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D.R.A.I.C.H. Classic Army Lists

Post by Nightblade183 »

Let me start of by saying that I know King Combs is doing the "How to build a Druchii list" section alreay. This thread is more of a how to build sucessful lists around different tactics and themes. I'll be using standard 2000-2250 pts when implementing these "How to's" as it allows for creation of a developed theme and tactic throughout the army and is still short enough that you may not fall asleep in the middle of reading my posts. ;)

The Traditional Druchii Army

When it comes to building an army list there are many things to be considered. This thread will be full of ideas for many different kinds of army lists. Consider it a tome of knowledge to draw upon when forging your own army lists. Druchii were considered the jack-of-all trades army in 6th ed. but with the realease of the new book it is easier to format your druchii army to fulfill more specific goals (for better or for worse). We will start by analyzing the traditional druchii army.

In our traditional or classic lists we must realize and utilize the potential of the most basic units in our arsenal. When forming a Traditional army you must be wary of your points as you need to fill all the traditional army roles adequately. This type of army has the versatility to deal with almost any situation when handled carefully. Thus the army must be mobile, have potent magic and shooting phases, and contain CC threats.

The druchii have always been considered one of the most maneuverable armies in the game. With the fast cav core choice in DR and the brand new flying core choice it is easy to add in light mobile units that can threaten valueable enemy mages, machines and flanks. In the Traditional army 2 units of 5 DR are a standard choice as they give the army some maneuverability and are relatively cheap. Many players would recommend another unit or 2 but this is shifting the focus of the army from its classical feel and sinking more points into maneuverability than is entirely neccessary. Harpies are best taken in the minimum unit size as well as they can still meet their required objective while maintaining minimum point cost. Keep in mind that they are expendable and cheap when using them and use them to threaten machines and mages early on, or take or contest objectives and table quarters with them towards the end of the game. 2 units of 5 harpies does the trick quite nicely for most players.

For the Magic phase 2 lvl 2 sorceress is a good balance of magic and points. The offensice and defensiive power of this can be quite substantial when epuiping one Sorceress with the Sacrificial Dagger and a Dispell scroll. She alone can generate a healthy amount of power with her dagger and the scroll is handy in emergency situations. Place her in a cheap bodyguard of warriors for sacrificing and protection. With the other sorceress you can try many different combinations from placing her in a unit of shades and giving her lifetaker to placing her on a horse and giving her the focus familiar there are many ways to give her a specific role in your army. I usually like to figure out the rest of my army before deciding what to do with her. That way I can see all of my army and determine how to best outfit her to both ensure her protection and make sure that she benefits the army.

There is a lot of debate on many of our CC units. How viable are executioners? Are COK worth taking with their stupidity? 2 Hydra or 2 RBT and 1 Hydra? Well I don't want to influence these debates as they can be found elsewhere on this forum. However the game designers did give our units some good CC potential and when looking at the different special choices available you're probably thinking which one best suites my needs. Well witchelves dish out a lot of low strength poisoned attacks making them ideal for butchering horde armies, while executioners are better suited for taking out high toughness/armoured targets with their high strength attacks. Black guard are sort of the in between unit. When you know what army you are going to play against you can easily tailor your army againt them by taking the appropriate choice. Example: One of my friends plays Goblins, against him I never bring Executioners but rather I load up on Witches. When looking to place one elite unit in your army and you don't know what you will be up against (tournaments) Black Guard are a safe bet. A unit of 14 of these guys with the ASF banner and a hero in them usually does wonders and isn't too bad on the points costs.

For the sake of maintaining balance in the army taking a hydra and two RBTs is a good use of your rare choice slots in this particular army build. It provides you with substaintial shooting power (2 RBTs) and a powerful CC threat that is quite maneuverable and an all around versatile unit (Hydra).

COK are such a hard hitting unit that is actually pretty fast, being cavalry, it is also nice to field a fear causing unit with a 2+ AS and some high strength on the charge. The addition of hatred is nice as it prevent one whiff of CC attacks making your heavy cav go in "rubber lanced" and ruining your day. While stupidity may turn some players off of this unit you will only have to test on the turns that you aren't in combat, which is usually 3-4 times per game. Also the odds of failing are 1 in 6. This means on average that you should at most fail stupidity once per game, twice if you're really really unlucky. This stupid rule (bad pun intended) is easily countered by planning ahead every turn and keeping in mind the possibility of failing a test when carefully positioning these guys. I have played Druchii for a couple years now and have included Cold One Knights in every army I've ever made and have had great success with this unit. I highly recommend COKs.

