so after picking up the codex and playing a few games i have noticed spears with an EotG near by is really good. you lose the parry save but gain 6+ward which is turn is better (i.e saves against shooting, magic, stomps, impact hits) since spears are free now not only are you getting the extra attacks you also increases your chances of getting more predatory fighter hits. just for the ones who havnt noticed yet
Yeah I've noticed that. It still remains to be seen if the EoG is worth it though. It's a very expensive model and if you're only taking it for the 6+ save/spear combo it's not worth it imo. Also if/when it dies you lose that ward save so it's gonna be a huge target.
I'm coming to the conclusion that most Slann armies with either Focus of Mystery or Wandering Deliberations really won't need an Engine. But going no-Slann and trying to do the Wyssan's spam casting, an extra -1 would certainly help. Lvl 2 Beasts skink priests now only need a 7 to cast Wyssan's normally, and if casting on something that the lore attribute affects, they only need to roll a 6. So essentially it opens up the possibility of 2-dicing Wyssan's onto stegs, rippers, etc. Also, any of your Lvl 1 priests only need to roll an 8 on three dice for Wyssan's (quite a bit less likely to fail). Additionally, it gives you another bound spell to cast when you're getting surrounded and just need to damage lots of things at once (maybe not much combat to boost currently), which helps replace a Slann's magical ranged damage. I think the new burning alignment is highly underrated. MSU spamming armies will hate it, ESPECIALLY those cheesy people who just fill their core out with skirmishers.
A difficult choice since I have found the parry save has saved me a goodly amount of models in cc already. A steg with eotg can die very quickly in todays game. I guess I will play both and see how it goes. The FAQ we are expecting on PF may influence my decision. Though with Geedub that FAQ could go either way nevermind what we believe... Guess I will hang ten with saurus conversions to spears
Spears are the way to go if you have the ranks to use em. I'm a fan of 36 6x6 saurus with spears. There are too many things that get around parry attacks. The EotG is too expensive for what it does IMO. 2 lvl 2 beast skinks are like the best situation for a EotG to be viable. Even then, like someone said, it isn't hard to take down with cannons, bolt throwers and magic. Spears are great now that they are free. The only time I had a second thought about it was back when they weren't free. The only situation when I wouldn't take spears is if my unit isn't large enough to benefit from the spears. Units of 20 or less are probly better off with hw/sheild.
Cannons maybe, but I've never considered bolt throwers a legitimate threat to my stegadons, and magic has been severely reduced in its effectiveness now that our stegs can use the skink's initiative for pit of shades/purple sun tests. I reckon Tehenhauin could get a lot of mileage out of an EotG reducing his casting costs, especially since he's a level 3 Beasts wizard. Him plus a level 2 would mean you could probably force through one or two Wyssan's per turn.
I'm running the EoTG this weekend. I was gonna run an Ancient anyways but I figured for 50 points I get a 6+ ward save for everything near it. Worse case scenario, it's cannon bait. SOmething has to be cannon bait.
I think EotG's is a good upgrade if your taking the steg anyway, but not worth it just for it's abilities alone. In a list I was tinkering with, I was keen on the 6+ ward for my saurus and TG. I then thought some more and realised for half the price I could just add another rank to each of the units, increasing their survivability by a greater margin and giving me a lot more points to play with. On the topic of spears, I think maximising your number of attacks is important with Saurus, to get as much PF (and if supported by jungle swarms, poison) going as possible. For example, my unit is now looking at being 32 strong with a fairly fluid formation, meaning I can go up to 8 wide against enemies I can fit that kind of frontage against for 32 attacks (which averages over 5 PF bonus attacks).