Shardcarbine vs pistol/CCW

Hi everyone. So I have never used Trueborn and was wondering about your thoughts on giving them Shardcarbines vs the pistol CCW. Is it better to spend the points for more shooty or leave them CC oriented? I'm tired of getting tabled and trying to figure away to be more competitive. Not looking for a crushing list just a better balance. I have aready figured out the Incubi with an Archon for a death star unit, just want to use the trueborn to their fullest. Thanks for any help.

On a side note, before 6th ed I was able to win and tie up games, even took 2nd at the last 'Ard Boyz last year with them. So this is just asking for help with the new rules and re-learning my army.

Moving this to Tactics.

Now that the boring mod stuff is over;

My question would be - if you want to give them CCW/Pistols then you are, by definition, saying you want them to assault stuff.

If you want them to assault stuff - why not just take Wyches or Bloodbrides who have CCW/Pistols and are otherwise vastly superior at assaulting stuff?

Indeed, Trueborn really aren't any good at melee, at least not by Dark Eldar standards. So many other units do it better/cheaper (Whyches/Bloodbrides/Incubi/ect...). I would leave them as ranged fighters, in which case just sticking with Splinter Rifles would generally be better then CCW+Pistol. Of course that's not what Trueborn are really great at which is massed special (Blasters)/heavy weaponry (Splinter Cannon/Dark Lances). Shardcarbine aren't a bad option per say though perhaps combined with Splinter Cannons.

If I am honest, I have used CC Trueborn before and found them not to be as lackluster as I imagined. I put them on a Raider, flew them forward with Aethersails, disembarked them and made them mash face. I think the only way that I got them to work was to give them a number of Shredders.
This, even though it may seem unconventional, was able to weaken the enemy enough for them to actually make a noticeable impact in close combat.

I wouldn't rely on them for anything, though. I used them as a unit to mop up the enemy. First I unload shots from my gunboats into the foe to weaken them and then I move in the Shredder wielding CC Trueborn. It is by far not the most reliable unit choice, and if you want something for close combat I would definitely suggest using other things. In a fun, non-competitive game, however, they can prove to be highly entertaining.

Using Shredders is fun against hordes of enemies, although it can also be very fun against combat-squaded Marines.

If you want to use Trueborn to their fullest, like you said, do not use them like this. They specialise in shooty death. If you want a unit that throws out a fair amount of poisoned death put them with the Duke in a Venom, pile as many Splinter Cannons in as you can and give the rest Shardcarbines. Or put them in a Venom with an ungodly amount of Darklight weaponry.

I think that the best way to find how you like to use them is to experiment and exploit your enemy's weaknesses. Afterall, Warhamer 40k is a game and games are all about fun. Don't be disheartened about getting tabled, learn and adapt. Just this evening I got mauled by an army of greenmarines, just because of how bad Bolters can be. Next time, instead of using Wyches I will run Incubi.
... I also won't let Sliscus get mauled by two venerable dreads.

Do you have a certain enemy in mind that keeps on defeating you?

Thanks for the replies. My normal army ,before 6th ed, was usually Lelith with her blood brides and a sucubus with blood brides, 3 units of wyches all loaded in raiders with 5 incubi in a venom with 2 razorwings and a void raven in various mixes. I have 4 units of whyches total and 3 20 man warrior units. From yesterdays beating I had the Baron w/14 hellions and 2 units of 15 hellions. Used the haemi trick of 3 and 5 wracks, btw a hexrifle is the bomb, took ot his psycher in turn 1, with 2 ravagers and 5 wyches in a venom, he was using CSM. can't really give much of a break down of his army but it had Huron in it w/psycher and 20 man CSM unit, 35 cultists, 2 havoc squads all auto cannon 2 oblits and aegis line with quad gun, 2 3 man bikes of nurgle with 2 meltas and combi melta. My main armies I go against are SW, SM, CSM, tau, necrons and nids. I was gonna try an all shooty army for once, that's the reason for this post. Anyhow, any ideas will help a bunch. As for the trueborn, I will go with carbines. Thanks a bunch guys, I am so glad I found this site