Death rider list feedback

[Oldmanlee]

Hi all

can I get some feedback on this list please 

thanks for looking 

[dmorley21]

There's some debate about whether the death riders battalion is competitive, with most people thinking it is not. 

For non-tournament games, I think you can certainly use it but I see it more as a support battalion for your main anvil. 

The other thing is your 3rd unit of Hexwraiths get no buffs from the battalion. I'd at least drop the third unit and a Harrow for a unit of 30 Grimghast Reapers.  

Just my two cents. 

[themortalgod]

Imo a dreadblade harrow makes for a better general. The knight doesnt really gain anything from being general but the dreadblade can reposition and use the allegiance command ability to draw units to him when he does.

Overall though, I think you will find the army lacks hitting power. You are effectively an alpha strike army that isnt any faster at it than infantry ghosts wich hit harder since they pop up the same 9” away.

[Oldmanlee]

Ahhh so it's not a great formation then shame 

[Charlo]

From what I can tell though, it's VERY fast. You'll just need to really coordinate your fights and not get drawn in. Flying movement obviously helps with this though. Getting +3 to Charge with cogs up and fighting first because of the batalion will be cool.

I'd agree with leaving a Hexwraith unit at home though and investing in a blob as backup.

[dmorley21]

On 8/30/2018 at 4:32 AM, Oldmanlee said:

Ahhh so it's not a great formation then shame 

I havne't played it, but it doesn't seem like it. It does seem like a lot of fun though!

If you drop a Harrow and Hexwraiths unit, you can fit in any of these combinations:

30 Grimghast Reapers & Cairn Wraith

40 Chainrasp Horde & Guardian of Souls

And that's keeping the extra 50 pts for a command point that you currently have.

The bottom line is that you can probably be semi-competitive with that battalion and have fun, but you really need to be cost efficient with it. I can only see it working if you have one or two anvil type of infantry units as a center.

 

[Oldmanlee]

19 hours ago, dmorley21 said:

I havne't played it, but it doesn't seem like it. It does seem like a lot of fun though!

If you drop a Harrow and Hexwraiths unit, you can fit in any of these combinations:

30 Grimghast Reapers & Cairn Wraith

40 Chainrasp Horde & Guardian of Souls

And that's keeping the extra 50 pts for a command point that you currently have.

The bottom line is that you can probably be semi-competitive with that battalion and have fun, but you really need to be cost efficient with it. I can only see it working if you have one or two anvil type of infantry units as a center.

 

Thanks for the imput semi competitive is kind of what I want 

[Nevar]

On 9/1/2018 at 3:53 AM, Oldmanlee said:

Thanks for the imput semi competitive is kind of what I want 

You will also want the Dreadblade as the general.  You want to use the ability to pull your horses back to your general every turn.  By doing this, you can roll a charge attempt every turn and fish for Wave of Terror.

I play with a 15 Hexwraith blob pretty much every game, and if they get a wave of terror, they cripple enemy units without much sweat.  Hexwraiths have Grimghast attacks with the bonus of Mortal Wounds on 6's, plus a small flurry of horse kicks.  If you get Wave of Terror and fight twice, you will very likely do some serious damage.  Then you can use the Dreadblade to pull them out of combat and set them up 9" away from the enemy all over again for another attempt.  I use the Mounted Knight of Shrouds to do this in 1000 point games, but that just has him standing slightly back from the front line and there is not as much of a flank risk as there is in a full game.

Granted... I have always had good luck with this and my Hexwraiths pretty much always get at least one Wave of Terror fighting sequence per game, but with the battalion you improve your chances, and with the Pendant and Cogs you can at least ensure the charge lands even if it is not a Wave of Terror.

Basically... it has the potential, but it requires you to use it just right -and- get a little luck which is why it is not considered competitive since you cannot count on it.  You are more buying the artifact and grouped deployment with the ability as a small topping as the other way around.

[NoobhammerN8]

In my experience, the hexwraiths have a tendency to make that big charge, but then be too far away for buffs or deathless saves. That's been the army's main weakness. Much of the power comes from buff synergy bubbles, so splitting up gets things killed. Haven't tried it with everything mounted though. That might work if you can keep the characters close. Plus I didn't have enough hexwraiths to do units of ten. They're much better at that size.

[Nevar]

1 hour ago, NoobhammerN8 said:

In my experience, the hexwraiths have a tendency to make that big charge, but then be too far away for buffs or deathless saves. That's been the army's main weakness. Much of the power comes from buff synergy bubbles, so splitting up gets things killed. Haven't tried it with everything mounted though. That might work if you can keep the characters close. Plus I didn't have enough hexwraiths to do units of ten. They're much better at that size.

You 100% need mounted heroes if you want a mounted theme.  That will let you keep the Hexwraiths inside the Deathless Spirits bubble for the added survivibility, and at the same time you don't actually have to go completely without the buff combos.  Hexwraiths can very easily cross the table and charge the enemy the good old fashioned way, which can free up space in the underworld for support heroes or units that cannot keep up.  Deepstriking in a Guardian of Souls or a Spirit Torment can help to keep them in range to offer their support.

I always bring a Guardian of Souls with my horses so that I can heal/revive models, plus the Ruler of the Spirit Hosts on my general to return slain models.  I have had a good round once where I rolled too good on the healing and returned seven Hexwraiths in one hero phase thanks to the Beacon of Nagashizzar.  Guardian of Souls revived four hexwraiths with a roll of a 5 on his spell, and the ruler trait rolled a 5 for three models returned.  That is an extreme example of recursion on Hexwraiths, but at the same time you should not normally be needing to return that many hexwraiths in one round unless you got mulched by a double turn or something.  Hexwraiths have the advantage of being resistant to high damage attacks that normally destroys multi-wound models, and killy enough to see off most lighter enemies that might pull you down by weight of attacks.  Also, while it is hard to get all 15 of my Hexwraiths into combat, I have seen it is also pretty hard for my enemies to get all of their attacks in also if I pile in right.  The pile in rules are super important to be familiar with, because while Hexwraiths are large, they have a small front profile in comparison, so models already fighting one horse can only shimmy so far if all your horses are flank to flank, and this denies a lot of models from getting abreast of the combat.

I think Hexwraiths are great, but I do agree with people that they are not the most competitive unit.  Not because they don't do work, or move around well, or really their stats... but because to get the most of them it takes more work and nuance in placements and the like than a blob of Grimghasts does, and I do not say that as "get good enough to use them" sort of way, but in a "This unit requires a lot of aggrivation to get as much out of as other better units." sort of way.  I love the models and have bunches of them, so I have learned through pain and suffering.