I hate doing the line-by line, but I feel like I have to respond to some of this.
Yes, I can count. Hence, I suggested an improvement.
The "improvement" you suggested has 1 fewer Dark Lance. It exchanges 4 Blast Pistols for Blasters, undeniably better, but it also concentrates those Blasters into 2 squads instead of 4. As I said, that makes my
AT very vulnerable. You've pointed out that
DE vehicles die like flies. I'd rather that my opponent have to kill 4 flies to stop my Blasters than 2. Also, if I have to start in Reserve, I have a better chance of getting some of my
AT when I need it (early).
Your "improvement" also exchanges 4 Monoscythe missiles for 4 liquefiers. I don't think that's a good trade, for two reasons. (1) It forces me to consolidate my
AT. (2) It trades long-range firepower for short-range. As you said, this army is ridiculously fragile. If my opponent has a bunch of Lootas or something in the backfield, I can't rely on flamers to kill them.
Finally, your "improvement" removes a close combat squad.
I guess I'm just confused about where the improvement is.
Are you assuming you can actually cause some damage on more than five vehicles per turn? Losing AT power if anybody with a gun even glances at your vehicles is a problem every Dark Eldar list has.
Ah, but my list has less of a problem than yours (or my list with your suggestions). If my opponent glances (and shakes, stuns, or weapon destroys) my Venoms, I don't lose
AT firepower. Even if he destroys them, I can still run the Warriors on foot. As I mentioned before, my opponent also has to shoot more vehicles to stop me.
Unless you're planning a pretty huge car park over there, the first vehicle will simply be shot down and then your cover is blown. The flickerfield isn't prohibitively expensive for Ravagers considering it allows you more freedom of movement.
It would only be 20 points, you're right. The thing is, I don't know where to cut those points. I'll think about it.
The Haemonculi ARE giving the Wyches their pain tokens straight off. They'll start with the Wyches on the ground around near the Wyches' Raiders and the empty Venom. Turn 1 the Wyches will hop in the Raiders and the Haemonculi (sans tokens) will hop in the Venom.
Excellent, except you won't go first every game and I really doubt you're deploying anything on the table when you get second turn against a wide variety of armies.
If I need to go all-reserves, I guess the Wyches won't start with a Pain Token. I don't feel great about this, but there are three problems with dropping a Wych and throwing a Haemonculus in instead. (1) Haemonculi can't fleet. I don't want him slowing them down. (2) As you mentioned, Wyches don't hit that hard. Dropping to 9 Wyches means I lose a special weapon, which costs me 3-8 attacks on the charge (the Haemonculus has 4 one the charge, but he's I4 and doesn't have grenades). (3) It means I can't run the Haemonculi in the Trueborn's Venom (which I might switch out for a Raider...). Remember how liquefiers were so awesome you wanted 6 of them? Well, I'd like to get some use out of the ones I have.
The duality of purpose is the reason most people would mount their Wracks in Raiders. They're a more legitimate threat to units overall in this game than five Warriors with a blaster are.
Five Warriors with a Blaster and Blast Pistol, and a Venom. Here's the thing. I already have short-range anti-infantry (Wyches and Haemonculi), and I already have long-range anti-tank (Raiders, Ravagers, Razorwing, Trueborn). The Wracks would be more of the same, but the Warriors give me long-range anti-infantry and short-range anti-tank.
Since noone said it yet, on a power scale ladder, at 2K pts what we have here, even with my changes to it, we have a pretty mediocre army. The fragility of it isn't compensated enough on the firepower department. Mobility is a bit too expensive it seems and the fact that none of the assault squads can do anything meaningful against enemy transports is a massive problem.
You're right: this is not a perfect list. However, I haven't seen too many
DE lists that look much better. The only ones that look significantly better are the ones that use Beastmasters, and frankly I think people are misinterpreting how Power from Pain works with them, which makes a huge difference. Out of curiosity, do you have a 2k
DE list you think is up to snuff?