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HQ:

Archon - Blast Pistol, Agoniser, PGL, Clone Field


Elites:

4x Trueborn - 4x Blasters
4x Trueborn - 2x Dark Lances
5x Incubi

Troops:

10x Warriors - Sybarite, Blaster, Splinter Cannon
10x Warriors - Sybarite, Blaster, Splinter Cannon
10x Warriors - Sybarite, Dark Lance
10x Warriors - Dark Lance

Transports:

Raider - Flickerfield
Raider - Flickerfield
Raider - Flickerfield
Venom - Splinter Cannon
Venom - Splinter Cannon
Venom - Splinter Cannon

Heavy Support:

Ravager - Flickerfield
Ravager - Flickerfield
Razorwing - Disintegrators, Splinter Cannon, Flickerfield

Total - 1746
20x Darklight weapons (13x Dark Lances, 6x Blasters, 1x Blast Pistol)

The Archon and Incubi would go together in one raider, blaster warrior squads in the other two. blaster Trueborn in a venom with the empty venom's screening. lance warriors and lance trueborn to make objective-holding firebase.

Not completely the standard mechDEdar list but would it work? Your thoughts welcome

This list is illegal to start with, you cant buy a transport that a unit does not fit in so no raider for that 20man unit. Now to the list those 5 incubi and archon is to lonely one assult element will get swamped and killed and they are to expensive to be a counter charge unit.

OK... except its perfectly legal as the entry says 'may take a raider or venom as a dedicated transport', NOT 'if the squad numbers x models or less it may take etc...'

Remember this is a 5th edition codex and does not have 3rd/4th edition restrictions.

As for the Archon/Incubi - this was just a case of needing a bodyguard - the court is not very competitive and the archon is at his best in CC - would wyches be a better idea (tempting because of shardnets and inv saves).

Check GWs Dark Eldar FAQ and you will see that it say that you cant take a transport that you cant fit in.

It's in the codex, look again. The transport for the 20 man unit is illegal

Under "Dedicated Transports" it says you cannot take a transport for a unit that would not fit in the transport.

Simple fix to that, split the 20 man into two 10 man, one dark lance in each, and then one of them gets the Raider... still the same points, and you have the troop slots.

Drop the sybarites and you'll save points for something else.
The sybarites are only giving one more point of leadership the way they are now.

Drop the splinter cannons on the blaster warrior, they won't do anything against vehicles, and the blasters are overkill for infantry
or
Drop the blasters for the opposite effect( ie, anti infantry w/ splinter cannons; anti-vehicle w/ blasters

I'd say drop the blasters, since you're already swimming in them.

Short answer...no.

Theres a lot to sort out to make this competitive:

Firstly, you have 3 scoring units at 1750. especially considering our fragility this is a bad idea, and 2/3's of games are based around objectives . The 20 man warrior squad is an extremely bad idea, those 2 DL can be more cheaply obtaned elsewhere and on a more mobile base and your squad is amazingly vulnerable to LD issues, outflankers and blasts.You can take nearly 2 squads of 5 warriors in a venom (with 2 SC) and a blaster for the same cost. This applies to the 10 man squads: they're bloated,when writing a competitive list it's important to try and get as many cheap units as possible without diminishing their effectiveness: run them as 5 man units in venoms (like i mentioned earlier) and your saving 130 points and have lost one dark light weapon in exchange for twice as many poisoned shots (splinter rifles suck- you'll often be moving and out of rapid fire range or firing at a tank so wont get to use them).

Secondly, your incubi are your only CC unit, as such they'll be shot down quickly ,especially if you run the archon with them, after which they'll have little (or at least a greatly lessened) effect on the game. You are going to have a really hard time moving units (especially MEQ's) off of objectives. I'd recommend you use some of the points left over to buy at lest 2 wych squads,and i'd also drop the PGL and put the archon with the wyches who will benefit more from extra power weapon attacks, giving you 2 very strong CC units.

The First trueborn squad is pretty standard and works fine... but the second one isn't so good. Just take two squads with the 4 blasters. The DL squad is only marginally cheaper and has half as many shots and no maneuverability .

Give the archon a shadowfield, the clone field is a really poor choice where for the same price you could get a 2+ invuln , you archon wont survive long otherwise. The BP is also very expensive for a single shot within 6 inches, i wouldn't even add that to the lance count.

Heavy support is solid, personally i prefer the triple ravager approach but the razorwing makes an excellent anti infantry alpha strike unit (reserve it and then BOOM)

The total number of points left after the trimming of (IMHO) useless upgrades comes to 565 points (removing sybarites, DL on infantry, PGL,current troops), again i'd trim a little bit more so that you could fit in to 2 wych squads in FF raiders with haywire, the unit has a fair amount of utility (haywire vehicles for more anti tank, can tie up High S/PW low attack units, whittle at marine squads etc.) and 2 warrior squads in venoms. THis gives you 60 poisoned shots a turn wiht a 36 inch range, one less DL, far more maneuverability, an extra troop and some competent CC for a counter assault.

Good Luck

I only have two real questions....

1)Have you playtested this list yet?

and

2) who will your main opponent be?

