8th Ed. 2500 against WoC, competetive league

[sorrowquin]

Got my first game next week in a competetive league I recently joined.

It will be 2500 pts battleline against a WoC player I know absolutely nothing about.
Came up with the following List and I really want to win this game so your help is much appreciated!

Lords 621

Slann
BSB, Focus of Mystery, Soul of Stone, Standart of Discipline

Oldblood
CO, Glittering Scales, Dawnstone, GW


Heroes 345

Scar-Veteran
CO, l.A, Dragonhelmet, Luckstone, Egg of Quango, GW

Skink-Priest
lvl1 Heavens, forbidden Rot

Skink-Priest
lvl1 Beasts, Dispell Scroll


Core 600
30 Saurus, HW+S, FC
10 Kohorts
10 Kohorts
10 Skirmishers, J+S
10 Skirmishers, Blowpipes

Special 645
30 TG, FC, Razorstandart
Bastilladon, Solar Engine

Rare 250
Ancient Stegadon, sharpened Horns


This summs up to 2461 pts and I'm not sure where to spend the rest on. I still need 25 pts more core.
Also I'm not 100% sure about all points cost since I don't have a book at hand right now and this is all out of my memory, so if anyboday wants to check, your welcome

I think this list is pretty straigt forward which is what I want it to be, solid.
Any C&C is very much appreciated!

 

[RipperDerek]

Do you have a strategy for dealing with a Demon Prince, or potentially a horde of Trolls, with your current list?

 

[sorrowquin]

Multiple Options:

Arcane Unforge and react accordingly to what you can destroy of his defences. (Dragenbane Gem followed up by Searing Doom would be golden obviously but you can't count on that).
Maybe get some Wounds of with poison.
Tigh him up with the Oldblood. He should be able to survive a couple of rounds (if I happen to unforge Sword of Striking even longer) and deal some wounds back. Throw in HoG, Melkoth's, Wyssans, whatever possible. Forbidden Rot should help to get sth of. Than charge the Steg in.

If nothing helpts, feed him Skinks I guess oO


Trolls I'm not sure.. Haven't actually thought about that. Flaming Convocation might work, followd up by Skink-shooting?
I should have more chaff than him so I also should be able to get them in CC with the Saurus and flank with the Steg.

 

[RipperDerek]

Just so you know, an Ancient Stegadon averages 4.5*(4/6)*(3/6)*(4/6)*2 = 2 wounds against the demon prince. Also, it's not super clear how impact hits work if he's fighting a challenge, say with your oldblood. Finally, Arcane Unforging into Searing Doom tends not to work...because he flies, you might unforge his dragonbane gem, but he'll get into combat before you can follow most of the time.

That said, I crunched the numbers, and the oldblood should be able to survive, although he might need a couple of heals from the Slann to help out. (Heals are more important than buffs in this fight).

How do you feel about other common WoC units, most notably 18 trolls in horde formation, or a large unit of Skullcrushers?

Edit: Fiery convocation kills 3 trolls on average. Ancient Steg kills 1 troll on the charge on average. Trolls kill 14 HW/shield Saurus per phase at full strength.

 

[sorrowquin]

I think both Cowboys should do well against the Skullcrushers. Again, Searing Doom deals pretty well with them too, provided you can redirect them to delay CC. Steg charge is nice too.

The Trolls obviously I need to whittle down before they reach CC but they are slower so hopefully that works.
Beam of Chotec is also nice against trolls ,is it not?
Apart from that Trolls are very easy to redirect.

Btw, if you feel my army is missing sth feel free to suggest changes! I'm thankful for your comments so far =)

I could actually scrap the saurus and field a large unit of Skrox with up to 6 Krox. They might to much better against a Trollhorde, no?
Giving my TG the Flaming Banner should also make them able to deal with trolls. But dropping the Razorstandard feels like losing too much punch against every other unit...

 

[RipperDerek]

You can put the flaming banner on the Slann, so they don't have to give up the razor standard. Also, they might not bring trolls; I only brought it up because you mentioned it was a competitive league, and they're one of the more competitive units WoC can field. There's not much in our army list that can actually take them down in a 1-on-1 fight...pretty much just a battle slann, a horde of temple guard with the flaming banner, or a character bus with the flaming banner.

The reason I haven't given specific feedback about what to do with which unit is that I think my personal preferences are pretty different from yours. For example, I don't like running a Slann in a unit of temple guard. I have several reasons for that; first, when he inevitably miscasts, it hurts the TG, sometimes badly. Second, it concentrates a lot of points in the that one unit, without actually making the unit any tougher. And finally, when I run TG I run them as a horde...so, including a Slann in the unit actually makes it both more expensive and worse in combat, because it costs me 4 high quality attacks.

Another example of differing tastes: I think Magic is unreliable in this edition, so I personally try to avoid over-investing in it. So I would likely not bring both 2 skink priests and a Slann. I don't actually think it's wrong to try and have a strong magic phase, it's just that I personally wouldn't approach it that way.

If it were me, I think I would cut one of the Skink priests to avoid over-investing in magic, give the Slann the flaming banner as a hedge against trolls and chimeras, and try to get the TG up to 36 so I could deploy them as a horde and get all those extra WS4 ST5 attacks. I think the Saurus are fine, and you could even fill out your core by making the unit a little beefier, so it will be steadfast longer.

 

[sorrowquin]

I never deploy my Slann in the TG but somewhere close. I usually want to 6dice Fiery Convocation in the first Magicphase. So the Slann lurks around, in a unit of skirmishers or a Cohort and only joins the TG when hes in danger.
The 2 priests help me with Arcane Vasseling and actually I take 2 BECAUSE magic is so unreliable carrying the scrolls and maybe channel a dice or 2.
Will think about the Flaming banner and beefing up the TG.
What you think about Salamanders? I feel they're not first choice against WoC but dunno...

 

[RipperDerek]

I think the Ancient Steg is more versatile vs. WoC than Salamanders are. The Steg will be a solid choice no matter his army composition. But, there's a lot of stuff that the Salamanders are potentially not helpful against, like monsters and skullcrushers and characters.

 

[sorrowquin]

The Steg is out of quuestion but I could drop the Bastilladon for 2 Sallies, what you think about that?

I prefer so possible str 5 hits from the Solar Engine and drawing out dispel dice is also nice. Than again it is also unreliable...

I 3 TG is also fine though. Attacks before trolls and can be buffed further with HoG

 

[RipperDerek]

Personally, I think the Bastiladon is better - the beam is better against things like Chimeras and chariots, and there aren't a lot of great sallie targets you're likely to run into.