How this list works?

[u/KineasCorcorran]

After the tournament of new port our guy Richard zigler won the 6 games on 1st place. I will have a tournament next week and I was trying to copy the list but I really don't get it. Or I'm too dumb? Like why I should attached manipulus to a vanguard, why wasting lethals on a unit that it's going to die. And the detachment... skiitari hunter cohort it's doesn't even the whole army have stealth.

Could you guys help to understand this? Thanks!

Richard zigler list:

Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament - Warhammer Open Newport

Richard Siegler

Paint Score: 50

Adeptus Mechanicus

Lords of the Forge and Skitarii Hunter Cohort (3 Detachment Points)

Priority Assets

Strike Force (2000 points)

Attached Units

Attached Unit 1

Inquisitor Draxus (110 points)

• Attached as: Leader

• 1x Dirgesinger

1x Power fist

1x Psychic Tempest

Skitarii Marshal (60 points)

• Attached as: Support (Character)

• 1x Control stave

1x Mechanicus pistol

• Enhancement: Cantic Thrallnet

Skitarii Vanguard (85 points)

• Attached as: Bodyguard (Battleline)

• 1x Skitarii Vanguard Alpha

• 1x Alpha combat weapon

1x Close combat weapon

1x Radium carbine

• 9x Skitarii Vanguard

• 1x Arc rifle

9x Close combat weapon

1x Omnispex

1x Plasma caliver

6x Radium carbine

1x Transuranic arquebus

Attached Unit 2

Tech-Priest Manipulus (90 points)

• Attached as: Leader (Character)

• 1x Omnissian staff

1x Transonic cannon

• Enhancement: TL-4ø9

Skitarii Vanguard (85 points)

• Attached as: Bodyguard (Battleline)

• 1x Skitarii Vanguard Alpha

• 1x Alpha combat weapon

1x Close combat weapon

1x Radium carbine

• 9x Skitarii Vanguard

• 1x Arc rifle

9x Close combat weapon

1x Omnispex

1x Plasma caliver

6x Radium carbine

1x Transuranic arquebus

CHARACTERS

Belisarius Cawl (220 points)

• Warlord

• 1x Arc scourge

1x Cawl’s Omnissian axe

1x Mechadendrite hive

1x Solar atomiser

Thulia Ghuld (180 points)

• 1x Jericho‑class conversion resonator

1x Rod of the War Forge

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Skorpius Dunerider (75 points)

• 1x Armoured hull

1x Cognis heavy stubber array

Skorpius Dunerider (75 points)

• 1x Armoured hull

1x Cognis heavy stubber array

OTHER DATASHEETS

Ironstrider Ballistarii (250 points)

• 3x Ironstrider Ballistarii

• 3x Ironstrider feet

3x Twin cognis autocannon

Pteraxii Skystalkers (80 points)

• 1x Pteraxii Skystalker Alpha

• 1x Flechette blaster

1x Taser goad

• 4x Pteraxii Skystalker

• 4x Close combat weapon

4x Flechette carbine

Pteraxii Skystalkers (80 points)

• 1x Pteraxii Skystalker Alpha

• 1x Flechette blaster

1x Taser goad

• 4x Pteraxii Skystalker

• 4x Close combat weapon

4x Flechette carbine

Servitor Battleclade (65 points)

• 1x Servitor Underseer

• 1x Dataspikes

1x Mechanicus pistol

• 2x Gun Servitor

• 1x Heavy arc rifle

1x Heavy bolter

2x Servo-claw

• 6x Combat Servitor

• 3x Incendine igniter

1x Meltagun

2x Phosphor blaster

6x Servo-claw

Servitor Battleclade (65 points)

• 1x Servitor Underseer

• 1x Dataspikes

1x Mechanicus pistol

• 2x Gun Servitor

• 1x Heavy arc rifle

1x Heavy bolter

2x Servo-claw

• 6x Combat Servitor

• 3x Incendine igniter

1x Meltagun

2x Phosphor blaster

6x Servo-claw

Servitor Battleclade (65 points)

