Army List Clinic - Tau Fun 750pt Help

Rob speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic. In today's post we will have a look at a fun 750pts Tau list, as submitted by one of our readers.

Email in:

750 points

List for fun

Centred around Commander joining the drone squadron. The army is basically a firebase. With infiltrating stealth suit squad. Devilfish is a decoy unit.

• Commander (173pts) Independent Character, Supporting Fire, Very Bulky
  Command and Control Node (15pts), Crisis battlesuit, Drone controller (8pts), Shield generator (25pts), Stimulant injector (15pts), XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit (25pts)

Elites (100pts)

• Stealth Team (100pts) Infiltrate, Supporting Fire
  • Stealth Shas'ui (30pts) Burst cannon, Stealth battlesuit (Stealth, Shrouded)
  • Stealth Shas'ui (30pts) Burst cannon, Stealth battlesuit (Shrouded, Stealth)
  • Stealth Shas'vre (40pts) Burst cannon, Stealth battlesuit (Stealth, Shrouded)

Troops (282pts)

• Fire Warrior Team (198pts) Supporting Fire
  11x Fire Warrior Shas'la with pulse rifle (99pts), Photon grenades
  • Devilfish (80pts) Burst cannon, Two Gun Drones
  • Fire Warrior Shas'ui (19pts) Pulse rifle
• Kroot Carnivore Squad (84pts) Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, Stealth (Forests)
  Sniper rounds (12pts)
  • 12x Kroot (72pts) 12x Kroot rifle

Fast Attack (70pts)

• Drone Squadron (70pts) Supporting Fire
  • 5x Marker Drone (70pts) 5x Markerlight

Heavy Support (125pts)

• Hammerhead Gunship (125pts) Railgun, Two Gun Drones

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to email the list clinic. Now let's take a look at your list!

I think, you’ve spent a few too many points on upgrades for your commander that cannot do anything bar support your Markerdrones, I would drop a few of his upgrades, give him a target lock and some weapons to make the most of his BS5 and Drone Controller, the stealth team has been boosted by 1 and a few of the squad leaders have been dropped.

Making those changes gives you this list:

Commander - Drone controller, Shield generator, Iridium Armour, Target Lock, 2 Missile Pods – 168
4x Stealth Team – 120
10 x Fire Warriors – 99
Devilfish – 80
12x Kroot, sniper rounds – 85
5x Marker Drones – 70
Hammerhead Gunship – Railgun, Sub Rounds – 130
751pts

At 750pts you have quite an effective list! Just a few tweaks to make the commander more effective and a few upgrades dropped to make room for an extra stealth team member.

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts on on small Tau lists, and if you want to submit one of your army lists to us, you can do so here listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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Army List Clinic - Death Company List Help

Rob speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic. In today's post we will have a look at a Blood Angles, Death Company themed list, as submitted by one of our readers.

Email in:

IDICBeer Team,

I'm looking to make a Death Company Themed list.

What I came up with:

Astorath
12 Death Co. (CCW + Pistol) + Lemartes + Land Raider Cusader w/ MultiMelta
10 Death Co. (CCW and Pistol)+ Astorath + Land Radier Reedemer w/ MultiMelta
10 Death Co. (Boltguns) + Rhino + Powerfist + Rhino
10 Tacticals + MeltaGun + Multi-Melta + MeltaBomb + Rhino
1 Furioso Dreadnought, Librarian (Shield + Wings)

The General Idea is that the 2 Rhino's and Librarian take the midfield and objectives, while the Land Raiders either rush forward to disgorge Mayhem. 

The tactical team combat squads as soon as the Rhino goes poof . The Boltgun Death Co. acts as a counter attack or does a flat out move on the enemies flank with the Furioso 

I've gone around and around in my head with the various idea's as well:

I've been debating taking God Hammer's instead of the Crusader/Redeemer, for the TL LasCannon Anti-Air Fire Support, but I'm not sure 8 Death Company will make it through those mean Tau/IG/Flamer over watches.

