Thank you ever so much people! Getting such 100% high quality feedback so quickly is just absolutely great.
@Casual
Warp Hunter is a really cool and interesting idea! However, unfortunately Forge World stuff is heavily frowned upon here and is banned from most events I attend regularly. But I do have plans to paint up a couple of Fire Prisms in the near future - I think they would make a good substitute for a Warp Hunter in terms of painting
@PartNinja
Thanks for advice! 10-strong unit of Warp Spiders is something I actually didn't think about, will definitely try it.
WG is also an interesting option. I assume you mean the Wraithcannon type, which can be dropped from the Webway? Deep-stiriking a unit of these alongside Dragons and advancing Shinig Spears, with CHs and Reapers supporting them from afar, might indeed leave my opponent facing more immediate threats than he can comfortably deal with. WG also should have some synergy with the Saim-Hann attribute as they are actually decent in close combat while being able to fall back and still fire if necessary. This means that I can comfortably paint them in Saim-hann colours without that annoying feeling of making a sub-optimal choice.
20 Guardians is definitely too many models... Besides, foot guardians don't fit the Saim-Hann theme that well - so I'm planning to eventually convert my army into a sort of allied force. According to my plans, Outrider detachment will stay Saim-Hann, while Battalion will have its non-Aspect units painted in some non-standard colour scheme which would enable me to field it as Alaitoc or Ulthwe.
Then it would be time to expand it with some Guardians and Rangers. However, before I do that the new colour scheme has to be finalised - and I haven't yet got much further than the vague idea of using deep blues and violets
So guardians will have to wait.
@Alexxk
Thanks for some great food for thought, and for taking your time to write it all down. I think you're spot on with practically all suggestions. As I mentioned above, I do feel that I'm starting to lean very strongly towards a unit of Wraithguard (not the least because I actually have a unit of 5 already assembled, magnetised and primed!
) One thing that makes me reluctant to paint more Reapers right now is the upcoming big GW FAQ that presumably should hit us in March. If Reapers end up getting a huge point cost increase, the effort will be wasted...
As for the "unfluffy suggestion"
my tournaments are pretty competitive (not LVO level, but still there are lists like Nids with 15 Hive Guard, 2 Exocrenes and 6 character Zoantropes, or Tallarn IG with outflanking super-heavy). Now, I can't really declare my Battalion Alaitoc as my farseer, warlock and Serpent are painted in Saim-Hann colours, and colour scheme is treated as a part of WYSIWYG
However, Crimson Hunters are Aspects and technically have their own Aspect colour scheme - and so my Air Wing will be Alaitoc for sure )
One thing is unclear to me though: why do you think that Warlock supporting Dragons should have Jinx? Is it to reduce Inv saves?
@Cavalier
Hey, glad to hear you too
Since you're interested, I'll definitely try to write up a summary of my experience with the list.
Banshees are actually my latest purchase
Love them, and will likely be painting them soon! However, I feel they really do need their own Serpent to keep them safe from 1st turn alpha-strikes, and I do face those
a lot (see my note above about the Nid lists which can be seen around...).
As I mentioned above, I have some grand plans on developing two allied forces, one of which will be Saim-Hann with bikes, melee units and likely WG, and the other ground/ranged Alaitoc, with Rangers, Reapers and Guardians. Once I paint up the first non-Saim-Hann Serpent, Reapers will switch to it and then the Saim-Hann one that I currently have will be free to take girls on board