Winning list BAO is DeathGuard + Knight

[BlackTriton]

Here is the list if you did not see: LIST

 

There was a lot of knight at the event (to be expected), Im supprised by the 10 man BlightLord in a winning list, first lime I see any terminator in a winning list.

[Gederas]

Here is the list if you did not see: LIST

 

There was a lot of knight at the event (to be expected), Im supprised by the 10 man BlightLord in a winning list, first lime I see any terminator in a winning list.

I got an Error 404 "You don't have permission" message. That must be an amazing list if its restricted :lol:

[BlackTriton]

Edited the OP with the photo!

[Azekai]

I don’t think it’s just the list, I think Don is also a top notch player. I doubt I would go undefeated playing that army.

[Prot]

I love the Cataphractii element. Basically there's your wildcard unit that can do a lot of stuff.

 

But it's really all that T8. 

 

Great list, great player too. I'm sure that knight contingent alone is in a lot of lists. 

[Tokugawa]

Wish we could see the full army lists sooner.

 

The 11th ranked player list his main faction as Dark Angels. Curious about his lists.

[Charlo]

You can't really go wrong with that amount of Knight shooting.

 

Helverin Autocannons are probably one of the best guns in the game and Double Gattling is pure insanity, especially with the Renegade Stratagem (re-roll all hits for a Phase!!!)

 

Agree on the Blightlords, that is a totally awesome inclusion and the lack of special combi's is REALLY interesting, meaning that the main offensive bulk of the unit is on 4/10 models (Blights/ Flails) and they get obscene re-rolls from the prince.

 

What do we reckon the Blightspawn is for? Just randomly toilet-gun things while being 'hidden' by Crawlers?

 

Also he has 7CP - what a dude!

[BlackTriton]

I assume the blight spawn hold objective in the backfield while being a counter to offensive units like dawneagle.

There is not much to hold objective with, asside fron the 3 knight, and they will be targeted quickly.

[Prot]

I assume the blight spawn hold objective in the backfield while being a counter to offensive units like dawneagle.

There is not much to hold objective with, asside fron the 3 knight, and they will be targeted quickly.

 

Personally I would use the Termies for objectives near danger zones, and the toilet cannon is going after flyers with arch contaminator near by.

 

I'd love to know his match ups though.

[Tokugawa]

 

 

I assume the blight spawn hold objective in the backfield while being a counter to offensive units like dawneagle.

There is not much to hold objective with, asside fron the 3 knight, and they will be targeted quickly.

Personally I would use the Termies for objectives near danger zones, and the toilet cannon is going after flyers with arch contaminator near by.

 

I'd love to know his match ups though.

It says that he faced 2 Custodes, 2 DED, 1 Tempestus+Knight and 1 Chaos(Zerkers, Cultists and TSons heros). He nearly tabled each opponent.

[BlackTriton]

Did some research on how those BlightLords where used:

Don, the player, commented that this unit was the star of 5/6 game at the event.

He drops them turn 2 on the flank or behind enemy line and use them to bully the (often light) backfield of is opponent. The combi-bolters / blight launcher are more than enough to deal with 10 man infantry squad, nurglings and such, so no special weapon there.  

This forces a hard choices, because blight lords are so tough, you have to commit hard to kill them. but 3 PBC and the knight lance is no easy target and also need dedicated fire.

 

It was remarked that the list would suffer to a control horde. With no troop, holding objective can be tricky. But the BAO was the land of Knight, and this list was tailored for this event and played by a great player.

[Charlo]

Sounds good - in love with that terminator idea.

 

any other faction would struggle to get use out of 10 Terminators but DG ones are so tough it works!

[Prot]

Funny, I often played 10 Blightlords. Heck I’ve done many batreps on it, but you know what ripped it apart? Genestealer mobs. Man it was gross. I’d have to get rid of the Hive Guard, and we’re both mid range armies ( I had no Knights) and inevitably he’d just wait on the Blightlords.

 

I really enjoyed the Blightlords and almost took them to my ITC GT but at 1750 I couldn’t make it gel together nicely, and I never really liked using 5. It had to be 10 or none in my mind.

 

I would honestly say those March ups are pretty favourable for his list. Although depending on Scions/Knights, that might have been a bit hairy.

 

I have a House Raven Knight army I put away recently. I know that if I get first turn with my Castellan, pretty much any one or two Superheavies is done, and very likely on Independent character is gone ( nearly anything short of a Primarch). I think it would ha e done very well against this DG, but quite possibly a “who goes first” dependency.

 

I know with my Knight list an unbreakable horde list can be a problem.

 

I think the list is cleverly developed for the meta. I mean small, elite style CP farm Custodes lists and similar armies are hooped by this.

[Plaguecaster]

Looks like a very interesting list though I wonder if it would be possible to swap out the knight stuff to make it a more pure DG list yet still do well

[Tokugawa]

Looks like a very interesting list though I wonder if it would be possible to swap out the knight stuff to make it a more pure DG list yet still do well

DG Leviathans and Contemptors. Similar output but shorter range.

[Prot]

Looks like a very interesting list though I wonder if it would be possible to swap out the knight stuff to make it a more pure DG list yet still do well

 

What's funny about that question is prior to the 'rule of 3', essentially 'competitive' Death Guard was a pile (5+) Plagueburst crawlers and a DP, with Nurgle Daemons. 

 

In lieu of Daemons and the rule of 3, I think this is an alternative with the twist of Termies. But I think depending on the meta, we may see it going back to Bloat Drones, Plagueburst crawlers and the Nurgle contingent. I don't think I'd ever go that way though. It's a little over done.

