9th Age 4500 list, moderate player

[jgadams19]

Hello all, wanted to get away from my current list of all skinks and run a cuatyl lord and experiment with magic, something ive never really tried, heres the list

Cuatyl lord
-general, wandering paths

Veteran
-raptor, la, gw, tailsman 6+ ward

30 saurus
-spears, standard

15 skinks
-bows

15 skinks
-bows

30 temple guard
-standard

5 raptor riders
-champ, standard

5 raptor riders
-champ, standard

3 terradons
-shields

3 rhampodon
-shields

6 chameleons

1 taurosaur

I like the idea of large number of boots on the ground, like the idea of minimal imputs on characters, have never really tried the cuatyl build, even in 8th had a hard time fielding a slann cause of points cost, tried to include some aspects to deal with war machines, 2 units of raptors for counter charge and flexibility of veteran placement, any comments welcome and greatly appreciated.

 

[Lawot]

It sure is a lot of boots on the ground! I've been trying to work out an effective Saurus-based army for as long as the Ninth Age has been around, so I've got some experience with what you're looking at.

First up, if more "competitive" players were to critique this, you'd probably hear, "Temple Guard are bad, Raptor Riders are bad, Rhamphodons are bad, drop them all." So just bear the in mind as you read the rest of what I have to say.

Temple Guard can be a real hard brick, depending on what you're going up against. If you expect to see some real elite infantry, TG are going to have a hard time competing. But with their WS4, S5, and Stubborn, it to dean' take much in the way of buffs to make them pretty beefy. Actually casting those buffs can be a challenge. I would definitely make the Cuatl the BSB, to take the whole unit from "brave" to basically unbreakable.

What do you have in mind for Wandering Path on the Cuatl? The best synergy I know with it is to take one or two Alchemy spells, and the rest in Pyromancy. The combo of making something Flammable with Alchemy, and then toasting them with Fire Spells, or granting your unit Flaming Attacks, can really do a number on an enemy unit. If you want something that will more reliably buff your combat units, though, I'd suggest Divination. Some high-Strength, medium range attacks and a number of useful combat buffs make it pretty solid for a combat-oriented list.

On your Saurian Warriors, you could consider the Serpent Totem. Between that and the spears, you'll be getting supporting attacks from 3 ranks instead of one, giving you a huge number of attacks per model frontage. Granted, this relies on having those ranks when you get to combat, which is not so easy. But if you think you can minimize loses from shooting and magic, this is a way to build a high-damage output unit.

I haven't tried Skinks with bows yet, mostly because I've been loving the Saurian MSU approach. Units of 10 Saurian Warriors are really neat for their ability to redirect, but also pose a serious threat to enemy chaff and can make real countercharges.

Rhampho's took a hard nerd with the Skirmishing rules no longer allowing them to close ranks in combat. But most of the advice you can find around here on Rhamphos and Ripperdactyls still holds. Look for flank charges on high-armor, high-value cavalry or small units of infantry. He them carefully and they should still pack some punch.

Finally, I don't think feedback on this would be complete without a suggestion that you take Caimans. They've come to a really good, balanced spot, where they can perform well in general, but really excel as can openers and monster hunters. We don't have much that competes with their sheer damage output.

I hope that's helpful! I'm glad to see someone else pursuing this kind of build. I would love to hear how it goes for you, and you can contribute your experience to the conversations about how to make this Saurian Combat Block build viable.