AoS Killer Angel's BatReps

Some brief considerations.

Lumineth:
1) L. seems a fun army to play. Lots of tricks, many ways to shut down opponent's tactics. Nasty to play against.
2) judging by this match, Lumineth's troops are kinda a glass cannon: they can punch but they have frail units. Probably it's a false impression, with Teclis they can have a ward save 5+ and i'm sure there are other units with a save better than 5+ (windriders should have 4+, putting them on par with our knights)
3) Lumineth have a solid magical phase. Without serious countermeasures anyone would suffer hard.

Seraphon:
1) yep, despite the points increase, sallies still remains an impressive unit worth its money.
2) i'm not sold on Bastiladon in DT. it's a very good monster, but 250 pts without double shooting, hitting at 4+... if you meet an army that imposes a -1 to hit, you need to be lucky.

 

Another exciting battle, facing the NEW DRAGONS (well, sort of)

Seraphon Vs Cities of Sigmar (Tempest's Eye with SCE)
(2000 pts)​

Army lists

CITIES - Tempest's eye

Leaders:
Runelord - general with tome, so he can cast too and can reroll cast / dispel
Celestial Hurricanum

Battlelines:
1 x 10 Longbeards
2 x 10 Ironbreakers
1 x 30 Irondrakes

Other:
1 x 4 Stormdrake guards

Endless Spell: Soulscream bridge

1-drop battalion!

Grand Strategy: monster must survive

Very powerful list, with solid synergies, able to dish a good amount of mortal wounds.
It relies basically on:
- resilient ironbreakers. Few in number, but an opponent must think to other problems
- Hurricanum as heavy support, deealing MWs and giving support to the Runelord (hard to kill, given the longbeards bodyguard)
- soulscream bridge to move the irondrakes, that will be able to shoot twice with a rend -2 tnx to the runelord
- the stormdrakes. impressive units. For reference: save 3+, 9 w each, each drake delivers 4 attacks -2 rend 2 dam, each rider 6 attacks -1/1 dam, the shooting of the drakes: on a 1-2 nothing, 3-4 d3 MWs, 5-6 d6 MWs (4 drakes on average deal a tenth MWs), they ignore spells at 4+ and 1/game in the hero phase can move for free and charge


SERAPHON – Thunderlizard

Leaders:
Allegiance: Seraphon
- Constellation: Dracothion's Tail

Leaders
Slann Starmaster (265)
- General
- Command Trait: arcane might
- Artefact: fusil of conflagration
- extra Spells: Stellar Tempest
Skink Starpriest (130)
- extra spell: Hand of glory
Astrolith Bearer (150)
EotG (265)
- Artefact: cloak of feathers

Battleline
10 x Skinks (75)
15 x Saurus Guard (115)*
1 x Stegadon (265)
1 x Stegadon (265)

Behemoth
1 x Bastiladon with ark of Sotek (165)**

Endless Spell: emerald lifeswarm

Battalions
Warlord (Slann, astrolith, Starpr + skinks)
Hunters (1 stega and guards)
Thunderquake (EotG, Basti, Stegadon)

I don't care about trying to have priority, i never manage to have it so my list building tend to work with it, by having a plan when my oppo lets me go first. My idea with this list is to buff like hell the guards (offensively and defensively) and take control of the middleboard, throwing away the melee basti as distraction or resilient obj grabber, and use the steggies as counterstrikes


Grand Strategy: monsters alive


my list is 1985 pts, my oppo's 1975




BATTLEPLAN:
Tectonic interference
3 obj in the middle, each round you roll to see the one worth 2 points, the other ones are 1 pt each.




I am the defender and place the terrains, there is an arcane which is taken by my opponent.


set-up

the cities set-up it's basically a castle
back: 30 irondrakes, general, drakes, screened by terrain 10 longbeards and 10 ironbreakers.
onthe left, behind the terrain, the celestial hurricanum screened by 10 ironbreakers

i place a stegadon and the basti on the left
the Slann, the Astrolith, starpriest, guards, EotG and the "hunter" basty in the middle.
Skinks alone on the right, in the woods.





with just one drop, my opponent decides to go first.

 

FIRST ROUND

The obj worth 2 points is the one on the left


CITIES turn

Battle Tactic: he picks the one that requires to run with 3 units

HERO PHASE
I manage to block the spells and, most of all, the soulscream bridge. This is the problem in developing a large parte of your battle tactic on a single spell. When it fails (despite a +2 to cast and reroll), things go wrong.

