New to DE, looking to expand a ebay score

So the local group is planning to start a escalation type league in the near future and I decided to go with DE. Just snagged a deal off of Ebay and now I am looking for thoughts and advice how how to finish fleshing it out.

The points levels the group are thinking is 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1850.

What I just got off of Ebay is the following:

3 Venoms
3 Raiders
1 Ravager
12 Warriors with Blasters
17 Warriors with Splinter Rifles
8 Wytchs

Gotta run for a moment will come back with my thoughts, feel free to chime in suggestions though

So for now I want to just flesh out a 500 list, each tier will run for a couple months so I will have time to expand and adjust to what the local meta will be for the league.

The general plans at the moment is the following per tier.
under 1000: no MC, Flyers, Named chars, 2+, LOW, AV totals over 33
1000-1500: no LoW
1850: anything you want

So I won't be seeing anything crazy to start with.

I am thinking this for 500 points:

5 Kabalite in a Dual Splinter Cannon Venom
5 Kabalite in a Dual Splinter Cannon Venom

Ravager with 3 Disintegrator Cannons

That comes out to 320 and leaves me room to play with for the HQ and whatnot. Tossing the idea of a Lhameans in a Dual SC Venom around but worry I will be constantly giving away slay the warlord points doing this. Due to being a 'escalation' league whatever units we field in the lower levels we must field in the upper tiers so I don't want to do something that I would then be hurting with later on.

That rule of "No AV totals over 33" is pretty concerning for a DE player, since that means you will only be able to field 3 vehicles under 1k, which almost means you can't play DE effectively at 1k.

DE basically ARE their vehicles. You should bring that up with whoever runs the show there.

Other than that, if you're really going to be limited to 33 AV, then I'd try to take 3 ravagers if at all possible any time you're at 1k or less. Take 2 with dark lances and 1 with dissies. This will help take out both vehicles and elite infantry. Then fill in the blanks with splinter fire for however many points you have left. Example list at 500:

1 Lhamean 10
2x 5 Kabalite Warriors 80
1x 5 Kabalite Warrios w/Sybarite(Warlord) 50
2x Ravagers w/3 Dark Lances 250
1x Ravager w/3 dissie cannons 110
Total: 500

Now, with this list, all of your infantry will be on foot in hardened t-shirts, but that's the fault of your TO's rules, not the listbuilding. I'd probably plan on starting all the infantry in reserves if I was running this list.

Just out of curiousity, what'd you pay for that army on ebay?

Hmm sorry, that is per mech, so if you add up the front side rear values on each profile they can't be over 33.  It means a rhino would be ok but a predator would not be ect ect.  None of the DE mech violates the rule.  Sorry about it being vague, local meta joys at their finest.

I got it all for 190 btw.

$350 in models for $190 hm? Almost 50% off retail. Not bad.

Oh, if you can use more vehicles, then if I wanted to stick closer to the models I already had, I'd run this:
1 CAD
HQ
1 Lhamean 10 in dual cannon venom 75
Troops
1x 5 Kabalite Warriors in raider w/dark lance 100
1x 5 Kabalite Warriors in venom w/1 splinter cannon(sacrilege) 95
Fast Attack
2x raider w/dark lances 120
Heavy Support
1x Ravager w/3 disintegrator cannons 110
Total: 500

With this list, you don't need to buy a single model(as long as your opponent let's you use a wych as a Lhamean), and I think you have most tools covered for a 500 point list. Only 3 dark lances, but against AV 10-11, your dissies will work too.

I might change the list if you're forced to choose the same model as your warlord for the entire duration of the league. Otherwise, taking a single Lhamean now isn't harmful. At higher point values, you can simply increase the size of that unit, adding sslyth, medusae, or more Lhameans to make it both useful and more resilient. Furthermore, at higher points values, you can pick an independent character and use that as your warlord instead.

The way it sounds, I will need to have some flavor of my 500 list at each tier, which is cool with me because I keep using what I own. So far I will be facing Tau, IG, and Chaos Demons from the sounds of it.

Expanding on this with possible opponents in mind how does this sound?

HQ
1x Lhamean 10 in dual cannon venom 75

Elites
1x Trueborn w 4 blasters in a dual cannon venom 180

Troops
2x 10 Kabalite Warriors in raider w/disintegrator cannon, nightshield, splinter racks 330 (2 x 165)

1x Ravanger w/ 3 dark lances 125

That is 710 points, not sure what to do with the extra 40 beyond tossing more upgrades on the transports. Suggestions? Am I off base with what I put up? Would it be better to just run more 5 man warrior groups in raiders?


At 1k I want to start considering some coven, but that is going to be sometime towards the end of the year. I like the formations that coven offers, but might have to wait depending on what I am seeing on the board from the other armies.

I would go with the following:

Lhamean in a Raider W. Dark Lance 70
10 warriors in a raider w Splinter racks 150
5 warriors in a venom w dual cannon 105
5 trueborn w. 4 blasters in raider 170
venom w dual cannon 65
venom w dual cannon 65
Ravager w 3X Dark Lance 125

750 points on the nose.

I like it, should be a decent level of pressure from all of it at that level. Thanks for the help guys.