Got a game this Sunday against Death Guard....

I have a 1600ish point quickly approaching and I would like some tips on now how not to get utterly blown off the board.
My list is fluffy and not competitive at all. Where as the DG force definitely has some weight behind it.

I have no problem going into the game as the underdog, I just need to find a strategy that'll work.
Going for the kills isn't going to cut it.
I'm currently thinking of holding the majority of the objectives with raise the banner high and line breaker while I charge his main forces with wave after wave of reaver and hellion. Anything to tie his guns and troops up from getting near those centre objectives. hopefully by the time he's cut through all my boards, bikes and boats, I'll be too many points ahead from farming my objectives that he can't catch up.
If I can get the 6 Wyches to hold up his Plagueburst Crawler, then i'll count that as a personal victory.

Lists below.
This is 100% of the models I own and I don't plan on getting anymore before Sunday, so it is what is  

Any strats, ideas, tactics - all welcome!

++ Patrol Detachment 0CP (Aeldari - Drukhari) [31 PL, 590pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Detachment Command Cost

Obsession: Kabal of the Black Heart: Thirst for Power

+ HQ +

Archon [5 PL, 95pts]: As Detachment (Kabal), Blast Pistol, Hatred Eternal, Huskblade, Overlord, The Djin Blade, Warlord
. Splintered Genius (Black Heart): Splintered Genius

+ Troops +

Kabalite Trueborn [8 PL, 135pts]: As Detachment (Kabal)
. 6x Kabalite Trueborn: 6x Splinter Rifle
. Kabalite Trueborn w/ Heavy Weapon
. Kabalite Trueborn w/ Special Weapon: Blaster
. Kabalite Trueborn w/ Special Weapon: Blaster
. Trueborn Sybarite: Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Splinter Rifle

Kabalite Warriors [3 PL, 55pts]: As Detachment (Kabal)
. 3x Kabalite Warrior: 3x Splinter Rifle
. Kabalite Warrior w/ Special Weapon: Blaster
. Sybarite: Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Splinter Rifle

Kabalite Warriors [3 PL, 55pts]: As Detachment (Kabal)
. 3x Kabalite Warrior: 3x Splinter Rifle
. Kabalite Warrior w/ Special Weapon: Blaster
. Sybarite: Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Splinter Rifle

+ Dedicated Transport +

Raider [6 PL, 120pts]: As Detachment, Dark Lance, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Splinter racks

Raider [6 PL, 130pts]: As Detachment, Chain-snares, Disintegrator Cannon, Grisly Trophies, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Shock Prow, Splinter racks

++ Outrider Detachment -3CP (Aeldari - Drukhari) [52 PL, -3CP, 1,015pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Detachment Command Cost [-3CP]

Obsession: Cult of the Cursed Blade: Only The Strong Will Survive

+ No Force Org Slot +

Court of the Archon [5 PL, 18pts]: As Detachment (Kabal)
. Sslyth

+ HQ +

Archon [4 PL, 70pts]: As Detachment (Kabal), Overlord, Power sword, Splinter Pistol

+ Troops +

Wyches [6 PL, 82pts]: Random x 2 (Combat Drug), As Detachment (Wych Cult)
. Hekatrix: Blast Pistol, Hekatarii Blade, Phantasm Grenade Launcher
. 5x Wych: 5x Hekatarii Blade, 5x Plasma Grenades, 5x Splinter Pistol

+ Fast Attack +

Hellions [11 PL, 214pts]: As Detachment (Wych Cult)
. Helliarch: Phantasm Grenade Launcher
. . Stunclaw and Splinter Pistol
. 11x Hellion: 11x Hellglaive, 11x Splinter Pods

Hellions [11 PL, 231pts]: As Detachment (Wych Cult)
. Helliarch: Phantasm Grenade Launcher
. . Stunclaw and Splinter Pistol
. 12x Hellion: 12x Hellglaive, 12x Splinter Pods

Reavers [3 PL, 90pts]: As Detachment (Wych Cult), Grav-talon
. Arena Champion: Agoniser, Heat Lance
. Reaver
. Reaver with special weapon (up to 1 for 3 models): Heat Lance

Reavers [6 PL, 155pts]: As Detachment (Wych Cult), 2x Grav-talon
. Arena Champion: Agoniser, Heat Lance
. 4x Reaver: 4x Bladevanes, 4x Splinter Pistol, 4x Splinter Rifle
. Reaver with special weapon (up to 1 for 3 models): Heat Lance

Reavers [6 PL, 155pts]: As Detachment (Wych Cult), 2x Grav-talon
. Arena Champion: Agoniser, Heat Lance
. 4x Reaver: 4x Bladevanes, 4x Splinter Pistol, 4x Splinter Rifle
. Reaver with special weapon (up to 1 for 3 models): Heat Lance

++ Total: [83 PL, -3CP, 1,605pts] ++


-------------------------------------------------

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Death Guard) [55 PL, 12CP, 1,130pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Detachment Command Cost

