1500 point Ranged list

Been a fan of this forum for a while, and it has helped me a lot in the past so hopefully all you knowledgeable Archons/Succubi/Haemonculi/Insert other leading Dark Eldar title of choice can help me out here.

Played Dark Eldar for several month now, working my way slowly up the rather sharp learning curve to where i am now, with 1000 points of models. Always liked the idea of a Kabal-themed army, and seems that shooting-heavy is the most sensible way to go with this idea.

Here's the 1500 point list I've come up with:

Archon w. Blaster: 75 points
Yeah, i know i may be better off with a cheaper haem but I'm rather attached to the model I have, and it just fits with the theme I like.

4x Blasterborn: 108 points
With Archon

Venome w. NS: 75 points
For above unit

'Gunboat'; 10 Warriors w. Splinter Cannon in Raider (DL)w. Sracks, NS: 180 points
Objective sitting or long range fire support mostly

5x Warriors w. Blaster in Venom: 135 points

5x Warriors w. Blaster in Venom: 135 points

5x Warriors w. Blaster in Venom: 135 points

5x Warriors w. Blaster in Venom: 135 points
Rain death on anything that moves

3x Reavers, HL and Caltrops: 98 points

3x Reavers, HL: 78 points
Disruption tactics and removing heavy armor targets with rear armor shots.

Ravager (DL) w. NS: 115 points

Ravager (DL) w. NS: 115 points

Ravager (DL.??) w. NS: 115 points
Remove as many threatening AT units as possible as early as possible

Total: 1499 points



Feel free to critique on any of it. Not really looking to win every match, i'm aware I may have limited myself by my own preferences but this has always been more about having an army that i love over having one that conquers all .

Questions I would like answered though:

1) Reavers worth it? Or should I drop them for more blasterborn/sniper squads? Love the models and the ability to cause havoc but are there better things to take?

2) Dissies on the 3rd Ravager? There is a fair bit of dark light shots already, better to have a more specialised TEQ killer unit available or just rely on overwelming amounts of splinter fire?

3)Swap a Ravager for a Razorwing? The flyer rules do make me go cross-eyed everytime i try to read them ok, but is having an answer to enemy flyers a good idea?

Apologies for the wall of text, hopefully someone has the patience to read it all

Astus

Yes, you are going to need an answer to enemy flyers... Either a razorwing, aegis defense with quadgun or better yet, a void raven. Personally I like the VR the most thanks to the S9 lances smashing the light armour of planes easily.

Astus wrote:

1) Reavers worth it? Or should I drop them for more blasterborn/sniper squads? Love the models and the ability to cause havoc but are there better things to take?

Reavers are arguably the unit that improved the most this edition, in my experience they work best in gangs of 9, with 3 heatlances an arena champion, and a venomblade.

Astus wrote:

2) Dissies on the 3rd Ravager? There is a fair bit of dark light shots already, better to have a more specialised TEQ killer unit available or just rely on overwelming amounts of splinter fire?

Dissies are great it you already have enough AT, and in your list I would say going for a Dissie ravager would be a sensible choice.

Astus wrote:

3)Swap a Ravager for a Razorwing? The flyer rules do make me go cross-eyed everytime i try to read them ok, but is having an answer to enemy flyers a good idea?

I wouldn't say a Razorwings is absolutely necessary at this point level. Then again I'm a firm believer that you don't need to have dedicated flyer defence in a list as long as you have mobility. If you do want to take one I think a void raven would be best.

Astus wrote:

Apologies for the wall of text, hopefully someone has the patience to read it all

You can never ask too many questions! And any extra information when presenting a list is always welcome.

Hope that helps.

For deditacet AT, i think wyches are better, but hey, they dont fit the shooty theme ^^
And as Mushkilla wrote: AA? Mobility! Although i do use dizzywings, i use them for AI - like i dont have enough ^^
All in all, this is a good nonDuke shooty list, but aside from the blasters and lances, it has a hard time to drop an infantry unite. Against MEQ, your HQ squad only kills 4.25 marines a turn - with the venom also shooting. While that is better then the gunboat - with 3.11 in 12" - they underpreform to my favorite: incubi.
The trueborn with blasters, an archon and venom with cannon is 248 pts for a 4.25 kill, while 10 incubi in a raider with dizzi is 280 for 11.33 kills - basically a tac squad+

this is only in comparison, but for a squad that eats up so much points, i prefer to kill more and more, More, MORE!

