40k newbie Dark Eldar list.

This is my first post so be gentle.

I have a few dark eldar models that ive bought second hand and a few have brought new at my local warhammer store. I am looking to create a relatively competitive 1000 point list, to learn to play my army while there is a tournament on in the store.

HQ
Archon w/ blaster, Armour of misery, HW grenades.

Elites
4x Incubi in venom w/ 2x splinter cannons

Troops
5x kabalite warriors w/ blaster in venom w/ 2x splinter cannons 5x kabalite warriors w/ blaster in venom w/ 2x splinter cannons 5x kabalite warriors w/ blaster in venom w/ 2x splinter cannons 5x kabalite warriors w/ blaster in raider w/ Dark lance & Night shields 5x kabalite warriors w/ blaster in raider w/ Dark lance & Night shields

Heavy support
Ravager w/ 3x Dark lances & Night shields.

I really want to see what Incubi can do in close combat, they sound really good but i need to keep their transport alive for long enough to do it i think.

Any advice would be appreciated on how i should play this list, or on what you would change.

Thanks in advance

Hey mate,

I'm pretty new to DE as well. Just been reading the codex etc.

My only concern with Incubi is the T3. So squishy. Also if charging into terrain and the enemy has grenades back to initiative 1.

Nice armor and AP2 but overall grots seem more appealing for close combat.

Suppadave has outlined the problem with Incubi, pretty well.

Sadly also the Archon isn't that great a choice either, especially as u gave yours a ranged weapon then put him in a melee unit.

Below 1250pts most people tend to lean towards taking a Lhamean in a Cannon Venon for 75pts rather than spending 100's of pts tooling up an Archon, this then frees up points for our better units, ie Reavers.

Also, noting your 2 Warrior squads with Raiders, if you dropped both & proxied the Raiders as Ravagers, you would have much stonger AT & a few points left over.

Just a few thoughts, hope it helps

wow that is great advice and its definaetly going to the right places, I really dont want to remove my archon, i just like his paint job and i want to make sure that he is leading my forces for all of my games. Il try drop the raiders and the incubi and dig out all of my old reaver jet bikes from before 5th ed and try and get 2 squads into this list. But maybe stick with one ravager for now, i would love to buy another one, but i just cant afford it at the moment. Great advice so far guys please keep it coming.

ILovehashbrowns wrote:

But maybe stick with one ravager for now, i would love to buy another one, but i just cant afford it at the moment.

Am I correct to assume you have the old Ravager/Raider models then?

The new Raiders can be easily converted into Ravagers, you just swap the boarding planks for the extra 2 guns. Or, if you've only got Raiders, a great idea is to just 'model' the side guns by using standard warriors with Dark Lances.

There is a great thread on here somewhere, can't remember whose idea it is, but it works well.

If your set on running the Archon a Purge Coterie could be for you?

You only need an Archon, Warriors, 3 Reavers & a Raider to run it alongside a standard CAD, again there are some good threads abour how much you can squeeze into the PC, for example the Archon & Warriors can both take Transports + the Raider as a stand alone Fast Attack choice. Also, the warriors can be upgraded to Trueborn if that's your thing.

Running with the PC idea:

Kabal of Whatever (976)
DE PC (461)
Archon, Blaster, AOM, HWG, Cannon Venom (160)
5 x Trueborn, 4 x Blasters, Cannon Venom (175)
Lance Raider (60)
6 x Reavers, 2 x CC (126)
DE CAD (515)
Lhamean, Cannon Venom (75)
3 x 5 Warriors, Cannon Venom (315)
Triple Lance Ravager (125)

Either join the Archon to the Trueborn in the Raider, or just run them both in Venoms & have the Raider separate, I guess I would prefer separate, which makes 3 smaller targets, rather than 1 big fat one!

Kinda going MSU, you'll have 5 Blasters, 6 Reavers & 4 Dark Lances for AT. 6 Venom & 3 squads of warriors for AI. Not forgetting the Lhamean, I guess either keep her in her own Venom or join her with the Archon.

You have a whole 24pts to go nuts with lol.

Haha that list is golden, Right my local store owner is a bit of a special snowflake and decided he'd make it CAD only. no dual cad, no formations just a plain old CAD. So that is what i have to work with, I am going to be playing against a variety of foes in the tournament and i dont know all of the armies that well. I am fairly sure i wont be facing any other Dark Eldar, Tau, Harlequins or Tyranids in this particular tourny.

Real question, How on earth do you get your venoms to the enemy without them dying :L the troops i disembarked put in hella work today, but with the 4 venoms i had on the table i wasnt able to unload 1 sortie of poison fire!

