build me an army worthy of Commorragh

so. following several attempts at creating a fun (and by fun i don't mean tabling my opponent by turn 3....) and successful (by which i mean has a degree of success) list with dark eldar, i'm kinda stumped as to where to go with them....

i've read several articles on tactics and there seems to be:
a lot of push to max up on TruBlast squads in Venoms.
a disdain for the Mandrakes
a reluctance to see value in Bloodbrides
an aversion to the talos and chronos
a scorn for the fast attack options

i am.....stuck.

basically i have the following at my disposal, and need a sensible, flexible list of 2000points built around it.

20 wyches
10 warriors
10 hellions
6 reavers
lelith
2 raiders

i'm thinking 2 ravagers are probably a given for heavy support, but beyond that.....

there's scope to add whatever is needed around the above, but ideally i don;t want to be left with stuff unused....

any help as to what to put together would be very much appreciated.

I only run Kabals so I can't help you if you want to go Wych Cult or Coven, but I'll try anyway.

Lelith 175

the Baron 105

Elites:
4x Trueborn in Venom, Blasters for all of em', Venom has an additonal splinter cannon and nightshield: 183

4x Trueborn in Venom, Blasters for all of em', Venom has an additonal splinter cannon and nightshield: 183

Troops:

10x Wyches, Hekatrix with Agonizer, haywires for all, on a Raider with Flickerfield, Shock Prow,225

9x Wyches, all have haywires, on a Raider with Flickerfields with Shock Prow, 185 (Lilith goes here)

10x Wyches, two with shardnets/impalers, on a raider with Flickerfield with Shock Prow, 195

15 Hellions, 240 (baron goes here)

Fast Attack:

6x Reavers, 2 blaster, 162

Heavy Support:

RAVGER FORMATION DARKLIGHT STORM

3 Ravagers with Flicker fields and Dark Lances, 345

1998

Drop the Nightshields on the Venoms, you'll never use them. The Blaster Trueborn aren't designed to last long, since they're going to be getting within 18" of the enemy, which means any bolters can reach them, even WITH Nightshields.

I disagree about night shields. I have been using them I can not count how many time lately this has foiled what people have been trying to do. I realize long range weapons it becomes inaffective as you get closer but like last night I had space marines that were going to double tap me and I brought up the night shield so he only had single shots. ( 20 to 10). I say go for it.

here's the 2000 point i worked out. it actually needs to lose 42pts.

thoughts?

Lelith

Haemo
Liquifer, Agoniser

Wyches (x2)
9 inc Hekatrix
razorflail, agoniser
raider, FF
(lelith in 1, Haemo in 1)

Warrior
10 inc Blaster and DL
raider, FF

Wracks
10 inc Acothyst
2 liquifiers, Agoniser
Raider, FF

Trueborn (x2)
4 with blasters
Venom with Sp Cannon upgrade

Ravager (x2)
DL, FF

Hellions
10 inc Helliarch with agoniser

Reavers
6 inc 2x heat lance, 2x caltrops

The ten hellions by themselves won't do much, though a small unit like that may go unnoticed long enough to do some damage.

i've got another rewrite coming in soon..... lelith is demoted to a hekatrix, gain a haemo, lose one lot of trueborn and the warriors, gain 2 venom warriors, gain a ravager, add baron sathy to the heelions, split the reavers in two....

getting there.

i'll post the rewrite later on.

Here is a list you might try, and could be fun and nasty too!

Lets see, you wanted to include the following models...

20 wyches check
10 warriors check
10 hellions check
6 reavers check
Lelith check
2 raiders check

In fact you would still need to buy 2 Hemo's, 18 Wracks, 4 Wyches, 3 Ravagers, 2 Venoms, and 1 more Raider
The 4 extra Wyches you need, you should be able to convert from the extra parts that come with the Venoms.

