8th Ed. 2000 pts siege with Storm of Magic

Hmm, for this thread I'd like to summon @Scalenex for advice. He's the resident expert on Siege games.

My only thought at the moment is concern for your relief force. A unit of 10 Skinks might not make the mad dash into your castle due to their flimsiness. I could be wrong there since I haven't had personal experience with it, but IIRC their arrival and safe passage signals a win for you.

I'd also think that another fighty character would be beneficial.

 

I saw the Scalenex signal, I am here, Commissioner

Solid choices on the whole. I wouldn't change much.

I'm assuming there is one gate, four towers, and two wall sections.

Is your Arcane Fulcrum part of your fort or is it in the middle of your castle courtyard? I'm assuming courtyard because then rules get in a tizzy. Since arcane fulcrums only allow wizards and siege sections allow almost everyone in. If your fulcrum is in the courtyard then you probably will hold onto it all game (barring a tragic miscast), if your opponent's is outside he will probably hold on to his all game (barring a tragic miscast). Might I suggest putting your Slann in one of the fortress section and either squeezing in a Skink Priest for the tower or swapping some harpies or your Dawnstar Sword for a Truthsayer, Dark Emissary, or similar cheap backup caster.

Your Slann will be tempting miscasts and you don't want him to have double miscasts. He can still cast Cataclysm spells as long as your side controls an arcane fulcrum. Then you can make the Slann the BSB and free up some magic item options for the Scar Vet to make him more durable.

I would suggest garisoning your gate with Saurus Warriors and put Temple Guard off to the side (with the flaming banner), then you if lose your gate they can retake it with flaming attacks. OR you can put a character with the flaming banner in a tower.

Note if you split your Cohorts into units of 20 you can make four attempts at Flaming Ammunition rather than two. You can also take unit champions. Since you have Regrowth and Storm of Renewal you can theoretically feed enemy characters an expendable unit champion multiple times..

Yes, but if Quinras is committed to a minimalist relief force that's okay too.

It would definitely be beneficial but 2000 points isn't a whole lot when you have a tooled up Slann.

Loremaster of everything, and you have semi-reliable access to the Presence and Equilibrium Spells...

Cataclysm Spells.

Fire: I would not bother with Fireball barrage unless you commit yourself to dethroning the enemy fulcrum. First make a test cheap flaming spell first to see if they have the Firebane Gem. If you roll very good Winds of Magic dice, you might want to want to try Withering Heat to make the entire enemy army Flammable. With total Lore Mastery you have lots of flaming attack options, but it's 20+ to cast so that's not easy to set up.

Beast: Murder of Crows sucks. Hunter's Moons is good if you are engaged on several fronts at once, but usually I prefer to cherrypick my buffs rather than go for a 20+ light omni-buff.

Light: I don't think Enlightenment is worth the 20+ casting cost even if you are fighting Forces of Destruction. As long as the Slann's alive, you are practically unbreakable and breached sections don't use break tests. You don't have enough shooting to justify the 20+ for Time Amok.

The Lore of Metal: The most OP Cataclysm spell with a low casting cost is Meteoric Ironclad. Cast it and a unit of your choice is virtually invincible. Probably should cast this spell every phase. Quicksilver Swords basically gives an entire unit the benefit of the Dawnstar Sword, almost as good.

The Lore of Life: You only need to cast the Gardener's Warcry once, in the first or second round of the game. Put a bloodforest around the enemy arcane fulcrum and then the wizard gets smacked with several light hits evertime it casts a spell. If they aren't packing Life magic, you could nickel and dime it to death. If you can avoid getting your front three building sections breached, Storm of Renewal cast from a tower across your whole front Saurus/Temple Guard line will help you more than the enemy.

