Give a critique on my current list and my first game, and strategy.

Alright, I'm pretty new to 40k in general, I initially had a decent sized Chaos Army rising, then suddenly the more Dark Eldar models I saw I was enthralled, so I have bought a good handful, I've only played one game, of which I won, 750pt game, I'm new to the point where I'm playing as I learn, I know how the basic game turn goes firing, and assaulting, for the most part though I'm still very much in the dark, the game store I played at, has no 40k gaming community, a guy who I played, is a 30 year vet, played it since it came out, he's trying to get a group started, so he was guiding me along, claiming that hands on is the best way to really learn, so bear in mind, some thoughts and ideas may confuse me, sorry for that in advance..

Army List:
2 Archon, each with Huskblades
4 Incubi
Drazhar
10 Kalabite Warrior, one is a Syrabite, one with Dark Lance
5 Scourge, one with Dark Lance, one with splinter cannon
5 Wracks
1 Raider, with Disintegrater cannon
3 Venom, each with 2 splinter cannon

Units I'm waiting for Delivery:
Sealed Pack of Incubi
3 Ravagers, I am not sure which weapons to use, thinking all three with Dark Lance, and one Disintegrater cannon for the middle weapon on all three.
Codex: Dark Eldar(I've been referring to a online codex, but its annoying to search through)

I am trying to aim my units for mostly melee with pretty much support to get my melee units up close, as such I learned in my first game I need tank busters, so the Ravagers on the way I am angling towards destroying vehicles with a Disinitegrater cannon if its needed for infantry, and more Incubi since they performed so well. In my only game I played, my raider was being destroyed by a Dreadnought, A Kabalite Dark Lance had the luckiest dice roll ever and insta-killed his Dreadnought, my Scourge were able to get lucky rolls as his assault marines were getting close for an assault, and I killed 3 before they even got to close combat, afterwards, my venom unleashed my Incubi and Drazhar on his regular marine squad with the Captain, the marines were flayed easy, the other venom dropped off my Wracks on his Scouts, which ended fast, the remaining Rhino's were dispatched afterwards.

I am aware my game was pure luck for the most part, I had very lucky dice rolls as he did not, my Venoms and Raider barely made it, my only Casualties was one incubi, 3 scourge, and 4 Kabalite warrior.

My first game units used:
Drazhar
4 Incubi
1 Klaivex(Was actually an Archon.. I was mistaken.)
5 Wrack
5 Scourge, one was a Solarite, one with Dark Lance, one with Splinter Cannon.
10 Kabalite warrior, one was a Syrabite, one with Dark Lance.
2 Venom, Splinter cannons, I forgot they had two each.. only used one
1 Raider, Disintegrater Cannon.

His Units Used:
Space Marine Captain with Force Axe
5 Assault marines, one with Power Fist.
10 tactical Marines, four with Meltaguns, seperate squads of 5.
5 Scouts, three with Sniper Rifles.
2 Rhino, twin linked bolters
1 Dreadnought, Assault cannon, and Krak missiles.

Any and all critiques would be good, I would prefer to know now before I buy too many units I don't need, but I am somewhat nervous, will my Incubi and Drazhar have too many melee units of other races to fear up close? I'm not talking about like Bloodthirsters or anything, I'm assuming 3 Ravagers will hopefully be a good counter for units like that, but I've heard Ork Nobz or Tyranid Genestealer will be able to butcher my Incubi too easy, since I'm somewhat new I'm talking alot of what I hear more seriously, as ofc this isn't a cheap game to play... Haha.

In another side note, how does this 'Huskblade' work? I know it says Insta-kill... What makes that work and what units will these unaffect?

I hope my etiquette isn't too bad.. Thanks again.

First off, welcome, and congratulations on the win!

Right, let's get down to it... The big thing I can see that it would be a good idea to change or tweak about your list first of all is to make sure squads specialise. By this, I mean don't try and make them multi-purpose. If you have Scourges with a splinter cannon and a dark lance, that means every time you fire at a tank, your splinter cannon is useless. Every time you fire at infantry, your dark lance is wasted in terms of its tank exploding potential. Although it seems like you want every squad to be able to do everything, this doesn't generally make such a unit successful on the table - jack of all trades, master of none, so to speak. By making a squad specialise and take all anti-tank or all anti-infantry weaponry, then having a good balance of these squads across your list, they will be able to do the task you give them better. For that reason, I would also strongly advise against mixing the guns on the Ravagers. Dark Eldar vehicles are so fast that even if one with all disintegrator cannons is completely out of position after your opponent has counter-deployed and stuck all their heavy tanks with it, you can get it to where it needs to be in one turn of movement. If you look at the list your opponent used, you can see how he has decided his tactical squad is going to bust tanks, so has given them lots of melta weaponry. If he was going for anti-infantry, he would give them all flamers, and so on.

