Adapting to the Fall 2024 Dataslate

Hello battle brethren! Games Workshop broke precedent and released updated points on a Wednesday. Unfortunately, it's not great news for us. Azrael and Deathwing Knights went up, as did Jump Intercessors, Eradicators, the Apothecary Biologis, and the Fire Discipline enhancement. All told, the Lennon List went up 120~ points. That's pretty rough. We can take some consolation in the fact that the lists at the top of the meta all took hits, so our matchups into them will likely remain about the same. Nonetheless, we are obliged to go back to the drawing board to adapt our lists. I'd already been putting some thought into that, 

For point of reference, I'm going to outline the Lennon List below, because it's been the standard against which I've been comparing lists to for a while, and it contains all of the units that GW smacked. Then we'll discuss the units that got points increases and what would be potential alternatives.

The Lennon List
Azrael
Apothecary Biologis: Fire Discipline
Judiciar
Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky swordy boys
Eradicators: 6 chonky melta boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Infiltrators: 5 sneaky boys
Repulsor
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads

Azrael: 115 points
Honestly, I'm surprised Azrael didn't go up in points the last couple balance passes. I've been of the opinion for a while that Azrael remains an auto-include at up to 120 points, and I haven't changed my mind about that. 

Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 90 points

For what they do, jump Intercessors are still pretty reasonably priced. You get a squad with Deep Strike, 12" movement, Fly, Grenades, can skirmish pretty well, and deliver impact hit Mortal Wounds. That's a pretty efficient package. I'd probably just take the hit on them and keep them. However, depending on what your priorities are, there are cheaper alternatives that bring different abilities to the table.

Suppressor Squad: 75 points
I'd been thinking about Suppressors even before the new MFM points. They tick a lot of the same boxes Jump Intercessors do. They have Deep Strike, 12" movement, Fly, and Grenades. They don't skirmish nearly as well as Jump Intercessors do, but make up for it with their 9 Accelerator autocannon shots, which can reach clear across the table, maybe do some damage, and inflict a -1 to attacks (in both shooting and melee) debuff on an enemy unit that lasts until the start of your next turn. If your primary reason for having Jump Intercessors is to drop in and score Secondaries, then Suppressors can do that and move around the board just as well as Jump Intercessors can. They're not as durable a unit as Jump Intercessors, only having 6 wounds total, but hilariously they do also have the Smoke keyword, so you could  use that to keep them alive when they otherwise might not survive. 

Outrider Squad: 80 points
Outrider Squads are another unit that can perform a lot of the same functions as Jump Intercessors. They're a high-speed unit that can skirmish decently with other small units - not as well as Jump Intercessors, but they make up for it by having (arguably) slightly better shooting and being somewhat more resilient at T5 and 4 wounds each, for a total of 12 wounds in the squad to Jump Intercessors' 10. The downsides are they don't have Deep Strike, Fly, generate Mortal Wounds, and are Mounted instead of Infantry so they have to go around terrain rather than through it. This is partially mitigated by their datasheet ability, which allows them to auto-advance 6" instead of rolling, and they could still come out of Strategic Reserves along board edges like any other unit. 

Invader ATV: 60 points
The Invader ATV is another fast and reasonably cheap unit, with not bad durability for the price, as that 60 points gets you T5 and 8 Wounds. As a skirmishing unit it's pretty underwhelming, but it does carry some actual decent firepower, with the twin bolt rifle and either a multimelta or Onslaught gatling cannon. I'd probably go with the Onslaught, which would let it pick up opposing Secondary scoring units from a distance, thus filling a similar role to Jump Intercessors, just with shooting instead of chopping. Also, the Onslaught has Dev Wounds, so you might be able to have it sneak through a couple unsavable wounds. Again, it's a Mounted unit and doesn't have any clever datasheet abilities that mitigate the downsides of being Mounted, but for the price it's hard to complain.

Lieutenant in Phobos Armour: 55 points
The Phobos Lieutenant is the bargain basement option for a unit with Deep Strike. If your primary concern is a cheap unit that you can drop onto the board and score Secondaries, this sucker is your guy. For the price of one Jump Intercessor squad, you can almost get 2 of him. 

Deathwing Knights: 250 points

Deathwing Knights went up 15 points a squad, raising the total cost of the pre-nerf Lennon List by 45 points. DWKs are still unparalleled in their effectiveness, but something's gotta give somewhere, and there are other units that could potentially fill a similar role - maybe not as effectively, but effectively enough to swap out 1 squad to save on points.

Redemptor Dreadnought: 210 points
The Redemptor Dreadnought is not that many less points than the pre-nerf DWK squad, but it is a solid 40 points less than post-nerf DWKs. There are upsides and downsides to making this switch. The downsides are we're not really saving that many points on the pre-nerf cost of DWKs, which we'd need to do to keep other elements of the list intact. It's a Walker, so it can't just go through ruins the way DWKs can.  The Redemeptor also has 1 less OC than a full DWK squad, only has 2/3rds the wounds, no Invulnerable save, and has considerably less melee output.

The upsides to the Redemptor are that it's T10 vs T5, meaning that a lot of weapons that would wound DWKs relatively easily will struggle to wound the Redemptor. Though it only has 5 attacks to full DWK squad's 21-27, those attacks are Damage 3 allowing them to pick up whole models with one shot where DWKs would often need two. It's got an 8" move instead of a 5" move, which mitigates the need to go around terrain a bit. It doesn't lose OC when it's damaged, so it's ability to hold an objective is more consistent than a DWK squad. It also has a boatload of shooting, which again can be Damage 3 assuming the macro plasma is taken. One might also assign a Techmarine to mind it, which can help with both durability and damage output. Including the Techmarine would make the total package cost more than a current DWK squad, but one Techie might mind 2 Redemptors, and there are other ways we might adjust.

Terminator Assault Squad: 180 points
This one hurts because the Terminator Assault Squad is quite a step-down from Deathwing Knights. They have less attacks that hit on 4's instead of 2's, and they have an underwhelming datasheet ability that's a crappy Battleshock effect.  However, they do have the virtue of being a full 70 points less than a current DWK squad, and their thunder hammers are Strength 8 and have Devastating Wounds, so we might throw them into targets that have absurd damage-negating effects to try and get through it with Dev Wounds. With thunder hammers they have that 2+ 4++ 4-Wound profile that DWKs have, so they can take Damage 1 or Damage 3 effects as well as DWKs. Swapping out one DWK squad for a Terminator Assault Squad can make up a lot of the points differential between pre- and post-nerf Lennon list.

Eradicators (6) and Apothecary Biologis with Fire Discipline: 310 points
Repulsor: 180 points

The Fire Discipline Eradicator brick has been a heck of a package for us, able to reliably take down almost anything we point it at. However, Eradicators are not a bespoke-Dark Angels unit, and with the total package costing just shy of 500 points, there's a lot of room to look at alternatives.

Vindicator: 175 points
Vindicators have already been cropping up in variations on the Lennon List, so this is not much of a stretch. Vindicators are a tough little package at T11 with a 2+ save and 11 wounds, and they bring the demolisher cannon to the party, which can reasonably be considered roughly as effective as the firepower of a 3-man Eradicator Squad, with better range and strength balancing off against Eradicator rerolls and (potentially) better damage. Plus it doesn't have to fall back from combat to use its demolisher cannon, whereas Eradicators have to fall back to use their guns (assuming any have survived being charged). 

Two Vindicators would be roughly as expensive as the pre-nerf Eradicator+Harmacist brick, and three of them would be 40 points less than the current cost for the brick plus the Repulsor, which you wouldn't need anyway if you're using tanks instead of infantry as your primary shooting component

Devastator Squad: 120 points / Razorback 95 points
This is a combo I used to pretty good effect in my 2023 Firestorm list. A Devastator Squad with 4 multimeltas is throwing out as many melta shots as a full Eradicator brick for a considerably smaller investment in points. Tack on the Razorback, and they have better mobility, an armored shell around the primary damage dealing element, and a few more guns to shoot at opposing units. The Razorback's datasheet rule, Fire Support, grants rerolls on shooting Wound rolls for the squad the turn they disembark as long as the Razorback has hit their target with at least 1 shot. That can be triggered by the Razorback's storm bolter, freeing up the main gun and HK missile to shoot at something else. 