With our list in desperate need of a block unit for static combat resolution and some shooting we look back again to our core choices. A unit of 10 RxB warriors adds to our shooting nicely and if we equip our DR that we purchased earlier with them as well our shooing phase looks pretty solid. A unit of 20 Spearwarriors is ideal for receiving charges and setting up counters with your other hard hitters (COK, Hydra, even DR) and thus are a viable choice. Or we go think more offensively by making a unit of 15 -20 corsairs and giving them the sea serpent banner. This allows you to charge in with them and get stuck in while your other units line up for flank attacks. The choice is up to you and at this point. You may have to play around with the points a little, but when you're done it should be a well rounded list.
Last edited by Nightblade183 on Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:18 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Post by Nightblade183 »

The Ultra-Competitive Army

We've come to a conclusion that there are plenty of ways to make an Ultra-Competitive Army with the current book. Most will include elements of one or two other "styles" of DE armies found in this post. Generally a competitive list revolves on capitalizing on druchii speed. Harpies seem to be essential now that we can field tiny units of them for a mere 55pts. One, usually 2, and often more of these units gives you a cheap screen and threats that your opponent must focus his shooting phase on in the first turn. Also can be used to threaten warmachines and lone spellcasters. Overall a highly effective unit that is a must for an ultra-competitive army. A dragon lord or dragon mage adds more movement, but with a ton of hitting power. Usually you will find a dragon in an ultra-competitive list. Everyone likes the RBT's but let's be honest by now most of us have found that the Hydra is the way to go. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take RBTs anymore but just that unless you're ultra-competitive list needs some hard shooting power you will at least opt for 1 hydra, if not two. From here you can build your lists in a variety of different ways, but I've found a list that I like to play right now as ultra-competitive, despite the lack of magic.

Dreadlord
Lance, Shield, SDC
Potion of Strength
Pendant of Khaleth
Armor of Eternal Servitude
Black Dragon - 575

Master
Heavy Armour, Shield, SDC, Lance
Null Shards x3
Cold One - 159

5 Harpies - 55

5 Harpies - 55

5 DR, rxbs, music - 117

5 DR, rxbs, music - 117

5 DR, rxbs, music - 117

Cold One Chariot - 100

Cold One Chariot - 100

6 Cold One Knights FC
Ring of Hotek on Champ
Banner of Murder (AP) - 252

Hydra -175

Hydra - 175

Total - 1997

We have recently come to a conclusion that the two most competitive types of armies are the type listed above (which is sort of a fast moving Monster list with no magic, using it's ultra-maneuverability to win the day) and a well balanced list. Since this thread seems to be having a lot of overlapping I'll try to do my best to make everyone happy. (Effectiveness of the Max-out Magic lists has yet to be fully realized/debated, and since the magic phase is not completely reliable I will be leaving it out of this section (Though I will concede the potential power is quite incredible)). None-the-less a balanced and well coordinated list is probably our most effective list in the hands of a Master Druchii general (against most opponents). I have structured a list above under Traditional Army Lists in this thread that explains an effective way to go about building a balanced list. Never the less, I will say for those of you who are short on time that the effective balanced lists are likely to contain two Lvl 2 Sorceresses, a lord on a cold one in a unit of 5-6 other Cold Ones. a unit of 15 BG with ASF banner, 2 Hydras, 2 units of 5 DR, 2 units of 5 Harpies, a unit of Shades, and a unit of 20 spearmen. (Rxb's and other filler with any remaining points).
Last edited by Nightblade183 on Fri Jul 17, 2009 7:30 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Post by Nightblade183 »

The MSU Army

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Post by Nightblade183 »

The Ultra-Maneuverable Army

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Post by Nightblade183 »

The Cauldron of Blood Army

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Post by Nightblade183 »

The Infantry Army

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Post by Nightblade183 »

The Cavalry Army

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Post by Nightblade183 »

The Shooty Army

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Post by Nightblade183 »

The Heavy Magic Army

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Post by Nightblade183 »

The No Magic Army

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Post by Nightblade183 »

The Monster Army

Using Elements from my Ultra-Competitive Army above we will again capitalize on Druchii Speed and Power. Needless to say this list will also forgo the use of magic in order to incorporate it's monsters (a risky move that can pay off if conditions are right). We will start with A Dragonlord, a staple choice for any monster army that is obviously the biggest threat on the field. We'll use my standard configuration of DreadLord with Black Dragon, Lance, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, Armour of Eternal Servitude, Pendant of Khaleth and the Potion of Strength for 575 pts. This is an effective setup due to the maximum protection on the lord (which he'll need as this guys will probably be the target of plenty of missle/magic fire). The idea is that on the charge he and the dragon dish out 9 Strength 6 attacks, which is enough to break most units. If it isn't enough then you can drink the potion next turn and end the combat/ or hold out until help arrives. Keeping this guy in combat as much as possible is actually a good way of keeping him alive. In CC try to kill anything that can harm the dragon first.
Now we need to fill up our other character slot with something, and I think another powerful terror-causing monster that can fly would fit our theme quite nicely. We will add in a Master on a Manticore. Now we have 2 big scary ridden monsters that cause terror, can fly, and dish out a ton of hurt in CC.
We need to fill our core choices up now, but we still want to fit our theme. Fast mobile units in the form of ridden besats and winged creatures, not only fits our theme but complements our army as a whole. Dark Riders and Harpies are ideal for Redirection/Marchblocking as well as hunting mages, warmachines and enemy scouts. Not tomention they can still flank and come to the aid of our hitty monsters. We will thus fill our core with 3 units of DR and 2 units of Harpies (in units of 5 models each). Now we need to continue adding big hitty monsters, luckily for us we have Hyrdas as Rare choices. We'll take 2 of them as they are perfect for our list.
Now we just need to fill points and keep our theme. Cold one knights and chariots are great for this as they fit the theme yet are still fast and hitty. Depending how loosely you care about the theme you may want to consider shades (great weapons recommended). Fill the rest of your list with Cold Ones, Harpies and Dark Riders til you have a list that suits your personal playing style. Remember no magic means you'll have to be careful to remove enemy wizards and maneuver carefully to minimize the opponents magic's effectiveness. You may want to invest in Null Talismans for unit champions and characters. Also the Ring of Hotek is highly recommended for your Master on Manticore. Have fun terrorizing our enemies!!
Last edited by Nightblade183 on Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by Nightblade183 »