Looking at the Scourges specifically, you might want to consider some of the other weapon options for them. Splinter cannons and dark lances both suffer hugely when whatever's carrying them moves, with dark lances then only hitting on sixes and splinter cannons losing range and shots. Although the added range of the dark lance seems like an attractive option, blasters allow you to move 12" and fire 18", thus meaning you've only lost a potential 6", and you've perhaps moved them out of charge range or into a better position. I favour haywire blasters myself, as the ability to take four of them in a squad usually means a unit can do a lot more reliable damage stripping hull points off stuff than a dark lance or blaster can getting lucky. I know others like to use heat lances and deep strike their Scourges too though, but it really depends on how you want to play.

Ork Nobz won't butcher your Incubi as long as you're not charging them through cover. Charging them through cover means they get to go first, and if that is the case, yes, they will absolutely tear your Incubi a new one However, if you can charge the Nobz with something else first and keep them locked in combat, the Incubi won't suffer the penalty to their initiative for charging through cover. If they're on bikes though, they're probably best avoided altogether. Shoot them down with poison, because even getting a late game charge off with all your Incubi won't be enough to hurt them. The extra point of toughness they'll have on you already means it's not a sure thing with equal sized squads, but if they're on bikes they get a lot of overwatch shots (which they can re-roll misses on) and then you will really struggle to hurt them as they'll have another point of toughness for being on a bike. Equal sized squads, swinging in initiative order, I'd think the Incubi would just edge it if they got the charge off (but they HAVE to get the charge off). Anything that gives the Nobz any kind of advantage makes the combat very risky for the Incubi. Drazhar can help a lot with that, but he is very, VERY expensive. Playing lots of games is the best way to know what they can take on, but a squad of five is probably best suited to finishing off a weakened squad rather than charging anything that's outnumbering them. Although Incubi have a lot of killing potential, you really have to stack the deck in their favour to get mileage out of them. By going after smaller or weakened squads, they can really scythe through a number of units. Throwing them against something that gets to overwatch them and swing back with any attacks seriously hurts them. Just try to make sure they aren't going to charge in, kill everything and dangle in the breeze in the opposing turn

Ooh, that turned out longer than I thought it would! Hope that all helps

Ohhh wow, comrade. Thank you. That was very thorough, I will probably adjust my scourges in that case to suit them for more. I'll probably keep the Dark lance in the Kabalites just for the fact it'd be nice to have as a last resort, and yes, I decided to make my Ravagers all dark lance two are built and nearly ready for battle, just needing some nice paint. I ordered another group of Incubi which arrived, and sadly enough as to some packaging error one was missing a head and back pieces, so I only got 4.. Ironic, off ebay, and it was factory sealed, the irony of thinking factory sealed meant reliable. XD I'm still learning for sure btw, right now I basically have how weapons work, and how the turns go, special rules that apply to certain units do confuse me a lot, so I sort of learn that as I go, I'm hoping I'll have a full grip of this within the summer, another question though, concerning Archons, I have the Codex currently, I know what the melee and ranged weapons look like, as for the special items for archons, such as the Helm of Spite, Soul-Trap, etc, How do I know what they are, is it something I can just put on an Archon and beef up his points value, like an archon I have instead of a pistol, he has like some fireball, similar to the one on the cover of the Codex.. Again, I'm sorry for my newbish questions, but I usually learn better when someone explains it for when I have questions, as the rule book itself can be somewhat vague.

Things like the helm of spite and other "Relic" type options don't really need modelling on in any specific way. You can if you want to, but unless you're going to a tournament that's got very strict rules, most people will be ok with you explaining what a model has before the game starts. It would probably be advisable to use a helmeted head if you intend to use the helm, just in case, or a pistol hand if you want to give a model the parasite's kiss. There used to be a soul trap included with the previous Archon model, but I don't think it made it onto the current model - it is that thing on the front cover though. Of course, as it doesn't replace a weapon and we're told they come in all shapes and sizes, you're free to say he has it tucked away somewhere, or point to some random trinket on his armour and say "There it is. That's the soul trap." Unless it's specifically styled weapons (such as an AXE of Ruin, or a SWORD of Damnation), or larger wargear items, people generally won't kick up a fuss. It can vary player by player of course, but I've never encountered a problem myself.

I see, thanks, I had bought a Archon on Ebay with that flame in its hand.. I'm excited to paint that. ;D and thats good, the guy that I'm playing with who was using the space marines is a very casual player, so I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem