Yeah, I think the last tip is by far the most important =) Thanks for the advice! How would you deal with the current power-house SCE builds, i.e. the Stardrake+Fulminator and the Vanguard Wing with 30 Liberators? The former seems tricky due to the damage output on t1 with d3 mortals from the Stardrake, d6+3 from the Knight-Venator and a potential d3 mortals from the Lightning Charioted Heraldor (in this case, terrain has to be avoided). You do get to decide who goes first though, so perhaps taking the first turn and sniping the Venator is the best option... That puts you in range of his 10 Judicators on the other hand, so doesn't exactly solve the problem. I guess the second could be handled by ignoring the Liberators, sniping the Castellant and/or Prosecutors, then teleporting units to contest objectives. Still, depending on the scenario, you may have to chew your way through all 60 Liberator wounds, which I'm not sure your list has the damage output to do. Tricky. On a similar note, how would you deal with Fyreslayer Vulkite spam? Also, do you know what list John Dale used, who ended up 10th at the tournament?
Kroak deals with SCE. Drake and Fulminators die over 3 turns. I say this with confidence, my main practice partner uses SCE. The Vanguard list was the only game I lost against Jack Armstrong at the GT. My plan was sound, my execution poor. I double lined my skinks and a unit of razordons and deployed in the corner. Picked up one of Jack Liberators and measured the space between them making sure he couldn't snake through me. I, being knackered (travelled 15 hrs in the last 24 before the event and it was game 3 of the day) had left a gap right at the bottom (under my belly, think my fat belly cost me) and they got in. Even with the mistake I was back in it, but lost the first priority roll. The Prosecutors die quickly as does the Cast. Once the Drake is down, the rippers munch the Libs as would the basti and dons. Without the Prosecutors the Libs are very unwieldy. That list will unlikely do well again, it worked because it was unique and people hadn't considered what it could do. Now it's out there, it's easy to prepare for, practice against and counter. Vulkites spam. Kill the characters with ease. They're better now, but still a bottom tier army sadly. I think the chap was using a Fangs of Sotek list with lots of buffs for his Saurus. It was a one drop list I believe
First of all, congrats on the outstanding result during the FaceHammer! Moving to the actual question - I'd really like to hear more about your experiences vs. Vulkite spam. I do agree that taking down the heroes is not that big of an issue (in my practise games they go down usually in turn 2, big lizards rarely last to turn 3). I am more concerned about the very resilient blocks of 30 vulkites spreaded across the board - I've yet to see a game where I am able to get rid of them in 2 or 3 turns. Heck, even 5 turns! That gives a lot of problems in a model count heavy scenarios (pretty much most of them nowadays). Here's a glimpse of the strategy the Fyreslayer's army I faced used, spotted at the AoS reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ageofsigma..._fyreslayers_players_out_here_lets_hear_your/ I guess the only strategy that worked for me up till now is try to out-manouver them by teleporting to different objectives and banking on their slow movement, board coverage mistakes vs. 9" teleporting and poor charge rolls, but hell this is tricky and really hard to pull off, meaning also not very reliable. Thanks in advance for your comments!
I guess it depends on what you take, I can say how I'd try and deal with them. Against them, if they didn't have too many deepstriking Smiters I'd opt to go second (if given the choice) and play for a double turn. even with one turn you should be able to kill off the important characters that allow reroll saves. If you do early, your rippers can do 45 odd wounds when they charge, taking out around 15 Vulkites themselves. Time their drop to when they haven't opted to be immune to battleshock and that's one unit dealt with. Basti and Razordons should put decent sized holes in another unit reducing their special save. If you get the double, marvellous you've probably won as you rinse repeat. If not you do have a game on your hands but I think the match up is in our favour. I have a mate that runs Fyreslayers and have practiced against them twice. Mind you he isn't too well versed with them yet as they are new and not had any success anywhere. In a competitive setting these chaps aren't around in great numbers due to the cost of running them and them having quite a few bad match ups against the top tier stuff. What have you got in your army?