I don't think you really want to get your venoms close to the enemy. Rather, float outside of the enemy's effective range and use your effective range/mobility to get some volleys off.

Unless you mean for the Incubi. In which case you'd probably just advance staying behind cover as best you can and then let the Incubi assault out of the vehicle. But I was under the impression you were dropping that unit for jetbikes.

ILovehashbrowns wrote:

Real question, How on earth do you get your venoms to the enemy without them dying :L the troops i disembarked put in hella work today, but with the 4 venoms i had on the table i wasnt able to unload 1 sortie of poison fire!

Umm, you've confused me.

You manage to kill things with your 2ft range infantry, but not with the 3ft range Venom?

You have speed & range on your side, able to move upto 12" without snap-firing & you want to always be firing at maximum range if possible.

Unless your 'gaming table' has no LOS blocking terrain, I can't see how 4 Venoms didn't do anything?

Ya, as others have stated, your venoms should not be "getting to the enemy". They are gunboates first, transports second.

If you want a transport to jump right next to the enemy, you want raiders. 3HP (rather than 2), the ability to take NS (for the 3+ jink), larger transport capacity, and larger footprint (giving you more options on where you want to assult) make them better.

For venoms, you want to sit as far away as possible (while still being within 36" to use your cannons) and blast with your 12 poisen shots. When the enemy moves closer to try an put a stop to your ranged dakka, THEN you move into assault.

This means your Incubi are just chillin, drinking a cup of tea as the venom kills stuff. Then when something starts to get close, they put down their teacups and grab their klaves, venom moves up 6">Incubi get out 6">charge your 2D6" into combat (preferably while the enemy is not in cover).

Venom stays in "gunboat mode" until the enemy gets to within ~18", then you start to worry about assault.

You can also draw Infantry out of cover with Venoms too.

Sit at 32" & shoot Infantry in cover on Objectives.

They either have to leave cover to engage you, then you can just back up a bit & keep shooting, or since you've drawn them off the Obj, jump over them & take the Obj. with your Ob. Sec. Venom & snap fire 12 shots into them for lols.

I've stolen a few VP's this way, frustrating my enemy into making mistakes

I'm not a tournie/competitive player mind, so don't expect 'seasoned pros' to fall for this.......

Hi,

Just realised that I messed up the points in the list above, sadly my PC & mobile versions of Battlescribe aren't syncing up, either that or I just 'ballsed up'

Kabal of Whatever (976)
DE PC (526)
Archon, Blaster, AOM, HWG, Cannon Venom (160)
5 x Trueborn, 4 x Blasters, Cannon Venom (180)
Lance Raider (60)
6 x Reavers, 2 x CC (126)
DE CAD (450)
Lhamean (10)
3 x 5 Warriors, Cannon Venom (315)
Triple Lance Ravager (125)

Obviously it's very similar, just loses the Lhamean's Venom, who then joins the Archon.

Running it as a single CAD will obviously still work, except it then doesn't need the Lhamean, which saves you 10 more points & you lose the ability to give 'PE' to the 'PC'. I'd also split the Reavers in that case too.

Moving forward, by adding a unit of Scourges & some Grots. you'll have a pretty good 1250 list:

Kabal of Whatever (1236)
DE PC (526)
Archon, Blaster, AOM, HWG, Cannon Venom (160)
5 x Trueborn, 4 x Blasters, Cannon Venom (180)
Raider, Aethersails (60)
6 x Reavers, 2 x CC (126)
DE CAD (710)
Lhamean (10) - Joins Archon
3 x Grotesques, incl Abber. with Agoniser (140) - Takes PC Raider
3 x 5 Warriors, Cannon Venom (315)
5 x Scourges, 4 x HWB (120)
Triple Lance Ravager (125)

I will have to keep my Venoms back, I dont know why i have been moving them forward in games when the range is so long, its a full 2 or 3 turns of shooting before the enemy can get at them, and we are playing Eternal war, so objectives only really matter at the end of the game. At the moment I have 9 Reaver jet bikes, I am going to take 2 squads of 3 both with a heat lance and cluster caltrops in my next game. I have swapped my Archon out for a succubus and my ravager out for 2 squads of 3 reavers. I have also included a Klaivex in with my incubi. Im gonna put the Succubus in a raider with some kabalites this time and leave the incubi in a venom until hopefully T4 when they have furious charge. I may also try and get some blaster born into a raider I just have to juggle some points

Alright if any of you are still watching this space I have a new list, id love your reviews!

My next opponent is playing Space wolves, he has been winning all of his games so far currently he is 5 or 6 to 0, so taking him down is my top priority. All i know about space wolves is that they are primarily a close combat army and i feel that they will be coming to me.

