Evolution of my Dark Eldar for 7th Edition: The Dawn of a Realspace Raid

Heya all and welcome back to the Webway!

After playing a few games with my Dark Eldar, my list is slowly evolving to something a little more destructive than anything else due to my area's tendencies to have hard hitting units, no matter what they are. So for me, that means I am facing off against Obliterators, Riptides, Wave Serpents, Knights, Flyrants, IG Blob and any other units that loves to hit hard. Also my area is slowly progressing from 1750 pts armies to 1850 pts armies, which means even more firepower.

In addition, due to our store's mutual agreement to not go dual Combined Arms Detachment (as this can be fulfilled with Unbound, which warrants its own consent between players), I find myself a little bit outgunned to handle all the nonsense of 7th edition. Since the majority of the most effective units of the codex are in the Fast Attack slot, I decided that I will forgo the Objective secured advantage and go full ham with the Realspace Raider Detachment.

The next process in this new list building is that I need to crack anything that I see, and be sneaky about it as per the Dark Eldar ways. For that I realized that having a simple plan of speed, poison and lance is still the bee's knees.

In the end, to make for a balanced list that can hold up against the rest of the tough crowd here is the list I concocted;

Archon with Blaster, Haywire Grenade and Webway Portal
1 squad of 5 trueborn with 4 blasters in a Raider with lance and enhanced aethersail
4 squads of 5 Kabalites with a blaster in a Venom with two Splinter cannons
2 Razorwing Jetfighter with 2 lances
3 squads of 5 scourges with 4 haywire blasters
3 Ravagers with three lances

Now I know that this list is a little spammy, but given the meta of my area and my reluctance of allying with Eldar I came up with this list. The main reasons for my choices are as follow

1) Ravagers: Even with the nerfs, the Ravager is still in the running for being part of my Heavy Support as a result of its unique role as a mobile lance platform

2)Venoms:They are there just to fill up on my anti-MC/long-range infantry capabilities

3) Razorwing Jetfighters: For added added lance and also anti-horde weaponry. It is also a decent anti-air unit.

4) Blasterborn and Archon: To give myself an unit that can be where they want to be when they are needed.

5) Scourges; they complement my army in so many ways. After a decision between the Haywire blasters and the Blasters, I decided that I will arm my scourges with blasters.

Haywire blasters are awesome, do not get me wrong, but given that I might face off against a MC list gives me a little food for thought.

In many ways, when I am making this list, I am adhering to my ideals that a Dark Eldar list is like that of a shark; fast and deadly, and able to react to any smell of weakness from the opponent's confused ranks

Given that my list is concocted from several theoretical assumptions, I decided that I will have to test this list out against some of the nastiest armies that could neuter me in one turn. My army of choice for this list will have to be a Tau list, as they can kill every darn thing with ease and is a hard counter for generally all Dark Eldar. The mission is The Scouring, but I can not take these objectives without taking out all of his heavy hitters.

My first test run of my list is against a Tau army with the following composition (I only remembered the most notable gears);

Buffmander
Commander with two missile pods and artifact of Arthas Moloch with skyfire and interceptor
2 Riptides with Ion accelerator with skyfire and interceptor
1 squad of 3 crisis suits with two missile pods each (farsight troops)
1 squad of 3 crisis suits with two fusion blasters each with skyfire and interceptor
2 squads of 6 fire warriors
Tau Firebase Support Cadre (1 Riptide with Heavy Burst Cannon, skyfire and interceptor, and two squads of Broadsides with skyfire and interceptor)

I must admit that his firepower is brutal and he does not really need markerlights to put a dent to my forces, but thanks to several gambits and also selective firing, I managed to take three riptides, 6 broadsides and 5 suits down in three turns. It helps that I managed to start first and also managed to get the warlord trait that allows me to re-roll my reserves from the Strategic Traits.

After 5 turns, I managed to reduce his fighting strength down to two Fusion Blaster suits and 2 fire warriors as compared to my force of 3 venoms, 19 warriors, one Razorwing Fighter and 3 scourges. He conceded before I began my 6th turn, as his army was literally neutered and I was about to focus my remaining firepower upon all of those forces. The victory is further sealed by me having First Blood, Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, and also getting the objectives worth 4 points, 2 points and 1 points for a total of 10 Victory Points to his 4 points.

In many ways, this list is a true trial by fire for my list, as it allows my list to turn from a theoretical concept to practical concept that could be used against most armies. In addition, with the capabilities of flexible deployment and maneuver, this list offers more possibilities than my older lists before the codex came out.

Of course I am still sad that my archon has been relegated to a blaster caddy, but given that in return for this sacrifice I get this prodigious firepower I am willing to swallow my pride regarding this matter.

Now I will have to test this against Eldar, and see if I can manage to kill at least two serpents. If my list can kill two serpents in one turn, I will consider that my list is competitive enough to hold against almost all armies. Now this may be a bit of a weird thought to have when building a list, but I noticed that in any match, a person who can kill off two serpents out of 3-5 Serpents in a Serpent Spam in one turn will cause the Eldar army to drop significantly in effectiveness and allowing the other army to gain an upper hand in the attrition firepower war.

The next army I plan to find will either be an Eldar army, Guard army or a Drop Pod army.......

Wish me luck against these foul meta list!

A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit OF That - Experimental 1750 pts Dark Eldar - Eldar list.

