AoS 1000 point army against Orcs playing on Starstrike

[zubrin]

Playing a 1000 point game against my Orc friend and using the Starstrike battle plan. Here is what I have crafted:

Zubrin - Allegiance: Seraphon

LEADERS
Slann Starmaster (260) - General - Command Trait : Great Rememberer - Artefact : Incandescent Rectrices

Engine of the Gods (220)

Skink Starpriest (80)

UNITS

40 x Saurus Warriors (360) -Spears
10 x Skinks (60) -Moonstone Clubs & Star bucklers

ENDLESS SPELLS
Quicksilver Swords (20)


There are a bunch of ways I could have gone and ultimately went with this. Not convinced this is the right call. We are playing in about 16 hours. Here is what I still have in addition to the above:

10x Saurus Warriors
5x Saurus Knights
1x Lord Kroak
1x Stegadon
3x Skink Handlers
1x Salamander
60x Skinks
3x Ripperdactyls
1x Old blood on carnosaur
2x Astrolith Bearer
Any Endless spells including Balewin


Things I have in boxes, but will have together in the future (in addition to the above):

10x Saurus Knights
1x Scar Veteran on Cold One
1x Oldblood
10x Saurus Warrios
1x Troglodon
1x Bastilladon


I will be playing against these Orcs quite a bit in the future, so I appreciate thoughts about theorycrafting against them, even if it is not in the next 16 hours. Thanks for yoru help.

 

[LizardWizard]

This seems like a solid 1k list. I would probably find room for a Saurus Astrolith Bearer. Gaining plus one to casting attempts and the extra d3 Celestial Conjuration points is worth the 160pts to field him. Also being able to reroll failed hits within 10" of the totem is great for an army that regularly hits on 4's or worse for missile weapons.

Personally, I think moonstone clubs are not ideal on Skinks. I would go with Boltspitters or Javelins. Javelins allow you a better missile profile with Skinks, but their range is such that you cannot use LoSaT and fire with them unless you roll a 5/6.

Considering that you will likely be facing an orc match up regularly I would suggest relying more on Skinks than Saurus as screen (unless he is IJ, then he will just keep getting to select new units to pile in after he decimates one skink blob after the next).

Looking at the Starstrike battleplan specifically, I would recommend always using your EoTG roll before LoSaT. Getting 20 Skinks and teleporting them onto objectives as they arrive will give you a huge advantage.

Once your game sizes increase start looking to add in battalions. You are only a Bastiladon short of a Thunderquake Starhost. You have everything you need for a Shadowstrike Starhost, and are only a Saurus Sunblood short of having Sunclaw/Fangs of Sotek. In all likelihood you will do best just turtling behind a Thunderquake Starhost while using your powerful ranged attacks from Bastiladons and Razordon/Salamanders to thin his ranks. Shadowstrike is probably universally the strongest of the three, but is not very great against most destruction armies as it thrives at singling out heroes or key units and removing them. Most orc armies are hordecentric and won't be crippled by the lose of a few heroes or a dozen orcs. Fangs of Sotek is a wonderful battalion that will turn your army into a one drop with 4 command points on your first turn. The Oldblood on Caranosaur from FoS is likely to make a few orc run in the battleshock phase which can be very impact against IJ who normally do not suffer loses due to bravery. Killing one Goregrunta only to have two more flee from Bloodroar +1 is very satisfying.

 

[zubrin]

Oh, that was a misclick, I am using boltspitters and shields on the skinks for sure. Good catch!

Digesting the rest of the post, thank you for the feedback.

 

[zubrin]

If I run an Astrolith, it feels like I won't have much to separate me from the orcs. Would you recommend going full skink for the screen? Something like this:

zubrin - Allegiance: Seraphon
LEADERS
Slann Starmaster (260)
- General
- Command Trait : Great Rememberer
- Artefact : Incandescent Rectrices
Engine of the Gods (220)
Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160)
UNITS
30 x Skinks (180)
-Boltspitters & Star Bucklers
30 x Skinks (180)
-Boltspitters & Star Bucklers

I imagine my formation is going to be two sets of skinks and the leaders right behind. Though, with Starstrike as our battleplan, my summons will probably target objectives. Only having about 15 other skinks to summon in makes me a bit sad, but I guess that is where my 50 warriors come in if needed.

Final question for now: would you run 40/20 or 30/30 like above? Naturally, one wound on either side loses my bonus, so having some buffer for one of the skink contingents makes sense. I could also go 40/10 and add a balewind vortex for the Slann.

 

[LizardWizard]

I think your second list is probably the better list. And I feel your pain about needing more Skinks to summon. You are probably right about going for the 40 20 split instead of 30 and 30. Something else to consider is to drop both units of Skinks down to 20 and still bring the Skink Starpriest or Sink Priest with priestly trappings. You would only be able to use the Serpent Staff ability if you summon saurus, but Summon Starlight is worth having on its own. This would also leave you with more Skinks to summon.

If you do run two units of 20 Skinks and bring either priest then you will have 40 points for endless spells. The Soul Snare Shackles do wonders for keeping a Slann safe from combat. A Balewind Vortex is probably the go to spell when you have an excess 40 points though. Three extra Celestial Conjuration points and rerolling all failed saves is hard to pass up.

