Gustikk's Army Rating

This, as you may have seen, is my army rating system; it can also be helpful in finding areas for consideration. Since you look like you have an army that can be rated though, let's take a look and see what we find. Below is the criteria I will be rating on:

1-Background Some info about the army, enemy, theatre and strategy
2-Composition Weighted distribution amongst FOC slots
3-Utility Units are suited to their task/not overupgraded
4-Flexibility Army shows variety and units are versatile
5-Ingenuity Combos and backup plans have been considered

There are ten points available.
Those rated earn the following score in each field:
0.0: Little thought given to addressing this area
0.5: Moderate thought given to addressing this area
1.0: Thorough thought given to addressing this area
Maximum score is a five; a good list will get a 3 or higher.


Sample Army

HQ

Autarch Borghese - 82pts
Power Weapon, ASC

He Joins One of the direavenger squads and lends a little CC Protection to them as well as extra shots.

Farseer Verle Bahne - 123pts
Jetbike, Runes Of Warding, Mind War, Singing Spear

He is here as a mobile anti tank unit and also to remove lascannons and other heavy weapons from my opponents squads.
I tend to play against a high amount of psykers so the runes are always needed.

Troops

Dire Avenger Squad (9+1 units) - 152pts
Exarch
Dual ASC, Bladestorm
Waveserpent - 140pts
Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Cannon, Vectored Engines, Spirit Stones.

Dire Avenger Squad (9+1 units) - 152pts
Exarch
Dual ASC, Bladestorm
Waveserpent - 155pts
Twin-Linked Scatterlaser, Shuriken Cannon, Vectored Engines, Spirit Stones.

These Squads will basically move up using cover and each other to prevent assaults and shoot the $%& outta anything that they need to.

Fast Attack

Swooping Hawks (5+1 units) - 168pts
Exarch
Hawks Talon, Intercept, Skyleap.

I use this generic squad for both tank hunting and anti light infantry.
cause i never know who i will play i need to be ready for anything.

Warp Spiders (5+1 units) - 184pts
Exarch
Dual Deathspinners, Powerblades, Withdraw, Surprise Assault.

I love using these Guys, and they suit my style of play.
I use them as a jack of all trades seeing as they can hurt almost everything in the game.

Heavy Support

Fireprism - 170pts
Prism Cannon, Shuriken Cannon Upgrade, Holofield, Spirit Stones.

Fireprism - 170pts
Prism Cannon, Shuriken Cannon Upgrade, Holofield, Spirit Stones.

These guys i try and hide and use their range to not allow any return fire.
difficult i know but it is do-able.

Thats 1496pts and 38 models


Army Rating

Background: .5
You know the sort of list you are looking for [shooting mech], and you want to be able to face any opponent comfortably. Additionally, you have a bit of info about what you are not looking for [dedicated cc units]. Each selection you have made includes some reasoning as to why you have made it. Since you are including named characters, some of your fluff might be helpful; additionally, a little bit about what you hope to accomplish with said army [such as winning tourneys, conversion work, avoid new model purchases, etc] might be helpful information.

Composition: 1
You have a good distribution of selections from across the FoC. You also have a fair mix of units, considering you do not want dedicated CC units; however, it may still be wise to consider CC in your shooting units to balance the roles of your squads a little bit more. At the same time, one or two more instances of something that can handle armor > 12 would be a good consideration. You do a good job of sticking to your theme and working within that framework.

Utility: .5
Heavy Support: Dual fireprisms are always nice to see, but yours are at a slight conflict with your intended usage. Those shuriken cannons require closing somewhat with an enemy while you state you intend to keep them as far away as possible. Vectored Engines may prove more useful here, as it will enable the prisms to keep firing a little longer, and if one loses firing lanes due to immobilisation it can still link shots with the other. While the ShCannon upgrade can be useful it generally will not serve you well if you intend to hide as much as possible.

Troops: Twin Avengers of Fury fit nicely to a shooting force and will punish their enemies with many shots. The serpents are kitted to add to this flurry, but in their forward role, points spent on the scatterlaser may not be so well-invested. It comes at a considerable price increase which could in theory be put to better use elsewhere, as your serpent will generally be closer to enemy squads than the Avengers dismounting from it and a s a result, the ShCannons should always have range.