Of course, I could drop the Land Raiders altogether and just Rhino spam, and add in a vindicator or two. (this would be a long term solution as I don't have that many Rhino's or Vindicators bought yet)

I also thought about dropping two of Death Company in the Rhino and the Furioso, then adding a standard Librarian and Sang. Priest into those two empty seats to beef up that tactical squad.

Finally, I thought about adding in just a big crew of Scouts with cloaks and putting in them in cover, but with so many ignore cover weapons out there they seemed a little frail.

Ideally I'd like to cram as many Death Company as I can, obviously, but I find that when I do pure DC since they can't score everyone just sits back and shoots since they don't have to worry about objectives. Then again, maybe just one unit isn't enough...
Thanks for the help!

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to email the list clinic.

Your list is quite an extreme one and to win the game you’re basically looking at wiping out your opponent or at least dealing with all their troops, as Death Company cannot claim objectives.

I would stick with the Redeemer as it’s great at taking out infantry hordes/MEQs, while the Crusader is a little meh. Like you, I would like to see a God Hammer, which is great against Vehicles and Monstrous Creatures. It will only take a handful of Death Company to deal with IG/Tau (pretty much anything) in assault, against Tau you’re looking at assaulting an isolated target each time, this can mean trying to take out units within the 6” bubble of support, or tank shocking units out of support range.

I’ve tried Rhino/Razorback spam, which works to a degree, but falls down against armies with lots of STR7 shooting or fast combat units, which is most of the armies that are popular at the moment (Chaos, Tau, Eldar and IG). Landraiders are fantastic on the other hand, because AV14 is great against the Meta that 6^th edition seems to bring.

I would like to see something like:

Astorath – 220
10 Death Company – Power Fist, Landraider Redeemer, Multimelta, extra armour – 490
10 Death Company – Power Fist, Landraider, Multimelta, extra armour – 500
10 Death Company – 10 Jump packs, 2 Power Fists – 400
5 Assault Marines – Razorback – Lascannon – 155
5 Assault Marines – Razorback – Lascannon – 155

This leaves you with a few free points to spend where you like (Priest).

In this list you keep the scoring units up and the vehicle count, but your scoring units will be a little more secure with the Razorbacks lurking towards your board edge away from the 30 Death Company charging into your opponents face for fun!

Its a fast aggressive list that I certainly wouldn’t like to face!

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts on a Death Company themed list, and if you want to submit one of your army lists to us, you can do so here listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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Army List Clinic - Dark Angels 7th Cav Help

Rob speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic. In today's post we will have a look at a Dark Angels 7th Cav list, as submitted by one of our readers.

Email in:

Hey Beer guys!

I've run into a bit of a wall when it comes to my list.  First off, this is a themed list and army, modelled after Custer's 7th Cav.  Needless to say, it's lived up to it's theme, and I've secured all but one "historical" victory in it's time on the table.  Which is usually about 4 or 5 turns before I'm tabled.  Second, it's a very bike heavy army.  The only win I've had with it has been due to a tough Scout surviving 3 Ordinance barrages from an IG battery in one turn, securing an objective and taking me 1 point above my opponent in VPs.  Here's what I have for models at the moment:

Dark Angels 7th Cav Army

HQ - Sammael on Jetbike/Speeder (I have both)
HQ - Command Squad with Standard of Devistation (5 total bikes, per the new FAQ)
TR - Ravenwing 1 (6 bikes, Attack Bike with MM, Meltagun, Plasmagun)
TR - Ravenwing 2 (6 bikes, Attack Bike with MM, Meltagun, Plasmagun)
TR - Ravenwing 3 (6 bikes, Attack Bike with MM, Meltagun, Plasmagun)
TR - Ravenwing 4 (6 bikes, Attack Bike with MM, Meltagun, Plasmagun)
TR - Ravenwing 5 (6 bikes, Attack Bike with MM, Meltagun, Plasmagun)
TR - Scout Squad (10 Scouts, ML with Flakk, all camo cloaks, sniper rifles)
FT - Ravenwing Support Squad (3 Speeders, 2 with Typhoon ML, 1 with MM) 
HV - Predator w/ Side Sponsons
HV - Predator w/ Side Sponsons 
FT - Aegis Defence line w/ Quad Gun

Now, usually, I pack on Sammael, all the bikes, the command squad, and the scouts.  It's a very mobile army, and I use that to my advantage.  The Scout rule usually gives me command of the field early, and with SoD, a ton of fire power.  However, I still seemed to get tabled after turn 4, unless my dice love my scouts enough to keep them around.  It seems that my bikes die quickly, and often times only the Combat Squad rule will keep them on the table due to the sheer number of units my enemy has to wipe out, but they all eventually die.

