After a hiatus in gaming brought on my work and life constraints, I finally have some time to get some games in in the next few weeks. I’m looking at this as an opportunity to finally test out the Drukhari book, and so I’ve had plenty of time to fidget between various lists on Battlescribe.

In particular, I’ve been focusing on trying to create a good Alliance of Agony list. Here’s what I initially came up with:

DRUKHARI RAIDING FORCE:

KABAL OF THE FLAYED SKULL PATROL:

Archon- blast pistol, Djin Blade, Famed Savagery- 76
10 Kabalite Warriors- 2 blasters, splinter cannon- 104
-Raider- disintegrator, splinter racks- 90
5 Kabalite Warriors- blaster- 47
-Venom- dual splinter cannons- 75
Sslyth- 27
-Venom- dual splinter cannons- 75
8 Mandrakes- 128
5 Scourges- 4 blasters- 128
Ravager- 3 dark lances- 140
Ravager- 3 dark lances- 140
Razorwing Jetfighter- 2 disintegrators, splinter cannon- 145

PROPHETS OF FLESH PATROL:

Haemonculous- liquefier gun, flesh gauntlet, ichor injector, Diabolic Soothsayer
5 Wracks- ossefactor- 52
-Venom- dual splinter cannons- 75
3 Grotesques- 105
-Raider- dark lance, grisly trophies, phantasm grenade launcher- 90

CULT OF STRIFE PATROL:

Succubus- Archite glaive, Triptych Whip, Blade Dancer- 54
18 Wyches- 2 shardnets & impalers, Hekatrix w. agonizer- 158
9 Reaver Jetbikes- 2 heat lances, 2 grav-talons- 201

Total: 1999

Pre-Game Command Points: Alliance of Agony, Prizes of the Dark City
Total Command Points: 5 (-2, +d3)

This list was based primarily on units i have, and/or ones that I really want to test out. The general idea of this list is to flood the board with maximum threat overload by turn 2. While the Kabal forces are there to provide fire support, everything else in the army is there to provide some close combat punch. Fire priority in this list will first go to killing enemy shooty units, particularly things that can threaten my vehicles and counter my mobility, while secondary targets will be anything with the close combat punch or mobility to pose a serious threat to me. With the Grotesques riding around in a Raider, the Reavers zooming around, the Mandrakes coming in from reserve and the Wyches coming out of the webway, I’m looking at multiple nasty close combat threats swarming the enemy lines by turn 2, with the aim of swarming the opponent, ganging up where possible, and inflicting plenty of damage (particularly with my mean characters). The Scourges either hang around on the board, hopping from cover to cover, deep strike in to kill some vehicles with their blasters. The characters, meanwhile, join the Sslyth in a Venom, and together ride off to provide buffs wherever needed, provide close combat support where needed, aand drink orange mocha frappucinos in the meantime.

I do have a few issues with this list, though. Firstly, given the number of deep striking units that I have, I can’t help but wonder if I’m leaving my main army a little more vulnerable to the enemy’s turn 1 shooting. I’m hoping that the turn 2 assault by everything on the board will more than make up for the diminished turn 1 board presence. This is coupled with the question of whether I have enough firepower on the board on turn 1. I like to think, realistically, that I do, but then again there are always extremes– I may find that I don’t have nearly enough lances if I end up against an IG tank horde, or Imperial Knights, or vice versa, enough decent anti-infantry weapons if I run up against Tyranids, Orks, or Poxwalker-heavy Death Guard (though I am hoping that the Wyches and my other close combat stuff can deal with that– that the best way to deal with a horde is another horde).

I am also wondering whether or not to switch the Cult of Strife for the Red Grief– on the one hand, Strife benefits the big Wych blob quite a lot, especially since, given that they will be arriving on turn 2, they will already have rerolls to charges thanks to Power from Pain, and will be arriving close enough to the enemy that they won’t need Red Grief’s advance-and-charge ability. On the other hand, the same can’t be said for the Reavers, who will most definitely benefit more from Red Grief than Strife, especially given their hefty advance move.

Finally, there’s the issue of command points. Quite simply…a Raiding Force may not cut it competitively any more. If I want more command points, I may need to bite the bullet and switch one of my patrols into a Battalion, though I would have to make severe cuts to the list to do that. Just as an example, though, I’ve tinkered with the above list and made this secondary version:

KABAL OF THE FLAYED SKULL BATTALION:

Archon- blaster, Djin Blade, Famed Savagery- 93
Archon- blaster, huskblade- 93
10 Kabalite Warriors- 2 blasters, splinter cannon- 104
-Raider- dark lance, splinter racks- 95
5 Kabalite Warriors- blaster- 47
-Venom- dual splinter cannons- 75
5 Kabalite Warriors- blaster- 47
-Venom- dual splinter cannons- 75
8 Mandrakes- 128
Sslyth- 27
-Venom- dual splinter cannons- 75
Ravager- 3 disintegrators- 125
Ravager- 3 dark lances- 140
Razorwing Jetfighter- 2 disintegrators- 135

PROPHETS OF FLESH PATROL:

Haemonculous- stinger pistol, ichor injector, electrocorrosive whip, Diabolic Soothsayer- 86
5 Wracks- ossefactor- 52
3 Grotesques- 105
-Raider- dark lance, grisly trophies, phantasm grenade launcher- 90

CULT OF THE RED GRIEF PATROL:

Succubus- splinter pistol, Blood Glaive, Hyper-Swift Reflexes
9 Wyches- shardnet and impaler, Hekatrix w. agonizer- 80
-Raider- dark lance, grisly trophies, phantasm grenade launcher- 90
8 Reaver Jetbikes- 2 heat lances, 2 grav talons- 182

TOTAL: 1994

Pre-Game Command Points: Alliance of Agony, Prizes of the Dark City
Total Command Points: 10 (-2, +d3)

This list gives me way more Command Points to play with, but does so, sadly, at the expense of my Scourges. To cut back on points, I was also forced to downgrade one of my Ravagers to disintegrators (though “downgrade” is a subjective term, as it will still do plenty of damage to multi-wound models, and absolutely murder things like Primaris Marines). If I were to fiddle with this list more, I might consider trading the Razorwing for the Scourges again, if I find that I miss the anti-tank firepower that they provide. At the very least, though, I have more Warriors now, and an extra Archon to join the Party Venom.

I also wound up going Red Grief in this instance, for three reasons: (1) it would improve my Reavers tremendously, (2), it would mean one less Command Point to spend, and (3), the Red Grief’s relic and warlord trait are simply far superior for a Succubus. That being said, I still do want to experiment with the Cult of Strife and their bucketload of attacks at some point, and so the Webway-wandering Wych party is something that may still show up in future lists.

While both are designed as all comers lists, I anticipate my first opponents being Imperial Guard and Space Marines. After my first few games I’ll hopefully have an idea of what’s working and what’s not. More importantly, later down the road I do want to experiment with different obsessions and/or list themes, and see what’s next on my shopping list. Of the two, I’ll probably try the first list first, simply because…well, I have only one Archon model.

Hopefully I’ll have more updates on my Drukhari to come. Until then, happy hunting, Kabalites!