The Fearsome Army

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Post by Nightblade183 »

Themed Army Ideas and Comments

Just leave some comments if you'd like, I hope this helps everyone get a grip on the basic styles of army builds.
Last edited by Nightblade183 on Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Hantu »

when equipping one with the sacrificial dagger and darkstar cloak


A single sorceress can't take both of them at the same time IIRC.
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List thread: http://druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=56013
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Post by Nightblade183 »

My bad I didn't realize that they were both Arcane. I'll just have to drop one I guess or maybe split them up.
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Post by Nightblade183 »

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Post by Edtharion »

Great resource here! This will be a great help to new Druchii players, and I can't wait to read someone else's take on the CoB list. :)

As for other ideas, "city lists" would be a good idea, even if it only gave a quick run down of what to include Ie- Naggarond-lots of traditional infantry and Blackguard with perhaps a magica taste, whereas Hag Greaf ( I dont have the book at hand for the spelling) would include lots of Cold Ones. It would also be handy to link to the Corsair Brotherhood here too I feel
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Post by Calisson »

Edtharion wrote:It would also be handy to link to the Corsair Brotherhood here too I feel
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Discussion about corsair lists: HERE => Discussion on Corsair Army Lists, Competitive/Fluffy.
More corsair discussions: HERE => Brotherhood of the Coast – The Druchii Corsair League


=======================================================
Have also a look to the poll:
What kind of list do you play?

According to the first 100 results, the repartition was as follows. Below are the 10 proposed categories, with the line drawn to the closest category, and a comment on each side of that line, so that you can tell where your army belong in spirit.

-07% Heavy Magic, Magic/shooting heavy, Gun Line
These are maxed for magic and/or shooting. Melee is considered an accident, for which you can get an insurance (BG, for example).
-------------------------------------------------------------
If you prepare for melee, considering it is inevitable, to the point of not maxing anymore magic/shooting, then it becomes:
-20% Magic & Melee, Shooting & Melee, or Defensive
Here, the magic & shooting are suppose to weaken the foe's main units, sufficiently for your melee unit to receive the charge and finish them. The same tactics is used for any opponent, and there is no particular emphasis on maneuvre.
-------------------------------------------------------------
With quite similar lists, but if the intend of magic & shooting is to get rid of the opponent's light troops so that you can dictate the maneuver, then it becomes:
-29% Balanced, MSU
The maneuvre aspect is very important here, along with adaptability. The goal is to use the most astute tactics to win, rather than with share power.
-------------------------------------------------------------
If the maneuvre aspect becomes the permanent tactics, whatever the foe, then its probably a:
-10% Guerilla, Cavalry, Ultra-Maneuverable
Here the maneuvre is done with mostly light units, possibly a dragon sorc or manti sorc.
-------------------------------------------------------------
If you rather want a big nasty flying monster, it remains highly maneuverable but also terror causing, with mighty single models. That would be:
-04% WAAC, Monster
Here, the Lord is the main hitter of the list, the other ones are a complement.
-------------------------------------------------------------
If it's the dragon lord who is the complement to COC and COK, then it's the spirit of:
-04% Heavy cavalry
Here, you can either find several units of similar force or a larger, main unit of COK, but not to the point of having the whole strategy revolve around a single unit.
-------------------------------------------------------------
If a single unit becomes the predominant force, then the spirit is different:
-01% Shades Death Star, Über unit
Which includes also multiple selections of the same unit (i.e. triple shades) which, together, are supposed to win the game.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Infantry units complementing each other, each made for a specific goal, some useful against specific foes, or against other, with the adaptability of assassins and COBs, are more in the spirit of:
-06% Assassins, COB, Elite infantry
Taking Execs and COB because they are efficient together is in that spirit. You would not hesitate to screen them with RHB corsairs.
-------------------------------------------------------------
If the reason you took these units was primarily because they are Khainite, and you deploy treasures of imagination to justify a corsair's screen, then it is:
-11% Themed
This is where you find scores of WE, several units of corsairs or brave citizens.
-------------------------------------------------------------
However, taking Crone and zillion of units of 5 WE, or taking warriors because of their SCR is more in the mood of:
-08% Mass Infantry, Horde


Overall it seems that the favourite DE lists are made of a combination of several assets. Players seem to stay away from extreme single builts, except infantry-heavy.
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