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Hey all,
So I decided to get back in 40k and start a dark eldar army. I plan to start off with a Archon and Battle-force and build up the army to around 1000pts as could afford it.
I plan to purchase said battle-force and archon soon but i was wondering what to add next to my army as I have no experience with dark eldar. I'm trying to keep the cost down as I don't have alot of money and still have to get some paint,glue and paintbrushes.
Current list(when i buy the stuff)

Archon - Agoniser, Shadow field -115

Kabalite Warrior Sq 10 man- Splinter Cannon,Raider w Dark Lance - 181

Wych Sq 9 man- Hekatrix w Agoniser, hydra gauntlets, Raider w Dark Lance - 221

Reavers x3- cluster Caltrops 86

Total - 613

Now that is what i plan to do with the battle-force(plus a raider). It seems a good starting point but seems to lack AT. What to get next, I have no idea
Any Help on what to get next and what to change would be great.

Natdog Out

Before I begin, or you begin collecting, I wanna say: DE isn't a cheap army to play, I learned that the hard way.. To get 2 troops in, say a venom spam list, you'd need a box of kabbies/wyches and 2 boxes of venom... So, I'm gonna say if you decide to carry on, raider force is probably a better build for you, and always look for conversion/count-as. Oh and welcome to the world of DE.

First off, not too bad a list. I'd consider dropping the SC on warriors, giving raider the splinter racks and perhaps 1 of the defensive upgrades of your choice(I recommend NS). I'd probably go with a blaster/heatlance reaver, 3 of them are rather fragile, but very ignorable, combine that with their JSJ movement and you can just harass your opponent with your reavers, if you really do want to go ahead with reavers when your list builds up, go for 6 or 9 per squad with maximum amount of gun(AT) or bladevanes(AI) upgrades, with arena champ optional.

Next, what you could buy. Remember something crucial about DE, splinter weapons are great weapon for dealing with high T opponents, and since we can bring a lot of them, this also makes them a great AI weapon, but they're absolutely useless against vehicles, so I'd say it's more important to build up the AT backbone of the army. In any case, shopping list.

1. Ravagers - Cheap(relatively) heavy unit with all the dark lances, great for providing early turns AT.
2. Raiders and moar kabbies - Moar gunboats!
3. Venoms and moar troops - It never hurts to have a few of these lying around, the gunboat mentioned above are more killy, but venoms beat them in range. Also great if you want to expand further into MSU assault/suicide units in the future.
4. Haemonculii - It never hurts to have a few of these around, if you're playing a low point game, they make great HQ as they're cheap as hell. If you play a list with assault elements, they can bring 1 unit a pain token. If you want to build Teh venomspam, they allow you to bring wracks as troops, by far the most efficient venom-bringer in DE army...

I think those are good starting point for the army, then the rest depends on what kinda list you want to build incubi, beastpacks, harliestar(ally with eldar), etc...

Well, to fill your AT dury 1-2 ravagers and maybe a razorwing would be very good for your list. Another raider/venom is cheaper on the surface, but then you have to fill it with models and you still don't have much AT out of either.

Ravagers need night shields, razorwings/voidravens need flickerfields. The only missile upgrade worth considering for either is the shatterfield missiles.

If you can, I would get 2 ravagers with shields, and 1 razorwing/voidraven with a flickerfield, and it would put you just shy under 1k points.

As far as your list, agonizers only shine against power armor, against every other armor class a venom blade does better damage for the points(and is actually poisoned, so it can re roll wounds if S > or = T) so I would consider running a venom blade on the trix, and maybe the archon. The trix is a 1 wound model with a few attacks, but the con has multi wounds, better WS and more attacks so he gets priority for the agonizer. Have the trix eat the challenge and let the con murder away. Another option is running a succbus as an HQ. Take an agoinzer, basically the same thing but no shadowfield.

Things to consider in the future is haywire grenades on the wytches, splinter racks and night shields on the kabbie raider and more toys for the archon.

Agreed on the fact that it is not cheap to run DE. Several hundred dollars later, I'm still trying to field over 1k. The bikes look *great* and are fun for mission 4 where they can grab objectives. But, field 3 and watch how fast they die. The answer is "very." You would probably want at least 6 to a unit, even with their crazy maneuverability.

I know it isn't exactly cheap to field dark eldar, but i know of an online store where I get 25% off GW prices and they give you free models when you spend over $50 and they have other cool deals so yay.
And thanks for the advice, I haven't got the stuff yet so its nice to have an idea of to do with it when i get it
However here is the new list with stuff i plan to add when i can i.e Ravagers and better maths (mis-calculated some units cost)

Hq

Archon- Venom Blade,Combat drugs,shadow field - 105

Troops

Kabalite Warrior Sq 10 man - Raider w splinter racks, night shields - 170
9 Wyches - Hekatrix w Venom blade, hydra gauntles, haywire grenades, raider - 133

Fast Attack
Reavers x3 - Cluster Caltrops - 86

Heavy Support

Ravenger - Dark Lances, Night Field - 115
Ravenger - Dark Lances, Night Field - 115
Void Raven Bomber - Flicker Field - 155

Total- 879

This Leaves me with 121 points which I'm not sure what to spend on(remember I dont have piles of money lying around so I can't buy heaps of stuff )
A Kabbie/TrueBorn Sq with venom sounds good, but seems like one will die really fast.

With your updated list, an elite venom squad would be a good call. Fits in a venom for anti infantry (always run double splinter cannons) and the kabbies can run blasters, 2 splinter cannons or just rifles for cheap. If you want a super cheap venom, 3 wracks with a venom come in under 100 points.

