First list: 1500 pt. Assault based DE

Hello, new forum member here! Please dont go easy on me, give it all you've got! That does not mean that i will ditch the things that make me tick. I would rather fail horribly, learning to use the cards i have given myself, instead of resorting to a begginers list. Doing such would likely not teach me how to assault with dark eldar, because there are no melee "glass cannons" in the list.

i will be fighting mechanized marines, chaos marines, necrons and IG. That means i cannot best them in close combat without "watering" the enemies down first - and that i need to use cover and mobility to my advantage.


I know that my force lacks (ALOT) a big concentrated blob of troops to take objectives late game - so how can i mend that problem?

now, i want to play an assault based DE army with harlequins and a psyker. So i am probably going with a Farseer ally, following the idea of a thread about "harlequin mini death stars".

i do not know if this counts as posting individual point costs (sorry i am new to posting here, it is the point cost of individual models and gear that is forbidden, right? - if i am doing wrong, i shall remove them all.)

Archon: Combat drugs, Soul-Trap, Shadow Field, power sword (joins harlies) 125
Succubus: Venom Blade (Joins Grots) 70


4 Grotesques, liquefier, aberration w. VB, in raider 235


5 warriors, blaster, in Raider 125
5 warriors, blaster, in Raider 125
5 warriors, blaster, in Raider 125


Talos Pain Engine: Tl liquifier, TL splinter cannon 105
Talos Pain Engine: Tl liquifier, TL splinter cannon 105

Allies:
Farseer: Doom, Fortune, Spirit Stones, Runes of witnessing, Runes of warding 158

5 Harlequins w. kiss 200
1 Shadowseer, kiss.
1 Troupe master, power lance

5 Guardian Jetbikes W. shuriken cannon 120

1493

basicly, i think og drawing fire with the two mini-stars, grots with succubus and the harlequins with farseer and archon, surviving through LoS rolls, the shadowfield, fortune and invulnerable saves. i hope the MSU (is that the right word, or have i misunderstood the concept?) warriors survive until the talos arrive to support the warriors, which move in late to take obejctives.

Maybe i should ditch a talos, make the warrior squads bigger and add racks to the raiders? Or should i add blasterborn with venoms to cover the raiders and melt MEQ?

EDIT: changed topic name to better fit demands.

I would drop one or two of the kisses on your harlequins, some will die before they reach the enemy so those kisses will be wasted in my experience. If the archon is running with the harlies I would give him a power spear over a power sword (because of hit and run). Or invest in an agoniser (as he won't benefit from furious charge like the rest of the harlequins so the spear will only be S4).

Other then that the list looks a bit short on troops.

Hope that helps.

Here is a changed list.

Archon: Combat drugs, Shadow Field, Agoniser(joins harlies), 120
Succubus: Venom Blade (Joins Grots) 70


4 Grotesques, liquefier + aberration w. VB + raider 225


10 warriors with blaster, splinter cannon + raider 175
10 warriors with blaster, splinter cannon + raider 175
10 warriors with blaster, splinter cannon + raider 175

Allies:
Farseer: Doom, Fortune, Spirit Stones, Runes of witnessing, Runes of warding 158

5 Harlequins 3. w. kiss 192
1 Shadowseer, kiss.
1 Troupe master, power lance

5 Guardian jetbikes 110

1400

With this, i have more troops, and i have removed the talons and 2 kisses on the harlequins. Will the guardian jetbikes be of much use, maybe i should look to dire avengers instead?

It also seems as if i dont pack as much punch in cc as i want. I have not added wyches as i feel they need a succubus. if their transport is focused, the explosion will hurt their ability to fight. Do you think they can be effective without a succubus, against the armies that i face? Should i ditch the grotesque, and instead attach the succubus to a unit of wyches?

I also have 100 points to spare. The question is now what to shift around so my list becomes more threatening in CC?

First off welcome to The Dark City!!!

ah harliestar... a baby of mine... tbh never thought about trying it at 1.5k... maybe I should try it and see how Mush can handle it

Ok, back to the list.

