As an IG player myself my two first immediate ideas for this type of game were horde guard which would maximize the number of units and their utility within such a small point value. My immediate ideas for the army looked something like this:
1 CCS with 4 flamers in a chimera
1 PCS with 3 melts in a chimera
2 infantry squads with grenade launchers in chimeras
3 scout sentinels with autocannon or a valk with pods or vendetta with bolters or even a bane wolf with multi melta (all come to around 140ish)
1 Leman Russ (with or without bolter sponson depending on how my final list worked out)
From this rough draught I was sure that the IG was going to be the best suited to a game at this level and the challenges that would face them. The chances of being tabled by the enemy they were most likely to be facing were very, very low as I would assume that they would be for the most part small contingents of space marines with 250ish points at their disposal being spent on a 10 man tactical squad in a rhino.
But here folks is where it gets crazy! What if instead of playing to the maxim of attempting to get the greatest amount of quantity into the list I was to aim for quality?
My case in point here is that of my beloved Deathwing (so much more beloved after the FAQ!) and the question of their viability within the limits of such a small points game. This due to the feeling that I get that; even at 2000 points my Deathwing have not quite yet reached their sweet spot.
With Deathwing squads being over 200 points each before they are even given the upgrades they need so badly to truly commence the smack down it seemed like an impossible task for me to truely be able to take this list at all. Then I remembered two very important things:
1. Beliel and the wording of his special rule
2. No one suspects a list like this
Beliel would allow me to field 2 squads of terminators, 1 as a Troop and the other as an elite. In addition to this I would have the element of surprise and also the advantage of playing against the style of army that is most likely to occur at this point level.(see the example C:SM army above) With this I decided to write rough list to show the power that such an army is capable of at this level.
Belial TH/SS
Squad 1 4 lightening claws, 1 TH/SS maybe the company banner upgrade depending on how it works out in the end
Squad 2 TH/SS, 3 lightening claws and a missile launcher
Ravenwing bikes 3x melta bombs
The idea of this is really simple, scout move the bikes, Deathwing assault a squad in to the weakest side of the enemy lines with Beliel in tow with the locator beacon and then get multi-charging!
This list is crazy you say! How could it ever work?
Simple, it is exactly what nobody is expecting at this level. Look at my IG army from the beginning of the post. Pretty solid right? Actually not at all, look again. This army has only 3 guns that pierce a 2+ and the chances of actually hitting with all three is low to say the least. Now look at the Deathwing, it is evil right?
I know that the main issue I have would be deployment and how to deal with how my enemy deploys. But with only 1 unit on the table (the bikes) this is no longer an issue. Their scout move defines exactly where my forces deploy a turn after his do either way.
AV14? The chances of that occurring are so low that it is not really an issue, just in case the bikes have melta bombs. A monolith you say? Good luck fitting that into 750 after your warriors and lord!
The weaknesses of this list are its numbers. At only 14 models every death is a great loss to the force, but hey, that’s how space marines are meant to be right?! If you focus on the mission and forget trying to kill stuff this army (is it even an army? Squad more like!) has it all with style and even a bit of fluff thrown in! (ARGH your HQ knows something! Where are the plans for the rebel base! Sorry, fallen, yeah, fallen he he he)
Deathwing (Dark Angel) FAQ:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1620225a_Dark_Angels_Version_1_1.pdf
Nort
TL;DR: Shut it! The “meta” is for pussies! Mass is not always might!