You might also change your artifact to the Coronal Shield on your EoTG. However, your Slann will become more vulnerable which requires you keeping him out of line of sight for enemy ranged attacks and avoiding close combat. You should be doing both of these things anyways. If he is playing Bonesplitters or Greenskins then his best units are only hitting on 4's. Due to the base size of the EoTG there is a reasonable likelihood you will have at least two enemy units in range to roll for Coronal Sheild. Assuming you bring a Skink Starpriest you have a strong chance of making the orruks largest unit -2 to hit between the artifact and Summon Starlight. Which artifact would get more value depends on the specifics of the orruk list..

 

[zubrin]

Since this is my second game in the past 20 years, I'm more than happy to be fed a bit as I figure out the AoS terrain. I, for some reason, was convinced my general had to have the artefact until I built out more warscrolls, so I will try out the shield and see how it goes. With Balewind, I am not able to move my Slann too much and I am worried about his vulnerability, but I am sure I can distract with summons if I get too pinched or dispel balewind and teleport.

Current list:

Zubrin - Allegiance: Seraphon

LEADERS
Slann Starmaster (260)
- General
- Command Trait : Great Rememberer
Engine of the Gods (220)
- Artefact : Coronal Shield
Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160)
Skink Priest (80)
- Priestly Trappings

UNITS
20 x Skinks (120)
-Boltspitters & Star Bucklers
20 x Skinks (120)
-Boltspitters & Star Bucklers

ENDLESS SPELLS
Balewind Vortex (40)

 

[zubrin]

Quick Battle report:

We had to post-pone the game two weeks due to a variety of reasons. We did a skirmish that night and finally got to play today. His list was:

Orruk Army List

Total Points: 1000

Destruction Alliance Ability: Rampaging Destroyers (Core rules page 250)
Warboss Skullkrusha - 140
Mount: boar
Equipment: Choppa, Boss shield

Warboss Gitsmasha (General) - 140
Equipment: Massive Choppa
Command trait (Core rules page 250): Wild Fury
Destruction Artefact (Core rules page 251): Rockeye

Great Shaman Snikzod - 120
Equipment: Totemic staff

Orruk Boarboyz - 200
Unit Size: 10
Mount: boar
Equipment: Pig sticka spears, Boars’ tusks, Tusker shields, Waaagh! horn, Glyph bearer, Boarboy boss

Orruks - 240
Unit Size: 30
Equipment: Orruk bows, Cuttas, Standard bearer, Drummer, Orruk boss

Aleguzzler Gargant - 160
Unit Size: 1
Equipment: Massive Club​

With Starstrike as our objective, I made a center formation with skinks on either side, Engine in the middle, support heroes to the side, and slann in back.

Constellation is the hunter. He went first, his Ogre got extra move from an Orruk command ability and he was able to get the ogre on my skinks by turn 1 while positioning others forward. My t1 had the Engine engage the ogre to the right to take some pressure off that flank and start positioning the other skinks in the middle to cut off the boarboyz. I got on a balewind and banked 12 summon points t1.

T2, relic one pops up in the middle, he has possession. He goes first, advances forward. Ogre ties during t2, falls and hits both Engine and the skinks for 3 mortal wounds. He keeps his heroes closer to the archers than the boarboyz. He gains 2vp. I summon 20 saurus warriors to the back to engage the archers; warriors fail to charge. The Engine re-engages the Borboyz that have connected with my second line. My skink priest has yet to get a spell or rites to go off btw.

T3, two new relics pop. He controls one in the center back near his archers and near my 20 sauruses. The relic on my side is back and to my right, nothing is near it. His t3, he engages my saurus warriors with his 30 archers, and they get double waaghed, so 2 extra attacks each in melee after shooting, my warriors get destroyed. His bosses move closer to the middle. His Shaman stays on the central point, out of my reach. Engine whittles down the boar boys to a smaller contingent. His turn ends with 6 more VP up to 8. I summon 20 more saurus warriors to re-inforce the initial contigent, they fail to charge. I teleport my giant-fighting skinks to the control point to be secure and rack up points. His archers kill off unit 1 of saurus Warriors. I get 3vp to his 8.

His t4 (he wins or ties every roll). At this point, boar boyz are dead, and he is able to get a final wound on the engine to kill it off with his two war bosses. He also kills a single skink that survived from the left contingent after the rest of the union was canon fodder for the Boarboyz. His archers engage my other contingent of warriors. These warriors fare much better without having to deal with Waagh x2 and hold their ground. He still has better control over the far point for 4 points and has the one shaman in the central point. He gains 8 vp. My t4, I summon knights 9" from the shaman, they succeed their charge, and start wrecking the shaman while gaining troop advantage in the middle objective. Sauruses do more work to whittle his archers to 20 troops, really needing it below 20 to nullify his bonus. His shaman is down to two wounds. I end up with control of two vp, so go to 11 points versus his 16.

His turn 5, war bosses turn around, charge the knights, they get down two knights (and 1 extra wound), knights kill off the shaman, so I still have a troop lead over his two bosses. Archers do some work, but are losing numbers still. Warriors can't position to negate his control of the back relic, so he gains five points, it is 21 to 11.

My t5, need all three relics to win. Don't have control over 1, and his war bosses can take my knights out. I summon 3 packs of 10 skinks, two for the back relic, 1 for the central relic. 2 units shoot and take out one of the war bosses. The other fails to do damage on the archers. Two skinks charge the archers and 1 the war bosses. They all succeed! After a few rounds of attacks, it is clear he can't thin the skinks enough, and I possess control of all 3 relics for a win.

End game state photo:

This is my second AoS game, so I made some rules mistakes still and we both are still learning our armies. Our game took about 3 hours, so we need to shave that time down further.