I've played some with the speeders and predators, but the firepower they bring seems to be ineffective compared to the bikes, which can zip around like crazy, cover the holes I need, and head off even deep striking units.  The cover saves have spared more than their fair shareof bikes, but nothing seems to keep them on the table long enough to win against most armies, even if my dice are hot!

How can I balance the speed and offensive capability with enough defense to last into turn 6?

P.S. - Attached is an awesome pic of one of my last games.  Unfortunately, it was another "historic" victory against the Necrons, but he did more damage with terrain tests than I did the entire game!

Thanks for emailing the list clinic, on paper the models you have look solid, so no reason why you should be losing so much, so maybe the reasons could be tactical.

Here is a list I would want to run, using the models you currently own:

Sammael - 200
Ravenwing command -apothecary, standard of devastation, 1 grenade launcher, 2 additional bikes - 295
Ravenwing attack squad - 6 bikes, 2 plasma guns, attack bike mm 241
Ravenwing attack squad - 6 bikes, 2 plasma guns, attack bike mm 241
Ravenwing attack squad - 6 bikes, 2 meltaguns, attack bike mm 231
Ravenwing attack squad - 6 bikes, 2 meltaguns, attack bike mm 231
10 Scouts – 10 sniper rifles – 140
Darkshroud – 80
Aegis Defence Line – Quadgun – 100

This should come to around 1750pts

Basically, all I’ve done is added Night Shroud for that all important boost to the Bikes jink/cover save, combat squading is the way to go, making sure you distribute the special weapons into one half and all bolters into the other, then keep the bolter squads close to the standard of devastation (which can be the apoth model!), the special weapon squads are then free to do as they please, your opponent then has some really difficult decisions to make, shoot the bolters and the special weapons get you, shoot the special weapons and your infantry perishes under the weight of shots! If you don’t shoot Darkshroud (which will have a 3+ cover save behind the Aegis), then all these bikes get a 2+ cover save (behind the aegis) or a 3+ cover save (jink)... plus you have all those throw away Attack Bikes, which all score. Don’t forget Hit and Run! It will keep your bikes alive in combat (by not being in combat!).

Hope you find this useful and good luck in your future games, let us know how you get on!

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts on this list, and if you want to submit one of your army lists to us, you can do so here listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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Army List Clinic - Tyranid 1850pt Help

Rob speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic, In today's post we will have a look at a 1850pt Tyranid list for a followers first 6th Edition game...

Email in:

Hiya

Been following your blog for some time, and now my turn has come for 6 ed nids.....(1st 6 ed game also)

So can you help me?
For 1850 points I'm thinking

1 Flyrant with Twin linked Dev

Old adv.

Hive commander

Powers for fancy powers

Hive guard either 2x2 or 1x3

2 Tervigon with max powers for those fancy powers..Iron arm I think its called

10 termagants in spore with Dev

10 termagants in spore with Dev

15 or 20 homogaunts in spore for kicks

15-20 garg. to provide cover for for the Flyrant

3 Biovores

I feel I miss something to take up some firepower while the Flyrants get over the board, and the tervigons makes a kindergarden and hopefully doesn't spawn out.

Maybe trygon or two?

I haven't added points as I don't have my codex on me atm.

Also...
I got my hands on the same spores Nick has, even made some fancy critters out of the beasts inside :)

BUT...I have tried gluing them together....with 4 different kind of glue...
plastic glue, gel instant glue, instant glue and glue used for wood...
No success...so now I tried with a 2 component epoxy glue...
Fingers crossed ;)

I was told by the glue guy that I may experience problems with painting the spore because of what its made off.

How did you do yours?