Gametype: Matched

Plague Company: The Harbingers

+ HQ +

Lord of Virulence [6 PL, 120pts]: Warlord

Malignant Plaguecaster [5 PL, 95pts]: 1. Miasma of Pestilence

+ Troops +

Plague Marines [6 PL, 125pts]
. Plague Champion: Boltgun, Plague knife
. 2x Plague Marine w/ boltgun: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Boltgun, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. Plague Marine w/ cleaver: Great plague cleaver
. Plague Marine w/ special weapon: Meltagun

Plague Marines [6 PL, 145pts]
. Plague Champion: Plague knife, Plasma gun, Power fist
. Plague Marine w/ blight launcher: Blight launcher
. 2x Plague Marine w/ boltgun: 2x Blight grenades, 2x Boltgun, 2x Krak grenades, 2x Plague knife
. Plague Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

Poxwalkers [5 PL, 100pts]
. 20x Poxwalker: 20x Improvised weapon

+ Elites +

Blightlord Terminators [10 PL, 225pts]
. Blightlord Champion: Balesword, Combi-plasma
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Combi-flamer
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Combi-melta
. Blightlord Terminator: Bubotic Axe, Plague spewer
. Blightlord Terminator: Flail of corruption

Plague Surgeon [4 PL, 75pts]

Tallyman [4 PL, 70pts]

+ Heavy Support +

Plagueburst Crawler [9 PL, 175pts]: 2x Entropy cannon, Heavy slugger

++ Vanguard Detachment -3CP (Chaos - Death Guard) [24 PL, -3CP, 455pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Detachment Command Cost [-3CP]

Plague Company: The Harbingers

+ HQ +

Typhus [9 PL, 165pts]

+ Elites +

Biologus Putrifier [4 PL, 65pts]

Deathshroud Terminators [7 PL, 150pts]
. Deathshroud Champion: Plaguespurt gauntlet
. 2x Deathshroud Terminator: 2x Manreaper, 2x Plaguespurt gauntlet

Foul Blightspawn [4 PL, 75pts]

++ Total: [79 PL, 9CP, 1,585pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

Can you at least proxy a Succubus? If you can, pull all the PGLs, stun claws and agonizers from the list to scrape enough points for her. Join the 3 man reavers into one of the 6 man units. Now they fit into 3 patrols. 2 wych Cult, 1 Kabal. Led by 2 Archons and 1 Succubus.

That gives you 12CP to start instead of 7, which let's you spend 4 on extra warlord traits and relics. Give the second Archon an Animus Vitae and Ancient Evil WT, the Succubus can take your favorite loadout. I recommend the Triptych whip, +1 Attack and Precision blows.

The succubus is a terrifying character killer (moreso than the Archon with Djin blade) and she gives your horde of speed demons re-rolls 1 to wound. Which will be handy against the tough DG. Ancient Evil stops your opponent hitting you with his Terminators before you have the chance to cut them down with multiple units. The Animus Vitae gives you the opportunity for a turn 1 advance and charge with pretty much your whole army if your opponent goofs and deploys aggressively. If that doesn't pan out, it gives your whole army a 5+ invul turn 3 when the slogging gets tough. 8 CP left over and 3 great characters on the board.

Priority upgrades are heatlances, grav talons and blasters on warriors. Everything else can go. Consider blasters on the reavers if your only plan is advance and charge ASAP.

Consider shock prows on your raiders instead of all the other stuff you have on them. 1CP to throw a ton of mortal wounds at infantry units is great. If you powerslide into that unit of pox walkers you'll be rolling a ton of dice for mortals. Dark Lance > Disintegrator.

+2 movement drug on the wyches and spend a CP before the game to hold them in reserve. Drop them behind cover in your opponents quarter turn 2-3, perform an action, then hop out, advance and charge something shooty or onto an objective.

Engage on all fronts, ROD and teleport Homers should all be easy to do. If you can collapse on those terminators 1 squad at a time with ancient evil on them to force them last, you should be golden.

I'm partial to +1 toughness on reavers and +1 attack on hellions. Fits their intended purpose in the list well, in my opinion.

Edit: If you'd like me to drop the list I'd run with the same models (+1 succubus), let me know.

Thanks for the detailed response, I really appreciate it.
I would love to see what list you would run with same models + a succubus.
I have enough spare bits to allow me to kitbash her into the list.

I have a few comments and questions on your points.

3 Patrols
A great idea. Which Cults and Kabal would you go with?

Replacing Shredders and D Cannon with Blasters and Dark Lance
Considering DG are rocking Disgustingly Resilient and a large portion of their army has invulnerable saves, I thought dishing out multiple wounds would be more effective than the unreliable D6 Blaster and single shot DL. You think, despite Disgustingly Resilient, they're worth taking?

Shock Prow
Yes, I overlooked them - great pick. Not splinter racks too, though? It helps keep the trueborn out of reach from heavy fire weaponry while still being able to pepper splinter into the DG.

Objectives
I'm being dumb, sorry. What's ROD?