Heya all and welcome back!

I will be honest here and say that life can be tough when for some reason you are stuck in making your list improve. For some reason, life is not giving me results with some of my current builds as a result of not having the right tools for some armies. Here are the issues I find very vexing;

1) 5-men Kabalites with Blasters are becoming more and more like that ugly crutch that limits my options and also offering very little in return. The passengers are not pulling their weight, and I also need a more reliable unit to take objectives aggressively.

2) My Ravagers, despite their 3 lances, are not the most reliable of anti-tanks and they need to be improved. I will not deny that they are good, but in my case they need to be better.

3) Flyers, Flyers everywhere. Everyone's throwing a flyer or two into their list, and personally despite not being affected too adversely by it due to me being a proponent of using flyers, I find that I also need to take those bastards out ASAP. This is related to #2.

4) Shooting is good, but it is not the end-all for assault in this edition. If anything, it means that you have to choose the right targets to charge and kill, preferably with very little resistance.

5) Venoms are good, but I generally find my Venoms getting the lion's share of the shooting alongside the Ravagers. I find it odd that my Raiders tend to be surviving longer than the other nonsense in my list.

As always, the internet horde generally believes that spamming a certain unit and ignoring assault means profit, but like the American Shutdown, spending points on a build that will shut you down in a long time sucks balls. In other words it is my way of saying that the majority of the internet does not know or wants to think outside their comfort zone.

As I did some soul-searching, I realized that I need to scrap all my thoughts and went the opposite direction with my army and designed it without any love for any units that I once used. In addition, I will have to play around with some of the new mechanics of 6th edition a little more to exploit the weaknesses of the current nonsense. In other words, I am literally singing 'Highway to the Danger Zone' to my listbuilding idea and went on said highway.

Based upon these questions I realized that my problems are quite simple;

1) I need twin-linked weapons

2) I need more options for anti-tanks, especially of the more brutal kind.

3) I need to maximize the usability of squads that I want them to last, while having the 'Fuck it' ethos to those that need not survive that long.

I laboured for a while before I came up with this list, which is almost odd as it is ingenious.

Dark Eldar Main Detachment
Archon with Venom Blade, Haywire Grenade, Combat Drugs, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, and Shadowfield
Haemonculus with Liquifier gun
5 Incubi with Klaivex upgrade in a Raider with Nightshields
10 Kabalite Warriors in a Raider with Splinter Racks and Nightshields
10 Kabalite Warriors in a Raider with Splinter Racks and Nightshields

5 Wyches with Haywire Grenades in Venom with second Splinter Cannon and Nightshields

5 Wyches with Haywire Grenades in Venom with second Splinter Cannon and Nightshields

5 Wyches with Haywire Grenades in Venom with second Splinter Cannon and Nightshields

Ravager with three Dark Lances and Nightshields

Ravager with three Dark Lances and Nightshields

Voidraven Bomber with 2 Void Lances, 2 Shatterfield Missiles, 1 Void Bomb and Flickerfield

Eldar Allied Detachment

Farseer with Mantle of the Laughing God on Jetbike

3 x Windrider Jetbike Squadron

As you can see, this list is an utter scrappy list but one with hidden secrets. 

The calculations are simple;

1) 5-men Kabalites with Blasters = Move aside, Wyches with Haywire are a much more stable investment. They either die or once they see a target they will be hunting it down with haywire grenades. For scoring purposes, 10-men squads help a lot more.

2) My Ravagers' need to be better/ Flyer defennse: Farseer with Guide and Prescience helps in making sure things be more reliable. Also the Voidraven helps.

4) Assault elements to hunt down pesky units : Wyches and Incubi are fine for their jobs here, only one hunts down vehicles like wave serpents while the other kills 2+ stuff, with an addition of glancing most vehicles to death.

5) Venom attrition; Put in more Raiders to become LOS Blockers, Roadblocks and extra lances. Add that with the 10 men kabalites, they prove to be a way I build redundancy in the list without weakening my scoring options.

In many ways, this list is meant to work in a more Eldar-like manner than my other lists which are more Dark Eldar in nature. All the elements have their role to play, but at the same time I blanket all my glaring weaknesses with their similar roles. Of course as with every list I must put it under fire to truly appreciate what it does, and to see if all this wishlisting is practical.

So far my first game with marines proved to be very successful, as all the units worked wonderfully. Of course a single game means nothing, and thus this will go under the knife against other builds to see its true viability. The build is growing on me, as it fits with my rather aggressive wave playstyle.

I will try to post a battle report with this list as soon as I could, win or lose to at least show what is going on in my mind when I play this list.

A dull 1750 pts Dark Eldar-Eldar alliance list

While I was at work today, I was wondering if I could make an allied 1750 pts list that can be an utter bore to face against and/or play as. So with that I decided to throw this little cutie out. Note that this is something of a min-max list without much variety, thus take this with lots of sauce....hot sauce.

