AoS Uglu Alpha Strike - Dracothions Tail & Stacking Command Abilities

[PJetski]

Dracothions Tail lets you put units in reserve and deep strike them into play around your Slann and >9" from an enemy.... in the hero phase! It can also include any number of Seraphon units, so this is a 1 drop army.
Firelance gives your Knights and Scar Veteran +3 to charge.
Cogs can give your units +2 to charge.
Slann Constellation can give you another +1 charge.
Scarveteran Command Ability lets you reroll charge1, hit1, and gives you +1 attack to Knight bites.

Put all these together and you can have your units deep strike >9", have +4-6 to charge rolls, and reroll 1s to charge. This is (almost) a guaranteed charge. From that idea we have the following core:

Slann Starmaster
Scarveteran on Cold One (or Carnosaur)
5 Saurus Knights
5 Saurus Knights
5 Saurus Knights
Cogs
920points

With 2 battalions we start the game with 3 command points and we can take 3 artifacts.

Seems alright but there are problems. Knights don't hit very hard even on the charge, with a 1" weapon range they won't get many models in range, and you can't deep strike more than one of a warscroll into play. Knights are not the best unit to deliver onto the front lines, but this battalion can include any Seraphon units...

Add Oldblood to reroll wound1 and maybe also use his command ability to reform units and gain a "free move" after deep strike in case the cogs fail.
Add Oldblood on Carnosaur to boost all Saurus hero attacks with his command ability. Though he won't benefit from the Firelance charge bonus, he will still be at +3 (cogs + constellation) and rerolling charge1. You can also cast Curse of Fates for another +1 charge.

We have a lot of melee heroes and a lot of artifacts to take. The Seraphon artifacts are kinda butts, but Ulgu has the Sword of Judgment (d6mw on hit6+) and the Dimensional Blade (Rend-3).

Let's give the ScarVeteran a Blade of Judgment. With +4 attacks, rerolling 1s, and the ability to attack again on 4+, he is very likely to murder whatever Hero or Monster he hits. The Oldblood on Carnosaur can take the Dimension Blade for his D3 damage spear, and at +4 attacks he can do some serious harm. But why stop at +4 attacks? Each Command Point we buy is 2 more attacks for each hero!

The final artifact could be a support item like the Tricksters Helm or Light of Dracothion.

Looking to round out the list I think Stegadons make a good choice, with their ability to move a SKINK unit D6" in the hero phase (including itself) it can make a reliable charge after teleporting into play. The Great Bow will be good for weakening characters, while the Sunfire throwers are great for clearing out screens to allow your heroes to charge the more valuable targets.

Since we already have a Slann we can add in an Engine of the Gods to either summon reinforcements into play or hit an enemy hero for D6 mortal wounds.

This puts us at 1740/2000 points. The only question left is... how many Command Points do you want to buy?

 

[Ektor]

you can put in reserve and so deepstrike only half of the bataillon, isnt it ?

 

[PJetski]

you can put in reserve and so deepstrike only half of the bataillon, isnt it ?

Correct - one unit in reserve for each unit on the table.
We want to deep strike the three Saurus heroes, one unit of knights (mostly just to tie down the enemy army and shield the heroes against a counterattack) and probably also the Stegadon (since it can move d6" after deep strike) so we need 4-5 units on the table.

You must start with the Slann on the table, and since you can't deep strike multiple units of Knights in the same turn you can put at least two units of Knights on the table (and they can help keep the Slann alive). With a 14" move they can easily spread from deployment to secure objectives while you teleport the Slann up the table to enable the reserve units to enter play >9" from an enemy.
The Engine wants to be near the Slann, and you're fishing for either a 25" D6 mortal wound result or a summoning result, and neither of those need to be close to the enemy. The Engine can usually be deployed on the table, putting us up to 4 units on the table.

Which other units you put on the table depends on the matchup. If you know the enemy army is fast and focused on melee you can leave more units on the table - you may not need to leave anything in reserve.
Against ranged armies you should leave only disposable units on the table and deploy in the corner.

What do we do with the last 260 points?

"Buy" 5 command points to start the game with 8 command points, which is +14 attacks (assuming you spend 1 on Scarvet and 7 on Carnosaur). That's 17 attacks with the Scar Veteran and his Sword of Judgment (only Rend-1 and 1 damage, but hit6+ causes D6mw and he can attack again on 4+, then again on 6+), 17 attacks with the Carnosaurs spear (at Rend-3, D3 damage), and 16 attacks from the Oldblood (Rend-1, 2 damage)

Another option would be an Astrolith Bearer for a few reasons: he would be an additional deployment which lets you put more in reserve; +1 casting, +8" spell range is always useful; D3 more summoning points if you want to pivot your strategy; he is a SAURUS HERO so he gains bonus attacks; and rerolling all hits for all units near him is much better than rerolling hit1 for SAURUS which could save you from using a command point. He comes at the cost of 3 CP, which is +6 attacks, but if you consider that you are "saving" a command point from not using the Scarvets ability then he is only making you give up +4 attacks (that's 12 attacks across our 3 heroes!).