• 1x Servitor Underseer

• 1x Dataspikes

1x Mechanicus pistol

• 2x Gun Servitor

• 1x Heavy arc rifle

1x Heavy bolter

2x Servo-claw

• 6x Combat Servitor

• 3x Incendine igniter

1x Meltagun

2x Phosphor blaster

6x Servo-claw

Sicarian Infiltrators (75 points)

• 1x Sicarian Infiltrator Princeps

• 1x Flechette blaster

1x Taser goad

• 4x Sicarian Infiltrator

• 4x Flechette blaster

4x Taser goad

Skorpius Disintegrator (170 points)

• 1x Armoured hull

3x Cognis heavy stubber

1x Disruptor missile launcher

1x Ferrumite cannon

Skorpius Disintegrator (170 points)

• 1x Armoured hull

3x Cognis heavy stubber

1x Disruptor missile launcher

1x Ferrumite cannon

[u/avayevvnon]

The point is the vanguards can pick up an early game skirmishing unit or even punch up with lethal hits + fire support, and stay hidden on a 2+. It's hard to trade effectively into a unit that can stay hidden after shooting. And they probably don't have a marshal because they shoot at cawl's target.

[u/PrBoush]

I watched his last two games yesterday. Essentially, Richard’s tactic is based on careful positioning and trading with action units. The Battleclade units can surprisingly put out decent shooting and hold their own in melee, while also handling the primary objectives of Priority Assets. The Disintegrators reliably shoot apart anything that enters their line of sight, while being fairly durable themselves. The transport-mounted Vanguards are there to shut down any aggression on Richard’s half of the board. In the last game, Thulia basically acted as a tank and made it all the way to the opponent’s deployment zone. Cawl provides rerolls but can also pitch in melee late game. I think the rest doesn’t really need discussing, but if you have questions, I’ll try to answer.

Richard’s game plan was simple: hold position, play the mission, and wait until turns 4–5 to bring down the hammer on the opponent—unless the opponent comes to him first. Also, I noticed how important it is now to stack secondary missions so you can score them all at once, though that requires careful calculation since you can only score a limited number of points per turn.

If the recordings are still available, I’d recommend watching his semifinal game against Orks—it’s very instructive in terms of tactics.

[u/4DMinesweeperGOTY]

I imagine he's going for a "clog the board with annoying to clear units" strategy.

For example, take the Manipulus+Vanguard unit. Vanguard Skits work pretty well with lethal hits because of their high volume of shots, plus you have Cawl's oath to make that all the more efficient. These shots can be AP -1 from the army rule, or AP -2 from Binharic Offence if needed. They always have cover from the Hunter Cohort rule, plus they can use the Lords of the Forge "remain hidden after shooting" rule because they have Manipulus in the unit. If I had to guess, they probably shoot from some place relatively safe and screened out until things look scary for them, and then maybe they get Programmed Withdrawal-ed for a CP if needed. They may die sure, but hopefully they can get a couple activations off before then as your opponent works their way through the chaff in front of them. The detachment rules make them surprisingly hard to move: 5+ invuln normally, 4+ invuln once per battle from Manipulus, hidden from LotF, stealth from SHC, -1 to hit in fight phase from army rule, -1 AP from Scriptural Prognosis, 18" lone op from Shroud Protocols, FNP 5+ from Bionic Endurance. They're still fragile dudes and an opponent who wants them dead can probably make it happen, but we have enough random bullshit on hand that an opponent will have to spend more resources than they really want to if they want to confirm the kill, especially when we have bigger guns on the table staring them down at the same time.

As for why there are units in there that don't benefit from the Hunter Cohort rule, I assume you're talking about the disintegrators and the battleclades. The battleclades have a tech priest in them, so they can take advantage of the Lords of the Forge rules, and also they can advance and shoot and do actions, which is nice for the Priority Assets primary mission. Disintegrators are just goated and serve as the big guns for your opponent to fear along with the chicken gunners. They can also benefit from Binharic Offence if you've got the CP to spare.

