Advice for DE/E all levels

So I am primarily into modelling but really would like to start playing games, so if there is anyone in the bristol area who would like a game do give me a shout. Yes there is the GW store but they are not overly friendly if I'm honest..

Anyway having spending a lot of time on ebay with a budget of £200 I have procured a vast amount of models and have got myself quite muddled reading all the tactica articles, I am still wrapping my head around a lot of the rules and grasp certain concepts but not in a way I feel competent putting a list together.

So below is a list of all my models (often weapons were chosen aesthetically rather than for function.. ) and if you have the time could you give me a 1500-2000 pt list out of it and the reasoning behind it. I would be immeasurably grateful and hopefully test them out sometime soon and feedback on them!

Dark Eldar

HQ

Drazhar

Duke (or generic archon with two swords)

3 Haemies

Succubus (old model with trident)

Troops

10 X Kabailte with splinter cannon, Sybarite and?

14 X Kabalites unconverted as of yet

29 X witches with shardnet, hydra gauntlet, razorflails and have yet to put other special weapons together...

4 x wracks

Elite

5 x incubi including klaivex (converted using dark elf corsairs and scourges)

9 X trueborn (converted using the old incubi as love those models but haven't picked weapons yet)

Fast Attack

9 X Hellions with stun claw helliarch and phantasm

5 X Scourges with haywire and darklance

7 X Reaver jetbikes (not decided on weapons yet)

Heavy support

2 X razorwings

Talos pain engine with liquifiers and splinter cannon

Tantalus - (converted from 2 old raiders and manticore/dragon wings)

Transports

Tantalus as above

Currently only 3 raiders but hoping to add 1 more and a couple of venoms (pending on auctions)


Eldar

HQ

Illic nightspear

7 spiritseer/farseer/warlock models in any combination with a seer council etc

Farseer on a jetbike

Troops

10 X guardians with EML on platform

10 X Gaurdians

13 X rangers

Elite

9 X striking scorpions with Exarch

Fast Attack

5 X swooping hawks

Heavy Support

Wraithlord with glaive, dual flamers and 2 scatter laser

Wraithlord with bright lance, EML and shuriken catapults.

Falcon grav tank with bright lance

5 X Dark Reapers with Exarch

Transports

2 X wave serpents with bright lances and shuriken cannons

The falcons 6 spaces if taken



I apologise for the massive post and throwing everything I have at you,, but I got caught up with ebay bargains and could just do with a few helpful ideas of how these combine other then putting similar models together...

Many thanks in advance


Rob

I have to admit my urge to build lists for people is exceedingly minimal. That said, though I might give it a whirl, there are certainly a few more questions you should answer;

1. What models interest you the most in look and/or fluff?
2. Do you like the idea of being shooty or melee based? Or a balanced mix?
3. Will you be playing friendly games with mates, or looking to compete in tournies?
4. Is there anything you would consider a 'must take' because you really wish to field it?
5. Is there anything you would prefer not to field?

Answering the above would really help people make lists better suited to you rather than just a random list that is suited to what they do. So much of DE strategy is based on player style, for instance me and Shadows seem to play quite similar style lists, but even we have a few differences of opinion. Meanwhile there is Mush and his little brood of followers trying to showcase that Reaver Jetbikes are the second coming. There was another list I saw that just won 'best DE general' at a pretty big European tournament and it was a unique list again, featuring elements non of the aforementioned players would use. There are a lot of ways to play DE, and a good start is understanding what you hope to play, and then trying to master it to the best of your ability.

Hi Thor,

I appreciate my first post probably didn't win me many friends, but I do come from a naive point rules wise and I am struggling to find lists that don't end up assuming prior knowledge over a lot of game mechanics which make it hard to wrap my head around the concept when a layman term would be helpful (that and pain meds make my head fuzzy, some degree of irony i'm sure DE/pain/drugs... no?)

As said I greatly appreciate any nudge in the right direction and hope to contribute more productively in the future with list and models etc.

