Mandrakes/incubi

Well Guardsmen are going up in points, but even anti-tank to make then -1 BS (1/2 wounds to a tank) against 3 tanks is better than killing 2 tanks a lot of the times, especially if you already have a -1 to hit.

Auto-hit tanks are different, but LRBC for an example, when hitting on 5+ and 6+ they dont really have much of a threat.

Making them move is important too, another reason you need terrain, without terrain then just take 9 LR's, etc.. if you dont need to move and can see everything then its just a free for all at who can shoot better.

I think he just got insanely lucky on his overwatch tho.

His lowest roll on turrets was 8 shots and his worst overwatch (with stratagem ofc) was 5 shots with the cannon which obliterated anything in my list. The terrain has many holes in it so he was able to always  see my ppl, I tried charging from behind a staircase but my mandrakes didn't make it and he had a tank that was covering the only LoS blocking parsk. Regardless of that, the hellhound would've taken out everything I had anyways from that point on, you can't kill 2 LRs and a Hellhound with a standard equipped archon and kabalite warriors with shredders in a raider.

As said the match was a poor testing ground for me since going against basically what was a local tournament list written by our best Imperial Guard player (he wasn't the one playing tho) vs a Drukhari playing WYSIWYG as much as possible while cramming in mandrakes for no reason other than to test them. I also specifically didn't want to bring so many blasters and venoms as to give my opponent a chance because right now in 750-1250p bracket I have lost only a single match out of 11 which led to for example my GF which plays Adeptus to not want to play against my Drukhari anymore.

But at this point I'm probably waiting for the chapter approved, if Ravagers don't get nerfed to crap it's probably time for some.

Out of interest, how many Mandrakes do you guys think are reasonable in a list?

Are they something you sprinkle in when you have spare points (or to fill slots in a Vanguard)?

Or are they something that you could take 30 of and build some sort of strategy around?

I've had success taking 2×5 mandrakes and holding them back til turn 3 as an objective clearer/counter deepstrike unit. My opponents always ALWAYS forget about them since everyone tends to deepstrike everything turn 2. Unfortunately they are one of the first things I drop as I power up my lists.

I use a unit of 8 in my first choice 2k list (it's all I have points for) but they always do solid work and are a good card to have in your pocket. Running 30 of them is something that I fancy doing one day it should be quite effective against some opponents against others it will tank but either way should be fun

I have a hard time fitting them into lists, honestly. Even a unit of five does work when I run them, but other stuff tends to do more work.

So just as a follow up. I tried out 30 mandrakes in a list yesterday. Ended up fighting a mostly infantry marine army and actually did pretty well. I brought 2 units in on turn 2 and the last on turn 3. I used them to handle some lone biker characters, camping scouts, assault marines and some landspeeders and they did all of it fine. They were ultimately responsible for overwhelming his objective and helped me keep him pinned in his deployment zone. Admittedly my opponent was having a very off day. But still mandrake bomb is a thing

Personally, I only bring either Drakes or Incubi to fill out Elite slots in my Coven Vanguard. Neither have Wow'ed me when they stand next to Grotesques.

Mandrakes die to small arms fire. 10+ bolters ruin their day.

Incubi cost a transport, and even then may not make it into combat.

Really cool models though (despite resin)