1500 List.

I've somehow managed to go on a 5 game losing streak.

I believe I need help with my list:

HQ Archon
60
+15 Blaster
+ 5 venom blade
+30 Shadow field
110

TROOPS:
10x Kabalite Warriors
- 1x Blaster
- 1x Splinter Cannon
- Raider Transport
- Splinter Racks
Night
- - 195

10x Kabalite Warriors
- 1x Blaster
-1x Splinter Cannon
- Raider Transport
- Splinter Racks
Night
- 195


10x Kabalite Warriors
- 1x Blaster
-1x Splinter Cannon
- Raider Transport
- Splinter Racks
Night
- 195

ELITE:
Venom -65
-splinter cannon
Kalabite True Born = 48
Blasters x4= 60
Retrofire
178

HEAVY SUPPORT:
Ravager- 120
Retrofire
Night shield

Ravager- 120
Retrofire
Night shield

Voidraven- 165
Dark lances x2
Flicker
Night shield



Eldar Allies:
Farseer- 153
+Spear
Storm, doom, Stones, Bike

Guardian bikes x 3 = 66

I think with 2 Ravagers and your raiders AT wouldn't be a huge issue, I think the Blasterborn should be dropped for a nice melee unit that the Archon can go around with taking out big baddies, dropping the Archon's Blaster may not be the worst thing either.

I would say with those 123 points (using mental math) I would bring in a unit of 4 Incubi and maybe even adding a Cannon to your GJB's.

I love when I throw 4 Incubi and an Archon together, Tried and Tested sucess for this Archon.

What have your losses been against lately? What kind of problems have you been running into on the table?

Mainly Dark Angels with Dual LRs with Inv 4++ and the Salvo banner (making them fire a of 24 bolter shots each at 24", for a total of 48 shots together(this is bolters alone, mind you.)

And castling IG with Chimeras loaded with Autocannons/plasma and some manticores (hence the retrofire jets on my venom/ravagers)

Here's my advice, I hope you find it useful.

Your archon is fine. A shooty one can work, and included in the trueborn can make a fearsome mid-range threat. He can also split off from them and assault any threats your firepower can't handle.

As for the farseer, you'll have to explain how you use him. He's more expensive than your warlord, could you make him cheaper? Rulebook powers or codex powers? Do you have runes of warding? If you don't then you're missing out on the cheapest, most effective bit of anti-psyker wargear in the entire game! Teamed up with the jetbikes is ok, but they are very easy to kill so don't provide much protection for him. I assume you take advantage of their assault move to keep out of sight most of the time? Ask yourself if the farseer is really providing something you can't do without, and if the answer is no, then I'd drop him and the bikes altogether.

Your troops are fine, but I'd really get rid of the vehicle upgrades. Night shields should be useful vs all that bolter fire you are concerned about, but they are clearly not working for you. Just pre-measure to stay out of range of your opponent's guns. Also I don't advise gunboating, so the splinter racks can be dropped too. By all means stay on the raiders when it's less risky, but dismount when you assess that they are likely to be wrecked.

Retrofire jets? You can trim these surely? I don't see any advantage in deep striking close to an imperial guard gunline, especially with long-range ravagers. If you're worried about them being wrecked turn 1, stick them in reserve. You can also drop the night shields on these too, just pre-measure as before.

Voiraven is fine, again you won't need the night shields so get rid. I personally don't like the flyers....one VR is not enough for anti-air, and it doesn't come with missiles, so is it there mainly for AT? It's also too easy to shoot down just one. Another ravager will do the same job for less and will be on the table from turn 1. However, if it works for you then keep it.

Now, if you add up all the points saved from dropping the suggested vehicle upgrades, that's: 95pts
If you also drop the Eldar allies, you have now saved 314pts
If you switch the VR for a basic ravager, you have a grand total of 364pts to spend on some killer units.

