Friday, 22 May 2009

Upcoming Tournament: Need some help

My local club is running an informal tournament over several weeks in June which I'm going to enter (first tournament for me). There's a couple of twists:

1- It's a doubles tournament
2- It's only 500 points per player
3- You won't be able to choose who you are paired with, it'll be chosen by the tournament organizers (not sure on what basis, hopefully something sensible like shooty paired with assaulty).
4- The only compulsory requirements are 1 HQ choice and 1 troop choice
5- It will be scenario based

There's alot of unknowns there so it's going to make choosing a list a challenge. I've also never built lists for such a small number of points.

First thing, I've got a choice of armies! I could probably scrape together 500 points of Witch Hunters for this which will be their first outing, and clearly I've got my CSM's already to go. I'm favouring WH currently, as I'm itching to get them on the table, and this will push me to them going.

Second thing, I've only got a limited selection of models to choose from and I won't have time or money to get anymore.

Here's a couple of lists I threw together last night:

Chaos Space Marines
Daemon Prince, Wings (130)
5 Chaos Space Marines, 1 meltagun, Icon of Chaos Glory, Rhino (130)
5 Chaos Space Marines, 1 meltagun, Icon of Chaos Glory (95)
Vindicator with daemonic possession (145)
Total: 500 points

This would be played aggressively with the DP spearheading the charge and dealing with big stuff. Meltagun drive-bys would be possible out of the Rhino. The Vindicator can bust armour as well as killing infrantry with it's demolisher cannon.

Witch Hunters
Canoness with jump pack, bolt pistol, power weapon and cloak of St. Aspira (96)
Inquisitor with psychic hood, bolter (42)
3 Gun Servitors with heavy bolters (75)
9 Battle Sisters with Veteran Sister Superior with Book of St Lucius. Squad has 1 meltagun and 1 storm bolter (144)
5 Seraphim, with Veteran Sister Superior who has Book of St Lucius and melta bombs. Squad includes 2 pairs of twin hand flamers (144)
Total: 501 points

The battle sisters, along with the Inquisitor, shoot anything which comes close to them (took a Storm Bolter as it's longer range and one point cheaper than a flamer, plus I have the model). The Inquisitor has an unlimited range psychic hood to protect against psychic powers and the unit can put out 9 BS4 S5 AP4 shots per turn from the servitors. The Seraphim are there for counter assault or to protect against Infiltrators. Depending on the allies they can also assist in a close combat charge and tank hunt. The canoness is a tar pit for tying up any unit which looks nasty. She has a 2+ save which can be made invulnerable with an act of faith.

List drawbacks
CSMs:
A power armoured Chaos Lord would probably be better and cheaper and I could take some more CSMs, but I don't have the model for this. My other model alternative would be my Chaos Sorcerer/Lord in terminator armour which would probably end up as expensive (or almost) as the DP anyway.

Witch Hunters: The Inquisitor choice isn't optimal, I just like them alot. If I had an Excorcist, I'd swap them for that probably, but I haven't. I've taken a storm bolter on the BSS squad to give them a little more range than a flamer or melta. Overall it probably needs another troop selection, but I'm stuck with the models I actually own.

Any got any tips or comments on the lists? Or any better suggestions for the list, or for building lists at such a small points value?

2 comments:

jabberjabber said...

At 500 points, there are so many options available that its hard to choose, or see what would be good. Hence I'd suggest simply going for a force that you're going to have fun with, or very very focussed.

For the CSM list you've posted, perhaps you could squeeze a rhino for your second marine squad? Daemonic possession and replacing the DP with a kitted-up Lord would do that... but I'm not sure that's the optimal thing to do. It does have the advantage of hiding your HQ in a rhino and delivering him to where he might be needed.

CrusherJoe said...

Hmmm...I don't have my CSM codex in front of me so the points might not add up...but I don't like to field a DP without a mark....preferrably the Mark of Tzeench. You could then -- again, if you could find the points, which at 500 points is probably not going to happen -- give him a power or two. Either way, with the MoTz and the wings you've got a flying, 3+/4++ CC rape-monster that is good against infantry, light armor, heavy infantry, MCs, HQs...you get the idea. :)