Sliscus Raiding Party

The current army I am painting. This list is more to be based on theme rather then function. I'm not out to win Ard Boyz but I certainly want to hold my own against someone. Pretty much everything is mounted or can move fast, the good part about this is that if I want I can take advantage of DSing everything. As follows:

HQ
150 - Duke Sliscus
65 - Haemonculus w/ Scissorhand
70 - Haemonculus w/ Flesh Gauntlet

Elites
175 - Incubi x 5 w/ Venom w/ Splinter Cannon
190 - Trueborn x 5 w/ 4 Blasters & Dracon w/ Venom w/ Splinter Cannon
133 - Trueborn x 4 w/ 2 Splinter Cannons w/ Venom w/ Splinter Cannon

Troops
195 - Warriors x 10 w/ Dark Lance w/ Raider w/ Flockerfield, Shock Prow, TGL
195 - Warriors x 10 w/ Dark Lance w/ Raider w/ Flockerfield, Shock Prow, TGL
210 - Wytches x 9 w/ Hekatrix, Agoniser, Hydra Gauntlets w/ Raider w/ Flockerfield, Shock Prow, TGL
210 - Wytches x 9 w/ Hekatrix, Agoniser, Hydra Gauntlets w/ Raider w/ Flockerfield, Shock Prow, TGL

Fast Attack
164 - Reavers x 6 w/ Heat Lance w/ Cluster caltrops
164 - Reavers x 6 w/ Heat Lance w/ Cluster caltrops

Heavy Support
125 - Ravager w/ Flickerfield, Night shields
125 - Ravager w/ Flickerfield, Night shields
165 - Razorwing Fighter w/ Flickerield, Night shields

Total
2336

The night sheilds on the HS choices are more because I feel they will hang back and pop most of the time, and that will deter shots from smaller arms like bolters that can still take them down. The Haemos go with the Wytches to give them a pain token from the word go. The shock prows and TGL are so the raiders can do something useful if they have no squads in them.

Obviously the total comes in at something which isn't feasible for normal play. So any advice at what I could lose to get armies at the 1500/1750/2000pts mark?

Looks good mate, I'm running a similar list to you, here it is:

The Sky Serpents Raiders

Duke Sliscus: 150pts

Archon (A'zuar Hesperian, The Serpent King): Agoniser(or Electrocorrosive Whip vs. T3 Armies), Venom Blade, Combat Drugs, Shadow Field, Webway Portal. : 160pts


Kabalite Trueborn (The Duke's Chosen): 8x Trueborn, Splinter Cannon, Shardcarbines, Dracon with Phantasm Grenade Launcher and Agoniser.
In Raider With Flickerfield. : 256pts

Kabalite Trueborn (Hope Breakers): 5x Trueborn, 4x Blasters, Dracon with Venom Blade, In Venom with Dual Splinter Cannon. :195pts

Kabalite Warriors (Dusk Stalkers): 5x Warriors, Sybrite with Venom Blade.
In Raider with Flickerfield. : 130pts


Wych Squad (The Exquisite Blade): 10x Wych, Shardnet/Impaler, Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix with Blast Pistol/Agoniser, all with Haywire Grenades.

Wych Squad (The Consummate Butchers): 10x Wych, Shardnet/Impaler, Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix with Agoniser, all with Haywire Grenades.

:375pts


Reaver Squad (Sky Lance): x3 Reavers, Cluster Caltrops, Heat Lance: 78pts

Scourge Squad (Shadow Haunters): x5, Solarite with Venom Blade, 2x Dark lance: 155pts


Total: 1499pts

Obviously the points are a bit out at the moment, I'm considering my options to jump up to 1.5k. Thinking more Reavers like you have, for that piratical theme and either a Razorwing or some Incubi. What do you think?

I've been running this list quite successfully against a variety of opponents, I tend to find at this points level twenty tarpitting Wyches jumping out of the webway is really nasty, plus the Duke with his Trueborn do an outrageous amount of wounds on anything with their poisoned 3+ Shardcarbines, it works on MC's or Hammer units really well.

I wouldn't consider myself any sort of a tactical genius but playing a Duke themed list myself I'll try and share some useful pointers.

@Vincenzo. I don't see the need for the Dracon in the first Trueborn squad. A lot of people say 3 Trueborn with Blasters works the best but I haven't tried them myself, simply recycling advice. I'm not a fan of Warrior gunboats, I think Venom squads work better but that's just me. I think you should specialise the Reavers more, go for just Heat Lances. I haven't tried TGLs but think perhaps they could be taken away and maybe drop a few shock prows. Wyches like Haywire Grenades. As far as dropping stuff goes, without doing the maths look at shaving points away where I've said, maybe the Reavers.

@Cam300. I've always pondered what taking a combat Archon alongside Sliscus would be like, please let me know. I can't comment on WWPs as I have no experience of using them. Duke's unit is really, really expensive. I'd consider the lite version, similar to what Vincenzo has gone for as it's less than half the points with a high fire output. If you still want a large unit then only take Splinter Cannons and Shardcarbines, ignore the Dracon too. Again, I'm not a fan of gunboats but each to their own. +1 for naming your squads. I don't think you need the special weapons on the Wyches and defo not the Blast Pistol. Do you have problems with tanks? There's a good reason most DE armys start off with 3 Ravagers.

