I have a problem

Bonus post because I want to impress y'all with my content generation capabilities ☺(just kidding I just had another topic to write about)

So like it says in the title...I have a problem.  I love Destors.  Love them.  I love the look of the unit as the models are great and every time I look at the card and always think these should do something right?  So on occasion I dust off my Destors and try to find a list for them that I think really works.

The most recent time I read through the Destor card I noticed that the Dawnguard don't really have a defining rule.  Think something like how pretty much all the Banes have ghostly or Trenchers have tough.  I had the opportunity to mention this to Mr. Will Pagani and ask (somewhat jokingly) if Destors should have Wall of Steel like Invictors and Sentinels both do.  His response was along the lines of an argument could be made that Wall of Steel is a defining feature of Dawnguard but it would be quite the argument ☺It's hard to undervalue the community involvement of the PP staff.  Pretty much every interaction I've had with them both online and at events has been great.

Destors are much maligned in general as being awful and overly complicated.  I don't really find them to be that complicated once you understand the interactions between the lance rule and quick work.  Awful?  spoiler: I'm not going to try tell you they are good.

What Do Destors Do Well?

Destors are natively fast at speed 8 with reposition, have pretty decent stats across the board at mat 7 rat 6 def 13 and arm 17, they also have boxes and benefit from the rather generous cavalry rules.  In theory they also output quite a lot of attacks.  So...

Why Are Destors Considered Bad?

Much harder question.  What I find to be the issue with them is that they are a very premium price at 4 pts per model for what are decidedly not premium attacks.  Their strongest attack is the lance which can only be used on the charge and is still only pow 14.  The rest of their attacks cap out at pow 12.  It makes it hard to find a real place for them in most lists.

So let's say we disregard the very questionable value of trying this because we want to run that painted unit of Destors to see a glorious charge of muscle and steel on the table. Where do we start?

Choosing A Caster

I've tried a couple and have some theories about a couple of more but I think I'll start with the Queen of Polishing (and also queen of my heart) - Issyria.  

Issyria's whole kit works with Destors.  Inviolable Resolve further buffs their already decent armor stat to a solid 19, Crusader's Call lets them charge 15", and her feat almost makes up for their limited output.  This is largely the only time I've ever gotten them to work in a manner I like.

Vyros2 has some solid play in the Legions theme and gives them a nice little boost with both Deceleration and Veteran Leader.  They also can contribute to his feat.  The problems I've run into with this is that he does not improve their output leaving them somewhat underpowered.

Ossyan moving into more theory than tested territory here.  Ossyan has two different buffs that should work reasonably well on Destors.  Quicken makes their speed and def stats very good and Shatter Storm seems decent on a unit that isn't worried about accidentally killing itself with the AOE and can output a lot of attacks.  His feat also bumps up the guns.  An extra boosted 12 isn't great but getting both the assault and the charge damage boosted when going into a heavier target would help some.  I'm not sure I'd every actually want to run Ossyan in Legions over Defenders but I would at least try it.

Elara2 at a glance seems to do some pretty decent things for them.  Her feat gives them excellent threat and makes up for a pathfinder problem by handing out ghostly.  She also has scything touch to help with their output issues.  The issue I've come across here is trying to utilize scything touch - the melee range of the scything touch model drops down to 0.5" after the charge so it can be a challenge to keep the debuff on the target.  Challenges are meant to be overcome right?

Ravyn came up relatively recently.  I'm not entirely sure here.  All I can think of is that snipe gives her destors very long ranges with repo and combined with assault and her feat gives you something like snipe feat go.  I'm not convinced but I've not ever actually tried it.  Just writing this has me thinking something horrible about double destors and invictors.

Hey I built a list!

So anytime I build a list I try to decide what it is for.  Meaning am I building a list for just kicking around with goofy stuff, am I building a list to play into my local meta, or am I building a list to travel.  I'd categorize this list as one more something I would play locally.  I don't think every list and every game needs to be played as though it were the deciding game of the WTC or anything.  I try to play as clean a game as I can every time on the table but I'm willing to run some odd stuff depending on the situation.  This isn't a list that I'd think of as secret tech for a big event, but maybe it's better than I think and it looks pretty sweet on the table.

Retribution Army - 75 / 75 points

[Theme] Legions of Dawn

(Issyria 1) Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29]

 - Harpy [9]

 - Harpy [9]

 - Hemera [16]

Arcanist Mechanik [2]

Dawnguard Destor Thane [7]

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir [0(4)]

Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [5]

Dawnguard Destors (max) [20]

Dawnguard Sentinels (max) [18]

 - Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard [0(4)]

Dawnguard Sentinels (max) [18]

 - Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard [0(4)]

What am I trying to do here?  I have both Destors and a Destor Thane in there.  I really have never found the Thane to work that well but I think this list has a plan that is at least functional.  The speed and durability of the buffed Destors allows them to get out in front get some early damage out and give you the spacing to set up for the following turn when your goal is to feat and have both units of sentinels crash in to juicy targets.  They also give you a tool to hunt down pieces that actually trouble sentinels like widowmakers or deathstalkers.  It isn't the greatest plan ever but at least there is an idea behind this monstrosity. 

I'm not sold on including Destors over more jacks and the Thane is possibly even more problematic.  Cavalry models rarely count as free solos (we are kind of spoiled with getting a free dragoon in Defenders) but it is hard to want to pay 7 points for one.  At least the structure of the theme allows the Thane to count towards free points allowing me to get both CAs and the Scyir for free.

My time with Destors on the table often leaves me feeling like they just simply don't do enough work.  That said...Would you try the list?

-JK

                                                    (my mighty steed)