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Heya guys, I've recently been giving some thought to trying to run a WWP list featuring a healthy amount of infantry and I came up with a few questions.

1. Is it possible to run a list sans vehicles? Or do I need a few just for getting that initial portal out and up the board?

2. How many WWPs should I run? Is 1 enough or should it be 2?

3. Are talosi(plural?) any use in these type of lists?

Thanks for all your help guys, I apologize if these questions are redundant, I did a search and couldn't come up with specific answers.

1) Probably not, no. You really ought to be dropping the WWP in your shooting phase on turn 1, and to get anywhere remotely useful, you're probably going to need the 12" move and 2" disembark of a vehicle. You're also probably going to want to deploy pretty far forward, but that's a whole 'nother discussion.

2) 2 at the very minimum. I would run 3. Running 1 is a horrible idea, because you will probably only have the first turn half the time. If you only have one model on the board, then it will die to shooting without a doubt. You want at least 3 targets on the board. Not to say they can't all get killed, but it's harder, and you can use LoS blocking terrain to further minimize casualties.

3) Yes, but they need to be kept cheap and get into combat quickly. An average round of shooting from a Devastator or Long Fang squad armed with missile launchers will kill a Talos. Try to hop from combat to combat to avoid being shot. Not always possible, but once you kill your first squad, you'll have FnP.

WWP lists are not the most competitive build out there, but they can be downright devastating if played well.

1. Actually this is definitely possible. I would argue that a WWP list without vehicles is more balanced and rounded (i.e better) list than one which uses vehicles to deploy Portals. The problem with using vehicles to deploy them is that suddenly rely completely on getting the first turn, even more so than other DE lists (which are already some of the most first turn dependent lists around). If you don't then your 1-2 Raiders or Venoms get blown out of the sky (you have to be VERY lucky to get enough terrain to completely block LOS to a single skimmer let alone 2), so you either deploy the Portals in your deployment zone or don't get to at all (if they have enough long ranged anti infantry) and then are still horribly out of position. I've actually found that if you are using vehicles to deploy Portals they end up being too far forward, placing them aggressively means you can easily get them blocked off. You also are giving up quite a few points just to deploy the Portals, suiciding 2 units, 2 vehicles and 2 Haemonculi puts you 300 odd points down every single game with only some board position to show for it.

The alternative to using vehicles is to use Harliequins. With Veil of Tears you are immune to long range shooting, so your opponent will have nothing to shoot for the first couple of turns. You completely don't mind going second, in fact its a better option most of the time because it wastes another shooting phase. With 2 Portals you drop 1 Turn 1 and 1 Turn 2, you can actually get away with a single unit of Harlies if you spread to max coherency. I run a list with 3 x Beasts and 3 x Talos (which btw is amazingly fun to play with, hits incredibly hard), so anything fast enough to block the Portals will be in assault range of Beasts coming off my board edge. Alternatively if they back off then Beasts can usually easily take a round of shooting before they hit and are fast so its rarely going to be more than a single round. The only things which can cause you issues are Scout moves, admittedly I haven't faced much of this but keeping your Harlies in cover and maybe deploying a unit of Beasts should keep you safe enough to get the Portals down. The Harlies can take care of themselves pretty well anyway with Fusion Pistols (only S8 Melta you can get) and Kisses so aren't wasted points after they get the Portals deployed. If nothing pushes forward to try and shoot them then they can run up the field to provide cover to your army and hit pretty hard in combat.

2. Yeah 2 Portals is definitely the minimum, but 3 is getting very expensive and you get diminishing returns. 1 doesn't work because its too easy to avoid (if you are facing a shooting list) or surround and block off (if you have mobility or want to be in assault).

3. Yes definitely, its one of the best ways to use them because they can bypass shooting from fire support units. I give mine Heat Lances because my list needs as much anti tank firepower as it can get (it already relies heavily on killing things in combat). Alternatively you can give them Haywire Launchers to suppress vehicles until you can catch them and beat them to death in assault.

I think Powerguy hit the answers a little more accurately - though I think he's talking crazy talk for a few of them, so here's some alternate thoughts;

1. It is certainly possible, though I think vehicles are better than footslogging - generally with footslogging you're not getting any advantage from the portals that you wouldn't get by just starting everything in the portals on the board - this matters less vs. assault armies, but it matters a *lot* versus gunline armies.

I think Powerguy hit the nail on the head in noting Harlies are probably the best footslogging portal drop escorts. That said...please recall that DoW deployment exists, and in that situation you want at least one portal escort option that is tough enough to survive things and is also a Troop selection.

For my money, I think Wracks or Warriors in a Venom/Raider is the way to go for at least one portal drop. Powerguy makes a big show of being against mech because it will be wrecked but...okay, so it's wrecked - the unit inside can still footslog anyway, and if you think footslogging works what's off about trying to use mech first? If they can kill you after blasting you out of your vehicle they could probably kill you without having to blast you out of your vehicle too - so the survivability angle is kinda silly in my mind.

I personally think mech deployment is the way to go, because footslogging deployment is weak versus gunline armies, and the entire point of WWP is to try and help DE footsloggers be more survivable versus gunline armies, so...

2. I totally agree with Powerguy on this one, I don't think it's smart to go under 2, and going 3+ is pretty much overkill and a waste of points. Two portals is the smart choice.

3. Again, totally agree with Powerguy. The Talos is, basically half the point of even doing a WWP list, they rock.

Helbig wrote:Heya guys, I've recently been giving some thought to trying to run a WWP list featuring a healthy amount of infantry and I came up with a few questions.

1. Is it possible to run a list sans vehicles? Or do I need a few just for getting that initial portal out and up the board?

2. How many WWPs should I run? Is 1 enough or should it be 2?

3. Are talosi(plural?) any use in these type of lists?

Thanks for all your help guys, I apologize if these questions are redundant, I did a search and couldn't come up with specific answers.

1. It's possible to do it with the Duke, since he allows you to DS your vehicles, also good for deploying portals. (You still want at least one to start on table, but the other two can be DS to where you want it.)

2. 2-3

3. Yes, they work very well in portal lists.

Awesome, thank you gentlemen. Some great thoughts, I love the Harlequin idea.