Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey everyone,
So I have recently acquired 1 Jetbike which I am going to convert to have a farseer on, 5 dire avengers and 5 wraithguard and want to make a 1000 point army for friendly games.
I am looking at going the cheapest way (money wise) and any sort of advise would be greatful!

So far I was thinking of adding in a battleforce which will give me a total of 800 points, here is the list:

HQ
Farseer on jetbike runes of witness 130

Troops
10 dire avengers, 1 exarch with fast shot 145
10 guardians with heavy weapon platform (Suncannon) 110
Wave serpent with scatter laser, ghostwalk matrix 130
Elite
5 Wraithguard with d-sythes 210

Fast Attack
Vyper with starcannon, shruiken cannon, ghostwalk matrix 75

For the last 200 points I was thinking:
Jetbike squad 51 (so the farseer can ride with them)
Wraithlord flamer, flamer, starcannon, scatter laser 160

That would leave me 11 points over but can take something off another unit.
Thoughts? Any suggestions for just adding to what I have (farseer, wraithguard, dire avengers) for a 500 point list? I want 500 points to start I think. I would probably just go with Guardians with no heavy weapon platform.
I would either be playing Tau (with a lot of XV8's and firewarriors with piranhas, stealth suits, broadsides, hammerhead lots of drones) or Space marines (whirlwind or vindicator, tac squads, scouts, bikes, librarian, terminators etc)
Just for friendly games at my house with some friends nothing competitive from these lists.

My suggestion for 500 points is to grab a battleforce and a spiritseer (or warlock to convert or whatever) and try something like this:
HQ
Spiritseer - 70
Troops
5 Wraithguard, D-scythes - 210
-- Wave Serpent - 115
10 Guardian Defenders, Shurican Cannon - 105
Total 500

I would have liked scatters on the Wave Serpent but making sure the Guardians have the range to actually do something besides sit on an objective is more important. This list gives you a tough, strong objective-grabbing unit that many armies will find extremely difficult to take on (try to kill Missile Launchers and similar heavy weapons with the D-scythes when you first jump out so the opponent is stuck wounding on sixes), the firepower of a Wave Serpent, and a nice little homefield squad with a Shurican Cannon so they might actually get to shoot something. Generally I would put the Spiritseer with the Guardians, generate conceal as one of your power and sit in cover for a squad that's very tough to shift. I highly doubt you will face a Land Raider, but if you do you will probably have to ram it. Something like a Leman Russ can be taken care of by flanking it with the Wave Serpent and firing off the shield.

Vampire Hunter has a good solid 500 list, and considering you want to boost to 1000 you have a good start. The battleforce+your stuff is fine, just add the jetbikes and your choice of something.

Your DA exarch can't take fast shot, and guardians can't take a suncannon(just a star cannon). In a serpent guardians can go naked, but you want a weapon platform if they are on foot

Combining your two lists for a 1k, I would go something like this.

Farseer on Jetbike
Spiritseer

GuardiansX10 w/scatter laser(starcannon or bright lance if you prefer, magnetize)
Dire avengersX10
WraithguardX5 w/d-scythes in a wave serpent w/scatter lasers, holo fields

Vyper w/starcannon and shuricannon

Wraithlord with scatter/star(dual lance or dual scatter are also good builds...MAGNETIZE!), dual flamers and glaive.

Rounds out to 1k. Uses battleforce and what you have, just add a wraithlord and spiritseer. You can alternatively drop some stuff and get the farseer a jetbike bodyguard or mantle of the laughing god.

I like where your going with this list, looks like a lot of fun to play! Take what I give you with a grain of salt and ultimately do what is fun for you. That being said here are some notes...

-Farseer on a jetbike is an awesome HQ!!! I run one every time I play. Either of the runes is tough to justify at 1,000 pts though, as they are one use items.

-As the good Dr. Serling pointed out, the DA exarch can't take fast shot :( His Shimmershield is nice in that it provides them with an invlun. save, and I think the model looks pretty cool!

-I'm sure the Suncannon with the Guardians is a typo. I think you meant starcannon. Definitely a cool gun, it wrecks Termies, but I'd say either magentize the model like the good doctor suggests, or play around with a couple different options before you glue the winner into place. The scatter laser and bright lance can be quite nice too.

-Wave Serpents are amazing. Amazing. The laser lock ability will give the serpent shield AND the shuriken cannon re-rolls to hit, which is awesome. The ghostwalk matrix is probably not necessary since, as a skimmer, it will ignore most terrain anyway. I'd suggest taking Holo-fields, as they will give you +1 to your jink save (making it 4+ most turns! Ignore 1/2 the shots against it!)

-Wraithguard are solid, and add a nice bit of toughness to the list. The d-scythes are cool, but they may be a bit pricey at this pt value. I'd give you the same advice with those as I did with the Guardian's weapon platform. Magnetize if you can (don't be intimidated, it's not that hard!) or play around with both options before you glue to figure out what works best for your style.

-Same notes on the Ghostwalk Matrix for the Vyper as the Wave Serpent. Replace with Holo-Fields.

Here's my take on a 1,000 pt list with your models, but again, do whatever works for you. After all, what the hell do I know!

