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I haven't played in forever, but I'm looking to start a DE army. I'm not too concerned with tourney-level competitiveness, but I want to know if I'm doing something completely wrong (or downright illegal).

HQ:
Haemonculus - WWP, Hexrifle
Haemonculus - WWP, Hexrifle
Haemonculus - Liquifier

Troops:
Warriors (x9) - Blaster, Raider w/Flickerfield
Warriors (x9) - Blaster, Raider w/Flickerfield
Warriors (x10) - Splinter Cannon
Warriors (x10) - Splinter Cannon

Elites:
Bloodbrides (x9) - Razorflails(x3), Haywire Grenades, Syren w/Agoniser, Raider w/Flickerfield
Trueborn (x5) - Blaster(x4), Splinter Cannon, Venom
Trueborn (x5) - Blaster(x4), Splinter Cannon, Venom

Heavy Support:
Talos - Chain Flails, CCW, Haywire Blaster
Talos - Chain Flails, CCW, Haywire Blaster
Talos - Chain Flails, CCW, Haywire Blaster

Fast Attack:
Beastmasters (x2) - Venom Blade, Khymera(x10), Razorwing Flock (x4)


Basically, it's an army that would let me do a lot of conversions (especially the Talos and Beastmasters). Two Haemonculi mount up with the warriors and drop of their portals. The third Haemonculus rides with the Bloodbrides to donate a pain token, but I'm not sure about this one's equipment...if I should just give it a Hexrifle and break it off to snipe. I had 200 points left over so I picked up the 10 man warrior squads, but I'd love to hear ideas of better ways to spend those points. Maybe drop a Talos (and free up some more points somewhere) to take another beastmaster squad? I dunno. Comments & critique are welcome.

I would give the 3rd Haemy a Hexrifle to snipe, as you said.

Make the 2 9-man Warrior squads Wyches with a Razorflail imo.

Make the Trueborn 4 man squads with just Blasters.

also, if you want 10-man Warrior squads, give them a Dark Lance rather than splinter cannon.

Lastly: the first rule of DE is start every list with 3 Ravagers.

I disagree with the 10 man warrior dark lance comment. Seems really expensive just to have only one non mobile dark lance for a vehicle. Btw the beastmasters are done wrong. You can only have ONE selection of the beasts per beastmaster. I think some of the bloodbrides should swap for a shardnet. very useful for defense.

MC2552John wrote:I would give the 3rd Haemy a Hexrifle to snipe, as you said.

Make the 2 9-man Warrior squads Wyches with a Razorflail imo.

Make the Trueborn 4 man squads with just Blasters.

also, if you want 10-man Warrior squads, give them a Dark Lance rather than splinter cannon.

Lastly: the first rule of DE is start every list with 3 Ravagers.

I mulled over pretty much everything you said while writing the list. Thanks for confirming some of my suspicions.
About the Ravagers...based on the lists I've read, it does seem like they're the only heavy support entry in the book. I've heard a lot of doom and gloom about parking lots in this edition, but the guys around where I live seem to be fielding the same armies that they did before 5th came out.

kenshin620 wrote:Btw the beastmasters are done wrong. You can only have ONE selection of the beasts per beastmaster.

Ahh! Thanks for pointing that out.

The Bloodbrides tend to be a waste of an elites slot. The only difference between them and regular wyches is an extra attack and a few more wych specific weapons. This is no way makes them a bad unit, but when compared to the alternatives, that is to say, Incubi, Trueborn (and Grotesques if your army swings that way), they're just not nearly as effective. The trick is normally to take Wyches in the troops slot if you're a'hankerin to use them, and leave the elites slot free for the more efficient options.

There's been a lot of support for the '3 blasters, 2 splinter cannon' configuration for Trueborn of late, with its allowance for multi-purpose, but that's a matter of personal taste.

Warrior squads are best taken in squads of 5 with one blaster, or ten with a dark lance when mounting them on vehicles, in order to squeeze out maximum points for special weapons effectiveness.

I realise that the Warrior squads are intended to drop the portals with the Haemonculi, and that reducing them to a squad of 4 eliminates special weapons altogether when crammed in a Venom, so my recommendation would be to drop the Bloodbrides, convert the two Warrior squads with Haemonculi to units of 9 Wyches in a Raider with a Haemonculi, and take them as replacement troop options. The Haemonculi pain token will come its handiest there.

The third Haemonculi you had riding with the Bloodbrides can then either be rotated to a Warrior/Trueborn squad, or dropped altogether, allowing you room for another Beastmaster squad/Incubi Squad.

I prefer Heat Lances instead of Haywire Blasters on my Talos, but that's a matter of personal preference.

If you want to convert and want you use WWP - make some wracks. A squad of 4 with a venom is only 105 pts, and will survive longer than 9 warriors.