HQ
Lelith 175
Hemo 1 w/ Liquifier, WWP 95
Hemo 2 w/ Liquifier, WWP 95

Troops
9 Wracks w/ Liquifier, Raider w/ DL, FF 170 *
9 Wracks w/ Liquifier, Raider w/ DL, FF 170 **
9 Wyches w/ Haywire Grenades, Hekatrix w/PW, Raider w/ DL, FF 198 ***
5 Warriors w/ Blaster, Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannon 125
5 Warriors w/ Blaster, Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannon 125
15 Wyches w/ 3 Shardnet+Impaler 180

Fast Attack
10 Hellions 160 (Only putting these here because you want them )
3 Reavers w/ Blaster 81
3 Reavers w/ Blaster 81

Heavy Support
3 Ravager w/ 3 DL, FF 345

Total 2000pts

* Lelith and Hemo 1 go here
*** Hemo 2 go here

You have 12 Dark Lances, 4 Blasters, 4 Liquifier Guns, 4 Splinter Cannons.

If you didn't want to include the Hellions, I would replace them instead with

4 Trueborn w/ 4 Blasters, Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons 158

2 points less, and you get an additional 4 Blasters and 2 Splinter Cannons.

Now deployment of this list is funny shenanigans as we do the pain token shuffle.

The three squads with "*" are going to be shuffling on their first turn.

Detach Hemo 2 from squad *** but leave the pain token for the Wyches. Attach Hemo 2 to squad **
Detach Lelith from squad * but take the pain token from the Wracks. Attach Lelith to squad ***

In the end;
Hemo 1 will be in squad *
Hemo 2 will be in squad **
Lelith will be in squad ***

Squad * and ** will still have FNP, and should rush forward for standard WWP tactics.
Squad *** Will now be filled with Lelith, 9 Wyches and two pain tokens for FC and FNP right at the beginning, zoom their Raider forward for carnage!!

The 15 Wyches should be arriving through the WWP, as should the Hellions. You could also bring the Reavers through the WWP as well but shouldn't be needed. You may also want to combine the two Reaver squads but being able to shoot more than one target is beneficial.

The intent of this Hybrid list was to allow you to use all of your models and still try to be competitive. Yes it may seem like a small waste to bring two WWP as a delivery system for only 10 Hellions and 15 Wyches (or if you take my suggestion and replace the Hellions with Trueborn, then it's just 15 Wyches), but those Wyches can tie anything scary in combat for a long... long... time.

that's kind of in the direction of my reworked list.

here it is:

HQ
Haemo w/ Liquifier
Haemo w/ Liquifier
Baron Sathonyx

ELITES
Trueborn
4 w/ Blasters
Venom w/ 2nd Splinter Cannon

TROOP
Wyches
9 inc Hekatrix (poor lelith gets a demotion!!)
Agoniser, Razorflail, Haywire
Raider w/ Flicker field
(Haemo joins here)

Wyches
9 inc Hekatrix
Agoniser, Razorflail, Haywire
Raider w/ Flicker field
(Haemo joins here)

Wracks
10 inc Acothyst
2 Liquifiers, Agoniser
Raider w/ FLicker field

Warriors
5 inc Blaster
Venom w/ 2nd Splinter cannon

Warriors
5 inc Blaster
Venom w/ 2nd Splinter cannon

Hellions
9 inc Helliarch
Agoniser
(joined by the Baron)

FAST
3 Reavers w/ blaster

3 Reavers w/ blaster

HEAVY
Ravager w/ dark lance
Ravager w/ dark lance
Ravager w/ dark lance

any feedback on this one? i have 18 points to spare.

Ever thought about using your Hellions to count as Beastmasters? You could make your Reaver's into 1 squad of 6, and take 2 squads of 5 Beastmasters each with 8 razorwings and 5 Khymerae's. Though that does get expensive quick. You could make one of your Hellions into Baron to give your Beastmaster squads some assault/defensive grenades and stealth to boot.

Torpedo Vegas wrote:

The ten hellions by themselves won't do much, though a small unit like that may go unnoticed long enough to do some damage.

The image of a unit of ten hellions going unnoticed because its a small unit made me laugh. Don't get me wrong I agree they should be taken in bigger units but ten of those guys can take up some table space for sure. Especially how tall they are and given that dark eldar are usually brightly painted I think your opponent would notice them.

lol. i am thinking they might be a useful counterfoil or quick zip end of game objective taker/denyer

plus they look supercool - and we all love the rule of cool