditching them, since more scoring units and firepower are seldom a bad thing.

**Thor665**

I agree with the idea of dropping the Wyches to get more troops, since at 1500 4 DE Troop selections just will not cut it. Also, by dropping the Wyches your list becomes more appropriately Coven themed, which could net you more comp points (if you're lucky/unlucky enough to play somewhere that uses them).

Do the Wyches have a Raider? If the answer is no then drop them or get them a Raider, those are your only sane options.

You could 'Nob Biker' up the Haemy squad with a bit of wargear manipulation to make them all unique. There are enough cheap options to make this pretty functional. I'd definitely, at the very least, work a trophy rack in on one of the Haemys since you do not want the unit to go scampering off the table.

You could save some additional points by trimming down the Raider squads. It is my belief that the value is in the S.Cannon, Blaster, and Raider. Extra splinter rifle shots are nice versus GEQ and some hordes, but in the end I'd rather afford an additional separate unit rather then a maximized squad.

**Kabal of Night's Wish**

the haemies are already IC's each- they don't necesarily need nob squadding to make them all unique, since they all have IC status wounds are allocated anyway

**Thor665**

Except in the shooting phase, where they count as part of the unit they are joined with and are only separated for wound allocation via wargear.

**Kabal of Night's Wish**

I would argue that they still have IC status and so even if it's a squad, it's still a squad of independant characters.
I've not really run into this problem before, but is there a rule (don't have my brb on me) or a precedent for this?

**Thor665**

Relevant rules are pg 25 (Complex units) and pg. 49 (shooting at independent characters).

When absorbing shooting damage models can be made part of separate wound groups for the following reasons.

different profile (the haemys all have the same profile when joined together)
different special rules (again. all the same)
different wargear (all have the same wargear)

As part of a unit the only way an IC can be allocated wounds separately is if something about him is unique and different from the other characters/units he's joined with. In the OP's current list there is nothing defining them as different and thus they are not a complex unit and you cannot wound allocate when being shot at.

**Kabal of Night's Wish**

mmk then. as i said, i never really ran into this problem so yeah.. now i know. but this is simple enough to get around. i would probably do something like this:

Haemy 1: RJB, Destr., SH,
Haemy 2: RJB, Destr., SH, PG
Haemy 3: RJB, Destr., SH, PG, HM
Haemy 4: RJB, Destr., SH, PG, HG
Haemy 5: RJB, Destr., SH, PG, HG, HM
Haemy 6: RJB, Destr., SH, HG, HM

Or for even cheaper, you can drop the Hellmasks or Haywire grenades for gruesome talismans.. one could have an archangel, one could have trophy racks.. it would be very easy i think

**Kwi**

Umm, this is not necessary - I do not believe you have to change the wargear in order to allocate wounds because they are Independent Characters.

Example:

If someone attacks my grotesques that are being led by a Haemy the attacks are only going to attack the Grotesques, they do not spill over to the IC (Haemy).

If someone attacks my Haemy (that they are in base contact with) then only those attacks can be allocated to that particular Haemy - they do not roll over to the next IC (Haemy).

Am I missing something?

**Thor665**

Wound allocation is handled differently in close and ranged combats. I quoted above the relevant rules to support my interpretation.

The point is to make the unit a complex unit so that you can allocated versus shooting (there is no need to worry about it for h2h combat since at that point the IC rules take over).

**Turalon**

But they are not forming a unit, the Homunculi are just 6 IC running around together. So I don't really see how they constitute a complex unit.

**Thor665**

Page 48, first paragraph, last sentence.

To paraphrase; they may join other ICs to create a powerful multi-character unit.

A bunch of ICs in a group is a unit and follows the rules thereof.

I agree that without different wargear they do not form a complex unit, and have noted already how the rules define a complex unit.

Edit: Also, we're really starting to sway away from the OP's purpose. If anyone really disagrees with me we can always open up a thread in YMDC to debate the finer points.

**Vrakk**

This is a fun idea for a list. I'm not a fan of putting all of my eggs in one basket but the idea of 6 IC's riding around together is pretty cool.

As an idea, would it work to take one 3 man squad of reavers to ride with the Hammies? I know it gets away from the Council of Bones but gives you 3 wounds to kill off before taking any on the Hammies. You could give one a blaster and one a shredder - now you have 9 different models to allocate wounds on.

**Kabal of Night's Wish**

adding three reavers with special weapons just increases that squad another 90 or so points, for 3 wounds. Totally not worth it, considering how horrid our bikes are at both melee and shooting. It is not something i would recommend at 1500 or even 2000.

Maybe at higher values you could consider it, but at that point i would be questioning why you're running haemies instead of tooled lords and such in the first place

**Kwi**

Kabal of Night's Wish wrote:but at that point i would be questioning why you're running haemies instead of tooled lords and such in the first place

I tried 6 Haemys on drugs (almost the same in cost but on foot) and 3 talos - very fun and I placed directly under the other DE player that was running 2 lords, Incubi, wyches and 3 ravs in a 2000 point GT (5 games).

It's a different way to play and you learn really quickly not to rely on the assault phase. I can see the fun in this list - the opponent "freak out" factor is almost worth price of admission (or at least the effort to make 6 haemys on a bike) and it's probably totally different from any other DE players in the area too.