Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Dark Eldar- More List Tampering

Hey folks, hows it going?  Good for me, the Nuggets are finally doing well after being liberated from Melo, and they've won 8 of 10 games.  How does that equate to my gaming life?  It means that I spend more time watching a newly reinvented NBA team than I actually do blogging.  Other than that, it doesn't mean a whole lot, really.

So, I've been playing around with my Dark Eldar list ideas.  I want to be able to play Dark Eldar at all the big upcoming events (i.e. BoLSCON and Nova), and I want a tweaked list for both of those.  The list I originally had was condemned (rightfully) as soulless/uncreative.  The
second list I had improved quite a bit in the soulless category, and sort of established some sort of personality for the army.  The new list I have is more tweaked.

Here it is, this time at 2000:

Baron Sathonyx

Haemon
Haemon

20x Hellions w/ Helliarch w/ Venom Blade
5x Warriors w/ Blaster, Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons
5x Warriors w/ Blaster, Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons
5x Warriors w/ Blaster, Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons
5x Warriors w/ Blaster, Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons
3x Wracks w/ Raider w/ Flicker Field

9x Reavers w/ 3x Heat Lances, Arena Champ, Venom Blade
9x Reavers w/ 3x Heat Lances, Arena Champ, Venom Blade


Ravager w/ 3x Dark Lances

Ravager w/ 3x Dark Lances
Ravager w/ 3x Dark Lances


Plus a few extra points


This list has 6 long(ish) range melta weapons, as well as more and more splinter weaponry.  Lots of Dark Lances everywhere, to glance/slowly destroy AV12, and maximum scoring units.


The strength of the list lies in the Reavers being used tactically to do the following:
  • Give skimmers a cover save
  • 'Bubble wrap' the Hellions
  • Provide splinter fire when needed
  • Kill Vehicles
  • Charge in with 28 I6 attacks
  • Hope not to roll a '1' for combat drugs
They're somewhat expensive, and rely on getting a Pain Token from the Haemonculi, which means that the Wracks can give the Baron a Token for the Hellions.  When I need to, I can also give the Hellions another one, and let one of the reaver squads 'rough it'.

Overall, I think this list has the flexibility to let me win games in tournaments, even against Guard.

A tweak I've been thinking of a lot lately, is to drop a few wracks, reduce one of the Reavers squads to 6, and add:  a beast squad.  It would have:

3x Beastmasters (1 w/ Venom Blade)
4x Razorwings
5x the 4+ ward save guys

I think this is a fairly standard build for them, but it gives me lots of wounds, with lots of rending attacks that can kill AV10 somewhat easily.  Great for countercharges, and the unit costs 161 points.  Seriously pretty good for their points.

Anyways, I gotta get outta here, but what do you think?  Do you like the list?  What could it use?  What about the addition of the Beastmaster squad?  It would add to the personality of the army, but would it be effective?  Let me know :)

7 comments:

Ulven said...

I too have been caught up in the recent Nuggets success! Loving the new additions to the team. Lets keep our fingers crossed they can keep it up!

Anyways...back on topic. One could argue that having a 'soulless' dark eldar army could be rather thematic, but I do like the list you have produced here. It's good to see Reavers being put to use in large groups - I am a huge advocate of them.

What conversion ideas do you have in mind for the venoms?

Xaereth said...

Heh, that's a funny point about the soulless army being thematic. :)

I have no real clue about conversions for Venoms. Eldar Vypers would be a good start, though I'll need to do more than just that of course.

I'm hoping Angry Richard or CJ will want to help me out with some modeling advice, and you're of course more than welcome to give me insights as well- I just know I want them done soonish.

Also, didn't notice you're actually posting up on your blog again until now! I'm excited for it :)

Ulven said...

Yes, I do like the vyper idea. I remember a while back that BOLS did a venom converting competition and the best ones were the ones that used the vyper hull.

CJ and Richard are definitely the ones to ask about that!

And thanks for commenting on my blog! I intend it to just be a repository on everything that I'm working on. I'm going to try my best to keep it going :)

Terminus Est said...

Hi Adam !!

I think this is your best dark eldar list yet. I really like it a lot and I'm digging the large Reaver squads. The army has lots of mobility plus lots and lots of shooty death. I think this list could go far in a tournament. This is a list that has some character in my opinion. Good job !

G

tzeentchling said...

I'm unconvinced that it has enough anti-tank, really. 3 Ravagers are great but relatively easily stopped, as none of the other things in the list really scream out "threat" in terms of heavy weaponry. The heat lances are definitely useful, but the squad will likely either be turbo-boosting to get a cover save/do bladevane attacks, or firing at a transport and then hopefully charging its contents. T4 5+/4+FNP is still fairly fragile when shot at. Single blasters aren't as much of a threat, though they are something.

I think more raiders might be needed, and I'd definitely consider at least swapping another warrior venom squad for another wrack squad in a raider. I do like the Beastmaster squad idea too.

Xaereth said...

Heh, thanks Steve. I wish I could playtest more, but I don't have anything approaching an army I could use to proxy them and have the models be representative of actual DE sizes. Glad to have your stamp of approval though! You'll hopefully be able to see this army at BoLSCON, or the Nova if you're going.

Tzling:

You're right that I don't have as much anti-tank as I wish I did. The thing is, I need the ability to kill troops in droves by shooting as well.

I think that one thing you're forgetting though, is that the Hellions will be S5 on the charge when I want them to be. That's 60 S5 attacks, plus 5 S7 attacks (Baron) on the charge. They can kill vehicles, and multi-charge huge lines of Chimeras and such.

One thing to also keep in mind is that I can keep the Reavers in cover, and keep them alive pretty easy, since they have the 'skilled rider' ability to reroll dangerous. So ideally, they'll have a 4+/4++ (with FNP) when they don't get a 3+/4++ from moving flat-out.

You're right about the single blasters not adding a whole lot- I'm trying to figure out a better solution for it. It's tricky though!

Unknown said...

not a one...... not a one........ ah come on! (that what would happen too me, lol)