I have tried the hexrifles mutliple times, in my opinion they are not a good option. Shattershard and liquifiers are much more effective.

I've been trying different lists for WWP and I have found that I at least 1 squad of 15 wyches with haywire grenades is a great addition. They are good against armor or troops and do not cost much compared to what they can do.

Some people like the full beast unit of 10 khymera, 6 razorwing flocks, and 5 beast masters. In my experience its to many points in one area. I have had good luck with 3 beastmasters, 5 khymera, and 4 razorwings - it keeps the cost down put is still resilent and can put out a ton of attacks.

I like talos coming out of the WWP, they work more as a scare tactic than anything else. They are very east to shoot down and my opponents are terrified of what they think it can do (even though the beasts an wyches are far more deadly!) The lack of fleet means it rarely gets into assault without being shot first - which is not so bad because those are often missle launcer and lascannon shots that are not pointing at my ravagers.

I do think that 1 or 2 ravagers is necessary. If not so much to destroy armor but to at least stop the shooting from a nasty tank for a turn is often all that is needed. If you're not running a talos you definetly need 3.

The best use for bloodbrides is to protect IC's with their shardnets and limit attacks on the IC. I usually just run wyches.

I too have seen many people support the blaster/splinter cannon Trueborn but I hate having paid for weapons that I'm not using. At 1500 I have been putting 3 trueborn with blasters in a venom as a mini-ravager with the added bouns of 12 splinter shots. It has worked well and most importantly, kept the points cost down. Nothing Dark Eldar have is very resilient, so having tons of units ofsets the pain when one is destroyed.

5 man warrior squads with a blaster in a venom are the nastiest unit in the book. I highly recommend them.

For a 2000pt WWP list:
(all venoms have dbl splinter cannons)

15 wyches, hay wire grenades, hekatrix with agonizer - 210
15 wyches, hay wire grenades, hekatrix with agonizer - 210
4 wracks in a venom - 105
4 wracks in a venom - 105
5 warriors, 1 Blaster, venom - 125
5 warriors, 1 Blaster, venom - 125

3 Beastmasters, 5 khymera, 4 razorwing - 165
3 Beastmasters, 5 khymera, 4 razorwing - 165
3 Beastmasters, 5 khymera, 4 razorwing - 165

Ravager - 105
Ravager - 105
Talos with chain flails - 110

Vect - 240
Hammy - shattershard 65

3 Trueborn with 3 blasters in a venom - 146
3 Trueborn with 3 blasters in a venom - 146
6 BloodBrides with haywire grenades and to shardnets , 1 Syren with Agonizer, in raider - 200

Puts you at 1997. Keeps the same flavor of list. Vect is a great addition at higher points, he is a beast in CC and the ability to seize on a 4+ is huge. Vect with the brides is a tough unit to take on other elite CC units. The beasts and wyches can take out horde or vehicles. The trueborn and ravagers are obviously your ranged AT. And as a bonus, you can field an entire force organization!

Thanks for the advice you two.

I don't see a WWP in your list, Vrakk. Those units on foot would have a hell of a time making it across the board, wouldn't they?

Vrakk wrote:

I do think that 1 or 2 ravagers is necessary. If not so much to destroy armor but to at least stop the shooting from a nasty tank for a turn is often all that is needed. If you're not running a talos you definetly need 3.

I disagree. If you have enough combat units capable of ripping tanks apart in close quarters, and you're running a Webways, its best to maximise on those units. Otherwise you you end up running a portal list with just a few combat units, that's not really geared towards taking advantage of your webway, in which case the webways are just a waste of points.

The best use for bloodbrides is to protect IC's with their shardnets and limit attacks on the IC. I usually just run wyches.

Agreed.

I too have seen many people support the blaster/splinter cannon Trueborn but I hate having paid for weapons that I'm not using. At 1500 I have been putting 3 trueborn with blasters in a venom as a mini-ravager with the added bouns of 12 splinter shots. It has worked well and most importantly, kept the points cost down. Nothing Dark Eldar have is very resilient, so having tons of units ofsets the pain when one is destroyed.

I think that if you're running less Venoms, and more Raiders in order to maximise on Dark Lances, the configuration is probably the best available for making sure you have some anti-infantry fire to combat any horde lists you might walk into. If you're already taking a blaster unit, slinging on an extra twenty points to the unit cost is the cheapest way of doing this.

5 man warrior squads with a blaster in a venom are the nastiest unit in the book. I highly recommend them.

They're handy when maximising the amount of vehicles you have, and nipping in and seizing objectives at the last minute, but I think that award goes to the Trueborn.

Vect is a great addition at higher points, he is a beast in CC and the ability to seize on a 4+ is huge.

Vect is a whole discussion in itself. Suffice to say he is indeed a combat beast, and in a pure Leafblower or Webway list, very handy. A list like the one you posted above with no webways? I'd disagree.