2000 Point 9th Edition Test

Test of Skill/Slashing Impact Patrol
Succubus w/ Blast Pistol (60)
5 Wyches w/ Blast Pistol (60)
5 Wyches w/ Blast Pistol (60)
3 Venoms (225)
9 Reavers w/ 3 Blasters (225)
9 Reavers w/ 3 Blasters (225)
Voidraven Bomber w/ Lances, Missiles (185)

Acrobatic Display Patrol
Succubus (55)
15 Wyches w/ Net (175)

Prophets of Flesh Patrol
Haemonculus w/ Whip (80)
8 Wracks (96)
3 Talos w/ Macroscalpels, Haywire Blaster (345)
2 Talos w/ Macroscalpels, Stinger Pods (210)

I want to try out a couple units I think will work well in 9th edition given the focus on taking objectives and board control. I can already see the people at my LGS (we have a FB group) gearing up to use tough/elite armies like Custodes/Deathguard. I didn't go full Cult, because my goal here is to see whether certain units are viable, not all of them. This comprises most of the Cult units I have (Wyches and Reavers - I have Hellions but ... LOL).

Test of Skill/Slashing Impact is responsible for removing my opponent's units off objectives that they maybe have a couple of small units on and also removing additional transports/monsters. The Reavers move fast, and with a combination of Eviscerating Flyby and Slashing Impact, deal out a good amount of mortal wounds. I like the idea of having an ultra-mobile unit, especially in case any characters move out of position. The patrol has some Venoms which I think will make good objective holding units as well.

Acrobatic Display Patrol is coming in using Webway Portal Strat. I'm slightly iffy about whether this is a viable tactic, but that's why I want to try it. The idea is that their a unit of 15 objective secured troops that I'm going to throw against a somewhat isolated unit holding an objective. Once they get into combat they have a 3++ and against infantry, they wont be able to fall back either.

The idea is the PoF patrol is responsible for holding objectives near my deployment zone (Wracks) and moving up the table to contest objectives that my opponent has firmly under their control. They're the only thing in this list that can survive some intense shooting. Also they supply some additional anti-tank.

I don't expect any of the Cult units to survive by the end of the game. I'm going to try to use them to get/deny objectives and secondaries. One thing I am worried about is potential lack of anti-tank. Would like to give all the Talos HWBs, just because they complement the Test of Skill weaponry so well, but not sure where to cut the points from. Maybe the blast pistols from the Wych squads?

What do you think of the list?

I think you should try to focus on the missions. What secondaries exactly are you building towards?

BTW, at 5 points per blast pistol, I like that you are throwing it wherever possible

I would try and give the Reavers Grav Talons to help with Slashing Impact and double up on those mortal wounds. Also, I think Heat Lances can work with Test of Skill and give a more reliable damage output for AT duties. I thinking switching at least one of the squads would be worth it, plus it nets you 15 points.
I think the Succubus in the Acrobatic Display Patrol needs Blast Pistol because of the BS 2. But I also think that if you are going to blob up Wyches, Cursed Blade is still the way to go. I like the idea of the AD Wyches, but Morale can still punish them and they suffer from Str. 3. Cursed Blade doesn't care about morale and has the all important Str. 4, which is imo better. Though I would like to hear how it goes with the AD Wyches. Try and get them up to 20 if you can because they will get mauled fast by small arms fire.
With your AT problem, I find Reapers to be very good. With ToS, they should do some pretty good work. If yo uswap the Voidraven and drop one Talos, you can grab 2 Reapers. They can sit back and claim a backfield objective while the rest of your army moves forward. They can offer a very valuable and effective firebase as well. Plus, with the new terrain rules, can be hidden to avoid T1 shooting. And they even have the bonus of being Blast if you need them to be. Don't forget, they are very viable in CC too, even if they can't shoot.

*Double post, sorry.

fisheyes wrote:

I think you should try to focus on the missions. What secondaries exactly are you building towards?

I think this is going to change a lot depending on the army I'm playing against actually! Like against Knights, definitely going for Titan Slayers. Against Eldar/Grey Knights/Thousand Sons, definitely going for Abhor the Witch. Against a tank heavy list Bring it Down makes sense. Against an infantry heavy list Thin their Ranks makes sense.

I think Engage on All Fronts is great consistent pick for this kind of list. Enough mobile elements to be all over the place, and will likely have to do this anyway because of the primary. I'm tempted to replace this with Linebreaker depending on the enemy army simply because I think I can reliably get it for 2-3 turns for hopefully 12VP. Think I'd have to play more games to figure that out though.

