Trying to get started 1000pointd

I'm just getting started with dark eldar, I'm not a competitive player. Love the mode range and really only play the one friend who uses admech/skittari and 2x really annoying dunecrawlers.

I have:
Archon
20x warriors
2x raiders
3x reavers

I've been told to order scourges. What else would you advise? Do enjoy some close combat but happy to stick with shooty if that's the best way to run in.

If you really enjoy melee, get some coven units. Very cool models and in my playing very good this edition. I may be biased since they were my first conversion but grotesques backed up by a few cronos are brastly. Regaoning wounds and letting the grots re roll 1s destroys just about anything

Well you could start with a base like this:
Archon
-Agoniser
-Blaster
-PGL
76

Troops
9 Kabalites
-Blaster
-PGL
Raider
-Dark lance
196

5 Kabalites
-Blaster
-PGL
Raider
-Dark lance
168

5 Kabalites
-Blaster
-PGL
53
These go with the guys above. The PGL is optional but for 3 points it's a steal in my opinion.

Total: 493

The idea is to use the Archon as a counter charging unit a solid support character. It also let's the 9 man Kabalite unit use his leadership for mora, which means they'll have more of a chance of surviving. Your units will die, that's life as dark eldar. But this will give them a bit more survivability and fits well with the units you have.

Reavers are in a weird spot right now. They're sort of a shooting unit and sort of an assault unit. Either way if you're going to run them I would rather see a larger group because they're not very survivable.

It's a good start for a 1000 point list. I like the Raider units like this because it fills the troops easily but you will lack anti infantry in comparison to 5 man venom squads. It's swings and roundabouts however, as two Venom squads works out about 40 points more expensive and you lose the dark lance. Really it depends what your list needs. Ravagers and Razorwings are also a good shout. The Ravager is our go to anti tank option and the Razorwing provides a nice mix of anti infantry fire and anti tank through the dark lances. It should be noted that there's a lot of unknowns this edition, it's barely out and I don't think anything is out and out bad. If you want close combat Troops Wracks are a good shout, when put with a Haemonculus they're extremely survivable and will do well against basic Troops. Just keep them out of the way of anything that's remotely specialised for close combat. It would also be good to pick these guys up with a Haemonculus because it would allow you to run a batallion detachment. So another Hq, whether an Archon or Haemonculus if you want to go the wrack route is a good shout. Personally I'd steer clear of Wyches, they're useful, their role is to tie things up, but they're quite a specialised role as they're designed to hold units up and essentially denie low model count close combat specialists or shooty units.
If you can get the metal Incubi cheap, they're also not a bad shout. They're a unit that wants to hit MEQ units and will do it well. If you're going to face these units often their are a lot worse things you could pick up. I don't rate Scourges for much other than having a mobile unit that can throw out 15 poison shots on the cheap. A lot of people here would disagree with that though.

Don't take my word as gospel and definitely keep reading the tactics and army list sections to get a feel for what the general consensus for what is good is!

So for me I would pick up:
1. A Ravager or Razorwing
2. Venoms and more Kabalites ( these can also work as Trueborn)
3. 3-6 more Reavers (I think these will work better in larger games than 1000pts)
4. Wracks and a Haemonculus if you want close combat troops
5. Scourges
6. Metal incubi

Thanks for the advice. If I wanted to expand the list into the covens and to get a battalion detachment went for stacks and a haemonculus, how would you load these out and would they need transport?

I like 9 Wracks in a Raider with a Haemonculus. A Liquifier on the acothyste and one wrack and one on the Haemonculus gives a nice little flamer unit and is reasonable for overwatch. I'm not sure I would recommend all the upgrades on a 5 man squad just because you have less wounds to protect them and the price of a Liquifier is 2 points more than a wrack!

So I was doing the math on the Reavers and did a bit of reading around and it seems like a 6 man squad with two grav talons kills 4.5 marines if they shoot and charge them. Now that we can choose our drugs this seems rather good and they go quite well against T3 units as well. You can also pick your drugs which means you can give these guys +1 toughness if they're a single unit which makes them rather good in my opinion. The downside is that this unit comes in around 200 points but for a good assault unit and devastator squad hunter this seems pretty good!

