ZOOM ZOOM; jetbike junky / jinky list @ 1k with expansions to make 1.5k and 2k lists

Hiya guys, thought I'd try to create a series of 3 lists of increasing point size that builds on the previous one so I can work on an army and finally get painting.

My concept here (having only played a single 6th ed game so far) was using Turbo boost and a combination of Dark Eldar reavers with some supporting Craftworld jetbike allies and some Troop infantry to hold near deployment zone objectives.

1000pt Army List

Haemie Ancient: 110
Venom Blade, Hexrifle, Liquifier

An expensive and unusual setup. I upgraded my normal Haemie to an Ancient for the extra stats (more survivable as my warlord) to help him get shots in with the Rifle or to not be hit as easily in combat. The Hex Rifle is an unusual/underpowered choice (according to the internet) I know but I feel that it will add a certain level of psychological distraction and worry to an opponent thanks to the precision shots and rending potential, particularly when paired with an Acothyst on a similar setup. The 36" range isn't to be sniffed at either as he can sit on a home objective and still play a part in the game other than denial. The AP 4 means that he can still be a threat to some enemy commanders and the Hex rule itself makes it a 4+ death that gets past Eternal Warrior. The Venom Blade/Liquifier helps to deal with anyone who decides to go after him and his Wrack bodyguards or if they need to lend support to specific combats in the later game.
Oh and he starts the game deployed with the Reaver unit before joining the Wracks (to regain FnP).

8 Wracks: 115
Liquifier
Acothyst with Hexrifle

Similar reasons to the Haemie but also adds bodies and a tough (by DE standards) troop choice to hold a home objective. The hexrifle is to ruffle opponents feathers and to stop them hunkering down in one place too much. The Liquifier helps deal with anyone who gets too close.

12 Warriors: 148
Blaster, Dark Lance

These guys have a dual purpose: in most games they'll want to sit back / hide and mop up later. They add a level of Anti-Tank to the force should it be needed. They're also able to sit on an objective (preferably one in cover). Depending on the situation, this boys will mostly want to remain static to make the most of their Dark Lance (the hex rifles are assault so those units can move and shoot them, and being comparitively tougher, can also take some hits as they walk). The extra 2 models are simply there to add bodies to the unit.

9 Reaver Jetbikes: 294
Cluster Caltrops x3
Heat Lances x3

The lynchpin to this list. The aim is to repeatedly bladevine/cluster caltrop the enemy and grind them down. With a pain token and strong cover saves (from zooming or hiding in ruins to bloke LOS) they have good survivability. The Heat Lances are there to deal with tanks should an opportunity present itself / a tank be considered such a massive threat. If they use the lances then they'll also try (very much!) to jetbike jump back into cover in the assault phase.

'CRAFTWORLD' ALLIES

Farseer: 140
Jetbike
Runes of Warding & Witnessing

The ever useful Farseer to lend psychic support to the Reaver unit or the Guardian Jetbikes  (Doom, Guide (heatlances/shurikans), Fortune or use an aggressive spell to help deal with something the Reavers can't or are threatened by).

9 Guardian Jetbikes: 183
3 Shurikan Cannons

Once the Reavers have begun bladevaning, add some target saturation by sending these bad boys up and begin shurikan leaping (assault move) to fire fight the enemy units to death.

TOTAL: 992pts

Consideration - could downgrade the Haemie to make 30 points (loss to LD, Wounds, BS, A and WS could be annoying) but replace with a Warlock to join the Bikes.

CHANGES FOR THE EXTRA 500pts:

Haemonculus: 80
Venom Blade, Liquifier, Hexrifle.

Same justification as the Haemie Ancient. He starts the game with the 2nd Reaver unit and then moves to the Warriors or the Wracks (probably the Wracks so the rifles are all tagetting the same enemy models).

+8 Warriors to the unit of 12: 97
2nd Dark Lance

Makes this unit remain static but with 20 bodies in them this is one focus for the enemy to be drawn towards. Obviously these fellas hide in cover as much as possible and snipe their Lance/Blaster/Rifle shots out.

6 Reaver Jetblokes: 196
Heat Lance x2
Cluster Caltrops x2

Same as previous bike unit, adds more pressure and speed but this unit will have to be more cautious. Also starts the game with a PT for the FnP.

6 Guardian Jetbikes: 122
2 Shurikan Cannons.

Same remit as the Reavers but with the shooting role.

TOTAL: 1488 (Haemie Ancient in 1k list) / 1493 (Warlock in 1k list)

Finally, the 2000pt upgrade:

Change Haemie Ancient to Haemie: -30 / get rid of Warlock in Jetbike Guardians: -35

Archon: 105
Blaster, Shadowfield

Sits in the Warriors and shoots/draws fire. The Shadowfield is to stop the enemy killing my Warlord. Alternatively he could join one of the Wrack units and the Haemies join the Warriors (no pain tokens though as Reavers have these). Doesn't make much sense doing this however as the Warriors are mostly anti armour whilst the Haemies are anti-HQ / anti-monster and with 2 wrack units now, they could split and focus on 2 different targets or the focus their fire on one.