The Devastator Squad itself doesn't have nearly as sexy a datasheet ability as Eradicators do, but they can flip one Hit roll per game to a 6 with their Armorium Cherub (which maybe one saves for Overwatch), and as the total package includes a track, we can re-embark them with Squad Tactics. 

One could attach a character with Fire Discipline to the squad to get Sustained Hits, but unfortunately a Lieutenant isn't an option, so getting combined Sustained Hits+Lethal hits isn't an option. However, with the total cost of the Devastator Squad and the Razorback coming in at 215 points, we could reasonably field 2 of that package and save 60 points on the Eradicator+Harmacist+Repulsor combo. We'd want to commit Oath of Moment to their target to reasonably ensure as much effect as we'd get out of the Eradicators, but if we're keeping the DWKs in the list we don't need Oath on much else.. 

Gladiator Valiant: 160 points
Gladiator Lancer: 160 points
Ballistus Dreadnought: 130 points
Storm Speeder Hammerstrike: 125 points
Predator Destructor: 130 points

I'm not going to try and justify each and every one of these choices. Suffice it to say, there's an argument to be made for each of them. Multiples of any of these can do a credible job of filling the fire support role that Eradicators provide, albeit in different ways. A couple of Gladiators or trios of the other three will set you back considerably less than the total cost of the Eradicator brick, Harmancist, and Repulsor would. 

Make Do With Less

Instead of replacing core choices from the list, there's always the option of just not bringing as much stuff to the table, which is probably what the GW developers had in mind when they enacted the points nerfs. If the Deathwing Knights, Inner Circle Companions, and Eradicators are the big sticks of the list and the Jump Intercessors are the utility pieces, then anything else could be considered to be on the chopping block. Probably the easiest thing to simply cut would be the Repulsor. Strictly speaking, the Eradicators don't need a ride. We can have them utilize terrain to move up the board in relative safety until they're ready to eradicate something. Alternately, they can be placed in Strategic Reserve, and either brought in via Rapid Ingress, or just bring them in normally and accept we're not getting bonus melta damage out of them that turn. Cutting the Repulsor would not only cover the points increases, but it would free up enough points for another small unit. We might take a second Scout Squad, or possibly a Phobos Librarian to attach to the Infiltrators so they can't be shot at from outside 12". 

Cutting anything else occasions follow-up decisions. If we cut the Assault Intercessors (the foot ones), that doesn't cover the whole points gap, and also it leaves Azrael without a unit to join. We might cut the Judiciar too and have Azrael join the ICCs. They lose Fights First, but gain a 4++ and Sustained Hits. Cutting the Infiltrators would just about cover the points gap, but then the home objective would have to be minded by either the Scout Squad or Azrael and the Assault Intercessors. 

Back To The Drawing Board?

It could be that the DA Gladius has just been hit to hard to run with the A-Tier armies, and will sink to B- or C-Tier. That'll be infuriating if it pans out that way, because all the statistics except Overrep indicated that it was not an overpowered list, and even the Overrep was not that egregious. That said, I've been wondering for a bit if the Company of Hunters has some play in the Pariah Nexus meta. I panned the CoH when I wrote about it earlier, but that was before we had Secret Missions. Now we can score 20 points Turn 5 by putting a Battleline unit in our opponent's deployment zone with War of Attrition, which seems like it would be laughably easy using Rapid Reappraisal on an Outrider Squad. Sammael and Ravenwing Command Squads went down in points too, making building around them at least a little more attractive than it was before. 

I've also been wondering if there's a legit competitive build in the Unforgiven Task Force. The detachment rule is better than it was on release (though I still wouldn't call it good), and Grim Retribution is the best shoot-back stratagem for Infantry (or Mounted units) that we can get from any detachment. Unforgiven Fury, Fire Discipline, and Intractable are not bad strats either. I posted an article about a bit of a meme list built around a UTF full of Hellblasters, but that legit might actually be a viable build. I think it'll take a braver person than me to prove it though.

Well, battle brethren, those are my thoughts on the matter. I guess we'll see in the upcoming weeks how well we've fared. Will we maintain our performance, or slip in rankings? I hope we haven't been hit so badly that our win rate tanks. We'll just have to play our best and see what happens. Until then, good luck in your games. May you rise to the expectations of Lion Dad!