1500 Point Tournament

Fellow Archons:

I have finally decided to purchase my second Venom in preparation for an upcoming tournament at my local game store. The tables will be 4x4 with preset terrain on urban, forest, snow, and desert landscapes. Below you will find a list of expected and likely opponents. Please note that the store is not the most competitive environment around.


Expected
-Ultramarines (balanced, primarily shooting)
-Vanilla Space Marines
-Space Wolves (foot or drop pod)
-Imperial Guard (Hybrid, 1+ Manticore)
-Imperial Guard (Plasma Spam, Possible Blood Angles allies)
-Tau

Possible
-Space Marines (Thunderfire Cannon Spam of Doom)
-Ultramarines with Flyers
-Necrons (Silver Tide)
-Space Wolves (Thunderwolves & Drop Pods)
-Blood Angels (balanced)
-Tau+Grey Knights...or just Tau
-Chaos (Foot)

Realistic Number of Flyers in Tournament: 2-7

The List
HQ
Succubus with Haywire Grenades & Agonizer 90
Haemonculus with Shattershard 65
Troops
x5 Kabalite Warriors with Blaster in Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons & Night Shields 135
x5 Kabalite Warriors with Blaster in Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons & Night Shields 135
x10 Kabalite Warriors in Raider with Splinter Racks & Night Shields 170
x10 Kabalite Warriors in Raider with Splinter Racks & Night Shields 170
x7 Wyches with Haywire Grenades led by Hekatrix with Agonizer & PGL in Raider with Night Shields 194
Fast Attack
x6 Reaver Jetbikes with 2 Heat Lances 156
Heavy Support
Ravager with Night Shields 115
Ravager with Night Shields 115
RWJF with Dark Lances & Flicker Fields 155

Summary
11 Dark Lances
2 Blasters
2 Heat Lances
8 Haywire Grenades
4 Splinter Cannons

Target Priority
-Any Ordinance weapon.
-Any heavy weapon with a range of 30+ inches.
-Any unit on an objective.

Countering Flyers

If I get 1st turn: eliminate priority targets, preferably on one side.

Provided that my understanding of geometry & Flyer movement are correct, I can move Flat-Out on turn 2 such that the flyer is unable to target anything once arriving from reserve. As my forces press toward the center of the enemy's deployment zone. By eliminating two turns of shooting plus waiting for reserves, the enemy fly(ers) should be reduced to dead-weight that take boots on the ground. Even an Imperial Guard army should feel the loss of 260 points worth of Vendettas after 3+ turns. By then, it would probably be too late.

If I get 2nd Turn: Position to get maximum cover, eliminate priority targets, and ignore flyer. At best, he should get three turns worth of shooting (Vanguard Strike) and otherwise one turn (Hammer & Anvil, Dawn of War).

What are your thoughts? And thank you in advance!

A good player will be able to keep a flyer on the table nearly the wholegame - especially if it can hover. The 4x4 tables will hurt them for sure though

Yes if you move flat out into their half they will miss the turn of shooting when they come in before they have to switch to hover mode (the best option for them in this case).

Here's a long discussion on dealing with flyers:

Anti Air Options

Massaen wrote:

especially if it can hover.

At least if they hover that's half the battle won (one would hope).

Excellent stuff.

I take it that the list and target priority standards are ok?

Dark_Kindred wrote:

Excellent stuff.

I take it that the list and target priority standards are ok?

It looks solid.

My only advice would be to run the reavers in reserve. Reserve helps mitigate the night shield dilemma that hybrid Dark Eldar armies tend to suffer: the weapons that aren''t in range because of night shields just end up shooting your units that don't have night shields. As the reavers are not present on the first few turns where the night shields are most effective. It also means you can use them as a wild card to offer support where it is needed most on turn 2-3.

Alright. Time to play test. Good thing I get to go to another store this week....

Thank you all for the advice/comments.