So to your questions

1. I am a big fan of speed and death from the sky fluff wise and reavers, scourge, razorwing jets and hellions are correspondingly some of my favourite models and characterful units

2.I have no preference to either and feel both have there place so a balance.

3. Currently hunting for players of any kind! But by my nature prefer fun of competitiveness so less tournie based I guess though wouldn't mind a pop way down the line (so not really applicable here I guess)

4/5.Nothing is really a must take, I only bought or made models I enjoy and have ended up with a lot so I could always try to make 2 list depending on what is left over and using your advice so no restrictions there.

I suppose a big part of this is understanding why you would put 2 things together in synergy as much as why individual units are good (with plenty of info on that here)

Im sorry if I've been hopelessly annoying :/ not my intention and really do love this site and everything it offers!

Thanks again

I wasn't saying you were annoying, I was simply saying that I, personally, don't make lists. I also didn't think you asking was bad, I just wanted you to be more specific. Anyone can go and find a random netlist, but DE, unlike many other armies, is not about a 'netlist' build. Honestly, a lot of purported DE netlists look pretty terrible to me, and most players who have tournament level success with DE lists have their own particular builds that play a certain way. I have done well with a Kabal centered and Raider heavy list, which is unusual. Some other poster here just won big in Europe with a Wych centralized build. Both of those builds, according to the Net, are not DE power builds. But, the Net consensus on DE is pretty dim in my opinion.

It sounds like you don't actually need a list made for you, it sounds like you're still at the stage of understanding 'what a DE list even does'.

Might I suggest the following link;
http://www.thedarkcity.net/t1026-pages-of-pain-strategies-tactics

There is a lot of education to be had there.
I'd probably specifically also point you to Plastikente's Unit guide (link is above) and my own DE Tactica (link in my sig...albeit, I have been woefully lax in updating it, so it still has strains of 5th in it as far as specific unit advice goes, but the overall strategy concepts discussed are universal)

At this stage I think you still need to know what DE are about, what each unit is good at, and some basic ideas of how to equip each unit in order to have it do what it is good at.

After reading that, and going off your commentary of really liking RJBs, I'd suggest you go and read this;
http://www.thedarkcity.net/t3946-the-black-buzzards-battle-reports-links

Which are battle reports done, specifically, by a player who advocates RJBs as awesome and builds his army around them.

I know for a fact we also had a player who did some pretty solid work with Hellions and has some batreps around, though I do not recall enough info to provide you with a link myself.

I have yet to see anyone claim Scourges as being all that good, and I certainly would not advocate making an army based around them. However, they could serve a minor support role in a larger army, albeit it is good to probably decide on the rest of your army first and then try to work in Scourges later.

Though this Razorwing batrep is from the tail end of 5th right before 6th showed up, it still actually does show what Razorwings are about. Razorwings kill infantry, and they do that quite well, they are semi-mediocre at killing non-infantry. So, if you build an army with Razorwings, your goal is to build a supporting army that is good at cracking open any and all vehicles so that the Razorwings can blast apart the occupants.

http://www.thedarkcity.net/t1443-2000-rtt-duke-sliscus-deep-strike-razorwing-build-very-pic-heavy

It's a good basic way to look at army design when listbuilding. Each unit has something it is good at, and it's your goal to identify that, and make sure the army has ways to deal with everything, and that it all makes sense together. For instance, Venoms, Beastpacks, and Razorwings are all good units - but an army of only these would be a bad army because all of them are good at killing infantry, and bad at killing mech - so any mech army would likely kick your backside.

Haha well covering all my bases (being british saying sorry unnecessarily is a national pastime dont'cha know?)

Thank you very much for your post, it sound silly but a lot of it in essence I know (i have read plastikente's guide thorooughly) but I have't been able to tie it together at all and you have spoken sufficiently slowly and loud enough at me for me to understand it

And the battle reports help a lot I hadn't really thought to look at them particularly.

Anyway I'll go away and have a think and then post up an idea and some pictures, and hopefully have found someone to have a game against by then!

Rob