Adepticon coming soon.. List I am thinking about bringing, and why.

So, Adepticon is right around the corner, and I have had like 20 people ask me what list i am bringing.
Well, really they just ask if I am going to try to stick with Dark Eldar or go yannari.

Not gonna lie here, but Yannari is almost a must take, it is so stupidly better than Dark Eldar.

But everyone I know that plays Eldar went with Yannari. Every last one.  I can only assume that pretty much the rest of the world is going to do the same.

So I predict that i will be facing 2-3 Yannari lists. Others will assume the same and take something to counter yannari (I/E Deathstars).

So i made the decision that YES, i am taking Dark Eldar (with some help) to Adepticon this year.  Something that could face both deathstars AND yannari.

Here is my list:
3 Cads
Cad 1:

1x lahmean / Venom/ Extra Splinter Cannon
3x 5 Warriors / Venom / Extra Splinter Cannon
3x Raiders / Dark lance (warriors deploy in these giving me 6 Ob Sec units)

Cad 2:

1x lahmean / Venom/ Extra Splinter Cannon
3x 5 Warriors / Venom / Extra Splinter Cannon
3x Raiders / Dark lance (warriors deploy in these giving me 6 Ob Sec units)

Cad 3:
1x Prince / Traveler of Forgotten paths/ Jetbike
2x 3 Splinter Cannon jetbikes
1x Warp Hunter / Kinetic Shroud
1x Lynx / Kinetic Shroud


So, here is how it works.  The Lynx and the Hunter are strength D, giving me some ammo to take out Knights (both wraith and Imperial), I have 6 dark lances for lighter transports and the like, I have 14 objective secured units (yannari have ZERO) I have a crap ton of poison shots, I have both speed and board control, as well as a webway portal I can drop near an important objective and play the "Here I am, now im gone" game.

Here are the armies I feel I may see, in decending order of chance.

1. Yannari. (or Eldar)  i will see a lot of these guys. The lynx outranges all of them by quite a bit, the warp hunter can target important farseers or wraithknights (barrage) and to be effective, Yannari have to be on foot. If they are on foot, I have a potential 194 poison shots a turn.  The lynx will almost guarantee a dead wraithknight in 1 turn of shooting.  If i take out their least expensive unit, an 81 point jetbike squad, and they retaliate by killing a venom, or a raider, i win that battle and it wont even be close.

2. Dog/Bike deathstars
Poison, poison and more poison, as well as sniping apoticaries and psychers with the hunter, and large blast "d" from the lynx. Hit and run, and play the "you cant catch me" game.

3. Rahottie Lists.
This I am a little unsure, as i have yet to face it. I get the premise. Lets just get this out of the way now, if i go first, Magnus will be dead. If I go second, the rest of his army will be dead, as he tries to kill all of mine first. Poison shots can make short work of demons, even if they are airborne or invisible.

4. Tau.
Weight of fire and outdistance him.  The lynx will be the main player in this game, with a 60" threat range.

4. (tie with tau) Gladius white scar spam.
This list is more tricky, as target priority will either win or lose the game. Their GRAV shots will not be as effective as they want them to be, and when the boxes open, they will die rather quickly.

6. Ad mech
This is the list i dont want to see, as a 2++ cover for two rounds is brutal. The lynx and hunter will take out the big vehicles, but a smart ad mech player will not care, and use the smaller units to decimate my vehicles.  Hope i don't play against them this year, and if I do, I hope I go first!

7. the others...
Not too worried about them, but any army in the hands of a good player can be surprising.
I will let you all know how I do after the tournament.  Probably will win "Best dark Eldar" yet again, but this time because i will be the only one who didn't switch to yannari!

Have you played anything like this against Ynnari yet? Do you think it could really stand up to scatbike/warp spider spam? Remember that if you get tabled, you lose regardless of points scored.

Also, we should try to meet up and have a beer or something at adepticon!

Sounds great! I'm in. I will be with the team Skul n Bonz and the 40K gt- look for the Dark Eldar player with 16 vehicles :-)

as for getting tabled, I have no fear of it.
Deployment and in this case, both target priority and order of fire are very important.  I simply limit what they can shoot at with their return fire from 7" of the unit I targeted.

