2k list, looking for comments

I'm relatively new to 40k, and this is my first army. I was lured in by the great models and loved the fluff. I play dark elves in fantasy so there was a natural pull to this army. Anyway, I would appreciate some input on my list

Archon, agoniser, haywire grenades, ghostplate armor, combat drugs, shadow field
3 X Haemonculus, venom blades

10 warriors - splinter cannon, blaster
10 warriors - splinter cannon, blaster
8 wyches - haywire grenades, hekatrix - agoniser, raider - night shields, FF
8 wyches - haywire grenades, hekatrix - agoniser, raider - night shields, FF
5 inubi - raider - night shields, FF
4 trueborn - blasters, venom - splinter cannon, night shields
4 trueborn - blasters, venom - splinter cannon, night shields
6 reavers - 2 blasters
ravager - flickerfield
ravager - flickerfield
ravager - flickerfield

The haemonculus would be deployed 1 each with the incubi and the wych units.

Any comments for the noob would be greatly appreciated.

I didn't list the flicker fields on the venoms because they are standard and don't require an upgrade. I don't take night shields on the ravagers because they stay away from most things with 24 inch range and anything really heavy has 48 inch range, and I need to be at the least 36 inches away, so I don't see the reason to invest the points.

Thanks for the input.

Take into account that if you put a haem with the witches, then they can't fleet.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but do keep it mind

I personally think ghostplate + shadowfield is kind of overkill - by the time the S.Field pops your Archon isn't long for the world anyway. I also think he could benefit by having a PGL so that he could pair with the Incubi and give them grenades.

If you want night shields, it's my personal opinion that either everything should have them, or nothing should. Make your own value call after a few games though.

The hole in your army are those two foot squads. Everything else is very nicely meched up, and then there's those guys kinda plodding along and trying to look relevant. Let's check out this;

Your build = 115 points
5 Warriors, Blaster, Venom = 115 points

Both builds have a Blaster.
Both have a S.Cannon.
The 2nd build is able to fire its core weapons at two different targets, move 12" and fire 6 shots with the S.Cannon as opposed to moving and firing 4, can flat out if needed for objectives, and has AV 10 and FFs making it a tough nut to crack for most basic infantry squads as opposed to the "difficult" task of killing 10 DE Warriors.

If you can free up 20 points (dropping Night Shields?) you could buy a second S.Cannon for each Venom.

Is there a point to the 10 man squads? The only value I see there is if the plan is to drop them in cover and just hold an objective, and if that's your goal you're probably better off getting two 5 man Wrack squads who'll do the same, be tougher, and cost less.

I think the v.blades on the Haems are a misstep. As noted, Haems lack fleet, so will generally be left behind by the assault units they are escorting. That's why you see them with liquifiers so much - because they can then fly around dropping templates on massed infantry and being a royal pain even after their cargo is gone.

that is my plan for the two foot squads, but I have a question regarding the Haems: when you say they are generally left behind by the assault units, do you mean the unit runs in the shooting phase and then assaults, leaving him behind? If that's the case, do they lose the pain token as he is no longer with the unit? Sorry for the question, but as I'm not completely familiar with the rules yet, I don't see the benefit in leaving him out to die. Probably a fantasy mentality though.

Im assuming the guys mean you would break the Heamie off from the wyches so they can do what they do best ie move-fleet-assault. and no they wouldnt lose the token but the Heamie would because when units split YOU decide how to divvy up the PT's.

Most people will leave him in the raider and go Drive-by Liquifying whilst the escort gets stuck in taking the PT with them

Generally the plan with Haems is like this;

Haem w. flamer + Assault unit + transport
The Transport flies up, and the assault unit disembarks from the transport, leaving the Haem inside it (allowed due to IC rules)
When a unit separates and has an odd number of Pain Tokens the DE general gets to decide which unit gets the extra token, all others are separated evenly. (from DE Codex in Army Special Rules section)
Assault unit runs off to assault something. Haem sit sin boat and drops templates.

Make sense?

Makes perfect sense. Thank you. I have much to learn in the ways of 40k. Looks like I found a good site for tactics and strategy.

Can't disagree with anything Thor said, save on the Nightshields. Your Blasterborn Venoms do benefit quite a lot from them, mainly to keep them out of S4/5 Rapid Fire range (think Space Marines, Tau)

It's a great list though

Night Shields are good - I just think 2nd S.Cannon is better.

Absolutely. Take both!

I think your list sounds pretty good, i wouldn't risk losing the Wyches ability to fleet over gaining a pain token- especially when they can jump out of a raider anyway!

I would also recommend nightshields on the ravagers, i find that they help a lot-and if you can find the points definately stick ff on as well, that pair works a treat.

I would also drop the nightshields on the venoms, they won't help when you need to be in blaster range anyway.

You might struggle with the footslogging warriors- have you considered trying a WWP? You could then swap the wyches and warriors around and have the wych squads emerge from the WWP- or the other way round depending on how you feel? Could help a lot if you find that they just get killed as they trudge up and down?

(WWP= Web Way Portal)

Pretty solid list IMHO. From experience I would drop the blasters on the Reavers for Heat Lances. Lance+AP1+Melta=dead vehicles. The Eldar jetbike move let's you shoot n' scoot out of the way. Otherwise I a, down with everything that you listed, though do add a PGL to the archon if he's trucking around with Incubi.