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Hey, i'm new to war gaming (had my first game yesterday against orks and managed to win). I'm very new to the rules and have very much jumped into the deep end by learning the game through playing as many games as possible. The points I am working with is 1500 and although I will be buying more units in the future what I have now will have to do as I am scheduled to face orks, tyranids, space marines and necrons in a few days. My available units are:

+ HQ+
1x Commander
2x Etherial

+ Troops +
20x Fire Warriors / Breachers

+ Fast Attack +
25x Drones (Missile/Marker/Gun as I have the pieces fore them to be interchangeable)

+ Elites +
1x XV104 Riptide
6x XV8 Battlesuits

+ Heavy Support +
2x XV88 Broadsides
1x TX7 Hammerhead / TX78 Skyray

The army that I came up with to fit the 1500 points limit is:

HQ (254pts)
- Commander
XV8 Commander Crisis Suit
2x Burst Cannon, Drone Controller , Multi-Tracker, Neuroweb System Jammer , Puretide Engram Neurochip , Stimulant Injector , XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit

- 2x MV1 Gun Drone (These are paired with the commander)
2x Twin-linked Pulse Carbine

- Ethereal (This is used to buff one of my fire warriors because I had the points to fit it in)
Honour Blade , Hover Drone

Elites (532pts)
- XV104 Riptide Battlesuits
Early Warning Override , Ion Accelerator , Riptide Shield Generator, Twin-linked Fusion Blaster

- XV8 Crisis Battlesuits Team (x3 Units) (171pts)
Crisis Shas'ui (x3) (When I put x3 I mean all the units in this team have this upgrade sorry if my layout is confusing)
Early Warning Override, 2x Plasma Rifle (x3)

- XV8 Crisis Battlesuits Team (x3 Units) (171pts)
Crisis Shas'ui (x3)
Early Warning Override , 2x Fusion Blaster (x3)

Troops (250pts)
- Strike Team (125pts)
8x Fire Warrior with Pulse Rifle
DS8 Tactical Support Turret
Fire Warrior Shas'ui
2x MV7 Marker Drone
(Etherial Goes Here)

- Strike Team (125pts)
8x Fire Warrior with Pulse Rifle
DS8 Tactical Support Turret
Fire Warrior Shas'ui
2x MV7 Marker Drone

Fast Attack (168pts)
- Drones (168pts)
12x MV1 Gun Drone
12x Twin-linked Pulse Carbine
(Commander Goes Here - Idea was it would destroy most of the ork horde I would be facing)

Heavy Support (303pts)
- TX7 Hammerhead Gunships (125pts)
Railgun, Twin-linked Smart Missile System

- XV88 Broadside Battlesuits (178pts)
Broadside
Twin-linked High-Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System
2x MV8 Missile Drone

Broadside
Twin-linked High-Yield Missile Pod, Twin-linked Smart Missile System
2x MV8 Missile Drone

Total Points: 1507

As i'm very new to the rules and not sure what each weapon / unit does or how it works i'm hoping I could receive advice on how best I could use the Units I have available to me to improve this list or perhaps scrap this list and make an entirely new list that i'd be able to use at a pretty basic level which would help me learn the game whilst having a chance in normal games.

Any questions or queries be happy to ask although i'm afraid I may not be able to fully answer a question such as "Why have you added this over this" or "Why have a drone here?" as most of the decisions I made for this list was based on advice given from friends, quick research and units I thought looked good But i'd happily attempt to answer any questions and any advice will be greatly appreciated!

