Here is a list that I will be trying wednesday against Wood Elves (but it is not tooled against WE, I wanted something like an "allcomers" list). I wanted to try out something completely different from the usual Slann + TG. I also chose to use Skrox units, just to see if they are as bad as everything says they are. Here goes: Lord Saurus Oldblood Crown of Command Armor of Destiny Dragonbane Gem Great Weapon Carnosaur (both upgrades) Hero Saurus Scar-Veteran Charmed Shield Talisman of Preservation Great Weapon Light Armor Carnosaur (Bloodroar) Skink Priest Dispel Scroll LvL 2 Wizard (Beasts) Skink Priest Cube of Darkness LvL 1 Wizard (Beasts) Core Skink Skirmishers (blowpipes) x 10 Skink Skirmishers (blowpipes) x 10 Skinks x 24 Kroxigor x 2 Musician Standard Bearer Skinks x 25 Kroxigor x 2 Musician Standard Bearer Special Cold One Cavalry x 6 Musician Standard Bearer Ripperdactyl Riders x 3 Ripperdactyl Riders x 3 Rare Ancient Stegadon Sharpened Horns Salamander Hunting Pack I know it is a quite different approach, but I hope it will do good Any comments?
Giver a whirl. But since your going dual carno might as well keep going with target saturation. I'd drop the cold one riders for a bastiladon the laser kind. Early in the game you might not have much to throw you dice at so 6 dice the laser cannon (no downside)
So I tried the list out and needless to say it didn't work out as planned. I got a hard asswhooping. I do not have the feeling it is the fault of the army though. My opponent was lucky on critical dice rolls, while I failed so many rolls... It wasn't pretty I used my cold ones to protect my stegadon, they got charged by 8 dryads. 3 failed armorsaves and 0 wounds returned, I just rolled 1s and 2s the entire combat for that one. Same goes for my two Carnosaurs charging 5 Treekin. The BSB managed to "just" get there, rolling a 5 and a 1. The other one needed to roll 8 on three dice, and ofc I roll 1 6 1 . The carno that did manage to get there got stomped by the Treekin that directed all their attacks to it. Ofcourse they manage to do exactly 5 wounds I feel that the rippers are pretty lacking to be honest? I have been trying to get them to work for 8 games now and they never really get their points back properly, or kill anything relatively important. I'll probably drop the rippers, change them to terradon riders or maybe get a krox block in there. Core wise I'll probably go for saurus instead of skrox blocks. I feel that the Skrox blocks do not pose enough of a threat to most enemies. Anyways, anyone got some tips on how to play this kind of list? And the rippers?
A large block of ripperdactyls (6-8) in the flank will destroy almost every type of elite infantry in the game, at half their point cost. They'll also annihilate most cavalry buses. Small blocks of ripperdactyls (3-4) are only good at warmachine hunting, though, and then only because they're immune to psychology and won't panic if one dies to shooting.
I wouldn't recommend Saurus. They're too slow to make it into combat alongside the Carnosaurs, and their only real purpose would be ranks, which Skrox units can get you for cheaper. Rippers probably aren't worth it except in larger units (as mentioned in the above post). They are too easy to kill and strike at too low initiative, and the frenzy will force you to keep them in general range. Take an Engine of the Gods; the ward save isn't much, but it has the potential to save you from a cannonball or 2. You should fill out your core with Skinks/skink skirmishers, and run 1-2 skrox blocks (Either 1 of 24-30 skinks+3 krox or 2 of 17 skinks+2 krox). Don't charge anything unsupported, because this type of list is weak in a grind situation. If you can, charge units with both Carnosaurs, 2 stegs, and a skrox unit, with the Skrox unit clipped onto a corner of theirs, to keep them from killing skinks for combat res. To do so, you will need to keep the skrox unit(s) on the outside of your battle line, so the charging Stegs/Carnosaurs prevent it from getting more than 1-2 skinks in base contact. Also mentioned before, CoR probably aren't worth it in the list. They fit with the fast theme, but they don't work for target saturation by cannons. Just straight Kroxigors would fit better, because you could put them in front of your stegs/carnosaurs to reduce the chance that a cannonball hits the monster behind them (you can do it with skrox units as well, but the ranks make it less effecive unless you run them wide for deployment, then reform on turn 1 before moving forward. Try lore of Heavens on the level 1 as well. Iceshard will help a lot for combo charging a unit, and it has a 50/50 chance of stopping a cannon from even firing if cast on one.
I like the first 4 entries... In this edition I would take javs and shields just because of quick to fire...you will never need a 7 to hit which removes your poison... I also what to do SKrox units as core because everything else is fast... I dont see the cav going with this army...they are a lot of points in an army that you want to saturate with Monsters...Id swap for a steg with sharpened horns if you had the points I love the Rippers...and I dont take big units...MSU is the way to go and 3 units of 3 is the way to do it...1st reason, toads...you put a toad in your opponents units and they suddenly get defensive...you put 1 in the unit with his level 4 and now he starts thinking really hard...also rippers do not want to fight on their own...they are similar to carnosaurs, they do not want to fight by themselves...use them to flan the unit that got hit by the carno or stegadon, but dont run them into a horde, even on a flank and think they are going to survive...they will take out chaff well enough so your carnos can hit other meaty targets but think of them like dark eldar, use as much force as possible (JMO but I love the rippers) you have rippers, okay then drop the salamander, they do the same thing...buy more rippers, or chameleon skinks to remove a war machine...
His target saturation is covered by already having 3 monsters! He doesn't need more, and he doesn't have the points. On the salamander and rippers doing the same thing department i don't ever think i've disagreed with anything on this forum, as much as that sentence. Salamanders Kill hordes of just about everything, they kill large numbers, and make sure you get a smaller foe. This happens in the shooting phase. Ripper flank stuff, deal tons of damage, win combat, and then pursue. If they did not win combat they're likely dead, or dying. Now combining the two makes for less ranks, meaning less steadfast chances, meaning less leadership which in turns means we win combat more easily. The salamander saturates, the Ripper kills - That is 2 very different units, and 2 very different usages that when combined should work very well. You should never (ever) compare a shooting unit and a CC unit no matter was speed the CC unit has. There's more differences, but that's the most apparent one!