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Just got back into playing 40k. I played a few games when 5th first came out, then stopped playing. I know 6th will be out soon and all my strategies may get shot to hell, but I am still going to move forward. I am more towards the old school way of thinking when list building. Content, content, content. WAAC is ok, and if I start playing tournaments again I may change up my way of thinking but for now I am not super worried about it.

I have read almost all of the current DE articles available on Dakka and think they are GREAT! They really helped me in deciding what my strongest options are within the realm of my content. I am very interested to see what other DE players have to say. Advice may or may not be taken, but it will always be appreciated. Anyways, onto my list.

Succubus w/ Ag, & HG. 90 pts.
4 Hekatrix Bloodbrides w/ HydG, HWG. Hekatrix w/ Ag & BP. 115 pts.
Venom. SC. 65 pts.

Baron Sathonyx 105 pts.

10 Wyches, RF, SN & I, Hekatrix w/ Agonizer. 150 pts x 3 units total
Raider w/ Flickerfield. 70 pts x 3 total.

9 Reavers, 3 w/ Blasters. 243 pts.
5 Scourges, HWB, HL. Solitaire w/ Ag, & BP. 177 pts.
4 Beastmasters, 1 w/ VB. 6 Razorwing Flocks, 1 Clawed Fiend.

Ravager. 105 pts. x 2 total.

My intentions are to take the advice given in numerous other places. Table my opponent, worry about objectives/ KP at the end.

The Suc, BB in a venom is to act as a delivery system for 2 different agonizers. More than likely this unit will advance with the rest of the army, and will not see an assault until after the Wyches all strike. The Suc can be split off if needed to assault a separate unit.

The Baron is included pretty much just to get the drop on my opponent. First turn seems to be pretty critical with DE so I may as well rest assured that I am going to go first. He also adds a little something something to the Beast packs, and will always be attached to this unit.

The Wyches in Raiders will all sweep in together. I plan on running up the middle against SM, CSM, and those type armies. Against Tau, I.G., and other shooty armies I will be flanking a majority of the time so I can deny the enemy using their full firepower. Haywire grenades seem necessary for this force as I won't be using any Kabalites w/ heavy weapons.

Scourges (I know they review bad, but I really like the models. Mine are being painted up like parrots.) I plan on using these well after combats have started. I can jump in between combats denying LOS and pick off vehicles. The Ag and Blast pistol may be a bit of a point sink as I do intend on using them more in an anti tank role, but I do enjoy flexibility. I actually have a lot of hope for this unit surviving often enough, as they will be advancing behind the main force (gotta love slow Fast Attack)

Reavers. This unit has gotta be scary as hell for a lot of opponents. They will either be chilling with the Scourges and filling in as anti tank, or maybe even advancing on an opposite flank in conjunction with my Venom, Suc, Bloodbride combo. I see using this tactic against those dang pesky Basalisks and other dug in Guard.

Beastmasters. Well why not Beastmasters? 183 points for 39 wounds, sign me up. Razorwings are a solid option, and I just can't pass up 1 Clawed Fiend. I just love the mini.

Ravagers. Hoping to take out at least 2 vehicles before these are blown up. I would prefer these being shot over my Raiders, so really I hope to draw quite a lot of shots on these.

It was important for me to include flexibility. Every unit has some way of taking out vehicles, even if they aren't optimal (haywire grenades). The way I see it, I am far more worried with getting into assaults then taking out vehicles. Most tanks will probably be taken out after most of the infantry is already wiped off the table.

I can see how deadly DE are. I also see that they can be knocked over like a house of cards. I am totally ok with that. I see more potential for great victories than I do agonizing defeats. I have played CSM (Night Lords), Lost and the Damned (built to compliment my Night Lords), and Eldar. I have played all of those armies at tournament level (GTs not Ard Boyz though). I have to say that I am more excited to get this army on the tabletop than any other army I have done in the past.

Comments, criticisms, suggestions and tips are all welcome. Just be nice to one another. I intend to keep this thread open as I am vamping up my build/ paint. I am ready to get playing again. Also please check out my DE project log. It will be getting updated this weekend, and I would love to see some activity on that thread.

Also a special thanks to all of the members who have written so many useful articles and threads. I hope as I learn more about the army that I will be able to make meaningful contributions as well.

Enjoy Dakka,
Jason.

This list needs quite a bit of optimising, its all over the place with upgrades, light on scoring units and missing some of the core things which you expect to see in a Wych list. Its also desperately short on anti tank ability, you only have 2 Ravagers, no Trueborn (with Blasters or Dark Lances) and 2 small/fragile unoptimised infantry tank hunters in your Fast Attack. Your comment about killing vehicles after you kill infantry is completely backwards, if you haven't played much 5th edition then its important to point out that the vast majority of infantry units will be transported in a vehicle at the start of the game (unless your Nids or a few specialised builds like Jump Pack/Terminator based armies basically) and you won't be killing much until you can break them open. Most good players don't disembark until they absolutely have to, most Imperial vehicles can fire from inside their vehicles anyway so staying inside is an easy choice.

Both the Baron and to a slightly lesser extent the Succubus (she is basically just another Agoniser, solid but nothing special) are good HQs, but for a Wych Cult they aren't optimal. Wyches are decent troop units, but become incredible for the points cost if you can get them a Pain Token early to give them FNP. Haemonculi are cheap and probably the best HQ choice in a list which is heavy on Wyches. They need very little equipment, usually just stick with a Liquifer. You start with the Wyches in the Raider (have to remove 1 Wych + a Wych weapon, but not a big deal) then stay inside when the Wyches jump out to assault (they take the token obviously) and then run around flaming things from the Raider. The next best HQ choice for a Wych heavy list is the Duke, who gives you a decent combat character but more importantly gives you a second attempt on the Drugs chart. Without the Duke or Haemonculi you are missing the main synergy for a Wych list, at 2000pts I run the Duke + 2 Haemonuli or just 4 Haemonculi.

