News: No news is good news...

Login  |  Register

Author Topic: Silly List: The Dance of Fear  (Read 2926 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Wyldhunt

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1447
Silly List: The Dance of Fear
« on: March 26, 2015, 11:32:41 PM »
Basically, I'm just looking at silly shenanigans I can do with leadership using dark eldar and harlies. I thought I'd get everyone's feedback and see what you thought. This is mostly a thought experiment as these shenanigans seem prone to either blowing away certain lists or simply falling apart due to having too many fragile eggs in even more fragile baskets.  And the fact that fearless exists doesn't help either.

DANCE OF DARKNESS
PRIMARY DETACHMENT (DARK ELDAR)

155-Archon: Webway Portal, Shadowfield, Armor of Misery, haywire grenades

135-Warriors X 10: Blaster, Splinter Cannon, sybarite with phantasm launcher, splinter rifle, haywire grenades
100-Raider: Night shields, splinter wracks, torment launcher

135-Warriors X 10: Blaster, Splinter Cannon, sybarite with phantasm launcher, splinter rifle, haywire grenades
100-Raider: Night shields, splinter wracks, torment launcher

Mandrakes X 3
Mandrakes X 3

CAST OF PLAYERS 502pts
Troupe X 12:kisses X 11, troupe master with haywire grenades and storied sword
Shadowseer: Mastery Level 2, Mask of Secrets
Death Jester

HEROE'S PATH 310 pts
Solitaire:Cegorach's Rose
Shadowseer:ML 2
Death Jester: Haywire Grenades 

So the idea is this:  Infiltrate the heroe's path characters behind BLOS terrain.  Mandrakes can either hide in my deployment zone inside some terrain, infiltrate to become a turn 2 threat, or outflank to reach those hard-to-get objective slater into the game.  Their stealth + shrouded should make them semi-survivable so long as they keep their distance.  The warriors in their raiders deepstrike. The archon webway portals in with the cast of players.  With some luck (and maybe some help from a warlord trait), I can drop the harlie blob with the mask of secrets and the armor of misery wherever I want, then proceed to unleash a barrage of phantasm launchers, mirage launchers, psychic shrieks, etc. into the enemy.  If I take psychic shriek on both shadow seers, I should be able to do a lot of damage to a flank of my choosing plus some healthy damage to the enemy's center depending on where I go with my webway.

Lots of threats in the enemy's face. Lots of fear.  Lots of punishment for the enemy's -4 to leadership. And don't forget the jester is effectively working with a -6 to leadership as he forces my opponent to fall back off the side/rear board edges or simply clears some space for my harly blob to work.

Edit:  If I were to expand it up to 2,000 points, I'd throw in an allied corsair detachment with a neuroshredder on a void dreamer and some corsairs with missile launchers who can poke at tanks from my back field while staying safe behind BLOS. I'd also try to find points to hand the archon his own phantasm launcher.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2015, 11:34:27 PM by Wyldhunt »

Offline Plastikente

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 505
  • Country: gb
  • Back Online!
  • Armies: Craftworld Eldar, Dark Eldar, Tau
Re: Silly List: The Dance of Fear
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2015, 02:07:17 PM »
I've always liked the idea of a list that attacks leadership because it fits very nicely with the DE fluff.  The problem, in practice, is that the tabletop rules often let it down.

The Armour of Misery only has a small area of effect, and without it, even a guardsman will pass more leadership tests than he will fail (unless he has to take them on 3D6, as per Psychic Shriek).  Moreover, the Phantasm and Torment launchers do not affect models with the Fearless or And They Shall Know No Fear special rules.  If (like me) you build a list without knowing who your opponent will be, you stand a reasonable chance of shelling out for an upgrade which cannot affect your enemy.

I can't comment on the Harlequin aspects of your list because I do not have any of their rules.

My final thought is that 3 Mandrakes are neither very survivable nor much of a threat.  Unless you plan to just hide them and try to hold a remote objective at the end of the game I don't think they'll be much use to you.  You could replace your two squads with a Venom and get 12 long range poison shots on a very mobile platform.

Wow, that was all very negative  :(

If you want to field a silly fluffy list which might do funny things to Guard or Tau, don't let me put you off.  I just don't think it will be very effective in a competitive environment.  Happy gaming  ;D

Offline Ambience 327

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 334
  • Country: 00
Re: Silly List: The Dance of Fear
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2015, 02:56:53 PM »
It certainly has potential, and at the very least would be fun to watch it all go off when it works. Of course, it would be equally entertaining for your Space Marine opponent as he laughs off most of the effects. Personally I like the Mandrakes added in, if only because you could model them up as Harlequin Mimes for extra theme. :)

My favorite thought though, is that of the DJ's causing the enemy to panic and run right into your teeth. I've loved that rules ever since I first read it, and the lovely -6 Ld potential means it would most likely succeed quite often.

As an off topic aside - have you had a chance to look at my 7th Ed Exodite list yet?

Offline Wyldhunt

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1447
Re: Silly List: The Dance of Fear
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2015, 03:12:15 PM »

My favorite thought though, is that of the DJ's causing the enemy to panic and run right into your teeth. I've loved that rules ever since I first read it, and the lovely -6 Ld potential means it would most likely succeed quite often.

As an off topic aside - have you had a chance to look at my 7th Ed Exodite list yet?

I've not, but I look forward to doing so! 

The death jesters have been a lot of fun to use so far.  I've been making sure to have at least one as part of the heroe's path formation.  For his points, the jester has lovely survivability an the potential to be really worrisome to my opponents as he comes in from outflank or pops out from behind infiltrated cover to to pepper them with shrieker/shuriken fire.

The point of the mandrakes isn't exactly to kill things, to get shot up, or even really to hold objectives. The idea behind them is that I need to have something start on the table to avoid auto-losing.  Three-man(drake) strong squads are extremely cheap and rather easy to hide behind BLOS terrain.  After I look at my opponent's list, I can decide whether I want some of the mandrakes to outflank for a late-game objective grab, but they're mostly there to keep me from auto-losing and to potentially sit on one of my objectives for a bit.  Barring long-ranged ignores cover (much of which I can avoid by hiding behind the right wall), they should weather the first round of offense from most lists. And then my reserves arrive. :)

Offline Plastikente

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 505
  • Country: gb
  • Back Online!
  • Armies: Craftworld Eldar, Dark Eldar, Tau
Re: Silly List: The Dance of Fear
« Reply #4 on: April 2, 2015, 04:36:47 PM »
Fair enough then. Beware Tau however - Smart Missile Systems shoot round corners and ignore cover, and they have a reasonable range on them.

Offline Ludo

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 710
  • Country: us
  • Why, you ask. Why not?
  • Armies: Marines, Flesh Tearers, Dark Eldar, Guard, Tau
Re: Silly List: The Dance of Fear
« Reply #5 on: April 5, 2015, 04:16:55 PM »
My first thought upon seeing the list was: this list looks fun to play. Lots of hilarious leadership shenanigans.  My second thought was: How will it kill a rhino?

Sure, is has some blasters here and some haywire grenades there but it lacks the numbers of any effective punch to take out anyone with a vehicle or three.  Maybe drop the heroes path and take some ravagers with dark lances. Throw a haywire grenade on the death jester and the shadowseer in your cast of players so you can effectively assault and kill a vehicle in one or maybe two turns. 
Smurf Hero Extrodinaire

 


Powered by EzPortal