Wych based army

I've been doing some research into starting a Dark Eldar army and Ive decided I like Wychs. I like the fluff, the models and the fact that I wont have to buy them since i already own 40, so I was just wondering if anyone had any bright ideas for a army with only wych's for troops?

Not really the best troop choice, look at their strengths and weaknesses, enhance the strengths try to mitigate the weaknesses.

Strengths:
Combat Drugs
4++ Invul in melee
Initiative 6
Weaponskill 4
Haywire Grenades
Fleet

Weaknesses:
6+ Armor Save
Toughness 3
Strength 3

So first off one of your HQs would have to be the duke. If you're running all wyches the ability to pick 1 of 2 drugs is crucial.

Looking at the other stats one thing is clear. Wyches are going to die if they're not in close combat. They also can't kill anything more than 12" out. So you want to get them in close combat. Embark them on vehicles. Maybe give those vehicles aethersails. Once disembarked, they're vulnerable again which should only be an issue for overwatch. Which will kill some of them. The only defense they have against overwatch is Phantasm Grenade Launchers, which give them stealth so long as they charge 8" out. 6++ cover, and maybe more if you charge out of cover.

Now they're in combat. They will wreck most none marine units. Unfortunately, most players play marines. In this regard the most effective special weapon to give them are Hydra Gauntlets, much like our splinter weapons, you're best bet for killing marines is volume of attacks. Plus they mesh well with combat drugs since razorflails can potentially be wasted if you roll painbringer. Definitely take a Hekatrix in any 10 man squads you make.

Now that they're somewhat effective troops, you just support them. Fast troops: Jet Bikes, Heavy Support: Ravagers, Potentially a Cronos (Wyches need pain tokens, he'll have trouble keeping up though) Have one elite unit support the Duke, like splinterborn or something. Blood brides for suped up wyches, or any of the elite choices work really, barring mandrakes. And maybe throw in Lelith as a second HQ choice. The most pimped out wych evah!

Expletive Deleted wrote:

And maybe throw in Lelith as a second HQ choice. The most pimped out wych evah!

Also the only Wych in the Galaxy, who says no to drugs. Which is a shame, but what can you do?

I am also toying with the idea of a Wych/Hekatrix army with some bikers and beasts, but each time I try to compose anything even semi-playable, I get stuck on the HQ choices. Ideally, you'd like to go for a Succubus and Lelith for fluff and ultrafit gladiator chicks theme, but the army will need both pain tokens from Heamonculi and the drug dealing Duke, which don't not go with the theme so nicely...

If you don't mind not being very competitive, just stick your ladies in Raiders and Venoms and go for it. If you want to win a lot, well, wait for the supplement (which will hopefully come sooner or later) and hope for some serious buffs.

Mushkilla used to play a Wych/Succubus/Bike army. Check out his batt-reps for ideas on list building and tactics.

Peace!

Yeah that's one of my biggest beefs with the codex. If you want a wych army to work great you have to have the Duke. No offense, but they never should have given the contraband rule to the Duke, prevents you from getting Succubus in the army because of the crowded slot. Bump the succubus up ten points and give her the contraband rule, or better yet make it a warlord trait.

There's no duke model though, which is somewhat advantageous. You have to convert him anyway. Make up a character. Think of him like Destro from G.I. Joe! He's just the dealer for your wych cult.

I dont agree about Duke.

I think most Wych Cult armies should include Baron and Beasties or Hellions, not duke.

Drugs are ok, but at the end of the day, there are 1 defensive roll, 1 crappy roll and 4 offensive roll.
You have 5 ok results, offensive rolls however different they might be doesnt change unit that much. Wyches will kill stuff better. You dont need Duke to chose between them. THey are all ok.

My take for the Wych Cult army would be Beasties and Duke, Venom Wyches with Hekas, large units of Reavers and splinterborns as a shooting support. Heavy - - 3 lance ravs - - or 2 ravs 1 razor.

You should also understand what Wyches as a unit can do:

1) Eat small number (means feded enough poison) elite units with lower number PW atack.
2) Eat vehicles using haywires.
3) Eat low number (again feded enough poison) crap units dedicated to scoring like cultists, pathfinders, scouts, rangers etc.

