2000pt Tri-Patrol Red Grief

So, since writing my last list (a 3-Patrol list with 1 Strife and 2 Red Grief), I have been able to look at the codex properly (instead of relying on Battlescribe). I also had a chance to play a match with the previous list - I lost 77-67 against Death Korps of Krieg (not the most powerful of armies, but the person playing them is one of the better players in our group), but it gave me enough of an insight to amend my list.

And as a result - this may come as a shock to some of you - I am ditching the Cult of Strife stuff entirely. While there are some aspects that work really well, I got the feeling that they only really work best when the whole army is Strife - in the last few turns of my match, only Red Grief units were left, meaning the Strife stratagems were redundant (also didn't help that Lelith got super-smited before she could get into the characters).

With that in mind, I have revamped the list a bit - it is now Cult of Red Grief only, as that has always been my go-to Cult. This is a list I hope to take to my club's local tournament (provided it goes ahead), though I also have a Realspace Raid list ready as a backup if I can't get this ready - I'll be doing a 30,000-word dissertation over the summer, so there's a chance I won't have much time to paint.

Without further ado, here is my list:

3 Patrols Raiding Force - 2000pts - 11 CP

Patrol 1

HQ
Master Succubus with Archite Glaive and Blast Pistol - 75pts
- Warlord: Precision Blows
- Relic: The Blood Glaive
- Combat Drug: Adrenalight (+1 A on Charge/HI)

Troops
10 Bloodbrides (1 each of HG, RF and S/I; Hekatrix has Power Sword and Splinter Pistol) - 145pts
- Combat Drug: Grave Lotus (+1 S)

Elites
10 Mandrakes - 150pts

Fast Attack
5 Scourges (4 Dark Lances, Solarite has Splinter Pistol and Power Lance) - 120pts

Dedicated Transport
Raider with Disintegrator Cannon, PGL, Grisly Trophies and Chain Snares - 105pts

Patrol 2

HQ
Succubus with Archite Glaive and Agoniser - 60pts
- Tolerated Ambition (-1 CP): Quicksilver Fighter
- Prizes from the Dark City (-1 CP): The Triptych Whip
- Combat Drug: Adrenalight (+1 A on Charge/HI)

Troops
10 Wyches (1 each of HG, RF and S/I; Hekatrix has Blast Pistol and Power Sword) - 130pts
20 Wyches (2 each of HG, RF and S/I; Hekatrix has Blast Pistol and Power Sword) - 250pts
- Combat Drugs: Both squads have Grave Lotus (+1 S)

Fast Attack
6 Reavers (2 with Heat Lances and Grav-Talons; Arena Champion has Agoniser) - 155pts
6 Reavers (2 with Blasters and Grav-Talons; Arena Champion has Power Sword) - 155pts
- Combat Drugs: Both squads have Splintermind (+1 BS and Ld)

Dedicated Transport
Raider with Dark Lance, PGL, Grisly Trophies and Chain Snares - 100pts

Patrol 3

HQ
Succubus with Shardnet/Impaler - 60pts
- Tolerated Ambition (-1 CP): Hyper-Swift Reflexes
- Combat Drugs: 2 at Random

Troops
5 Wyches (Hekatrix has Blast Pistol and Power Sword) - 60pts
5 Wyches (Hekatrix has Blast Pistol and Power Sword) - 60pts
- Combat Drugs: Both squads have Grave Lotus (+1 S)

Fast Attack
5 Hellions (Helliarch has PGL) - 90pts
5 Hellions (Helliarch has PGL) - 90pts
- Combat Drugs: Both squads have Painbringer (+1 T)

Dedicated Transport
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons, Grisly Trophies and Chain Snares - 95pts
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons, Grisly Trophies and Chain Snares - 95pts

Solid in my opinion. But why give the Solarite a power lance?
And if you have 2CP left to spare: Master Succubus with Dancers Edge and third Succubus with another WL-Trait and Bloodglaive.
But thats just a suggestion. Totally up to you.

I like this list a lot! I think the way you’ve distrubuted the 50 Wyches differently across units will help them serve you well as a toolbox - definitely think you hit the sweet spot with them.
On the Mandrakes - I wonder if splitting them into 2 of 5 would give you more flexibility in taking advantage of them for board control in deployment.
On the characters - I wonder if quicksilver fighter would better serve the Bloodglaive to give ur Master Succubus 9 attacks (!). Precision Blows is great or course but with 7 attacks, you’re only likely to roll one 6 per activation. The Succubus with the Triptych Whip though would benefit more from PB bc even without the extra 2 attacks, having the 10 attacks w Adrenalight+Whip alone will still make you much more likely to get 1 or 2 6s - ie I would consider swapping the warlord traits on those two Succubi.
Overall though, killer list!

One more thing came to my mind. Maybe you could swap the blasters on your second reaver squad also to heat lances.
I normally use one squad each, too. My thought was, using the blasters assault profile when advancing to cover additional ground.
But in reality, I never had to. 18" range plus 18" movement is a lot. And the extra 2pts damage are more useful,
than the possible use of blasters 8 extra inches farther away, hitting on 3+.

Small point, sure, but might worth a thought or two.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Regarding the Warlord traits: While some good suggestions are made here, I feel that the traits are currently fine where they are. In the match I mentioned before, the Blood Glaive/Precision Blows WL did really well, and I was able to get one or two 6s to hit, dealing 3 mortal wounds on each. Plus, while it could work on the Triptych Whip, I mainly use it on the Blood Glaive as the Whip is already wounding almost everything on 2s, whereas the Glaive could use a bit of help to deal its damage.

Regarding the Mandrakes: I built the Mandrakes using the Namarti Thralls kit from Age of Sigmar, so at the moment, I only have one leader and a squad of 10 - but it might be something to consider in the future.

Regarding Reaver Loadouts: While I see what you're saying, I feel that having one unit that can advance and still shoot if needed will be helpful - especially coupled with Eviscerating Fly-By.

I would recommend giving the Arena Champion one of the special weapons and grav talons in your Reaver squads. He's the one you want to die last anyway, and that gives you 4 models who can die without losing leadership or firepower.

sekac wrote:

I would recommend giving the Arena Champion one of the special weapons and grav talons in your Reaver squads. He's the one you want to die last anyway, and that gives you 4 models who can die without losing leadership or firepower.

The Champions already have the special weapons anyway - I probably should've been more specific about which ones had them.

Then there is one last point to adress:
Power Lance on Sybarite?
OK, maybe not only one point. Agonizer and Power Sword on the Reaver Champs?
Those seem like wasted points to me. But maybe I miss something...