Now your problem here is at 1.5k I dont feel its good to have 2 big assault units like you have here. The Harliestar equals alittle under a third of your army, and the grots equals alittle under a fifth of your army, and together they are over a half of your army. That is alot of points for beatstick units, and your list shows the lack of substance other than these two units.

As for the rest of your list, they arent bad choices, and always take GJB as your allied troops, as bikes are very surviveable this edition. Like I said your problem is really the lack of anything backing these two units.

Now what I would do is I would focus on either the Harlies or the Grots, and then build the army around making the most of them. Take the Harlies for example, their weakness is any enemy with mobility is able to stay away from them with relative ease. So build a list around de-meching the opponent, and then holding them in place. So I would drop the warriors, grots, and succubus, and add in 3x Ravagers and units of wyches. This way the Ravagers and wych raiders can de-mech the enemy, and then the wyches can engage them and hold them in place for the harlies to come in and sweep the enemy for you.

If you prefer the Grots over the harlies, Their weakness is also movement, but their raider mitigates that. Their problem is their lack of a power weapon. So what I would do is first buy a cheap Haemie w/ Power Axe and Liquifier and put him in the raider as well, this gives them AP2 attacks and another flamer, and gives the grots Furious Charge. Give the Succubus an Agoniser or a power weapon of your choice (remember she also has FC, so a lance would be S5 on the charge, and a sword would be S4). Their other weakness is they cant handle mass MEQ (Marine Equivalent). To that you need shooting to lower bigger squads into more manageable sizes for the Grots to chew on. To this you take Warriors in raiders or venoms, and let either the raider squad or venom chew through the units, setting up the Grots for some easy kills. Again I would take your basic compliment of Ravagers to help de-mech the opponent like the first list, and maybe even a flyer if you have a few points left over to help the warriors soften up units.

Basically your point limit forces you focus on one thing, and then build a complimentary force for that one thing.

Thanks for the feedback - i have lurked the forum for some time, and i got the idea of an harliestar (its the reason i started DE, since i love harlequins and DE, and was split between Eldar and DE). So thanks for making me join you!

I am trying to process the information, as i really fancy both harlies and grots, but i can always expand.

Truth be told, i fell in love with the talos in form and function as soon as the mini came out. *sigh* So that means those fantastic, hauntingly ever-present ravagers can *records purged*. But one may indeed be needed.

... Ahem, if i want to work around mass ravagers, what can i do? Being pigeonholed into mass ravagers would really drain the fun away - as it is the only unit in the entire codex which i do not fancy. (in hindsight, i should have written this initially, sorry).

And i would prefer the Harliestar, (but seeing the combined points cost makes me swoon).

Here is the new list! It does include a ravager though, as 3 dark lanced packed onto another target is indeed nasty. This new lists "grotstar" does indeed cost more, but will threaten nearly any unit they can come up with, once the transport has been cracked open. The Reavers are meant to protect the grotstar raider with cover saves, lashing out at transports getting too close. When the talos arrive, the remaining warriors bunker down around them at obejctives.

Succubus with Agoniser 85
Haemonculus ancient, w. liquifier gun, Power axe and shattershard 115


4 Grotesques, liquefier + aberration w. VB + raider w. enhanced aether sails, flicker field, night shields 250


10 warriors with blaster, splinter cannon + raider w. splinter racks 185
10 warriors with blaster, splinter cannon + raider w. splinter racks 185
10 warriors with blaster, splinter cannon + raider w. splinter racks 185

6 Reavers, 2 blaster, arena champ with VB 177

Ravager 105
Talos w. twin liq and TL splinter cannons 105
Talos w. twin liq and TL splinter cannons 105


7 dark lances (5 platforms)
7 Splinter cannons (5 platforms)
6 Liquifier guns (4 platforms)
5 blasters (4 platforms)

3 slow units (1 in raider)

1497


If you have any additional input, please say.