The "Ideal" list version 2.0!

So, I haven't even playtested the last list really well, but I've already thought up a few changes based on my own observations about my playstyle, and about other people's lists in general.

The Last list that I labeled as "ideal" had a generic flaw in it, I was trying to do too much in a list as well as trying to play basically two playstyles at once., "Passive agressive" and "Punch you in the face".  Although it seems that these overlap, half the army would have been caught outside of the leadership bubbles and re-rolls, and get caught out in the open flapping their asses. This does give way to some "individual" efforts by some units, but overall it just didn't seem right to me, hence the toiling over and over about this list.

So, What is the list now and the changes?

Dreadlord @ 251.0 Pts
     General; Sea Dragon Cloak; Shield
     Sword of Anti-Heroes; Armour of Destiny; Dragonbane Gem; The Other Tricksters Shard

1 Supreme Sorceress @ 300.0 Pts
     Magic Level 4; Lore of Dark Magic
     Talisman of Preservation;  Dispel Scroll;  Shrieking Blade

1 Master @ 155.0 Pts
     Heavy Armour; Sea Dragon Cloak; Battle Standard
     Sword of Might; Enchanted Shield; Dawn Stone

27 Black Ark Corsairs @ 327.0 Pts
     2ndWeapon; Light Armour; Sea Dragon Cloak; Standard; Musician; Reaver

14 Darkshards @ 198.0 Pts
     Rptr Crossbow; Light Armour; Standard; Musician
     Banner of the Eternal Flame

5 Dark Riders @ 100.0 Pts
     Spear; Rptr Crossbow; Light Armour; Shield

27 Har Ganeth Executioners @ 369.0 Pts
     Great Weapon; Heavy Armour; Standard; Musician;Draich-master
     Banner of Swiftness

23 Black Guard @ 375.0 Pts
     Halberd; Heavy Armour; Standard; Musician;Tower Master

1 Reaper Bolt Thrower @ 70.0 Pts

1 Reaper Bolt Thrower @ 70.0 Pts

5 Doomfire Warlocks @ 125.0 Pts
     #3: Soulblight [0.0]
     #DrkS2 - Doombolt [0.0]

1 Kharibdyss @ 160.0 Pts

Changes and Thoughts:

First off, I really didn't want to have to rely on something that could get Arcaned unforging to get leadership 10 across the board. Second, I wanted each of my 3 combat blocks to be able to hold their own. Third, I wanted bodies.. And lastly, I wanted to try and minimize my risk of one element going wrong then my entire plan falls apart.

Dreadlord got added at the cost of psycho elf and the shades. He's decked out for anti death stars, anti fire stuff, and just overall a combat monster. He will go inside the corsairs to give them a little more punch. They will be the center of the line (for most of the games that I can dictate my deployment)

The Sorc is going inside the black guard on one side of the corsairs.. She also has dark magic. I figure with power of darkness and either word of pain or shroud of despair the black guard can get up to str 5, minimize the hits back and/or force them to not use their general and bsb.. with a little trick.. The sorc causes fear with her sword, which could make for some shenanigans when shroud of despair goes off.. plus with +5 to cast I don't have to rely too much on a shitty magic phase screwing me over.

Lastly, the bsb is durable and going into the executioners. She will be on one end of the unit so that her re-rolls cover the 3 blocks.

The beast will go on whatever side of the blocks that I feel the high strength and abyssal horror will be the most beneficial to all this combat spanking going on.

Warlocks, dark riders, bolt throwers and the shooting elements all will be either on the flanks, or in positions to shoot up anything that comes into range. the flaming on the dark shards are mostly to knock off the regen on a monster so the bolt throwers can finish them off.

This army is almost immune to war machines in general too. Against rocks most of the army will have a 5+ save, against cannons only the beast is a viable target (and even then the beast isn't crucial to the tactics, he's just my loveable scary monster)

Even against orcs doom divers don't have a really good option to drop their ignore armor flying gobbos on.

Dwarves and empire with their organ gun like machines will more and likely have to move to shoot at the army (I don't mind sitting back outside of 24" for a turn or two while the fast stuff goes around the sides)

I really do not have to advance towards my opponent with this army. It has enough shooting and magic to force my opponent to come to me making me dictate charges on my terms (which is needed for elves) Also, I have anti-horde in the form of dark magic, and just the volume of attacks my army can and will produce.

Regen in close combat can be a bit of a pain, but I don't mind throwing the darkshards on a flank to knock out the regen before the combat blocks do their damage.

Final thoughts:

I am actually really excited for this list. It seems to fit my play style more and I'm more focused on each unit working as a whole. If one fails then I have a back up. If the whole army decides to fail, then well, I'm SOL from the start. I am really looking forward to seeing how this list works.