Raise the Banners High is another one I think I'll go for more consistently. The unit of Wracks exist solely to camp on an objective, and can teleport somewhere empty later in the game. Even if they don't that's 5VP if they just stay back and just hold for the Primary.

Tempted to go for While We Stand we Fight if it doesn't look like their prepared to go up against the Talos and I don't really need the Voidraven (I can just move it off the table and bring it back at the end of the game I think). If anything, may be a cool way to attract more attention to the Talos and less attention to the rest of my army.

fisheyes wrote:

BTW, at 5 points per blast pistol, I like that you are throwing it wherever possible

They're clearly the new fashion in Commorragh

SCP Yeeman wrote:

I would try and give the Reavers Grav Talons to help with Slashing Impact and double up on those mortal wounds. Also, I think Heat Lances can work with Test of Skill and give a more reliable damage output for AT duties. I thinking switching at least one of the squads would be worth it, plus it nets you 15 points.
I think the Succubus in the Acrobatic Display Patrol needs Blast Pistol because of the BS 2. But I also think that if you are going to blob up Wyches, Cursed Blade is still the way to go. I like the idea of the AD Wyches, but Morale can still punish them and they suffer from Str. 3. Cursed Blade doesn't care about morale and has the all important Str. 4, which is imo better. Though I would like to hear how it goes with the AD Wyches. Try and get them up to 20 if you can because they will get mauled fast by small arms fire.
With your AT problem, I find Reapers to be very good. With ToS, they should do some pretty good work. If yo uswap the Voidraven and drop one Talos, you can grab 2 Reapers. They can sit back and claim a backfield objective while the rest of your army moves forward. They can offer a very valuable and effective firebase as well. Plus, with the new terrain rules, can be hidden to avoid T1 shooting. And they even have the bonus of being Blast if you need them to be. Don't forget, they are very viable in CC too, even if they can't shoot.

You're right about the Reaver weaponry, I'm just unsure how I'm actually going to end up using them regularly. If I end up playing very "in-your-face" with them then Grav Talons and Heat Lances make more sense. If I end up playing more cagey to save units for getting points later in the game, then taking the Blasters makes more sense because I can stay 18" away and still be just as effective. Think I'll figure out which upgrades make more sense after testing them more!

Yeah, I'll update on the AD Wyches, I really want them to work but maybe they just won't. And didn't think about the Reapers! I don't have the model but my buddy's will probably let me proxy a Ravager for it to see if they live up to the hype. I don't really think I'm going to out-kill the enemy while playing Wych Cult, but they're also very mobile so I can see them working!

Thanks for the replies!

I was pleasantly surprised by how good Berserk Fugue worked on Reavers, even against Vehicles/Monsters (with 10+ wounds).

Try it out and let us know how they compare!

I really want to see how Venoms do in the new Meta. They suck when the enemy can just Smite them down :/

Got a game against Custodes this week!

I'll update afterwards!

Got the game in this weekend! Long story short it wasn't even close to a game, won pretty handily!

Here's what he brought:
Large Terminator Squad
Large Bike Squad
2 Shield Captains
1 Vexilla (with the -1 to Hit bubble)
3 Storm Shield Troops
3 Storm Shielf Troops
Forgeworld Dreadnought

There wasn't a lot of tanks to fight against but the combination of Reavers Voidraven and Talos knocked out the Dreadnought pretty easily. The Reavers were also super dirty this game, I knocked out a Stormshield Squad through combination of Slashing Impact and Charge almost entirely. The number of MWs they can inflict on elite armies is frankly ridiculous.

MVPs were the Talos (only one died the entire game) and the 15 Wych Squad that really won me the primary.

Some things I realized. When the opponent has a -1 to Hit bubble, you can advance your Talos and it's basically no different. And also Wyches are actually super good. I think the army I was up against made them preform really well this game, but I webway-ed them in Turn 2. They re-roll charges, put out a crazy number of attacks, and most importantly, don't die LOL. I outnumbered the Custodes on their own objective with an objective secured troop with a 3++. Completely knocked them out of the primary.

Going to keep testing this out! I really like Wyches at the moment over Warriors because they are so much more versatile for a really small amount of points. They get to use more of the Power from Pain buffs, have an in-built invulnerable save, their obsessions (Test of Skill, Acrobatic Display) are great and they can prevent people from falling back.