Hi all, I have received a lot of info and advice from this site in the last couple of months and I thought I'd share my current list that has been quite successful. Please note that my meta is probably different to yours so if you want to give this list a try then please adapt to your local meta. Also, 2200pts is probably also different to most people's competitive tournaments but it isn't that difficult to bump up or shave some points. My meta includes: shooty WE, standard Nurgle DoC with double Khannons, WoC with Throgg Nurgle DP 3rd eye BSB, Gutstar with IB and ME or MFC, Skaven with double doomwheel and WLC, Skaven with double doomwheel and plague horde, dwarf gunline with irondrakes and slowbanner, BoWD high elves, Goblin "gunline" with manglers fanatics and savage horde etc. So as you can see, plenty of difficult lists to deal with. My countries' player base is small though so it's easy to get familiar with people's play styles and work out counter tactics. My list is built with the idea to dominate deployment and to hit fast at the right place. It is also capable to adapt and hang back with Tetto casting comets and then countering with the cavalry. Oldblood CO, GW, ToTS, ToP, Steg helm Oldblood CO, Piranha blade, PoS, Glittering scales, Dragonbane gem Scarvet CO, BSB, BoEF, LA, shield, Halberd Scarvet CO, LA, Halberd, Dragon helm Tetto'ekko Lvl1 heavens priest, Dispell scroll 2x 10 skink skirmisher with jav 2x 13 skink cohort, banner, muso, kroxigor 1x 14 skink cohort, banner, muso, kroxigor 2x 5 chamo skinks 5 CoC, FC 5 CoC, spears 1 Salamander, extra snack As you will probably notice, it is very similar to Adam Daly's list with a couple of changes. I will post my reasoning with every unit and general play style later tonight. I hope this is useful
Now for the reasoning behind my choices. The general and his cold-blooded enforcer. With S7 T6 1+ 4++ he can dance with the big boys and even hold up big elite infantry by himself. Impact hits + flaming banner on BSB are there for the regen units so that the piranha blade guy can ignore their regen. Piranha blade Oldblood can kill anything he hits. Among his victims in 1 round of combat is: Throgg, 3rd eye Tzeentch Lord, Arachnarok, Ogre BSB + Irongut. He only struggles with the guys he can't hit, Nurgle DP etc. Pretty standard, cheap and hard. Dragon helm scarvet splits of with Piranha Oldblood when there is flaming shooting to take on such as Irondrakes. Tetto is central to making this army work unfortunately so sorry for the guys who aren't allowed SC. Caddie is also needed since +2 to dispel is not that great. I don't have another caddie since I will be able to charge T2 with vanguard. Common competitive core. I opted for MMU to get more drops so that I know my cavalry has the best deployment. Kroxigors are a must since I'm really good at failing cold-blooded LD5 panics. Great cover for vanguarding CoC against Waywatchers and the likes. Also standard monster and warmachine hunters. Opted for the small units as they mostly work as chaff and cover in my games. I opted for 2 units instead of 1 for extra cover and also the ability to split my characters. My characters are really the ones doing the heavy lifting so I don't mind spending 170 points on getting them where they should be. Spear CoC can also hold their own against chaff and monsters. Standard. Great against hordes and taking some heat off of the cavalry.
Hey heuningby, First time I've seen your list, and I have to say that I like it overall! In my test games, I am finding that my Cohorts and Skirmys are failing key panic tests, especially when objectives are involved - so good thoughts on the Krox addition. Some thoughts/questions: Who is your General in this list? I've got 4 Cowboys in my build (similar enough) and I've seriously been considering making it the non BSB Vet so that he 'can' babysit the skinks if need be, and allow the 2 OB's to (more) recklessly wreck face. Why Glittering Scales/DBG on OB2 instead of Dawnstone/Ch Shield? I noticed that your meta looks to be a tad light on fighty Elves - does that play a part in that decision? Overall very solid. What types of games does your meta play (20-0 vs. W/L/D, objectives? ect.)
