Revised "Shiv", a la Veldrith - 2000 PT Duke Sliscus / Low Orbit Raid

HEADQUARTERS:

Duke Sliscus: 150
______________

TROOPS:

1 x Kabalite Warrior x 9: 81 (186) – Duke Rides Here
-Blaster
*Sybarite
*Blast Pistol
*Venom Blade
-Raider
*Darklance

Kabalite Warrior x 5: 45 (145)
-Blaster
*Sybarite
*Blast Pistol
-Raider
*Darklance

Kabalite Warrior x 5: 45 (145)
-Blaster
*Sybarite
*Blast Pistol
-Raider
*Darklance

Kabalite Warrior x 5: 45 (145)
-Blaster
*Sybarite
*Blast Pistol
-Raider
*Darklance

Kabalite Warrior x 5: 45 (145)
-Blaster
*Sybarite
*Blast Pistol
-Raider
*Darklance

Kabalite Warrior x 5: 45 (145)
-Blaster
*Sybarite
*Blast Pistol
-Raider
*Darklance
_______________

ELITE:

Kabalite Trueborn x 4: 68 (168)
*Blaster x 4
*Raider
-Darklance

Kabalite Trueborn x 4: 68 (168)
*Blaster x 4
*Raider
-Darklance

Kabalite Trueborn x 4: 68 (168)
*Blaster x 4
*Raider
-Darklance
_______________

HEAVY:

Razorwing Jetfighter: 145

Razorwing Jetfighter: 145

Razorwing Jetfighter: 145

(TOTAL: 2000)

40 Darklight Weapons, and 3 Razorwings for bombing hordes off the table. The Duke rides with the 9-man Kabalite squad.

I'll preface this by saying that I've taken 1st place in the past 4 local tournaments running this army, so I know it's effective. I simply wanted to put this list out on the internet, because it's proven a few things to me:

#1: A deepstriking, pure-reserve army can and DOES work with Dark Eldar, if you read up on the odds of scattering, and plan accordingly. In four tournaments ( 3 opponents each, pure-reserved and deepstruck against all of them.. For Science, etc..), I suffered 0 mishaps, simply by aiming to be 7-9'' away from anything dangerous.

#2: Blast pistols. We need to stop knocking these -- in the right squad, they're highly effective, and 5-man Raider Deepstrike squads seem to be ideal. You land within 7ish'' of a vehicle, pivot your Raider's nose in the direction of your target after you finish your scatter, deploy, and unload double-lances into a transport's side armor. The 5-man Warrior squad either kills the vehicle and demands the attention of the disembarked squad, or else fails to kill the tank, and still demands attention -- those 85-point squads are toting double Lance weapons, after all. When they disembark to assault you, they're ready to be Monoscythe-Missile'd into oblivion, same as if you killed their transport. In essence, they're bait with teeth.

#3: A Dark Eldar army which completely eschews melee combat is frustrating for an opponent to face and come to grips with, and is also competitive and flexible enough to table Green Tide orks (150 Boys, 45 Lootas, Big Mek), while still making most mechanized armies terrified to come out to play. Admittedly, Imperial Guard is still a tough nut to crack, but that's the same story for more armies than Dark Eldar.

I'm really more interested in discussion, rather than critique. I probably won't listen to advice, anyway, because as long as I'm seeing success against players I know to be competitive, I'm not changing anything. What I do want to hear are stories and experiences from folks who run similar, deepstriking Dark Eldar armies.. assuming there even are any.

Looks like you found a list that works for you, any chance you can write some battle reports of your tournie experiences?

The only thing I'd say is that you need to be careful of list stagnation if your playing the same people in tournies (and curbstomping them) then they are gonna become wise to your list and learn how to counter it.

I actually have battle reports up, as a matter of fact.

Because I have enough darklight weaponry to eliminate Monstrous Creatures with ease, and enough Razorwing firepower to eliminate blob squads with ease. Turning Trueborn into expensive splinter-squads means losing Blasters, and I value Blasters way more than splinters. The Duke's squad is scoring, big enough to benefit from a Pain Token effectively with my 2d6 Drug Rolls helping in that regard, and pack 4 darklight shots, which can nail 3 separate targets, or combine fire to hopefully cripple one high-priority one. The army comes out to 12 skimmers, 47 bodies, 40 Darklight weapons, and 6 scoring units, and the points fit perfectly.

Basically, I don't run poisoned Trueborn (although I've tried full Carbine Trueborn squads before) for the same reason I don't run Incubi: I don't really need them, and they detract from the overall theme of the army. They don't really "plug a gap", because I already have an answer to horde Orks and other silly body-spam armies: 4 S6 AP5 pieplates, fired at BS4 from 48'' away, from elevation high enough to usually deny cover.

50-70 wounds on a 30-Ork mob is actually not unusual.

I'm not following - the Duke only allows your vehicles to DS here. How possibly is he helping you with combat drugs?

Seems a lot of work for that Pain Token. Personally though, I rather hate The Duke - if I want FnP, I take a Haemonculus, if I want to go first, I take Baron, and if I want to deepstrike... I don't :p
I want my Dark Eldar to smack the enemy in the face from turn 1, with everything i've got at once. For me, The Duke is better left at home.

I know I shouldn't bump old threads, but this DS list or at least 1750point variants do work! Just thought i'd update with some positive feedback!

The Shiv? Sounds... awfully familiar.

http://yesthetruthhurts.com/2010/12/the-shiv/

Some "competitive" talk about similar list. Also reason why You want Duke in all-DS list.

Good to read it actually works, I had bad experience with BA jump-spam. Probably shouldn't drop 5 man squads into open lol.