Shoot from odd angles, minimizing their squads, etc. for the first time ever, I am not shooting a single target out of the game, i am crippling multiple targets for removal later.

And, personally, i think Warp Spiders are one of the few units that actually are WORSE in yannari than plain Eldar.  the limited range on their guns pretty much make them a one shot unit, that can move anywhere on the table, admittedly, but still, 1 shot and done.
They cant wait for Imperial knights to declare facing, then battle focus anymore. But, i'm sure they are still good.

Dark reapers, on the other hand, got AMAZING.

See, I don't necessarily agree with that take. Remember that soulburst can make them do more than just shoot again, but it ALSO can make them shoot again on their own turn, so the short range of the warp spiders can be a boon to them. It allows them to be close enough to trigger a soulburst when they kill an enemy. Which means they can flickerjump in, shoot twice, killing up to 2 units, then either assault in their assault phase or use their optional assault move to move 6+2d6 somewhere else.

And if they assault a unit, then win that combat in the enemy turn, they can then shoot again, assault again, or flickerjump away into cover as a move action.

And the extra out of sequence actions make up for not being able to have imperial knights declare facing before battle focusing. They've FAQed the fact that killing models doesn't increase the distance between your unit and the target unit either, so if you begin shooting at a unit that has a single model within soulburst range and kill it, there is no arguing about whether or not you get the extra action. They're already released an official FAQ saying you do.

I'm not saying your list won't do well. I know you're a good player, and that is why I'm trying to engage you to see how you think this will all go. I actually had a similar thought process as you at the beginning of your original post in deciding what I'm going to bring. We just ended up at different conclusions.

I will likely use Ynnari, but use it differently than most other people. I probably will not be maximizing soulburst potential across a wide number of units. I've toyed with the idea of putting maugan ra in a deathstar and making him my warlord, allowing the deathstar to teleport around, throwing 9 singing spears at 1 target, psykic powers at other targets, 8 shots from maugan ra at a different target, making sure they soulburst in my turn, then throwing 9 more singing spears, split shotting maugan ra again(8 more shots at a different target). Then on the enemy turn, if they ever target my deathstar, or a unit near my deathstar, soulburst in their turn for another 9 singing spears and 8 maugan ra shots at 2 different units with split fire.

We have somewhat limited access to split fire in our factions, but what we do have could be used to pretty great effect with Ynnari, I think.

I agree with a lot of that, and think your deathstar idea would be hilarious to see on the field, well, to be more accurate, to see your opponents reaction to it!
I'm not going to lie, I did make and seriously consider a rather nasty Yannari list myself.
But, I really really hate being like everyone else, taking the same cookie cutter units, etc.
You seem to think along the same lines, as that deathstar is unique. People (not all but most) will seriously underestimate the army I am bringing as soon as i say "It is Dark Eldar, not yannari".
And when people are overconfident... they make stupid stupid mistakes.

As for the spiders, I never said they were not good, i said I thought they were worse with the new rules. Let me ammend that by saying "Worse than the other Eldar units". And this is due only to their limited range. I think reapers, Shining Spears, Sword and Board knights, Scatbikes (as if they were not good enough already) and fire dragons all came out better with the yannari changes than the spiders did. But don't get me wrong, spiders are still spiders!

I would really like to meet up at Adepticon so I can follow how you do. If i end up having to cheer for a Yanari faction, might as well be for someone i have discussions with.

I'll PM you my cell #, and you can PM me yours if you want, that way we don't have to play the "Are you that dude from the internet?" game, fun as that might be, haha.

Any chance of a Dark City meet up?

Im In

Sure!

Quote :

they were worse with the new rules. Let me ammend that by saying "Worse than the other Eldar units". And this is due only to their limited range. I think reapers, Shining Spears, Sword and Board knights, Scatbikes (as if they were not good enough already) and fire dragons all came out better with the yannari changes than the spiders did. But don't get me wrong, spiders are still spiders!

I'll have some of whatever you're smoking pal.

Skulnbonz wrote:

 Probably will win "Best dark Eldar" yet again, but this time because i will be the only one who didn't switch to yannari!

just read that and your signature. put a smile on my face!