A Christmas List

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Hello, 

Wondering what you think to this Flesh tearers army list. First 40K army in a while.

I've just created a flesh tearers list that I quite like.
Let me know what you think. 

I really loved your flesh tearers list online. 

HQ.
Astorath the grim

Troops:
Flesh tearers Tactial squad (10)
Rhino transport

Flesh tearers Assult marines
(Astorath the grim to join this unit)

Death Company (10)
Rhino Transport

Death Company (5)
(Jump Packs)
Unit to be joined by Lemerates guardian of the lost.

Death company Dreadnought.

Elites:
Flesh tearer Terminator squad (5)
(Assult cannon, power sword + 2 x chain fists.)
Land raider crusader transport for terminators.

Fast attack:
2 x land speeders both with typhoon missle launchers.

Heavy Support:

Flesh Tearers Dreadnought

Merry Christmas, 

Luke.

Well, Luke, you've been a very good boy this year, so here's your Christmas present ;)

You've got a lot going on with this list here, a big expensive character, a couple decked out units, some foot, some jumpers and a kitchen sink.  While the individual elements are good (well, maybe not the vanilla Terminators, Tacticals and Lemmy), the list overall is extremely top heavy and unfocused.

Based on what you've got, you have plenty of options on how to improve it.  Unfortunately, they all entail axing a significant chunk of your list and fitting in units that work better together.

Astoroth is a very smashy IC and gives you access to more DC, or rather, more units of DC.  DC themselves are durable and killy without need of a Priest to babysit them, but they can be hampered significantly by Rage.  Also, DC do not score, so you can't just fill up your Troops slots with them and go nuts on people.  If you do Astoroth, I would recommend taking 2-3 smaller units of DC in Rhinos or Razorbacks (TLHF Razors).  The vehicles help mitigate the effects of Rage and give you multiple fast and disposable units that, while non-scoring, will cause headaches for most people just from their speed, resilience, and potential for carnage.  3 DC in a TLHF Razor is only 115 points, 140 if you want to round them out with a powerfist, and for the price they are quite nasty.  Combine that with ASM in Rhinos, Riflemen Dreads/Typhoons/Preds for fire support, and Termies/Sangy Guard/Honor Guard as your specialists.  Running DC on foot takes too long, big hammer units are too expensive, and jumpers are insanely overcosted while easily hurt more by Rage.

Jumpers are another big strength of the Blood Angels book.  However, I wouldn't advise running just 2 units of them.  The big advantage of jumpers is Descent of Angels, making them more reliable in showing up and not scattering outrageously and allowing you to always get the drop on your opponent by giving him nothing to shoot for 1-2 turns while you always get to strike first.  If you go this route, DC and Astoroth can take a back seat to Librarians (Hood, Lance), Honor Guard (multiple true meltas), and Vanguard (Heroic Intervention FTW).  

Mech is also very doable.  Super fast Rhinos/Razors/Preds give you plenty of mobility and the means to unleash all the firepower/stabby swords when and where you need them, in addition to the normal benefits of tanks (LoS blocking, movement blocking, shocking, protecting cargo, etc).  You can incorporate Astroboy and the MSU DC in this scheme, or you can go for something ritzier like TH/SS Terminators or Sanguinary Guard.  When bringing big rocks like Land Raiders and Storm Ravens, remember to bring 2 for redundancy's sake.  Where 1 might get stunlocked or destroyed on a flukey roll, 2 will give you more flexibility and reliability.

A hybrid force is trickier to pull off, but still doable.  You mix up the good bits of mech and jumpers (or bikes, or foot) as you like.  You can go for a core of FNP jumpers backed by mobile firepower, a typical mech force augmented with hammer units of Sanguinary Guard or Vanguard, a Blood Rodeo, or anything you can think of that combines multiple elements that can support one another without being a one-trick pony.

And don't forget about Sanguinary Priests.  Cheap bubbles of FNP and FC are just too awesome to pass up!

And just some extra elaboration on why Vanillla Terminators, Tacticals and Lemartes are sub-par (not necessarily bad, mind you, just more limited in their uses).  Terminators are pricey, don't bring enough firepower (bolters are bolters, after all), and tend to get stomped on by dedicated CC units.  TH/SS Termies will see more use because of their 3++ saves, but shooty Terminators can work.  10 with 2 cyclones and an added Priest are very durable against anything short of melta/plasma and quite shooty, just be prepared to pay through the nose.  

Tacticals are generalists, so general that they have a hard time focusing on a particular role (ADD Marines, sadly).  They can kinda hunt tanks, kinda kill infantry and kinda fight in combat, but do nothing well.  It gets worse when Assault Marines work much better as front line troops (bp/ccw is better in assault, 2 meltas rock, and DoA rules) and can pick up transports cheaper.  Tacticals do, however, give you a good midfield bunker unit and can be good support for more dedicated units, just don't expect much from them on their own.  

Lemartes looks cool and can be incredibly deadly after he takes the first obligatory wound (except that one game where he always made his saves while the DC dropped like flies around him, hrmph), but he's so expensive and pretty much forces your DC to get jump packs.  Jump packs are obscenely expensive on DC, like a tax for an already expensive character.  All decked out, DC have a huge price tag; I'd much rather have a unit of Terminators and their Land Raider for the points.  No go on this mook.

So, tl;dr you should re-do your army from the ground up.  Find a theme or style of play that appeals to you and go with that.  You'll find that a book as flexible as this one gives you plenty of options.  The hardest part, as you've found out, is loading up on too many toys.  

Hope that helps, give me a holler if there's anything else you need.

Have a Merry Christmas (that goes to all of you, even Brent)!