Thanks again

1. Chapter Approved 2022 drops on Saturday, so it depends on whether you're playing with those rules or not. If you are, then you only get to choose 1 wych cult, so Cursed Blade is fine. If not, then perhaps Cult of Strife for the Hellion patrol and Cursed Blade for the Reavers. I'll stick to cursed blade in the list below for simplicity.

2. Rules like DR are exactly why no one takes Disintegrators anymore, after being the default choice for all of 8th edition. Mass mid-strength, mid-ap, D1-2 weapons were the big in the meta, so GW in their infinite wisdom started giving Invuls, FNP and -1D left right and center to make newer armies good. Think of our own Covens with -1D Obsession, they shrug off light-mid arms fire, Death Guard are the same.

Any dark/heat lance that hits (3's re-rolling for BH) and wounds (on 3's) is a model dead if it fails any saves, even with -1D. Blasters are a little more swingy with their damage roles but it's the same prinicple. Meanwhile a shredder averages 4 shots, 3 hits with black heart, 2 wounds - against which even basic plague marines in cover have a 3+ save - just to not kill anything with the wound that makes it through. Disintegrators are the same due to the -1D.

3. Splinter racks are fine if you have the points left over, but I'd almost rather take Blast pistols or PGLs on Sybarites if I'm being honest.

4. ROD is Retrieve Octarius Data. Again, if you're playing the new rules this becomes Retrieve Nachmund Data (RND) and I recommend taking Teleport Homers instead. If you're playing the old rules, stick with ROD.

The list:

You can replace the Succubus' loadout with whatever you think would be fun to play honestly. There's a lot of cool ones to try out, like the Come-at-me 'Bus from Cursed Blade.

Edit: The non-black heart warriors can just sit on a backfield objective so that the 3 characters, or at least the 2 combat characters, can ride in a raider with the other 5 warriors. If they're purely on backfield duty, pulling the blaster to give you the points for splinter racks on the trueborn raider is an option you might like. Splinter racks on the Trueborn raider, Shock prow on the character/warrior raider.

So the game was today

I essentially followed your advice and used your list but made some changes,
- Gave both Archons Ancient Evil
- Gave Reavers + WS on their drugs and gave them Blasters
- Ran all wych cult units under Red Grief.
- Ran with the Flayed Skull kabal (thinking about the extra movement on the Raiders)
-I took Raise the Banners, Assassination and Behind Enemy Lines as my secondaries

On turn one all my boats, bikes and boards had charged and entered close combat by using the Animus Vitae while the Kabalites sat on the objectives. It worked flawlessly. I also used Deadly Rivals to give 2 units that extra inch of movement, just to make sure they could get in (on top of +2 on advance rolls and re-roll charges).

By turn 2 my opponent resigned with the score being 28 - 0 to me.
He was astounded that his army was buried under plastic in turn one. It was a massacre

This was the state of his side during turn 2 when he resigned.



Animus Vitae is utterly crazy.
Thanks for the advice
Though I wonder how things would have gone if I didn't get to go first...

Glad to hear the plan worked out, the Animus is crazy good when it works out. With 9th Ed board sizes, unless your opponent deploys right at the back, a turn 1 charge is always a threat. Going second probably wouldn't have changed much unless he had the presence of mind to blow up the animus raider and also had really good rolls to do it with just 1 Plague burst crawler.

How did the blaster reavers perform? I always feel like I want to run a 6 man unit but can't justify the cost for their damage output.

Only thing to mention is that you can't take duplicate warlord traits or relics. They all have to be unique, so 2 Ancient Evil archons would be illegal.

My opponent was hungover and didn't have the presence of mind to anticipate much, tbh
He put his Pox Walkers right on the front line for me to easily slam into.

The reavers did okay, actually. On turn 1 they whiffed all their Blaster shots against the tank, but then got into safety by charging the pox walkers. Unfortunately all the Walkers died on the charge, leaving my bikes open to DG shooting but they were in cover and took few casualties.

On turn 2 the Blasters killed 2 of his characters while the Hellions sat around the tank.
So yeah, I was happy with them. The +1WS allows them to be a fast moving anti tank platform, which considering I don't have any heavy support, fulfils that role nicely. But obviously it's not the most cost effective option.

Ah, bummer on the duplicate warlord traits. Thankfully neither Archon managed to get into CC so the Ancient Evil was never used nor abused

Edit: I've been saying +1WS on Reavers. I mean +1BS!

Would heat lances be a better option over blasters on reavers?

If you don't intend to advance the Reavers, then I would say yes.

But this list required full movement from all my bikes, so having them move 27 inches (Deadly Rivals) and still being able to shoot the Blasters was the winning decision.

If you're not fussed on advancing, then I think lances are the way.

Aaah ok, I haven't been able to play any games, or even get my hands on the new core rules/codex so I was kind of basing that question on what little I've been able to gather rules wise and wasn't sure what the "heavy weapon" status of the heatlance meant for moving and shooting on jetbikes so blasters for screaming across the board and heatlances for more of a shooty support role