AoS 2.0 Anti-Petrifex

[Nart]

Starborne
Constellation: Fangs of Sotek

Leaders

Venerable Lord Kroak 320
- Spell: Stellar Tempest
Engine of the Gods 260
- General: Nimble
Skink Starseer 140
- Spell: Hand of Glory
Skink Starpriest 120
- Spell: Tide of Serpents
Skink Priest 70
Saurus Astrolith Bearer 140
- Artefact: Dagger of the Serpent-God

Battleline

40x Skinks 240
10x Skinks 60
10x Skinks 60

Other

12x Salamander Hunting Pack 240
12x Salamander Hunting Pack 240

Endless Spells

Bound Emerald Swarm 60
Balewind Vortex 40

Pertifex Elite are my archnemesis now, so I want to tailor a list against them, using the stuff I have or can get within a month or two.

The plan is to hide heroes and position large skink unit as far as possible from enemy positions, since I'll be most likely going second. Small skinks unit will receive deathriders charge and hopefully retreat. On my turn I plan to close distance with superior movement. I plan on taking one unit at a time. Salamanders are my main hammer. Kroak is summoner and MW dealer (2d3 CCP a turn is not much, but I might be able to summon 1-2 skinks units). Skinks are screen and target for Star Venom - 3-4 MW per turn is not much, but they are free anyway. EotG is a tank, may summon or deal more MW and heal itself. Astrolith is bonus defense and +1 for casts, but I don't necessary need him.

I decided to go for emerald swarm+balewind for Kroak, but I may consider other endless spells too. Purple Sun seems to be very good and burning head may be helpful. Cogs may easily backfire, but salamanders may move 12" with them, which is awesome. Palisade may be a nice move block and protet from the Catapult.

Main concern is catapult. It can easily remove a unit per turn, especially skink heroes. It can also kill skink screen, opening way for deathriders. By the way, is it possible to split shots with it? I HATE this unit.

I may drop skinks and astrolith in favour of shadowstrike starhost, but I am not sure, if it is worth it.

 

[Asamu]

Looks pretty solid for that.

The catapult is a bit less scary with it being -2 to hit against your heroes if they're garrisoned, or not being able to shoot them at all if they're hiding behind the massive LoS blocking terrain feature.
I'd look at bringing a second priest (For that sweet +1 to save on the sallies; they'd be at a 2+, if behind the terrain feature or in terrain, and being able to spread out the command ability is pretty good), swap the starseer for another starpriest, since the mortal wounds are better than 3d6 to charge with this sort of list, especially vs petrifex, and would probably cut the engine for more skinks.

 

[Nart]

The problem with catapult is that is shoots 4 times with Katakros, and you need only single failed save. Hiding is my strategy, but it also hinders movement, allowing OBR to do whatever they want. And it costs less then puny bastiladon.

I take Starseer for his spell, but his ability is handy too. Second priest is good, but I'd rather drop astrolith.

 

[Erta Wanderer]

The problem with catapult is that is shoots 4 times with Katakros, and you need only single failed save. Hiding is my strategy, but it also hinders movement, allowing OBR to do whatever they want. And it costs less then puny bastiladon.

I take Starseer for his spell, but his ability is handy too. Second priest is good, but I'd rather drop astrolith.

just drop 3 salies and bam! no more catapult

 

[Nart]

just drop 3 salies and bam! no more catapult

That's what I wanted to do, but, I am afraid, sallies will be dead in the next turn.

However, I find that Ossiarch may struggle against MSU. In my last game Katakros had to leave the point to deal with mere 5 saurus knights, which charged the catapult. Literally 1/4th of the army had to waste two turns, chasing 80 pts unit. I hope, skinks + magic will be enough, so sallies may concentrate on taking down mortek and kavaloi.

 

[IggyStarhost]

Starborne
Constellation: Fangs of Sotek

Leaders

Venerable Lord Kroak 320
- Spell: Stellar Tempest
Engine of the Gods 260
- General: Nimble
Skink Starseer 140
- Spell: Hand of Glory
Skink Starpriest 120
- Spell: Tide of Serpents
Skink Priest 70
Saurus Astrolith Bearer 140
- Artefact: Dagger of the Serpent-God

Battleline

40x Skinks 240
10x Skinks 60
10x Skinks 60

Other

12x Salamander Hunting Pack 240
12x Salamander Hunting Pack 240

Endless Spells

Bound Emerald Swarm 60
Balewind Vortex 40

Pertifex Elite are my archnemesis now, so I want to tailor a list against them, using the stuff I have or can get within a month or two.

The plan is to hide heroes and position large skink unit as far as possible from enemy positions, since I'll be most likely going second. Small skinks unit will receive deathriders charge and hopefully retreat. On my turn I plan to close distance with superior movement. I plan on taking one unit at a time. Salamanders are my main hammer. Kroak is summoner and MW dealer (2d3 CCP a turn is not much, but I might be able to summon 1-2 skinks units). Skinks are screen and target for Star Venom - 3-4 MW per turn is not much, but they are free anyway. EotG is a tank, may summon or deal more MW and heal itself. Astrolith is bonus defense and +1 for casts, but I don't necessary need him.

I decided to go for emerald swarm+balewind for Kroak, but I may consider other endless spells too. Purple Sun seems to be very good and burning head may be helpful. Cogs may easily backfire, but salamanders may move 12" with them, which is awesome. Palisade may be a nice move block and protet from the Catapult.

Main concern is catapult. It can easily remove a unit per turn, especially skink heroes. It can also kill skink screen, opening way for deathriders. By the way, is it possible to split shots with it? I HATE this unit.

I may drop skinks and astrolith in favour of shadowstrike starhost, but I am not sure, if it is worth it.