(PS - this is my first post, so i'm sorry if the format is incorrect or my layout was sloppy)

Welcome to the greater good! Given your collection, this is a pretty solid list. A few comments for consideration though:

1. I don't see the point in equipping your Commander with a Puretide Engram Neurochip. The Gun Drones don't really benefit from the special rules. Additionally, that is one massive unit (Commander + 14 Gun Drones). The tabletop footprint is huge making deep-strike and jump shoot jump tricky. I would break up the Drones and spread them around.
2. Early Warning Overrides on Crisis suits are just okay. I can see an argument for keeping them on the Plasma Rifles, but don't see the Fusion Blasters ever being in a position to use them. Fusion teams are primarily back-field tank/monster hunters, which means deep-striking, which means Interceptor doesn't do much for them. I would drop the EWOs.
3. The Marker Drones don't do much for the Fire Warriors. The reason for this is because the Drones fire simultaneously with the rest of the squad, meaning the Fire Warriors can't benefit from their own Markerlight tokens. I would drop the Drones completely or replace them with Gun Drones. Gun Drones have more synergy with Fire Warriors.
4. Sky Rays are way better than Hammerheads in almost every situation. Make this a Sky Ray and give yourself some anti-air defence in the process.
5. If you lose the Marker Drones from the Fire Warrior teams, (which I think you should do), you have no Markerlight support. Luckily, you have the models to make one of the best Markerlight sources in the codex, a Commander with Drone Controller attached to Marker Drones. This unit is amazing with BS5 Markerlights that jump shoot jump and a big bad Iridium Commander in front to tank wounds.

Considering what you have in your collection, I propose

HQ - Commander: Drone Controller, Iridium Armour, 2x Missile Pod, Target Lock, 2x Marker Drone (177) He goes with the Fast Attack Marker Drones.

ELITE - Riptide: Ion Accelerator, Twin-Linked Fusion Blaster, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector (225)

ELITE - 3x XV8 Crisis Suits: 6x Plasma Rifle, 2x Gun Drone (180)

ELITE - 3x XV8 Crisis Suits: 6x Fusion Blaster, 2x Gun Drone (180)

TROOP - Strike Team: 10x Pulse Rifle, Support Turret (100)

TROOP - Strike Team: 10x Pulse Rifle, Support Turret (100)

FAST ATTACK - Drones: 4x Marker Drone (56) Goes with Commander.

FAST ATTACK - Drones: 6x Gun Drone (84)

FAST ATTACK - Drones: 6x Gun Drone (84)

HEAVY SUPPORT - Sky Ray: 6x Seeker Missile, 2x Networked Markerlight, Smart Missile System, Blacksun Filter, Point Defense Targeting Relay (126) I don't really want the Targeting Relay, but there were ten points left over and it may come in handy.

HEAVY SUPPORT - Broadside: High-Yield Missiles, Smart Missile System, 2x Missile Drone, Early Warning Override (94)

HEAVY SUPPORT - Broadside: High-Yield Missiles, Smart Missile System, 2x Missile Drone, Early Warning Override (94)

Total: 1500 Points on the dot

I tried to keep the original army concept in tact. I made your Commander into a Markermander. These guys are totally awesome. Keep the Commander in front of the Drones to tank wounds and only Look Out Sir onto the Drones if you get hit with AP2. I turned your Hammerhead into a Sky Ray and put Early Warning Overrides on the Broadsides. I split up the Gun Drones into two squads of six. This gives you more board control and survivability. You could build a Hunter Cadre with this, too, for some Coordinated Firepower goodness. I hope this helps!

 counterwavecounter wrote:
Welcome to the greater good! Given your collection, this is a pretty solid list. A few comments for consideration though:

