In my meta, I often meet heavy CC armies (Ogre, VoC...) I was thinking about besting them in their own playstyle, and field a nasty deathstar... here's what I was thinking: 2500 pts 4 units of 11-12 skinks skirmishers 1 skroxigor unit (16 skink + 2 kroxi) 1 unit of 10 saurus warriors (unusual chaff?) the Deathstar: 22 TG (full command) Oldblood (shield+armor, Trickster’s Helm, Talisman of Preservation, Warrior Bane) Oldblood (shield, Armor of Destiny, Piranha Blade) Oldblood (shield+armor, The Blade of Realities) Slann - Beast (Becalming cognition, Soul of Stone, Harmonic Convergence + Channeling Staff, Iron curse icon, BSB Skavenpelt Banner) Troglodon Jungle swarms (both to further increase the hitting power of the bunker) and i still have 20 pts... The CC power should be impressive, maximized by the beast Slann, but I've got many doubts (the Oldblood with the Blade of realities is protected only by the number of other potential targets, I've got no skinks casters, I'm relying only to one unit) Thoughts?
If you're already committing to the LoB playstyle, why not go in fully and run a 10 Skink Chief Deathstar instead of the Oldbloods?
I don't know, the only time i used it, the results weren't exceptionals (ogre, with hellheart, that did a nasty cascade effects on my skink prists. Match losed badly)
If you're only running the Slann the risk's pretty much the same though. Oh well. None of the Oldbloods can really go toe-to-toe with a kitted out WoC or Ogre general (though I don't face Ogres that often, do they even take Combat characters or do they just run a lvl 4 Wizard?), so perhaps you're better suited using Scar-Vets. If you're already going Deathstar heavy a razor Standard on your Temple Guard SB might be worth considering. Also atm you're in hard reliance of the LoB buffs going through with your bunker, if you face a T7 shaped brick wall you're wounding on 6's with everyone. A great weapon on one or two of your guys might suit you.
Yeah, i feel that you really lack CC power. I mean, you will dish out a lot, but other armies are better at what you are trying here. I think you should make the switch to 5 Scarvets with all defensive gear in a bigger TG unit (22 is nothing), and then bank on the Savage Beast of Horros going off for some real chopping power. The strength of a well put together Guttstar is the fact that you can only hit characters, who are really tough. When going toe to toe with them, i think you will still lose more often then not, but 5 Scarvets denying any easy kills on rank and file combined with Horros for some real chopping and with more TG to be able to sustain all the shots that are going to be fired at you, should be good. Also, using Sauri as screening is bad, they are more expensive and slower then Skinks, and they cannot shoot.
I certainly see your (excellent) points. I can certainly eliminate the vanilla sauri, and put some other skink skirmisher (I've got plenty of 'em) My doubts about the ScarVet line, is that those guys will carry less equipment then the Odbloods, and in the end they will be forced to lack something. The hitting power may be granted by 2HW, but my armor save will be poor... I'll try to think to a variation of the list.
Kroak instead of the Slann will get you a -1 to hit. Ws4 beats just about all ogre ws. Throw in a couple heavens blizzard priests (to help cast deliverence or hex and you save a lot of tg lives. If you do go light, consider a forbidden staff. Make that pivotal magic phase count.
If I'm using Kroak and heavens priest, that kinda undermines the whole concept of the Lore of the Beast to buff the deathstar... But I've already played 2 slanns together, so I wonder if I can squeeze a Beast Slann and Kroak in the same bunker, along with 4-5 ScarVets... Just skinks for Core and the deadly unit. Dangerous, but fun to try.
Your save will not be great, but your opponent will not really know that. Do not forget that your opponent does not know what items your are toting (at least that is how you should play 8th IMHO). He does not know which one does the most chopping, and which one has the Dawnstone, he just sees a lot of characters who doubtlessly have massive amounts of magic items. It feels dangerous to field, but you can use that lack of knowledge to your advantage, especially when you field such an unusual deathstar.
Good point, I sort of missed the main idea of the thread, my mistake. If you go with the offensive SV front line, consider throwing in the OTS as you will not be losing anything (except for the Slann's ward).