Is there anything that really interacts with opponents abilities & spells? Spells obviously have unbinding, but I mean more something along the lines of "I cast A, so opponent casts B to protect and I then cast C to get around the protection" For example if I take my carnosaur, whenever an enemy takes a battleshock test near him, he will cause more people to flee. Which my girlfriend's Lord celestant counters by removing the need for battleshock for those around him. But I in turn have nothing outside of murder the lord-celestant to try and counteract his ability. And for a lot of the abilities that I've seen there's nothing that can really be used to counteract them outside of murder the guy or possibly outrange his ability. Now for a lot of abilities that's probably fine, or at least, it's not a massive issue. A Bastiladon's protection from mortal wounds or the carnosaur's ability to run and charge will most likely not be that big an issue to deal with even if you have no explicit counter. But for others, especially offensive abilities, it feels very weird to not be able to do anything of significance about them other than murdering the source. If you for example take the aformentiond lord celestant's protection from battleshock, the only way to counter this would be to somehow convince your opponent to leave his general 24" away from the actual fights, which effectivly just means there's no battleshock as long as he lives. Another annoying ability would be the breathattack of the dracoth he rides, which basicly just boils down to getting, on average, a free mortal wound on anything it targets in a turn. Again with no particular risk for the celestant, though slightly shorter ranged so there's at least the vague potential of killing him before he gets in range. So is there anyway to interact with abilities like this? Or does it just boil down to "kill the dude fast enough so his ability can't do anything".
There is not a lot that you can do, you can force a reroll with a statseer before they get their rerolls, but other than that it's just outplay him and murder the leaders.
Yeah. And keep in mind that we are the lucky ones, 'cause we have efficient assassins and the Starseer (which is almost unique).
meh.. that's slightly dissapointing. Especially in the case of the "weaker" offensive powers like the lighnting breath. At least the properly amazing abilities like the one that prevents battleshock makes the source a clear priority target that needs protecting and is fairly integral to the succes of the army. So it chances how people use it. E.g. a slann will most likely Always have a bodyguard around him, which locks down the bodyguard. And the lord celestant in my example probably won't lead a charge despite being a powerfull combatant since it's commanding ability is too good to risk. But stuff like the lightningbreath is just annoying, it's not powerfull enough to make the source a true priority-target, but it has the potential to ruin your day by getting a couple of mortal wounds on one of your own crucial heroes. Would be nice if at least the "weaker" abilities had some form of counter other than killing the source.
I think that's the beauty of AOS some spells seem weak and worthless and not worth the effort to stop but can have a nasty out come if left alone. Opponents with amazing abilities become a priority target which drains your resources to deal with the "worthless spell" a proper game of cat and mouse.
That being said, the Stormcast are order units, you could always add a few of your own, or get a few cannons. Usually a pretty good deterrent.
I think you could maintain the cat and mouse game while adding in more explicit interaction. A protective spell that absords X wounds, or gives a safe roll against mortal wounds, or just outright unbinding the breath attack are a few examples that could be interesting. This would allow you to defend yourself in (some) way and at least attempt to protect your more viable units, while still allowing these minor abilities to be a considerable nuisance against your army as a whole. As for adding them myself, I've bought enough models recently, my wallet can't take much more Plus I'm focussing on getting a lot of seraphon first, once I have most I'l start a secundary army.