Cheers

Hi there, thanks for taking the time to email the list clinic, here is the list with changes:

Tyrant – Wings, Hive Commander, Old Adversary 2x Devourers – 310
2x Hive Guard – 100
2x Hive Guard – 100
Doom in pod – 130
15 Termagants with Devourers, in spore pod – 190
15 Termagants with Devourers, in spore pod – 190
Tervigon – Catalist – 175
Tervigon – Catalist – 175
20 Gargoyles – Toxin sacs 140
Harpy – 160
2 Biovores – 90
2 Biovores – 90

Above is the list with similar units you’re using at present, so lets run through the changes:

Hive Guard – keeping them as 2x 2 over 1x 3 for tactical flexibility, Hive Guard are solid in 6^th edition, so make a good choice.

Doom in pod – the doom is amazing, I would never leave home without one! They make a good choice for that distraction role you’re looking for. Don’t forget to swap out the Psychic power the doom comes with for the Telepathy Primaris power for double the psychic fun!

15 Termagants – much better than 10, not just the number of shots, but the durability, 10 can easily be removed, even in cover, but 15 make for a much more difficult task.

2 Tervigons with 2 powers each for biomancy fun!  

20 Gargoyles – again, great for that distraction roll, with toxin sacs to make them much better in combat which is where they excel!

Harpy – a good cheapish flying MC to go along with the Tyrant, more of a distraction, but still quite useful.

2x 2 Biovores – As they are barrage they are fantastic at sniping out special weapons/sergeants etc, I cannot rate these highly enough!

There you go, 1850pts

This list is a definite alpha strike army, with some solid scoring units backing up that alpha strike!

I’ve dropped the Hormagaunts, even if they are for fun, it’s no fun packing up models time after time without them doing anything. I’ve tried these myself, even 2 units of 20 landing, the squads will just be thinned so much before they can do any/much damage.

Gargoyles are great at providing cover/support for your army as it advances, but they are also great in combat when supporting a Tyrant or Harpy.

Nick Speaking,

Regarding the Spore Pods, I used super glue to glue mine together and it worked really well :) As for painting, just wash them with some nice hot soapy water first, then the primer will spray on with no trouble at all :D

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts on the list, and if you want to submit one of your army lists to us, you can do so here listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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Army List Clinic - Tournament Eldar Help

Rob speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic, In today's post we will have a look at an Eldar 1000 point tournament list...

Email in:

Hi, I was wondering what you thought of this list which i was thinking of taking to a tournament. This is my first tournament for 40k and its only 1000 points, a points level that i haven't played for quite some time. 

Farseer - 90

runes of warding, guide

5 Dire avengers - 60

5 Dire avengers - 60

5 Dire avengers - 60

3 War walkers - 180

scatter lasers

5 Fire dragons - 80

Wave serpent - 110

twin linked shuriken cannon, shuriken cannon

5 Fire dragons - 80

Wave serpent - 100

twin linked shuriken cannon

5 Fire dragons - 80

Wave serpent - 100

twin linked shurkien cannon

Now the basic plan for the list is to send the fire dragons after the scary units the opponent has, the farseer will guide the war walkers and they will take out any heavy weapons squads or general irritating units. The dire avengers need to take objectives and possibly shoot at what ever they can. 

In the area we have a lot of ork, chaos space marines and daemon players so i have no idea if i should change my list to go after them or not. Any changes you can make would be great, as 1000 points isn't quite my strong point.

Thanks for any help

Hi there,

Thanks for taking the time to email the army list clinic, I’ve taken a look at the list and some weaknesses immediately jumped out at me, so here is the list I propose using similar units you’re already using:

Farseer - runes of warding, guide – 90

6 Dire avengers – 72

Wave Serpent – twin linked shuriken cannon – 100

3 Jetbikes – 66

3 Jetbikes – 66

6 Fire dragons – 96

Wave serpent – twin linked shurkien cannon – 100

8 Fire dragons – 128

Wave serpent – twin linked shurkien cannon – 100

3 War walkers – 6x scatter lasers – 180

998

3x Scoring units are enough at 1000pts, but I’ve swapped out 2x 5 Dire Avengers for 2x 3 Jetbikes, Five Dire Avengers on foot won’t get anywhere and will struggle to hold onto objectives, the Jetbikes are much better, they go in reserve and turbo boost about until turn 5 where they go wherever they want and score/contest, they are much more durable and much more mobile, so make for an all round better choice.  