Main Detachment
Baron Sathonyx
5 Kabalite Warriors with 1 blaster in a Venom with two splinter rifles
5 Kabalite Warriors with 1 blaster in a Venom with two splinter rifles

5 Kabalite Warriors with 1 blaster in a Venom with two splinter rifles

5 Kabalite Warriors with 1 blaster in a Venom with two splinter rifles

Ravager with three dark lances with Flickerfield

Ravager with three dark lances with Flickerfield
Ravager with three dark lances with Flickerfield

Main Detachment total pts: 950

Allied Detachment
Farseer on jetbike
5 Fire Dragons with an Exarch with Firepike and Fast shot in a Wave Serpent with twinlinked scatter lasers and holofield
5 Dire Avengers with in a Wave Serpent with twinlinked scatter lasers and holofield
5 Dire Avengers with in a Wave Serpent with twinlinked scatter lasers and holofield

Allied Detachment total pts: 800

Total pts: 1750 pts

Retardedly enough, it managed to end up at a precise figure which I tend to like. Nonetheless you can see how this list works just by looking at it; move and shoot and shoot and move. The main muscle of this list are the Wave Serpents, Venoms and Ravagers. The Baron is there mostly for me to get first turn and will be camping somewhere like a sad panda (he is a tax, but one with a single worthwhile ability).

The Farseer has a simple job to do; Be a mobile twin-linker for the army when it needs it (though I expect most of the twinlinked abilities to be on the Ravagers and Venoms. If I managed to get Doom or Perfect Timing, I will be utterly giddy).

The Dragons are mostly there because they are the cheapest unit that I can use to buy another Wave Serpent within the allied list that functions well within this army's design. Likewise the blasters on the Kabalite warriors are there just because they are a staple for those Kabalite Warriors in Venoms. As for the Dire Avengers, I will admit that they are the tax I pay for the Wave Serpents.

This list functions in a rather simple and dominating way; You will need to handle a lot of things and you need to handle all of them at once, because all of them are able to cripple your army. The twinlinked weaponry only made this choice more crucial as they will be damaging an army quite often. The army also has some interesting anti-air options as a result of the twinlinked weaponry in abundance. In its retardedness, it is oddly balanced against anything.

Honestly the way I would deploy them is to let the Serpents be in front (hiding behind cover of course) while the rest of the army will hide behind those Serpents. Due to the darn Serpent Shield being a perfect way to prevent an alpha strike against me, all the flimsy nonsense will hide behind. Once I get to move, I will be moving forward as one, Serpents as shields, and I will just attack and exploit any weaknesses I have created, and then from there make more attacks to exploit any more weaknesses I have created, and keep on doing so until the other side surrendered or I run out of gas.

A rather blunt and thuggish list for an Eldar list, but it does the job. I believe that it is time for me to lend my friend's Wave Serpents and test this weird boring list out. Who knows, I might actually like it.

1850 Dark Eldar- Eldar Tournament List (Includes Forgeworld)

Heya all and welcome back!

I wanted to get some input about this list that may be used in a 1850 pts tournament by the end of this year in my country. This list is also quite unique, as this is the first time there is a tournament back home that willingly allow us to use Forgeworld units. Here is my list with Forgeworld goodies included.

Eldar (Allied Detachment) Selections:

HQ
1. Farseer (120pts)
Eldar Jetbike
Singing Spear

Troops
1. Windrider Jetbike Squad (51pts)
Windrider Guardian x 3

2. Windrider Jetbike Squad (51pts)
Windrider Guardian x 3


Fast Attack
1. Wasp Assault Walker Squadron (210pts)
Wasp
2 x Scatter Laser (30 pts)
Wasp
2 x Scatter Laser (30 pts)
Wasp
2 x Scatter Laser (30 pts)

Heavy Support
1. War Walker Squadron (210pts)
War Walker (70pts)
2x Scatter Laser (10pts)
War Walker (70pts)
2x Scatter Laser (10pts)
War Walker (70pts)
2x Scatter Laser (10pts) (Laser Lock)

Dark Eldar (Main Detachment) Selections:

[u]HQ [/u]
1.Baron Sathonyx (105pts)
Hellglaive, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Shadowfield, Splinter Pistol, Wychsuit
Custom Skyboard
Splinter Pods


[u]Troops[/u]
1 Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
Kabalite Warrior with blaster (24 pts)

Venom (65pts)
Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon

2. Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
Kabalite Warrior with blaster (24 pts)

Venom (65pts)
Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon

3. Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
Kabalite Warrior with blaster (24 pts)

Venom (65pts)
Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon

4. Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
Kabalite Warrior with blaster (24 pts)

Venom (65pts)
Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon

5. Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
Kabalite Warrior with blaster (24 pts)

Venom (65pts)
Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon

6. Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
Kabalite Warrior with blaster (24 pts)

Venom (65pts)
Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon

Heavy Support
1.Ravager (115pts)
Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Flickerfield

2.Ravager (115pts)
Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Flickerfield

3.Ravager (115pts)
Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Flickerfield

The premise of the list is quite simple, as it entirely forego Flyers to gain a superior advantage on the ground with its firepower. However, I felt that this list lacks something (other than soul of course, since this is a tournament list and we all know that tournament lists got no soul. :P). Criticisms and comments are welcomed.

1750 pts Reavers Concept List

Heya all and welcome back!

As I looked at the Reaver jetbikes I painted a while ago, I wondered what kind of nonsense would allow me to use 18 Reavers in an effective way but at the same time also fun for myself. Suddenly an odd inspiration struck and I went to work immediately to make a list for the fun of it.