[Dallas Drake]

What I can't get over is that the list that won the BAO is something that would get dismissed off hand on most forums. I personally think it would stuggle against IG plasma tanks and pure knights since they can put out the kind of firepower to deal with T8 & FNP, but that said it did well against the armies it went up against. I've used Blightlords a few times but have never found them as impressive as that, then again I'm not that good a player either! FWIW that re-roll misses Renegade Knight strat is solid. 

[Prot]

I agree. 100% it's a list that gets ripped apart online.

 

I did not win a big event, but with my list I went 4-1 and I had people tell me they don't understand how I won a single game. 100% honest. I had people not only on this forum say that to me, but also at the event. I had some final round players tell me that it probably wasn't going to be fun for me.

 

It took me years to realize this.... most people, heck maybe even 90% just net list, or take what someone told them and takes it as gospel. 

 

I think most people just look for the quick win, the one, repeatable list idea that will get you 75% of the way there, and then hope your match ups get you the rest of the way.

 

There's still some very janky stuff out there and this BAO list could have had a really bad match up... but it didn't seem to happen so I think it's commendable to do your own thing and kick butt with it regardless of internet wisdom. 

 

But again I agree with you.... conventional wisdom probably would have tried to convince him to change the list. 

[Dallas Drake]

I think a huge part of it is down to how good the player is too, thinking outside the box in list design and then being someone who just knows their army & the missions inside out. You're a top player Prot, as are some of the other guys doing decent in tournaments on here (the guy who plays PM bus and the guy with Blight haulers spring to mind). Best I've had at a tournament is mid pack but I'm okay with that, I only play once or twice a month and play the occasionaly small tournament.

 

Tonight out of pure curiosity I tried that exact BAO list with a few friends; one brought Cadian IG and the other a mix of Jormungandr & Kraken Tyranids. I beat the IG and drew 12/12 with the Nids in a complete bloodbath of a game. Both games were awesome. The Blightlords were damn strong in both lists. I'd been playing Blightlords myself a while back but was struggling to decide if I wanted plasma or melta and due to the cost of that I usually just ran 5 man and ended up dropping them or running Oblits - frankly I'd never go 5 man now, it's all about getting 10 & those flails/axes. In both games I droped them in on flanks (both opponents had backfield units stopping the drop I wanted) and then got them stuck in, combi bolters double tapping are great to just throw at whatever chaff troops there is too. Before the games I had to try really hard to not swap the Blightlords out for 3 spitter drones and I'm glad I didn't because I really understand why they were in the list now. Felt tough end of turn 1 as you essentially play turn 1 with just 1500 points but DG always play like that, you feel you're losing around T2-3 then by T5 realise you're hanging in there slowly plugging away scoring obj etc.

 

It's a solid list because everything is tough, nothing is a good target for your opponent per se. If the Knight gets focussed then the PBCs are untouched, vice versa. I'd be tempted to try to get another Blightspawn in there too, those guys are just insanely good and we all had a good laugh when he rolled 6 hits then S2, twice (he more than made up for it over the 2 games)! I think the thing I've took from the DG BAO list is to just run what you want and feel comfortable with... and practice, get good with your units so you totally understand what they can and can't do etc. Obviously Blightlords are good, but it's crazy they have been so overlooked until now. Helverins are damn good too, not so good against stuff with decent/inv armour saves, but anything with average saves and/or 2-3W or light vehicles... wow!

[Prot]

The comment is nice about being a competent player, but really I don't consider myself a good player, just someone who had played a lot of games over the span of editions, with a lot of different opponents. That's all it is and I strongly believe that. (If someone local asks me for advice, my first piece of advice is always... play more, and play different people (outside of your group)).

 

I was playing 10 Blightlords a lot up until my ITC GT because that was 1750 and I was too stubborn to drop Mortarion. But I did something now that I have to wonder about with my variant; I always took 2 specials on top of the 2 Blightlaunchers and 2 Flails.

 

But I got so much more mileage out of Meltaguns than most people here. I could never justify combiplasma and would rather play vanilla bolters in my Blightlords. 

 

Now seeing the success of removing combi-specials I think I would experiment with that again.

[Dallas Drake]

I think Blightlords are in my lists for a while now. One thing I was playing wrong was Death to the False Emperor with the Blightlords flails against Imperium. I don't know why but I didn't realise that hits of 6 generate another d3 hits, that's insane! Oversights like that are probably a reason why I don't win tournaments

[DominikB]

I think Blightlords are in my lists for a while now. One thing I was playing wrong was Death to the False Emperor with the Blightlords flails against Imperium. I don't know why but I didn't realise that hits of 6 generate another d3 hits, that's insane! Oversights like that are probably a reason why I don't win tournaments

Same with morty’s Sweep attack

[BlackTriton]

Frontlinegaming just put out a mini QnA with Don about this list.

I cant link it right now, but its front page.

[DominikB]

Frontlinegaming just put out a mini QnA with Don about this list.

I cant link it right now, but its front page.

Was a great read...list partially chosen as it fits in hold luggage :P

 

Link for others: https://www.frontlinegaming.org/2018/08/06/bao-winner-don-hooson-talks-about-his-unconventional-list/

[Prot]

Thanks for reading my batreps... the ITC stuff is on my blog.

 

I’ll tell you guys the frustrating thing is.... i didn’t trust myself. Yes I took a list most saw as terrible, but when I was playing Blightlords I didn’t trust myself. There’s a big lesson for me in his success.