I’ve also tweaked the Fire Dragons, dropping one unit and adding to the other 2 units, the unit of 8 has the Guideseer in, remember you cannot use Guide out of vehicles so these will benefit the most, Fire Dragons can deal with most things on the game so make for a great choice.  

The third Wave Serpent is given to the Dire Avengers for mobility and durability, giving you 3 very mobile scoring units.

Hope that helps, let me know how you get on.

If any of our Readers would like to offer any suggestions, please feel free to comment below, and if you would like to submit one of your army lists to us to have a look at, you can do so here: listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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Army List Clinic - Imperial Guard Help

Rob speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic, we hope that our responses have given you some pointers and have been useful. In today's post we will have a look at a list submitted by our reader Adam and his Imperial Guard list.

Email in:

Hi chaps

It's my guard list! I am looking to make my 1500pt list better please!
 
So here's the list and thanks for your efforts and time in advance lads

Dunks Guard

Company command squad
Vox caster
Grenade launcher
3 vets
In chimera

Platoon
Platoon command squad
Platoon commander
Vox caster
3 guardsmen

3 infantry squads

Sergt combat weapon
Vox caster
Flamer
Auto cannon
5 guardsmen

A commisar will be attached to only one squad in the middle to stop um running

Squads 2 & 3 as above without commisar

These sit behind my aegis defense line with quad gun

Veteran squads x2 both as below

Sergt combat weapon
3x plasma
Vox caster
5 vets
In chimera

Fast attack

2x vendettas twin las and h.v Bolters

Leman russ with hv bolter no sponsons mind

Manticore

Marbo!

Think this is 1420 so have some to spend sentinel???? Perhaps

Let me know your thoughts and thanks again lads

Cheers

Adam

I think your original list has a lot of things that don’t add much to the list, dropping these free up a lot of pts.

So going through the list, your list at present is on 1500pts exactly, but by dropping the commissar from an infantry platoon, it doesn’t add much if you don’t want to ‘blob’ up and combine multiple infantry platoons, have a squad hang around in combat could cost you in certain situations, the flamers on the infantry platoons don’t add much either, the rest of the list is solid.

Marbo is a tough one, on one hand he’s fantastic, the Demo charge causes all sorts of issues, the fact he doesn’t scatter, has stealth, is a single model, so can be easy to hide. But he is a one hit wonder, if he arrives turn 2, he becomes a first blood target in the KP game, so he’s also a liability. I personally prefer to use a more reliable choice.

Here is the list I would use:

Company Command – 4 Plasmaguns, Vox, Chimera – 175

Platoon Command – 3 Flamers, Chimera – 100
Infantry squad – Vox, Autocannon – 65
Infantry squad – Vox, Autocannon – 65
Infantry squad – Vox, Autocannon – 65

Veteran squad – 3 Meltaguns, Vox, Chimera – 160
Veteran Squad: 3x Plasma, Vox, Chimera – 175

Vendetta – heavy bolters – 140
Vendetta – heavy bolters – 140

Leman Russ – 150
Manticore – 165

Aegis Defence Line – Quadgun – 100

1500pts

So whats changed?
Lots more special weapons, the command squad has Plasma, choosing plasma over melta gives you range, they are your warlord choice at 1500pts, melta means you have to get close and their job of popping tanks/MCs will basically be a suicide run, this will gift wrap your opponents Warlord, plasma makes it a bit more difficult to obtain and they can sit back a little bit.

Melta on a Veteran squad, these add a bit of variety to your Mech wing and will take some of the strain off the Vendettas which will be busy shooting down other flyers, the Platoon Command have been given flamers for toasting hordes, all the Chimeras should have heavy flamers as well.

Although you have lost as stubborn troops choice, you still have 6 scoring units and a lot of threats! The Platoons can all hide behind the Aegis, which can cover multiple objectives if your placement is right, so they should never need to leave the safety of the 4+/2+ cover, while they can still effect the game with the Autocannon in each squad.