Hi GhostWarrior, Thanks for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated. Yes, the krox has helped a lot in getting skinks to rally and pass panic tests. Normally I have the Steg helm Oldblood as the general as he is so tough and rarely dies. As it is, I am pretty reckless with them already but having the non-bsb scarvet at the back to baby sit and give better leadership to skinks is a really good idea that I haven't considered. I will definitely try it out! Original reason for glittering scales is because the opponents he faces normally ignores armour or modifies it greatly already so I don't see dawnstone helping that much. T5 assures RnF troops struggle to wound and glittering scales help taking less hits from RnF and the big nasties. You are right that we don't really see much fighty elves and should we get more then I will probably have to play test and reconsider. Currently I haven't had trouble from whitle lions as I avoid them until they have been thinned out appropriately by the skinks. 5 characters (these 4 and another cheap halberd scarvet in a modified 2500 point game) was charged by about 18 White lions with BoTWD and they where killed down to the last elf in 1 round. I think I had harmonic convergence on them though so that helped greatly and obviously the lions have had skinks and the sally harassing them all game. I haven't had many games against Dark Elves so I am still unsure of the best way to deal with Executioners and Black Guard. Witches will just be baited, redirected and char-grilled DBG is an amazing way to spend 5 points. Allows me to take out units like irondrakes without much trouble. We normally play W/L/D where Win is 201+ VP .We do have occasional objectives to add to VP accumulation also. Never really have any comp but the next local tourney will have some interesting slight adjustments to army building: 3000 points with a minimum of 1000 points core. I will probably not be taking my Lizzies as I don't rate Saurus and 1000 points of skinks is a bit much for me!
On the 3k side of things, if you have the Saurus models built and painted, then I see value to them in your list. A unit of 20-25 can play a similar roll to your 2 units of CO Cav. Obviously, not as well against Cannons, but the unit holds its points decently, and gives a focal point for an enemy to attack. You can utilize this focus to setup counters and delaying actions. Against a non-cannon opponent, it gives a good steadfast breaker (stick all Cowboys in that unit, and see where it takes ya). Though you've largely got this covered by the Cohorts, it's also a unit which the CO characters can charge out of with some safety. On my point vs. 'fighty elves' - I was talking about those with Re-rolls. I found Glittering Scales to not hold much value when my opponent seemed to 'always' have re-rolls. White Lions are not in that category. Phoenix Guard and Warlocks are.
I do have 76 painted Saurus and another 16 on sprue that eventually has to be built and painted. Maybe I will give them another chance. In my experience they just give away combat res. How do you prevent this? With a couple of characters in the unit? I'm not fond of a 4+ ward so I've always just ignored the Phoenix guard and focused on taking out the rest of the opponents army. As I said earlier, unfortunately I haven't faced really competitive Dark elves yet but I believe that will change within the next month or so.
Seems like a nice list, I haven't personally tried a double buss list yet, but I'm eager to see how it works ^^ The only thing I must point out is that since Tetto'eko is a special character and already has his own magic items, you can't take the Dispel Scroll to him.
I think the point with the Saurus is - you make your oppponent think that they are a focal point of you battle-line - but that won't always be the case. Yes, it is the cowboys that help you minimize the incoming damage (2 is best). PG can be really annoying. However, you have a character with the OTS - just send him in with some buddies, and watch them clean house (remember that some of yours can direct their attacks at a model that is touching your OTS guy, and those models with have to re-roll successful wards). With only generally requiring a 200+ pt win, this is probably unnecessary. However, if you ever have to play 20-0 style, and your HE opponent puts a bunch of characters in the unit - you'll benefit by having this option available.
Thanks for your comments Yes, Tetto can't have additional magic items but I do have a scroll caddy in there... He is the Lvl1 heavens priest. @GhostWarrior: We do get bonus tournament points for massacres. I don't generally lose but since I get few massacres, I tend to only get top 10 in tournaments. I figure then it's more like a 20-0 scoring system than a straight W/L/D.