Reaver concept (1749pts)

1750pt Dark Eldar 6th Ed (2010), Eldar Roster (Standard, Allied Detachment)

Dark Eldar 6th Ed (2010) (Standard) Selections:

HQ (105pts)

• Baron Sathonyx (105pts)
  Bones of the Seer, Fleet, Hit and Run, Independent Character, Master of the Skies, Night Vision, Power from Pain, Twilight Shroud
  Hellglaive, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Shadowfield, Splinter Pistol, Wychsuit
  • Custom Skyboard
    Splinter Pods

Troops (625pts)

• Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
  Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain
  • 4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
    4x Splinter Rifle
  • Kabalite Warrior with assault weapon (24pts)
    Blaster (15pts)
  • Venom (65pts)
    Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)
• Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
  Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain
  • 4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
    4x Splinter Rifle
  • Kabalite Warrior with assault weapon (24pts)
    Blaster (15pts)
  • Venom (65pts)
    Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)
• Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
  Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain
  • 4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
    4x Splinter Rifle
  • Kabalite Warrior with assault weapon (24pts)
    Blaster (15pts)
  • Venom (65pts)
    Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)
• Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
  Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain
  • 4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
    4x Splinter Rifle
  • Kabalite Warrior with assault weapon (24pts)
    Blaster (15pts)
  • Venom (65pts)
    Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)
• Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
  Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain
  • 4x Kabalite Warrior (36pts)
    4x Splinter Rifle
  • Kabalite Warrior with assault weapon (24pts)
    Blaster (15pts)
  • Venom (65pts)
    Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)

Fast Attack (516pts)

• Reaver Jetbikes (258pts)
  Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain, Skilled Riders
  3x Blaster (45pts), 9x Jetbikes (198pts)
  • Arena Champion Upgrade (15pts)
    Venom Blade (5pts)
• Reaver Jetbikes (258pts)
  Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain, Skilled Riders
  3x Blaster (45pts), 9x Jetbikes (198pts)
  • Arena Champion Upgrade (15pts)
    Venom Blade (5pts)

Heavy Support (315pts)

• Ravager (105pts)
  Aerial Assault, Night Vision
  Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance
• Ravager (105pts)
  Aerial Assault, Night Vision
  Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance
• Ravager (105pts)
  Aerial Assault, Night Vision
  Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance

Eldar (Allied Detachment) Selections:

HQ (120pts)

• Farseer (120pts)
  Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, Fleet, Independent Character, Psyker ML3
  Eldar Jetbike (15pts) (Bladestorm), Singing Spear (5pts)

Troops (68pts)

• Windrider Jetbike Squad (68pts)
  Windrider Guardian (17pts) (Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, Bladestorm), Windrider Guardian (17pts) (Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, Bladestorm), Windrider Guardian (17pts) (Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, Bladestorm), Windrider Guardian (17pts) (Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, Bladestorm)

This is what I came up with. I did not take the heat lances for the Reavers as I wanted the range and also the Str 8. Also this list has a lot of soft counters towards flyers.

So what do you guys think of this odd list?

Holistic Mumbo - Listbuilding

Heya all and welcome back to the webway!

Today I want to talk about a little thing that can be the most enjoyable, yet the most frustrating and also tiring aspect of the hobby; listbuilding. Now some of you would say otherwise, and I would agree as well but then the majority of players buy the models to try and see how they could use their favourite models on the table to the point of being pig-headed. I am indeed guilty of this, for if I am fond of a certain model, I am hellbent on using it whenever possible. Everyone must have dreamed a thousand dreams to make a list that is both admired for its raw power and also its flexibility. Better yet, if you could make the list that becomes the next meta list you would be giddy from within. But in order to do so, you would have to understand the core of the game and also almost every current codex in existence to get that idea if not the most commonly faced codices in the game. This extends to one's own codex and understanding the interactions from the inside out.

Why did I put in in such a manner? The reason is elementary; to make a good list, you must understand yourself and also others. You can always get some guidance from the internet for sure, and indeed there are quite a number of splendid tacticas out there for the initiatied or those willing to learn their matchups. Or you can read your book in every conceivable way to understand your army inside out on your own. Nonetheless in the end, you yourself that needs to pull all the things you have learned to make a list that you believe would work.

OF course I will be honest and say that with every list, you will have to put it through the crucibles of battle to see its viability. There are many ways to do this.

The first one is the trial and error method;. To see if it will survive, you will put it though many conditions against different opponents, and after around 10 or so games you might be able to understand its strengths and weaknesses and truly see if it is viable. Only then will you make alterations to the list to streamlined it. This is often the most common method that people tend to go about listbuilding.

There is also another method to testing out a list, and this one is a path least taken and perhaps my most favourite way of listbuilding; I try to list out all possible interactions that I could get from one unit including the ones that it was not designed for. Tedious? Perhaps, perhaps. But it also allows you to think outside the box, and use the unit in unorthodox ways. For example, quite a number of new players do not think of transports as another means of providing a leapfrogging terrain that is under your control, and only think of it as a way to get from point A to point B. Of course, this was not the intended design, but it is definitely a practical role that it could play on the table.

This serves three purposes;

1) It puts your in the right frame of thought to cause the most effects from an unit

2) It will surprise your opponents

3) It gives you options for that particular unit

These purposes would also be served by understand what your opponent can do, and what other uses that he could pull out from the unit. If you know the potential that could be pulled out from the units you would be able to anticipate what is coming your way and how you could counter that on many different levels. Indeed if you know the unit well enough, you can use that unit to your advantage as well despite it not being under your control.