Some mortal wound damage does sound useful. Should I be taking any other upgrades on these? Close combat weapons or blasters?

I think if the plan is to hunt devastators and give them a nice ability to hurt tanks blasters aren't a bad shout. It just depends if you're willing to spend the points, because two grab talons and two blasters is quite expensive. Where you're getting strength 4 ap -1 from the bladvanes I would be tempted not to use the Agoniser, simply because you'll be wounding on 4s against marines anyway and you will be wounding on 3s against T3 vs 4s with the agoniser. Haven't done the math though so it might work out better with the Agoniser anyway.

Why bother with upgrades at all when you're just using them to hunt back field units?

That's a fair point CptMetal. I'd argue the grav talon is still a good shout because it puts the mortal wounds on the unit before the unit has a chance to fight back which is great and also because removing saves from the equation completely is very good against devastators or havocs.

I'm always a fan of more anti tank, so I'd say getting into a ravager, razorwing jetfighter, or as you said before scourges.

If you want to continue down the reaver route, Gangs of Commorragh box set is a phenomenal deal to get you 6 more reavers and 10 hellions. They're not as durable as going for more venom's or ravagers, etc.

1000 point list I made last night

Archon
Archon

9x kabalite
5x kabalite
5x kabalite

5x scourges (dark lance)

Ravager

Raider (9x kabalite and archon
Venom (archon)
Venom (kabalite)
Venom (kabalite)

Keeps it Kabal like I originally planned, will expand out at a later date with a fair bit of anti tank and anti infantry. Any improvements? Must includes for loadouts?

Substitute the scourges for a Ravager or a flyer and you're good to go.

What guns would you give a ravager and razorwing? I need to check my points with the book, in work so messing about with BattleScribe but need to chop about 12-20 points somewhere and that's with 3x dark lances on the ravager and 2x dark lances and splitter cannonon on the razorwing.

Drop the splinter cannon on the razorwing as it's definitely not worth it!

Note taken.

Where do you guys get spare blasters? eBay is coming up empty!

I got some of mine from the scourge kit, and then the rest I clipped off the end of a shredder and a blast pistol and "made" a Blaster.

I'll get creative, thanks for all the advice!

I've been blue stuff moulding blasters for my scourge. It's not perfect but it's wysiwyg. I'll try posting pictures. The mobile version of the site is not very robust unfortunately.

And I don't take splinter cannons on any vehicles anymore. Razorwings or venom's. The twin splinter rifle isn't that bad and you are up close and personal most of the time anyway. My 2 cents

I've been looking at the list on a Facebook group and they suggested the following as an improvement
It took me some time and I haven't checked against the book (used BattleScribe while on the train to work) but this is what I've came up with for my 1000point Kabal list and start of my DE army:

Archon - Blaster, agoniser, pgl

9x Kabalite warriors - blaster
10x Kabalite warriors - blaster

5x Kabalite Trueborn - 3 DL

Ravager - 3 DL

Razorwing - 2 DL & Splinter cannon

Raider - DL
Raider - DL
Venom - splinter cannon (not upgraded)

You can only put 2 DLs on trueborn

If changed to blaster or shredder?

AC_The_Archon wrote:

If changed to blaster or shredder?

I don't understand what you mean.

Here are the pics of the blaster scourge. I think after paint and on the tabletop these will be decent blasters. Right now they have imperfections, but get the job done.

Sorry, I mean if I change the 3 DL to 2 DL and a blaster in the trueborn squad, does the list look good?

AC_The_Archon wrote:

Sorry, I mean if I change the 3 DL to 2 DL and a blaster in the trueborn squad, does the list look good?

Oh ok, yeah it looks like a good 1000 point starter list.

Drop the DL on the trueborn down to 2. Pick up a blaster.

And honestly I'd split your 10 man kabalite squad into 2 5 man squads (they can share the raider), drop the splinter cannon from the razorwing, and pick up another blaster on that second squad.

If you have any points, put agonizers on the kabalite leaders. I don't have time to look at points right now. I'll have to come back to that.