Considering Dark Eldar and Price Constraints

Random sexy Dark Eldar Wych wallpaper. You're welcome

HQ
2 Haemonculi w/ Liquifier Guns- 120 pts.

ELITES
4 Incubi; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 153 pts.
4 Incubi; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 153 pts.
4 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 4 Blasters; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 173 pts.

TROOPS
5 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 125 pts.
5 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 125 pts.
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster & Splinter Cannon; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 185 pts.
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster & Splinter Cannon; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 185 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
2,000 points on the button.

Bitin' the dust.

Notice anything different? That's right, the Wracks are gone. I dropped them in favor of a pair of units of Blaster armed Kabalite Warriors in Venoms. The reasoning behind this is, as usual, twofold. One, the Kabalites have more killing potential. They can engage armored targets and reliably crack them open, or they can lay down a salvo of 20 Poisoned (4+) shots and a Strength 8 AP 2 shot when within 12" of a target. Of course, this is only under ideal conditions, and against an unsupported squad (it would be foolish to commit to attacking, say, the heart of an enemy force with these guys), but hey, that's a lot of potential. They're generally just superior to Wracks in that they don't have to commit to an assault in order to do their thing, while still being cheap enough to not sting too much if they get nuked.

The other reason? they're cheaper ($) than Wracks. Even less than my bargain basement conversions. One box of Kabalites can (with some conversion) be turned into two squads of Blaster Warriors. This is much cheaper than a box of flagellants and a box of ghouls getting spliced together. Of course, I'll probably come around and convert up some wracks in the future, but for now they're hitting the cutting room floor.

This changes the feel of my army from an aggressive, in-your-face army into a force centered around evasion with the deathblow coming in hand-to-hand combat. Interesting how changing up two squads can alter the gameplan of the rest of the army.

I'm sorry to be hitting you with a big ol' salvo of army lists recently, but I may be putting in a big order soon, and I need to feel out what it is I want to get before I commit.

Oh, my out of production female Archon came in the mail today. My next post should have her all painted up and ready for display!

More Fun With Dark Eldar Army Lists: More Warriors

Haemonculus cosplay. Nice.

I've been fiddling around with my "army construction software" again, and came up with another list. This one adds more Venoms, completely does away with Wyches, and adds the shock unit of Beastmasters. The Beastmasters are fairly quick to cross the board due to Fleet and a 12" charge. Twenty four more Splinter Cannon shots is nothing to sneeze at either. I like this list for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I managed to squeeze in a Shattershard. Again, this is a very effective weapon against well armored or multi-wound targets, as it simply deletes anything that fails a Toughness test. Hooray!

Of course, this configuration will have to wait for a while- I need to finish this list first, but this army will see the table eventually.

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

ELITE
4 Incubi; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 153 pts.
4 Incubi; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 153 pts.
4 Kabalite Trueborn w/ 4 Blasters; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 173 pts.

TROOPS
5 Wracks w/ Liquifier Gun; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 125 pts.
5 Wracks w/ Liquifier Gun; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 125 pts.
5 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 125 pts.
5 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 125 pts.
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Splinter Cannon; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 185 pts.
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Splinter Cannon; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 185 pts.

FAST ATTACK
4 Beastmasters; 10 Khymerae- 168 pts.

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

A solid list, with both anti-infantry as well as anti-armor capabilities. I like it a lot.

Funny How A Single Bad Ruling Can Mothball an Army...

These guys are sad pandas.

Maybe I'm just a bit testy today, but G. W. made an epically bad ruling. From the newest Chaos Space Marine FAQ:

Q: Does Warptime allow the psyker to pick and choose which To Hit and To Wound dice he will re-roll? (p88)
A: No. He can decide after each To Hit or To Wound roll but he must re-roll all dice or no dice.

Wow, this sucks. My Daemon Princes were the only way I had to break up assaults, and now they've gone and nerfed an already poorly written army. It's a good thing I don't use Slaanesh, because they made another bad call. Again from the Chaos Marine FAQ:

Q: Is Lash of Submission a Psychic Shooting Attack and must it roll To Hit? (p88)
A: Yes to both questions. Note that if it misses, it will have no effect.