Farseer 120
Jetbike
Singing Spear

Dire Avengers x 10 160
Exarch
Power Weapon and Shimmershield

Windrider Jetbikes Squad 61
Shuriken Cannon

Guardian Defenders x 10 120
Eldar Missle Launcher

Wave Serpent 145
Scatter Laser
Shuriken Cannon
Holo-Fields

Wraithguard x 5 160

Vyper 65
Starcannon
Shuriken Cannon

Wraithlord 165
Ghost Glaive
Scatter Laser
Bright Lance

AH yes I did mean starcannon just a misspell....I am still getting used to all the guns.....starcannon, suncannon, lightbeamsupermegastargun.

I will defiantly give the DA exarch a shimmershield (I have him modeled with one because its bad ass haha). Good to know about the skimmers I haven't used many skimmers. I will magnetize most of the stuff but I just left the Wraithguard with d-sythes because I liked the look and I don't play competative so people won't mind.
Are swooping hawks any good? I really like the models and they might be a good choice...but expensive since they are finecast. Would they be a good option instead of wraithlord? Or would wraithlord be better?

Ghostwalk matrix is good if you plan on landing or starting in terrain. If you immobilize, your holo fields stop working. It is by no means required, but it allows you to do some crazy stuff like land on the tops of buildings, ruins, middle of forests etc. Forcing units to assault through terrain has saved my bacon more than a few times. It is by no means required, but it is a solid upgrade for serpents, prisms or night spinners.

I agree that the shimmer exarch is great if you have the points, I left em out for other things, but it is a solid choice.

Swooping hawks and wraithlords are completely different things. Wraithlords are tough monsters for carrying heavy dakka or AT. They are used as fire magnets and gun platforms, with CC ability if needed. T8 is hard to deal with at 1k, particularly for marines. Tau probably won't have that much trouble. Your scatter/star loadout is great for punching heavy armor and forcing wounds. Enough dakka to dent a large unit, accurate Ap2 to threaten suits and power armor. Dual lances is also a great build if you find your light on AT(it will also instagib crisis suits and broadsides) You can use their CC ability as area denial, or play aggressively and rush something. The only enemy unit you listed that can threaten them in assault are terminators, you will murder anything else provided you can make hand to hand. If you have a spiritseer, a wraithlord can benefit from a spirit mark so keep that in mind as well.

Hawks are light, tactical threat removal. They can erase any unit with a 4+ save or worse. Drop in anywhere you want with no scatter, put down a large blast, then use the lasblasters on anything left. With sheer volume of fire, 6 birds will get rid of most things. They usually die after they drop in and shred something, but if they don't remember they have haywire grenades and they are fast enough to catch tanks. 2-3 birds can usually wreck a tank. They are not super effective against marines(except scouts) but if you target a small squad, they can usually beat it up pretty bad. Remember one squad member can throw a plasma grenade instead of using your fancy flashlight.

With hawks, always take 6(they come in a six pack) and I would suggest the exarch with a sunrifle. The AP3 helps punch crisis suits, and you can blind fire warriors(If any survive the onslaught). Against marines, Ap3 means tac marines won't laugh off your fire(and I have blinded more than a few tac squads). The exarch provides BS5 for your large blast, a 3+ save, a character and if you need to throw a haywire you get BS5 there too.

Hawks are cheaper points and money wise than wraithlords(if you buy new) so it would allows you to get some more upgrades in your list and save some cash. Overall, they are good, but very different units. I am a fan of both in utility and aesthetic. Neither is the wrong choice, so pick the models and function which appeals most to you.

For the list vampire hunter gave you, you can drop 1 d-scyth and take scatter lasers on the WS or take duel S-cannons so move 12" keep shield up for protection and dakka anything with the double cannons. The one wraithcannon will also let you kill a tank if someone tries to be sneeky in 500pts.

As far as I interpret it you must upgrade every Wraithguard with D-scythes, you can't pick and choose. If that was not the case I would definitely go with losing one D-scythe to gain a little anti-Av14 and put a SL on the Serpent and maybe a Starcannon or SL on the Guardians as well.

OP, I think the Wraithlord is probably better for you as you have pretty solid anti-infantry already. Even better would be a unit of Warp Spiders, but they are less money-efficient. I am also a fan of Dark Reapers, but of course they may not be easthetically what you want to go for!

Ya you can either upgrade the entire unit with d-sythes or none of the unit, which kind of sucks.

Swooping Hawks seem pretty awesome but I do think that the wratihlord might be better function wise. I don't really like the look of warp spiders the backpack thing is dumb haha
Dark reapers are just okay but I prefer swooping hawks and fire dragons for finecast.

I am going to start by just buying the battalion box which will give me close to 800 points so I can lay 750 easily then keep adding on that way
If I went with swooping hawks the list would look like this at 1000 points

HQ
Farseer on jetbike singing spear 120
Spirit Seer 70

Troops
10 dire avengers, 1 exarch, power weapon and shimmershield, 160
10 guardians with heavy weapon platform (Starcannon) 110
Wave Serpent with TL Scatter Laser, shruiken cannon, holo field 135 (Not sure who I would put in it but maybe the wraithguard since they have template weapons?)
5 Wraithguard with d-sythes 210

Fast Attack
Vyper with starcannon, shruiken cannon 65
6 swooping hawks with Exarch, sunrifle, 121

Total 991