@darren watson thank you for the reply! To be honest, I am still adjusting the list and adding new alternatives. So far these are the two lists I tried in a 1500 games versus Fyreslayers (format is a bit odd, I know - our local community is trying to catch up but for now we're running also lower points events). Fyreslayers' List: Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (240) - General (battleshock immune bubble) Auric Runesmiter on Magmadroth (200) Auric Runesmiter (80) (auto dispel 18") Auric Runesmiter (80) 30 x Vulkite Berzerkers (330) - War-Picks & Slingshields 30 x Vulkite Berzerkers (330) - War-Picks & Slingshields 10 x Vulkite Berzerkers (120) - War-Picks & Slingshields Battalions Warrior Kinband (90) Total: 1470 / 1500 Moving on to my WIP lists ... My List One: Lord Kroak (450) Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160) 40 x Skinks (200) - Boltsplitters & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (60) - Boltsplitters & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (60) - Boltsplitters & Star Bucklers Bastiladon (280) Summoning (280) Total: 1490/1500 Summoning was spent on Balewind, additional squad of 10 skinks and razordons. Quickly summing it up - scenario was Scorched Earth, Fyreslayers started with less drops and took first turn - I was screened with small squads of skinks and Basti, Kroak in the corner. He chose the shooting rune, killed the Basti and one screen of skinks, failed charges mostly due to screen gone. From that point on I teleported the squad of 40 skinks across the board in one turn, Kroak on my marker the other one so I could deny it with Balewind and summoned some razordons to contest the marker from one squad of 10 vulkites. By winning the initiative both turn 2 and 3 I was able to destroy all his markers while still scoring one of mine in the far corner with some remaining skinks - we decided it's over as there were not enough rounds for him to score scenario points and beat me. Big factor here I think was his mistakes - choosing the shooting rune for the screening units, poor placement on his own markers and bad luck - failing the first turn charges as well as poor turn initiative rolls and save rolls for the lizards in the back. My List Two: Lord Kroak (450) Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160) Skink Starpriest (80) 40 x Skinks (200) - Boltsplitters & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (60) - Boltsplitters & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (60) 3 x Terradon Riders (120) Shadowstrike Starhost (170) Summoning: 200 Total: 1500 / 1500 Summoning went for Balewind and two razordons, iirc. In this one we played Total Conquest I think - but to be noted and also why I do not consider this a good reference point, we played on a 48x48 table due to some other activities going on in the game place. This I think played a huge part since the vulkites' reach was much better and out-manevouring them very hard. Generally, my opponent's tactic was the same, first turn alpha strike - this time I put 40 squad of skinks on one of the left objective due to Shadowstrike movement but these went down immediately (poor decision on my part, I guess). Kroak did his job and assasinated all heroes by the end of turn two while I was teleporting / summoning units onto different objectives only to be slain by a train of incoming train of vulkite blobs. I was only slightly behind in the scenario points but by the turn three it was clear I was running out of options to teleport to contest objectives and conceded. Final thoughts: - I feel like with the Kroak-based lists we have absurd assasination vs. low-wound heroes, great power for mid-wound models (I'd say, up to 10 wounds) and it gets bit weaker as we progress on to 14 - 16. - Skinks in big numbers are great for objectives and wary fighter can pull of some brilliant stuff but at the same time, if you hit them hard they *puff* instantly - you can't hope for them to survive a strong charge meaning they hold the objectives only as long as no heavy-hitters arrive (which, in turn, makes me wonder if they're worth in such big numbers at all?) - I do feel like I am lacking a melee-potent unit that can deliver the hits in close combat. I think I'll give Rippers a try (outside of Shadowstrike for now due to points limit) and see if they can deliver. A list I'd like to try out and see how it can compete in a 1500-based games would be something like that: Lord Kroak Saurus Astrolith Bearer Skink Starpriest Skink Priest 10 x Skinks 10 x Skinks 10 x Skinks 6 x Rippers 4 x Razordons I wonder if that would allow me for some much needed 'punch' in melee while still having the razordons for teleporting and skinks for screening. I am just missing a Basti, but cannot have it all I guess. ^^ Thanks again for the feedback!