List so far, for the Kabal of the Shaolin sword. (Wu-tang reference for my yellow and black colour scheme)

HQ
Succubus; Archite glaive, HW grenades, Armour of misery

Elites
6 man Kabalite trueborn squad 2x blaster and Raider w/ Dark lance & Night shields

Troops
4x 5 man Kabalite warrior squad w/ blaster & Venom w/ mandatory splinter cannons.

Fast attack
2x 3 man Reaver jet bike squad w/ Heat lances.
1x 6 man Scourge squad w/ 2x HW blaster.

Stratergy, Leave Succubus in the raider w/ the trueborn, hope that it is bait for any big guns and 3+ jink save keeps me alive.

Venoms aim for anything that isnt a vehicle and cover it in splinter fire.

Embarked troops choices fill in AT role where necessary w/ blaster fire, otherwise additional splinter fire.

Scourges, Hide behind LOS blocking terrain and pop out when needed.

Reaver Jet bikes Melta something when the opportunity arises, maybe soak up some fire w/ Jink saves if I need it. and grab objectives when they pop up.

Looking for tactics and tips now!

foot note: just ordered some naughty recast models to hopefully convert a few grotesques on the cheap before christmas.

Firstly, love the Wu-Tang reference. Would love to see the army that goes with it as well.

And onto the list: I'd drop the extra Scourge to attempt to fit in two more HWB. Then I'd drop the extra true born to try and fit in two extra blasters. Pretty sure those numbers come out close to even.

Your HQ and Elite choice also seem to be at odds with each other. The Succubus being CC and the true born being a shooting unit. Why not swap out the Succubus for an Archon with a blaster (giving you 5 blaster shots in the raider and then the DL shot from the raider itself.

Also, you seem to have a decent amount of blasters as AT, with the HWB scourges as back up, it may be helpful to drop the heat lances on the reavers for caltrops.

Look up "Bark-Star", and what their wolfen do. Basically fast uber brutal CC units, who delete your stuff, even if they die. I would recomend staying FAR away and shooting at them, maybe sacrifice a few raiders/venoms to keep them busy.

If they get you, dont expect the unit to survive.

Also, please be aware that ATSKNF basically negates a lot of the usefulness of the AoM.

My $0.02

Quote :

I really dont want to remove my archon, i just like his paint job and i want to make sure that he is leading my forces for all of my games

I know this is slightly out of date but I don't think your opponents would mind if you proxy your Archon as a Succubus or Lhamaean, that way he can lead all of your armies...but be slightly more effective too.

How would you load out the Archon? Everytime i play him i really regret not taking a ccw. I hope he is not bringing a "Bark star formation" lol, as that sounds hella annoying, but surely all my poison fire could tear it to shreds.

I am more than happy to take an archon w/ blaster, clone field & husk blade maybe. or maybe swap out the trueborn for 3 incubi and a Klaivex?

Is it ever worth taking the animus vitae?

Well it depends on the points involved. So by and large Archon's are the fluffy choice that people wish was better. running a Lhamaen and just using the Archon model is probably the best way to run an Archon.

BUT if you want a CC Archon I like: Agonizer, Armor of Misery, Shadowfield I've had the most success with, if you want you COULD add a soultrap. grenades might be a good idea to grab if your running him with Incubi.

EDIT: As for the Animus I would say it's SUPER situational. I wouldn't take it unless I'm list tailoring and even then I think points could be better spent elsewhere.

Also take my advice with a grain of salt as I'm not a veteran player by any means.

If you keep the Succubus, I'd take Incubi. If you keep the true born, I'd take the Archon with a blaster, wouldn't even mess around with the husk blade if your going to bring the blaster. It is kind of pointless to upgrade your HQ to go in two directions (Shooting and CC).

It has been mentioned somewhere else before, things are going to get REALLY expensive if you kit them do have decent shooting and CC. Big thing there is DECENT, not GOOD. Your HQ gets stuck in the weird middle ground where it is decent all around, but excels at nothing. It is much more cost effective to excel at one thing, and ignore the other.

I will back up what Rhivan says.

Archons just are not that great, lacking AP2. Too many times you get in a situation where you are up against someone who IDs you, and you dont even penetrate his armor (being 2+). Now, I generally dont take the SF (hate investing more points into something that will die anyway), so maybe the extra 40 pts will add something...

Just too many SM captains on bikes with powerfists running around. Succi with the glave seem to do a little more, without the need for the SF (built in 4++)

I may have picked up 2 brand new venoms by next week this Army building is exciting