Hey, i just started LM and was just wondering, is that A. Steg, skink chief with warspear combo worth it? I really like the idea of having 2D6 strength 6 impact hits. And the blowpipes dont hurt either! Is this a good plan to add this hard hitting LM army or should i just throw him on a reg. Steg, or just leave the skink with warspear home all together. Thanks in advance!!
Well, with the Warspear taking up all the magical item cost the Skink is left with his 2+ AS, and though that is quite good, he can be rather squishy to shooting or magic. Though I can see this combo work, if you are careful to pick fights were the Stegadon will have an impact. Personally, I do not run him at the moment, though I may try him out sometime, it really all depends on personal preference.
Ya i didn't think about him being squishy to shooting and magic but that's a really good point. Since i wont play him for another week if you beat me to using him let me know!! One more question. If i take the A. steg. with the character, the A. steg. doesnt count as a rare choice, just as a mount right?
This setup is becoming one of my favorites. I killed Kholek in my last game with a good impact hit roll (he was partially wounded, but it was still nice). The biggest problem I've found with it is that everyone knows exactly what the chief has the moment you put him on the table, so they'll do everything they can to avoid that big charge. Magic or shooting gets randomized and usually hits the stegadon, and the chief has a good armor save up there, so that hasn't been too much of a problem for me. What ends up killing him in most of my games has been heroes with a higher movement than their units, which charge or fly out, and kill him in a challenge. Still though, I don't think we have a better hammer unit out there. I'm definitely in favor of spending the extra 40 points to make the stegadon an ancient as well- making all those impact hits S6 is huge.
We'll i mean if hes the best hammer for LM, and hes hard to take down, doesnt that justify his cost? I plan on taking two a. steggies, one with EoTG and a more combat oriented one. This build looks perfect for that combat role. If theres any other suggestions about other steggie combos that'd be awesome! TheGIlifeguard
In a way, yes that does justify his cost. But still, that model is like around 400 points... And if the chief on top is killed before he gets the charge; than it's 'just an ancient'. There aren't really many stegadon 'combo's. Chief+spear+ancient. Priest+EotG Items on the last can be: Plaque of Tepok War Drums Diadem of Power Dispel scroll (sometimes)Rod of Storm (sometimes) Blood statuette Amulet of Itzl (sometimes) Glyph Necklace. My personal favorites: Plaque of tepok, ensure you have 1 offensive spell from the Lore of Heavens War drums: always marching is just so much fun with the Big 'Don! And if you can count; plaque of tepok+war drums is possible Diadem+scroll, pure magic defense/support. Other items are good too, but don't fit my style. So, try some builds and see what you like the most. The Hunted
Great posts there, Hunted. I think one key aspect of the game that many people forget, myself included, is that a unit doesn't need to "make it's points back" in kills to be worthwhile, as long as it's performing a necessary function.
Something else that hasn't been mentioned in comparison between the A. Steg and the regular Steg is the shooting. IMHO the two giant blow pipes, while they have a significantly short range, are devastating with 4D6 shots. The Giant Bow is, once again IMHO, a weak version of the bolt thrower w/ low BS that just isn't worth taking. True it allows no armour saves but you only have one hit where your nearly assured a wound, after that it becomes a 50/50 shot or worse at wounding.
Just a question I want to throw out there, not having used the Ancient Steg a lot, but do you ever get to use the giant blowpipes? It seems to me that if there ever was a time to use them, you would be in charge range already with the Stegadon and thus want to charge rather than shoot.
I haven't used the Ancient Stegadon yet myself but I imagine I would shot it either A. If I were too far away to charge, but a regular non march move put me within 12inches of the enemy. Then you have a 6+ to hit (move and long range) and we are shooting poison so that is good enough. Then next turn charge them. B. Its a large model so you might be shooting over something, either an enemy screening unit or even over on of your own units. Still if you aren't angling to get the charge in with this guy you probably shouldn't have brought him.
I've used him to shoot at single characters on foot which I did not want to charge (needless to say they were a pin cushion...especially the Skaven Plague Monk w/o armour...). I've also used it to destroy war machines on the other end of the table than my terradons, and I've shot over units which blocked charges. All of these were while I was setting up for a charge. I don't typically charge single units into other units unless it's uber soft like non-WE skirmishers or non-dwarven missle troops. So while my slower Saurus were getting into position to get multiple charges off I soften the target with some missle fire.
Well, i see advantages of using both but in the end the blowpipes are much more effective. With them i managed to take a few wounds off a HE dragon and in the next turn charge in a completely dominate with my 2d6+1 impact hits. But i plan on adding a regadon to my army (which already has EoTG as well as my A. steg with warspear chief)
My experience with the A. Steg+war spear seems to be abit deffirent than everyone elses it seems, so i wanted to let you know some of the ups and downs i've faced using it Firstly, since the steg is regarded a mount, chalenging the chief ontop doesn't make the character doing so imune to the steggie . That said i too think the chief is extremly squishy, when i run mine i'm having a hard time avoiding "fast" cav with S 4 or better on the charge, they simply just poke him to death before the steggie even get to strike back. - Missile hits isn't what i see as a threat to the chief (Randomized and everything), Heroic sacrificial charges are. Regarding the "When to ever use the blowpipes when you need to be within charge range to use them!?" topic, i think they are fantastic versus an army which knows how to LoS you. When LoSed you abviusly can't charge that anoying HE dragon, but you sure can turn the steg and shoot it to pieces .
Skink chief can take BSB, and providing they don't take a magical banner they can take wargear so possibly A/Steg + Chief + Spear + BSB = 2d6 IH and Stubborn LD6 CB Re-roll Granted it is a point sink and a foolish idea but it's nice to know that we can do these things...(I think) -Eagle