In general the uses for Bloodbrides are pretty limited, they are helpful for escorting a pimped out assault character (Vect, tooled out Archon, a Succubus doesn't count as the unit costs more than her) because they get more Shardnets to lock down enemy heavy hitters who might otherwise squash your IC, but are otherwise outclassed by Incubi in the Elite slots in terms of hitting power. More importantly, in this list you have only got 3 scoring units, and for the same cost you can get another unit of standard Wyches which would be far more helpful in every area.

The Wyches are solid, you probably need to swap a few things around to get Haemonculi in there though. Haywire Grenades are very helpful, you probably don't need to give them to every unit in this but in a Wych heavy list probably 1 in 2 units should have them.

Reavers are decent, particularly in a Wych list (with the Baron anyway) but the unit config isn't ideal. At 9 strong the unit is no longer particularly cost effective at dealing with vehicles, its a big squishy target which is hard to hide, a more tempting target and has Ld issues. In general unless you are basing an army around them and are actually putting the points into making them work (Arena Champions to keep them on the board and a Haemonculi starting with the unit to stop them getting squashed so easily) Reavers should stay at 6 strong. That keeps you cheap enough so that you can handle losing them, small enough to hide and still reliable enough with 2 anti tank shots. Blasters vs Heat Lances is long running debate, imo on Reavers Heat Lances are a better choice than Blasters, since they have the mobility to get into half range. They are also one of the few units which can get Heat Lances in the first place (which are better then Blasters if you can get close enough) and there are plenty of other places in the codex you can get Blasters/Dark Lances already (and for cheaper).

The Scourge loadout also isn't ideal. First off don't mix heavy/special weapons, either take 2 Blasters, 2 Heat Lances, 2 Haywire Launcher or 2 Dark Lances (Haywires being the preference in this case). Secondly don't bother with the Blast Pistol, its not a good upgrade for Scourges who are close but not right in your opponents face. The only time you might get some use out of it is if you took double Heat Lances + BP deployed them via Deep Strike, but even then its not a very good upgrade.

First off I should point out that Beasts don't really work that well with this list, particularly with the Baron. That combination is usually seen in Venom spam/shooting based lists as a counter assault unit, where the different movement speeds of the unit aren't as much of an issue and the Barons +1 to go first is more valuable. In this case you will definitely run into problems speed wise, your Wyches will be assaulting turn 2 most games, and Beasts will be stretching to get there even if the Baron detaches (no hope if he doesn't). The other problem is that you have no Khymerae, which makes the unit really squishy, particularly in assault against power weapons/fists (which will be squashing Razorwings like crazy otherwise). The Clawed Fiend may be nice, but compared to 5 Khymerae he is massively outclassed.

Thanks for the advice. I may have to do a bit of editing and rereading tactics, choices etc...

inquisitorlewis wrote:Reavers. This unit has gotta be scary as hell for a lot of opponents.

no, they are not

inquisitorlewis wrote:
Succubus w/ Ag, & HG. 90 pts.
4 Hekatrix Bloodbrides w/ HydG, HWG. Hekatrix w/ Ag & BP. 115 pts.
Venom. SC.

With all your research, didja really find anything advocating BBs? They're over-priced, when wyches do pretty much the same job, but for less and they score. Demote to the troops choice, trade the venom for a raider, and increase their numbers to 8 or 9. And the succubus needs to go. I'd trade her points for liquifier haems to buff your other wyche units.

inquisitorlewis wrote:10 Wyches, RF, SN & I, Hekatrix w/ Agonizer. 150 pts x 3 units total
Raider w/ Flickerfield. 70 pts x 3 total.

Add Haems.

inquisitorlewis wrote:9 Reavers, 3 w/ Blasters. 243 pts.
5 Scourges, HWB, HL. Solitaire w/ Ag, & BP. 177 pts.

These two are meh. I know the revears come in the Mega-box, but I still wouldn't buy it. Scourges have little place in h2h, so the solarite is a waste.

inquisitorlewis wrote:Ravager. 105 pts. x 2 total.

Add FFs.

I definatley think that HQ unit is not worth it, a 270 point magnet thats 6 models, you should change that

OK, so I went back over tactics, and weighed in advice given from other members. I have revised my list A LOT. Again any insights are appreciated. Do you see any real weaknesses? All help is appreciated.



H.Q.
Duke Slicus ()
Total 150
3 Haemonculus () all w/ Liquifiers ()
Total 180

ELITES.
5 Incubi ()
Total 110
Venom () Splinter Cannon ()
Total 65

TROOPS.
9 Wyches () Haywire Grenades () Razorflails () Hekatrix (10) Agonizer ()
Total 148
Raider () Flickerfield () Shock Prow ()
Total 75
9 Wyches () Haywire Grenades () Razorflails () Hekatrix () Agonizer ()
Total 148
Raider () Flickerfield () Shock Prow ()
Total 75
9 Wyches () Haywire Grenades () Razorflails () Hekatrix () Agonizer ()
Total 148
Raider (60) Flickerfield () Shock Prow ()
Total 75
9 Kabalite Warriors () 1 w/ Blaster ()
Total 96
Raider () Flickerfield ()
Total 70

FAST ATTACK.
6 Reavers () 2 w/ Blasters ()
Total 162

HEAVY SUPPORT.
Ravager () Flickerfield ()
Total 115
Ravager () Flickerfield ()
Total 115
Ravager () Flickerfield ()
Total 115

NOW you're talking.

I agree, Nice list