5 Warlocks in Council: 175
Jetbikes all round!

A place for the Farseer to sit and whizz around throwing spells at friends and enemies.

-1 Wrack: -10

7 Wracks: 105
Liquifier Gun
Acothyst with Hexrifle

+3 Reavers (to the small unit): 98
Cluster Caltrops
Heat Lance

+3 Guardian Jetbikes (to the small unit): 61
Shurikan Cannon

ARMY GRAND TOTAL: 1992 (no Haemie Ancient) / 1987 (no Warlock in Jetbike Guardians)

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So guys, thoughts? Lots of symetircal units here but thats only because I figured that there would be uses for them all and that they do their jobs well!

Do I write threads that are just *that* good that noone ever feels the need to respond in them?!

Any thoughts at all? I'm still very new to using 6th ed and am considering this list as not only a project to start (I need reason to get painting units that I know will get used) but also to be used in the campaign my local clubnight are running. The meta there is very MEQ orientated (x2 space wolves, ultramarines, ravenwing, x2 CSMs, 1 daemon, a couple of eldar, 1 tau and 1 necron player/s).

We're required to have 2 lists; 1 'scouting force' of 1,000pts (starting, can increase by taking territory) and an 'HQ' choice to guard your main base of 1,500pts. I plan on making both lists fairly similar to reflect the overall theme of my army on this planet.

I'm considering changing things a bit to make it even faster by adding the Baron + Hellions (don't own the models yet however) and more fluffy with the inclusion of a WWP in one of my lists and the presence of Harlequins to justify taking Craftworld allies.

I'm also hoping that, as lots of Imperial players are now allying together, I can do the same with the craftworld players should it come to that. Having harlies, a WWP list and a craftworld allied detachment should cement my bargaining powers!

Furthermore our campaign organiser insists that the 'scout' force needs to contain a unit with the infiltrate ability if it has access to taking such units. Obviously we have mandrakes, so the other question is, what type of unit should I take? A small unit of 3 to fulfill the minimum requirement, but hide it is kill point missions so it can't easily be destroyed? Or try to make the mandrake / haemie combo work (as those AP4 baleblasts are actually very effective vs eldar and tau)?

I'll add an update to the list with these changes once I've settled on some combinations...

Now this is very much 'standard thinking' so my apologies for stating the obvious, and/or being the voice of tradition - or at least my tradition - but the complete lack of transports concerns me. Agreed your specifically mentioning wanting foot infantry as support etc but walking everywhere, especially with Wracks with liquifiers is slightly anathema to me. I'd imagine you might find people out manoeuvring you and picking on your jet bikes until that's neutralised whilst staying out of sight of your warrior squads and out of range of your Wracks liquifiers.... It's what I'd try to do at least.

Hexrifles are wonderful fun, though I've yet to have them be successful but they are in my opinion a simply ingenious piece of kit, bring. Home some good statues!

If you're infiltrating mandrakes forward I'd always recommend a boat carrying Haem to get that pain token to them ASAP, also means you can potentially webway your Wracks if such is your desire - admittedly not tournament tactics in most cases, so consider with caution if you're goal is to win this campaign with ease - and that would mitigate some of the walking at the potential cost of as many hexrifle shots in the early game. Speaking of which if your big wrack squads as intending to end up in combat is the hexrifle worth it on the acothysts? And if they're not going into assault then you probably want them smaller. I suppose the rifle's cheap enough to not really matter not shooting in the late game as you grind people up in combat - hopefully - but you could consider splitting yourself to have 'assault' Wracks and 'sniper' Wracks. Leads to more targets, so a problem for kill points but gives you more things to be moving around to specific areas.

All the jet bikes looks good, personally I'd not normally take a gun and caltrops as you only get one or the other, but as you say does give target of opportunity options. Though again then I'd say have a large group of 6 for bladevaning and then three tank hunters to hide and purposefully hunt such things. Again more target saturation too, but kill points.

Hiya Partridge, thank you so much for your thoughts man, I was really hoping you'd join this chat as I really admire your use of Mandrakes as well as other non-conventional unit choices (you and I seem to be the only guys on this site considering using Hexrifles!).

I just get frustrated that I'm not very good at using transports to good effect: I often find mine being blown to kingdom come by turn 2/3 and that it doesn't seem to matter how well I try to hide them in cover or zoom across at Flat Out, I almost always flunk my cover saves! The ensuing carnage usually sees my units contained within get mauled by flying debris and shrapnel, often twice in one turn!

As a result, rather than learn to deal with my shortcomings of being unable to steer DE vehicles very well (I'll return to deal with that issue another day on the gaming board! ), I instead thought I'd try a different approach. This approach seems to have garnered a lot of concern about the proximal range of liquifiers. My thinking for these bad ass filth-spewing-ray-guns-of-death was that they are far too random to be relied upon. Instead they are in my list because they are a) cheap and b) very good for when enemy units decide to get close and personal with my alien-gimp units! The liquifiers are not a focal point of my strategy, in fact if anything, they are merely there as a deterrant - to put off enemy units who wish to take off my leather-tough Scoring troops by rite of combat.