Ok, make that 3 questions.....

3) Are you trying for a Tourney list or something that will be competitive at a FLGS or local gaming group?

Answer me these and I will tell you what I think, that way I have a slightly better idea of what you want instead of just throwing out MSU Trueborn spam like everyone else, or telling you your list sucks cause it doesn't have something in it they think is good. Let me know the answers and I will give you some advice, if you want it.

Apologies as regards to the transport thing...

I read the Dedicated Transports section of the BBB, the bestiary entries for the transports and the army list entries for those units who can take transports... and then didn't read the second sentance of the blurb about transports on page 91

However thanks to Galador for providing the solution (ie split into two squads)

@Galador - I do genuinely want to field a competitive DE force with a view to getting 1750 built and painted (money and time/kids permitting) for tournament play this winter. I have been kicking around a few ideas but most important for me is that I want to field a non-standard list. I have looked at the various lists doing the rounds on the net and whilst I am quite happy with the level of competitiveness I can get out of 3x triple lance ravagers and MSU trueborn spam, I want to come up with something that will force my opponent to think, rather than just going 'ooh, that's netlist #1254, it will play this way and the counters are x,y and z...' Does this make sense?

As always the devil is in the detail but I can think of a lot of cunning deployment possibilites with this list to try and even the odds against the hardest counters to DE (namely massed AV12 mech)

Thanks for the comments so far.

P.S. edited list to split the large squad.

Needs more CC punch; 1 squad of incubi won't cut it in most games.

Get some wyches! and agonizers! If your going to stay doing a warrior kabal, get some agonizers at least. Warriors aren't as beefy in CC but you'll need em anyway. Otherwise looks aight

Chimera_Calvin wrote:Archon - Blast Pistol, Agoniser, PGL, Clone Field
5x Incubi
The Archon and Incubi would go together in one raider

I disprove of the way you format your lists where you don't just put the dedicated transport next to the unit that's paying for it.
In any case, wanted to point this out - here is 100% of your assault options.
It's also the most expensive unit you'll have on the board.
Expected life expectancy? Not too good, especially considering this is over 300 points of stuff. Also, considering the entire rest of your list is gunline than I have to wonder how you expect this unit to really help slow down aggressive assault elements your opponent is going to use to try and engage your gunline?

For less you could get 2 Raiders (w. Flickerfields) 2 five man Wych squads (w. Agonisers) and still have 20 points left over to play with, and would have better speed bump units. I'll even probably manage to free up the extra 40 points for buying up a Haemonculous with Liquifier to ride with one if I work at this stuff below. Look, either your army is mostly about the firepower, in which case you need assault units that are more grindy and less flashy, or your army needs more assault elements to distract your opponent from this boat.

Elites:

4x Trueborn - 4x Blasters
4x Trueborn - 2x Dark Lances

No real complaints here.

Troops:

10x Warriors - Sybarite, Blaster, Splinter Cannon
10x Warriors - Sybarite, Blaster, Splinter Cannon

5 Warriors with one Blaster in a Venom w. 2x Splinter Cannons is, in my opinion, able to do what this unit can, and do it better for less points. The downside is you give up a lance on a Raider, but with extra points you can play around elsewhere for more lance firepower.

10x Warriors - Sybarite, Dark Lance
10x Warriors - Dark Lance

What's the purpose of the Sybarite? Seriously.

Transports:

Raider - Flickerfield
Raider - Flickerfield
Raider - Flickerfield
Venom - Splinter Cannon
Venom - Splinter Cannon
Venom - Splinter Cannon

So the Incubi are starting in/outside of their Venom and then are hoofing it into a Raider before taking off? The Lord is doing some of this as well, with his Clone Field that will not help him at all versus shooting? Eh...that seems risky You could just have them buy a Raider and modify one of the Warrior squads as I indicated and then your Raider/Venom numbers will be the same but the Incubi can start in their ride with the Archon (while screaming 'shoot us first, shoot us first' over and over...).

Ravager - Flickerfield
Ravager - Flickerfield
Razorwing - Disintegrators, Splinter Cannon, Flickerfield

3 Dakka Venoms and a Razorwing...what are you doing worrying about splinter cannons on your Warrior squads for? Really, by the time you're giving up a Ravager for a Razorwing you're admitting you feel you have your anti-tank handled and are worried about infantry.

Not completely the standard mechDEdar list but would it work? Your thoughts welcome

I feel you have a bit of 'egg in a basket' syndrome here. The assault force is too expensive and too much of a sore thumb, so that it sticks out like a troll at an elf convention. If your opponent fears assault, then he has this list's number already.
Second, I feel like you're sort of slapping an individual unit together, looking at it, deciding it's good, and moving on without trying to look at the army as a whole. There's some odd interplay with your supplies of anti-tank and anti-infantry and I feel like it will hurt you versus more focused armies.

At 1750 I think your assault element would be better served by Wyches and Haemys than Incubi and an Archon. They'll be tougher, they'll be better able to slow down assault armies, and they'll help you get more vehicles on the board which will increase your potential threat via speed and battlefield control. Not to mention, they're troop choices, which is tech.