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Hello all, me and a friend are throwing down this Saturday for our first game of 8th Edition. He has 51 power level of Tau and I'm fielding my 52 power level of Chaos(which you'll notice is mostly Dark Vengeance models), so will be a fairly small casual match. We're the only two currently in our group which has enough for a full game of 8th, we're just playing Shadow Wars with everyone else, but the other lads will be picking up stuff in the future so as well as anything wrong with this list any useful next editions to it would be much appreciated. I'm playing Alpha Legion, not that it matters too much but I'd like to steer away from Daemons and the like, half for fluffyness and half because they just don't jive with me, only thing currently on my daemon list for the future would be a Daemon Prince.

Without further adieu, my list:

1 Terminator Lord - 7 PL
combi-melta, and power something

2 Chaos Lords - 5 PL
Power Sword + Plasma Pistol

10 Cultists - 3 PL
CC weapons + flamer

10 Cultists - 3 PL
Autoguns + heavy stubber

5 CSM - 5PL
Either bolt guns or bolt pistol + CC, not decided

1 Hellbrute - 8 PL
Twin Lascannon + Missile Launcher(I've no heavy support at the moment so thought this would work out nicely for now)

5 Chosen - 8 PL
1 w/ lightning claws, 1 w/ power maul, 1 w/ power fist + 2 w/ power axe

5 Chosen - 8 PL
1 Power Maul + plasma pistol, 1 Plasma gun, 1 flamer, 1 melta gun, 1 heavy bolter(that is WYSIWYG but I would just play as all plasma, or melta etc.)

Battle forged w/ Battalion + Vanguard detachments for 7 CP

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Okay that's it! Again, against Tau. I know he has a ghostkeel and a commander, the rest is all troops, some stealth and I think one unit of crisis suits so don't need much heavy weapons but need something for that ghostkeel. Termie lord will be teleported in hoping to charge and mess his dudes up. Feel free to rip this apart and say what I need! I don't need many excuses to buy more things

Hey there,

oh dear lord. where to start? I guess top down?

-You have far too much invested in HQ choices. 2 chaos lords at 5PL each make up 1/5th of your army. keep the terminator lord and drop the power armoured wannabes. at present your list is 17PL in HQ outta 52total. madness my man.

cultists die fast, but if they're what you own fair play, expanding out you want to be replacing these dudes with chaos space marines due to their durability. in larger games cultists become more viable, at only 3PL they'll be overlooked with bigger targets on the table and may score objectives. for now though; I guess they'll do. good choice steering clear of marks.

5 CSM for 5PL seem good. personally I'd kit them out with bolters, and one of the special weapons from your chosen squad. heavy bolter may work here?

Helbrute should suffice for such low points, he seems well equipped for a fire support role.

Chosen, woah. these guys are a hot mess.

-unit 1 at least knows it's optimal range is melee. could use a few unupgraded guys for ablative wounds, but seriously overcosted for what they do. may work here, but drop at first opportunity. use them for aspiring champs in squads long term.

-unit 2..... ouch. I hate to be a harsh critic but this here is 8PL of strategic suicide.
Here's why:
Range, there's no synergy with the ranges. the flamer need's to be within 8" of the enemy to be useful. the Melta gun wants to be close up likewise. however the plasmagun wants to ideally be sat at mid range, and the heavy bolter wants to sit back and out-range opponents. (against Tau, easier said than done).
Battlefield Role, Flamers and meltas can both be fired before assaulting. heavy (and rapid fire?) weapons cannot.
Mobility, again for that flamer and melta combo to ever see use, you need to be in the opponents face, which means moving. that decreases the ability to hit with the heavy bolter.
-if you're going to proxy these power armoured dudes for another loadout, I might suggest either missile launcher or lascannons havocs. these guys will supplement your Helbrute better and dish out some hurt.

hope this helps? the Tau list seems fairly optimised, may well be an uphill battle.
yours,
GamerGuy

Cheers for the feedback, and yeah agree that it is mostly a hot mess The help is appreciated! I'm just getting back into playing and building lists again so rather the "that's stupid, why are you doing that" approach so I can learn fast.

The loadouts on the chosen is WYSIWYG but my friend won't mind me proxying for other things. I might do as you say and go for a havoc squad of lascannons to take down those suits. then maybe invest in a havoc squad in future

The HQs, again it is a bit overboard and they probably aren't great since there's no rhino or anything so they'll have to foot slog it up the whole table, and it was mostly to fill the two detachments and I had one dude left over so he was dubbed a lord

One small point, gmerguys advice is all sound but one small rules mis-step: everything can charge after firing in 8th. Rapid fire, heavy, etc, there are no charge restrictions based on weapon type anymore. Heavy weapons suffer a penalty to hit if they move, and only assault weapons can be fired after advancing.

The ghostkeel will have -2 to be hit if I remember correctly, so charging in and teing him up even with stuff that doesnt have a great chance to kill him is a pretty good idea. If you opt to shoot you will know what it feels like to be an ork when hitting on 5+.

Mephistoles1, Cheers Pal! Still learning 8th, mostly studying battle reports as can't get my hands on a hard copy of the new rules :( thanks for the heads up!

Cheers Mephisoles1, the way I roll I pretty much feel like I may as well be playing orcs

Like I know I'll be goosed unless I'm in CC so the terrain and line of sight will be a big play here. Again, it's casual match but I don't want the shame of losing! I will have to check the PL of a havoc squad but if I can't fit it in I'll go full plasma for the ranged chosen and call it a day. See where we're at.

The ghostkeel only has -2 with stealth drones though right? I say only but still that's a lot of not hitting until I booped them drones