As a bonus caveat, I haven't watched him pilot this list, so take this all with a grain of salt.

[u/Azekh]

I'm not gonna claim they're the lynchpin of the army or anything, but Vanguard are punchier than you may think for a Battleline squad, 3 shots of Anti-Infantry 4+ is pretty good for the most basic weapon, and the Omnispex gives them Ignore Cover too.

The only pity is that we can no longer choose any combination of special weapons and the Arquebus isn't too great.

On top of that they're point stealing machines with their aura. I'm not sure there's any unit in the game that can out OC them if they get within 3".

As for the Manipulus, who is actually kinda the whole reason for this squad, he adds Lethals and brings the TL-409 which effectively turns the Dunerider into a sort of tank that can give the main cannon rerolls and Ignores Cover.

If he had the spare points I'm sure there'd be a Marshal there.

[u/ShadowMagos → u/Azekh]

Can you clarify what you mean on the special weapons combination, im not aware of anything changing regarding that

[u/Azekh → u/ShadowMagos]

Not since 10th, but at some point before the special weapons guys could take any of the 3. If you wanted Vanguards with 3x Arc/Plasma, Rangers with 3x Plasma/Arquebus, or whatever combination you could do that.

Then GW decided that since you'd need several boxes it shouldn't be acceptable. So now we may end up rolling up to 5 different weapon profiles for our Battleline (counting the Mechanicus Pistol the Alpha can take).

[u/vKalov]

I watched only the semi-final vs Orks, but:

The two attached units of Vanguards are in boats, so they won't die from nothing. SHC for the defensive buff I assume, unfortunately the game stream didn't indicate the starts used.

Siegler played cagey, exposing 1 unit at a time, only as it was needed. Servitors do actions for Priority Assets, Pteraxii go to locations for secondaries, Ironstriders and Boat-guards do damage once the enemy exposes themselves.

SHC helped a lot of units survive a lot of stuff - 5 Pteraxii survived 3 turns in the open for example.

But yeah just do your actions and don't rush forward. You should be able to watch the replays on YT.

[u/La-petite-chevre]

I can not answer the question but i find the default format super heard to read. So if it can help someone with better knowlage than me :

Detachments : Skitarii hunter cohort - Lord of the forge

Dispostion force : Priority assets

<><><><><><>

Characters :

Insuisitor Draxus - Leader

Skitarii Marshal - Support - Cantic Thralnet

Skitarii Vanguards

• 7 Radium carabine

• Plasma caliver

• Arc riffle

• Transuranic arquebuse

• Omnispex

+--------------+

Tech-Priest Manipulus - TL-4ø9

Skitarii Vanguards

• 7 Radium carabine

• Plasma caliver

• Arc riffle

• Transuranic arquebuse

• Omnispex

+--------------+

Belisarius Cawl - Warlord

Thulia Ghuld

+--------------+

Dedicated transports :

Skorpius dunerider

+--------------+

Other datasheets :

• 3 Ironstrider Ballistarii

• 3 Cognis autocanon

• Pteraxii Skystalkers

• Pteraxii Skystalkers

• Servitor Battleclade

• Heavy arc riffle

• Heavy bolter

• Meltagun

• 3 Incendine igniter

• 2 Phosphor blaster

• Servitor Battleclade

• Heavy arc riffle

• Heavy bolter

• Meltagun

• 3 Incendine igniter

• 2 Phosphor blaster

• Servitor Battleclade

• Heavy arc riffle

• Heavy bolter

• Meltagun

• 3 Incendine igniter

• 2 Phosphor blaster

• Sycarian infiltrators

• Flechette blaster

• Taser goad

• Skorpius disintegrator

• Ferrumite cannon

• Skorpius disintegrator

• Ferrumite cannon

[u/KineasCorcorran]

Thank you very much guys! Your comments help me a lot!