750 Point list tinkering

First bit of feedback, change the font colour in the second half (the blue's quite tricky to read!).

What I would do is cut the big wych unit down to 10 and up the warriors to 15 (possibly more, points-permitting) and get rid of the shredder. You can bunker them down on an objective in terrain as (in my admittedly very limited experience) they're actually reasonable at so doing. Toss in a dark lance instead of the cannon if you have one. Wyches on foot will get face-murdered, so I'd pinch the warrior-raider for them.

I've recently started using some scourges too (because the models are awesome) and they were very good in their debut last night, picking off a couple of weakened necron warrior squads and helping shoot the relic out from under the toaster that was carrying it. Solarite is a bit over the top though

On the hekatrix, I'd maybe consider downgrading the power weapon to a venom blade... she has 3 WS4 attacks (4 on the charge, 5 if you get lucky with combat drugs and also charge) but only S3, so she's only likely to land 1 wound on a MEQ every 6 attacks. Compare to a venom blade, where 5/6 of your hits wound (as opposed to 1/3), you're probably getting the same return on your investment, but for cheaper points. Against higher toughness the venom blade is far superior (as there's a chance the PW won't hurt it), and against T3 and below you get 50-50 wounds with the power weapon, compared to wounding on 2s with a re-roll due to the poison rules (S equal to or greater than T). Agoniser might be a different story, but for my money venom blade > power weapon hands down.

That's all I got for now...hope it helps!

Thanks! And sorry bout the font. I wanted the second bit to be "quieter" than the main list. I saw a green list and thought it looked cool, so that's my excuse!

I'll have to try those changes in my next game (though I am loathe to mix my old dinky models with my new ones). My only concern is that I don't think I have a spare venom blade (unless I chop the one already on my over-priced Solarite, and give him a splinter pistol/ccw combo instead . Come to think of it, that'd shave 20 points off of him and shave 5 points off a hekatrix! Worth it). Correct me if I'm wrong but venom blades don't really come with the Warrior and/or Wyches sprues, do they? As far as I know those kits only come with power weapon blades and agonisers.

It's funny you should say that Warriors aren't too bad at bunkering down on objectives. Maybe if the squad is 15 warriors strong... My (also admittedly very limited) experience says that a 10-man Warrior squad is as good as dead out in the open. They got squashed by a direct hit from a Biovore, lost 4 guys, then lost 2 from Termagants on the second turn (behind cover, mind you), failed their leadership and the remaining 4 fled for the hills. Pathetic!

So it's like... whatever you leave footslogging will be an easy target . Only reason I put the Warriors on the Raider, admittedly, is because that way the Shredder has a better chance of being fired, and I get the re-rolls on the splinter rifles and pistol. The amount of times my footslogging warriors have rolled 1's and 2's is ridiculous! Anyhow, the way I see it, even if the Wyches do get cannoned, there's enough number of them to make a decent assault (7-10 on average), and the gunboat warriors would soften up their target. But, I see that it's rather feeble compared to your advice above.

I'm aware that shredders suck tremendously, but I think they look cool and I just want to see one do something cool It's silly I know. I'll try one more game with him and then if it doesn't work, off with the arms and back with a splinter rifle for him.

I'd love to use scourges but I think 162 points for the squad is a bit excessive. Once I chop the arms off and maybe even rid myself of the Solarite, they may be better to use. 3 shardcarbines + heat lance + haywire blaster would make for 132 points as opposed to 162 with the solarite w/ blast pistol and venom blade. 3 Reavers with a heat lance/blaster and cluster caltrops comes out to be a cheaper fast attack choice, I think. I do agree though, that Scourges look awesome, and that's like the main reason I use them

I'll try out both lists and tell you the results

Archon_Azathriel wrote:

I'm a Dark Eldar player from way way back, and I just got back into the hobby.

Welcome back! I'll try and bear in mind what you are likely to have in your collection. Most of my advice will be based on what is going to give you better results in a game, not really on what looks cool, so you can filter out the uncool advice if it pleases you!

Archon_Azathriel wrote:

10x Kabalite Warriors, 1 Sybarite, Splinter Cannon, Shredder. 125 pts.
Raider w/ Night shields, splinter rack, disingtegrator cannon. 75 pts.

If you like the shredder, then fine - missing out on the blaster reduces your darklight weapon count, which is mostly pretty important to keep as high as possible, but it depends on your opponent's typical vehicle numbers. The shredder isn't terrible by any means, and it improves your AI ability, it just competes with a much more desirable weapon.
I would give the raider a dark lance, however. And lose splinter racks & night shields - only semi-useful upgrades, and at such a low points value you need to keep everything as cheap & efficient as possible.
For that reason, you can afford to drop the sybarite as well.
This squad don't have to stay on their ride all the time, and should disembark (into cover) if you feel the raider is going to get shot down.

Archon_Azathriel wrote:

15x Wyches, +Razorflails, +Shardnet and impaler, Hekatrix w/ Power Weapon and Phantasm Grenade Launcher. 210 pts

Wyches on foot? Very vulnerable to shooting, but can be useful as a suicide/distraction unit. For that reason, drop a few of the squad upgrades (razorflails, shardnet, PGL), and sprint towards the guns!
Alternatively, reduce the squad number to 10 and give them a raider to ride in. Or reduce to 9 and add a haemonculus for the free pain token.

