building 1000pts WitchHunters

I was talking to Isen, DONKEY and SandWyrm last night about maybe writing up a bit of a tactica about my mindset when writing up a list, and how I execute those lists.

My lists tend to be very shooty, almost to the exclusion of CC. I feel this leaves me with some gaping holes composition wise which can be exploited. Whenever I play Leaky Water Faucet, he finds good ways to exploit my CC weaknesses.

So I checked Bell of Lost Souls today, and lo and behold, Bigred wrote a list using some of the gunline principles I tend to stick to as well. But I'm not marines, and have to play a little differently.

I'll look at building a list, and later I'll doublecheck my point costs.

I'll use WitchHunters as a primary building start. It's my first army, and one with a few tricks, and shortfalls.

we'll start with a Cannoness, and give her a Blessed Weapon (for +2 str, Master-crafted Power Weapon), a cloak of St. Aspria (for an improved Armor save), a Book of St. Lucius (for Unmodifiable LD checks within 6" of her), a Bolt Pistol (cheap shooting option), Frag Grenades (for assulting into cover), and finally a jump pack (to get her where she needs to go fast.)
All that should be coming out to 122pts.

She's one of my few CC type-units. She can tie-up non-CC units, and act as a sort of speedbump against CC units. The biggest trick with her is getting to use her LD to do faith. The option to turn a 2+ armor save into a 2+/2+Inv save is invaluable.

From there, I'd go to troops next. I like similarity in my troops, as the redundancy can help me mend some problems. For instance, If my opponent stops my main anti-troop unit, it's nice to have another that can do the job.
I go with Sister of Battle Squads. they're one of the most economical troops choices in the game. Minimum squad size is 10 though. (1 sarge, with 9 regulars) This is just the right size for a rhino.
I load out a Heavy Flamer / flamer combination, as it focuses my Sisters on troops. Their bolters are good anti-troop weapons, so choosing flamers re-inforces that start. I also ALWAYS upgrade the Superior to a Veteran. It's worth it. It makes the unit Faithful, generates a faith point, and when she dies, generates another faith. I usually give her a Bolter, rather than a pistol and CC weapon. I like the extra shot, and it's round numbers for rolling.
so I've got 2 flame templates and 16 bolter shots. I put them in a rhino for transportation, and give the rhino at LEAST extra armor. I want the rhino to move, and get troops where I want them too.
I double up on that basic Sister Squad. it comes out to around 202 points, 205 if I put smoke on the rhinos. not a bad price for a short range shooting unit.

For Heavy Support, I go with the Star of the WH heavys, the Exorcist tank. it's a hard-hitter. I put extra armor on these as well. If I get hit, I want to get back out of the way of what shot me, if it didn't happen to destroy me. I generally run 2 of these, at 140pts a pop. The random shots number can be annoying, so I highly recommend using these tanks in a two-some. If the first one fails, the other should hit. between them, they average 7 missiles. which is enough to shake up most things, except a Landraider.

now we're close to the last unit area. You could go one of 3 ways from this basic list, another Sister Squad, a Seraphim Squad, or an Inquisitor Lord. Another Sister squad isn't a bad choice, maybe a unit in a rhino with meltas. you're going to have to shave some points to make it. A seraphim squad with twin inferno pistols is another good choice, you can keep it about the same cost as a unit in a rhino, and they have great special rules. For an Inquisitor Lord, I go with the DemonHunter variety, as he's shootier.

For Seraphim, I go with 5+a Veteran Superior. giving her the option to carry wargear, and more importantly, and Eviscerator. The unit ends up with 2 inferno pistols, 3 bolt pistols (all twin-linked) and a Veteran Superior with a Bolt pistol, Eviscerator, and a Book of St. Lucius. The unit gets a free imagifier for making faith checks, and has the Hit-and-run ability from it's codex. The unit's small enough to hide behind terrain, and still can pack a punch against non-CC units, or armor.

For the DH Inq. Lord, I outfit his retinue to be a shooty firebase. He's good at it. Give the Inq. a Psycannon to go with his power armor, and give him a retinue with a Plasma cannon Servitor, and 2 Heavy Bolter Servitors. Then 2 sages, for increaded BS on the Inq, and the important re-roll on shooting. (I think the re-roll for shooting has to be one of my favorite little abilities in the game. it allows a re-roll of the 'gets hot' on the plas cannon, or the scatter for it.) Then I put in 2 Mystics for the ability to shoot at any Deep Strikers that fall within 4d6", or the ability to designate someone ELSE to shoot at the Deep Strikers. plus, they're wounds if your opponent doesn't Deep Strike. I usually give an extra targeter to the Inq. Lord. the Servitors come with them. I often put a Psychic Hood on the Inq. Lord, to frustrate anyone who relies on psychic tricks.
This unit can put out some major shooting, and rarely miss. It's become possilby one of my most reliable, and favorite units. It can do a lot, and trade fire with Heavy Weapons teams with ease.



That summarizes a breakdown of how I'd go about making a 1000pt list. it's a basic list, with some options, and some potent units. I'll try to write more on deployment and overall tactics later.