MOVE:
having failed to achieve his main goal, the cities' general decides to play conservative, and basically nothing really moves, as he doesn't want to expose himself. So, no pics here.


with no obj control and only the battle tactic achieved, it's 2-0 for cities


SERAPHON's TURN

As battle tactic i decide to copy my oppo, and go for the run with 3 units


HERO PHASE:
Shield on the GUards, + Slann's c.a. again on them.
Hand of Glory fails.
my modified 11 with stellar tempest is countered (using the reroll) by a nat. 11 (+2 on dispels). Those 30 ironbreakers (29.5" from the Slann) would have suffered a lot...
my modified 11 with with comet's call is countered by another nat. 11 (+2 on dispels).

the basti moves and take control of the left obj, my central block shift toward the middle one (the minimum needed to grab it), the skinks take the right obj.
The EotG heals wounds i don’t have.




I shoot with my steggies, one of them upgraded with all out attacks, but i do nothing (in the first round, Tempest's eye gains a +1 to saves).
i realize how much i miss the double solar beam.

what an exciting turn! 0 killings on both sides and little to no move!



However, i score full points, so this was a positive turn for me.


6-2 for Seraphon


...to be continued.

 

SECOND ROUND

The obj worth 2 points is, again, the one on the left

We roll for the priority, and i win!


now it's time for some considerations.
I could give the double turn to CoS... i'm fully operative, my defences are high and he would be forced to open up his castle.
However... i'm sure i will collect full points for obj, and the last time i conceded the double turn, it almost costed me the game (see my previous batrep vs Lumineth).
I decide to grab the double turn. My plan:

i will try to weaken my opponent again with magic.
Instead of pushing forward the basti, I will stay strong with it on the 2 pts obj,.. that beast will be unmovable by normal means, as i fear only MWs. A thing that hurricanum and stormdrakes can provide in abundance, so i need to force them somewhere else.
If i push on my right with the "hunters" stegadon, my oppo will be forced to deal with it.
Let's go!


SERAPHON's turn

Battle Tactic: kill a battleline, the ironbreakers on my right.

HERO PHASE
This turn it goes really strong. Mystic shield on the guards (plus c.a. by the Slann), hand of glory on right Steggy, stellar tempest on irondrakes (10 killed!), comet on 4 units: i kill some ironbreaker in both units, another irondrake and one wound on the hurricanum.

MOVE:
i reposition myself in a better position on the oby and move forward only the right stegadon to charge those breakers (it's a 6") or possibly shoot 'em away and charge directly the hurricanum (a 8").
then i roll rof the EofG

....
EIGHTEEN?!?!?
EIGHTEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

right, this was the best possible result... in the less optimal time.
i can only shoot with 2 basic stegadons and only one of them will be able to charge.
(by the Old Ones, how i miss a laserdon... that would have been 36 shots!)

anyway, time to push.
i change a little my targets: the left steg kills 6 ironbreakers.
the right steg, buffed with all out attack, could go in full attack mode on the ironbreakers that shield the rear celestial hurricanum, BUT that would mean to risk a 8" charge, even with reroll.
I opt for something different: All Out Attack and shoot the great bow at the hurricanum (all out defense) while the skinks of the crew throw javelins at the ironbreakers, taking them down to 6, then another 2 will be killed by the combined effort of the skinks on the right obj and the starpriest.



CHARGE.
4 ironbreakers on the right still stand.
i roll a 5 for the charge.
reroll... it's a 6. what i needed.
i take 4 wounds from Unleash Hell from the hurricanum, but I arrive and the impact from the steggy kills 3 dwarfs!
...monster action: stomps. It goes off, and i kill the last ironbreaker.
So, in my combat phase i can just pile in on the hurricanum, delivering my fully buffed routine with All out Attack, killing the hurricanum!



in the battleshock phase, the command point is spent on the irondrakes that loses 11 of them, so as a consequence the survived left ironbreakers flee.

amazing result, perfect exploitation of the 18 rolled by the engine.

WIth the battle tactic completed by a monster, its 3 pts + 4 for all the obj

13-2 for Seraphon!


