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I'm looking to enter a Rouge Trader Tournament later this month with my Dark Eldar. From what I've been told the winner is determined by strait battle points - so no soft scoring. I have minimal experience with Dark Eldar and will only be able to get 2-3 practice games in before the tournament, so any advice is appreciated.

Archon; agonizer, combat drugs, splinter pistol, shadow field - 133
Archon will ride with Wyches or take a Raider for himself. The other HQ option would be Dracon, 5 Warriors; 2 DL and a Raider

5 Wyches; plasma grenades, wych weapons, 2 blasters succubus w/ agoniser – 108
Raider; DL, NS – 70
5 Wyches; plasma grenades, wych weapons, 2 blasters succubus w/ agoniser – 108
Raider; DL, NS – 70
5 Wyches; plasma grenades, wych weapons, 2 blasters succubus w/ agoniser – 108
Raider; DL, NS – 70

9 Warriors; SC, Blaster - 87
Raider; DL, NS – 70
9 Warriors; SC, Blaster - 87
Raider; DL, NS – 70
8 Warriors; SC, Blaster - 79
Raider; DL, NS – 70
5 Warriors; DL – 50
Raider; DL - 55
5 Warriors; DL – 50
Raider; DL - 55
5 Warriors; DL – 50
Raider; DL - 55
The Dark Lance Warrior squads get deployed in cover, near home objectives at the start of the game. Their Raiders provide hull down for as many vehicles as possible. The blaster / cannon squads stay in their raiders and look to stay alive to capture more objectives. I could easily switch the cannons to lances, but want to have some insurance against potential horde armies.

1 Ravager; 3 DL, NS – 125
1 Ravager; 3 Dis, NS – 140
1 Ravager; 3 Dis, NS – 140

Total: 1,850
15 Dark Lances, 6 Disintegrators, 3 Splinter Cannons, 9 Blasters

The stuff I didn't comment on is pretty standard. I went with Night Shields to increase my survivability - but I could probably fit in those Incubi or something else if I dropped them. I've been told that Marine variants dominate the scene with Eldar, Deamons, Orks and Tyranids sprinkled in.

Big questions:

Night Shields or no Night Shields?
Splinter Cannons or more Dark Lances?
Archon or Dracon + 2 Dark Lances?
Are Warrior squads of 5 enough? Should I figure out a way to get more in there?
Anything else in the list you see not working?

Of course any other feedback and suggestions are welcomed as well.

To your questions

A) I would say no to night shields
B) Dark Lances, the REAL name of this codex is Codex: Dark Lance
C) I would drop the Warrior unit from the Archon. Let him roll with one of the Wych squads for a bit of counter assault. The Warrior retinue will just make him run away because of combat resolution
D) Yes, min 5 man warriors in Raiders is what you want.

DON'T DISEMBARK THE WARRIORS EVER! Seriously, they will die in an instant if they get out. Keep them safe and scoring inside the Raiders. Because the raiders are open-topped, your Warriors are protected from small arms fire (sort of) and can still fire to full effect. Also remember a dedicated transport and the unit inside of it can fire at two different targets.

I have had great returns with taking an Archon with a punisher, tormenter helm, shadow field, plasma grenades, and the animus vitae. I don't take a retinue. I have him take over a raider and use him to mkae 30 inch assaults. Its a great way to take out Long Fang or Blood Angel assault squads.

Wyche squads should take 2 blasters - its only 10pts and you only give up 2 str 3 non-power weapon attacks to get them.

I think you have enough dark lances - I would take all dissie ravagers - helps on the hoarde control.

Horrofex's, especially on the wyche raiders ( the ones you know that will be getting close) are awesome. Read the rules for them and think about how they can screw your opponent.

When I take gunboat squads (blaster and splinter cannons) I usually run 8 man squads. The extra rapid fire shots are useful - especially against daemons. Pink horrors and daemonets hate gunboats!

If you have good terrain, taking a couple of sniper squads out of the raiders can be a good thing. That way the squad can stay put and shoot and you raiders can move 12 and shoot - giving you the advantage of speed and manuverability - what the DE are supposed to do.

Thanks eNvY and Vrakk;

I'm gonna have to agree with both of you and drop the Retinue and Raider. I can either stick the Archon with Wyches or have him hop in an empty Raider.

I like the idea of giving Wyches blasters and beefing up some of my mobile Warrior squads. I lose a Dark Lance but gain 6 blasters and some extra bodies.

I will update the original list, but am still looking for feedback!

I don't think you'll need the Night Shields on the Wyche raiders or the gun boats. For both the be effective you're going to be need to be close to your opponent - limiting the effectiveness of the Night Shield. I would keep them on the Ravagers since their role is to sit as far away as possible and shoot.

If I drop the Night Shields I could replace a Wych squad with Incubi and beef up either the remaining Wych squads or the Warrior squads.

Still unsure of whether I should try to get at least 9 Warriors in 3 squads (for leadership check purposes), or be satisfied with 7 per squad.

6 warriors per squad is fine really when you're going for max efficiency. Trust me if anyone 'really' shoots at them, they'll know it and that one guy probably won't help matters. You'll take a check.

Try some games with Incubi - I don't think they are worth it but you might have better luck.

I find Archons equipped with punishers to out perform those with agonisers, he can get str 5 pretty easially so you wound most infantry on 3s, and tougher infantry on 4s. He/She doesn't need to be fighting monsterous creatures or dreadnoughts AT ALL leave that to the lances. A good cheap retinue is 3 incubi and 2 warriors with SC's give em plasma grenades and a raider and their set. The warriors can catch bullets for the incubi and archon and they can dish out a nice 8 str 4 shots before charging.

Your wyches are fine I'd probably drop a squad for a retinue, other than probably should consider Haywire. Wyches basically perform two roles IMO tie up stuff you don't want assaulting/shooting you and blow tanks up.

IMO I'd change the three different warrior squads to the DL squads. If I remember right you can only move 6 and still be able to fire with your units inside a vehicle so the question is do you really want to risk your warriors getting close to the enemy?

Your list looks good, you avoided taking the dumb units and kept to what works. I just wanted to add my opinion's on your HQ choice and Troops.