I have been reading parts of your blog for a while now, I help to run a hobby shop and its attached 40k club and your blog helps me to keep abreast of what is actually good in 40k so that if someone asks me "What does my army need next?" or "Are these any good?" I can (hopefully) give them an informed answer. I have been getting around to starting a new army, and I have decided that I will start off with the list for this one first before getting any of the figures. I have decided on Dark Eldar, as my Dad (Who owns the aforementioned shop) has an army of them so I could borrow some as I get the army together, and they are very different to the Marines which currently inundate the club.
So now for the feel of the list, I Love the look of the Venom, so I thought about doing a MSU list transported in Venoms... so Venomspam. Rather than the Ravagers, I have gone for Razorwings in my heavy support slots as I like them a lot better, which from what I have read means Reavers in fast attack with their trusty heat lances. I also want to have Lady Malys in the army, for I just love her fluff. I keep thinking I should have a CC unit to go with Malys (Incubi perhaps?) but I haven't so far. I have put together an almost 2500pt list, which I will build and then put together lists from it for my usual more casual games.
So here goes...
HQ - Lady Aurelia Malys
Troops -
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol (150 pts)
Venom with Splinter Cannon
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol (150pts)
Venom with Splinter Cannon
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol (150pts)
Venom with Splinter Cannon
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol (150pts)
Venom with Splinter Cannon
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol (150pts)
Venom with Splinter Cannon
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol (150pts)
Venom with Splinter Cannon
Elites
3 Kabalite Trueborn with Blasters
Venom with Splinter Cannon
3 Kabalite Trueborn with Blasters
Venom with Splinter Cannon
3 Kabalite Trueborn with Blasters
Venom with Splinter Cannon
Heavy Support
Razorwing, Splinter Cannon, Flickerfield
Razorwing, Splinter Cannon, Flickerfield
Razorwing, Splinter Cannon, Flickerfield
Fast Attack
6 Reaver Jetbikes, 2 Heat Lances, Arena Champion with Venomblade (171pts)
6 Reaver Jetbikes, 2 Heat Lances, Arena Champion with Venomblade (171pts)
6 Reaver Jetbikes, 2 Heat Lances, Arena Champion with Venomblade (171pts)
All comes out at 2476pts thus far.
So What do you think? Also, for smaller games of say 1000pts or 1500pts how would you break it down into still a useable list?
Thank you in advance for your time"
Venom spam is cute but a winning strategy it is not, particularly when you run Razorwings as well. Lots of Venoms works but not as an entire army, you NEED some Raiders and other ranged anti-tank in there. I'd also be highly recommending just one Razorwing - it provides you some alpha-strike capacity against infantry but still keeps your anti-tank at range up there (and points down). If you're really set on the multiple Razorwings though, just keep in mind you'll want more Raiders to compensate.
With that in mind change several Venoms into Raiders with Shock Prows - ff optional with all the Venoms you have out there. At 1850+ you really want, as a minimum, 20 dark light shots. The more of these which are short-ranged (i.e. heat lances & blasters), the more you want total.
Also, in place of Malys consider the Baron - he brings a nice pre-game bonus in winning the roll off and can add a bit of combat pew-pew though if you do this you want a unit for him to go with (i.e. large Hellion squad or Beastmaster squad) which again takes away from your anti-tank and lessens the need for Venoms. Otherwise a Haemon or two to unlock Wracks for cheap backfield scorers in Raiders or to make Wyches a more viable option helps spice up the list.
In the end the concept of Venoms is fine but the more Venoms you bring, the less you need the Razorwings and the more you need the Ravagers to compensate for the lack of anti-tank. Even then, I wouldn't run nine Venoms + three Ravagers - I'd be looking to throw in a few Raiders as well.
In terms of scaling - dropping one unit per FoC will generally see you move well from 2500 to 2000 and then picking one unit to drop between each points total whilst keeping a balance will see the list still function reasonably well (i.e. don't keep losing a Troops unit between each points level).
