With the 1750 tournament out of the way for my Acolyte-based list, I'd like to move it to 2000 for the up-coming year and address a few of the issues of the original list. The most obvious of these is the Grey Knight Terminators - small squads just aren't worth it and although Coteaz + the Inquisitor made the shooting and combat ability of the unit more reasonable, they also increased the price by 189 points (whilst admittedly bringing their own awesome utility).
So what do we want to do for 2000 points? We already have the theme in mind - Acolyts in Passbacks supported by Grey Knights. We are trying to get a bunch of firepower in here, specifically Psycannon based whilst also having a counter-assault element in place. A Grandmaster would tickle me pink as well as I could play Scout games with my Purifiers but realistically isn't feasible and I wouldn't be maximising his benefit without looking to take large squads of Purifiers - something this list isn't really designed to handle.
So with that in mind there are two major changes I'd like to make. The first is upgrading the Grey Knight Terminators to Paladins and losing the TDA Inquisitor. This nets me the same relative firepower as the Terminators + Inquisitor combination whilst also bringing more combat punch and durability the the table and frees up a Troops slot. The Paladins are less efficient against S8+ weaponry but that's S8+ weaponry not going into my tanks so I'm happy with that. The major loss here of course is the servo-skulls and all the awesome utility they bring but that's something one has to deal with.
With this removal we can add another Acolyte squad with bolters and a Passback which brings our net Psycannon total to +1 compared to the previous list and gives us six more bodies - always nice.
The second major change is the backfield scoring element of the list. Currently the list runs small Acolyte squads in Psybacks. These are cheap and provide some nice S6 firepower from range. What the list lacks though is blasts and AP1 weapons so if we change these to squads of Psykers in Rhinos, well we fix both of those problems. There are some issues here though - Psykers are Ld8 so not exactly reliable in their casting and good luck casting that through a psychic hood (which will generally have a +2 advantage against you). You outrange psychic hoods though and can move and shoot so not all is lost but Ld8 is a hindarance and the unit will implode during Perils. However, they are still a ranged unit which is adding a S10 AP1 blast to my army for a decent price, I can handle the drawbacks. We'll chuck them in a Rhino for durability, add an Acolyte in case they do implode and a searchlight to make them a round even number.
With a bit of points fiddling we end up with...
Coteaz
5x Purifiers w/2x Psycannon, Razorback w/twin-linked Assault Cannons, Psybolt Ammunition
5x Purifiers w/2x Psycannon, Razorback w/twin-linked Assault Cannons, Psybolt Ammunition
5x Paladins w/2x MC Psycannon, 2x MC Halberds
6x Acolytes w/6x Bolters, Razorback w/twin-linked Assault Cannons, Psybolt Ammunition
6x Acolytes w/6x Bolters, Razorback w/twin-linked Assault Cannons, Psybolt Ammunition
6x Acolytes w/6x Bolters, Razorback w/twin-linked Assault Cannons, Psybolt Ammunition
6x Acolytes w/6x Bolters, Razorback w/twin-linked Assault Cannons, Psybolt Ammunition
8x Psykers, 1x Acolyte, Rhino w/Searchlight
8x Psykers, 1x Acolyte, Rhino w/Searchlight
Dreadnought w/2x twin-linked autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition
Dreadnought w/2x twin-linked autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition
Dreadnought w/2x twin-linked autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition
Totals: 2000 points
58 infantry
11 vehicles
We've therefore gained a lot of infantry bodies, a decent amount of anti-infantry, one relentless psycannon and two so-so reliable large S10 AP1 blasts at the cost of six twin-linked S6 shots, the utility of servo-skulls and increasing the points by 250. Our counter-assault unit is better and provides target priority issues to the opponent though they are also less efficient against such weapons. The Purifiers have lost their hammers which is a bummer but I'll take that with the increased awesomeness of the Paladins. Otherwise we still have a bunch of S7 rending shots, Dreadnought support and Coteaz utility.
All in all seems solid though the Psykers and Ld8 will need some testing - how reliable will they be and will it simply result in my opponent spreading out or will I get some actual damage out of them?