As you can see they are not that great against average grunt with either good strenght or good number of atacks. Wyches either atack and sweep, or grind down with volume of atacks. You cant grind down what will grind you down, and if you try buy lot of upgrades to compensate this, youl make point investments that will ruin your army as a whole.



So in a Wych Cult army you have to decide what will fill that role. Good WYch Cult army will have a lot of shooting support, their assault will not carry the day, but it can seal the deal. And Haywire grenades are a reason enough to take Wyches anyway.

I don't really understand the inclusion of the Baron. He's great, but at the end of the day he does two things, he unlocks hellions as troops, and gives stealth to one unit. And the beast packs are just another assault unit really. Which by default this army has a lot of.

Sure all but one drug choice is terrible, but when 10+ units in your army have drugs Duke gives you the chance to fine tune your army, and dismiss the one crappy one. By fine tune I mean you look at your opponents army and pick the best tool for the job. Space marines? Painbringer. Guard? Adrenalight. Nurgle? Grave Lotus. Tau? Probably the pain token. Ha! And then, the duke turns one of your supporting shooting units into a beast. With 3+ poison shots. Reavers use drugs as well, and while you will almost never assault with them having the right drugs can make all the difference.

That should be a new after school public service announcement.

Having the right drugs makes all the difference. The more you know.

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And the beast packs are just another assault unit really. Which by default this army has a lot of.

Nope. It is not just another unit. It is a unit that must be shot and can survive, while most of the Wych Raider/Venoms will just go boom in a double time. You need those to survive, they are your only troops if you go Wych Cult. Beasts are in yourface unit, while wyches are backstabbers or opportunist unit. Baron gives +1 roll for first turn, which is more important then drugs.

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but when 10+ units in your army have drugs Duke gives you the chance to fine tune your army, and dismiss the one crappy one. By fine tune I mean you look at your opponents army and pick the best tool for the job. Space marines? Painbringer. Guard? Adrenalight. Nurgle? Grave Lotus. Tau? Probably the pain token.

You dont get to chose, you only got 2 rolls. So we are talking chances here. Inclusion of duke doesnt bring fine tuning, it just brings chance of maybe finer tune. Not worth it, in my opinion.

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Reavers use drugs as well, and while you will almost never assault with them having the right drugs can make all the difference.

I assault with them =). Having Arena Champion with Venom Blade is all the difference. Drugs help, yeah. But for Reavers pain token drug is a really good drug, as it bring them in Furious Charge much quicker.

Azdrubael wrote:

Quote :

And the beast packs are just another assault unit really. Which by default this army has a lot of.

Nope. It is not just another unit. It is a unit that must be shot and can survive, while most of the Wych Raider/Venoms will just go boom in a double time. You need those to survive, they are your only troops if you go Wych Cult. Beasts are in yourface unit, while wyches are backstabbers or opportunist unit. Baron gives +1 roll for first turn, which is more important then drugs.

So in all this time I never saw this was errata'd. I just assume his bones of the seer did nothing.

And I know you don't get to choose what drugs you want. But it does give you a choice, and generally there is a better choice out of two. It also increases your chance of getting the Splintermind drug.

I don't think it's a trap. I think it synergizes better with a wych army. If 10 of your units have combat drugs, and you roll hypex, that sucks, your bikes don't even benefit. now if you roll hypex and painbringer you can toss hypex and now 10 of your units reroll to wound. If you roll painbringer and splinter mind, you can choose for 10 units to reroll to wound, or start with 10 pain tokens. You go from having a 16% chance to rolling something useless to a 100% chance of rolling something useful, that will benefit half your army or more.

Baron increases your chances at getting first turn, but guarantees you nothing. Duke guarantees you won't roll hypex.

It is kind of funny we're arguing over which HQ is better for a wych cult, and neither are from a wych cult.

I would say 5 wyches with haywire grenades in venoms is the most competitive troop choice in the DE codex this edition.

As for reavers, in my experience the larger squads see combat quite a lot, in a shooty edition most armies don't field dedicated assault units, so reavers are comparatively actually quite good in assault (against guardsmen, marines, fire warriors, guardians etc).

Multiple 5 grenade Wyches in a venom is a competitive players choice. Add in Baron and beasts.

Duke and larger squads of Wyches work well more fluffy environment.