40k List-Tech: A Tale of Two Undefeated LVO Lists

Question 2) I knew there would be a fair few deathstars, but I decided against taking a celexus as I would just play the mission. I also knew gladius is popular in the US. In the UK, Gladius doesnt do so well, and spiders, whom kill marines and rhinos like they were nothing, was no concern for the list. As for matchups which I’d struggle against, Daemons of the deathstar variety can be problematic, as all the beams and slash attacks can be very annoying. Daemons + Nids are also frustrating and flyrants are hard to hide from with 1 jump. Comfortable matchups were other eldar (as I didnt see anyone else really spam spiders, but scat-bikes which are easy to deal with) and gladius. I played eldar 3 times on day 1!!!

Question 3) Not at all. The list had been refined over a long period of time, and although I hadnt played the list more than 2 times before hand, I had experience with spiders to know how they work. I’d say the only thing I might have changed would perhaps have been the Inquisitor, but the skulls may always come in handy in that one game you face a fully scouting army!

Question 4) As spammy as the list might be, the list can be wrecked in combat. ALWAYS pre measure each and every unit. This is time consuming but you need to maximize your chances of staying out of combat. Move the spider unit into 12 inches MAX range, whilst keeping one further forward if you need to put wounds on models further away. Make sure you shoot then run, only run then shoot if you feel the need to.

Question 1) Basically my “team” – Team Texas – wanted me to play something that wasn’t Death Star focused. We have been talking about a GK Purifier list for awhile and this is what I ended up coming up with. It tries to get around some of the issues with utilizing a ton of Novas, having some anti psyker options (Psych out Grenades) and be a big pain in the butt for Daemons and other armies. Plus it lets me drop in and set everyone on Fire. I don’t like to roll to hit and thus I wanted an army to take some of that out of the equation. The Trick is to utilize the Novas of Cleansing Flame. It hits every unit within 9 inches with a Str 5 Ap 4 Ignore Cover 2d6 hits. That seems pretty good and lets me hit some of the other bigger named armies out there – like Gladius and War Conclave and hopefully win on the sheer amount of Dice I get to roll. I can pop a ton of rhinos, hit things hidden in cover, and just be a big pain in the butt. Through testing I really need 4-5 Cleansing Flame options at most. This let me give the book to the GK Librarian that grants me an extra roll on the Sanctic table. With 4 rolls I had a good shot at getting another. Plus the added ability to reroll 1’s when trying to cast the powers is a big help. For those wondering – I combat squaded the Purifiers – which gives me 2 Lvl 2 Mastery level little 5 man blocks. This let me start on the table with 19-20 WC dice. The Council lets me get the fixer powers I need to ensure I win a lot of match ups.

Tiggie is a big push as it lets me get my powers pretty reliably. Plus his extra wound is good when Perils come knocking on his door asking for lunch money.

Question 2) 5 Knights is a pain in the ass. I have to get lucky a bit – Meph has to go crazy and then I can win. His ability to go str 10 is a big bonus especially if he gets some extra attacks from Warp Speed. I took out one knight that way – and if I would have not failed casting it the first time might have gotten more. He can also easily take out a Wraith Knight with Force and his str 10 attacks. I wanted to play Gladius or Daemons – but they dodged me all day. I ended up playing versus 3 Necron players and my testing with Ben Mohile helped me beat them up. Shrouding, force, and Vortex are all things Necrons do not enjoy. Tau feel like a rough match up and I think I have to go big to deal with them. If any purifiers survive they start to escalate damage pretty quickly with the Novas. They can clear out so many things that they don’t need to charge that much. It does help a lot as they normally Castle up. Plus Force and Hammer hand can easily start to remove Storm Surges if they decide to get to close. Beyond that I did have some issues with Wolf Star but I think testing I could either rein them in. The more Psychic heavy ones are easier as I just throw some grenades on them and force perils on their Librarians. Once I knock a few of them out – force plus other options should remove them. It is why I started to add in Daemon Hammers to units in hopes to pop a WGBL or two.

Question 3) I didn’t really think of any changes I needed. There are some FW things that might work well – but then again I would have to start them on the table. The Points are so tight in the list that it is hard to rein it in. I think removing some Incinerators and getting some Halberds might actually work out better. They have the +1 to their Strength and adding in HammerHand gives me an option to get through a Knights front armor without Misfortune. Plus it could help versus other match ups. You could also look at taking Loth instead of Tiggie as he can just take shrouding – but I think having access to Misfortune is just so strong right in the meta.

Question 4) My advice for anyone playing this list is to figure out what you need spells wise before you start. This way you can figure out your strategy and what you can take out. You can put out a ton of damage that first turn and cripple your opponent. Fun tricks is you can move out, cast your Nova and run back in the running phase to hide. It isn’t nearly as sweet as the Tau but it works. Pods are a great way to “steer” opponents around and let you get multiple hits off. Plus they can pile up and take a Vortex to the face.

Spell rolling order
GK libbie – All on Sanctic – want Flame or Gate and maybe Vortex
Meph – 2 rolls on biomancy
Tiggie – Divination for misfortune, then Telepathy for Shrouding/Invis
Libbie 1 – Telepathy or Sanctic for Vortex/gate
Libbie 2 – Telepathy or Sanctic depending on what the others roll.