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Hey all,

I primarily play Ork freebooters , but I am considering dabbling in Dark Eldar a bit. I'm interested in something uber fast and shooty, so I scrawled out a quick gunboat build, and would like some feedback.

This list's most frequent opponents would be Pure Khorne CSM (no psykers, no Heldrakes as of yet, all Berzerkers for troops) , Necrons (he's adjusting to the newest codex, so all I know is that he's running a c'tan), and possibly IG.

Kabal of the Screaming Sail

HQ:
Archon w/ Venom Blade and Blaster - 80pts

Elites: 506pts
5 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3 Shardcarbines and 2 Splinter Cannons - 95pts
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons -65 pts

4 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 4 Blasters - 108pts
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons - 65pts

4 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 4 Blasters - 108pts
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons - 65pts

Troops: 680pts
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ 1 Splinter Cannon - 100pts
Raider w/ Dark Lance and Flickerfield - 70pts

10 Kabalite Warriors w/ 1 Splinter Cannon - 100pts
Raider w/ Dark Lance and Flickerfield - 70pts

10 Kabalite Warriors w/ 1 Splinter Cannon - 100pts
Raider w/ Dark Lance and Flickerfield - 70pts

10 Kabalite Warriors w/ 1 Splinter Cannon - 100pts
Raider w/ Dark Lance and Flickerfield - 70pts

Heavy Support: 230pts
Ravager w/ 3 Dark Lances and Flickerfield - 115pts

Ravager w/ 3 Dark Lances and Flickerfield - 115pts

Total: 1496 Points

The Archon rides with one of the Trueblaster units. This list contains 10 Dark Lances, 9 Blasters, and 12 Splinter Cannons. The venom blade is filler because I wasn't sure what else to spend points on.

Any feedback is welcome, and thanks in advance!

Looks like a de list i run into commonly in my meta(i play ig). Do venoms come with flicker fields or do you have to buy them? Although instead of an archon i come against the homoculi i believe their called or its duke, or Lilith.

But i would say a very fast list.

 tankboy145 wrote:
Do venoms come with flicker fields or do you have to buy them?

Yes; Venoms come with free flickerfields.

Okay cool, im not to familiar with de but i know a lot of their general tactics as lists like this are what i run into and are very tough lists to beat.

The only thing I see is that you are lacking the Splinter Racks in your Raiders. You are packing all this delicious splinter rifles in there that are begging to have re-roll to hit added to them. If you are looking to free up some points I would recommend losing a couple of blasters and the trueborn that holds it. Reason being you never want to be within 18" of your opponent (unless it is a for sure kill) since they are more then likely about to run you down.

The thing you will have to concern yourself with the most though is target priority, don't think that the lascannon that is sitting in the back as your highest threat but the heavy bolter you are in range of that can glance you down. 5+ invul gives you a 33.3% chance of making it out alive, but that 66.6% chance is heavy the other way.

Overall I do like the list and it should terrorize your opponent the way the Dark Eldar are meant too.

Looks solid. I do agree, watch out for those heavy bolters. I get hit by those more than I'd care to admit trying to take down something near them and forgetting a light breeze can take down a boat. Anything with a strength 4+ (so...everything) actually does have a good chance to glance down our boats with a handful of shots...

Gahhh!!! Put a Shadow field on your Archon - this stuff is borderline mandatory!!!

Don't worry it's not that necessary but it would probably add a lot to his longevity in the battle. I mean, an Invul save can't hurt, especially on DE.

Also, a husk-blade and soul trap on Archons are also not a bad mix. Husk-blade insta-kills, and then the soul-trap has the chance of adding the toughness of an independent character you killed to yours, to a maximum of T10. anything above T4 on DE must be good.

Also, because your Ravagers are most likely going to hang a bit further back than your raiders, Night shields may be the better option. Because then you can shoot within range of the enemy but the enemy can't shoot you, whilst have night-shields on transports isn't going to do anything because you will be well within the enemies range so the invul save of the flicker-field will be of more use

One thing is i'm wondering if it's worth having the flickerfields on your raiders since you will have a 5+ jink anyway (except vs tau and markerlights I suppose)

you need flickerfields. there're holo-fields out there... *shudder

plus anyone with heavy weapons are gonna want to not move to shoot, so jink would be gone to improve firepower.

you need FF it helps alot .A Shadow field on your Archon can be really really annoying

DrSchwartz wrote:
Also, a husk-blade and soul trap on Archons are also not a bad mix. Husk-blade insta-kills, and then the soul-trap has the chance of adding the toughness of an independent character you killed to yours, to a maximum of T10.

I don't think that's correct; you can double your strength, but your toughness is unchanged. Regardless, I get that having an HQ with a 2++, and AP2 Instant Death attacks is great, but I don't think it would synergize very well, considering the total absence of any other CC units.

I figured that keeping the archon cheap to squeeze more dakka into the list would be more worthwhile. Then again, I might be completely wrong; who knows?

No splinter racks for the raiders? Personally I love 'em. Getting some extra shots in (sometimes all of them!) and negating those super bad whiffs is totally worth it imo.