Elites: N/A

HQ: While the Farseer has two conflicting abilities [spear/mindwar], his role at taking out single targets which otherwise prove very difficult to eliminate in the forms of combat HQ's or enemy tanks will be very appreciated in this list. The Avenger Autarch, on the other hand, is packing a pricey just-in-case weapon without proper support from other elements of this list. It would be better to take advantage of his shooting capabilities.

Fast Attack: Two versatile units, the swooping hawks and the warp spiders, capable of performing several roles. In a shooting list skyleap makes more sense on the AT hawks as you will want them to escape from targets that entangle them in combat, opening the unit up for assault, but generally they will not last that long if they get hit - skyleap may be overburdening a unit which can perform most roles you are likely to assign the unit without it. The warp spiders are built for a forward role and will prove a nuisance, but if designed to assault an enemy the DS option may not be the best.

A little more info as to overall strategy could alter these comments somewhat, but several upgrades look a little lavish.

Flexibility: .5
From a redundancy consideration you have many units that can swamp an enemy with incoming fire and should be able to beat most armored troops with quantity of wounds. You have multiple instances of key units, and you support them with squads that are not likely to get in their way. While you have a good degree of flexibility within your theme, you will be hard-pressed outside of it as you do not have a good answer for assault when an enemy forces it upon you [and many will]. Additionally, a little more AT/anti-monster stopping power would be nice to see - a little more would be enough.

While the bladestorm can be nice, I would actually consider the diresword for the Avengers, as you will be able to connect a little better with the Autarch's powersword, and that on the warpspiders, giving you some way to bail these two squads out of combat. The Autarch could use a fusion gun for tank-hunting, or mandiblasters for extra attacks. Your troop squads, while workhorses, will be your weakest link, as they don't really present much threat to an enemy in combat yet permit a way out of your shooting phase; something to bail them out would be useful. A little more strategic info could help here; there are other ways to keep them out of combat than just answering for it with your unit selections, so change might not be necessary.

Ingenuity: 0
Some strategic info is given, but there is not much in place for backup plans - either you will pull off your strategy or you won't; and if you don't things may head downhill rather quickly. You have considered your units in relation to themselves, but not as much in relation to each other. You are adopting a sort of gunline approach to a mechanized list - thinking about the dynamics of a gunlie army and then adding the strengths of a mech force may be a good way to improve your strategy overall. More thought could be given to this area.

Summary:
Background: .5
Composition: 1
Utility: .5
Flexibility: .5
Ingenuity: 0
Total Score: 2.5

Some improvement needs to be done overall when describing how you intend to field your units, especially in relation to each other. This is especially the case as you are fielding a low-model count army which will underperform in both your assault phase as well as your opponents. While you are working within the framework of a shooty-mech force and intentionally avoiding dedicated CC a little non-dedicated CC may still prove useful. Some of your upgrade selections are not entirely necessary, while some others could be included to round out your units a little more.

Some specific suggestions for this army list would be to either bump the autarch up or down - being a versatile figure if you give him different weaponry, or inexpensive if you just take the Avenger catapult. Consider dropping the ScLaser on the waveserpent for more extra points. Consider removing skyleap as it will detract from your hawk's battlefield capability more than add to it. Consider removal of short ranged cannons from fire prisms that will be staying far from the enemy. Then add VE to the fireprisms.

Next, if keeping the powersword on the Autarch I would add direswords to the Avengers. You might also want to consider removing surprise assault from the spiders and adding a poweersword to the hawks if keeping the power weapons, as now you can potentially hit back in a pinch through combined assaults. This could help bolster combat abilities a bit.

Otherwise, I would prefer to see you lose the sword from the Autarch and the spiders as well and sink those points with the others left over from above into pricier main guns on the serpents [for tank roles] and consider a fusion gun on the Autarch [so he can bail the Avengers from the threats they simply can't handle, such as tanks]. This is the sounder option, and fits a little better with your theme.