Dark Eldar prep for 2013 Tournament Circuit -- 1500pts. Game 1 Complete!

Hello! I'm an eager Aspirant who can't wait to get his sword slick in the lifeblood of the inferior races of the galaxy. I have 2 lists here for review. Focusing on lots of firepower from the warrior squads and some back court clearing by my beloved archon and his court of incbui. My only concern is that this might be a little venom spammy:


Archon - 115pts.
-Power Lance, Drugs, Shadow Field

9x Harlequins - 224pts.
- 8x Kisses, ShadowSeer

Warriors (10) - 180pts.
-Splinter cannon, Raider w. Night shields, Racks
Warriors (10 - 180pts.
-Splinter Cannon, Raider w. Night Shields, Racks

Wytches - 125pts.
-Venom w. Dual SC, Haywire Grenades
Wytches - 125pts.
-Venom w. Dual SC, Haywire Grenades

Reavers (6) - 156pts.
-2x Heat Lances

2x Ravagers - 230pts, (3DLs) - Night Shields
Razorwing w, Ficker Fields and Splinter Cannons, Dark Lances- 165pts.

1500pts.


I actually had 10pts left over. bad math! So i added the splinter cannon on the razorwing, making him a little more expensive than i was hoping but i think its the best upgrade left!

It looks good, not sure about the drugs on the archon. Only 50% of the rolls help him: +1WS is wasted, re-roll to run is wasted, and the pain-token is a waste as he has a shadow field and when that goes he is toast anyway, also he is with harlequins so it's not like his unit will benefit from the pain token.

The lance makes sense with hit and run from the harlequins, clever.

The harlequins feel a bit slow compared to the rest of the list, but I guess that is unavoidable.

Hope that helps.

Well the idea of the Harlequins were to be my one absolutely dedicated Close Combat element. And i'm mostly planning on keeping them towards mid field and my deployment zone against most opponents. Any army i can outshoot, any army that can drop pod or deep strike, i'll be wanting to keep the harlequins in my deployment zone, protecting warriors, guarding objectives etc. I sure hope its competitive enough, i think i'll have my first run this weekend!

Thanks for the feedback!

thelordcal wrote:

Hello! I'm an eager Aspirant who can't wait to get his sword slick in the lifeblood of the inferior races of the galaxy. I have 2 lists here for review. Focusing on lots of firepower from the warrior squads and some back court clearing by my beloved archon and his court of incbui. My only concern is that this might be a little venom spammy:

Venoms are great, and spamming them is fine competitively. At first glance you have nowhere near enough firepower to out shoot things, you have around half the number of splinter shots and only the minimum number of dark matter shots that you will need at this points level if you want to out shoot anyone.

You also have units pulling in different directions, half your list is assault and half shooty and not in a synergystic way. Your list wants to be at 36", 12" and in an assault, that's three different threat ranges, which is generally pretty bad competitively. You should pick one. Your Wyches want to close quickly, as do your reavers, your harlequins are forced to closed slowly. Your raiders, ravagers and plane want to stay back and your warriors want to be in midfield. To utilise the Wyches you have to accept the venoms are delivery systems and not rely on their firepower as it will be gone. Alternatively if you sit back you waste all the points tied up in Wyches an Archon and Harlies.

Sorry I don't think this list is very competitive and I am too unsure as to your actual aim for it to give any advice on changes. I don't just want to give you one of my lists, that would be silly. Try to think about the role each unit will play in your list, how you will capture objectives and control the board, what you will use to push opponents off objectives and such. What units hold your backfield objectives? What would you push forward to claim a Relic, how do you neutralise an opponents position then claim it?

If you can't answer those questions then your list isn't a competitive list. If you can give an idea of what strategy you like (high firepower at range, assault, midrange firepower, etc.) I would be happy to make some more positive suggestions.

Hmm... I thought i had quite a lot of firepower in the list. I have 4 long range units: raiders + ravagers. I have 2 units for mid range fire support: warriors. I have 2 units with access to high volume long range AI fire the wytches with venoms, wytches who have the option to help clear out enemy tank.

The reavers were in place to make late turn objective contests and line breaker. Then the Harlequins + Archon were in place to help protect my back field long range shooting: raiders + ravagers.


