Ok here's the scoop, I'm doing a friendly tournament with my friends this weekend. It will consist of ne daemon army, one beastmen army, one warriors of chaos army and of course me :-D. Its nothing special, just 2250 lists with special characters. We might do some terrain/building variants for extra VP, not sure yet. Here are my concerns with each army: Beastmen: Minotaur deathstar unit: I don't remember all the specs on this unit but I know it has lots of buffers like MR, extra LD and of course lots of high strength attacks along with a number of other buffers. Not to mention I think he puts like 12 minotaurs into, 2 of which are gorebulls and 1 is a doombull. He has a magic item called slugskin which says it strikes first before any blows are struck. My counter/confusion with this is obviously chakax. Who would hit first in that situation? Warriors of Chaos: I used to have a Woc army so I know what they can do. The things I'm scared about is Galrauch, Kholek Suneater and of course Archaon. I have no idea how I would handle such powerful characters. I figure I will blast him away with Lore of Metal all day seeing as how WoC has high armour saves. Other than that, I'm not too worried. Daemons: I really don't think I need to elaborate here because we all know how broken daemons are. Of course, any tips and strategies other than good static combat resolution units would be much appreciated. Take note however I have not constructed my army yet as I have some planning to do and greatly anticipate some helpful feedback from my knowledgeable friends on this forum
Forgot to add in a Chosen Deathstar unit with WoC. Large unit of chosen with buffers from 2 warshrines is going to be a nearly unstopable force :-/.
Chakax would strike before the minotaur unit, but I think most would advise against using him due to his point cost. On the plus side, foot-bound deathstars aren't tough to deal with. I think the minotaurs become frenzied or something when a character joins them.. (don't have the new book yet). You can use terradons to take out screening units (rocks) and then force the minotaurs to charge the terradons due to frenzy. For daemons, just shooting them to pieces usually does well. Lore of Fire, lots of skink skirmishers, etc. Don't neglect magic defense either. The WoC chosen are very elite infantry, but lore of metal ought to put a hurt on them. Take bane head on your slann too, to really make those RoBI's count.
Hmm, I appreciate your feedback and will keep this in mind. Also, we may do 3,000pt armies instead of 2250, not sure yet. Also, what should I do against greater daemons or Archaon, Kholek or Galrauch?
Caneghem is probably right on this one but I would read that rule VERY carefully! If it reads like you've listed it here then to me it sounds like a Chariot's impact hits which DO happen BEFORE attacks are made. But I quite agree with Caneghem, Chakax is simply too expensive at the 2250 point level. At 3K I'd actually consider it though. My best advice against something like the Minotaur deathstar is to lead it away with cheap 50 point skink units or...if you think you've got the chest hair for it you could try and beat it down on a charge...but I would invest a great amount into it, an ancient steg w/ warspear on one flank, Carnosaur on the other and CoC in the rear and a big block of Saurus in the front should do the trick... The nice thing about these guys is that they are so expensive the rest of the army will be very small. My advice is just what you've suggested. Take the Lore of Metal and blast them all game long with it and kill them off, use skinks to shoot them with poison (they've eventually fail armour saves). These tactics work well against his Deathstar choosen units as well. Shooting and Saurus are best against these units. Get flanks and rear chargs on them and they will fall. The Horrors are nothing to smile about, they stink in close combat but are good shooters. There are a few close combat units out there so you know who they are. But shooting and magic against those which don't have resistance is best to soften them up before getting mixed into close combat. A tactic you might consider taking in this battle is something called Points denial. It involves taking almost no standards and a couple of small, cheap units (such as 50 point skinks and a couple of 3 terradons). You hide these guys in woods or buildings or other terrain all game. On the last turn or two you move them into table quarters to contest or gain those quarters. Without banners to give to your opponent they won't gain those nifty 100 vp for capturing them. Basically your refusing to give up those nice odd 100 VP for things like quarters, banners and oh, yes...protect your general!
Well since you put all those things into better perspective I have an idea of how I am going to better handle those Chosen or Minotaur deathstar units. Like you said I will just sit back and blast away with magic and when they get close, mop up the rest of the armies in close combat (granted I do lots of softening up with magic/shooting before hand). What about a Khorne Daemon army? They all get major MR.
Salamanders are great for high armour targets. Though WoC have good leadership and likely won't panic you'll get at least one if you keep at it eventually. As for Khorne...well I suggest bringing a bag of frozen corn and chuck it at your opponent while you shout "Corn for the Khorne God!" No, really. I think with Khorne your pretty well stuck with shooting at them with those poison weapons from skinks and leading them around the battle field with throw away units until you bring them into an advantageous position where you can win in CC.
Haha that's awesome! I literally LOL'd on that one. "Corn for the Khorne God," that's great! I guess I am going to just make a huge magic/shooty build and just like you said, blast everyone away with magic, poison and the like. I will most likely build my army either today or tomorrow and post it up here when it's all done. We all finally decided to do 2500 pt. armies. Thanks again to all you guys who replied with not only good advice, but more importantly prompt advice :-D. It is all greatly appreciated and like I said I will post my list up as soon as I finish it.
Update: The WoC player dropped out but we picked up another friend of ours who plays HE. I've never played against HE. All I know is that they're fast and their magic is good too! If anyone could warn me against other things that would be appreciated too.
Well I don't know if this is too late for you but things to watch out for from HE; Prince riding Star Dragon - lots of high strength high weapon skill attacks, much like our Carnosaur but the rider isn't as powerfull. White Lion Chariots - heavier impact than their Tiranocs and w/ stronger attacks in CC. White Lions - better protection from shooting and can move unhindered through woods. Hit w/ str. 6 ASF Phoenix Guard - Str. 4 ASF, 5+ AS, 4+ WS so they have staying power. They also cause fear. Repeater Bolt Throwers - BS 4 Str. 6 Rank Pen. NAS or BS4 6 shots at Str. 4 Spear Elves - Cheap, ASF w/ three ranks if charged so possible 21 hits. If they charge it's only 14...only str. 3 but still.