2000pt Tri-Patrol Strife List

So, having tested out a few ideas in garden games, I've been revising my list for a local tournament which should (fingers crossed) still be going ahead in August. After deliberating over some ideas, I've decided to try a full Cult of Strife list - previous attempts had only a single Strife detachment, which meant by the time I needed the Strife stratagems, all of the units I could use them on were dead. So I feel that, if I'm going to use the Strife supplement, the whole army has to be Strife.

Without further ado, here is my most recent attempt at a list - as always, comments and tactical tidbits are always welcome:

3 Patrol Raiding Force - 2000pts - 8CP

Patrol 1

HQ
Master Succubus with Archite Glaive and Blast Pistol - 75pts
- Warlord: Competitive Edge
- Relic: The Dancer's Edge
- Combat Drugs: 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 Drugs: Grave Lotus (+1 S)

Elites
5 Incubi - 80pts

Fast Attack
10 Scourges (4 Dark Lances, Solarite has Shardcarbine and Venom Blade) - 185pts

Heavy Support
Reaper - 170pts

Dedicated Transports
Raider with Disintegrator Cannon, PGL and Chain-Snares - 110pts
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons and Chain Snares - 90pts

Patrol 2

HQ
Succubus with Archite Glaive and Agoniser - 60pts
- Tolerated Ambition (-1 CP): Blood Dancer
- Prizes from the Dark City (-1 CP): The Triptych Whip
- Combat Drugs: 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
- Combat Drugs: Grave Lotus (+1 S)

Fast Attack
6 Reavers (1 with Heat Lance and Grav-Talon, Champion has Heat Lance, Agoniser and Grav-Talon) - 155pts
6 Reavers (1 with Blaster and Grav-Talon, Champion has Power Sword, Blaster and Grav-Talon) - 155pts
- Combat Drugs: Both squads have Painbringer (+1 T)

Dedicated Transport
Raider with Dark Lance, PGL and Chain-Snares - 105pts

Patrol 3

HQ
Succubus with Razorflails - 60pts
- Tolerated Ambition (-1 CP): Precision Blows
- Prizes from the Dark City (-1 CP): Dark Lotus Toxin
- Combat Drugs: Adrenalight (+1 A on Charge/HI)

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

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

Dedicated Transports
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons and Chain-Snares - 90pts
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons and Chain-Snares - 90pts

Why would you give your Arena champions extra Weapons?
And with Heatlances, Splintermind could be a good choice for their drugs, too.

I assume this is all Cult of Strife?

The army will absolutely rip hoards apart, but I see some issues when you go up against a Meta Marine army (dreadnaughts with -1 damage), or vehicles in general. What is your plan for that match up?

Should be a fun list, assuming you have all the wyches already made and painted. Wych Cults are the strongest subfaction IMHO (but everyone could benefit from one unit of Trueborn...)

small question: is there a clear advantage of using 3x Patrol instead of 1x Battallion detachment? knowing you will be using the same obsession for every detachment, and that we don't have the +2CP, i just want to know the motivation behind this decision

@Zenotaph I mainly give them melee weapons because A. I have points to spare, and B. it helps me recognise the Arena Champion at a glance. And regarding the Heat Lances, Splintermind was alright, but I felt that having T5 Reavers was of more use to me than having Reavers that hit on 2s.

@fisheyes yes, this is all Cult of Strife - I figured that if I was going to include Strife, then I might as well make the whole army Strife. I think against Marine/Vehicle-heavy matchups, my best bet will be to play the board more - take advantage of my mobility to score bigger (not sure if it's a perfect plan, but it might just work).

@Kalmah the main reason for taking three patrols is the extra Fast Attack slots - a Battalion is limited to just 3 units, while three patrols allows me to take up to 6.

i totally approve that point!!!

I hadn't considered a Tri-Wych list but you've definitely warmed me to the idea.

A few things that occurred to me:
- Might it be better to split the Scourges into two 5-man squads? Then you can double up on special/heavy weapons. I realise that doing it your way gets you more spare bodies but I've always preferred having more threats, even if they die more easily. It might also help get some more anti-armour in your list.
- You seem to be spending quite a lot on upgrades. I count at least 100pts that could be cut if you remove stuff like PGLs, Chain Snares, Grav Talons, Splinter Cannons etc. If you drop some of that stuff and swap a Venom for a Raider, you could probably add a whole extra unit to your list. I know that quantity vs. quality usually comes down to personal preference, so feel free to take this with a pinch of salt, it's just something that I noticed.

Either way, I think it's a cool list and I hope it does well.

Soulless Samurai wrote:

I hadn't considered a Tri-Wych list but you've definitely warmed me to the idea.

A few things that occurred to me:
- Might it be better to split the Scourges into two 5-man squads? Then you can double up on special/heavy weapons. I realise that doing it your way gets you more spare bodies but I've always preferred having more threats, even if they die more easily. It might also help get some more anti-armour in your list.
- You seem to be spending quite a lot on upgrades. I count at least 100pts that could be cut if you remove stuff like PGLs, Chain Snares, Grav Talons, Splinter Cannons etc. If you drop some of that stuff and swap a Venom for a Raider, you could probably add a whole extra unit to your list. I know that quantity vs. quality usually comes down to personal preference, so feel free to take this with a pinch of salt, it's just something that I noticed.

Either way, I think it's a cool list and I hope it does well.

I've been trying to play pure-Cults since the start of 8th ed, and for most of it they were complete garbage - it's only thanks to the new codex that a pure-Cult list feels viable.

For me, having a 10-man squad of Scourges is mainly about keeping their firepower alive, rather than having more of it - a 5-man squad can only afford to lose 1 Scourge before losing the heavy weapons, while a 10-man can afford to lose 6 if necessary. It also means that they aren't hardwired into a single role - the Shardcarbines give them some reasonable anti-infantry fire.

Regarding the upgrades, I tend to take them as I've often found them particularly useful. Chain-Snares in particular are quite fun, doubling the number of attacks on vehicles which are actually not too shabby in combat - they'll likely be soaking up overwatch for the Wych squads, so they'll be in combat anyway. Plus, I've never liked the idea of having completely 'bare-bones' units in my army - they may be cheaper, but they just feel boring and unimaginative to me.

I'm also not a fan of having excess transports/transport space for the sake of extra guns - I only ever take enough transports for what I need, and if I need extra firepower, I'll look to other options (hence the fairly recent acquisition of a Reaper).