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Im wanting to start a 500 pts dark eldar army to tackle my friends nids. im looking to get the battleforce and a leader and some other things that wont be too much money. i was thinking of getting a haemonculus or succubus as a leader and possibly a talos. i really need some help in deciding a decent force. can anyone help me ?????

First off welcome to the TRUE eldar. (Hands milk and cookies to new member of the Dark Side).

So you will have 10 Wyches, 10 Warriors, 3 Bikes, a Talos, and either a Haemonculus or a Succubus. First off I would get another Raider and a Ravager instead of a Talos as I tend to use them alot more. More Warriors will most likely do better than Wyches against nids. An Archon is a better bet than a Succubus due to the shadowfield and he can dish out almost as much damage. With that said I will try and get a so/so list with what you said you were planning on getting not off of my suggestions.

HQ: Haemonculous 50pts

Troops: 10 Warriors with SC (I would build one with a blaster and just ask if it's ok to proxy as a rifle as blasters see more use against other armies but you need volume of fire here not tank busting) 100pts? I think this is right but with no codex infront of me and going with what I can remember here!
Haemonculous joins this squad and I would use them to cove a home objective since they have no raider.

Troops: 10 Wyches with a Wyche weapons of your choice...I tend to go Hydra Gauntlet or Shardnet, but I like Hydra better....and a Hekatrix with a venom blade. 145pts? Double check my pts please!
Raider with FF for Wyches 70pts

Heavy Support: Talos with Chain Flails and an extra CC weapon 135? (This is the one cost I'm not so sure of, but this guy should be rough in CC even for nids!)
500pts (assuming I'm right) on the button

So like I said the warriors hang back and cover the home objective (In KP they move up somewhat but try to stay 24" away so each rifle can shoot and stay still for 6 shots from the cannon. Don't really like wyches but I went for a wounds over Power Weapons on them since most nids have a bad save anyway. They also have a raider which a dissentegrator would be better against nids but other armies you will need that dark lance. I was really tempted to turn the talos into a chronos (same box) to agument the wyches but you need something stronger in CC.
Hope this helps...AND DOUBLE CHECK MY PTS!

Haemonculus: Naked - 50
9 Wyches: Hekatrix with Agoniser, Shardnet + Impaler - 130
Raider: Flickerfields -70

5 Warriors: Blaster - 60
Venom: Extra Splinter Cannon: 65

5 Warriors: Blaster - 60
Venom: Extra Splinter Cannon: 65

That's a good basis for an army, everything in it will still be useful if you choose to scale up to 1000 or 1500 points so no money will be wasted. All you need to buy is the battle force, 2 Venoms and a Haemonculus, so its relatively cheap.

You can add in a couple of Ravagers, a Talos and the Reavers if/when you choose expand.

So a full 500 list for me would look something like this:
HQ: Haemonculus 50pts
Troops: 2x 5 Man warrior squads with blasters in venoms with the extra splinet cannon and nightshields 135pts apiece for 270pts total
Elite: 5 man Incubi (yeah in a 500pt list) in a raider with a nightshield and flickerfield 170pts

I don't really like nightshields that much but I couldn't find anything else to give the 30pts to...I guess you could upgrade the incubi to have a Klaivex but that seems like too much in a 500 point game. I'm also not a fan of wyches at this level in this codex...so I went with the harder hitting incubi. Oh the Haemonculus hops in with them and their raider. I feel like this will scale pretty well as almost everything you see here you will see in higher point lists. And as I said in my earlier post get some ravagers instead of a talos as those you will use almost all the time. So I have given you two lists and Gorechild has a pretty good list too. So try some out (proxy some if you need to) and figure out what you like.

I use this:

Haemonculus
3 Wracks - Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons
5 Warriors - Blaster, Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons
Ravager - Flickerfield
Ravager - Flickerfield
Total - 500

Your Nid opponent will cry.

thanks for al the tips guys. I should mention that my friend will most likely be using a hive tyrant with tyrant guard, carnifex and a load of genestealers as thats his usual setup. he doesnt like nids shooting (even though ive shown him some advantages of it) so he goes all-out CC. We had a battle recently and my friends nids destroyed my other friends khorne berzerkers and termies.

He won't be having Hive tyrant Guard and a Carnifex at 500 points. Tyrant with guard is about 300 points, Fex best paret of 200 and that leaves nothing for troops.

im not realy up to scratch on the nids point values but thats what he usually runs with.


On a side note how would i make this list capable to be a fun/ semi competitive list capable of taking on all comers at 500 pts using minimal cash ???

At 500 points you will struggle to fill the 2 Troop's and 1 HQ in transports if you want to include anti tank. Admitedly at 500 points you dont come across that much armour, but if you face more than 1 or 2 transports you may struggle.

If you're looking to scale up, you can make a fairly competitive list with 2 battleforces, 3 Ravagers, 4 Venoms and 2 Haemonculi. That's £308 directly from GW (probably closer to 200 from an online retailer) and should easily hit the 1500 point mark.

Basically double the list I previously posted then add in the Reavers and Ravagers. It might even leave you points to spend on toys for the Haemonculi.

Well me and a few friends were in talks about starting up our own thing where you start out with a 500 point army then gradually work your way up to 2500 points while battling every week, so i kinda need a 500 point army that can take on any type of force.

The 500 point list I posted yesterday has:

3 Darklight shots (1 Darklance 2 Blasters) that should be able to handle a Rhino or two, I cant see that you'll be facing any more than that at 500 points.
24 poisoned (4+) shots from the venoms and a further 8 (or 16 at half range) from the rest of the Warriors for killing infantry and MC's
9 wyches with FNP, that can go toe to toe with any normal infantry and come out of it okay. As long as you don't go throwing yourself into big units of CC specalists (which will be few and far between at 500 points level) you should be alright.
All the vehicles can move 12" and shoot, so you can avoid a lot of enemies and maintain a decent rate of fire.

It has a bit of everything, so should be able to handle almost everything. I can't imagine (although I rarely play 500 point games) an opponent would be able to bring enough tanks to cause you trouble. If you were moving up to 750 points, you could add Haywire grenades to the wyches, give the Haemonculus a liquifier and add in the Reaver jetbikes

Thaks a lot Gorechild ill use the list you say as it has everything i could want in a 500 point force. Seems pretty solid and with over 30 poisoned shots and 3 darklight shots i cant see much geiing past that to harm my wyches.

Just be careful of PW as they will only leave you with the 4++ not the FNP. Gorechilds list uses almost everything you should have and should scale well. I also agree that there should not be that much armor at 500. 1-2 things tops.

i am worried about PW but am hoping that i can take them out with my ranged. on another side note what should i give the reavers from the battleforce ???

Heat Lances and Caltrops (the d6 str6 attacks with bladevanes)...don't mix these in a squad as one will be turboboosting and the other hopping in and out of cover but being able to have the extra models will help. If you are only going to go with one I'd go with the bladevane upgrade as scourges can do heat lances as well.

Theres really not much to worry from power weapons. you have a 4++ save in close combat, thats what makes them so good at tar pitting. If you take a shardnet as well you can ensure they are taking 1 less attack with that power weapon.

HQ:
Haemonculus, Liquifier (60)

TROOPS:
Wyches x9, Haywire Grenades, Hekatrix, Agonizer, Raider (198)
Warriors x5, Blaster, Venom w/Dual Cannons (125)

HEAVY:
Ravager w/Flicker (115)

TOTAL: 498

This is what I use. It scales well to anything else you want to add.