"Hi Kirby,
Firstly thanks for the time and effort you put in to the blog. Its an island of sensible and considered discussion in a sea of... well, you know - whatever it is the internet is made of.
I discovered this crazy world of 40k blogging less that a year ago and started my own blog last October. Not sure if you have noticed "A Plague Spreads..." but you can find it at http://aplaguespreads.blogspot.com. Its a combination of list design and unit analysis on the one hand, fan codices and hobby progress on the other. If you have a look let me know what you think.
Anyway, I'm a little weak in the tactics and strategy department and I need some help with my new Draigo-Wing list. I've had a couple of games and was pretty successful, given the inherent weaknesses of the list, with a win and a close loss - Abaddon killed 8 Paladins in the last two turns... My list is heavily based on the one posted by Zjoekov on your blog. Here is my original list - yes I play mostly around the 1500 mark:
Draigo Wing (Karamazov Style) 1500
Draigo 275
Karamazov 200
5 Paladins - 2 psycannons (1 MC), 2 hammer, 2 halberds 635
5 Paladins - 2 psycannons, 2 hammer, 2 halberds 630
2 x Venerable Dreadnought - 2 twin-linked autocannons, psybolts 390
That worked well, but I really want to swap out for a Librarian to get my hands on that 3+ cover save, Quickness (who needs Halberds?), 2d6 armour pen and dangerous terrain for assaulters. PLUS a psychic hood - what a bargain! And hes cheaper, so I get the points I need to mastercraft my psycannons. So I'm looking at changing to something like this:
Draigo Wing (Libby Style) 1500
Draigo 275
Librarian - shrouding, sanctuary, might of titan, quickness, servo skull 175
5 Paladins - 2 MC psycannons, 1 hammer, 1 halberd, 3 swords (1 MC) 645
5 Paladins - 2 MC psycannons, 2 hammers, 3 halberds (1 MC) 645
2 x Venerable Dreadnought - 2 twin-linked autocannons, psybolts 390
My tactical ideas are to protect the second Paladin squad by deep striking it. Using Draigo's +1 on the reserve rolls, I'll see them turn two more often than not. And the servo skull should help with scatter. Draigo and the Librarian join the first squad so you end up with a lot of Initiative 10 assault madness, with Draigo to tank any missile, lance and lascannon shots.
If I took the above up to 1750 I would add another Dread and a lone Paladin with a hammer.
Thanks for any advice you can give!"
I prefer the 2nd list. Karadread is really only going to help a single squad in an attempt to limit the scissors to the Paladin's rock so your opponent is simply going to target the other squad. The Libby then adds a ton of utility which is great and saves points. Don't rely on Quicksilver over Halberds though as it only lasts during your turn so the Halberds can really help in your opponent's turn. Rather than MCing some of the weapons with those extra points I'd turn the 2 Ven Dreads into three Psyfledreads. Less survivable but 33% more firepower is nice to have. Any spare points should go into skulls for the Libby.
In terms of tactics I wouldn't want to reserve the Pally squads as that's a lot of firepower and your opponent can simply focus fire the other squad. Rather use them as a midfield unit which simply walks across the field shooting all the way. All Draigo based lists aren't going to have a ton of shooting power as they focus a lot of durability so you need to make sure you can shoot as much as possible for as long as possible. Dreads obviously can stay in the backfield or advance behind the Paladians and provide support.
To move up to 1750 and 2000 I'd look to add as many units with psycannons and stormbolters as possible. Whether this is GKSS/Purifiers + Psybacks or GKT and Interceptors you've got your core army down and now need to add support elements. These guys push for midfield and stay there whilst the Paladins can be more aggressive if required due to their improved combat stature. In the end though remember a Draigo based list is always going to be rock-like which hates lots of S8+ AP2- shots. Shrouding helps with this but armies like Dark Eldar make you weep.
Edit: This wasn't clear and jcd386 pointed it out so I'll make it clearer. I don't think Draigo is a viable HQ at this points level because you're not going to get the maximum benefit out of him. This is what I was alluding to above in terms of the rock army as this is much more pronounced at 1500 than 2000.
