Thursday, January 26, 2012

True Optimization

Let me get this out of the way up front. I love Incubi. I love their concept, I love their miniatures, and I even love their close combat "oomph". That having been said, I do have to think about the competitive side of the game, and how Dark Eldar really want to play a game of keep away with their opponents. Incubi fly in the face of this concept. They want to rush in and crush things. That just doesn't fit into the Dark Eldar metagame. This list will probably never see the light of day (I'd need a miracle- finding two more Blasters) but it's fun to dream. Of course, I could just see if anybody would trade away any Shredders that I could convert using the two Blast Pistols I'll have lying around...

The following is a 1,850 point list I slapped together in an attempt to cram two more Blasters into my list. I also wanted a Shattershard, as they're amazing against multi-wound targets. Pass a Toughness test or just be zapped into oblivion. Brilliant! I still maintain two Raiders in my force, as well as three Ravagers to keep my Darklight weapon count up. The addition of Grisly Trophies will hopefully help keep my Leadership 7 warriors in line with their 6" re-roll bubble. This list is a lot more stable by "interwebz" standards, but I think I probably ought to get a few games under my belt before I do anything too radical.


HQ
Haemonculus w/ Shattershard, Liqifier Gun; Haemonculus w/ Liquifier Gun- 135 pts.

ELITES
3 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3 Blasters; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 146 pts.
3 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3 Blasters; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 146 pts.

TROOPS
5 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon, Grisly Trophies- 130 pts.
5 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon, Grisly Trophies- 130 pts.
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Splinter Cannon; Raider w/ Flickerfield, Grisly Trophies- 190 pts.
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Splinter Cannon; Raider w/ Flickerfield, Grisly Trophies- 190 pts.
9 Wyches w/ Haywire Grenades, Shardnet & Impaler; Hekatrix w/ Agoniser; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 218 pts.
9 Wyches w/ Haywire Grenades, Shardnet & Impaler; Hekatrix w/ Agoniser; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 218 pts.

HEAVY SUPPORT
Ravager w/ Flickerfield- 115 pts.
Ravager w/ Flickerfield- 115 pts.
Ravager w/ Flickerfield- 115 pts.

TOTAL
1,848 pts.

I made an alarming discovery today. Dark Lances have a range of only 36"! I could have sworn they were a 48" range weapon, which will make this army a touch tougher to play. The "reduced" range (in my mind) will make it that much harder to nuke Demitra's Missile Launcher Devastators. I'll just have to rush them and attempt to nuke them as soon as possible. They will, of course, be firmly entrenched in some building to gain a 4+ cover save (really hoping that the 6th edition rumors of cover saves being dropped to 5+ are true). This aggressive movement will put my glorified paper airplanes directly in harm's way (lots o' Meltaguns), and will potentially strand my insidious warriors right in front of a whole bunch of Space Marines with swords and anger management issues. This is not where I want to be.

So, what do I do? Well, I see two real options. Option one is sending my Raiders to put as much of a hurting on the Devastators as possible, and accepting that I'm going to lose several (if not all three) in the exchange of fire. This is a lot of very mobile firepower to saccrifice in order to cut of some fire support. The alternative is just rushing them with my Wyches and attempting to tear them apart in close combat. Their Combat Drugs, 4+ Dodge save, and Feel No Pain (granted by their Haemonculus handlers) will make them a tall order for a dedicated ranged support squad to handle. I'm guessing the real answer lies somewhere in between. One thing's for sure, if I'm going to play in tournaments again I'm going to have to learn to deal with Missile Launcher spam. Especially when fighting Space Wolves, as their Long Fang packs will be a real nightmare to deal with.

Tomorrow will be (partially) dedicated to finishing up my Nomads, as I managed to get the Reverend Moira and Interventor Hacker primed (just as my last can of Rust-Oleum primer quit on me). Monday should see the delivery of my remaining Dark Eldar, and I guess I could squeeze in a trip to my local Games Workshop to look for Shredders...

2 comments:

  1. I wondered how long it would be before the Incubi bit the dust in favor of "more effective" units. It'd be a shame if you jettisoned the unit that caused you (in large part at least) to start the army before they ever see the table. If you're setting your sights on tournament play then I guess it makes sense to go for the throat for the beginning, especially if said tournament(s) are soon. Otherwise I'd say see how what you have works before you ditch stuff you already have painted and ready (not to mention a unit that you've gushed over repeatedly).

    If you're concerned about Missile Launcher (and ranged in general) spam, I can try and put something together for that. It won't be Long Fangs obviously, and there'd be a fair amount of proxying involved, but it might be of use. Then again, I'm not sure you'd run up against a list with 3 units of ML Devastators and 3 Baals, but I guess you never know.

    Re: blasters, have you looked into the bit sellers? There are a bunch of options out there that I'd do a quick survey of right now if not for the slow, slow internets. If they're a rare and popular piece, like Terminator Psycannons or Apothecary bits, then maybe the prices aren't so attractive. If you just need a handful and prices aren't redonkulous, it might not be a bad avenue. I want a couple particular heads for my Honor Guard that I may well get via this route, provided they aren't $5 a pop or somesuch.

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  2. I'm not dumping my Incubi, just toying around with the idea of more Blasters. By the way, Blasters run $10 a piece at the War Store, and I have no idea where else to look (aside from eBay) to find them. If I do build more Blasterborn (fairly big if, as it'll be around half a year away if I do) they'll be put together when I buy my Wrack do-it-yourself squads. I'll order two Shredders and swap out the barrels with those of Blast Pistols along with the closed top round bases I'll need for the Wrack conversions. I'll also be adding two more Venoms so I can put Haemonculus coven markings on them. That and spam them a bit more...

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