Arent 5 Warriors with Blaster in Venom 125 points not 135?

@Zanis that is correct

They probably have night shields.

Are night fields really needed on venoms? You have a blaster in there, so you want to get close and night fields wont do any good. Drop the caltrops, reavers get stupidly expensive if you dont decide if there a shooty unit or a bladevany unit. I'd just keep the heat lance, keep both of them near each other so he can only target 1 and go get some armour, caltrops not needed as you will only Boost once, if that.

I'd say yes to a dissie ravager because you havn't got a single unit that doesn't have AT on itself or its transport and killing MEQs and TEQs is fun, dont be afraid to turn that blasterborn on the TEQs to though. Flyers arn't needed if your as fast as you are, its not hard to get under a flyer to it will have to go off the bored and not shoot. While dissiewing isn't bad, a dissie ravager is better at TEQ or a lot cheaper depending on missiles of choice.

Thanks for all the replies people, really has helped

@Mushkilla: Glad to know I don't need the headache of flyer rules just yet Although it's probably one of the first things I will add 1500 points plus, and the model(s, hopefully soon) are rather nice I have to admit

@Enfernux: May not be the traditional 'kill everything that moves as quickly as possible' DE style I know, from my limited exp it's more about choosing your targets and picking the moment/turn to strike with ranged armies. Did used to run my Archon with Incubi, but most of the time they just ended up stuck on their own without any other assault units for support. Might be bad tactics, just feel I might get more out of him this way (If I can keep him alive ofc)

@Zanais/Mushkilla: Correct, Venom's have NS

@alexwellace: Yes i want to get close, but when i'm ready. Most of the time I'm playing against Grey Knights, and I learned very quickly rushing anywhere near the army when the Psyflymen are still there is a bad idea. Also means in theory I can rapid fire a unit and not be hit too much in return.

Point taken with the Reavers, I'll have to think what I really want them to do after a few games maybe and work out how I use them best.



Looking forward to a Dissie Ravager though, always loved that gun just never saw the point on a raider as it never lasts long enough to be any good...

Astus wrote:

@Mushkilla: Glad to know I don't need the headache of flyer rules just yet

In order to be able to counter them with your movement you would need to know their rules back to front (so there is no escaping learning them, I'm afraid).

Astus wrote:

Point taken with the Reavers, I'll have to think what I really want them to do after a few games maybe and work out how I use them best.

Two approaches I would recommend from my experience with reavers:

6 reavers, 2 heatlances - 156pts

OR

9 reavers, 3 heatlances, arena champion, Vblade - 249pts

Astus wrote:

Looking forward to a Dissie Ravager though, always loved that gun just never saw the point on a raider as it never lasts long enough to be any good...

Same can be said about dark lances on a raider too. It's one of those choices that really depends on your existing AT. Either way Dissie Ravagers are a lot of fun.

Yeah, guess I was just trying to put it off for as long as I could. Oh well...

Actually just finished reading your battle report against the SW, very inspiring especially from the reaver p.o.v. Took caltrops basically to give them more of a punch, but ofc the more models you have per squad the more attacks anyway so I probably will drop them. Do you find the venom blade gets used much, or is it just a deterrent?

Very true, built it with a Dissie originally but it always died before it killed many models. Now with a lot more Darklight shots and a bit more exp i.e. it actually lasts a bit longer, might be worth switching it back too...

Astus wrote:

Actually just finished reading your battle report against the SW, very inspiring especially from the reaver p.o.v. Took caltrops basically to give them more of a punch, but ofc the more models you have per squad the more attacks anyway so I probably will drop them. Do you find the venom blade gets used much, or is it just a deterrent?

I tend to get a champ in big squads anyway for the LD9 and the venom blade is cheap and useful, they don't end up in assault in a lot of games but the few times they do it has been nice to have.