2000 Point Pure Drukhari - Trying to be Competitive

++ Batallion ++ Drukhari - 1490

[HQ] Archon - Blaster, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Agoniser 76
[HQ] Haemonculous - Splinter Pistol (Relic), Agoniser, Crucible of Malediction 79

[Troop] Kabalite Warrior x5 - Blaster 50
[Troop] Kabalite Warrior x5 - Blaster 50
[Troop] Kabalite Warrior x5 - Blaster 50

[Dedicated Transport] Venom - Splinter Cannon x2 95
[Dedicated Transport] Venom - Splinter Cannon x2 95
[Dedicated Transport] Venom - Splinter Cannon x2 95

[Elite] Kabalite Trueborn - Dark Lance x2 95
[Elite] Kabalite Trueborn - Dark Lance x2 95
[Elite] Mandrake x10 190

[Fast Attack] Scourge x5 70
[Fast Attack] Scourge x5 70
[Fast Attack] Scourge x5 70

[Heavy Support] Ravager - Dark Lance x3 155
[Heavy Support] Ravager - Dark Lance x3 155

++ Air Wing ++ Drukhari - 510

[Flyer] Razorwing Jetfighter - Dark Lance x2, Splinter Cannon 170
[Flyer] Razorwing Jetfighter - Dark Lance x2, Splinter Cannon 170
[Flyer] Razorwing Jetfighter - Dark Lance x2, Splinter Cannon 170

The idea is that I'd put my warriors in Venoms, and have the Haemonculous foot slogging nearby to raise their toughness turn 1 and maybe 2. He'd eventually be kind of like a suicide bomber with crucible of malediction trying to take out psykers.

My Archon would either be chasing the Venoms with the Haemy, or hanging back with the Trueborn.

Dark Lance trueborn would be holding friendly objectives, and trying to take shots at anything big that comes in line of sight. It's the only reasonable unit I could come up with doing this job without just accepting that whatever unit sat back was never going to meaningfully contribute to my output.

Scourges are for contesting mid-field objectives being held by enemy infantry.

Ravagers and RWJFs do their own things, killing all the high priority targets they can get LOS on, which should be all of them with this kind of mobility.

Mandrakes I'm not 100% sold on, especially since I dropped a Ravager to get them, but I keep hearing really good things so I figured it'd be worth trying them out to see what I'm missing.

What do you guys think?

Cheers.

It's pretty solid and there aren't any bad choices in there.

Are you wanting pure Drukhari? A Farseer for Doom does some great things for Drukhari if you are willing to do that. That might be a bit unfluffy, but then so is having Coven Venoms transporting your Kabalites!

Personally I don't like the Trueborn with Lances, and would swap them for more Ravagers.

Mandrakes I find work best is squads of 5. That way you aren't risking as much if you fail a charge. Essentially Mandrakes are a better version of the Shardcarbine Scourges, and I would swap out the Scourges for more Mandrakes. The mortal wounds make them a decent option even against heavy vehicles.

I would replace one Razorwing Jetfighter with a Voidraven. My one has had a few occasions where it has paid for itself in one bomb, and the firepower with Dark Scythes is respectable too.

I suggest not switching tl splinter rifles for splinter cannons. It's 15 points for 2 extra shots, which js a terrible exchange rate.

I tend to give out blasters to lanceborn too, just to give a bit of extra oomph.

Switch the true born to min kabalite squads, and take 4 DL's on a unit of scourge. Swap out the other scourge for mandrakes, and drop the second SC on the venoms for more DL scourge or mandrakes, or more kabs in venoms.

All interesting options.

@Kantalla I recognize that Mandrakes have better output on the DS than scourges, but they also have 6" more movement, and fly. Being able to disengage and still shoot is awesome for tying up tanks you don't feel like having to kill this turn, and the 14" move makes it super easy to get wherever you need to be on the table even after the deep strike. Maybe I'm thinking about it in a too cinematic way, instead of how games actually tend to play out. Not 100% sure. I'll try throwing a list together with Mandrakes instead of Scourges and I'll see if I really miss the mobility or not. I'll look into buying a Voidraven as well. I don't have anything against them specifically, I just want to make it hard for opponent to decide target priority, so 3 of the same flyer gives no obvious choices, where the bomber would be the one to kill turn 1 if they can. Hopefully they won't be able to.

@Fueldrop I switch tl splinter rifles for cannons on my venoms because it's 14 points for 4 shots, not 2. Which is a better value than a shard carbine scourge. I tend to try to put my Venoms 17-17.5" away from the enemy. I'd rather lose 4 splinter shots on the warriors than give my enemy a <6" charge to tie up my blaster for the next turn. I am interested in trying to fill the table with more targets, so I may consider tl rifle venoms with warrior units without blasters. I feel like with 16 DLs on the table the 3 blasters probably wouldn't be making the difference most of the time... And more units means more table control. I don't want blasters on lanceborn, because I want the stock guys there to absorb bullets without costing me a gun. If they just need to kill 1 guy before they're taking out 26+ points/wound they're going to make a real point of going after them.

@wormfromhell I won't be taking DL scourges. Deep striking in gives them -1 to hit, then I'm paying for all the mobility I won't be able to use without suffering -1 to hit. They're also waaaaay too expensive pts/wound, and too easy to kill. Losing a 20pt dark lance every time a squishy unit takes a wound is not ideal. I'd be more likely to just bring in another ravager. As for replacing the shard carbine scourges with mandrakes, I'll look into that.

hi,how do you think to hold objectives with trueborn with no dedicated transports?in my opinion they are too easy to kill to hold an objective.

I'd leave them on friendly objectives. All DE units are too easy to kill to hold an objective if the opponent is determined to get them off. They're basically there to hold it until it gets contested.

Drukhari wrote:

@Kantalla I recognize that Mandrakes have better output on the DS than scourges, but they also have 6" more movement, and fly. Being able to disengage and still shoot is awesome for tying up tanks you don't feel like having to kill this turn, and the 14" move makes it super easy to get wherever you need to be on the table even after the deep strike. Maybe I'm thinking about it in a too cinematic way, instead of how games actually tend to play out. Not 100% sure. I'll try throwing a list together with Mandrakes instead of Scourges and I'll see if I really miss the mobility or not.

Mandrakes are also a reasonable melee threat, much more so than Scourges. The movement is an advantage to the Scourges for sure, although I haven't found mobility much of an issue for Mandrakes in the games I have played. I have yet to have a situation where my Mandrakes have assaulted a tank to tie it up and the opponent has left the tank there to deny my Mandrakes shooting. One other little benefit of Mandrakes is their -1 to hit applies in melee, and should they engage a tank, even if it is with a pile-in or consolidation, most tanks with WS 6+ can't hit them.

The other advantage of Scourges is they can land in cover to get a 3+ save, while Mandrakes would still have a 5++, so small arms fire is a problem for Mandrakes.

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I'll look into buying a Voidraven as well. I don't have anything against them specifically, I just want to make it hard for opponent to decide target priority, so 3 of the same flyer gives no obvious choices, where the bomber would be the one to kill turn 1 if they can. Hopefully they won't be able to.

A basic Voidraven costs the same as a Dark Lance and Splinter Cannon Razorwing Jetfighter. Even if it gets focussed down before your first turn, you are no worse off than if they took down a Razorwing instead. Plus it has a couple of extra wounds to make that more difficult to achieve.