With the hype of the new book, one list has overshadowed most others in discussion and that list is the Trog Bomb / CCP Engine. What is Trog Bomb? Trog Bomb is a starborne list that contains Lord Kroak and Skink Oracle of Troglodon. Using the heroic action Spatial Translocation, Lord Kroak can teleport the troglodon 9" away from the enemy and channel his signature spell, Celestial Deliverance, to do D3 MWs to 3 targets a total of 4 times. This averages out to 24MWs total (min 12 max 36) or 8MWs to a single target (min 4 max 12). What is CPP Engine? CPP Engine is Trog Bomb with the addition of a Slann Starmaster with the Lord of Celestial Resonance command trait. This allows the Slann to generate 7 CPP on your turn and possibly a more on your opponents. As Trog Bomb and CPP Engine are light on bodies summoning is important to hold objectives and prevent your castle from bing over run. What does the basic list look like? Lord Kroak 395 Skink Oracle on Troglodon 270 Saurus Astrolith Bearer 140 Slann Starmaster 275 Chronomantic Cogs 70 ___________________total 1150 850pts of other stuff As you can see the list is very hero heavy and wound light. Many people also choose to add skink starpriest or starseer. A unit or two of saurus guard are almost mandatory. But 850pts is all you get to play with for the rest of your army. What are the strengths of the list? MWs, MWs and MWs. This list can pump out a ton of targeted MWs just about anywhere on the table turn one. Killing support heroes with ease can cripple many armies and ruin key strategies. Summoning allows for some flexibility. Each CPP is worth about 10pts and you can generate several hundred points of models over the course of the game. What are the weaknesses of the list? Low model count and defensively weak casters means fast armies can be troubling. Large heroes that can't be killed in a single round. Ward saves are annoying. Major weaknesses are Teclis who can reflect magic back at you and Khorne who gets blood tithe from our spells and can become immune to magic. Major points of Discussion: How are you spending your 850pts? What are you summoning with your CPP? What is your plan against Teclis and Khorne? How have your games been going?
Major points of Discussion: How are you spending your 850pts? trying to get more bodies in board for objectives. As you said, 150 points for guards are nearly mandatory... which i dont like. so we got 700 left... maybe a skink starpriest .... another 150 .... 550 left. we are missing now 2 battlelines ... 2x Skinks are cheap .... 400 left. i have seen 10 warriors and a basti with sotek, but personally i would put 20 warriors for tank on board. you have got a lot of damage with spells and warriors with starpriest buff can do a little bit. from here on you can spent CCPs every turn to fill the board. What are you summoning with your CPP? Strongly depends on the scenario. i think there is not a "always to go" answer. If you can manage to summon Kroxigors or warriors 9" away from enemies and possibly charge them in same turn, sounds good. Reapers for fast control and the can take out squishy targets immediately. Skinks if you spent a lot CCPs for spells ( Starborne List for CCP spent ). Maybe there is a option for some points to take over in the next turn and summon a Bastilodon, but that sould not be your primary goal. What is your plan against Teclis and Khorne? Teclis: If Spell reflect annoys you or is dangerous, just ignore him and melt all his friends! Use your fast units, Troglodon and Warriors and take him down in melee. Khorne: Dont have much experience here. How have your games been going? for what i can say today is, support heros and fragile units are your first targets and the will not survive turn 1. You need a plan on how to take down big target ( 12W+ ). Either bind them with warriors or kite them with skinks. With teleport and summoning objectives scoring is good, but you have to considerate big units like pink horrors are diffcult to outnumber. take easy objectives or with low body count, kill them off and score.
Seeing Stone of Celennar: A priceless gift from Celennar to Teclis, this allows the bearer to see the flow of magic itself - and alter it to his whim. Each time a friendly unit within range of this unit’s Aura of Celennar ability is affected by the abilities of an endless spell summoned by an enemy WIZARD or a spell cast by an enemy WIZARD, you can roll a dice. On a 4+, ignore the effect of that spell or the effects of that endless spell’s abilities on that unit. Then, if the dice roll was successful, pick 1 enemy unit within 18" of that unit. That enemy unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. Teclis will be shielding all his sentinels meaning it is very hard to fry his friends and get to Teclis to attack. We do have a lot of unbinds for the smaller stuff. Teclis auto casts on a 10 which we can try and unbind. Also his endless spells are extra CPP. With so much fire power and it's really hard to charge in. Seems like a very uphill battle.
The Skink Starseer can help here with his Celestial Doom spell, though the 18" range (with Astrolith Bearer) can be limiting. It's also worth noting that as Dracothion's Tail, after dropping in the Troglodon, if we have a little space (more likely with the Spacefolder's Stave in the hands of a Starmaster), we can beam down or summon a screen to help defend the Troglodon. The trog's Primordial Mire spell can also help. It's also worth noting that between the two Slann, the Oracle, Astrolith Bearer, another skink wizard and Celestial Resonance, it's possible to get up to 17 or 18 CPP on each of your hero phases. That's enough to use the Starborne ability Cleanse the Realms for another D6 MW (less 1s) to all enemy units within 12" of a cosmic node. That's doubling down on MWs instead of summoning much needed bodies, but it's an option to do more turn one destruction. Comet's Call, Stellar Tempest and Cosmic Crush can also add to the damage dealt, for a severe alpha strike.
Unless your are really close to killing a major threat or you are hitting 4-5 things with cleanse the realms I think it is almost always better to summon turn 1. We just really need bodies. However if you have a skink starpriest or starseer with the speed of huanchi spell you can come teleport 9" away and then cast the spell on itself walking forward into 3" away and then use cleanse the realms to hit those things further in the back. It's a skink suicide bomber but can be useful for hitting multiple things.