8th Ed. More Questions

[rothgar13]

Hey guys,

Sorry if I'm being a bit spammy, but I have several questions that I feel I need to ask in order to get up to speed. In an effort to make less clutter on the forum, I think I'll just ask them all in one thread.

1. What do people think of the concept of running a Horde of 40 or so Saurus (along with a couple of Skink Skirmisher units) as their Core troops? Some back-of-the-envelope math shows that much Saurus muscle beats up a lot of Core infantry out there without needing a single buff. It also has more deployment drops than the more standard 30 Saurus + SKrox setup.

2. Is the Engine of the Gods Stegadon worth it? I love the Burning Alignment for dealing with chaff and it is a nice complementary unit if you get it into someone's flank, but I can't shake the nagging voice in my back of my head yelling "CANNONBAIT!". I'd appreciate some experience in this regard, as well as any suggestions to what I can do with the points if I don't bring it.

3. Is it just me, or do Terradon Riders seem like awesome chaff? Drop Rocks allows them to kill enemy chaff as they avoid it, and Flying Fast Cav takes mobility to a whole new level. I'm definitely thinking of squeezing these into my list, and would appreciate it if someone could confirm or refute my line of thinking.

4. And, last but not least, the mandatory question - Light or Life on the Slann? I'm leaning toward Light at the moment (patches the weaknesses of the Saurus, can be used to pop chaff) but having Dwellers is always tempting.

 

[Arli]

1. I am in favor of a horde formation on the saurus. If you want to create more dropping options, do two units of 25 plus a couple of skink units.

2. The engine is kind of situational. When I take it, it usually does well in most games. It is a cannonball magnet though. If you get the first turn, it is not a huge problem as you can use the 5+ ward that it can grant vs shooting. You also have some time to take out warmachines with chameleons, terradons, or spells (iceshard Blizzard, Pha's protection, or the net spell). If I do not take a EOTG, I will usually spend those points on a scar-vet (to take challenges if need be), a lvl 1 priest with forbidden rod and opal amulet (d6 dice added to power pool for d3 wounds. This item will allow you to dominate a magic phase even more), and another priest with the cube of darkness (4+ end to magic phase and a dispel scroll).

3. Terradon riders are very good, but they will die quickly in any prolonged fight. The key is to use the vanguard move (12 inch move before the game begins) to put them in a position to drop rocks on a good target while getting into place to shoot, then charge a warmachine. On another positive note, the Terradons are monstrous infantry and get a stomp attack.

4. In a saurus/TG heavy list, Light is the way to go as it combats the I1 and I2 of the saurus/TG. In a list that is more skink/skrox oriented, Life maybe a better choice. They both are very good lores for the slann. You should try them both. Usually, if I cannot take cupped hands on my slann (for whatever reason), I will take Life for the protection against miscasts that it offers.

 

[erians]

1. What do people think of the concept of running a Horde of 40 or so Saurus (along with a couple of Skink Skirmisher units) as their Core troops? Some back-of-the-envelope math shows that much Saurus muscle beats up a lot of Core infantry out there without needing a single buff. It also has more deployment drops than the more standard 30 Saurus + SKrox setup.

30 Saurus is enough to deploy them in horde formation. Going over 30 Saurus is generally overkill. It doesn't increase your point denial, since a Saurus block of 25-30 will generally either get broken and run down, or never ever die (making numbers less relevant). I don't really see how any "standard setup" contains Skrox though, its a fairly gimmicky choice and in no way cookie cutter.

2. Is the Engine of the Gods Stegadon worth it? I love the Burning Alignment for dealing with chaff and it is a nice complementary unit if you get it into someone's flank, but I can't shake the nagging voice in my back of my head yelling "CANNONBAIT!". I'd appreciate some experience in this regard, as well as any suggestions to what I can do with the points if I don't bring it.

In an all-comers list: no. Its very expensive and in many matches its just free VPs. It's not useless by any means but it is a fairly weak choice. A standard ancient / regular steg is a better choice (assuming you have a total of at least 2 stegs in your army, otherwise you shouldn't get any stegs at all).

3. Is it just me, or do Terradon Riders seem like awesome chaff? Drop Rocks allows them to kill enemy chaff as they avoid it, and Flying Fast Cav takes mobility to a whole new level. I'm definitely thinking of squeezing these into my list, and would appreciate it if someone could confirm or refute my line of thinking.

They are good no doubt, but they were way better in the last edition. I think most people skip them because march blocking is less useful now, there is true LOS and cammo skinks got buffed like crazy in 8th, but there is no real reason not to take a unit of terradons along with the cammos, they are still an excellent unit.

4. And, last but not least, the mandatory question - Light or Life on the Slann? I'm leaning toward Light at the moment (patches the weaknesses of the Saurus, can be used to pop chaff) but having Dwellers is always tempting.

Completely depends on environment and army list. If you face a lot of deathstars then Dwellers is a must. If your list is fairly skink heavy and mainly revolve around shoot & avoidance then Life is superior, while Light is superior in a Saurus heavy combat list.

 

[rothgar13]

The feedback is much appreciated, gents. I have to call whether 40 Saurus is overkill for Horde into question, though - I've played 2 Horde armies already, and that rank of "fat" has proven to be invaluable time and again for keeping the unit at fighting strength for multiple combats. Saurus Warriors do have a better save than Orcs or Gors do, though...

I think I'll be going very Saurus-heavy (one of the reasons I'm considering Lizzies is the look of the Saurus models), so I think Light will be the Lore for me. Anyway, thanks again.

 

[Qupakoco]

I agree with what everyone else has said, but I'd just like to add a few things for you to consider.

Saurus have larger bases than most other R&F warriors (except Orcs, Gors, and WoC). That means that most of the time you will only have 7 or 8 of your warriors in combat, against another horde. Granted, 7 or 8 extra attacks is awesome, but you probably wont even get that many on average. My advice is that if you want to run a unit of 40 Saurus, make them 6 or 7 wide until combat starts. They will be considerably easier to move around the board, and you can always reform into a horde once you get them into place. They should usually hold out for a round of combat, so once the second round starts you can really lay on the hurt. Also, with a smaller frontage you minimize the amount of attacks that the enemy can return on the first round of combat. Just something to think about.

Terradons are indeed awesome if used correctly. You should check out the War Eagle tactics in the High Elf tactica thread by Scalenex. Good Stuff.

 

[Arli]

Some good points. If you take spears on the saurus, you do not benefit from the extra rank of spears from the horde. So, if you keep the smaller frontage (6-7), then change to a horde after the first round of combat, you will then get the extra rank of spear attacks. That will give you 21 from the first rank and 3 rows of 10 from the back ranks (if you still have 40 saurus at that point) for a total of 51. I believe my math is correct on that. The Horde gets three ranks of attacks and spears allow a forth.

That is a lot of points though.

 

[Tlaloc of Xhotl]

I've been running a horde of 49 with my 2 scar vets (1 bsb) and it's performed well. Big spells can cause problems but I run 2x priests, one with cube of darkness and one with diadem of power which do well shutting down magic.

I've had an irresistible purple sun go off on the unit and kill 25 in one turn but having such a large unit allowed it to fight on and survive the rest of the battle