Notes on changes:
If you’re not happy dropping the Marbo, I would drop the Platoon Commands Chimera, the platoon command can go in a Vendetta.

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts on Adams list, and if you want to submit one of your army lists to us, please do so here listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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Army List Clinic - Eldar Help

Nick speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic, we hope that our responses have given you some pointers and have been useful. In today's post we will have a look at a list submitted by an IDICBeer YouTube subscriber and his Eldar...

Email in:

Hello IDICBeer,

thank you for a great job you do with all those videos. It made me write you this message to ask you for a help with Eldar, if you wouldn't mind.

I play GK in a very small, friendly, but competitive group against SM, CSM, Necron and Tau (maybe an Ork player will join us). With GK, I do very well, however I expect Eldar to be much more difficult to play.

Right now we're around 1250 pts. (because of Planetary Empire bonuses, armies are usually bigger, like up to 1650 pts or so). Our meta game favours heavy firepower (Dreadnought, Doomsday Arch, Annihilation Barge, Forgefiends, Broadsuits, Land Riders etc.) and the battles are mostly shooty.

I can't decide what to try with Eldar in order to not be utterly crushed -- I don't expect as powerful army as my GK feels, but I'd like to stay on par with others.

What list(s) for 1250 pts would you recommend? Why to pick certain units? How to play the army? How to sneak past the heavy firepower of my opponents with kinda low-T low-AV units Eldar have?

Thank you very much for any suggestions and your time.

Best wishes

Lockear

Hi Lockear

Thanks very much for your email, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to see if I can come up with something that may help you. You don’t mention any limitations with regards to the models you have, so I will run with that...

First, smaller games are even more of a challenge for such an old, unforgiving Codex, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take your Eldar into the game without a good fighting chance. I would like to be able to give you several options, but as I see it, the best way to go is to just run with the best units in the Codex that the points will allow for.

So, first up will be two Fire Prisms, take them bare boned to keep the points down. They will give you some nice long range variable stat firepower. Running with them would be two small bare boned units of Fire Dragons in Wave Serpents. I would run with Scatter Lasers myself, as the twin linked side of them will probably be your best AA on the table as well.  That is your firepower sorted out to deal with all the high AV you will be facing.

Now we need to sort the troops and HQ out, and again this is a tough one if we want to take all the goodies as well. First we need the troops to work in line with the rest of the army, so I would forget ground troops like Guardians and Rangers, they are good, but won’t fit the type of army we need to go for to compete with your meta. I would opt for a strong core of Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent with a Farseer, You could stick a Bright lance on this Serpent if you wanted some long range anti AV13/14, but they are expensive. The Farseer should have Fortune and Runes of warding for the anti pysker ability. I would then run along side that two units of jetbikes, these will be your fast moving troop choices. The army should look something like this…

1x Farseer/Fortune/RoW (100)

10x Dire Avengers/PW-Shield/Bladestorm/Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers ( 277)

5x Jetbikes/1x Cannon (120)

5x Jetbikes/1x Cannon (120)

5x Fire Dragons/Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers (195)

5x Fire Dragons/Wave Serpent/Scatter Lasers (195)

1x Fire Prism (115)

1x Fire Prism/Cannon (125)

1247 pts

In the end we had a few points left over so I stuck a Cannon on a Prism, quite useful if you use that Prism to combine beams, as you can also shoot the Cannon at another unit as well, as per the Eldar FAQ.

So that’s the list, but how to run it? First up, you will have to use the army as a whole, try to keep the army together and use the entire force of your warhost against your enemy. Ideally, you will want to go first if you can, get your Farseer tank fortuned up and the warhost into position to attack. Going second does have some advantages though, especially if you want to grab those objectives with your jetbikes turn five.

One thing to bear in mind for Eldar at the moment is how important secondary objectives are, in reality you need to treat them as Primary objectives. ALWAYS think about taking First Blood (the best one as it cannot be shared) and Linebreaker (which should be doable with your fast army). Slay the Warlord is going to be subject to what is on the table, but the key thing to remember is, if you have more Secondary objectives than your opponent and you can contest/draw on Primary objectives, then you win, and Eldar at the moment find it much easier to tie Primary then win them.