If i were to dedicate to fast moving long range shooting what would you recommend?

Well that I can give sugestions with. First off I'd drop the Archon and the Harlies completely, they are just gobbling up huge numbers of points. As a HQ I'd take a Haemonculus and drop him at the back of the board.

Now looking at your warriors and reavers these make good midrange units, which you can support with long range and more mid range firepower. If you like the sound of that I'd proabably add a second squad of Reavers and consider a 5 man scourge squad with Haywires, maybe. Also consider some Blasterborn.

If you prefer long rnage over midrange then I would reccomend dropping the Warriors in addition to the Harlies and Archon and considering whether or not the Reavers are the best choice (they are good, but harder to use in a long range list). With the points saved I'd look at investing in Trueborn, Trueborn with 2 Cannon, 2 Cannon and 3 Blasters or 2 Lances are all good units. Venoms are mandatory on the first two, optional on the third. This will markedly increase your 36" firepower. Antoher popular unit is the 5 man Warrior squad in a Venom. I don't like it much myself, but YMMV, some people swear by them.

In either case I would reccomend dropping the Wyches entirely and replacing them with 3-5 man units of Wracks in Venoms with or without liquifiers as you prefer or 5 man warrior squads with blasters in the same. Both units are more survivable scoring than the Wyches and fit with your army better. They are also both much better at dealing with deepstriking and outflanking enemy threats (withe by rapid firing + blaster or flame + assault).



At this points value I would aim for 60+ 36" range splinter shots and 10+ 36" range dark matter shots, then take midrange shooting, more scoring or increase the numbers in either group accoridng to preference. Obviously thats for a list with a heavy long range shooting component as you seem to favour.

This is my Tournament List that I used in Throne of Skulls this year, I have since made modifications/improvements, but it may give you an idea of what a solid shooting list looks like. Obviously I used allies and you aren't doing that, which is cool, I'm not suggesting you copy that list, just trying to provide a reference for where I got my thoughts and practiced them.

Here's what i'm thinking:

Archon - 105pts.
-Shadow Field, Blaster

True Born (3) - 146
-3x Blaster, Venom w. Dual SC
True Born (3) - 146
-3x Blaster, Venom w. Dual SC

Warrior Squad (10) - 170
-Splinter Cannon, Raider w. Racks
Warrior Squad (10) - 170
--Splinter Cannon, Raider w. Racks
Warrior Squad (5) - 125.
-Blaster, Venom w. Dual SC
Warrior Squad (5) - 125
-Blaster, Venom w. Dual SC

Reaver (6) - 156
-2x Heat Lances

Ravager 3 DLs, - XXX
Ravager 3 DLs, - XXX
Void Raven - XXX

1498pts. Now that's a lot of shooting!

Blasters - 9
Dark Lances - 8
Splinter Cannons - 10
Heat Lances - 2

And an Anti Flyer!

Yes i know the archon is expensive, but is far more survivable than a Haem and what's not to love about a BS 7 blaster? I'm a little nervous not having any dedicated CC elements, it'll be like playing wood elves in 6th edition fantasy!!! I also squeezed every ablative wound and all of the night shield to make enough room for the Void Raven. I guess i could drop the Archon to Haemy with Hexrifle and save 40pts to throw night shields back onto the Raiders + Ravagers. But i'm kinda interested to see how well the Archon does. Plus what would a bunch of warriors be doing wilth those eldar of ill repute

That looks nice, solid mid range game and reasonable at long range. Should never be in short range unless you screw up. Still don't like the Archon as I prefer putting a naked haemie in deserve and having him come on to stand behind a building out of LoS, but try ot and see.

Looks like you need some playtesting now to see what you need to tweak. Let us know how it goes.

Indeed, most of the models will be here this evening and tomorrow morning, have lots of assembling to do before tomorrow night!

Well that was a learning experience to say the least. I can honestly with 2 spectators and my opponent agreeing that i should chalk that one up to bad luck.

I managed to make 1 succesful jink save the entire night, and it didn't matter because the pen i missed exploded the ravager anyway.

