It's tough to make a list without trying to make a competitive one isn't it? The Venom spam might make people label you as a bit of a power gamer, as 72 poisoned shots tend to have people gnashing their teeth a bit, so be ready to face their ire fielding this list! To avoid such claims, I'd suggest dropping two Venoms on the warriors and replacing them with a splinter rack equipped Raider. You get to keep a blaster, gain a dark lance that you can move and shoot with, and get re-rollable poisoned shots, which will hit on ballistic skill with only a 6" and two shot reduction if you move at combat speed.
Presumably the Shard of Anaris is to make the jetbikes fearless? I wouldn't bother with it myself. Here's my reasoning:
1. I tried it out in my last game to make sure the Farseer and his unit stayed where I put them, then decided it was an expensive way to make something fearless and actually more of a hindrance to them since it means they can't go to ground (especially as the unit was Rangers).
2. Jetbikes can't be pinned anyway, and making them fearless means that if they get charged by something nasty they can't fail their leadership test to run off voluntarily.
3. As long as the Farseer is alive they'll use his unmodified leadership to regroup if they do flee. After fleeing, the odds are very good that they will regroup next turn.
4. Given the size of the unit, and the fact that it contains a really irritating, must die HQ choice, they will attract plenty of fire. You don't need to worry about the death of one causing a leadership test, you need to worry about what to do when a really good scoring unit and buffing HQ all die from the combined shooting of half an army.
5. Windriders work best coming on from reserve and grabbing objectives mid to late game. Starting them on the table, which you would have to do to get the full benefit of the expensive Farseer, is bad news for them, as there are plenty of weapons in plenty of armies that will wound them lots of times with ease. You don't want them relying on good jink saves, because that means you've turbo boosted and not cast anything with the Farseer.
6. Mantel of the Laughing God works better for what you want him to do, and costs the same. The jetbikes get to go in reserve where they (arguably) belong, he gets to zoom around here and there buffing units as needed. Yes, your opponents will hate you for that, which is kind of contrary to what I was saying earlier, and against the spirit of the tournament, but if you feel you have to spend those points somewhere, you might as well spend them on something more useful. And it's no worse than the 10 invulnerable saves and 20 rending attacks on a beast unit with stealth and over 30 wounds now, is it?
Subject: This coming Saturday Tournament: 1850 
Thu Aug 15 2013, 14:56
