Sky Serpents 1250 tournament list

Hello all. I would just like to make a disclaimer that I am new to forums, and as such this is my first post, ever. That being said, I'm not here to bore you with my life story, or my war gaming experience. I am merely posting my list for an upcoming 1250 tournament that I will be running my Dark Eldar in. And here we go!

HQ
Duke Sliscus - 150

Elites
4 trueborn - 153
2x splinter carbines 2x splinter cannons
venom w/ 2x splinter cannons and night field

Troops
5x warriors - 135
blaster
venom w/ 2x splinter cannons and night field
5x warriors - 135
blaster
venom w/ 2x splinter cannons and night field
10 wyches - 210
hexatrix w/ power weapon hydra gauntlets haywire grenades
raider w flickerfield
10 wyches - 210
hexatrix w/ power weapon hydra gauntlets haywire grenades
raider w flickerfield

Heavy support
ravager - 115
3 dark lances flickerfield
ravager - 115
3 dark lances flickerfield

And there you have it. It's pretty self explanatory. The Duke's a pretty beefy HQ who gives you better choices when it comes to combat drugs, and makes the trueborn's splinter weapons wound on 3+. The two warrior squads give an extra st8 ap2 shot and can zip around to take objectives. The wyches sole reason for being is to find a squad who's been chewed up by all the splinter cannons and eat them, and the ravagers are there to make vehicles stop moving. Oh, and if you're feeling really insane, don't forget that the Duke allows all those vehicles to deep strike using standard deep strike rules, not the rules for retrofire jets. If you're feeling insane.

Heh, Sky Serpents

As for list - it's good.
I especially like anti-AI Trueborn with Duke - EXCELLENT!

I hope You know that with wording of his rule You can deploy them as one, then detatch Duke (for example joining Wyches) and still have 3+ wounding on Trueborn? I would delete 1 Wych due to that. You may buy 2 prows.

Actually, You have free 27 points. I propose few changes:

-1 Wych, so You have seat for Duke. +12 points
-Hydra gauntlets. They LOOK awesome but with whole unit (and Agoniser) You WILL murder things in CC already. +20
Agonisers for PW. Half price, zap T4+ with SC+, can benefit from FC and +1S. +20
-FFs on Ravagers. They are "artillery" except they can manouver to seek cover. +20
- NS on Trueborn Venom. Blaster squads need them, SC squads don't always.

That give You... 109 points.
You may buy additional Ravager (if You can). You need to open tanks/spoil day of Devastators.
If You can't get third HS, You may consider Wracks in Raider. Or scratching some points for Trueborn (like delete one from Duke TB squad along with Carabines).
Cheapest unit with 2 SC and "naked" Raider cost 116 points. I also would give original Trueborn Raider.

no u cant once he detaches he takes the +3 rule with him as itsany unit that he is attached to

secondly the list needs some changes

blasters on the trueborn for more anti tank drop night sheilds

drop night shields on the venoms

put night shields on the ravagers

give hekatrixs agonisers

drop a wych and add a succubus

Duke Sliscus gives a unit of Warriors or Trueborn 3+ poison and must deploy with them. They will keep the poison ability even if Sliscus leaves the unit or dies.

ohhh kool although i dont see hte point lol of taking him lol i like warriors i jus wudnt use them all the time

Well, I thank you for your insight, and I understand the thoughts behind what you guys say i should change, but this is my reasoning.

Firstly, 4 blaster trueborn are a one trick pony that I don't like using. The cannon trueborn are a cheep AI unit that capitalizes on the dukes wound on a 3+.

The night fields on venoms and ravagers I'm up in the air about. It all depends on what I'm playing against. Necrons, Tyranids, they work wonders. I.G., not so much.

My reasoning for dropping the agonizers is this, once the wyches get furious charge, or +1 strength, then whats the point of having a 20 point item that would effectively do the same thing as a power weapon, which is 10 points? yeah, its great when going up against something high toughness, like a carnifex or an avatar, but that's what splinter weapons are for, and the wyches are meant to go hit something else. Also, I personally feel a little cheated when i go to hit a guard squad with my furious charge and STILL need 4's to wound.

Lastly, a succubus didn't fit for points and with the duke as my HQ it would ruin my army comp for the tournament.

IF THE WYCHES GET FURIOUS CHARGE OR +1 STRENGTH secondly u missed the point of the agoniser its a power weapon that WOUNDS ANYTHING ON A 4+ now str3 vs T6 with a power weapon is 6's to wound with an agoniser its only 4's

i dont think u shud risk waiting till u get in combat or rolling +1 strength when agonisers are better

Inflammatory comments removed, flaming is just as frowned on here as txt-speak, again as clearly stated in the forum rules.

As he said in the first post, theTyrant simply posted his list for our information, along with his line of reasoning for taking it. he has an upcoming tournament and presumably will let us know how he, and his list, perform in it. And while he no doubt welcomes comments on his list from other members, I am sure that he doesn't want an argument. Gobsmakked.

