"Hey Kirby,
I am a long time reader and occasionally chill on the chatbox; I am getting my DE together for Lords of Terra. They were my first 40k army so i was already onboard the bandwagon to make the new book my tournament army for the next year or 2.
Kabal of the Iron Blizzard
105 - Baron
130 - 2 Haemonculi: Liquifier Guns, Venom Blade (Ride with Wracks)
151 - 3 Trueborn: Blasters
Raider: Flicker Field
151 - 3 Trueborn: Blasters
Raider: Flicker Field
165 - 9 Wracks: Liquifier (With Ld9 IC attached, no need for Acothyst)
Raider: Aether Sails
165 - 9 Wracks: Liquifier
Raider: Aether Sails
130 - 5 Warriors: Blaster
Raider: Flicker Field
230 - 15 Hellions (Helliarch didnt add much, plus Baron provides Ld & PGL)
166 - 6 Reavers: 2 Heat Lances, Arena Champion (Still debating over 1x6 or 2x 3, this way seems more reliable but the other options means more targets for the opponent to weigh up)
115 - Ravager: Dissintegrators, Flicker Field
115 - Ravager: Dissintegrators, Flicker Field
115 - Ravager: Lances, Flicker Field
1749
The Plan: Aggressive forward deployment with the Hellions held in reserve dependent on my opponent/mission. The Haemonculi are tagged in with the wracks from the start and turbo up one flank (most likely the one with largest concentration of longrange heavy firepower - something in their face will hopefully be scarier than the ravager lurking midfield) with the Reavers in support, while the main bulk of the army will deploy in tight formation on the table half i plan to flank. Hellions will be deep struck into terrain if possible but often away from the main bulk of the force, to take down Longfangs etc and provide a distraction from the main assault. There are no power weaponos in the wrack units as i aim to charge them into full strength MEQ units and not wipe them out on the charge (barring horrendous MEQ saving luck). The double Dissi Rav's are my elite infantry counters as i find people underestimate the threat they pose to anything out in the open (had people deploy THSS termies brazenly in the open, only to cry foul when the get vapoursied). By providing a high level of target saturation i am hoping for the Wrack raiders to be shot at mainly, while the TB/Ravs hang back from the main flanking front. The same applies for the Reavers, will be boosting the Raiders in formation to provide cover for the reavers to hide behind, forcing him to give me a cover save or just ignore them. This is all highly subject to change, but its not exactly a tactically challenging DE army to field.
This is my final incarnation of the list after a fair ammount of playtesting, and i was aiming to make it as hard as possible, as the comp score doesnt fuss me too much ( i am expecting a 2/5 anyway and sports will make it up). I would love to hear any reviews or recommendations you and the guys have on the balance of AT in the army and the weaknesses the list has. I am aiming to be in the top 10 at Lords, last year i didnt attend anything due to uni commitments but my last event was BiV, where i was placing first going into the last battle; after tabling 3 of my previous 4 opponents, and i somehow got awarded runner up sportsmanship prize... That one really surprised me.
All the best, any advice is really welcomed.
Love the blog, keep up the good work!
Morg"
Comp tournaments throw out surprises all the time. ^^. Anyway the list. There are a few things that stand out to me that I don't like. The Trueborn and Warriors are the biggest offenders. They aren't in Venoms and your overall anti-infantry ability is revolving around the Hellions, Ravagers + combat Wracks. The Hellions are great but they are only one squad and having a lot of your anti-infantry in combat is limiting. Disi-Ravagers work great but the ability to have 3 mobile DLs on a singular platform is hard to pass up as well... I wouldn't bother reserving the Hellions as they should have a 3+ cover save and you can start a Haemonculus attached to them to give them early FNP (this means no Furious Charge for a Wrack squad but I'd rather FNP/3+ cover on my Hellions). Back to the Venoms...they are going to add a lot to your army and I know there are no models released but I'd really look towards converting some for extra anti-infantry and better combination of roles between the units inside and the transport itself.
That being said I would almost drop the Trueborn entirely and run another Reaver squad (more reliable anti-tank and backfield suppression) and do something else with the excess points. You could grab some smaller Hellion squads or get another Warrior + Venom/Raider squad which keeps your saturation levels up a bit. If you can get Venoms though I'd be happy to keep the Trueborn and run the single Reaver squad (run them 6 strong as well as a minimum, 3 strong is too weak).
Shock prows are also going to be really useful and I'd prefer them over Aethersails to be honest. Being able to break your opponent's infantry lines are pretty important which these obviously provide and Raiders are pretty mobile to begin with.
I will say I am hesitant about using the Wracks as your main assault Troops. I know on paper T4/FNP/FC+poisoned weapons is pretty decent (particularly for 10points a pop + Haemon) but I'd just be hesitant without having any combat support for them.
See ya at LoT though :P.