There is no mention, or indication, of this psychic power having anything to do with shooting. Another unneeded nerf to an army that needs all the help it can get.

Well, that seals it. My Plague Marines are on ice until the next Chaos Marine Codex. Some will say that Plague Marines are tough enough without the old Warptime. I disagree wholeheartedly. There were already few enough viable units in the Codex, and now we're forced to take nothing but sub-par HQ choices. Literally forced. You must have an HQ choice. Were my Daemon Princes awesome in assault? Yes. Did they need to be toned down? Not at all.

Now that I have no viable leader for my army, and I can't use my Great Unclean One as my general, there's just no reason to run the army. What was at best an uphill battle has become an insurmountable challenge.

Now, a good general should be able to overcome such setbacks, right? Well, yes, but I never claimed to be an amazing tactician. I occasionally win games of 40k, but certainly not consistently. What was, admittedly, a bit of a crutch for us Chaos Marine players has been yanked out from under us. What was Plague Marines' only way to win close combats has been lost. Sure, they can grind, but any shock unit will table a squad easily. Yes, I'm on a rant now, but this is the worst ruling I have seen in a very long time. This is on par with Sanguinary Priests losing the ability to confer Feel no Pain. There's just no reason to field Daemon Princes any more.

It's a shame, I liked that army too...

Time to see if they fouled up any rulings for my Dark Eldar. At least they'll appear somewhere on the power curve, rather than an "also ran".

1,500 Point Dark Eldar Army List- Ultimate Destination

As I stated in my previous post, my first army list is just a rough mock-up of where I want my army to go. Once I have the mext three purchases down, I'll be ready to field the 1,500 point army I want to. As noted, the previous army lacks a Raider for the Kabalite Warriors. I've fixed that in this army list, dropping a squad of Incubi and a Haemonculus in favor of more Wych Weapons and a pair of Raiders. My desired army list is:

HQ
Haemonculus w/ Liquifier Gun, Venom Blade; Haemonculus w/ Liquifier Gun, Venom Blade, Shattershard- 145 pts.

ELITES
4 Incubi; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 153 pts.
4 Incubi; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 153 pts.

TROOPS
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Splinter Cannon; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 185 pts.
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Splinter Cannon; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 185 pts.
10 Wyches w/ 1 Hydra Gauntlets, 1 Shardnet & Impaler; Hekatrix w/ Agoniser; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 200 pts.
10 Wyches w/ 1 Hydra Gauntlets, 1 Shardnet & Impaler; Hekatrix w/ Agoniser; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 200 pts.

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

TOTAL
1,491 points
This version of the army loses twelve Splinter Cannon shots, but it gains a lot of mobility and two Dark Lance shots. The assault capability suffers a bit, but there is the addition of a Shattershard. This is one of the best anti-character weapons out there, as if the model fails a Toughness test they are simply removed from play. No saves, no Feel No Pain, nothing.

I'm a bigger fan of this configuration, but it calls for three more vehicles, which is a while away.

1,500 Point Practice Dark Eldar List

The wheels have been turning in my head, and they have cranked out something wonderful. I have enough miniatures to field a 1,500 point Dark Eldar army (well, almost). All I need is one more Ravager and I'll have the following army ready for play:

HQ
3 Haemonculi w/ Liquifier Guns- 180 pts.

ELITES
4 Incubi; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 153 pts.
4 Incubi; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 153 pts.
4 Incubi; Venom w/ Splinter Cannon- 153 pts.

TROOPS
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Splinter Cannon- 115 pts.
10 Kabalite Warriors w/ Blaster, Splinter Cannon- 115 pts.
9 Wyches w/ Hydra Gauntlets; Hekatrix w/ Agoniser; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 200 pts.
9 Wyches w/ Hydra Gauntlets; Hekatrix w/ Agoniser; Raider w/ Flickerfield- 200 pts.

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

Not optimized by a long shot (those Warriors need Raiders) but enough to get a taste of just about everything in my planned army. I guess we'll see if I can get a game in once I get my next Ravager.

Until then, I can plot and scheme.