Hi all, I'd love your thoughts on what I could've done differently with the following list. I just played a game against High Elves, with two dragons and cav only, 1x dragon princes, 2x silver helms and a unit of reavers, and got completely wiped off the board. I thought I had a fairly ok-ish list (see below), but one dragon took Slann and temple guards apart (4+ casualties per round), with both TG/Slann and Stegadon not being able to do more than one wound through 3+/5+/5+ Other dragon was fighting Old Blood on Carno, got a few wounds in, but was stuck in draws for 3 rounds. Due to high weapon skill of rider, most Carno attacks didn't hit, so barely any wounds going through, and also 3+/5+/5+ The only thing that worked well was Spectral Steed on Scar Veteran, who blocked and then demolished the Dragon Prince unit. Please let me know if you have suggestions, both for list setup and playstyle. I'm at a bit of a loss of what could've significantly impacted the performance vs. dragons. Blade of Tzunki on Old Blood to get past the layered saves? High Magic instead of Necromantism for Ethereal TG block? All the best, and thanks! --- ++ Characters [997 pts] ++ Saurus Oldblood [416 pts] (Great weapon, Heavy armour (Scaly skin), Shield, Carnosaur, Glyph Necklace, Armour of Silvered Steel, Venom of the Firefly Frog) Slann Mage-Priest [425 pts] (Hand weapon, Level 4 Wizard, General, Battle Standard Bearer [War Banner], Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, Ruby Ring of Ruin, Necromancy) Saurus Scar-Veteran [96 pts] (Great weapon, Heavy armour (Scaly skin), Shield, On foot) Skink Priest [60 pts] (Hand weapon, Light armour (Calloused hide), Wizard [Level 1 Wizard], On foot, Illusion) ++ Core Units [567 pts] ++ 12 Skink Skirmishers [70 pts] (Hand weapons, Javelins, Shields, Light armour (Calloused hides), Scouts) 13 Skink Skirmishers [70 pts] (Hand weapons, Javelins, Shields, Light armour (Calloused hides), Vanguard) 21 Temple Guard [427 pts] (Hand weapons, Halberds, Shields, Heavy armour (Scaly skin), Revered Guardian (champion) [Charmed Shield + Spelleater Axe], Standard bearer [Totem of Prophecy], Musician) ++ Special Units [180 pts] ++ Bastiladon [180 pts] (Hand weapons, Javelins, Thunderous bludgeon, Solar Engine, Fourth Skink crew member) ++ Rare Units [255 pts] ++ Ancient Stegadon [255 pts] (Hand weapons, Javelins, Great horns, Engine of the Gods) --- Created with "Old World Builder" [https://old-world-builder.com]
Heh...dragons are our curse...in my opinion, the best way to win a fight (at the moment) is to charge or be charged with a large infantry unit, perhaps with a command group and battle standard, challenge or respond to the challenge with the unit's champion, and win on resolution...then cross your fingers that you fail the leadership test and consequently don't run away enough. this is because the new rules deny the bloodbath of the dragon's wounds, at most it can inflict the wounds of the high elf lord (if he kills the champion) Skinks, despite having their poison attacks nerfed, are still quite useful against expensive targets; generally, in a shooting phase you can inflict one or even two wounds...out of about twenty shooting attacks. The Tzunki Veteran's blade is very useful, especially as a deterrent...your opponent will be much less inclined to attack a character that negates armor and saves...except with the star dragon...with that, he has no fear. That said, the dice will always decide the game ;D
Made an account just to chime in - The only person i play ToW with goes High Elves with a juiced dragon and has armour, ward and regen with Strike first. My original idea was a renegade Slann MP with Ethereal + Dragon Slaying Sword, and standard: sun Standard of Chotec. With a engine of the gods dancing around somewhere near him. The play was that the slann is a high valued target that his dragon was going to go for, so i took Spectral Doppleganger + Dragon Slaying Sword combo as a deterrent. However strikes first ruined everything and i got one shot in turn 5. The lesson i learned most of all was casting Miasmic Mirrage every turn (boosted by Engine of the Gods for cast) essentially took his dragon out of the game for 5 turns. I should of capitalised off of that instead of positioning for a kill on his dragon. TLDR; if you can't kill it, nerf it to the ground so it's useless as much as possible and go elsewhere.
I noticed that your Core choices do not include Saurus Warriors, so I assume your local scene is using the Renegade Patch. If that is the case, then although High Elf dragons are still a major problem, there are a few (perhaps slightly unconventional) gameplay techniques that can help mitigate this. Realistically, without making use of certain rules interactions, it is very difficult for us to compete with the stronger core factions. First, you should make clever use of the challenge mechanic. Under Renegade, Temple Guard have the Guardian special rule, which states that “any model in a unit of Temple Guard can issue and accept challenges.” At the same time, according to Warhammer The Old World FAQ v1.5, if one participant in a challenge is slain before a mount can attack, the mount loses all of its attacks (including Stomp attacks). Because of this, if you issue a challenge, your opponent will only be able to make a very limited number of attacks. In fact, the High Elf Prince’s Strike First can become somewhat of a drawback here: he will usually kill your brave challenger before the dragon gets to attack, leaving the dragon effectively doing nothing that round. Even in the best-case scenario (ignoring extra damage from certain magic weapons), he will generally only deal 4 wounds. We can then make a quick combat result calculation. Your opponent will likely generate 2 CR（4 at best）, while your own CR sources are: Fighting Rank: +2 Standard Bearer: +1 BSB Slann Mage-Priest: +1 Close Order: +1 Massed Infantry (FAQ 1.5): +1 War Banner: +1 That gives you a total of 7 CR. If your opponent does not have another unit available to interfere with the challenge, then even if you inflict zero damage and lose a TG, the combat will still resolve in your favour. It is extremely unlikely that his CR will exceed yours. After that, you can continue using challenges every round to keep the enemy dragon tied up (there is even a chance the opponent might break). Thanks to the Guardian rule, as long as no other units interfere, your 21 Temple Guard can theoretically hold the dragon in place until next morning. Meanwhile, the rest of your army should focus on quickly resolving the other combats on the table. And Skinks (2 groups is not enough IMO)should also be used to divert or pull away other enemy units, preventing them from interfering with the engagement. In particular, the Carnosaur should look for opportunities either to support your Temple Guard around R3-R4 or to intercept any enemy units attempting to disrupt our “sacred duel” (for example, opposing cavalry). The Carnosaur may not reliably slain the enemy dragon (its WS3 is admittedly a real disadvantage), but it is still worth attempting. In my last game against High Elves, my OB Carno + BORT managed to inflict 8 wounds during a single flank charge. So trust your dice and have fun.