1. I don't see the point in equipping your Commander with a Puretide Engram Neurochip. The Gun Drones don't really benefit from the special rules. Additionally, that is one massive unit (Commander + 14 Gun Drones). The tabletop footprint is huge making deep-strike and jump shoot jump tricky. I would break up the Drones and spread them around.
2. Early Warning Overrides on Crisis suits are just okay. I can see an argument for keeping them on the Plasma Rifles, but don't see the Fusion Blasters ever being in a position to use them. Fusion teams are primarily back-field tank/monster hunters, which means deep-striking, which means Interceptor doesn't do much for them. I would drop the EWOs.
3. The Marker Drones don't do much for the Fire Warriors. The reason for this is because the Drones fire simultaneously with the rest of the squad, meaning the Fire Warriors can't benefit from their own Markerlight tokens. I would drop the Drones completely or replace them with Gun Drones. Gun Drones have more synergy with Fire Warriors.
4. Sky Rays are way better than Hammerheads in almost every situation. Make this a Sky Ray and give yourself some anti-air defence in the process.
5. If you lose the Marker Drones from the Fire Warrior teams, (which I think you should do), you have no Markerlight support. Luckily, you have the models to make one of the best Markerlight sources in the codex, a Commander with Drone Controller attached to Marker Drones. This unit is amazing with BS5 Markerlights that jump shoot jump and a big bad Iridium Commander in front to tank wounds.

Considering what you have in your collection, I propose

HQ - Commander: Drone Controller, Iridium Armour, 2x Missile Pod, Target Lock, 2x Marker Drone (177) He goes with the Fast Attack Marker Drones.

ELITE - Riptide: Ion Accelerator, Twin-Linked Fusion Blaster, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector (225)

ELITE - 3x XV8 Crisis Suits: 6x Plasma Rifle, 2x Gun Drone (180)

ELITE - 3x XV8 Crisis Suits: 6x Fusion Blaster, 2x Gun Drone (180)

TROOP - Strike Team: 10x Pulse Rifle, Support Turret (100)

TROOP - Strike Team: 10x Pulse Rifle, Support Turret (100)

FAST ATTACK - Drones: 4x Marker Drone (56) Goes with Commander.

FAST ATTACK - Drones: 6x Gun Drone (84)

FAST ATTACK - Drones: 6x Gun Drone (84)

HEAVY SUPPORT - Sky Ray: 6x Seeker Missile, 2x Networked Markerlight, Smart Missile System, Blacksun Filter, Point Defense Targeting Relay (126) I don't really want the Targeting Relay, but there were ten points left over and it may come in handy.

HEAVY SUPPORT - Broadside: High-Yield Missiles, Smart Missile System, 2x Missile Drone, Early Warning Override (94)

HEAVY SUPPORT - Broadside: High-Yield Missiles, Smart Missile System, 2x Missile Drone, Early Warning Override (94)

Total: 1500 Points on the dot

I tried to keep the original army concept in tact. I made your Commander into a Markermander. These guys are totally awesome. Keep the Commander in front of the Drones to tank wounds and only Look Out Sir onto the Drones if you get hit with AP2. I turned your Hammerhead into a Sky Ray and put Early Warning Overrides on the Broadsides. I split up the Gun Drones into two squads of six. This gives you more board control and survivability. You could build a Hunter Cadre with this, too, for some Coordinated Firepower goodness. I hope this helps!

Thanks! This will help alot. I have a question though, is it still worth just having the 2 units of gun drones on their own? I'm don't know much about if gun drones are good on their own so I was just wondering.

 Brytsyt wrote:


Thanks! This will help alot. I have a question though, is it still worth just having the 2 units of gun drones on their own? I'm don't know much about if gun drones are good on their own so I was just wondering.

Gun Drones are pretty good. They can Deep Strike, which is great for board position and, despite being BS2, they pump out good firepower with the Twin-Link. The jet pack assault move makes them pretty maneuverable and they can be used for screening your other units from assault or, worse case scenario charging into assault to hold something up for a turn or two. They cause pinning, which will be good against your Ork opponent. There are lots of uses for Gun Drones

They wouldn't be my first choice to fill 168 points, but with what you have, they're a good include.

I like the list counterwave wrote up, but would amend:

Crisis suits as one big crew. 4 dual PRs, 2 dual FBs with target locks. 1 Vre with the MSS and C&CN. They will kill most units in the game.

I like to have the Cmdr join them, but with two guns and the PENchip and Irid, etc.