Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I would like to have some dark eldar as well as their craftworld cousins. I have a couple of ideas but I'm not too sure
which would be better. I don't intend for my dark eldar to be competitive, that's what my craftworld eldar are for, but I would
still like to have a strong army.

List 1:

Dark Artisan Formation:
- Haemonculus - Hexrifle, Scissorhand
- Chronos - Spirit Vortex
- Talos - Ichor Injector, Stinger Pod

Real-space Raiders Detachment:
HQ
- Lelith Hesperax

Troops
- Kabalite Warriors (5) - Blaster, Venom; Splinter Cannon
- Kabalite Warriors (5) - Blaster, Venom; Splinter Cannon

Elites
- Incubi (4) - Venom; Splinter Cannon

Fast Attack
- Beastmasters - 2x Clawed Fiend, 1x Razorwing Flock, Beastmaster; Agoniser



List 2

Dark Artisan Formation:
- Haemonculus
- Chronos - Spirit Vortex
- Talos - Ichor Injector, Stinger Pod

Real-space Raiders Detachment:
HQ
- Succubus - Archite Glaive

Troops
- Kabalite Warriors (5) - Venom; Splinter Cannon
- Kabalite Warriors (5) - Venom; Splinter Cannon

Elites
- Incubi (4) - Venom; Splinter Cannon

Fast Attack
- Beastmasters - 2x Clawed Fiend

Heavy Support
- Ravager - 3x Dark Lances



In both cases the HQ will be riding in the venom with the incubi.

So, which list is better, and what could be done in the way of improvement. Personally I like the first list as I prefer Lelith
over a Succubus but that may just be me. How should I kit the beastmaster units? Is the dark artisan formation any good?

I'd be inclined to take the first one. The Succubus is good, but she really ought to have the Armor of Misery, both for the -2 Ld and the 4+ armor save.

The changes I would make, though, are these: Take the Spirit Probe on the Cronos, not the Vortex: the +1 to FNP is most of the point of the Cronos. On the Talos, I'd take either the heat lance or splinter cannon, if for no reason except the fact that both can fire Overwatch, and can provide some support for the rest of the force. I'd also consider a CAD instead of the RRD, simply for Objective Secured, which is surprisingly critical to take advantage of DE mobility.

jade_angel wrote:
I'd also consider a CAD instead of the RRD, simply for Objective Secured, which is surprisingly critical to take advantage of DE mobility.

If I were to take a CAD would you suggest dropping the beastmasters and if so what should I replace them with? Maybe a ravager with 2 dark lances and a disintegrator cannon (I have
decided on the splinter cannon over the heat lance)?

I like where your going with the lists but I think that you've got too much chaff in there running a dark artisan at 1k pts. I also take your post your wanting to get into DE so I'm going to offer alternative models than what you've includes.

I'll be using list 1 as a base for this.

Change to a CAD for ObSec, benefits are huge with out fast vehicles.

I don't like lilith much, at 40pt more than a succy with glaive and AoM she is just too pricy at this point. Drop her for a succy with the above loadout (+40pts)

Drop a incubi for a klaivex. Rampage rocks. Plus you can have options on who takes a challenge and who wrecks peons faces. (-10pts | +30pts total)

I don't see a point for the beastmaster unit. I'd drop it entirely. Compared to incubi and grotesques it's nothing special and it doesn't have any anti tank abilities like reavers and scourges. (+115pts | +145 total)

Drop the hexrifle on the haemonculus. This unit wants to chop stuff and a wwp is ill advised. So run it until you can charge. Drop to a splinter cannon on the talos and spirit probe on the chronos. (+15pts | +160pts total) (haemy is WL, Yes?)

I would drop the blasters from the kabalites. I have not had luck and if your shooting at vehicles your wasting poison shots. (+30pts | 190pts)

Now what to spend on. Your anti-tank is now non existent.

Add triple D-Lance Ravager (-125pts | +65pts)

Add 3 reavers with 1 Caltrops (-63pts | +2pts)

You now have a hard hitting anvil unit and specialized units to eat up their intended targets. This is now 998 pts. You can also downgrade the talos to chain flails and give the succy haywire grenades if you feel you want more anti-tank. Hope this helps

PriorofDeath wrote:
I don't like lilith much, at 40pt more than a succy with glaive and AoM she is just too pricy at this point. Drop her for a succy with the above loadout (+40pts)

Personally I quite like Lelith, although I do take your point on dropping her for 40 points, is there any other way I could drop points to keep her?

PriorofDeath wrote:
I don't see a point for the beastmaster unit. I'd drop it entirely. Compared to incubi and grotesques it's nothing special and it doesn't have any anti tank abilities like reavers and scourges. (+115pts | +145 total)

The beastmaster was gone by the time you posted this reply. A CAD had already been suggested above (a point which I agreed with) so the beastmaster was dropped at that point due to no longer needing a
fast attack choice. It was replaced by a ravager with two dark lances and one disintegrator cannon since I wasn't sure how to free up the 5 points needed for a third lance. However, after reading your post I
have dropped the hex rifle on the Haemonculus and the blasters on the kabalites. This is what I have now:

Dark Artisan
- Haemonculus - Scissor Hand
- Chronos - Spirit Probe
- Talos - Ichor Injector, TL Splinter Cannon

CAD
HQ:
- Lelith Hesperax

Troops:
- Kabalite Warriors (5) - Venom (Splinter Cannon)
- Kabalite Warriors (5) - Venom (Splinter Cannon)

Elites:
- Incubi (4) - Venom (Splinter Cannon)

Heavy Support:
- Ravager - 3x Dark Lances

This comes to 965 so I have 35 points to ideally go towards anti tank. Should I keep the dark artisan formation at 1k points? I like it but I am certainly not opposed to dropping it.

Ok so I've been playing around with losing the Dark Artisan and what I could do instead. I came out with this:

CAD

HQ:
- Lelith Hesperax

Troops:
- Kabalite Warriors (5) - Venom (Splinter Cannon)
- Kabalite Warriors (5) - Venom (Splinter Cannon)

Elites:
- Incubi (4) - Venom (Splinter Cannon)

Fast Attack:
- Razorwing Jetfighter - Darklances, Splinter Cannon, 2x Necrotoxin Missiles, 2x Shatterfield Missiles
- Hellions (5) - Helliarch (Stunclaw and Splinter Pistol)

Heavy Support:
- Ravager - 3x Dark Lances
- Ravager - 3x Dark Lances


How does this look compared to my other ideas?