So, for the coming campaign my store is putting a starting cap on armies at 1,000 points. Using the leaked points counts, I decided I would be aiming to put together a Kroak Centric nuking force aimed towards grinding the enemy into dust. Composition. 1 Lord Kroak 540 points. 1 Astrolith Bearer 160 points 1 Skink Priest with Priestly Trappings 100 points 5 Saurus Guard 100 Points. 5 Saurus Guard 100 Points. 1 Balewind Vortex... Priceless There are somethings that money can't buy, for everything else.... *wait something has corrupted my thinking* Now depending on the ruling on whether the Engine of the Gods 14-17 roll counts as summoning, I may replace both the astro and the skink priest with an engine of the Gods and aim towards exploiting Kroak Rerolls to get absurd numbers into the game... The other option is to go with a Starseer in their place and once more exploit the umpteen rerolls. Either way, with such a list I can expect a to almost always roll 6 targets with Comet, and to be able to triple cast Deliverance every turn and hit somewhere around 18-22". Of course there are substantive weaknesses in this list, notably the small number of models, increasing probabilities of being tabled. Depending on experience, I may swap 5 guard for 10 Saurus Warriors and see if the added bulk to the army is helpful. I suspect this armies sheer number of mortal wounds will be able to overcome the issues.
Brave taking Kroak, but this does look awesome! This should be hilarious! I want the battle report after your first game!
Bowser, Kroak should be almost unkillable in this list. Consider +1 save from Balewind, +mystic shield, +rerolls from Skink priest. That is a 2+ rerollable save. Now add the +3" bubble. He is now unable to be reached in close combat. So the only way to kill him is to shoot him to death, which then needs a nice high rend, to get past the 2+ rerollable. It is an attrition build I will grant, but considering the sheer scope of damage, the only real danger is tarpits due to their resistance to mortal wounds, but tarpits cannot melee him. Ranged tarpits tend to not hit on anything more than a 5+ and then they still need to get through the 2+ rerollable. And if they do that, they then need to kill the skele frog... Which is next to impossible. People underestimate Kroak, he is utterly immovable when mounted on a Vortex. Hence why it is absolutely priceless. I mean do the math on that save, it would take 36 wounds to beat that save without a high rend.
Im not underestimating Kroak, I am understimating the end game, but yeah as long as you can keep ahead of the attrition it's a solid list! I think I am going tonhave to try this one as well!
There is also an implicit bet tbh, I am betting I will be seeing many small units/monsters. As it stands, my Saurus Guards are held in reserve till I can burn away enough of the enemies list to make a play for the objectives. Kroak in this setup should on a small board be able to inflict close to 6 mortal wounds on every enemy unit on the board every turn. This will be what burns away stormcasts and the like. I see Skaven/Goblins probably being the biggest threat, due to sheer numbers, as that is what will be the weak point.
Right that's what I was thinking. It's going to be the guy with a ton of troops that's going to make it hard to make objectives.
Well it does depend on how he deploys them. IF he goes with 2 big 40 man units, he will be a pain, but that said, those big 40 man units will break and flee after two turns of the Kroak. Anyone who runs 4-5 5 man units is gonna get murdered though... Most generals are gonna be dead by turn 3, and most units will be down to about half their numbers by the same time. The question really comes is stacking enough instant kill to take down the skele toad. It seems counter-intuitive, but really, I think the only way to kill this setup is to crush it head on, hence why I have built around to make Kroak immortal. I could make it much worse, and swap the astrolith for a starseer, and watch the other guy weep at up to 9 rerolls a turn, and almost total spell immunity. Alternatively, run kroak + Slann for every spell being cast each turn. That setup would add an increase even more to the mortal wounds done, raising it an extra d3 every turn, and ensuring every incoming spell would suffer at least 1 unbinding, The crux of whatever tactic in those adaptions is going to be a very tight battleline, pulled right in, to force the other side to come into battle. I can think of a number of ways to fight that, but none of them really have any way to deal with Kroak.
On paper this build is very effective. but you must consider... When you are buffing up kroak , you are taking away the buffs on the temple guard, and thus with no eternity warden, they will be stuck on a four plus save, though they may gain re rolls. secondly, the mobility in this list is very limited. a well rounded balanced list would dominate the board with the flexibility offered. many lists will be able to tear through the unbuffed temple guard and cut down kroak with the high rend that many builds I have seen are trending. also there are many abilitys in the game that allow mortal wounds without spells using rangen attacks, like the stardrake of the celestial hurricanum. if your opponent is strategic, then they will take several casters, and use the most powerful spells last. if you choose to unbind the first spells (arcane bolt) then you will be open to bigger spells (foot of gork) . if leave your unbinds for bugger spels, then you will be hit by many an arcane bolt. the body guard surrounding kroak is weak, and this kroak is vunerable. if the skink priest gets sniped, then no more two plus with re rolls. a sniped astrolith means that casting is harder. in larger games with more points then this list will work with the addition of more units for flexibility, however, in this situation, then it will not work. sorry if I am offending or attacking you in any way, I just wanted to point out the downfalls of the list.
No those are weaknesses I have indeed considered. Tbh, the rule of ones is why I expect not see too many casters, Also remember, the temple guard have +1 save and +2 bravery when within 8" of a hero. Using that as the bonus should let me keep them up, while also using them to protect the Skink Priest. Kroak should be safe enough on his floating tornado anyway.The big determiner in this list depends on how the game is played. If I can run them out of troops with good rolls on deliverence (which in this list has a theoretical maximum range of 44") I can actually kill their entire army, especially against some of the Stormcast lists out there.
I'm not really sure about Kroak as a main model in 1000pts army. He's not "almost immortal" at all. Everything really depents on who's starting the first round. Check this, my counter army for your list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ElCy3XAHR_3JAi8hHDndvfgiOyxye1TNKjA0qCBRcOI/edit?usp=sharing
another counter to this list is chaos warriors or phoenix guard. both units have saves against moral wounds, and thus kroak has his effectiveness seriously nerfed. then some chaos sorcerers on manticors for mobility, placed within range to spell snipe the very few infantry units you have, and if kroak has a three inch screen, then if the sorcerers are 18 away from the temple guard, then kroak is not within 18 to unbind. kill of temple guard screen, move in chaos warriors or knights, who also have the shields. 10 chaos knights with lances on the charge will kill kroak. problem solved.