"Hey Kirby, I've never written in before, but I've been reading your blog for months. Please take a look at this 2K Dark Eldar list; I'd appreciate any suggestions or criticism.
HQ
Archon - Agoniser, Shadowfield, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Blast Pistol - 150
2x Haemonculus - Webway Portal, Liquifier, Venom Blade - 200
TROOPS
Wyches x15 - 3x Shardnet + Impaler, Haywire Grenades, Hekatrix, Agoniser - 240
Warriors x20 - 2x Dark Lance, Sybarite - 240
Wracks x10 - 2x Liquifier, Acothyst - 130
ELITES
Incubi x5 - 110
FAST ATTACK
Reavers x9 - 3x Heat Lance - 234
Reavers x6 - 2x Heat Lance - 156
Beastmasters - 4x Beastmasters, 5x Khymerae, 6x Razorwing Flock - 198
HEAVY SUPPORT
2x Talos Pain Engine - Chain Flails, TwL Haywire Blaster - 230
Cronos Parasite Engine - Spirit Probe, Spirit Vortex - 110
TOTAL POINTS - 1998
Some good bits and some not so good bits. Big Reaver squads (more than 6) are only really beneficial if you're going to use them as combat squads. I'd keep them both at 6 strong with heat lances. I'm fine with your heavy support and Beastmaster unit otherwise. So let's take a peek at the HQ, Troops and Elites. HQ is solid but I'm not sure if the Archon is needed. Sure he's pretty good in combat but for his points we could get a whole Wych squad. Haems are obviously required as Portal droppers and handing out tokens early on.
Only using one Elite isn't so great IMO, even if you could find the points for some smaller Trueborn squads with blasters to help with your anti-tank or Harlequin squads with pistols. On the same note, Harlequins are great places for portals to start due to Veil of Tears but obviously don't benefit from pain tokens. Troops on the other hand...not a fan of. There's no focus. Wyches are great out of portals and both the large Warrior and Wrack squads are pretty good objective holders and portal droppers whilst the Warriors also provide quite a bit of shooting and the Wracks are fair in combat. Go with one or the other IMO.
With all that in mind I'd drop the Wracks and Archon and add in some Wyches and Harlequin squads for more combat punch and scoring units overall though this would obviously depend upon point availability. Let's see what you have to say first.
The themes that I'm really attracted to are the MCs in Heavy Support coming out of a WWP, and having Heat Lances in the list. I like Reavers better than Scourges, partly for rules and partly to avoid conversions. Everything else is negotiable.
The idea is that the Warrior squad starts on the board, in cover, with one of the Haemonculi, who drops a WWP first turn. The other Haemonculi either starts with the Wracks, on the board, in case you're worried about only have 1 WWP delivery system on the board, or comes in with either the Wyches or the Incubi to give them a pain token to start, and to drop a WWP further up the board for any stragglers to utilize.
The Warrior squad stays backfield, while the Wrack squad sits on any midfield objective, or goes infantry hunting with their template weapons, or just tries to tarpit with their *decent* survivability if no better option exists.
The Archon goes with the Incubi to make a very scary melee unit, and give them the use of his grenade launcher. He can also join the Beastmaster unit, but that obviously reduces their charge range.
The Cronos is in the list to start handing out pain tokens ASAP to vulnerable DE foot units, especially the Wyches and Incubi, and then if there are more it will give them to itself or the Talos.
There are four very diverse CC threats coming out of the WWP. Beastmasters are there to tie up units quickly and put out lots of rending attacks, Wyches provide numbers and tar pitting in CC plus Haywire Grenades for parking lots, Incubi and Archon bring the pain to tough infantry, and the Talos can engage pretty much anything and is tough as nails, especially with a pain token.
I think this is the issue of the list; too much diversity. Having the power of the Beastmasters and Incubi is great but single tarpit units don't go too far (Wyches). I think using the Incubi+Beastmasters as the clean-up crew and multiple Wyches as your tarpits are a much better idea. Add in the Talos which can go toe-to-toe with many units solo and you still have a diverse range of combat potential but also aren't all over the place. I'd even consider dropping the Incubi for Harlequins to get in more anti-tank with the pistols since you still have the Beastmasters + Talos.
Otherwise the list concept is pretty solid.
I'm not sold on some of the upgrades in the list, especially the Haemonculus ones, but they were cheap. Do you see them just dropping off the WWP and then just dying? I thought they might be useful to move around pain tokens, and join up with the Wracks later for extra deterrence in objective sitting, but maybe keeping them alive isn't really possible?
Obviously the list is a little light on high-strength firepower, but has high numbers of melta for a DE list. Originally I had MSU Trueborn squads with 3 blasters each in Elites, but I didn't like how sacrificial they were. I thought they were likely to shoot something 1st turn on the board, maybe do some damage, maybe not, and then die when breathed on. Some other ideas I thought about were replacing the Wrack squad with two MSU Warrior squads with a blaster each, and taking out both Incubi and Wracks for another 20 man Warrior squad with 2 DLs, but then I would probably cut the Archon as well. Maybe add more Wyches?
Thoughts?
Thanks a lot!
EL (Albinowombat)"
More Wyches is your best bet and dropping the Archon + Wracks. From there you need to weigh up if you want to add in Harlequins (and potentially drop the Incubi) or trade the Beastmaster unit for another Reaver unit. Personally I'd keep the 2 Reavers + Beastmaster combo and look for more anti-tank elsewhere. Dropping the Reavers to 2x6x, the Archon and the Wracks gives you around 350 points, roughly enough for 2x15 Wyches (no grenades) and then perhaps change the Incubi to Harlequins with fusion pistols and kisses. You then have to weigh up if you have enough anti-tank and perhaps forego the Incubi squad for 2x5x Trueborn with some blasters.