Taking the list up in points, and I would start by increasing the Jetbike units to six strong with an extra Cannon and then a Warlock with Embolden in each, the re-roll leadership is invaluable in keeping them around longer. From then on, a nice distraction unit of Swooping Hawks jumping up and down works well, including getting Linebreaker for you, or maybe some Warp Spiders. Then you could just start adding units you like and see how it goes.

Hope that helps, let me know how you get on.

If any of our Readers would like to offer any suggestions, please feel free to comment below, and if you would like to submit one of your army lists to us to have a look at, you can do so here: listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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Army List Clinic - Biker Hybrid Help

Rob speaking,

Thank you to everyone who has submitted their army lists to our Clinic, we hope that our responses have given you some pointers and have been useful. In today's post we will have a look at a list submitted by our reader Paul and his Space Marine Biker Hybrid list.

Email in:

Hi guys,

Looking to build a multiple points level tournament (1,500 and 2,000) list with a strong theme which is fun to play with and against. Competitiveness is important, but theme and character rank higher.

First the list;

			1985
Captain		Hq	185
Bike, Power Fist, Combi-Melta, Artificer Armour
Bike Squad		Tr	205
4 Bikes and Attack Bike with Heavy Bolter,
2 x Plasma Guns, Plasma Pistol, Melta Bombs
Bike Squad		Tr	205
4 Bikes and Attack Bike with Heavy Bolter,
2 x Plasma Guns, Plasma Pistol, Melta Bombs
Bike Squad		Tr	290
8 Bikes and Attack Bike with Multi-Melta
2 x Melta Guns, Melta Bombs
Attack Bike		Fa	50
Multi-Melta
Sternguard Squad		El	230
7 Sternguard, 2 x Plasma Guns, Drop pod
Terminator Squad		El	235
5 Terminators with Assault Cannon, Chainfist
Thunderfire Cannon		Hs	100
Storm Talon		Fa	155
Typoon Missile Launcher
Scouts		Tr	100
5 Scouts with Sniper rifles, Heavy Bolter
Camo Cloaks
Tactical Squad		Tr	230
10 Marines, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun
Storm Bolter, Drop pod

Firstly, the 1500 point list ends at the Thunderfire cannon, the 2,000 still has 15 points to play with.

The list is based on a successor chapter of the Dark Angels, who form part of my overall Imperial Apocalypse force (Sisters and Guard total about 10k between them). The chapter is in penitence at the order of the Sisters, in an attempt to redeem both theirs and their parents chapters sins against the emperor in their quest to hunt the fallen at the expenses of the ‘greater good’ of the Imperium. As such, it needs to fit the feel of a ‘Rapid Response’ force which can be called to the aid of the Sisters at any give time. I.e. not a gun line.

As for tactics, it’s very much a synergy list. Individual units perform poorly on their own, but in unison have the speed and offensive capabilities to overwhelm individual units. Large bike squad combat squads to give me three melta delivery platforms to deal with heavy armour. Plasma bike squads then dakka the occupants of opened transports. Terminators Deep Strike to provide fire support to the bikes where required and then attempt to die glorious deaths in an attempt to soak fire power away from the bikes. Captain is my all star, starting in the bike squad mostly likely to come under fire, his principle job is to tank with his T5 W3 2+/4++, and jump between units as required. His secondary function is to break free from his unit, nuke a transport with his BS5 Melta shot and then assault the occupants, hopefully tying them up whilst he Donks a couple each turn. The Thunderfire cannon is again, able to provide fire support anywhere on the table thanks to its insane range, and also pick out troublesome special weapons, banner bearers and Sanguine Priests and the like. It also add’s horde control and allows me to ‘slow’ down units I want to keep out of the fight, adding to the overall plan of isolate and destroy (and if you’re thinking how’s a Thunderfire cannon fit in with a rapid response force, well you haven’t seen my awesomely cool Tow bar and trailer conversion on the individual attack bike!) The Sternguard are their to capitalize on poor deployment decisions and create a ‘deal with me or die’ distraction to allow the bikes to get into position on turn one. Moving up to 2,000 points, the inclusion of the Storm Talon is to help with flyers, the scouts to help the Sternguard in dealing with MC’s and the tactical squad allow me to hold back the Sternguard when required, and also to create sever problems for people in the Relic mission (Drop Pod screens the relic and they grab it turn one whilst falling back the rest of the game)

In principle, this army should be able to hit small sections of the enemy hard and fast and wipe them completely out thanks to the synergy in the units and its overall speed. Its weak point is obviously model count. Not quite being a glass hammer with T5 3+, it’s certainly not going to grind out any victories in a sustained fire fight.

