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I've been playing around with the idea of this unit for sometime but Skoffs mentioned something today that inspired me to give it a second look.

One of the limitations of deploying D&D from a Scythe is you can only move the Scythe 24" if you want to be able to shoot the template weapon at all (which is the whole point of the unit after all). Trazyn, through his Phaeron ability, bumps allows you to move the full 36". Add your disembark move and you can now effectively cover the entire board on deployment.

Of course the other interesting things about the unit is by throwing Trazyn (and probably a MSS/WS/SW/RO Lord) into the mix and you make it pretty respectable in CC. The RO (if you can fit in the extra court member) and a maxed squad makes the Deathmarks considerably more resilient then your standard D&D, and of course, the icing on the cake, Trazyn makes it score.

Of course, it's also not cheap (470+Night Scythe). But I think it brings enough to the table to at least be interesting. It will evaporate virtually any squad in the game the turn it arrives, and has enough built in resiliency to hang around and effect the game from that point on.

So what do y'all think? And what would compliment a unit like this?

Whew doggy, you are entirely correct that that is one heck of a unit....

...... but you are also entirely correct that it is one heck of an expensive unit.

Further, and with absolutely all due respect, I must disagree that it is quite the "all around squad vanquisher" that you portray it to be. This unit has a number of very hard counters that will sometimes render the gamble of sinking 500+ points into it useless. It is primarily a low-model count/high toughness unit murderer.
Tyranid Warriors? Bye bye.
Ork Nobs? Boom, gone.
Tau Suits? Hilarity will ensue.
Wraithguard? Superfly TNT.
Marines on bikes? "Wild One" becomes "Dead One." Thunderfire cannon hunting? (my personal favorite) "I'm sorry you had to spend a hundred hours painstakingly holding that toughness 7 metal thunderfire cannon model together with your numb and bleeding fingers, because now it is super dead!"
Trygon Prime? More like Trygon Toast!

However, targeting horde units = waste, big 10-man terminator units with 2+ armors (and likely 3++ invuls) = waste. Mech list = waste

So, yes, it is an unbelievable hunter unit with unbelievable killing potential. This is the type of unit that will cost you friendships. But, it needs the right prey in order to be fully unbelievable.

And therein lies the gamble....

ShadarLogoth wrote:
One of the limitations of deploying D&D from a Scythe is you can only move the Scythe 24" if you want to be able to shoot the template weapon at all (which is the whole point of the unit after all). Trazyn, through his Phaeron ability, bumps allows you to move the full 36". Add your disembark move and you can now effectively cover the entire board on deployment.

How does Phaeron increase the range? Phaeron gives relentless. Relentless lets you move and shoot heavy, ordnance and salvo as though you're stationary. The template is an assault weapon. Is there a rule I'm missing?

 DexKivuli wrote:

ShadarLogoth wrote:
One of the limitations of deploying D&D from a Scythe is you can only move the Scythe 24" if you want to be able to shoot the template weapon at all (which is the whole point of the unit after all). Trazyn, through his Phaeron ability, bumps allows you to move the full 36". Add your disembark move and you can now effectively cover the entire board on deployment.

How does Phaeron increase the range? Phaeron gives relentless. Relentless lets you move and shoot heavy, ordnance and salvo as though you're stationary. The template is an assault weapon. Is there a rule I'm missing?

If the Night Scythe moves beyond 24" then the any unit that deploys from it can only snap fire. Templates cannot fire at all Snap Fire. However, Relentless allows you to shoot as stationary. Now that you mention it though, it's not 100% clear if that Relentless negates the snapfire penalty incurred from Invasion Beams. It's a movement related penalty, so I would think it would, although it's not exactly explicit either.

However, targeting horde units = waste, big 10-man terminator units with 2+ armors (and likely 3++ invuls) = waste. Mech list = waste

Trazyn by his lonesome is a pretty good Horde counter, not to mention the template. The template is AP 1 and the rapid fire sniper rifles have rending, so Terms will take it on the chin. Mech, well yeah, outside of the hope for rends, this unit wouldn't be ideal to throw at mech. Now, the contents of the Mech on the other hand...

Meched up IG would probably be the least ideal matchup. Generally though, between all the things you mentioned, plus foot based heavy support and things like that, you'll generally be facing something you'd be happy to throw them at. Worse case scenario, you deploy, eat a squad (even if it's just a basic troops selection), and then eat bullets, toss out precision shots, and score.

ShadarLogoth wrote:

 DexKivuli wrote:

ShadarLogoth wrote:
One of the limitations of deploying D&D from a Scythe is you can only move the Scythe 24" if you want to be able to shoot the template weapon at all (which is the whole point of the unit after all). Trazyn, through his Phaeron ability, bumps allows you to move the full 36". Add your disembark move and you can now effectively cover the entire board on deployment.

How does Phaeron increase the range? Phaeron gives relentless. Relentless lets you move and shoot heavy, ordnance and salvo as though you're stationary. The template is an assault weapon. Is there a rule I'm missing?

If the Night Scythe moves beyond 24" then the any unit that deploys from it can only snap fire. Templates cannot fire at all Snap Fire. However, Relentless allows you to shoot as stationary. Now that you mention it though, it's not 100% clear if that Relentless negates the snapfire penalty incurred from Invasion Beams. It's a movement related penalty, so I would think it would, although it's not exactly explicit either.

Relentless doesn't allow all weapons to shoot as though stationary. It only allows Heavy, Salvo and Ordnance weapons to shoot as though stationary. The template weapon fired by the Harbinger of Despair (abyssal staff) is "Assault". Therefore, being relentless does not allow it to fire as though stationary.

Ah, yes, that's a good point. Well played.