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So last minute, I decided to attend a tournament in three weeks. Sadly I don't have 2000 points painted, so I'm taking what I have painted plus painting up as much as I can manage. This is my current list:

HQ
Avatar of Khaine 205p
Spiritseer 70p

TROOPS
12 Guardians (+starcannon platform) 128p
12 Guardians (+scatter laser platform) 128p
5 wraithguard (+D-Scythes, in Wave Serpent w/scatter laser, shuriken cannon, holofield, vectored engines) 370p
5 wraithguard (+Wraithcannons, in Wave Serpent identical w/above) 320p
5 Rangers 60p
5 Rangers 60p

ELITES
10 Striking Scorpions (+Exarch w/Scorpions Claw) 210p

HEAVY SUPPORT
Falcon (+scatter laser, shuriken cannon, holofield) 160p
3 War Walkers (+scatter lasers and bright lances) 210p

Total 1921 points

What I need help with is basically this:

1. What do you think of the list in general? What should I add in terms of wargear to reach 2000? Mind you, I'm taking all my painted units, and padding out the points to get closer to 2000, so I'm certainly not expecting to win much.

2. 12 Guardians and 5 Rangers aren't painted yet, so I have the option to remove them and instead add in some other stuff that I own and haven't painted, assuming I'll have time to paint them. I won't be buying anything new and I won't be removing painted stuff. The other unpainted units I have are
~20-25 Dire Avengers (the reason I haven't put these in my current list is because I'm not sure I want to rush the paint jobs, and only 10 are assembled)
10 Swooping Hawks
6 Fire Dragons incl Exarch
2 more Scorpions
3 Warlocks
1 Starcannon and one scatter laser Guardian platform
1 Farseer

3. How should I arm the second unit of Wraithguard? Only the D-scythe ones are glued and assembled, so the other unit is flexible. Wraithcannons? MORE D-Scythes? Close combat guys?

I think stick with Wraithcannons for the second unit of 'Guard, I'm not sure you'd find enough suitable targets (TEQ) for two units of scythes, plus cannons benefit from Spirit Mark if the Seer is accompanying them.

I'd be tempted to find a unit to go in the Falcon. Fire Dragons would probably end the Falcon too close for comfort to the enemy, perhaps a small unit of Dire Avengers (drop a unit of Rangers for them)?

Other option would be a pair of Warlocks for Conceal on the Guardian groups, or combining them into one unit of 20?

For any remaining points, Crushing Blow or Monster Hunter on the Avatar (or Fast Shot) or SS Exarch - at-initiative AP2 sounds great, but S6 isn't enough versus some types of target.

Great feedback, thanks! You're probably right about the Scythes. I love them, but there's usually one perfect target and when that's gone they're stuck either dying or not doing much else for the rest of the game. Cannons are cheaper and more versatile (although not as sexy). Hadn't thought about putting Avengers in the Falcon, that's actually a very good idea. I only use the Rangers because I love the models, but another (better) mobile OS unit to replace them wouldn't be bad at all. I've tried Fire Dragons in the Falcon and as you say, sucks for the Falcon when it gets stranded in front of the enemy battle line. Will also be upgrading the Avatar, although I fear that in a 2000p game he'll be gone pretty fast in most battles.

Mymearan wrote:
Will also be upgrading the Avatar, although I fear that in a 2000p game he'll be gone pretty fast in most battles.

At a tournament, I'd expect most players to have some solution to WraithKnights, so yes, he's going to get targeted but there's not a lot you can do about that as you're basically taking what's painted. He might distract the enemy enough for your other units to survive.
Is this for a local tournament or something larger?

It's a pretty big tournament, 65 attendees so far with a max of 150. Would love to have a Wraithknight in there but it's too expensive right now and there's no way I'd want to rush that paint job.

Would love to hear your opinions on the list in general, disregarding the fact that I don't have time to change that much about it.

Just going to throw this out there:

Wave serpents can do everything falcons can, but better.
Striking scorpians wont ever get to combat.
Avatar will be shot down really quickly
jet bikes are much better for scoring objectives that rangers.
Having both scatter lasers and birght lances on your war walkers wastes their shooting, you want either x2 scatters, or x2 bright lances.
Fire dragons are great in competitive scenes, I highly recommend dropping guardians for fire dragons and a 6 man squad of swooping hawks.

Thanks a lot! Unfortunately I don't have any more Wave Serpents or any jet bikes, so I'm stuck with the Falcon and probably at least one unit of Rangers. Scorpions, I have 10 painted, so will definitely be needing them even if they're not very good. Sucks about the Avatar, yeah, but it looks like I will be needing him to pad out the points. If I get enough stuff painted, I might switch him out for a Farseer. If I can manage, I'll try to paint up the Fire Dragons and Hawks. Good point about the Walkers though, I have noticed that the SLs are mainly good for twin-linking the Bright Lances which is a bit of a waste. Which loadout would you recommend in this case?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So what I could do is remove

5 Rangers
12 Guardians
Avatar

and replace them with

1 Farseer (w/Spirit Stone of Anath'lan)
6 Dire Avengers
6 Fire Dragons (+Exarch w/Firepike and Fast Shot)
6 Swooping Hawks ((+Exarch w/Sunrifle)

That's actually not that big a difference, painting wise. I'd be looking at painting up a total of 24 models (the second unit of WG isn't painted either) as opposed to 22. All of those are also assembled and primed except the Fire Dragons and WG. And I much prefer cool Aspect Warriors to boring Guardians. I'll certainly see what I can do. With this loadout I'm thinking Scatter Lasers for the Walkers seeing as I have alot of anti-armor already (WGs, FDs, Falcon). Might also be putting Vectored Engines on the Falcon if the Dragons are going to be riding in it after all.

combine the 2 units of guardians into 1 20 man unit with a warlock. This save you 1 pt so you are at 1920.

You can then drop the avatar which leaves you at 1715pts.

Add a farseer so now at 1815pts

Add 6 firedragons (can you proxy the exarch to be a normal guy?) to stick in the falcon
(don't go tank hunting with them necessarily), keep them back for a turn or two and get anything with armor that comes out of the enemy's deployment zone. Walkers and imperial knights should be the primary targets for these guys including wraithknights)
so now at 1947pts

drop one unit of rangers so no at 1887pts

now add 7 swooping hawks bring you up to 1999pts

so you'll have to paint 8 guardians, 7 swooping hawks, 6 fire dragons and the farseer. That's 22 models.

For the striking scorpions, be really be careful about where you deploy them. I've been using them more effectively as a defensive infiltrating unit to keep certain units or transports in their deployment zone or affect their movement rather than using them as run up and attack guys. Just because they are green doesn't mean they have to act like orks!

Anyways that's what I would do, Although I'd understand if you really wanted to use the avatar. He's really fun. I think disarming strike and fast shot is the best loudout for him. Most enemies that challenge you will have to beat you in a die roll by 2 if they want to use their weapon as anything but a pool noodle

Some great ideas there Rx8Speed, the only problem is there are also 5 Wraithguard to paint, so that would be a total of 27 miniatures and that's a bit too close for comfort... what I could do is just start with the Wraithguard, Hawks and Fire Dragons, and after that I'll know how much time I have left to either paint more stuff or just say screw it and go with the Avatar.

Ya that sounds fair for sure and the avatar CAN be really good. A game winner even. You just have to find a way to make him not die. Also giving fearless to the nearby guardian squads is really good