1850 proven Dark Eldar

[thecactusman17]

A lot of people are going to look at this and scream at me for the cost of the transports. I know this. I realize why this is. but I swear, this actually works because of a few key aspects of what's going on in the play style and the unit synergy.

HQ: 255 pts
Baron
Duke

Troops: 1006
20x Hellions, Helliarch, Agonizer
9 Warriors, Blaster, Raider w/ Flickerfield, Nightshields, Splinter Racks, Aethersails
10 Wyches, Hekatrix, Agonizer, Haywire Grenades, Raider w/ Flickerfield, Nightshields, Aethersails
10 Wyches, Hekatrix, Agonizer, Haywire Grenades, Raider w/ Flickerfield, Nightshields, Aethersails

Heavy Support: 585
Razorwing Jetfighter w/ Splinter cannon, Flickerfield, Nightshields, Darklances and 4 Monoscythe missiles
Voidraven Bomber w/ Flickerfield, Nightshields, 4 Monoscythe missiles
Voidraven Bomber w/ Flickerfield, Nightshields, 4 Monoscythe missiles

The key here is unit synergy, and setting out very specific purposes for my units at the start of every game. Infantry are killed by the Warriors, Razorwing, and if there are no more vehicles to shoot at by the Voidravens. Thanks to the 4 missiles each turn they do a spectacular amount of damage vs. hordes., and the 3+ poison on the warriors thins out monstrous creatures and high-toughness units rapidly.

The Wyches are generally a pair of suicide squads. It sounds strange but it's true. they go in, find the biggest, toughest thing available and hit it as hard as possible even if they can't typically win against it. Against a few things, the Hellions will assume this purpose but generally the Wyches and their 4+ invul in close combat makes a huge difference. Duke gives them options on the combat drug rolls, it's rare that I don't take them without the Pain token if it's available but S5 on those hellions is pretty sweet too. With the Pain Token, they typically go immediately on tank hunting duty where the FNP protects them from explosion results and where their haywire makes them threatening to units that might otherwise be out of danger. Hellions with S+1 are also amazing at that role, if they can get a pair of pain tokens quickly.

The real gamewinner here is the unit of 20 hellions mixed with the Baron. In missions where they are tasked with capturing an objective, I place objectives as high or deep in terrain as possible (preferably 2+ ruin levels above the ground) and use their superior mobility to place them out of harms way, where they can make the most use of the Baron's stealth. You need to pull 6 of these off in one round of shooting to successfully force a morale check, and if they are already on top of a covered objective going to ground for a 2+ cover is very useful.

[w7west]

Pretty standard baron/duke list

[thecactusman17]

Interesting, have you seen it or one like it in play?

[Wolf Brother Hellstrom]

I run a similiar 2000 pt list check it out

[url]http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=15882[/url]

it wrecks stuff good
5 wins 1 draw

hellions are ok. they are definatly fun but i feel sometimes they are a point sink by dropping them and the mandrakes i got another squad of incubi and trueborn ina venom.

[adamkula]

i like the idea of all flyer support might take two fighters and one bomber though ......

[thecactusman17]

i like the idea of all flyer support might take two fighters and one bomber though ......

With so few Dark lances the S9 is a huge deal, and the small blasts are extremely useful for large targets like land raiders, valkyries and wave serpents. The only thing the jets get over them is missiles stock instead of optional. However, 40 points for the ability to put all those wounds on target is a bargain anyway. When you get down to it, the stock razorwing is a close topped ravager with missiles in place if the main gun, and the voidraven is a heavier version of that.

[thecactusman17]

A few hours later, and I'm thinking up ways to raise this to 'Ard Boyz levels.

How does this sound?

The above, with an additional 650 of Trueborn blasters in Venoms (4 model squads w/ dual splinters and nightshields), upgrading the last razorwing to a Voidraven, and a 3rd squad of identical wyches? Comes to just under 2500. I think that the loss of the RWs splinter cannon would be more than compensated by the extra strength and addition of 4 more of the things elsewhere.

Good lord, Haywire is great. Killing your opponent's supposedly impervious Monolith turn 2 after a single turn of combat? So worth it.

[magickbk]

Thanks to the 4 missiles each turn they do a spectacular amount of damage vs. hordes

I'm confused. Aren't you going to need your VoidRavens to take out vehicles the first few turns? In which case you unload your 4 missiles from the Razorwing on turn one, and then don't have any more until your VoidRavens get freed up from vehicle hunting. I've been trying to decide whether to put a Razorwing in my army, but after the turn 1 salvo, it then flies around as an underpowered Ravager with less armor, and no option to shock prow. It seems like a big trade off to hope the first salvo is devastating.

On the other hand, you've used the army, and I've only stared at the Codex and unopened boxes...

[BlindGunn]

I'm confused. Aren't you going to need your VoidRavens to take out vehicles the first few turns? In which case you unload your 4 missiles from the Razorwing on turn one, and then don't have any more until your VoidRavens get freed up from vehicle hunting. I've been trying to decide whether to put a Razorwing in my army, but after the turn 1 salvo, it then flies around as an underpowered Ravager with less armor, and no option to shock prow. It seems like a big trade off to hope the first salvo is devastating.

On the other hand, you've used the army, and I've only stared at the Codex and unopened boxes...

I noticed this as well.

Missiles are One-Shot weapons - you don't get to fire them each turn unless you meant to fire one fighter's/bomber's worth of missiles per turn (for 3 turns). Unless there's a new Errata I missed somewhere...

Otherwise, I do agree with the assesment about all the vehicle options. I've had a lot of luck using both NightShields and Flicker Fields with my Raiders as well.

The Hellion unit seemed excessive to me, but reading how you intend to use them, I can see how it would work. I never thought of going to ground while inside cover and with Stealth already. My aged mind just too slow to think that one up. Great idea! Mind if I "Borrow" it?

[TheRise]

But BlinGunn on another thread nobody could actualy find a rule for One-Shot.