The other option is to spam upgrades. You could give your Archon a bunch more upgrades to make him an absolute killing machine, while giving your voidraven night shileds and shatterfield missiles. A PGL on your trix might be a good idea if you have the points and want to cut costs.

Solid choices, and kudos on cheap DE.

I went on another rant about your Reavers, but you'll probably find out for yourself (or are a way better player than I am).

Enjoy the darkness, and let us know how your lists do.

121 is exactly the cost of a dual SC venom with 3 Trueborn carrying 2 SC. Also since no one likes a min unit of Reavers you could easilly sell them on eBay for $25-30 to fund something you want more.

Or sell them to me for even cheaper since I only have a min unit of Reavers!

The biggest tip for any new Dark Eldar players I can give is more troops! Our troops are some of the most fragile troops in a game that is 5/6 objective based. Most Dark Eldar lists you will find max out their troops first before anything. I would even forego the flyer until you have more troops.

-Drakkol

natdog027 wrote:
I know it isn't exactly cheap to field dark eldar, but i know of an online store where I get 25% off GW prices and they give you free models when you spend over $50 and they have other cool deals so yay.
And thanks for the advice, I haven't got the stuff yet so its nice to have an idea of to do with it when i get it
However here is the new list with stuff i plan to add when i can i.e Ravagers and better maths (mis-calculated some units cost)

Hq

Archon- Venom Blade,Combat drugs,shadow field - 105

Troops

Kabalite Warrior Sq 10 man - Raider w splinter racks, night shields - 170
9 Wyches - Hekatrix w Venom blade, hydra gauntles, haywire grenades, raider - 133

Fast Attack
Reavers x3 - Cluster Caltrops - 86

Heavy Support

Ravenger - Dark Lances, Night Field - 115
Ravenger - Dark Lances, Night Field - 115
Void Raven Bomber - Flicker Field - 155

Total- 879

This Leaves me with 121 points which I'm not sure what to spend on(remember I dont have piles of money lying around so I can't buy heaps of stuff )
A Kabbie/TrueBorn Sq with venom sounds good, but seems like one will die really fast.

What store? Care to share?

 Dr. Serling wrote:
A PGL on your trix might be a good idea if you have the points and want to cut costs.

I agree with Dr. Serling, perhaps you could drop a wych for the PGL? As wyches can quite safely charge out of cover without loss of initiative or charge distance(not by a lot anyway, we got fleet), you should be able to get quite a good save from that.

Now I wonder if there is any mathammer out there on PGL wyches vs an extra wound(1 more wych instead of PGL)...

Here is a link to the online store for those who are wondering http://www.bunkergames.net/index.php . They have 25% off regular GW prices plus some awesome other stuff.

PGL better 9/10 with wyches than an extra body... the 1/10 is versus a flamer

Okay here is the New edited list, the main goal being to get a dark eldar army as quickly and cheaply as possible while trying to keep the cost down since I don't have loads of moneys to spend on the models (and plus I have to get paint which is even more) while still having an army I can battle with and win.
Hq

Archon- Venom Blade,Combat drugs,shadow field - 105

Elites

x3 True born w x2 splinter cannons, venom w splinter x2cannons 121

Troops

Kabalite Warrior Sq 10 man - Raider w splinter racks, night shields - 170
8 Wyches - Hekatrix w Venom blade,PGL , hydra gauntlets, haywire grenades, raider - 133

Fast Attack

Reavers x3 - Cluster Caltrops - 86

Heavy Support

Ravenger - Dark Lances, Night Field - 115
Ravenger - Dark Lances, Night Field - 115
Void Raven Bomber - Flicker Field - 155( Since there is no model I might just Proxy a RWJF )

Total- 1000pt
Cost- $356.20 ( yay for free archon and kabbies/wyches)

I know people suggest selling reavers or using them as AT but I want to try out the CC for myself and I can always just leave a gun off and blue-tack a blaster on if need be.
Since I'm proxying a RWJF as a VRB I can swap between the two as need be depending on opponent or just use it as a RWJF since its still ok at AT.
So their is my new list and while it lacks Troops buying and painting wyches/kabbies and their raiders takes longer and I want to get some battles in at my local GW(its actually not that close but its the closest place that does 40k)
Plus since I plan to spend 200(for battle force,raider,venom eg) then 150 to get this army I get a free Archon and 8 Random Wyches/Kabbies, so if i spend an extra 50(Raider?) thats another archon and 8 wyches/Kabbies which means a free 2 squads

I think your list is good to go. Not much of a "fix it!!" but more friendly reminders:

HWG wyches are gonna die after they blow up a vehicle, your opponent would probably go after them for sheer vengeance. And 8 of them will be able to remove 5-6 HP, I believe! But I understand that you put them on the wyches so you have the option to AT should you need it, but just remember that they likely won't survive after the AT job.

Reavers with cluster caltrops are deadly, they do very good damage, and having a 3++ after turbo boost is great, but remember that turbo boost has to be in a straight line and you can't JSJ during assault, so use pre-measure to make sure your reavers won't be too close to rapid fire/assault after that boost, they might be low priority target, but if your opponent could get an easy kill, they'd most likely go for it if you give them the chance.

Also don't post the total price! It's depressing to see...

How is the price depressing? Because of the expensiveness of it?

natdog027 wrote:
How is the price depressing? Because of the expensiveness of it?

Yup...

Well, this is with discounts and free stuff. If i got the stuff from games workshop it would be $521 D: