This is actually kind of fun, because it reminds me of way back in the hoary ancient days when I first played
DE. Here's my thoughts on the list in a 5th edition competitive environment.
DarthSpader wrote:archon w/shadow field, combat drugs, punisher, torment helm, animus vitae. = 150
7 incubi, 1 incubi master, drazhar = 308
raider with night shield = 70
Lack of consolidation does, as you noted, make this unit a giant liability and point sink. Also, do you really have no better use for 18 points then an incubi master? If you're not equipping him with wargear you'll probably do just as well with a regular ol' Incubi and use the points to beef something else. Once your Lord hits h2h he and his uber Incubi squad are pretty much going to mulch anything you set them upon, and then will stand around in the open as a very inviting target for all the anti-infantry weaponry that doesn't have range on your Warriors. For some reason all I can see is Marbo - but then Marbo haunts my dreams sometimes. At the very least you'll end up getting a lot of fire poured into you and will be either wiped or really depleated before you get a chance to assault anything else - presuming your Raider lasted long enough to give you an initial assault.
10 wyches, inc succubus w/ goblet of spite, agonizer, 2 wyches with blasters, all with wych weapons, and plasma grenades = 183
raider with night shield -= 70
I think 10 Wyches is more then you'll need in the current environment. I'll also caution that Raiders/Ravagers are really quite easy to kill nowadays. I pretty much expect to, on turn one, lose 3 vehicles pretty much guaranteed. I don't think your army is well built to absorb the amount of fire it will receive while still proving able to hurt the opposition.
10 warriors 2 w/dark lance =100
10 warriors 2 w/dark lance =100
10 warriors 2 w/dark lance =100
These work just as well as they always did.
10 warriors inc sybarite w/agonizer, 2 w/blasters, 2 w/splinter cannons = 136
10 warriors inc sybarite w/agonizer, 2 w/blasters, 2 w/splinter cannons = 136
In the current environment generally speaking you'll be going up against mech armies. You have a limited number of lances to actually dent the opposition. If you don't gut their transports then squads like these become a huge liability as most armies will be able to either fire from within their metal boxes or just drive up, disembark, and rapid fire you for your troubles - and
DE wither under bolter fire as surely as they ever did. Since your
HQ/Wyches can't tie up units like they used to (and almost all units will be in transports anyway) it will be hard to lock up a gunline enough to prevent heavy fire from coming down field and nigh impossible to prevent assaults.
talos =100
ravager with night shield, 3 disintegrators = 140
ravager with night shield, 3 disintegrators = 140
Your heavy slots are still pretty feasible, though in my opinion if you want a Talos it helps to run more then one. In any case, the Talos can now run and will be able to move up and be threatening much quicker then they used to be and are also much better at cracking vehicles as well.
total 1733
the general tatic here, is to use the talos as a center anchor, driving up the middle, while the 2 raiders take up flank posistion and drive towards the enemys flank lines. the wyches take lead, and i make use of cover as much as possible. (generally hoping to either draw fire with the talos, or the wyches)
The big thing to note is that it's generally not easy to prevent Raiders from being shot at anymore, and Raiders are fragile. Because mech is so prevalent nowadays there will be oodles of anti-mech fire coming at you, and really all the enemy needs is about five missile launchers and they're probably good to go as far as two Raiders go. The Talos is basically as tough and effective as it ever was as a fire sponge, so your results there will probably remain as they ever were. Really your best hope is that the enemy for some reason ignores the Raiders Turn 1 to fire at the Talos and/or his heavy weapons are all out of position to target the Raiders.
As a quick example of something to consider - at the last tourney I played at my first round opponent was Space Wolves - he had 3 Long Fang Squads (basically 2 Lascannons and 2 Missile Launchers each, all capable of splitting fire) plus 2 Razorbacks with H.Bolters plus three Rhinos with Rune Priests w. Living Lightning in them (An unlimited range,
Str 7, Assault 1d6 shooting attack) I think his shooting went fairly poorly and he still downed 3-4 Raiders right off the bat. These are the sorts of lists you can see a lot of nowadays, and your
DE army needs to be capable of dealing with them in order to be competitive.