For example, if I know that a Land Raider Crusader's role is to;

1) Carry some unit within

2) Provide anti-infantry firepower with a surprise multi-melta shot

3) Become a wall/fire magnet for other elements

, I would be thinking to myself what else would interact with the Land Raider to allow it to play its role. Here's are some things I think about when I see a Land Raider Crusader entry;

1) Carry units within: Would it be a bigger threat if have some nasty units inside? Would its role change if its passengers were different? Would it be the core of your strategy? Or would it be something to complement the other transports in your list? Is there a need to move forward at times? What happens if it is immobilized or destroyed?

2) Provide anti-infantry firepower with a surprise multi-melta shot - Can I use its weapons other than its intended use? How does its firepower help complemment the other elements of your lists, such as Land Speeders, Thunderfire Cannons, Predators, and Razorbacks? Is there a way that I could use the weapons more effectively?

3) Become a wall/fire magnet:  Would it be better alone in the list? If it becomes a distraction, does it need to be that big of a target? Could you take something else to complement its fire magnet role? How many units do you want to protect with the Land Raider Crusader? What units do you want to protect? What happens if they do not pay attention to the unit?

There are of course a lot of questions you could ask yourself, but this provides an idea of how this thought of understanding the interaction that one unit could do in the context of the list. Some people would have similar lists as well, but play those lists very differently from one another despite having the same core principles of operating the list. Likewise, a list could play similarly despite looking very different from one another.

Take for example two friend of mine and myself and the army that we share; Dark Eldar. My first friend's, Nik's 1750 pts list consist of;

Duke Sliscus
2 squads of 4 Trueborn with blasters in Venoms with second splinter cannon
1 squad of 3 Trueborn with blasters in Venoms with second splinter cannon
4 Raiders with 10 warriors in Raiders with Splinter racks
1 Raider with 9 warriors in Raiders with Splinter racks
3 Ravagers

My second friend, Shawn's Dark Eldar list consist of;

2 Archon with blaster
3 squads of 4 Trueborn with blasters in Venoms with second splinter cannon
6 squads of Kabalite Warriors with a blaster in Venoms with second splinter cannon
3 Ravagers

And now let's take my default Dark Eldar list;

1 Archon with venom blade, combat drugs, phantasm grenade launcher, shadowfield

1 Haemonculus with liquifier gun

5 incubi in a raider with nightshield

2 squads of 3 Blasterborns in a Venom with second splinter cannon 

3 squads of 5 Warriors with a blaster in a Venom with second splinter cannon and nightshields

2 squads of 5 Warriors with a blaster in a Raider with nightshields

2 Ravagers with 3 Lances and nightshields

1 Voidraven with Flickerfield and 2 shatterfield missiles

Now as you could see on the first glance, our lists are quite different from each other.

Nik's list is very warrior heavy, and he also has a lot of raiders running around. All of his blasters are concentrated on his Trueborns while Shawn's list is almost a perfect clone of a Venomspam barring the Beastmaster elements and Baron. Nik's and Shawn's armies have a greater amount of ranged anti-infantry power than those of my own, in the short-ranged and long-ranged department respectfully. However, my list has a dedicated close combat element, and I also incorporate flyers along with template with my army.

However the core of our list are the same indeed; we want to decimate. We both have a lot of anti-infantry power to wipe most infantry out, and also we have a lot of lances to play around with. We all like to play within the enemy's area of operations, and take a spirit of calculated recklessness in our gameplay. We are all fulfilling the same core mechanic and interactions between the Dark Eldar units are similar, but they are done differently from one another.

This highlights an important point; listbuilding allow you to understand interactions between elements of your army better than before, even if you have decided not to play the list that you have build. By understanding the interactions and its conditions to happen, you can always look out for things that stood out in fulfilling the army's core philosophy even if you are just starting them out for the first time.

This also comes with experience (both from playing that army for an extended period of time, or playing multiple armies), but everyone has that gut feeling within them to understand how these interactions work. It also allow you to think outside the box and create lists that will work without adhering to the 'voices' of people proposing that only a single unit/list/spam is viable to the exclusion to every other unit.

P.S: I must put a disclaimer here, as sometimes some units are just bizarre to use and/or does not help the army in any way. Mandrakes and The Decapitator are prime examples of this in the Dark Eldar codex, as their synergy with everything else is rather odd.

First round of playing with the Dark-Eldar Eldar alliance

Heya all and welcome back to the webway!

Yesterday at my game store, fully half of the players are all playing Eldar in many incarnations (including myself playing them as allies) and I must say that there are a lot of things that sparked my interest.While I was waiting for a game, I managed to take a sneak peek at some of the capabilities of the Eldar against IG and Dark Angels Greenwing Dakka banner line.

I saw how two Wraithlords ignored an IG gunline and just bashed their brains out senseless while in the other game I saw how the scorpions literally shred the Greenwing lines before they could even strike back, collapsing the entire formation. Also in both of those games I saw how amazing Warp Spiders were as they jump, Battle Focus, and then jump some more and how Wave Serpents literally became the bane of transports with their weird shield weapon + scatter laser combo. So far I have not seen any of the new toys except the Spiritseer, and even then I can see that the Spiritseer could work in certain builds.

As for my own experiences with Eldar; 

1) Prescience and Guide are the shiznit for Dark Eldar! in my game against a Footdar, I never seen my ravagers shot so beautifully, and 24  BS 4 twin-linked scatter lasers is just outright brutal.

