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I am a returning 40k player. I played both Space Wolves and Eldar at about 2k-3k pt range in the last rulebook. My armies got destroyed by ruptured sewage pipes and such; I used this as a perfect excuse to pick up the DE which I always considered. (Let me restate this. I have not played since the last rulebook.) I am about to invest in a 1500 pt army which I was looking at to look about this....I do want to stick mainly to a kabal...my only opponents anytime in the near future will be 'Nids, Eldar, and SM. (another note...I only played annihilation matches from the last rule set..so obj will be new for me as well)

HQ-105
Archon w/Blaster and Shadowfield

Troop1,2, and 3 --- 195 per
10 Warriors w/blaster and splinter cannon
Raider w/ Flickerfield and Nightshield

Elite-183
4 Trueborn w/4 blaster
Venom w/ extra splinter cannon and Nightshields
(Note Archon will be in here with trueborn)

Fast Attack-280
5 Beastmasters
10 Khymera
4 Razorwing
1 Clawed Fiend

Heavy Support 1,2 ----125 per
Ravager w/ Flickershield and nightshields

If math is correct should be 1493

That list is illegal. The court of the archon requires that you take at least 1 of every type of unit. You can't take just two Lhameans.

Whoops, I have been reading that wrong then. I thought it was kinda like the beasts where you chose one or the other. That would make archons get real exp real fast. Thanks for the correction. I will have to find somewhere for the other 85pts to go since the court will not fit which if I am reading right means no venom for archon (?). Least I found out know before I bought them

Almost everything in your army is geared to kill infantry - you're almost helpless versus any sort of mech list. Are they really uncommon with your group?

In a general sense...I dunno, there's lot there I look sideways at. I'll actually just take the wimp way and suggest you check out the Tactica link in my sig - its got a lot of basic DE advice, and a lot of specific unit comp opinions.

My basic feel is you have too much anti-infantry.
A poor use of points in the Scourges.
And...questionable selection of the Mandrakes (seriously, they've got to be like, one of the top three worst options in the entire Dex - I'd only field them if you LOVE the models.)

I saw your tactica before I decided to sign up for dakka, but didn't quite understand why you had all minimal warriors with venoms. I may have to just take another look. As for the mech armies in my group...there is none. We will have a Eldar/Nids player who will be mainly playing nids and another player who is thinking about grabbing up SM for his first army. 'Nids are the reason for my heavy anti-infantry choices, but is it really that much better to take 5 warriors with venoms than 10 warriors with a raider? As for the other things I will look back into your tactica since everyone I have seen says your the Dark Eldar god as it is. Thanks for the reply.

((Edit: I do love the mandrake models The new models is another reason I actually decided to play DE if they still had the same models I wouldn't touch them...thats the reason I never started in the first place))

Why put chain snares on the raiders? As most armies have grenades which could take your raider down with easegive the scourges something like dark lances or hayire blasters.

Tell ya the truth about the chain snares I saw the 15 points and thought 'Hmmm...idk...5 pt upgrade to raiders'

((edit: Complete revamp of Kabal in my OP. Please rejudge and lemme know faults and such and what makes them that way I do appreciate it))

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Heres another note. I will only be fighting with Nids and a infantry heavy eldar army for the first 4 months or so...I will prolly not be wanting to add in massive amounts of AT until the SM player starts picking up.

HQ
Archon /w Huskblade, Soul Trap, Ghostplate, Clonefield, PGL
Heamonculus, Liquifier

Elite
x4 Trublasters, Venom, splintercannon
x4 Trublasters, Venom, splintercannon
x4 Incubi, Venom, Splintercannon

Troops
x5 Kabalites, Venom
x5 Kabalites, Venom
x5 Kabalites, Venom
x9 Wyches,shardnet, Hekatrix, PGL, agonizer, Raider, Flickerfield

Heavy
Ravager, Fickerfield
Ravager, Fickerfield

=1499

Its cookie cutter, and its awesome.
the ravagers can be outfitted with disintigrator cannons to take down MCs or eat up troops if you don't want the AT

Splitting up your Kabalites make them less likely to die right off the start, and go running home to momma. thats why you keep seeing them in venoms, which have 12 Splinter shots each. having more targets makes a glass army less breakable.

Beastmasters, Hellions, Talos are great, but WWP is recommended for these.

Wyches have neat staying power too.

And the Archon, what a Beast, Power weapon, instant death, Str.8(after an IC kill) , the ghostplate, clonefield can be replaced with shadowfield. followed by 4 Klaive wielding Incubi. they will be high priority targets, and for good reason.

This is what i would have liked to start off with, before wasting money and patience with 20 Wracks, RJBs, and not enough transports

I loved the idea of the beastmasters which is why I was gonna run a Wych Cult list at first...then discovered my main opponent was gonna be running 'Nids which made me rethink the whole h2h thing. Is splitting them really that great an idea? I was reading on here and everyone said to use multiple squads against each enemy unit, but their lists all had around 5 warriors and such and got me wondering why not just use a larger unit instead of busting out points for transports for multiple smaller units that will be going against the same targets anyways. As a note I did always run full squads with the last rule set in my other armies; so its a bit odd for me to think about 1/4 squad size. I do see your point about the glass army though...is only the elite venoms stacked with splinter cannons? Also do you dislike the nightshields?

You're thinking about this the wrong way. You don't take the minimum transports so you can take the most troops -- you take the minimum troops so you get to take more transports. Venoms are awesome. 12 BS4 4+ poison means 4 unsaved wounds per venom. Even if the opponent is in cover, that's 2 dead models. Quite potent, especially against the high toughness Tyranid models.

Would I always want to place splinter cannons and/or nightshields on my venoms or leave them as is?

Always take the 10-point splinter cannon option. You can forget about nightshields, though. I only use them if I have literally nothing else I can put the points on, and even then I only use them to obscure the vehicles behind them so as to give a 4+ cover save.

Anyone have a 1500pt list that would make good use of beastmasters? The only one I thought of besides the above was a wych cult. (I am a bit ocd and like the models to fit together...kinda themed, but also work well)


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Besides if anyone has a suggestion for a way to reliably fit the beastmasters into a 1500 pt army, Thanks for all the advice given. I am gonna take one more look before ordering the models.

Since both Venoms and Raiders only have 10 AV in all directions, small-arms fire gets to be a real problem. The NightShields mainly shine when they prevent the enemy from using rapid fire, so at distances between 6" and 12". This could very well be the difference between a living transport and a flaming wreck, esp if paired with a FF.

Beasts are great. Khymeras can soak alot of dmg with their 4+ invuln save, and razorwing flocks are the single most killy unit in melee in the entire DE codex, when regard to cost is taken! But they are weak, and easily insta-killed. Combining these make for a very potent unit, but just like you I can't find a way to fit it into my army theme.