DE: A Different Take On Wyches

I mean sure, why not?  Let's give these girls another try.

Maybe I have been going after this all wrong.  I've been thinking to myself for a while now:  How do I get Wyches into my army while still being effective.  Well, maybe with Succubi down to 54 points with an Agonizer, it's time to start bringing more HQs, in general, to make up for this loss?  What about Wyches?  Should I go big or go small with them?  If I go big with them, they certainly take advantage of their Obsession bonuses and Combat Drugs more, but they lose out on their ability to be easily transported by Raiders.  I feel that's a big loss because you need something that can reposition them when they need to around the battlefield without exposing them to enemy fire.

The more I think about it, the more I want to try MSU Wyches instead of running larger units of them.  My reasoning is this:

• What do they really gain after they pass their min units really?  There's definitely more bodies to soak up during Overwatch, but that's about it.  It's only when they get to 10 do they get to take additional Wych weapons.  However, if you take 10, you can't really fit more in the Raider now, can you?
• If you keep them in min units, not only do you fill out your Troop choices easier, but you can take more Agonizers and Blast Pistols in a squad.  For example, you can run 2x5 and get double the amount of Agonizers and Blast Pistols.  The only downside is that your drugs are going to be more dispersed.
• For smaller units, it's really the HQs that do the most heavy lifting.  I guess you should start asking yourself what are you really using Wyches for?  IMO, the more competitive lists can kill MEQ just fine by shooting them to death, so what are you doing with them?  At this stage, I think we're just styling.

I think that kinda settles it:  I don't think Wych units are all that competitive, but they're not terrible either.  Reavers are some of the best units in the codex I think, but the Wyches themselves are decent at best.  Regardless, I think you can take a setup that is cheap enough, especially from an HQ perspective, that you can afford to take a Battalion for them if you're planning to use them in the first place.

Quick note:  I think Strife and Red Grief are the best for this.  They both have really nice Warlord Traits.  Strife gives you Blood Dancer and the 9-attack Succubus build with the Whip, whereas the Blood Glaive is just a fantastic weapon to have.  In general, I see +1A is very useful all around, especially with Agonizers because Strength doesn't matter for it and neither do Blast Pistols.  As always, I think anything that can Advance and Charge and re-roll the results of both after T2+ is just amazing.  I am definitely more inclined to take these two cults over Cursed Blade.

This is what I mean:

1990 // 10 CP
Black Heart Battalion +3 CP

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91
Warlord Trait: Cunning

Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91

TROOP:
10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
199

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
199

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
199

PARTY BUS:
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
Raider, Dark Lance = 85

+++

Black Heart Spearhead +1 CP

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91

FLYER:
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 145
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 145

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dinsintegrators = 125
Ravager, 3x Dinsintegrators = 125
Ravager, 3x Dinsintegrators = 125

+++

Strife Battalion +3 CP

HQ:
Succubus, Adrenalight, Whip = 54
Warlord Trait: Blood Dancer

Succubus, Painbringer, Agonizer = 54

TROOP:
5x Wyches, Agonizer, BP, Shardnet = 59
5x Wyches, Agonizer, BP, Shardnet = 59
5x Wyches, Agonizer, BP, Shardnet = 59

>>>

Firepower:
12 Dark Lances at BS3+
9 Disintegrators at BS3+
6 Blasters at BS3+
3 Blasters at BS2+
3 Blast Pistols at BS3+
2 Razorwing Missiles at BS3+
25 Splinter Rifles at BS3+

Face it:  There's nothing that this list can do that the pure Kabal list can't do from a pure damage perspective.  Killing things at range is satisfying for sure, but killing them in close combat with some of the most ridiculous melee heroes in the game so far might be very worthwhile as well.

So what does deployment actually look like?  Well, the 2x5 unit of Wyches goes into a single Raider while all the Archons and Succubus pile into another Raider with the rest of the Wyches.  Yes, 3 Archons and 2 Succubus go into a Raider:  The beginning of every dirty film.

From there, you just treat the 2x5 unit as a single Raider unit while remembering that you will probably get murdered if you try assaulting before you Raider gets a chance to get in there first.  You charge in with the Raider, tie up whatever was trying to shoot your ass, and then run your naked girls in for some good damage with Agonizers.  Don't forget to bring you super killy Succubus along for the ride too.  The Archons can come if they want, but most of the time they will be running around the rest of the Kabal spreading good stuff 6" bubbles while totting Blaster fire down on your opponents.  However, always remember that they're not shy to getting their feet wet, so if you need them to take on a big unit of MEQ for whatever reason, hook them up with some Huskblades and throw them into the fray.

I'm just going to leave this list right here and let it marinate for a while.  This is just a theory list and I think it can do pretty decent.  One thing's for damn sure:  10 CP sure makes me happy.