1000 Beginner Army

Since I'm brand new to not just the Dark Eldar but to 40k as a whole I thought I'd throw out my list for my very first game. This army is composed of figures I got in a single auction at a great price without added pieces ... thus why I have what I have. So ... what recommendations would you have for this list? The army I'll face in my first game is likely a Blood Angels list...

HQ - Haemy Ancient - 100pts
Venom Blade, Scissorhand

5 Bloodbrides - 105pts
1 Syren upgrade, PGL, Haywire Grenades, Razorflail
(These and the Haemy I plan on putting in a raider and getting into CC as early as possible)

5 Wyches - 70pts
Shardnet & Impaler, Haywire Grenades
(venom for transport)

10 warriors - 115pts
1 Dark Lance
(gunboat)

10 warriors - 115pts
1 Dark Lance
(no transport at start so sit back and shoot)

5 Scourge - 110pts

Raider (gunboat) - 80pts
Night Shields, Splinter Racks

Raider (transport) - 80pts
Flickerfield, Night Shields

Venom - 55pts

Razorwing - 165pts
Splinter Cannon, Flickerfield
Total:995 points

I am thinking of dropping the Scissorhand and upgrading elsewhere, perhaps upgrading one of the wyches in my 2nd unit and putting PGLs there as well. I also got a Succubus figure but thought the Haemy would be better here.

Second part of the post is "should I find that enjoy 40k and the DE, where should I go for my next troops and/or upgrading my current troops?" Perhaps another group of wyches and another raider?

I am open to all thoughts here. Thanks in advance.

I'm relatively new to DE also, but I have gotten a few games under my belt and from what I have heard from other people on the site this is my opinion. My boyfriend plays Blood Angels so most of my games have been against BA also.

Switch the haemonculus ancient to a regular haemonculus. He's cheaper and does the same thing. I'd drop the scissorhand and give him a liquifier. Also he seems like an easy warlord point if you charge him into CC with the bloodbribes.

I don't run bloodbribes, but I do know that not many people take them. If you want a unit that will wreck some space marines in close combat, take a squad of 5 Incubi in a venom.

This looks good, but I would get rid of the shardnets and impaler. Instead upgrade to a hekatrix and give her a venom blade and maybe a PGL like you said.

I'd swap both dark lances in the warrior squads for splinter cannons. Unless you know he has a mech army...the BA army I play doesn't take transports so the cannon is good AI. Also I'd worry about not having a transport for the 2nd unit of warriors. Rifles only have a 24" range and any bolter shoots just as far. I'd stick them in a raider or increase that unit size.

I have 5 scourges that I attempt to use every game to strip hull points from his dreadnought...they get picked off by snipers and devastators every time:( I would use 10 or just drop the unit and use the points else where.

Raiders look fine. I'd switch the flicker to night shields on the second one and put night shields on the venom.

If you want to take the bloodbribes I would definitely say take the succubus. She does a lot of damage. You should check out Mushkilla's reports he runs wych units and succubi.

Wow I just ranted haha. But I hope that is of some help:)

a good starting base for an army, but there is alot of room for improvements.

Also Deyfluff does make some good points, but let me expand on hers and add my own for you.

First off you could switch the haemie if you want too, but its not a "never include" like it was last edition. Now that FC got nerfed and the power potential of having a character or IC in a squad, the Ancient does have his appeal now. That being said having both a scissorhands and venom blade is almost redundant. I would say choose one or the other, and then either pick up a liquifier or shattershard, both are excellent template weapons.

Bloodbrides are nice, but the work better in large squads. In such a small squad, i doubt they will do much damage because of them being only S3. I would either switch them for Incubi like Deyfluff suggested, or atleast bump them up to 6 man so they get another wych weapon (your choice in razorflails is right btw) Also give the Syren some sort of weapon, a power lance or agoniser to be best, but a venom blade or power axe works too.

Drop the Shardnet on the regular wyches. 5 wyches dont do alot, and only work for a transport and AT job with their haywires. You could also sub these in for kabalites w/ blaster, same point cost, same concept (just kabalites do it at range, wyches do it close and personal). Also please include the second splinter cannon on the venom, its always an auto-include

First off your warrior squad with raider dont need a dark lance, infact it hinders them greatly as a "gunboat" squad to have a dark lance. The best build for a gunboat is 10 guys with blaster and splinter cannon, or 10 guys with cannon and your raider has splinter racks. That way you get most out of your shots (I prefer the first one personally)

As for your sniper squad, I dont like 10 guys being religated for AT when a ravager gets 3 more shots for cheaper, but if your doing it for a home field sitter, its not a bad choice (just not optimal)

What the purpose of 5 scourges with no special weapons??? There is better AI out there (in the form of venoms) and being only 5 man means they will die quickly. I would drop them to give you the points to play witrh in other areas.

