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Last weekend was Dakka's Silver Sorcerer tournament for UK board members, which was great fun, but I kept obliterated. I couldn't deal with the armour coming my way, or the troops that were then unloaded into close combat.
I'm sure a lot of this is down to my inexperience, but I'd like any criticisms you have on the list I took so I can work out how to expand and improve it for the future.

I probably should have asked for advice *before* last week, but I was limited to what models I had available in time. Anyhoo

HQ
----
Company Command Squad (135 pts)
- 4x melta
- Power weapon, Melta Bomb
- Master of the Fleet

These guys were flying around in the Valk, but were mostly blown out of the sky on turn 1!

Troops
--------
Platoon (245 pts)
- PCS (4 flamers, power weapon)
- Infantry squad 1 (flamer)
- Infantry squad 2 (flamer)
- Heavy Weapon squad (3x Autocannon)

Veteran squad 1 (140 pts)
- Shotguns
- 3x flamer
- Chimera

Veteran squad 2 (155 pts)
- Shotguns
- 3x Melta
- Chimera

Penal Legion (80 pts)

Fast attack
-------------

Valkyrie (115 pts)
- Lascannon upgrade

Bane Wolf (130 pts)

Total : 1000 points

Thanks!

experience aside, the list you're posting would be tough to win with in most circumstances.

You have conflicting upgrades (master of ordnance in a transport), very few units of any one type (only 2 mechvets, only 1 penal legion, only 1 valkyrie), and a general lack of power in general. That you found yourself unable to deal with your opponents threats is not particularly surprising.

What you should do is narrow down the focus of your list. That way, if any one unit gets wiped out before it completes its objective, you have another. Also, you should focus on up-powering your list a bit (so, take vets with plasma or melta rather than flamers, for example).

And, I'm sure you saw, banewolves are crap. Their range is so short that any opponent who is seriously threatened by them can neutralize them before they become a serious threat.

As Ailaros said, I'd rather take a hellhound or some other choice than a banewolf, such short range plus how threatening they are mean that a single banewolf will almost always be annihilated before it gets to fire.

Again as Ailaros said, veterans should have melta or plasma - flamers are for BS3 elements in infantry platoons.

Valkyries should either have MRPs, or just switch to vendettas - your current 115 pt valkyrie is for tank-busting, and is nothing to the 130 pt vendetta.

I would also drop the penal legion - one squad is neither here nor there. I think you should build up the infantry platoon, if anything.

Finally, take the power weapons off the command squads - they're a lot better in an infantry blob squad, assuming you can scrape up the points for a commissar as well.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Mostly it's all fairly obvious stuff that I just didn't have time to fulfill with the time constraints.

The Banewolf did a fair amount of damage in a number of the games; though mostly that was due to tank shock rather than the weapons. I think I'll swap it out for another chimera for now and carry on tank shocking things off the table. Master of the Fleet was great for the one game that involved reserve rolls, so he's going to stay for a while longer too.

So. How's this looking compared to the first list?

HQ
----
Company Command Squad (175 pts)
- 4x melta
- Master of the Fleet
- Chimera

Troops
--------
Platoon (335 pts)
- PCS (4 flamers)
- Infantry squad 1 (flamer)
- Infantry squad 2 (flamer)
- Heavy Weapon squad (3x Autocannon)
- Heavy Weapon squad (3x Lascannon)

Veteran squad 1 (155 pts)
- Shotguns
- 3x melta
- Chimera

Veteran squad 2 (155 pts)
- Shotguns
- 3x Melta
- Chimera

Fast attack
-------------
Vendetta (130 pts)
Light sentinel w. Lascannon (50pts)

Total : 1000 points

Personally, I would drop the Lascannon HWS and add Autocanns to your two Infantry Squads. Then I'd squeeze as much as possible in order to get myself a 2nd Vendetta. Just the one will ensure, as you noticed, a turn 1 death.

Things less useful than a 2nd Vendetta include:
- Lascannon Sentinel
- 4th Meltagun in the CCS
- Master of the Fleet

Totally agree with Ravendove - the more Vendettas you field, the less of an issue if one is shot down.

For the points you spend on the Infantry platoon you could have at least a second Vendetta loaded up with a second HQ with MG's or Vet squads with all MG or flamer.

Remember HQ's can use their commands on themselves, so i would stick in 2 HQ w/MGs and Flamer vets - all mechanised and probably with carapace armour for a little more survivability.

Hit the opponent fast, with your fliers and chimeras spilling out lots of unit, knock out the armour and then flame any infantry.

It's looking good, you'll refine it with practice to work with your own gaming style.

I shall have to ponder these pearls of wisdom and get in some more games to see how things pan out