Archon_Azathriel wrote:

5x Hekatrix Bloodbrides. 65 pts.
Raider w/ Night Shields, enhanced aethersails. 75 pts

Hmmm...if you instead get 5xwyches with a hekatrix & venom blade, it costs the same number of points and you get a scoring unit that also brings an extra venom blade & a character to accept challenges. Throw in some HWG for an anti-tank threat.
Drop the night shields as before. The aethersails can also be dispensable if you need spare points.

Archon_Azathriel wrote:

Succubus w/ blast pistol and agoniser, 100 pts.

Fine to join the wyches, but I would swap the blast pistol for HWG - more reliable anti-tank and cheaper (and longer ranged when you throw it!).

Archon_Azathriel wrote:

3x Reavers, +Blaster, +Cluster Caltrops. 101 pts.

Nothing wrong with reavers & this is really just a small harassment unit. If you boost it to 6 reavers, you can get a 2nd blaster and a more deadly bladevane attack, making it a proper threat. Also, deciding on either caltrops or blasters allows you to give the unit a specialist role in a game i.e. bladevaning or tankhunting.

You also mentioned a unit of scourges too. I agree that the solarite is not required - maybe you can use the miniature for something else if you like it? And generally don't mix weapons in the same unit - heat lance & HWB have very different ranges. Close-up you'd be better getting 2 melta shots - further away you'd prefer 2 haywire shots.

If you want warriors on foot, consider a 3-man trueborn unit with 2 dark lances. They don't score, but they bring two lance shots for about as cheap as you can get in the codex. Just hide them in cover & hope they don't get shot at too much.

Regarding venom blades: just use any dagger or sword from the warrior/wych sprue and paint it in a way to represent its poisonous nature (a lot of people paint green streaks or channels on them, for example). I think the Archon pack has a genuine venom blade, and maybe the haemonculus & wrack boxes too.

Hope that helps you a bit!

Wow! That helped a lot! I'll modify my list based on the models I currently have. At this point I'm not willing to get rid of a Hekatrix w/ PGL just yet... I like her and think I might find a use for her. If not, she'll get the chop-n-change pretty soon. Scourges have mixed weapons because the box only allows one of each kind I believe. I'm thinking of swapping out their weapons for a Dark Lance and maybe keep the heat lance for AI and potential up-close tank-busting should the DL be sniped. Not sure. Still thinking about that one...

I'm not sure about the advice you gave on Reavers since they've done so well at multi-tasking in our games before. I've typically blade-vaned a unit on turn 1, busted a tank on turn 2, then turned back and assaulted another unit in turn 3. That is, if they survived being shot, and didn't run after losing a single Reaver. Hm. Point taken, I think?

Thanks for the awesome feedback!

Archon_Azathriel wrote:

Thanks for the awesome feedback!

No problem!

The PGL is not a bad choice for the hekatrix - gives you a cover save vs overwatch & when cowering in area terrain - but it seems like an indulgence in a suicidal foot squad (where you are likely to be shot from much further away than 8"). See if it works for you anyway.

I don't have a unit of the latest scourges, but I would hope they have >1 of each type of weapon in the box. Perhaps I'm just deluding myself there! The old pack had two of each heavy weapon I think. I still really do urge you not to mix such incongruous weapons in the same squad though. Use the warrior or reaver sprues to get extra weapon bits for conversions if fancy a bit of modelling.

The reavers are a different matter, as you can mix in caltrops & assault weapons and have a flexible unit that can be useful in smaller games. You just won't be able to get the most out of both upgrades (as they are both used in the shooting phase), so most people pick one or the other. And yes, larger squads mitigate against running away after taking just one casualty. The arena champ can also help with this, but I would use it in larger squads only (i.e. 9 bikes).

Good luck with list tinkering

Thanks again for the feedback

Unfortunately the box for the new scourges includes only one weapon upgrade of each type. I chose the heat lance because when they deep-strike behind a tank, the tank is as good as dead! But paying 120 points for a heat lance delivery system is a bit nuts! I added the haywire blaster and the blast pistol for added tank-busting capability but it only really makes sense on paper. Once you apply the math and the effective range, it's one hell of an expensive deep striking unit with very little lasting ability. Come to think of it, the solarite only allows for a marginal increase in life expectancy, at the expense of 3 more shots from the shardcarbine.... I don't think that's justifiable at the 5-man squad size. Hmm.... *muses*

I was thinking, maybe, keep the heat lance (as it straddles AI and tank busting really well), downgrade the Solarite to another regular scourge with shardcarbine, and add in a dark lance or blaster, for +1 darklight weapon count overall. 150 points for dark lance and blaster, 137 points for heat lance and blaster. The difference would be kiting then closing, or deep striking and sweeping. Interesting.

A solarite with venom blade did help my scourges survive a few rounds of combat in my last game... only to see them flee after failing their leadership and eventually killed anyway

I do enjoy looking at things from a small list perspective. As in art, if it works in thumbnail, it'll work large scale. If it works in a small scale, it gives you an idea of large game loadouts, in my own opinion.

Anyways I'm rambling now. Thanks so much for your feedback, I'm ready to swap out some arms this weekend!