CITIES' turn

battle tactic: kill a monster

Hero phase
once again, everything is dispelled
as 1/game ability, the drakes move toward my right stegadon and charge it immediately for free.
My plan to lure away those drakes worked perfectly.
The plan of my opponent is of course different. He plans to kill the steg with shooting, so then will be able to charge the skinks on the right, removing them and steal the obj. Not bad, given the situation.

a notable thing (see later): the drakes would have used their monster action on me, but that steg was part of the Hunters battalion, so no roar on it.




the roll for the drakes' shooting gave as a result 1d3 + 2d6 MWs... but a 1, 1 and 2 were rolled, leaving my steg to 7!
At this point, the irondrakes tries to take it down, but since i'm able to give a command to it, i go for all out defense and i stay alive with 2 wounds!

the plan of my opponent fails. Of course, the steggy is killed in the following combat, but who cares?
I'm still in total control of all obj and my oppo scores just 3 points.

13-5 for Seraphon!

 

THIRD ROUND

The obj worth 2 points is, AGAIN, the one on the left

We rool for the priority, and my opponent wins.

Double turn for the Cities of Sigmar, and their last chance to recover the game!

I change the constellation to Great Drake, so i'll have only +1 to dispel.



CITIES' turn

As battle tactic is, of course, to steal an obj i'm in control of.

HERO + MOVE PHASES
this time the Bridge goes off, as i should roll a 9 but even with reroll i'm unable to do it.

the bridge is positioned and the 19 remaining buffed irondrakes pop on the other side.
Now, here a mistake was made: i totally forgot that the moved unit must be set at more than 9" from enemy's units, so my oppo placed the irondrakes within 6" from the bridge and with that move alone steals the 2 pts obj.

The drakes position themselves in front of the guards




As you can see in the previous pic, the drakes (that counts as having not moved), shoots at my guards with all out attacks and rend -2.
However, i have mystic shield, the c.a. from the slann and all out defense, so my save goes to 3+.
around 20 wounds, i fail only 3 of them and roll 2 6s with the astrolith. 1 total wound.
then the drakes shoot: 2 on bast (double 1), 2 on guards (double 2). no MWs!

the drakes charge (no monster action... hunters battalion!), and tnx to all out defense and scaly skin, when the dust settles only 4 guards have died, and one of the drakes is put on 2 remaining wounds for its effort



tactics (with a monster), 1+2 pts for obj is a total of 6

still 13-11 for Seraphon.



SERAPHON's turn

I select "kill a monster"

it's a massacre.
I call the emerald lifeswarm and 2 guards are brought back to life. Tempest kills another 5 irondrakes, the EotG marks the drakes with the prayer for MWs on 6s to hit and inflicts a couple of MWs with the engine; the starpriests uses the staff on Guards.
the EotG uses Finest hour, mount trait and all out attack; combined with Great Drake i'm gonna deliver a lot of attacks at 2+/2+ (rerolling 1s with hand of glory). i charge the drakes and use roar to negate them any command ability. Even the fusil is able to deal 3 MWs to those drakes.
the last steg shoots the irondrakes, the bastiladon charges them and the steg too

this is a pic after the charges and after the sole attacks of the EotG





at the end of my turn, the Cities are left with only the Runelord and 10 Longbeards.
i losed 1 stegadon and 2 guards, and the score is 19-12 for Seraphon.

We called the game

MAJOR VICTORY FOR SERAPHON​

 

Some brief considerations.

It's hard to judge a match where you roll a 18 on the EotG.
There were also some unlucky moments for the cities' player, as rolling only 4 MWs on those 2d6+1d3 dices, and i also rolled exceptionally well on saves.
However, i developed a plan adapting to circumstances, while my opponent's plan bas based mostly on a one-trick shenanigan and apparently no back-up ideas. Even without the 18, i was dictating the game.


That said:

Stormdrakes guard:
holy marlecht, what a unit!
OK, 4 in a unit is maybe too much, as they can be difficult to move and you also use only once their amazing ability... but jeez, they are fast, incredibly resilient, pick a punch, spam MWs, are almost immune to magic... they are everything.

Seraphon:
you know what?
guards can be a really solid anvil, with many teeth if you approach them without caution.
in this combination i've had 30 wounds with save 3+, that can be brought back with lifeswarm, with ward 6+ and able to inflict MWs with the starpriest.
i think many armies could have problems in dealing with such a block.
The melee basti may be suboptimal but is not bad, and now it's truly cheap. it offers a unit that basically can be dealt only with MWs.
Probably 2 stegs are too much. a sigle steg and a shooting basti could be better, especially when you consider the double shooting granted by TL.
But the list's performance was not bad, not at all.

 

The unit can also "eat" a model for free at the end of each combat phase, if they roll (1d6) greater than the wound stat of the target.

 

at least not that; you select the unit but it's the opponent that picks the slain model... you cannot target a precise model, as you do with Hand of Dust.