 2) Scorpion mandiblasters are a very big annoyance towards my Incubi squad. Those things could potentially whittle me down little by little as the combat drags on. Luckily for me, I managed to kill two squads of 10 -men scorpions with my squad of 6 Incubi and kitted-out Archon with a venom blade.

Unfortunately attrition is such that only my Archon is left with a single wound and three pain token.The main reasons why I survived the way I did is all thanks to the pain tokens and the fact that my Incubi strike at the same initiative as the Scorpions, but with a better WS and a Str 4 AP2 weapon.  The FNP bonus from the Haemonculus' pain tokens also helped in surviving the Mandiblaster shots. Have to be more careful when facing against Scorpions again.

3) Battle focus makes Footdar even more viable than before, and makes harassment tactics even more painful than before. Throughout my game, my War Walkers and my Eldar opponent's Warp Spiders have been harassing each other's flanks to hell and back.

Allthough I feel that the book has some issues with external balances, but overall the book is good for Dark Eldar if you know what you really want from your allied detachment. In my case, mine is more to have a force-multiplier to make my Dark Eldar function in a more consistent manner. I will be testing it out further to create a fun but at the same time strong list.

Hm.......Should I even go into this route for my Dark Eldar?

While I was making several 1999+ 1 lists, I wondered what happened if I just decide to just go for the shooty route? What if I eschew close combat entirely? With that I made this list over here.  It is somewhat boring to look at, but I believe it could also be quite a nasty list. Only problem with this list is that there is no assaulting elements and it would find some difficulty in breaking open some infantry blobs. I would like to call this my Gangland shooting list.

Build this list using the Battlescribe program, which is a very nice app to use. Not to mention that it is also free as compared to the Army Builder program.



+ HQ + (150pts)
* Duke Sliscus the Serpent (150pts)
        (Contraband, Fleet, Independent Character, Low Orbit Raid, Night Vision, Power from Pain,
         The Serpent's Venom)
         Blast Pistol, Combat drugs (Combat Drugs), Ghostplate Armour, Plasma Grenades,
         Shadowfield, The Serpent's Bite

+ Elites + (579pts)
* Kabalite Trueborn (233pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Nightshield (10pts)
        * 9x Trueborn (163pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            7x Shardcarbine (35pts), 2x Splinter Cannon (20pts)

* Kabalite Trueborn (173pts)
        * 4x Trueborn (108pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            4x Blaster (60pts)
        * Venom (65pts)
            Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)

* Kabalite Trueborn (173pts)
        * 4x Trueborn (108pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            4x Blaster (60pts)
        * Venom (65pts)
            Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)

+ Troops + (830pts)
* Kabalite Warriors (130pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Dark Lance, Nightshield (10pts)
        * 5x Warriors (60pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            Blaster (15pts), 4x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (130pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Dark Lance, Nightshield (10pts)
        * 5x Warriors (60pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            Blaster (15pts), 4x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (160pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Dark Lance, Splinter Racks (10pts)
        * 10x Warriors (90pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            10x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (160pts)
        * Raider (70pts)
            Dark Lance, Splinter Racks (10pts)
        * 10x Warriors (90pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            10x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
        * Venom (65pts)
            Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)
        * 5x Warriors (60pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            Blaster (15pts), 4x Splinter Rifle

* Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
        * Venom (65pts)
            Flickerfield, Splinter Cannon (10pts)
        * 5x Warriors (60pts)
            (Fleet, Night Vision, Power from Pain)
            Blaster (15pts), 4x Splinter Rifle

+ Heavy Support + (425pts)
* Ravager (115pts)
        (Aerial Assault, Night Vision)
        Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Nightshield (10pts)

* Ravager (115pts)
        (Aerial Assault, Night Vision)
        Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Nightshield (10pts)

* Voidraven Bomber (195pts)
        (Aerial Assault, Deep Strike, Night Vision, Supersonic)
        Flickerfield (10pts), Shatterfield Missile (10pts), Shatterfield Missile (10pts), Shatterfield Missile
        (10pts), Shatterfield Missile (10pts), 2x Void Lance, Void Mine

Baron + Archon list 2000 pts

As I played with my list a little more with 6th edition, I realized that I actually do need some form of assault elements to storm the castle if I am forced to. Despite the random nature of assaults and also the overwatch rules, the fact still remains that close combat is actually more akin to a high-risk, high-reward ploy. 

So with that this list is created.

