Reader's Reply to Venomspam

Edit: This post was meant for discussion based upon a reader's reply though in hindsight improperly handled on my part. My apologies.

The Dark Angel rather than replying sent me some long ass email in relation to our recent post on Venomspam. Here it is for discussion =D.

Hi Will

Not that i've tried it out much but my ideas for Dark Eldar are:

Foot Dark Eldar have never worked for me (though 10 grotesques acting as portal delivery did a bit). I still think mech is the way to go.

Venomspan in 6th

Lounge

I've had a few e-mails and questions about Venomspam armies in 6th so let's see how they transfer. First off, straight up Venomspam wasn't the greatest 5th edition build. It had a great alpha-strike and saturation of units but if the alpha-strike failed cracking tanks could be a big issue long-term over an entire game. Although Venomspam had the general number of darklight weapons needed for Dark Eldar, they were generally of the shorter range variety which is why the alpha-strike was so important. The Venomspam lists which generally did best then didn't max out at nine Venoms but a couple less in place of more anti-tank firepower.

Dark Eldar in 6th: Initial Analysis

So a lot of people have been asking for this so I made sure I got in a few games both with and against Dark Eldar this week. Remember, this is an initial analysis.

Dark Eldar were the ultimate glass cannon in 5th edition. They had good firepower but died to a stiff breeze in return with generally weak infantry (T3/5+) and vehicles (AV10, open-topped). None of this has really changed but their vehicles didn't really get any weaker. Against individual shooting, AV10, open-topped is just as survivable as a closed vehicle was in 5th edition. Hull points obviously makes them more vulnerable to being destroyed over time but well every army has them and Dark Eldar were more likely to be destroyed from two penetrating hits before anyway. So in essence, most of their vehicles went up in durability RELATIVELY to the rest of the game whilst Venoms stayed the same (only two hull points). Their flyers went up a lot obviously needing to be hit on 6's but so did other flyers.

Email in: Hello and list advice

"Hello,

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.

Email in: 1850 Dark Eldar List for Tournament in June

"Hi Will,

Great blog yada yada yada...

This A-hole (I mean - a real jerk) wants me to go to Event Horizon in June (Just kidding - you know I love you man).  I'm tossing up between two lists at the moment:

List 1 - Webway Hybrid (1850 pts)

Haemonculus (WWP)
2 x 6 Harlequins (2 fusion pistols, 6 kisses)
4 x 5 Kabalite Warriors (blaster) in Raider (FF, SP)
2 x 3 Wracks in Venom (extra splinter cannon)
3 Beastmasters (5 Khymerae, 4 Razorwing Flocks)
2 x 5 Scourges (2 haywire blasters)
3 x Ravager

Email in: Dark Eldar Baron Led List

"Hi Kirby,

Have spent the last year using a variation of your Blood Skies BA list
with pretty good success (so thanks) but have decided to start a Dark
Eldar army for s change.

I'm hoping for it to be pretty competitive but there are so many cool
models I'd like to use (I'm aware that it probably isn't possible tp use
them all) - the Baron, Incubi, Hellions, Beastmasters, Reavers and
Razorwing Jetfighter.

Email in: 1000 point army list for review

"Kirby, I have never emailed someone for army list help, but after subscribing to your blog I thought it would interesting to see what you could do with a army list of mine. I would like to use the entire contents of the Dark Eldar battleforce to make a good 1000 point army list. That's it! The only catch for the entire list is to use all of the contents and add to them. I was thinking that this would also be a good place for new players to start from. Here is the list that I have come up with. I really like the idea of a heamonculus themed army, and I really like the talos / chronos model as well. Items highlighted in red are the ones from the battleforce. If needed I can send you the Army Builder file as well.

Thanks in advance!

Danny aka Asmodai650

Email in: Hellionway

"Hello Kirby, an avid reader of your blog.

I posted a few weeks ago a hybrid Logan Wing list and tested it in battle against Necrons. I’m very happy with your advice I added two Lasplas Razors to the Long Fangs and they were really useful.

Battle ended in a draw (11-11 kill points). Far better than CSM or Eldar list that I took to tourneys and almost every time I got badly defeated.

Now the Dark Eldar list.

Vinsane Painting Commissions Dark Eldar Done!

Hey pinkies. So I've been working on some things for some clients but have finished a Dark Eldar batch. Hopefully soon are Blood Knights, Space Wolves and more Dark Eldar :P

So onto pics. If anyone has any questions about how I did them then ask me in comments or if anyone is interested in my painting and wants something done then drop me an email ;)

Battle Report: Grey Knights vs Dark Eldar

Grey Knights vs Dark Eldar, everyone's match-up with a strong opinion :P. I was using my Acolyte-based Grey Knight list with Psyker support against a mixed MSU Dark Eldar list (seen below) with max Night Shields. Hopefully this battle report will be an excellent example of some of the points we have raised in relation to both armies, particularly against each other and should serve as a practical example. Sorry for some blurry pics btw - think I had macro on.

Email in: The Duke goes Deep (or Derp) A 2000 point deep strike list

Lounge

"Hello Kirby,

Love the site! Ive been reading your articles for the last several months and actually you helped me over the summer with a "help me lose" question I had. I just kept losing and losing, it was becoming very frustrating and you had some great words of wisdom that I really took to heart.

