The List Allegiance: Seraphon Mortal Realm: Ghur Leaders Slann Starmaster (260) - General - Trait: Arcane Might - Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm Saurus Eternity Warden (140) - Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm Battleline 10 x Saurus Guard (180) 5 x Saurus Guard (90) 5 x Saurus Guard (90) Battalions Eternal Starhost (150) Endless Spells Emerald Lifeswarm (60) Total: 970 / 1000 Extra Command Points: 1 Allies: 0 / 200 Wounds: 34 The Battle First off: the Eternal Starhost is foul. Sickeningly foul. Put a Mystic Shield on your largest unit of Guard, and you have a -1 rend 3-attack-each unit that has a 2+ save, rerolling 1s. Any mortal wounds that go through are counteracted by the Emerald Lifeswarm - but the Dispossessed have little in the way of mortal wounds at any rate. Our battle lasted 3 rounds, and ended early when it became obvious that I was going to win. It was an objective game; we each started with two stationary objectives. Controlling your own: +1 per objective at the end of the round. Controlling an opponent's: +3 per opponent's objective. I started as far into the middle of the board as I could; I wanted my Guard in fast and I wanted them hitting as soon as possible. Kept my Slann at the back in case the fight went south and I'd need to rely on summoning. I lucked out with a 6 for the constellation; re-roll hit rolls of 1 across my entire army. The Gryph-feather Charm kept my Eternity Warden alive, which meant my Guard got to add 2 to their saves, and got an additional attack. In addition, when the two battlelines clashed, my Guard's weapon damage increased to 1d3 damage per wound. To put that into perspective, 1 unit of 5 Guard attacked 16 times (with the leader). 3+ to hit, re-rolling 1s, then 3+ to wound. -1 rend, and d3 damage per wound. He simply could not outmatch me in the melee. HOWEVER. I don't know if this is a homebrew or if it is official, but we usually roll to see who starts set-up, and once set-up is complete, we roll to see who goes first. I have read that it is actually whoever finishes set-up first that goes first, but can't find the RAW on this. Where is it? Anyway, I won because I was able to go first. My Guard charged forward, using my bonus Command Point to ensure a successful charge. The Dwarves were locked into combat and from then on it was a matter of out-hitting and out-saving them, while my Slann racked up summoning points. There was one risky moment during the game; his lord had an ability that allowed him, once per game, to teleport himself and a friendly unit, ending up more than 9" away from any enemies. So, to preemptively block this, I dropped a few summoning points on two Razordons, creating a screen around my Slann so that he wouldn't get assassinated; if he somehow manoeuvred through the Razordons to charge my Slann, he would immediately be peppered by the Razordon's ability. I know that strategically Skinks would have been cheaper than Razordons and more useful as a screen, but I had never played Razordons before and just wanted to see what they were like At the end of the game I felt bad - it almost felt like dirty playing, with the Eternal Starhost. With Mystic Shield, the only way I'd lose a Guard to normal wounds is by rolling two 1s in a row. Unless I'm missing something in the rules?
Yeah, unless they use some ally artillery (flame cannon), they don't deal MWs, except by small amounts tnx to bombs. THey have, however, other ways to deal consistent damage. It's in the basic rules. The first that sets up the army, decides who goes first You're not missing anything. However, I'm curious to hear what was the dispossessed list. A typical (and really nasty) list, even at 1000 pts, should include a group of 20 irondrakes, backed up by a Runelord. 40 shots at rend -2 will melt saurus guards, even if you cast Mystic Shield, which is far from certain.
You can't take the same artifact twice, each artifact is unique. Eternal Starhost is really nice like you said versus everything without rend or MW, which unfortunately most armies can easily get
ah, Yes, i missed the double artefact part. Well, with the realms artefacts you've got many good choices. ...i should really write a brief guide for artefacts...
The more that I think on it, the more I am convinced that Dispossessed got one of the strongest Alpha Strike in all AoS...