HQ

1. Archon

Agoniser

Venom Blade

Haywire Grenade

Combat Drugs

Shadowfield

Total pts: 130 pts

2. Baron Sathonyx

Custom Skyboard

Hellglaive

Splinter Pistol

Phantasm Grenade Launcher

Shadowfield

total pts: 105 pts

Elites

1. Kabalite Trueborn Squad

4 x Kabalite Trueborn with Blaster

Venom with 2 Splinter Cannon

Total pts: 173 pts

2. Kabalite Trueborn Squad

4 x Kabalite Trueborn with Blaster

Venom with 2 Splinter Cannon

Total pts: 173 pts

Troops

1. Kabalite Warriors Squad

4 x Kabalite Warriors

1 x Kabalite with Blaster

Venom with 2 Splinter Cannon

Total pts: 125 pts

2. Kabalite Warriors Squad

4 x Kabalite Warriors

1 x Kabalite with Blaster

Venom with 2 Splinter Cannon

Total pts: 125 pts

3. Kabalite Warriors Squad

4 x Kabalite Warriors

1 x Kabalite with Blaster

Raider with Nighshields

Total pts: 130 pts

4. Kabalite Warriors Squad

4 x Kabalite Warriors

1 x Kabalite with Blaster

Raider with Nighshields

Total pts: 130 pts

5. Wyches

7 x Wyches with Haywire Grenades

1 x Hekatrix with Venom Blade and Haywire grenades

Raider with Nighshields

Total pts: 181 pts

6. Wyches

7 x Wyches with Haywire Grenades

1 x Hekatrix with Venom Blade and Haywire grenades

Raider with Nighshields

Total pts: 181 pts

Fast Attack

1. Beastmaster Pack

2 x Beasmaters

1 x Beastmaster with Venom Blade

5 x Khymeara

4 x Razorwing Flock

Total pts: 161

Heavy Support

1. Ravager

3 x Dark Lances

Nightshields

Total pts: 115 pts

2. Ravager

3 x Dark Lances

Nightshields

Total pts: 115 pts

3. Razorwing Fighter

4 x Monoscythe Missiles

2 x Dark lances

1 x Twin-linked Splinter rifle

Flickerfield

Total pts: 155 pts

From the playtesting, I can say that the list works quite well. Only thing that I could think of that would make this list better would be to put in more flyers....but at the same time the Ravagers do help me crack a lot of stuff at range. Not sure what to do.

Perhaps with more playtesting would I get the answer.

My Dark Eldar/Eldar list 1999 pts list and thoughts behind it

Heya and welcome back to the webway!

Just had my first 6th edition game and suffice to say I really enjoyed myself with the game. But nonetheless while I was playing the game I could see that the psychic powers, new objective grabbing rules, shooting and assaulting rules will have an effect upon my force in more ways than one.


For one, I can no longer let my troops sit in the transport and just zoom towards an objective. Now I have to get out and take it for myself. In addition the way assault works now, it is quite a high-risk, high-payoff kind of thing as your distance is increased but in return it is random and the enemy units can fire on you like in Fantasy as a response to your assaulting. The Nerf to power weapons in general also made me wonder if the good o' days of tarpitting is the wisest thing to do. And then there are the psykers, and although the psychic powers from the rulebook is random, but they could be very powerful. And flyers.....enough said.


But in return for this weird nerf, the shooting phase is a very nasty and powerful phase as I am allowed to snipe models and kill them off with careful positioning and also Focus Fire. In addition the idea of ignoring Night Fighting is freaking amazing for Dark Eldar, as now the new rules for Night Fighting and Night Vision means that Dark Eldar can play a more aggressive game while having great defenses. having the Strategic Warlord trait to take advantage of stuff also helps in the long run. Challenges in close combat will also be a way in which Dark Eldar players could bully people and/or save our own ass against stuff that we do not want the rest of the squad to face. Last but not least, wound allocation with the Archons will always be fun as their 2+ invul laughs at the allocation quite well.


With these things in mind, I noticed that my playstyle would have to incorporate even more killing power to eliminate opposing scoring units while also have psychic defenses to prevent my forces from being screwed over. Like a shark drawn to the scent of blood, I went about looking in the rulebook to see if I could somehow do this to help myself and suffice to say my solution is actually simpler than I thought it would be; Allies.

And among all of them the most obvious choice for me is the humble Farseer with Doom. Doom as a power is quite ally-friendly as it states that any unit that was targetted by the power allows any hits on that unit to have re-rolls to wound. This is big as it increases the killing power of the army by whole lot. Re-rolling to hits psychic powers are really nice, but they tend to be too short of a range for me to be comfortable with and Doom has a very good range to boot. Besides with my list, I tend to worry about the wounding rather than the hitting. Rune of Warding is the best psychic defense in the game and will shut down anyone wanting to cast their powers while Rune of Witnessing allows me to trigger my power much more easily. And just for shit and giggles the Singing Spear is a good anti-tank weapon.


In addition, if I so feel that Doom may not be as helpful, I can always substitute it with something from either the divination psychic powers or the Telepathy to improve my play (but highly unlikely as Doom is so good already).


In order for the Farseer to keep up with the rest of my army which is monstrously fast, I need to put it on a Jetbike to allow my Farseer to keep up. But to take the Farseer, I need a troop choice from the Codex Eldar, and what better choice to take for the troop choice than that of a Guardian Jetbike squad? Not only it is fast, it can also protect my Farseer as bodyguards of sorts. And just for the fun of it, putting a Shuriken Cannon on one of the bikes will allow for the unit to have some sniping moments and help in the glancing of vehicles. Last but not least, they are also scoring units that are not in vehicles.


Of course, by taking the requisite slot this allow me to take some units from the Eldar codex that would complement my army in more ways than one. As I looked in the book, I noticed one unit that stands out above the rest; War Walkers.


Not only are they quite affordable and survivable, they are also able to dish out some hate in the form of two scatter lasers each and also piss everyone off by outflanking to the sides and target units from unexpected corners. This would also help me in some form of anti-air as well as the number of shots would allow me to at least do something to some flyers if my Razorwing is not up to the task.


