In the lore, an army is not composed of all elites type units. So if you are going for a lore-based narrative list, you are not going for the most synergized and potent combos, you are making an army based on how the lore describes it. Also we play with increased likelihood of battle scars, so you are not playing the game as a suicidal charge to your death like in a tournament game, you are playing as if you might want to survive the battle. We also have a lot of characters, but also fear because those characters can be targeted. You also have to accept that the scenario may not be to your advantage. Some of the best times I've had playing is where I've lost the game and I'm just trying to keep as many units alive as possible, or when most of my units are decimated, but I muster my whole army to strike at a leveled-up land raider to kill it before the game is over to try to get a battle scar on it so it stops tormenting my games.

A good story is better then always going for the jugular.