I do agree though that the wrack units are a little too large. I intended for the extra models to simply be abletive wounds for the haemie / hexrifle acothyst / liquifiers / to ensure I have a troops choice still by the end of the game, despite suffering repeated focusing in the shooting phase. Basically the unit is a deliberate misnomer to draw fire (because it can score and should, if its doing its job correctly, be sat on / very near an objective, preferably whilst in decent cover) whilst continually making a pest of itself by loosing off a few snipe shots per turn that *could* potentially turn enemy super-characters into wax models of themselves (a very glassy wax, my haemonculi are fond of such things to use as candles for their torture tables...)

I do reckon that giving the Haemie a webway portal and hopping aboard a raider with some wracks would be a good plan. In fact, its exactly what I did in my latest batrep (only game of 6th so far) albeit I lacked the hexrifles in that game, which is a shame as Njarl had a bullseye on his head all game...

Finally, the issue I have with units of 3 is that they die just too easily. I don't think I'll ever go for units of reavers less than 6. The aim would be to use the heat lances fairly early on and then bladevane/caltrop to their hearts content for the rest of the game. I think that there is certainly merit however for taking units of 6 to do this (3 units of 6 preferably... ) so you can a) target multiple vehicles during one turn whilst b) having some survivability for when the retaliatory attacks come.

I think I'll do a re-write tonight and factor your thoughts into it all

Next strange and unusual question: any thought of how to make Harlequins work in a list like this?

Thanks very much, always glad to be of assistance.

I've not read the report itself yet but had a glance through your tactics query thread, so apologies if comments more in relation to that start to creep in through the woodwork.
I had a hexrifle shot go spiralling past Dante's head, but sadly that's the closest I've been to pulling that off so far.... Tempts me to make a tally somewhere.

In any case, personally I love liquifiers as both an aggressive and defensive weapon, however range is as you say short and their is the degree of randomness but again, their price - or lack thereof - does make them easily includable, and for a 50% chance to pen power armour in flamer format, I try to make sure I have as many as possible. Even my sniper 'haemonculus' in my last game had one. I suppose though it comes down making sure you're not passing over better options to have them. For example if your opponent just shoots your backfield unit from afar (inevitably with cover ignoring weapons) then their liquifier is obviously not getting used, however for when the drop pods land, or things make late game pushes into your deployment zone then wonderful.

I would say if you want a guaranteed way to kill power armour, then the recommendations re disintegrators is worth heeding, I'm trying to cut down on them myself, as they are one of the main reasons I've won certain games as easily as I have - that's a semi-baseless assumption but seems logical to me.

I like the small units, mostly because if you place them right your opponent will forget they exist. And or they get ignored because they're not an obvious threat. Hopefully you've got Enoch other things drawing fire that three reavers get overlooked, doesn't always play that way admittedly but if they're behind the bigger unit then not only have they got a cover save on the first turn, but an opponent os more likely to shoot the large unit first.

Webways are fun, but as you've seen, not the best option if we are honest, though using it as a lump of impassable potentially LoS terrain that you can put down where you wish is again another potential string to its bow. Due to the close range options on the Cronos I tend to webway it and the liquifier on the Talos is handy for a first turn option when it comes out of the portal too.

I've not used harlequins I'm afraid, but assuming it doesn't cause the warp to assail you, I hear veil of tears is a pretty handy delivery system for me lee characters, and the decent number of rending attacks and possibility for fusion pistols does give them a range of versatility too.

I'm imtruiged by your mention of an infiltration trick to deploy portals further forward, is this something to do with infiltrate itself or something more specific?

Great thoughts as always Partridge! I'll certainly heed the Dissies one, for me (and it seems you too) 40k isn't about Winning-At-All-Costs but rather a decent fight between the tactical minds of two generals who choice of units is approximately equal. The dice add some moments of spice that push situations one way or the other, our role is generals is to push those random roles in our favour and to deter the opponents methods to do so. Having auto choices against opponents (going all out Venom/Blaster spam) is a bit boring and monotonous in my opinion!

The trick relied on having a scouting unit (scorpions) in a vehicle, the hamie starts the game in it, the vehicle scouts forwards 6", moves 6" on turn one, the unit hop out (hamie touching the front of the vehicle so basically get an inch ahead of the others) and move another 6" up before dropping the portal, you'll have travelled a total of 19" if you start on your baseline.

Sadly all the eldar scouting infantry from the previous book have lost the ability to scout in the new incarnation of their book.

Of course the alternate strategy these days for WWP usage is only really for larger games; field two. The first is deployed as normal (vehicle transport moves, haemie disembarks etc) whilst a 2nd WWP carrier bombs it across the board in his pimped transport (possibly joined by other transport on similar missions as needed eg. Assault units) and obviously next turn jumps out and deploys the WWP as needed, this way you can get reserves in the mid table and far distance. Downside is the expense and static role of 2 units, transport and HQ choices.

I think I'm going to make a new Army List thread as this one, although nice, doesn't quite explain my reasonings properly! Hope to catch you on the other one bro