My thoughts

I would drop the Baron. matter of preference. I am very fond of a succubus with agonzier and haywire grenades.

With regard to the agonzier. Counting on the wyches to get the +1 strength on the combat drugs or FC is a gamble. The agonzier while it seems a waste, will save your bacon when dealing with BA and FNP as well as Plague marines. The wyches can survive long enough to allow you succubus and hekatrix to chew them up with the agonzier. Its true a power weapon can do the same thing, but the higher toughness is just hard to get through, no matter how many attacks you can dis out. Against less units like guard, you are correct in that it makes no difference.

I would drop a single wych on one unit and have a succubus run with them.

4 blasterborn is a great way to crack open really tough units or armor. You might seem them as a one trick pony, but they're usefulness is second to none. That and you have enough AI with the splinter cannons and wyches.

I use 4 blasterborn on venoms, and go tank or termie hunting. or the lone IC if he is wandering around by his lonesome. 4 blasterorne are excellent for dealing with Mephiston, may he always rolls ones.

I love NS on venoms, reduced range makes them much more survivable and hard to deal with.

Anyhoo, my 2 pain tokens

I appreciate your thoughts and ideas, your critiques on this list. I do understand the necessities of having a power weapon that wounds anything, especially high toughness, on 4+. I, personally, have had just as much luck with a power weapon, than an agonizer. Yes, relying on pain tokens or +1 strength combat drugs can be a gamble, buuuuut, that's also where the duke comes in. Rolling twice for combat drugs and taking whichever result swings the gamble in my favor. Or you roll doubles and are kinda outta luck.

So, I recently played the list, with a couple of tweaks, in said tournament. I placed 66th out of close to 200 people overall.

My first game was against a Grey Knights player, who by the end of turn 7, had an immobilized weapon destroyed dreadnought. I had everything but a unit of wyches and the duke, who bought it to one of those champion jerks and his heroic sacrifice nonsense. This was after the duke went through a five man terminator squad all willynilly.

The second game is kind of embarrassing. Lets just say my second opponent made 23 out of 24 disruption pod saves, and couldn't fail an armor save if he tried. I really don't want to utter the armies name, just think about who gets disruption pods.

My third game was probably the hardest fought, seeing me against another Dark Eldar player with pretty much THE EXACT SAME list as me, albeit one more ravager and an archon instead of the Duke. What won it for him was his rolls were just a little better than mine, but had the game gone to turn 7, it would have been a win for me.

As I said, I have appreciated you're thoughts, and I will be posting my 1500 list for the next tournament.

ok MR ADMIN that was way to picky who ever built this site said this SECTION THE ARMY LIST SECTION IS FOR COMMENTS AND CRITIQUES so asking a sincere and honest question which it was was not breaking any rules wat so ever

i do run a few pages my self as an admin and the rules should be enforced i agree but you should use abit of common sense every now and again it will help things to run smoother

heres some more advice for you its really common sense but ill reiterate just incase no one ever told you if some posts an army list in a section listed for comments and crituques its usually to generate a discussion or for help etc etc NOW if the person doesnt want help then their list preferably should be posted in a different section IT MAKES LIFE EASIER FOR EVERY ONE

rant over iv re looked at the list and this cheap AI unit isnt needed if you have never played in a tournament before ull be VS space marines for 85% of every match up

u have 3 venoms now i know 36 shots at a have man unit will kill it easyily and uv got an extra 2 shots that wound on 3+

average wounds

14 divided by 2 is 7 divided by 2 (rounding up) is 4 wounds
12 divided by 2 is 6 divided by 2 is 3 wounds

now uv paid all those extra points for 1 wound on average if u stay still and fire as heavy 6 thats

18 divided by 2 is 9 divided by 2 (rounding up) is 5

the problems here are

ur within 18"
ur stationary so ur hit automatically in combat

last thing gar mephiston has a 2+ save so an ap2 weapon ignores it

I wrote an article last summer discussing mathhammer and effectiness of Dark Eldar in particular and used my own tournament list at the time as a go by.

it has some interesting numbers and thoughts if you are inclined to look it over.


linky
DE Mathhammer

To Vect, I never said I wasn't using the thoughts and critiques I've been getting. I've merely been explaining, and at times defending, why I choose what I choose. I don't write tournament lists by throwing stuff together. I use trail and error, and put thought into them, which includes listening to what other people thing. I agree, its a discussion. I understand, and respect the choices you would take and the changes you put forth.

As far as "mathhammer" goes, I'm tickled pink that it works for people. It doesn't necessarily work for me. I'm from the school of superstitious dice gaming. Some days I'm hot, some days I'm not. I'm not going to rely on these mathematical equations and hypothesis to win my games when I can't hit the broad side of a barn with blasters and dark lances when "statistically" I should have wrecked the rhino I've been shooting at all game.

I didn't post to start an argument on "this unit is better than this unit". If you read what I said in the first post, this is my first attempt at posting on a forum. I'm just trying to show people what I'm running, what I'm having fun with, and what I've used to beat, in practice games, my friends long fang space wolf list who won second overall at the same tournament.