Hi,
Well the first three tournaments of the year are over, and my play with the Dark Eldar has improved noticeably.
However rather the rest on my laurels I'm back at the painting table because I have written a provisional list for the M.A.D. tournament (in October). The higher points total, 1800 (while also stripping my list to the absolute core), allowed me to include all three elements that I wanted to improve (see this post):
- Reavers with heat lances for anti tank
- Upgrading a ravager to a razorwing for anti horde
- Adding a beastmaster unit to add anti-MEQ combat redundancy
The new list is at the bottom of this post, let me know what you think of it.
What this new list means is that, while I have a fully functional tournament army, I have an awful lot of building and painting to do. First off was the Razorwing.
I have to say the quality of the build is very good, with all the parts fitting together nicely, and various parts having locator pins to make it easy for pieces to lock together nicely.
Being a bit undecided about the armament I wanted, I was looking out for magnitising opportunities. The missiles should be easy to magnitise, and it's nice that all types of missiles are included. The wing weapons slot into holes, they are a bit lose, but once they are sprayed and painted I'm sure the fit should be a nice & snug.
The chin weapons are a pain though. They fit between the top and bottom of the aircraft and you can't slide them out once the hull is in place. However one option is to not glue the top and bottom of the hull together. The tail fin at the back holds the two halves of the hull together quite nicely without glue. My only worry is that it's a snug fit now and that paint may make the tail fin very difficult to remove and re-attach. I'll let you know how I get on.
My top tip assembling the razorwing is to hold the hulls together when you are glueing the engines and weapon mounts to the top hull. This ensures that they dry in the right position, and that the bottom hull will fit on nicely later. However be careful to use glue sparingly and only on the top hull section to avoid accidently glueing the hulls together before you are ready.
Rathstar
Draft 1800 Point List for M.A.D.:
Haemonculus Nalix Soulseer - 55
with Venom Blade
5 Incubi - 110
in Raider with Dark Lance - 60
3 Trueborn with 3 Blasters - 81
in Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons - 65
3 Trueborn with 3 Blasters - 81
in Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons - 65
10 Wracks with 2 Liquifier Guns - 120
in Raider with Dark Lance - 60
9 Wyches with Hekatrix with Venom Blade - 105
in Raider with Dark Lance - 60
8 Wyches with Hekatrix with Venom Blade - 95
in Raider with Dark Lance - 60
3 Wracks - 30
in Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons - 65
Beastmaster Unit - 174
containing 4 Beastmasters, 3 Krymera & 6 Razorwings
6 Reaver Jetbikes - 156
with 2 Heat Lances
Ravager with 3 Dark Lances - 105
Ravager with 3 Dark Lances - 105
Razorwing Jetfighter - 145
with 2 Dark Lances
Total: 1797 Pts
Update 3rd July:
I'm dithering on a few small tweaks, and would appreciate any views you have. I am concerned with the small size of both the beasts unit and the incubi could do with an extra model (or a venom transport), just one more model and I would be happy with both. The places where I can see I could lose points (wthout affecting efficiency too much) are:
- Changing the Reavers for 5 Scourges with 2 Heat Lances (saving 22 points, but I'm not keen on this change)
- Lose a wrack with a liquifer gun (saving 20 pts)
- Losing Nalix's Venom blade (saving 5 pts)
Also for Neath Leanan here's a pick of the Razorwing Jetfighter showing how thin it is:
May I ask why you've left the reavers in a unit of 6? You have the slots open to make them 2x3. I personally see the pros of that setup greater then the cons. You take ld easier and give 2 killpoints instead of one, but with the heatlances in different squads you can shoot them one at a time, possibly getting to shoot the second at a different tank if the first is already enough.
ReplyDeleteJust some thoughts.
I found a way to magnetize the nose gun, and be able to remove it after gluing the razorwing together. I am going to try to post it today.
ReplyDeleteI like the list. It has a good mix of small objective grabbing units and full size, fully capable units. Some lists with too many MSUs look way too fragile to me. Nothing worse than being a glass hammer with no weight. I have been trying the razorwing with disintegrators to make it all anti infantry. It also drops it down on the priority list of most opponents.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteAleksi Lehtio: Both 2x3 and 1x6 have their merits, and I will try out both set-ups. The benfits of 1x6 are also that it's harder to torret any heat lances away. With the smaller squadsm three wounds means a heat lance has to take a save. I was also trying to conserve kill points. Normally I don't care about kill points, but it was getting to the level that I would have to table an opponent to win an anniliation mission. I'll give both set-ups a try.
Eldaraddict: I'll definietely look out for your post about magnitising the razorwing. I was also tempted to make the razorwing anti infantry with disintegrators and a splinter cannon, but in the end decided i need the extra anti tank of the dark lances. Once it's assembled I'll probably try out both set-ups. What I'm finding in my games is that if I don't have enough anti tank it doesn't matter what else I have. Of cause this varies opponent by opponent, so I write my list cautiously to have enough anti tank.
Rathstar
The Razorwing model is starting to grow on me, although I still think it looks a little bulky for a Dark Eldar flyer.
ReplyDeleteGlad it goes together nicely. :-) I was very impressed by the Stormraven kit. The newer GW plastics are very good.
Yeah, this is the first plastic tank I've bought in a while, and they have definitely paid attention to the ease of assembly.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that bulky as it is very thin (I'll update the post with a pic of how thin it is).
Rathstar