I suggest more troops for a start - venom warrior or wych squads cost around 125pts each and add loads of AI & some AT to your force. Then it's up to you, depending on what you have in your collection....some reavers or scourges...more trueborn...some kind of assault unit etc etc

Trimming your list is a start, but tactics are just as important for a DE commander. Perhaps you could tell us a typical sequence of events: what goes wrong for you? Is it the same problem every time? There are pleny of people here that can give you some really useful advice on deployment, target priority etc. Alternatively it may be that you or your opponent have misinterpreted an important rule that has really shafted your chances, so giving a little detail will really help people help you!

I disagree with a couple of squierboys points...

Night shields should be on every vehicle or none. Make target priority hard for the enemy. Taking the off some vehicles just means they know where the long range shots are going. I personally will never field a DE vehicle without them...

I also don't agree with disembarking. Hull points make it less likely for us to actually explode so its now safer to stay on board! Unless taking an objective, needing that extra 6" of range or assaulting, I would almost never voluntarily disembark.

I do agree with everything else mind you!

Agreed on dropping the retrofire jets - IMO if your ravagers are not on the table for the first couple of turns it can be game over by turn 3 if your facing armour as raiders and venoms will just bite it. For instance, I am not suprised you've been getting gubbed by Guard (not me being insulting btw - I regularly get horsed by mates chimera wall of doom!) if you have x2 ravagers and a voidraven - all your ranged antitank - not coming on til turn 2+

Also, if your going all shooting then drop your archons equipment other than his blaster. The mixed role here is just soaking up pts @ 1500 for not much return, and you have no assault unit to accompany him with.

For me, mixed role big warrior squads cost a lot and don't do much. If you want to use those three raiders, then have one warrior squad of 10 with just an SC, and run 2x8 man wych units with haywires in the other two, and give the raider aethersails. Ramming them down the board in the first turn will make a guard player think twice about shooting at your ravagers and if the wyches don't suffer from exploding raider syndrome (ERS!) then they will wreak havoc amongst the bunched up tanks. This will work even more so against marine armies with LR's as you mentioned, though I am very ignorant of the new DA codex so can't help too much there.

The issue with not taking Retrofire Jets is that the Manticores will simply devour my army with indirect fire from behind LoS blocking cover. Perhaps if I dropped the Void Raven and put in another Ravager. But even then- if the IG gets first round and one below average round of Manticore shooting, he can still disable/kill all my ravagers.


I'm also not sure about ramming the guardsmen lines with my raiders from the get-go since the Chimeras can easily focus them down and then the Veterans inside can simply target the survivors of the wreck/explosion. Also problem with the DA LRs is that they negate half the hits I throw at them, and then open up with 24 Bolter shots a piece.

Oh boy, it really is a hard life in the imperial guard. Hiding away at the back, throwing out multiple S10 ordnance blasts is the work of a master tactician!

Always a tough matchup for DE, and other than hiding a lot of your stuff in reserve turn 1, there's not much you can do if they get 1st turn. Spread out as much as possible - consider flicker fields instead of all those NS so you get a save on turn 1. A 'below average' shot may scatter a long way (like off the board) or get saved and cause no damage at all! So it doesn't have to be completely one-sided all the time.
Are they always out of LOS? If you play with the recommended amount of terrain I can't imagine being able to hide multiple manticores completely out of sight. Reavers will get to them quickly and destroy them easily, but you'll not be able to do it turn 1.
If you get close to their lines quickly it makes the shots either impossible or a friendly-fire risk, but as you said, you have to deal with the chimeras ASAP. But once you have done that, the manticores will be pretty useless.
Allies can help if you don't mind using them. You could always take some guard allies and bring a squadron of vendettas to take them out if you're feeling cheeky! SM allies can provide drop pods that come in on turn 1 with a bunch of meltagun toting sternguard or tacticals, or a dreadnought. Lots of other options here I'm sure.

I don't know about dark angels land raiders (shrouded perhaps?), but personally I'd be delighted to face two of them with all the darklight we can muster (not to mention haywire & RJB heat lances). Even with some kind of always-on save, you should be able to stop them with concentrated fire or haywire in assault.