So with that my allied contingent would look something like this

Farseer with Doom, Rune of Warding, Rune of Witnessing, Singing Spear and Jetbike - 138 pts
3 Jetbikes with one Shuriken Cannon - 76 pts
3 x War Walker with 2 Scatter Lasers - 180 pts


For a total of 394 pts, I actually solved a number of problems that my list face somehow. I solved psychic defense, objective grabbing and anti-air in one nice swoop.


With that I decided to take out some things from my general list and incorporate the first-hand experiences with 6th edition into this particular list (do note that I am going for the 1999 pts + 1 format, as the true 2k format is very ridiculous and I would be maxing out some slots more than others);


Dark Eldar/ Eldar list 1999 pts


Dark Eldar 
Archon with Agoniser, Venom Blade, Haywire Grenade, Combat Drugs, Shadowfield - 130 pts
Haemonculus with Venom Blade and Liquifier gun - 65 pts
4 Blasterborn in a Venom with two splinter cannons - 173 pts
3 Blasterborn in a Venom with two splinter cannons - 146 pts
8 Wyches with Haywire Grenades with Hekatrix with Agoniser and Haywire grenades in Raider with Nightshields - 196 pts
5 Kabalite warriors with Blaster in Venom with two splinter rifles - 125 pts
5 Kabalite warriors with Blaster in Venom with two splinter rifles - 125 pts
5 Kabalite warriors with Blaster in in Raider with Nightshields - 130 pts
5 Kabalite warriors with Blaster in in Raider with Nightshields - 130 pts
Ravager with 3 Dark Lances and Nightshields - 115 pts
Ravager with 3 Dark Lances and Nightshields - 115 pts
Razorwing with Twin-linked Splinter Rifle, 2 Dark Lances, 4 Monoscythe missiles and Flickerfield - 155 pts


Eldar Allied


Farseer with Doom, Rune of Warding, Rune of Witnessing, Singing Spear and Jetbike - 138 pts
3 Jetbikes with one Shuriken Cannon - 76 pts
3 x War Walker with 2 Scatter Lasers - 180 pts


Total pts for list: 1999 pts


In order to incorporate the Eldar stuff for my list, I decided to take out one Wych squad and a Haemonculus as I no longer want to tarpit if possible and decided against another blasterborn squad in Venom as the third blasterborn unit does not truly improve upon my playstyle.


In general the gameplan for the list is quite similar to my older Dark Eldar list of killing everything first and capturing objectives later but instead my list now has a more effective controlling factor into the equation. In addition, with my style of play, I tend to snipe and kill it overwhelmingly and Doom + Dark Lances/Poison shots = WINZ is definitely a good start for that kind of play. The Wych squad is there just in case I need to do some assaulting and/or tossing grenades at something and also act as a sort of bait for the rest of my forces to do their thing.


I would definitely try to test the list soon to see how viable this idea would be. But based upon my experiences with Eldar weaponry and powers, I can safely say that it is a very good compliment to my army.


Well this also gives me the reason to go about converting even more stuff for my Dark Eldar army so I am really stoked to get this list up and running. See ya all soon!

Vespera Strikes Back - Dark Eldar vs Blood Angels 2000 pts

Heya all, its been a while since I did anything resembling a 40k battle, and in the past few days I managed to get some games! There are some seal-clubbing as sometimes there are kids who want to learn about the game, but this battle report is done with one of the stronger opponents that I have not fought for a long time. So without further ado, here's the batrep!

Beckjann

Aircraft, Shards and Lances - a Few of my favorite things. oh yeah, and Drugs too... ((A 1750 pts list)(Part 1))

Welcome back to the webway!

Here's a list I wanted to try with the Duke, as the previous list is somewhat a little boring for me and is not tactically flexible. Here's a list I would want to try out.

Duke Sliscus -150 pts

Haemonculi squad

Haemonculus x 2

Total: 100 pts

Kabalite Trueborn x 3

Blasters x 3

Venom with two splinter cannons

Total pts: 146 pts 

Kabalite Trueborn x 3

Blasters x 3

Venom with two splinter cannons

Total pts: 146 pts 

Kabalite Warriors x 9

Raider with flickerfield 

Total: 151 pts

Wyches x 8

Haywire Grenades x 8

Hekatrii upgrade with Agoniser x 1

Raider with flickerfield

Total pts : 196 pts

Wyches x 8

Haywire Grenades x 8

Hekatrii upgrade with Agoniser x 1

Raider with flickerfield

Total pts : 196 pts

Kabalite Warriors x 5

Blaster x 1

Raider with Flickerfield

Total: 130 pts

Kabalite Warriors x 5

Blaster x 1

Raider with Flickerfield

Total: 130 pts

Ravager

Dark Lance x 3

Flickerfield

Total pts: 115 pts 

Razorwing Jetfighter

Monoscythe Missile x 4

Dark Lance x 2

Splinter rifle x 1

total pts: 145 pts

Razorwing Jetfighter

Monoscythe Missile x 4

Dark Lance x 2

Splinter rifle x 1

total pts: 145 pts

The general idea with the list is essentially grounded down to three things;

1) Take advantage of Sliscus and his rules

2) Try to kill the Hordes and also the annoying elements of units such as Lootas and Long Fangs

3) Try to have a more even match against the Mech armies

As of this moment, the list is still under the works and generally I feel that I should have some upgrades on the Razorwings, and downgrade some elements to its lean and mean components (Here's looking at you Kabalites with the Duke).