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I'm posting this list for a friend (I don't usually play Imperium armies), he'd like some feedback. I personally think the list is viable and can do quite well.

A little background on the gaming scene: extremely competitive (every broken spam army you can conceive, we can end up facing), no ITC rules used (so don't talk about giving up secondary objectives or the like: we don't even know what those are, ITC is not used in Italy)

So, here's the list:

Outrider detachment (Adeptus Custodes):

Shield-captain on dawneagle jetbike, hurricane bolter, misericordia, relic: auric aquilas, warlord: superior creation
3 vertus praetors, 3 hurricane bolters
3 vertus praetors, 3 hurricane bolters
3 vertus praetors, 3 hurricane bolters


Outrider detachment (Sisters of Battle):

Celestine, 2 geminae
6 dominions, 4 meltaguns, combi-melta on dominion superior, in a sororitas Repressor with extra storm bolter
6 dominions, 4 meltaguns, combi-melta on dominion superior, in a sororitas Repressor with extra storm bolter
6 dominions, 4 meltaguns, combi-melta on dominion superior, in a sororitas Repressor

1999

The idea is for dominions to advance before thestart, so they will be in range for meltaguns in the first turn, after they move. Screens against deepstrike don't help here, they just move between them. They are quite mobile, and put out an impressive amount of damage, especially against big targets (the bikes provide dakka for the rest of the stuff). Custodes bikes take care of hordes and screens, then assaut where needed. He can deepstrike one or two units if needed. Celestine does what Celestine does.

The whole army is very fast, and very resilient too: in a meta where infantry hordes are a thing, all anti-infantry guns are pretty useless here, only big guns will put a dent in those models (I think making many weapons essentially useless is one of the strengths of this list). And hordes do not survive long against 120 bolter shots (that hit on a rerollable 2+). 8 drops will also help in getting first turn against most armies.

That said, there are some glaring weaknesses. First, the list lacks any backfield presence or any sort of screen, so opponents will not have any problems deepstriking where they want. It has a low model count, making controlling and keeping objectives harder, especially in Maelstrom missions (this can be partially mitigated by the speed of those units, and custodes having ObSec, but it's still an issue). The list also has very few CPs, making using the (really good) Custodes Stratagems a lot harder than in the classic bikes + guard detachments lists. Finally, almost no psychic defense, and mortal wounds hurt (although the nerf to Smite that will come in the near future could provide some relief from that). He could use the Impregnable Mind warlord trait instead of FnP to help with that, but it's still only one DtW.

Despite these flaws, I still think the list can be very competitive, but I'd like to hear what others have to say. Any thoughts?

I think you've covered it’s mostly. Strong list but has some serious hard counters (first turn alpha strikes)

JayGee wrote:
I think you've covered it’s mostly. Strong list but has some serious hard counters (first turn alpha strikes)

The alpha strike needs to seriously cripple his forces, though, otherwise it's not very useful. And all the units there are quite resilient, not many alpha strike lists can deal with them. I also don't think many alpha strike lists are used competitively, due to the prevalence of screening units and deepstrike deniers that can seriously mess with their gameplan (and in tournaments, which is where we play most of the times, you can't bring a list that loses most of the times against something as common as SM scouts or nurglings...)

8 flyrants and 2 mawlocs. A massive alpha strike list and can easily deal with this list due to the massed mortal wounds I can dish out. And yes it is a viable competitive list, it can smash reaper spam.

But it is a strong list nonetheless. The dominions can simply through/around most screens. So your opponent has to screen well vs this list. Also with very few drops you’re likely to get the +1 to go first.

Well they need to cripple the repressors. Then that’s all of the anti tank crippled, footslogging dominions aren’t so good. Like I said, it’s a strong list. It will do well against a lot of lists and may pull off a surprise or two at tournaments but I’d be impressed if it didn’t take a few poundings along the road aswell.

Minimanj wrote:
8 flyrants and 2 mawlocs. A massive alpha strike list and can easily deal with this list due to the massed mortal wounds I can dish out. And yes it is a viable competitive list, it can smash reaper spam.

But it is a strong list nonetheless. The dominions can simply through/around most screens. So your opponent has to screen well vs this list. Also with very few drops you’re likely to get the +1 to go first.

I’d be surprised to see the spam Flyrant list beat this one – especially if the beta smite rule gets put in, in the up-coming faq.

Even then, this list could just easily give up first turn, back line and then hit the Flyrants turn 2. The bikes and Captain alone, I’d reasonably expect to kill 3 of the 8. The melta’s and Celestine to kill another 1-2 as well.

After that, it’d just be a case of killing the other 3 Flyrants and 2 Mawlocs.

Even with easy smite spam, it’d be easy enough to castle up and protect everything with all 3 Repressors.

In regards to the backline issue – I think your mate would have to just go all in most of the time. It’s going to leave some gaps, but staying as one block will help him power through a lot of threats.