Darklight Spam 1500pts

I have underestimated the amount of armour some armies can bring! This list maximizes what our enemies fear most, our Darklight weapons....

Haemonculus - Venom Blade, Liquifier Gun
9 Wyches - Hekatrix w/ Agonizer, Shardnet & Impaler
Raider - Flickerfield

Haemonculus - Venom Blade, Liquifier Gun
9 Wyches - Hekatrix w/ Agonizer, Shardnet & Impaler
Raider - Flickerfield

4 Trueborn - 4 Blasters
Venom - 2 Splinter Cannons

10 Wracks - Acothyst, 2 Liquifer Guns
Raider - Flickerfield

5 Kabalite Warriors - Blaster
Venom - 2 Splinter Cannons

5 Kabalite Warriors - Blaster
Venom - 2 Splinter Cannons

Ravager - Flickerfields

Ravager - Flickerfields

Ravager - Flickerfields

Total: 1498

astorre wrote:

I have underestimated the amount of armour some armies can bring! This list maximizes what our enemies fear most, our Darklight weapons....

To be honest - if your goal was to maximise Darklight and/or provide a lot of anti-mech power than you missed the mark.

Quote :

Haemonculus - Venom Blade, Liquifier Gun
9 Wyches - Hekatrix w/ Agonizer, Shardnet & Impaler
Raider - Flickerfield

A couple of thoughts;

1. The Venom Blade is only good if the Haemy is assaulting with the Wyches. If he's assaulting than...what's th epoint of the Liquifier? Also, if he's assaulting the Wyches can't use Fleet since the Haemy doesn't have it. I personally think assaulting with the Haemy is a waste anyhow - he's 'okay' in h2h but is hardly good enough where it's like 'OMG, gotta bring that Haemy in for the extra punch' good. Seriously, 2 wounds, WS 4, a couple of poison weapon attacks...whoo-hoo...? I'd leave him on the boat, take his pain token, and assign him the job of flaming things with the best flamer in the game, the Liquifier.

2. One of the single best anti-mech tools in the codex is the haywire grenade. Wyches benefit a lot from having haywire grenades as then they can slap around tanks or walkers or what not. If you're taking such beefy squads of Wyches why deny them the power to gak up armor?

3. The shard net is a tool to lock down enemy units. 9 Wyches is a tool to kill enemy units. I'd either focus on the killing and take Hydraknives/Razorflails or focus n the defensive aspect and take a few less Wyches so you'll have points elsewhere. Considering your list - I think you should drop the Nets.

Quote :

4 Trueborn - 4 Blasters
Venom - 2 Splinter Cannons

Fine with this - though at 1500 I'd probably only run 3 in a boat and squeeze my points to field two units of them.

Quote :

10 Wracks - Acothyst, 2 Liquifer Guns
Raider - Flickerfield

This is a big area to save points. These guys are looking to do the same thing your Wyches are doing (though probably not do it as well) and cost quite a bit. So...what real gain are you getting here? They should either be paired with an assault Haemy to take advantage of furious charge and poison - or they need to be minimized/changed to just be about flaming things. As stands, they're sort of an ugly wart on the list - I'd change them to Warriors and use the saved points elsewhere personally.

Quote :

5 Kabalite Warriors - Blaster
Venom - 2 Splinter Cannons

Love this build.

Quote :

Ravager - Flickerfields

Ravager - Flickerfields

Ravager - Flickerfields

Ravalicious.

Overall you've got a lot of assault and Liquifiers in the build, while still having a lot of Venoms, and the basic gist is - you have too many anti-infantry tools who'll be competing for targets while you still have a lot of mech to destroy.

My advice in general, besides the specifics above, is to probably work out one of your assault tools (Wracks) and work in additional shooting tools (Trueborn? Warriors?) that will aid your anti-mech killing hopes.

Regards,
Thor.

As a general statement, if someone tells me they are maximizing darklight weapons, and the HQ isn't an Achon with a blaster, I have to wonder about that. Especially since he fits into that blaster-born squad so well.

Wracks are great, but I think Thor is right, go Wracks or Wyches, not both. I'd probaby go a wyches, just because they are slightly better suited to rolling up and assaulting virtually anything.

This lets you redistribute the Haemie points

Oops! I thought 18 would be a lot but I was wrong! What does an anti-mech list look like, can anyone point me into the right direction?
I was just using the Haemonculi to give the Wyches a pain token before they disembark, then they just ride around liquifing things. I love liquifier guns! My plan was to bust as many transports as I can before closing in with the 3 combat units.

I don't like to build lists for people - but just as a very quick theoretical Darklight optimized list;

1x Archon, Blaster

3x - 3 Trueborn, 3 Blasters, Venom w. S.Cannon

3x - Ravager 3 Lances

3x - 5 Warriors, Blaster, Raider w. FF

2x - 5 Warriors, Blaster, Venom w. S.Cannon

1500 points (touch less actually methinks) 27 Darklight weapons. That's trying to maximize...and really, if I went with a Haemy instead of a Archon I could probably actually up that to even more by going with more Raiders and less Venoms - but you want a fair slice of anti-infantry after you pop everything.

Don't get married to the above list though - at 1500 I actually usually run some Wyches with Haywires, which are a potent anti-mech force *in addition* to being capable of hurting infantry. There's a balancing act in list building where you need to recognize all the possible dangers you might face, and whether or not your list can deal with them. Take the list above - I could modify it to have even more Lance weapons - but at some point I'd hit a tipping point where my list would have a LOT of problems dealing with foot hordes like IG blobs or Green Tide.

But in the general sense of bringing a lot of anti-mech I think your initial list was...reasonable. Though I personally think you brought what I would consider the bare minimum of anti-mech in a competitive environment. I'd never go into a GT type situation with less than what you had - and that's why I commented that I didn't think of it as a "lot" The DE can definitely bring a lot of anti-mech firepower if they choose to do only that - you just have to hit the balance right with your ability to claim objectives and kill infantry too.

Liquifier guns are great, they are the best flamers in the game. But by using them you're eating up a lot of points in anti-infantry in a list that doesn't need that much more anti infantry. If you wanted to keep the Liquifiers I'd probably shift a Venom or two to Raiders if you want to maintain a strong anti-mech build. Also, haywires on Wyches, as I said - it's very potent and gives them a lot of options as they'll always be able to assault pretty much anything the enemy has and hurt it. That makes them a much more viable unit in TAC lists as compared to Wracks, and is why Wracks are seen less often in competitive builds. You can still use Wracks, you just need to adjust the rest of your army to allow for them.

Ah thank you for the good advice! I can't physically make that list so no worries about me copying it! And I do love my Wyches, so they would be a must-have.
I really like Wracks, if only for the T4 & the Altered Physique. They can put out a lot of poisoned attacks, the only thing that worries me about them is the lack of grenades. Dark Eldar have so many units I like I think it is impossible for me to include them all.