Guest Article: Draigowing Take 2

<- From Ron at FTW.

Recently Saramoff tried his hand at making a Draigowing list and explaining his thought processes and now Abortedsoul would like to have a whack with a different twist. In the end both lists are quite similar but this list has a lot more paladins and utilises different support around the Paladins. Let's check out the thought process!

Hey Kirbs! I saw Saramoff's post on Draigowing and figured I could improve it. It suffered from a very low hull count (3 Rhinos 5 vehicles) and a relatively small amount of long ranged fire support. Also, the foot-slogging Paladins mean they are vulnerable to lascannons and the like. Paladins aren't fearless, so the chances of them running poses another slight weakness. Let's see if we can't solve or at least mitigate these issues.

The only way to take care of the lack of hulls is, honestly, to remove them. When you yank the hulls out, the Grey Knight Strike Squads and Purifiers are no longer viable, but they are prime targets for any anti-infantry fire, so it's alright if they go too. Ok, that leaves us with Draigo, and Paladins as a core to start with.

The HQ slot is the sweetest spot in this codex, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste. We need someone who works well with Paladins, so Inquisitors seem like a good option. Any of the Inquisitors also give you access to cheap Servo-Skulls, which is always a good thing. Terminator armour on an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor gives you access to another cheap lascannon. As an added bonus, you can also grab a squad of Paladins a ride for a mere 55 points. Didn't I just say hulls were a no-no? Yes, but the Chimera can hold a squad of pallies, which can buy them 12" of movement and a bit of protection on the first turn at least. Sure, it will get wrecked, but it's not like the explosion is going to hurt your super-termies anyways, so no worries. It might even be a good idea to, after your 12" move, turn the back of the Chimera and dare them to blow it up. On a destroyed result, it would give you an extra 2" of movement, but this would be more situational.

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor-25
Terminator Armour-40
Psycannon-15
Servo-skulls-2
Warrior Acolytes-12
Chimera-55

With such a low model count, and an all but non-existent hull count, we could use some serious suppression in this list. Seeing as Psyfledreads are the best thing since sliced bread, we'll take 3. I wish we could take more, but we only get 3 heavy support slots. With any leftover points, we'll see if we can't grab a Venerable Dread.

When setting up the Paladin units you want each and every model to be unique so that you can allocate wounds as you see fit. We also need these guys to do most of the heavy lifting, so that means they will each be getting 2 Mastercrafted psycannons in each 5 man squad, minimum. Pallies can be worked up to taste, but here is what I got:

x5 Paladins-275
2 MC'd Psycannons-50
2 Halberds (one of these will be getting a psycannon)
1 Daemonhammer
1 MC'd Daemonhammer-5
1 Pair of Falchions (that both go into 1 hand for a Paladin, interestingly enough he keeps his Storm Bolter)- 5

This leaves us with 5 unique models, 2 MC'd psycannons and plenty of attacks at various initiative and strength. When in combat, this allows us to dump the dangerous hits on the guys who have already swung, thus further abusing our unique model paradigm. This is a bit pricey, and each squad comes out to a whopping 335 points. Outside of the MC'd psycannons we pay only 10 points to give ourselves wound allocation shenanigans. Good deal, we'll take 3.

The list so far:

Draigo-275
Ordo Malleus Inquisitor-86
Inquisitor Warband-67
x3 decked-out Paladin squads- 1005
x3 Psyfledreads- 405

This brings us to 1838. To square it away to 2k pick up x2 Single Paladins with Daemonhammers for last turn contesting shenanigans. This still leaves the list at 1960 points assuming the written points are correct.

The final list:

DRAIGO-275

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor-86
Terminator Armour, x2 Servo Skulls, Psycannon

Inquisitorial Warband-79
x6 Warrior Acolytes, Chimera (ML/HF)

x3 Dreadnought-405
x2 TLAC, Psybolt

x2x1 Paladin - 110
x3 Paladin Squads-1005
x2 MC'd Psycannons, Daemonhammer, MC Daemonhammer, x2 Halberds, Falchion

That leaves us with a fairly workable Draigowing at 2k points. To pull it down to 1850 you just have to drop the single Paladins and add a couple of upgrades or acolytes. Another option for the Warriors is to drop a couple and grab them a bit of gear to make them vaguely threatening (stormbolters or plasma guns) since they aren't scoring. I plan to just run them across the table in front of one Paladin squad to provide a bit of cover, but salt to taste.

How should I use this list?

Hang back with the 3 Dreads and pound out Str8 shots, advancing with the Paladins. Run 1 squad of the Paladins with the inquisitor in the vehicle, walk a squad with Draigo, and walk the third squad behind it.