Thanks for the input mate, very helpful. The Archon is great, his job is essentially to dash forward with the Warriors, drop the Webway and then lurk off. By turn four he usually ends up detaching and piling into a combat once the Wyches have tar-pitted stuff. As for the Blast pistol on the Hekatrix I get a lot of Dred's around me, so as you can imagine any chance to stun them before I Shardnet/Haywire them to pieces mean 4's instead of 6's which vastly improves my chances.

The Trueborn squad is very expensive, I may consider trimming them down, but the sheer amount of Shardcarbine shots they pump out coupled with the Disitegrator on the Radier nearly always gets the job done. Additionally the Dracon weighs in with five Agoniser attacks on the charge, him and the Duke normally mop up any survivors from the shooting on their own! I may well drop the Blaster in that squad though, as the Duke is a good shot with his.

As for the Ravangers I see how effective they are, but I don't see one in my list yet. I'm going to get a Razorwing when I jump up to 1.5k as I have already mentioned, I think Jetfighters fit the theme of the army really well!

If it works for you then go for it. It's nice to see a list that isn't cookie cutter. People forget that different areas have different metas. I really recommend a Razorwing.

@SkySepent; I've taken your advice and trimmed my Trueborn squad down, the Blaster was a bit over the top! so thanks! Can't wait to get a Razorwing in my army, I keep on looking at those Scourge models though... Not nearly as points efficient, but beautiful!

@Tordek - Are we ignoring the 6 man Reaver squads that are equipped like 3 man tankhunting Reaver squads? That's where I'd trim, maybe use the points to bring Wyches back in since theoretically that's a weakening of an anti-infantry squad.

That, or maybe trim Warriors from the Raiders, use that to at least also put the extra heat lance into those Reaver squads.

I think Tordeck included 2 HLs per Reaver squad, the total cost of those units seems to suggest as much

Tordeck that is really helpful advice. Like really helpful. I would probably try and tweak it so I can still include the incubi though because at the moment I only have the two wytches for CC, the rest of the army is almost pure shooting. I would maybe drop a reaver unit to put the incubi back in. The shardcarbines give the trueborn less shots for the same price however, what is the reasoning for changing that? two SC will put out 12 shots per turn in addition to the 2 SR the others will have, rather then 4 shardcarbines putting out 12 shots. Just wondering what the advantage is. Everything else is superb.

Mounted in a Venom though they would always get to use the Heavy 6 wouldn't they?

The " may fire in heavy mode" apply only to Vehicles, kinda like TL Plasma on Razorbacks (they count as stationary Rapid Fire).

Sadly, unless GW would change Fast Transport rules You can't move and fire heavy weapon carried by passangers. I'm not quite sure ih You can move 12", unload, then fire with Heavy weapons/mode (don't have rulebook near me but it seems legit).

Local_Ork wrote:

I'm not quite sure ih You can move 12", unload, then fire with Heavy weapons/mode (don't have rulebook near me but it seems legit).

If you're talking about the infantry, then no...

no, if the transport moves, the troops count as moving as well. So your option are

Transport sits still, both transport and troops may fire any weapon

Transport move 6, it ours my fire any weapon, troops may only fire at rapid fire or assault weapons

Transport moves 12, may only fire 1 gun and defensive weapons, troops cant fire.

Transport moves 12, fire 1 gun and defensive weapons, troops get out and shoot rapid fire mode or assault weapons.

Pretty much having heavy weapons in a transport just gives them an extra layer of protection. Personally I find it useless as they can just die in the explosion, and on ground they get a cover save.

If you want to drop the list down, here is what I would rin, with the same idea you have:


xx- Duke
175- 5 incubi, Venom W/ Extra Cannon
173- 4 Trueborn w/ 4 blasters, Venom w/ Extra Cannon
146- 3 Trueborn w/ 3 Blasters, Venom w/ Extra Cannon
200- 10 warriors w/ blaster, DL, Raider w/ FF
200- 10 warriors w/ blaster, DL, Raider w/ FF
184- 7 wyches w/ HWG, Helatrix w/ Ag, Raider w/FF
184- 7 wyches w/ HWG, Helatrix w/ Ag, Raider w/FF
184- 7 wyches w/ HWG, Helatrix w/ Ag, Raider w/FF

115- Ravager w/ FF
115- Ravager w/FF
155- Razorwing W/FF

total: 1996

put Duke with the small Blasterborn squad to give them a 4 blaster shot (in pistol form ofc)

This gives you a nice fire base with the warriors DL, that when shot down make durable units in their own cover. Wyches can tie up troublesome units and dreads, while the Incubi go and be the hammer to the wyches anvil. Ravagers on normal tank duty, while the razorwing can do its thing, then help the ravagers/ TB/ Warriors AT duty. Anything get to close, and Rapidfire with the warriors for some nice AI cleanup.