Heavens: If you roll lots of weak spells, you risk a failed casting ending your magic phase prematurely. If you concentrate on the high value spells you risk a nasty miscast. The Heavens Equilibrium spell Fantastic Foresight will help mitigate the risk of failed casting and usually net you enough extra power dice to pay for the casting. Probably should cast this spell every phase. Or you draw out the dispel dice of the enemy which is also good. That should be your go-to Cataclysm spell that leads off every casting phase. I don't see Let the Four Winds Blow as being that useful. It hits light and it doesn't really push enemies outside of charge distance from the fortress.

Shadow: Ribauld's Retroactive Illusion is not great but it's so cheap to cast it's worth looking at for that alone. You can summon Barriers to block cannon shots. If a battle matchup is close, you make a rough patch of dangerous terrain (I recommend a nice swamp so your Skinks can handle it) you can nickel and dime an opponent down whenever they charge. If you can keep your relief force alive AND hold onto the Gate, you can use Bridge of Shadows to get your relief force most of the way to the gate.

Death: If an unit has low Ld and is away from the general, Choking Foe is respectable damage for it's low casting cost. Ashes and Dust is pretty soft for a SOM vortex unless you are playing well-armored Elves or Humans.

Regular spells

The highlights of Fire is Flaming Sword of Rhuin if you are trying to liberate a fortress section and Fulminating Flame Cage to punish an enemy block for daring to charge you. If you can see the enemy Fulcrum, you could spam them with Fireball. If you can dock an enemy unit's Ld score first with some other lore, you can follow up with a nice Burning Head.

The highlights of Beasts are Wyssan's Wildform because you have so many Sauri. Savage Beast of Horros is good on your Scar Veteran. Curse of Anaheir is good if you can combine it with using cataclysm spells that manipulate terrain.

It's pretty rare for Siege Attackers to have good armor saves. Metal has great Catclysm spells, but you probably should skip their vanilla spells, except for Enchanted Blades of Aiban which is good for retaking a lost fortress section.

You should use LIght fairly often. Since Banishment forces ward save rerolls it's your best vanilla spell to plink at an enemy fulcrum wizard with. Otherwise you want bubble Pha's Protection and regular Birona's Timewarp (bubbled Timewarp is a Hail Mary tempting miscasts that should be used as a last resort). Speed of Light is only really useful if your enemy has some means of counteracting their WS and I penalty. Light of Battle is only useful if your relief force or Harpies are doing a suicide stall.

Life has Throne of Vines is your go-to BRB spell for miscast protection. Probably should cast it every phase. I'm assuming your attackers will have lots of flaming attacks making Earthblood weak. You should probabably be casting Flesh to Stone and Regrowth a lot. The rest of the lore is pretty meh when you have so many options.

Heavens isn't bad. Iceshard Blizzard is nice and cheap and provides a nice set of penalties. Harmonic Convergence is very potent for it's 6+. Comet of Cassandora is relatively easy to place (assuming you aren't swimming in breaches) since the attackers positions will be relatively fixed. The rest of the lore you can skip when you have all the other spells at your disposal, unless you have big flyers you want to knock out of the sky.

Shadow has three lovely hexes. As a defender your go-to hex is Enfeebling Foe. Your fortifications will do most of the same stuff Melkoth's does and with SOM it's easier to boost your Strength than to dock the other guys Toughness. Pit of Shades can auto-kill most warmachines. Okkam's is nice, but you get similar potency with Cataclysm spells, so it's not vital.

I'm lukewarm on Death. You don't need the snipe spells to hit enemy fulcrums because they are already exposed, but you can plink off support characters. Especially if they don't enter close combat (like cheap wizards). Doom and Darkness combos with a number of SOM spells that use Ld tests. The rest of the lore you don't need much.[/QUOTE]

 

Tempting, but I'm not sure how many SOM/Siege hybrid games people play with WD Slann Loremasters...

Yes, but I am on the fence whether to make Fantastic Foresight or Throne of Vines first. Buff any breached section first since breached sections do not take break tests if they lose, you need to win those fights.

Also, if you lose a section you want to concentrate flaming attacks on the captured section.

I wouldn't take the offensive magically unless power dice are very favorable or do to an opponent's mistake or bad luck, something valuable suddenly becomes exposed.