Email in: 40k 2000pt Dark Eldar Webway list

"G'day Kirby,

I'm sure you get a stack of these everyday, and I admire your dedication to providing the community with some great advice on people's lists. I've tried to run a blog before (failed miserably) so I can appreciate the amount of work that goes into it. I'm hoping you might be able to give me some feedback on a 2k Dark Eldar Webway list I'm toying with. I'm not a competitive player (maybe in the future) and don't know how competitive webway builds can be, but I just love the fluff element of a webway list, so I'm determined to make it work as best as possible. That being said, I'd still like to rack up a few wins with it.

3++ con statistics - Deeper look at Dark Eldar & Grey Knights

Dakka

We begin some more detailed analysis of the 3++con results now that I've had some time to chill and done the initial digging. I'm still inputting the data in regards to some overall statistics (i.e. totals on winning conditions, who went first, etc.) but can start to pull out some numbers in relation to specific armies, etc. Unfortunately though, we again come across the issue of sample sizes. Very few armies had a lot of players so this is always going to be a consideration we need to have in the back of our minds. However, with six games each the sample size of games played is a bit larger though still dependent on the smaller sample size of players. This could give us some potentially more robust results but we're more likely to make inferential errors as single players still hold a huge sway over the total variance.

Email in: 1500 pt DE list

Legio Minimus

"Kirby,

Hello from Toronto. First of all - thank you for this blog. It is fantastic and has become one of my main sources of internet hobbyism.

So I've decided to start a new DE army (the models are just too beautiful). I have read through your DE codex review and a lot of your DE articles and I have a list I've put together that I'd like your comments on. Some things to know before reviewing: 1. the meta among my gaming group does not have quite as many vehicles (although it's slowly increasing); 2. I like to balance variation among my units and competitiveness with my army when creating a list; and 3. I generally play on a very terrain-filled map. Now, without further ado:

Email in: 1500 pts WWP

sejason

"Long time lurker on your blog. I've found some pretty good nuggets of info on the varies list and unit reviews. But in the end I desperetly need some help against my usual opponent, Grey Knights. I have tried numerous things, venom spam, MSU warriors in raiders, reaver jetbikes, bloodbrides, grotesques, even a razorwing fighter, but the best I have ever managed has been draws. My transports and dedicated anti-tank just falls way to fast to the psyflemens, and the raiders/venoms are more dangerous to the troops inside than to my opponent. I recently however faced them down with a WWP list that immediatly placed him on the defensive, and forcing him react to me instead of running with his own plans. As such I think I might have found a way to beat him, but all the WWP lists I have created I have had a nagging feeling like I am missing something. I want a list that can stand up to the GK, but at the same time be fairly balanced against most other armies. So here is what I've come up with.

Email in: 1850 Deldar/Vanilla Marine List Advice

Darkcity

"-Kirby

Long time reader and fan, keep up the good work. :)

So my brother and I will be attending the Bugeater GT in June, but I'm trying to get a finalized list together so I can decide which army I will be taking (and paint it). The points value is set at 1850, and the missions will be NOVA style, with a strict win/loss format to determine Champion, as well as a Sweepstakes Champion which will include the usual sportsmanship / painting etc. I am trying to decide between bringing my Space Marines and bringing my Deldar, so I figured I would get your advice on my lists.

Email in: 2 very different DE lists

"Hi there Kirby! Im BizarreShowbiz, partner of yours from the BoLS community (Engalie40k Blog) and I write to you not only to congratulate you for you amazing web but to ask for a little advice on my current Dark Eldar lists. I regularly play a mechanised force, but Im slowly growing a webway army from the prices I get at events here in Spain.

Well, without further delay were you have my lists. Both are 1750p (most common in tournaments around here) Tell me what you think about them and how would you improve them please :)

Email in: Dark Eldar Mech List 1750pts

"Dear Kirby,

I know you're likely very busy with misc emails, especially with the latest Necron codex release, but I was wondering if you could help me with a list? My wife and I are going to be starting a Dark Eldar army soon, and while we initially thought about getting the Dark Eldar Megaforce (+ extras), the lack of webstores here in the US to sell it to us in time meant we instead opted for the following:

Email in: DE Army list

"Hey Kirby,

I recently started playing 40k, and took my sweet time deciding on a race. I finally decided to go with Dark Eldar because I like their design and I wanted to be a special snowflake. I don't quite have a grasp of DE yet so i was hoping that you would be able to take a look at my Army list and give me some tips or changes to make it better. I would love to find a spot for a beastmaster, but i'm not sure how well it would mesh with my comp.

Dark Eldar - Aggressive to Defensive

Dakka

The other half of this series sees the Dark Eldar 2000 point list pitted against a Thunderbubble Marine Mech army (take my Mech Marines 1750 list, drop a Rifle and add 10x TH/SS Terminators). This is a list which is always going to out range the Dark Eldar list and where being defensive isn't really going to be useful. By being aggressive you can therefore hem the Marine list in and bring all of your firepower to bear on Turn 1 and potentially knock out a large proportion of the Marine army.

Once again we've used the same map, deployment and mission from before. We can see our previous example here and the tactical discussion here.