What do you guys think?

 

[Ektor]

deep striked units must be wholy within 18" of the slann, so i guess we will have to tp him close to enemy

a good opponent will have setup shield units all around his army to avoid the carno charge (carno in reserve, he knows what is coming)
but if we do use 1 cp on the slann ability, we can have fu...ng flying carno, to get behind the lines

proposal :
we remove the engine, as we cant deepstrike it. But in return, we can pay the scar carno + the astrolith to have the reroll on hits

we deepstrike :
both carno (scar and old)
oldblood
stegadon
astrolith
so 5 units

we set up
Slann (which will tp first with seraphon ability)
3x5 Saurus Knights
so 4 units, we lack one
but we still have 180 points

cheapest is skink, +2CP
but, and to give more power to the alpha strike, we could go for terradon +1CP, terradon can kill during move phase, and so create a hole for the flying carno charge

 

[PJetski]

The reason I choose a Cold One instead of a Carnosaur for the Scar Veteran is because his command ability is much better in this scenario, and he can attack again on a 4+ which is really powerful with the Sword of Judgment. The price difference is worth about 2 command points, which is +4 attacks to each Saurus hero.

 

[Stevie754]

Had a similar idea, I'm running this list at the weekend.
The idea is to teleport the slann up the board, drop out the scar vet, 40 warriors, the oldblood and astrolith.

So going first you have 5 cp.
Use 1 on the oldblood to move the warriors up 3" so at least some have a 6" charge.
Use 3 from the scarvet on carno on the warriors so they get x3 extra attacks.
With the warriors being in such a big unit they get +1 to h it so you get 3 extra hit rolls for every 5+.
With the astrolith planted you reroll the ones that miss.

And save the other cp for rerolling charge or battleshock on the hit back

Allegiance: Seraphon
Mortal Realm: Ulgu
Leaders
Slann Starmaster (260) - General - Trait: Great Rememberer - Artefact: Doppelganger Cloak
Engine of the Gods (220) - Artefact: Spellmirror
Saurus Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur (240) - War Spear - Artefact: Sword of Judgement
Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160)
Saurus Oldblood (120) - Suntooth Maul

Battleline
5 x Saurus Knights (90)
5 x Saurus Knights (90)
5 x Saurus Knights (90)
40 x Saurus Warriors (360) - Spears

Battalions
Dracothion's Tail (80)
Firelance Starhost (150)

Endless Spells
Prismatic Palisade (30)

Total: 1890 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 4
Wounds: 112

 

[LizardWizard]

This is a fun army concept. SIngle Drop list are always nice for summoning focused armies like Seraphon. You should definitely be able to eliminate any hero that is not heavily screened especially considering the Slann's ability to give them all fly. Saurus Knights as a whole are pretty sub par Calvary. I worry that it will only excel as a counter army to other list who also want to be the one charging. That being said, you should be able to lock down the opposing army and get a significant early lead on objectives. I do think Ghyrstrike is worth looking at for one of your Saurus Heroes. Keep in mind you can only use one Artifact of the Realms for your army.

This list is definitely worth a try.

 

[PJetski]

Can't use Ghyrstrike if your army is from the Realm of Shadows...

Keep in mind you can only use one Artifact of the Realms for your army.

This is not true.

 

[LizardWizard]

Can't use Ghyrstrike if your army is from the Realm of Shadows...


This is not true.

The file attachment says: "you could choose one artifact of power from the Weapons of Ghyran or Relics of Ghyran table..."

And yes, the list would have to change its realm of origin to make use of Ghyrstrike.

 

[PJetski]

The file attachment says: "you could choose one artifact of power from the Weapons of Ghyran or Relics of Ghyran table..."

The attached file says "you can select any of your artefacts of power from either or both of the lists in this section for the realm that you chose" (emphasis mine)

 

[LizardWizard]

It was never in dispute that you are the one who chooses the realm of origin (and thus which pool of artifacts) for your army. There is some ambiguity about how many artifacts of the realm you may bring. This is due to the first rule text that says "any" and the following example which says "one". The four tournaments I have been to since 2.0 all ruled on the side of only one artifact of the realm in the list because the word "any" can be used to describe a singular instance. I can see how an argument may be made for either case. Perhaps GW will clarify this at a future date. They could change the phase to say: "any or all".