2000 pt DE List

Hi Guys,

I just threw this 2K list together for a game I am playing tomorrow against either mech IG or tau. I've only seen the guy's mech guard army, so I have no idea about what his Tau would be bringing (especially since I have yet to see anyone play Tau).

Any small tweaks you can see in the list? I'm not looking for any super competitive list, even though this is quite the cookie cutter list of sorts, but it's a strain on almost my entire collection thus far.

HQ (280pts)
Archon (160 pts)
Agoniser, Blast Pistol, Combat Drugs, Phantasm Grenade Launcher, Shadowfield

2x Haemonculus (120pts)
2x Liquifier Gun

Elites (472pts)
Incubi (180pts)
5x Incubi
Raider - Dark Lance, Flickerfield

Kabalite Trueborn (146pts)
3x Trueborn - 3x Blaster
Venom - Flickerfield, Splinter Cannonx2

Kabalite Trueborn (146pts)
3x Trueborn - 3x Blaster
Venom - Flickerfield, Splinter Cannonx2

Troops (696pts)
Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
Venom - Flickerfield, Splinter Cannonx2
5x Warriors - 1x Blaster

Kabalite Warriors (125pts)
Venom - Flickerfield, Splinter Cannonx2
5x Warriors - 1x Blaster

Wyches (206pts)
8x Wyches - Shardnet and Impaler, Haywire grenades
Hekatrix - Agoniser
Raider - Flickerfield, Dark Lance

Wyches (240pts)
10x Wyches - 2x Hydra Gauntlets, Haywire grenades
Hekatrix - Agoniser
Raider - Flickerfield, Dark Lance

Fast Attack (156pts)
Reaver Jetbikes (78pts)
3x Jetbikes, 1xHeat Lance

Reaver Jetbikes (78pts)
3x Jetbikes, 1xHeat Lance

Heavy Support (395pts)
Ravager (115pts)
Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Flickerfield

Ravager (115pts)
Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Dark Lance, Flickerfield

Razorwing Fighter (165pts)
Dark Lances x2, Flickerfield, Monoscythe Missile x4, Splinter Cannon

The archon is going to go with the incubi of course as well as one of the haemonculus. For such an expensive unit, i felt that giving them FNP from the start was worth it. The other haemon will go with the shardnet wych squad to act as a tarpit unit while the hydra unit will be a follow up unit to help take out other already initiated units.

Any other suggestions?

[Warning, long post is long]

I don't know much about Guard, but I have played Tau my last four games, losing all but the last one- I'll detail that after the suggestions. Your list and collection is very similar to mine: superior, even, since you have more squads of Wyches. I suspect any changes made to go specifically against Tau will make you worse against IG, but someone else would have to confirm that. I will explain the big Tau threats, though.

Fighting Tau is really about jamming things as far back into their lines as you can- the more assault the better. Wracks instead of Warriors would give you more assault options. 3 squads of 6 Wyches would be great, multiple small units is everything. He can probably afford enough sacrificial Fire Warrior squads to delay your assaults, so you have to try and overwhelm him. I would spring for Aethersails, as every inch counts for that first flat-out move.

The Reavers are great, and can solve either of the Tau Heavy Support- they can get within 9" and try to down a Hammerhead Gunships or two, or else get into assault with the otherwise dominating Broadsides. Broadside Battlesuits...either take Railguns, twin-linked, which auto-penetrate vehicles and kill them on 4 damage results. Or, they get Missile Pods, which multi-shot you to death in a way you wish the Disintegrator could. And, they get Smart Missiles, which ignore Line of Sight within 24", so they can ignore cover. And, they are effectively 2+/4+ T4 3 Wound models due to the drones. Having tried shooting to no results, I would recommend assault.

Razorwings do good work, and you can probably afford to give yours Disintegrators, which are so superior versus the Suits. The big templates help ding them for taking all of those drones. Ravagers are a mixed bag, since Tau vehicles get a 4+ cover save beyond 12" (yes, better than Eldar tech, and 5 points cheaper). They do get to do their work outside of Fire Warrior 30" range, unlike Blasterborn.

The Lord and his Incubi don't get to flex their muscles, as any assault unit is equally good at killing Tau. They do score points for dealing with Crisis Suits better than non-Agonizer wielding Wyches, and if you can manage to get an assault on some Suits then victory will be nearby. The Blast Pistol is bad- make a Blaster. The attack loss won't make a difference, and is even good if you split him to multi-assault, and attempt to not sweep a squad in the first round of combat. Splitting the Haemy to multi-assault would also be clutch. Might want to give him a Venom Blade, though.

As you haven't played Tau yet, you are in for a ride. If my advice sounds all doom-and-gloom, it may be because I have been playing a very experienced and competent Tau player who knows his codex back and forth and knows how to use terrain and knows that if he just kills your transports, the game is over. Objective matches give you a chance to game- placing markers near your side makes him come to you, though his Railguns will never ever move. If you deploy in corner-to-corner fashion, just get your ships as close as possible. You must get in his face, specifically in the face of anything wearing a Battlesuit. Everything else can wait their turn.


So, how did I win my last game? First, context- this Tau player has been teaching me to play 5th Edition. We have played four games, as noted, and in every single game he has stolen initiative from me. That's just a fun fact, and we fully expect him seize forever from now on. In the 4th game, which we played shortly after the 3rd, we each try new lists- he plays Commander Farsight, which gives him a massive unit of wound-allocating Crisis Suits. A nightmare that doesn't die, splits fire, and costs a billion. I, after pondering, break out old units that I haven't played so far- Reavers, Warp Beasts (sorry, 1 Beastmaster and 5 Khymerae!), and Grotesques (Wracks!) to make the jankiest webway portal list of all time. Without going into too much detail, my webway assault manages to have a unit appear, assault, live through my turn, then die on his turn, so his God-Unit is perfectly locked up while I get to shoot it freely. One turn it was held up by a lone Reaver. This is his whole army minus two spread out Fire Warrior squads and two random Suits that died to Venoms. This conflux of circumstances let me claim victory. Afterwards, he gave me some friendly crap because I took Disintegrators on both of my Ravagers, and challenged me to make a list that could take on all comers.

So, I'm fighting him next Friday at 1850 with a list very similar to yours: a general purpose list able to fight Guard or Marines or whatever as well as Tau. Should be fun!

Thankfully, it wasn't his Tau army. He ended up bringing his chaos space marines with a squad of terminators and whatever the squad is that has to roll for movement each turn as well as two demon lords. This game definitely showed me that I need some wracks for objective holding as the simple warriors just don't cut it.

Thanks for all the advice on Tau though. It's good knowledge to have as I know one of these weekends he is definitely going to bring them just to give me a hard fight!