8th Ed. 500pt escalation assistance

[Blue Lizard]

Hi all, my gaming group is putting together an escalation campaign that is starting at 500pts and goes up by 500pt increments. So I am after some advice on what to take in a 500pt list, but I’m also happy to add some story/fluff into the army as the gaming group is just a bunch of friends. My opponents will be Chaos Warriors, Tomb Kings, Empire, Vampire Counts and Skaven. House rules are no rare choice at 500pts, and no need for hero but must have a leader so unit champ will do.
My initial thoughts were;

Scarvet - light armour, shield, great weapon, cold one mount

Saurus x20 --muso, standard

Skink skirmishers x10

Skink skirmishers x10

=497pts

My idea was to follow the carrier of the Scar Vet as a bit of story behind the games. Skinks for poison shots and redirectors if need be, saurus as combat block/anvil and scar vet as hammer/assassin and to take on anything tough. I’m pretty sure the Tomb King will bring a sphinx, the skaven will probably have rat ogres, Empire will have knights and I know the Chaos Warriors are bringing a chariot and dragon ogres. So what do you think, advice, changes… back to the drawing board, any help will be most appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Qupakoco]

That army looks pretty good. I kind of think you should opt for something magical on the Scar-Vet. Something like:

Scar-Vet
Cold One
Light Armor
Halberd
Venom of the Firefly Frog

Puts him 1 point under the allowance for Heroes and now he gets poison and a decent initiative with a 2+ save. Not too terrible. But then you'll have to drop something like the musician, which might be a deal breaker for some people. Either way he will still eat through regular RnF and help you out for ethereals.

 

[david l]

Against the enemies you list, I like the original build - great weapon.

 

[Wiggus]

bare in mind that vampires can get a few ethereal units quite cheaply and with out any magic or magic weapons you could come unstuck

 

[Blue Lizard]

Wiggus you're right about the VC and there is every possibility the VC will capitalise on that and i don't mind the idea of a poison S6 magical halberd. With this in mind are there any other magic weapon that could fill the role (cheap cause of low point battle and useful)

 

[Qupakoco]

Warrior Bane and the Tormentor Sword are 5 points each, IIRC. Warrior Bane is probably the better of the two.

 

[Blue Lizard]

I was thinking about what I will be up against with my opponents army lists and I think there may be either a spell caster in each or nothing at all (except for the tomb kings). With that in mind would I be best to take a skink priest to either compete with there magic or control the magic if they have non?? This would mean that I loss the combat unit of the scar vet which kind of like. If did run the skink it would probably look like this;
Priest- 110pts
level 2, plaque of +1 spell

What do you think caster or cowboy ??

 

[Qupakoco]

If you go with a Skink Priest you should take the Diadem of Power. Super overpowered in small games and much more useful than an extra spell.

But stick with the Scar-Vet. He's awesome.

 

[lifestar]

Your scarvet + saurus block is 357 points.

This one is 350 points and, I'd argue, significantly deadlier.

Scarvet w/Cold One, Light Armor, Halberd, Venom of the Firefly Frog
18 Saurus Warriors with Standard Bearer w/ Banner of Eternal Flame and Musician

The scarvet is replacing 2 saurus, obviously. This gives you a block that will decimate basically anything I can imagine coming at you from those armies at 500 points.