I decided that my first Dark Eldar army would be a Wych cult. Primarily this is because they should play very differently to my quite stand-offish Wolves. I thought I'd start with putting together a 1000 point list for the challenge that the club is running at the minute. That means a maximum of 4 vehicles and no more than 2 of a single type. That means no Raiderspam list. My initial thought is therefore to take a couple of Raiders and another big Wych squad on foot. Since we're playing the Open War missions, the foot Wyches should prove to be a deterrent to anything trying to get into my deployment zone. Anyway onto the list
Succubus, Blast Pistol, Agoniser
The only choice really for a Wych Cult. She gets to shoot her S8 AP2 Lance Pistol at BS6 before charging and then gets 6 Power Weapon attacks on the charge at WS8 and I8. She might only be S3 but she's still going to do some damage. And of course those stats can only get better with her Combat Drugs.
9 Wyches, Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix, Venom Blade
The Succubus goes in here. The Hekatrix is essentially a Sergeant upgrade and she wounds on 2+ with her Venom Blade. The Gauntlets give the wearer D6+1 base attacks which you roll for at the start of every turn. Ideally, I think I'd take Bloodbrides for the Succubus to go with but points are a bit too tight.
Raider, Enchanced Aethersail
This is the ride for the Succubus and her girls. The sail gives an additional 2D6" movement although you can't disembark or shoot on any turn that you use them.
10 Wyches, Hydra Gauntlets, Razorflails, Hekatrix, Venom Blade, Raider, Enhanced Aethersail
Pretty similar loadout to the first squad here. The Razorflairs let the bearer re-roll hits and wounds.
15 Wyches, Hydra Gauntlets, Razorflails, Hekatrix
These are the footslogging guys. With Fleet they are still a threat but they'll need to stick to cover to avoid being shot to pieces.
3 Reavers, Cluster Caltrops, Heat Lance
On yer Jetbike! The plan for these guys is to just keep Turbo Boosting over people, hitting them with their Bloodvanes (D3 S4 hits per Reaver) and Caltrops (D6 S6 hits) They also have a S6 Melta, Lance gun to take care of vehicles.
Ravager, Retrofire Jets, Flickershields
The heavy hitter with 3 Dark Lances. The Jets allow it to enter via Deep Strike and the 'shields give it a 5+ invulnerable save. Due to its special rules it can actually fire all three Lances if it travels at Cruising Speed (so that includes Deep Striking)
Ravager, Disintegrator Cannons, Retrofire Jets, Flickershields
With 5 Dark Lances in the army already, I thought that is was worth taking the cannons on my second Ravager. The Cannon is S5 AP2 Heavy 3 so it's an infantry killer. I'd probably stick with the Lances in a tournament list since you're going to see more than 4 vehicles but for this competition, this feels like a good set-up.
The plan is for everything to go into Reserve. The Ravagers then Deep Strike in and the Raiders Turbo-Boost on from my board edge and then go those extra 2D6" (so that's up to 36" from my board edge but more realistically 31") The guys on foot come on, grab and either grab an Objective before going to ground or jump on any enemy squads hanging around in my deployment zone. Yes, it's all quite fragile but it's quick and deadly.
Hm, I like themed armies but in my opinion you could think about the wargear once more.
ReplyDeleteSuccubus with a agonizer always wounds on 4+. I also don't think you will use the pistol that much, since wyches want to get into cc, so you should be fleeting around a lot. Dropping that pistol would allow you to trade at least one of the venom blades for an agonizer.
I also prefer the impaler/net combo over the other two wyches weapons. The flail looks neat, but gets wasted if you get the "rr wounds in cc" roll on the drug chart. Impaler on the other hands means reducing stuff like power fist or HQ attacks. Wyches themselves are not great damage dealer, you win your combat against MEQ and MC through the agonizer-wielding Succubus+Hekatrix combo. Want to target the enemy HQ with your Succubus? Send in the impaler too, if you fumble your dices you decrease your opponents chance to put some hurt on your t3 multi-wound HQ model.
I would also drop the retrofire jets, since DS your main AT force w/o having a way to modify reserve rolls doesn't sound like a good plan to me. Get more agonizers for your wyches squads, you will need them!
Hi, thanks for the feedback. I'm a complete noob to the DE so all help is gratefully received!
ReplyDeleteGood point about the Razorflails/Drugs, I think I'll ditch the flails altogether. I'm a bit torn on Gauntlets vs Shardnet. I suppose it comes down to more attacks vs less coming back.
You're definitely right about the retrofire jets. My original thought was that it would let me threaten anywhere on the board but with a 12" move from my own edge I should be able to do that anyway.
Sounds like I need to make some tweaks in order to get in some more Agonisers as well. I'm a bit loathe to drop the Blast Pistol though as it gives me another anti-tank shot.