1750 for GT in Jan

Personally I would not waste the Night Field upgrade on any Raider that you are going to lead and assault with. The upgrade will be useless when your in assault range of anything.

I'll admit I'm a MSU obsessive sorta guy, but here's my thought;

2 squads of 10 warriors w. S.Cannons in Raiders w. Blasters = 370 points

2 Lances
2 Blasters
After moving 6" 16 S. Rifle shots. 8 S.Cannon shots
2 Scoring units

2 squads of 5 warriors w. Blasters in Raiders + 1 squad of 5 Warriors w. Blaster in Venom w. extra S.Cannon = 385 points

2 Lances
3 Blasters
After moving 6" 24 S. Rifle shots. 12 S.Cannon shots
3 Scoring units

So - +8 rifle shots +4 S.Cannon shots +1 Blaster shot +1 Scoring Unit for 15 more points? I say value indeed right there.

Easy point save is to drop two Night Shields, I actually agree that they're not bad for a unit that is getting up in the opponent's face (frankly I think they're more useful up close)...but at the same time, since the Wyches are going to hop out immediately and not sit in it shooting, and they aren't leaving anything inside of it shooting - you're paying 20 points to protect two Dark Lances. Meh. Really worth it?
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Okay, working with your list *as you designed it* I am of the opinion that Option 1 is the better overall list.

The weak angle as I see it is the Incubi. Lacking grenades they will always be a situational attack option. Also, considering how much anti-infantry is in the list I'm not sure you're suffering for want of more anti-infantry options that can only assault units without power weapons that are also not in/behind cover. I'd drop them for a Raider and Wyches, personally. The smaller squad could still be a solid threat and a more reasonable immediate choice for throwaway duty versus Dreads or initial assaults versus parking lots. Also, hey, scoring unit

My thoughts,
Thor.

How much close combat punch do you need? two units of Wychs and an Archon are fairly capable of beating up quite a lot of things in assault - this isn't even bringing to bear the anti-infantry shooting capability you have.

I personally like the Option 3 shift - though will note I think shooting is a superior strategy for DE than assault currently, but the lack of grenades on the Incubi is, I feel, an insurmountable obstacle to them being effective in a tournament environment.

option 3 definately, that extra troop choice is going to take you a long way. Also as Thor said Ive found shooting to be way better than assault with us currently, although a few assault units is always nice

Baron Tordeck wrote:

The reasoning behind the Incubi is that other than 3 agoinsers I have no close combat punch.

Fielding them without PGL babysitter is pretty ballsy imho.

I consider Baron an overall superior option - Vect tends to require the ballsiness of setting up to go first, when you only have a 50% chance to have that happen...I've never been that ballsy.

For Vect, you've already noted the dumping Archon and Incubi option - another option would be to dump Bloodbrides and then snag some Wyches w. Hexagoniser. I'll also still note the options available in trimming off the extra Warriors - that is 110 point saving right there, plus the Archon is 225 points - which at that stage we're starting to talk just trim one Incubi off to get your beatstick in.

I'd still be of a mind to drop the Aggie off the Beastmasters, trim that unit slightly, and then drop the aforementioned extra warriors to add in a 6th Troop slot.

I like that Beast unit + Baron build better than either Vect or the Archon+Bloodbrides build though I would tend to still desire two units of HWG Wyches, but that starts niggling at your Incubi again.

I like it.

If you're not looking to shave units to field more force org slots I think that's a pretty decent side investment - sometimes it's worth it to let him assault.

Thor665 wrote:

I'd still be of a mind to drop the Aggie off the Beastmasters, trim that unit slightly, and then drop the aforementioned extra warriors to add in a 6th Troop slot. something

The something tends to be a personal call, and also depends on whether or not you're excited by MSU or not - judging by your lists I would say that you're neutral on them at best - so it's just a personal call of mine there.