Maybe add 6 terradons and a Terradon Chief for 5d3 mortal wounds on some elite unit. Or if he spams mortek guard, you can try a stegadon with fyre. And with some 5+ mortal wounds spells, you should melt them quickly!

 

[Nart]

I would like to get terradons, but I don't have them. 6 terradons with cheif are perfect character snipers now. But I built my flyers as rippers which are useless against ossiarch unfortunately.

Steg with flamers is meh, because we already have lots of AoE mortal wounds. Bow, at least, has a chance to snipe a hero.

 

[IggyStarhost]

I would like to get terradons, but I don't have them. 6 terradons with cheif are perfect character snipers now. But I built my flyers as rippers which are useless against ossiarch unfortunately.

Steg with flamers is meh, because we already have lots of AoE mortal wounds. Bow, at least, has a chance to snipe a hero.

flamers depends on the list you face. Guards with a Gotthizarr is a though nut to crack. But for hero sniping the bow is better. Why you play the EotG? For the possible AoE bomb?

 

[Nart]

I don't have other stegadons besides my EotG and I want a tanky hero. I don't expect it to last too long, but if mortek waste a couple of turns, fighting it, I'm fine.

Also mortal wounds, summoning and healing. He also can go toe to toe with Katakros if he is at high health, buying me even more time.

EDIT: For clarification, his list is Katakros, Soulmason, 2x 20 mortek with blades, 10 Deathriders and catapult.

 

[Jason839]

That's what I wanted to do, but, I am afraid, sallies will be dead in the next turn.

However, I find that Ossiarch may struggle against MSU. In my last game Katakros had to leave the point to deal with mere 5 saurus knights, which charged the catapult. Literally 1/4th of the army had to waste two turns, chasing 80 pts unit. I hope, skinks + magic will be enough, so sallies may concentrate on taking down mortek and kavaloi.

that’s something you are going to have to get used to. All our stuff will probably die the turn after it kills a bunch of stuff. Better to just accept it and do as much damage as you can.

 

[ILKAIN]

that’s something you are going to have to get used to. All our stuff will probably die the turn after it kills a bunch of stuff. Better to just accept it and do as much damage as you can.

for realz… gone are our days of winning by making the enemy waste turns, we now have to nuke and nuke quick... then try again with what's left lol

 

[Nart]

The revenge had happened!

The ossiarch player gave up on turn 3. He did a critical mistake turn 1, leaving one of the objectives undefended, while knowing that I can teleport a pack of skinks there. But he decided, that crippling my forces and catching later would be a better choice. Oh dear, how wrong was he...

His list was the same, as I mentioned, but he took Akhan instead of Katakros and an additional catapult. By turn 3 my only loss was 10 skink squad, 1 salamander, some handlers and most of large skinks block, while he was left with catapults and 20 mortek. He conceded because it was impossible to even the score.

Main conclusions and impressions:

1) +3" movement on turn 1 is very strong. You can easily catch an opponent off guard;
2) Parting shot is very powerful. Even if GW nerf it to work only if unit was charged, it would be still very strong ability;
3) I still can't imagine goind out without summoning and teleporting. I will be trying coalesced, of course, but even 20 skinks summon can be decisive. I fell Like I stick to Starborne in the end, but want to test both at first;
4) Every single CP counts. I did understand it outright but only after test I felt how much it was. Never ever think that you have luxury to spend a CP without clear understanding, why you are doing it;
5) Kroak didn't do much, because bad dice (failed 3 out of 3 deliverences in one of the turns, did only a single mortal wound from 3 more in another turn), but he is still an auto-include just because of Implaccable Foresight. I think, if he'd be exactly a slann for 60 more points, I'd still take him just for one more chance to generate CP;
6) EotG did nothing paticular. He kept rolling MW's, kept failing to deal damage, but did his job at tying part of mortek guard blob. I'm not giving up on him yet, because he didn't receive any paticular buffs - everything went to salamanders. His randomness is annoying though;
7) Skink heroes are a must. I'd like to take 2 starpiests and priests, but it will cost too much. 2 priests looks like a good idea though - one can fail a prayer. But their command ability is critical. You want use it as much as possible on as many skink units as possible. Starseer is also great - reducing Pertifex saves and then frying them with salamanders is priceless;
8) Astrolith is ok. He helped spells to go off a couple of times and saved me a couple of wounds. Doesn't feel like he is irreplaceable, but I don't want to ditch him either;
9) 40 skinks blocks are beasts. I want to run at least 2 of them now. Starvenom is very powerful, when you can shoot 160 shots per battleround and then charge and make 80 attacks. Yes, hit and wound is low, but I did 10 wounds to unbuffed arkhan with 3+ save and then denied objective with them. But you really want celestial harmony on them, even in Starborne. Every CP counts - if you can do something, without spending a CP - do it;
10) Salamanders. Hoo, boy, I new they're going to rock, but I couldn't imagine how much. I don't want leave home without 2 packs. I constantly forgot about mortal wounds, did a couple of horrible rolls and still managed to wipe out almost whole ossiarch army by themeselves. They killed 10 horses, liege-kavalos with 2+ save, soulmason and some mortek guard. If we played further, I'm sure, I'd wiped the ossiarch player thanks to this guys.
11) Both balewing and swarm were nice, but I'm not going out without burning head anymore;
12) I miss rerolls to-wound. I managed to roll 7 out of 9 1's and 2's with salamanders in one of the shooting phases.

Well, I am really happy with the new battletome. I want more tests, but I feel, we didn't lose much of our mindgame and still have to rely on tricks. But now we can compete even with top tier broken armies and still have a chance to win. I think, we are strong tier 2 army now, maybe even tier 1,5 - only time will tell.

 

[Aginor]

Thanks for the report!
Sounds pretty good.