Main issues are at 1,500 points; No flyer defence. There is no way I can justify any fortification, so emplacements are out. The list just doesn’t work if I drop any of the bike units to squeeze in the Storm Talon, and the Sternguard and Termies are too valuable for their ability to drop in and support the bikes by adding volume firepower. I see no way round this. I feel much more confident in the list at 2,000 than I do at 1,500 due to this fact.

Controversial points; Plasma Pistols? I hear you cry. Well, yes is the answer. For the 15 point premium (taking the plasma squads from 190 to 205) I go from 4 to 5 Str 7 AP2 shots, which lets face it, is the reason this unit is there. That’s an 8% increase in cost for an increased offensive output of 25%. It’s a no brainer. Add in Precision shots and you’re on to a winner. Tactical Termies? Again, these fit better in this list. I need the Termies to drop in and help me out at the drop of a hat. Assault termies don’t help me with this at all, Tacticals do. They also offer duality in the fact they can, in later turns, engage in assault and shoot. They also have the ability to drop in behind vehicles and smoke them. Helpful with so little ranged Anti Tank.

So, thoughts? Changes? Tactical amendments? I’ve all but built this list now, so I’m nearly ready to get some games in with it. I’ve played two so far @ 1,500 points. Vs Guard/Orks and Necrons. Both games were comfortable wins. Vendetta’s and Dakka jets are not a problem for me, my worry is Helldrakes. 

Firstly Paul, this is a fantastic list request, we really appreciate the time and effort you have taken to go into detail about why you have chosen each unit, this really helps when giving feedback.

Right, onto the list;

Taking into account the last paragraph, where you stated you have just built the list, I won't be suggesting any changes at either points level. I believe both of your list to be very solid, I would prefer to see another troops choice at 1500pts as I think 3 troops (2 of which are fairly small) could struggle to claim objectives, but on the other hand you have 2 strong denial units at 1500pts, which imo can be just as important, because this allows your army to win games by inches. By that, I mean you’re denying your opponent objectives with the Sternguard and Terminators, then you can jump on 2 objectives knowing if you get shot off one, you should still be able to claim the other and win by the one objective.

You’re completely right about the regular Terminators over Assault Terminators in the deep striking roll. Terminators in general have got better due to the drop in AP2 weapons and lack of combat units with the ability to get past 2+ armour, even my squad of 10 Grey Knights Strikes would hesitate charging 5 man Terminator squad, so they make a great distraction unit as they cannot be ignored and will easily go through MEQ units.

As for the 1500pt flyer problem, well, there is nothing much that can be done, but try to ignore them and position yourself in such a way that they only get 1 turn to shoot at you, then they have to go off board or reposition for a turn with no real targets. Helldrakes will ruin this army, as they do many armies, being able to hover also will cause problems because they should have a target each turn… and there is pretty much nothing that can be done other than invest in an Aegis (which you said you didn’t want) or a couple of Dreadnoughts and hope to get lucky… I’m still struggling to deal with Helldrakes myself, the only way I can see feasibly beating Helldrakes, is by taking a flyer yourself and as I said before I don’t want to suggest dropping units you’ve only just purchased/made. If push comes to shove and you want that flyer defence, you can drop the 2 Heavy Bolter Attack Bikes from the Bike squads and the lone Multimelta Attackbike for 150 odd pts and get yourself and Storm Talon, for the loss of 2 Heavy Bolters and a Multimelta it’s not a great loss.

At this point I open the list clinic to the readers, what are you opinions on the list, what would you suggest to help Paul's anti-helldrake predicament? If you would like to submit one of your army lists to the clinic, you can do so here: listclinic.idicbeer@gmail.com

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