The razorwing is fine, but if your sticking with dark lances, get rid of the cannon on the front. It should be shooting at tanks once its missles are gone. If you switch it to dissies though, then keep the cannon to add a few more wounds in

Thanks for the great advice! I modified my first build to remove the scissorhands (easy choice once I understood the rule better) and used the points instead to upgrade a wych and then take PGLs in that second group as well ... but then I created a new list based on your suggestions above taking most into account.

The scourges were models I had to fill out the army but the guy I'm playing won't mind the substitution so they are now Incubi with useless wings. Here is that second list. I'd love to get your thoughts on the new one.

HQ - Succubus - 75pts
Razorflails (plan to put her with the Bloodbrides)

9 Bloodbrides - 190pts
1 Syren upgrade, PGL, Haywire Grenades, 3 Razorflails, Venom Blade (maybe a power weapon instead ... have 10 pts left)
(These and the Succubus I plan on putting in a raider and getting into CC as early as possible)

10 warriors - 100pts
1 Splinter Cannon
(gunboat)

10 warriors - 115pts
1 Dark Lance
(no transport at start so sit back and shoot)

5 Incubi (using Scourage models ) - 110pts

Raider (gunboat) - 80pts
Night Shields, Splinter Racks (Flickerfield perhaps with the 10 remaining points?)

Raider (transport) - 80pts
Flickerfield, Night Shields

Venom - 75pts
Splinter Cannon, Night Shields

Razorwing - 165pts
Splinter Cannon, Flickerfield (Still taking the advice to switch out the cannon and save the points under consideration...)
Total:990 points


Again, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate all I can get before going to battle.

No prob:) The list looks good but I would give the succubus a venom blade and drop the razor flails. Flickfields are really unnecessary. With Jink anytime you move you get a 5+ cover save and a 4+ when you move flat out. If you have the models I would add two more warriors to your foot unit. Good luck in your game!

Deyfluff wrote:

I would give the succubus a venom blade and drop the razor flails.

This. Venom blades are more effective in almost every way, and half the price to boot.

In fact, the only time Razorflails would be better is if you need exactly a 3+ to wound. 2+, and the Venom Blade gets a reroll itself for cheaper. 4+, and the VB single rolling is better at wounding. So, S3 versus T2, S4 versus T3, S5 versus T4. Which means you either need Furious Charge, the right drug, or both. Not reliable enough.

Also, I would keep Flicker Field on the plane, but drop it on anything else. This will make it where you don't have to evade to stay alive. Unless you desparately need those points somewhere else.

I think then I'll drop the Razorflails there and replace it with the Venom Blade ... then with the saved points and what I had left maybe I'll upgrade to the Blast Pistol.

Either that or perhaps strip points from elsewhere and upgrade an Incubi ... but I don't know that it would be worth the points.

I might have to get a few more models to add to my troops, including actually incubi...

***Edit***

...and I might drop the flickerfields on the Raiders if they do get the 5+ whenever they move (jink). I hadn't thought of that so that's another 20 points I could put elsewhere...

I thought I would come back and update for those that had suggestions for me. As mentioned it was a 1000 pt game and I went mostly with my second list making a few adjustments including those mentioned in the post just above. Overall it was a great success though I certainly took plenty away to learn.

It was a capture the objective mission with 4 objectives out there but I lost initiative. There is a battle report being put together so I'll try to link to that later ... but long story short the game ended with me having 2 objectives to his 1, he got first blood, and both sides got the other's commander.

The Incubi ... so glad I took them over the Scourges. In the last four rounds they were able to charge fourth three times wiping what was left of three groups off the board. A couple of those groups were weakened a bit but those three groups were about 500 points of the other players team.

The wyches (bloodbrides actually) and Succubus got slaughtered and were useless in part because of a chance I took with them that failed. Feeling a lack of heavy weapons was hurting and they had a speeder sqaud 8" away, and they had haywire grenades, I decided to assault them rather than another group of foot troops 6" away (who were going to be charged by the incubi anyway). I rolled 7" and re-rolled and got 6" so failed the assault. The entire squad was wiped out in the next turn by lots of heavy bolters and the like.

Heavy weapons I was definitely a bit lacking in as mentioned. That's something I may have to address later but the Razorwing when it finally made it in from reserves helped. Still the dreadnot and that armor, and his guns, were a pain most of the night.

All in all though a good first outing that turned out pretty decent despite some mistakes and lots learned from it. Thanks again to those with suggestions to the list prior to heading into the game...