1500 noob list

Hi all. I'm new not only to the Dark City, but to the game in general. I've played ~5 games so far, and have won most

I've played 1k games exclusively thus far and I am thinking about stepping up to 1500. Here's what I'm thinking so far:

HQ:
Baron Sathonyx
Duke Sliscus

Elites:
4 Trueborn. 2 Splinter Cannons, 2 Shardcarbines
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons

Troops:
5 Wyches w/HWG and Razorflail
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons

5 Wyches w/HWG and Razorflail
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons

14 Hellions with Helliarch, PGL

Fast:
6 Reavers with 2 Cluster Caltrops, 2 Heat Lances

Heavy:
Voidraven Bomber with 4 shatterfield missiles and FF

Voidraven Bomber with 3 shatterfield missiles and FF


Here's my thinking:
Duke starts out with the Trueborn, giving them either 16 or 20 (depending on if they move) 3+ poisoned shots and 12 4+. He can then break off to join the battle wherever he sees fit. Maybe fighting alongside the Trueborn, maybe joining wyches to give them survivability, maybe posted up in cover for the Helliarch to drag vulnerable ICs off to.

Baron is rolling with the Hellions, making them troops and giving them his Stealth rule and helping their dangerous terrain and Hit and Run rolls.

Wyches to hold objectives or tarpit groups of infantry. In this case the Duke can swoop in and aid in the assault. The Trueborn would fire on incoming units intending on assaulting the Wyches, helping them to hold objectives.
The Wyches can also play AT with their HWG.

Reavers are good all arounders. They can harry and hide fantastically with their 12" move and then Bladevane/Cluster Caltrops, they can bust up tanks and anything with strong armor saves with their heat lances, and with their 3+ Jink/Skilled Rider cover save they are much less squishy than in the past.

The Hellions are even better all arounders. Well, they lack AT but for everyone else they can rip it up with the Baron on board. They can hold objectives all day, they can get so many extra attacks with Hit and Run, and they can deliver ICs (Warlord hunters+) up to the Duke for their doom.

Voidraven Bombers are the best utility anti-Flyer we have, in my opinion. I have faced Flyers in the 6th and it is no freaking fun at all. I am not going to buy terrain, so the void lances will be invaluable. They are also great AT, and the void mine and shatterfield missiles can wipe out huge swaths of infantry OR tanks, with the new rules regarding AP and blast .

So that's what I have so far. Thoughts? Suggestions? Praise?

-Tony

i dunno mate, i think you've probably got too many points tied up in HQ and heavy tbh. given that 5/6 missions are now objectives, and that if a venom goes down, it'll take the wyches with it, i'd say you're too light on troops

You're right, of course. Two things, though. I am not playing super competitively. I like to win, but fun first. And I didn't play DE to camp objectives, I play DE to cause as much carnage as possible. Objectives don't count if you table the other player, yeah?

Also, the venoms are pretty much going to drop the wyches where I want them and then scoot off to spam AI or to play taxi if they survive long enough.

fair enough. i'd always prepare to lose 1/3 of your transports to AT fire though. its hard to table people with 5 wyches :-)

Hi,

I think the list is a little too small for 1500 points, I would like to see a third heavy support choice and a 4th troop choice.

The HQs and two Voidravens are hogging lots of points. I take it your using Razorwings to represent Voidravens and I would suggest you consider using them as razorwings until you go up to 1750 pts. You could have 2 basic razorwings and a ravager for 5 pts more than than your two void ravens (twice the missiles, 7 dark lances vs 4 void lances).

I think if you wanted trueborn to join the duke I would use a bigger squad, the current squad is too small and fragile and easy to take out. Consider taking them out and using a squad of wyches in a raider. You lose out on the Duke's 3+ poison, but make better use of his drug reroll and his combat abilities.

Small wargear to get rid of are: The razorflails in the small wych squads (small squads should have only essential upgrades as they are fragile) and the PGL on the Helliarch as the Baron already has one.

Another way forward to get an extra troop choice would be to drop the duke altogether, but below is a revised list (that keeps the Duke) to consider:

Baron Sathonyx
Duke Sliscus

Troops:
9 wyches, w/HWG, including hekatrix with venom blade
Raider with Dark Lance

5 Wyches w/HWG
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons

5 Wyches w/HWG
Venom with 2 Splinter Cannons

14 Hellions with Helliarch

Fast:
6 Reavers with 2 Heat Lances

Heavy:
Razorwing FF

Razorwing FF

Ravager

NB: I had to lose the Cluster Caltrops to fit the flickerfields on the razorwings

8 Dark Lances vs 4 Void Lances plus you can target 4 targets with them rather than 2. You have 2 extra vehicles for satuation, plus you have 4 dark lances on the board turn one rather than having to wait for reserves. You now have the Duke with wyches to form a second credible assault threat (to compliment the Baron with Hellions).

Hope that helps

Rathstar

PS. It specifies in the FAQ (4th page, 1st column, near the bottom) that if you don't have any trueborn or warriors the Duke deploys like any other independent character (ie. he can start with the wyches).

Revised version (ok, maybe totally reworked)

I think that this is a strong list, and intend on buying the models I'm missing very soon. C&C?

HQ:

Baron

Elites:

3x Trueborn 2x SC 1x carbine
Venom 2x SC, NS

Troops:

12x Hellions 1x Helliarch Stunclaw

10x Warriors SC
Raider NS, Racks

5x Warriors Blaster
Venom 2x SC, NS

10x Wyches HWG Hek Agonizer PGL
Raider

FA

6x Reavers 2x caltrops

Heavy

Ravager 3x Dis NS
Ravager 3x DL NS
Ravager 3x DL NS

Alternately, I could drop one of the Ravagers and trade the Wych squad in the Raider for 2x 5x Wyches HWG Hek Agonizer PGL in Venoms with 2x SC. Would I be better off this way?

Tony Spectacular wrote:

Revised version (ok, maybe totally reworked)
10x Wyches HWG Hek Agonizer PGL

Not the biggest fan of agonisers this edition on wyches, venom blades are a lot cheaper and seem to do ok. But that's personal preference.

Tony Spectacular wrote:

6x Reavers 2x caltrops

Your better off getting three more reavers then the caltrops. And if you have the points getting three heatlances is never a bad idea.

6 reavers with 2 caltrops (40pts for the caltrops): the average number of wounds against T4 is 9.8.

9 reavers (66pts for 3 more revers): the average number of wounds against T4 is 9.

In my experience either run squads of 6 reavers with two heatlances, or run squads of 9 reavers with 3 heatlances (add champion and venom blade to taste). The only place I see caltrops as being useful is on a dedicated anti infantry unit of 9 reavers with 3 caltrops, of course this means the reavers lose their flexibility.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for that. I'll bear it in mind. Do you have an opinion on 10x wyches in raider vs 2x 5x wyches in venoms?

10 wyches in raider - assault/tarpit - 5 wyches in venom - anti tank/pre-assault
Also, i would remove the agoniser and add a venom blade - it works wonders, esp vs MC

if you do trade the wyches for 5 in venom, then dont buy upgrades other than HWG and ofc. dual cannon for the venom

Thanks. I think I'll run it both ways and see. The agonizers are def going, but I think I'm keeping the heks regardless of how I run it. PGL is too good, especially if I'm throwing 5 wyches onto a late game objective to go to ground.

Does anybody, anywhere, ever not get the second cannon for their venoms??