Here's my opponents list: 1500 IG

Primaris Psycher - Telepathy
5x Squads of Veterans
3x Leman Russ Battle Cannon Tanks
2x Manticore
Vendetta
Aegis w. Icarus Lascannon

Mine:
Archon - 105pts.
-Shadow Field, Blaster

True Born (3) - 146
-3x Blaster, Venom w. Dual SC
True Born (3) - 146
-3x Blaster, Venom w. Dual SC

Warrior Squad (10) - 170
-Splinter Cannon, Raider w. Racks
Warrior Squad (10) - 170
--Splinter Cannon, Raider w. Racks
Warrior Squad (5) - 125.
-Blaster, Venom w. Dual SC
Warrior Squad (5) - 125
-Blaster, Venom w. Dual SC

Reaver (6) - 156
-2x Heat Lances

Ravager 3 DLs, - XXX
Ravager 3 DLs, - XXX
Void Raven - XXX

Mission was Kill points w. Echelon deployment. My opponent won the roll off to go first. So i place 1 Warrior in Venom Squad, both trueborn, and the reaver squad in reserve hoping to use them as wrench to pry my opponent out of his corner with his 72" guns!

We rolled up Night fighting. I was able to stay beyond 42" so his vehicles we unable to target me on the first turn. After we rolled up and only managed 2 glances on 1 Leman Russ, and only 1 dead guardsman. He opened up rocking 2 dead Ravagers, a dead raider and 1 raider with only a hull point left. The raider exploded killing 7/10 guys inside with them running off the board.


Only my Reaver Squad and Void Raven Enter. Void Raven makes a bombing run, wiffs on glancing side armor and is blown up by the interceptor gun. No more anti-flyer! Reavers! Oh my goodness i love the reavers haha! THey turbo'd over his Veterans with the Psycher dropping 6. they fail their moral and run off the board netting me 2 pain tokens! Oh combine it with +1 Str from combat drugs and i've got a mean squad!

My opponent continues cleaning house during his turn. I'm down to the lone warriors squad in venom! and a Raider with a single hull point and no dark lance haha.

Reavers charge the rear of a manticore, they explode it and kill 5/6 in the process =/ True born enter and manage a mighty 3 glances on 1 leman russ out of 7 shots haha. Still having trouble even hurting those guard squads going to ground behind an aegis line.

The rest kind of plays out as expected i fail all of my pin checks when my vehicles wreck. Still can't pass jink saves.

Final Result: 10 KPs for my opponent + first blood = 11
Dark Eldar: 5 KPs ( 2 russes, 1 manticore, 1 guard squad, 1 psycher) + line breaker + slay the warlord = 7

My opponent jeered the rest of the evening! Mocking my pathetic rolling against an apparently crappy IG list. Oh well we had fun and i learned a few things:

Reavers are awesome, i might have to add another unit.

It might have been the inability to advance under such volume of firepower but the splinter racks were useless this game. In fact the warriors really didn't do anything. Even the one's with blasters. ... yes lots and lots of wiffing! Trueborn did diddly squat as well. I seem to have a lot of points mixed in with some units that can be very hot or cold.

Where to take the list?

I'd say try it as is once or twice more to get a feel for what changes would be right for you. You seem a bit down on the warrior boats, so maybe keep an eye on them next game.

Quick tangent:

I have a mini 1999pt 3 round friendly tournament in a couple weeks. Here's what i'm semi-planning:

@1850 adding in another Reaver Squad and another Raider Warrior Squad, Night Shields on Ravagers

@1999 adding in another Warrior in Venom Squad, Night Shields on the 3 Raiders

Thoughts?

I'm still struggling finding the perfect niche for my archon. Last night he was awesome tanking shots keeping trueborn alive and saving me a victory point for Slay the Warlord... but he's an expensive blaster shot!

EDIT: Just realized that perhaps squeezing in a Farseer and some Guardian Jet bikes would be a great addition at any points level. Not saying i'd like to run the Seer council on jetbikes.. but a squad of 3 naked guardians are 66pts. Add in a Farseer w. cheap power and runes of warding and swap to the Primaris Divination power to twin link up a ravager.... Maybe go broke and rock some extra powers and really get crazy on the psychic powers...