8th Ed. 'Ardboyz 3k Saurus/Lifestar Bonanza!

[Vilicate]

Hey guys,

I'm gearing up for the upcoming 'Ardboyz series of tournaments. Now that I have a decent job, if I qualify, I'd like to try and travel down from Alaska (where I live) to (hopefully) the finals in Chicago.

After a couple of games, I've come to the realization that the lifestar is probably one of the most broken things in the game right now. It's just really durable and hits hard enough to eventually win any combat.

So, that being said, I'd like to perfect my list to make it as 'ard as possible.

Here's what I'm initially thinking for my build (i've tried it out once now, and my opponent quit on turn 3):

Lords:
Slann w/ Cogitation, Rumination, Mystery(life), Banner of Discipline, BSB and Cupped Hands
-460 pts
Oldblood w/ Armor of Destiny, PotFFF, Great Weapon
-217 pts

Core:
3 x 10 Skirmishers w/ BP
-210 pts

30 Saurus w/ Spears, FC
-390 pts

30 Saurus w/ FC
-360

Special:
2 x Stegadon
-470 pts

26 Temple Guard w/ FC, Razor Banner and Burning Blade
-521 pts

6 Cham. Skinks
-72 pts

Rare:
4 x 1 Salamander
-300 pts

The slann and oldblood go in the TG. The oldblood is a freakin machine, killing Grimgor in the last game I played. Going to T7-9; plus having more than one wound AND having a 4+ ward means he can pretty much outlast everything. Plus, with poison and a -5 to saves, he really beats some face. Also, healing wounds with Lifebloom helps somewhat as well :-D

The rest of the army pretty much clusters around the slann, minus the salamanders and skirmishers, who disrupt the rest of the enemy army. The stegadons are there as distractions, honestly. If my opponents want to shoot at them, good on them. I'd rather they not shoot at the lifestar.

I suppose that I would prefer to have the stegadons be ancient stegs, if I could find the points - what would you drop to make that work, or what would you drop to put something better in?

Thanks for your comments ahead of time!

-Danny

 

[lizardninja]

Just a quick comment cause I've not got a lot of time but are you not better running the salamanders in two units of two?

 

[Vilicate]

Interesting - I would think that the multiple units would last longer, give me more target saturation AND let me shoot at four different blocks every turn If I wanted to.

Why would I combine them? I guess for panic purposes, and they might be a little better in CC with multiple salamanders.

 

[Juhaaha]

I would only combine them if there was some comps that deny more than 2x same rare choise.

IMO 4 Sallies are better in 4 different units than 2x2. Points spread, and as you said you can shoop da whoop 4 different units. Also, 4 chaff units are better than 2

 

[vapor]

How are the regular stegs working for you? I tried them and was disappointed, prefer to use ancient for the 4d6+3 poision shots and stronger thunderstomp.

Edit: I should probably read your whole post before commenting. Since you using both the sallies and the stegs as distractions you should be fine either way.

 

[Vilicate]

How are the regular stegs working for you? I tried them and was disappointed, prefer to use ancient for the 4d6+3 poision shots and stronger thunderstomp.

Edit: I should probably read your whole post before commenting. Since you using both the sallies and the stegs as distractions you should be fine either way.

The baby stegs are alright. They do a decent amount of damage. Actually, attack-wise they're slightly better against T3 stuff (one more steg attack) and they pass I tests twice as often! LOL! I would definitely prefer to take two ancient stegs, but I'd have to free up some points, and drop TWO salamanders. That alone makes it not worth it. I could add two if I dropped even more points and put a cheapo character on the back of one; that way I could keep my 4 salamanders.

Showing the list to my friends, it's been stated that should drop the back rank off the temple guard and use the points to upgrade the stegs; I just don't know that it's worth it. I suspect either variety of steg will get wrecked and shot to crap; and that's pretty much what mine are supposed to do anyway.

 

[vapor]

How are the regular stegs working for you? I tried them and was disappointed, prefer to use ancient for the 4d6+3 poision shots and stronger thunderstomp.

Edit: I should probably read your whole post before commenting. Since you using both the sallies and the stegs as distractions you should be fine either way.

The baby stegs are alright. They do a decent amount of damage. Actually, attack-wise they're slightly better against T3 stuff (one more steg attack) and they pass I tests twice as often! LOL! I would definitely prefer to take two ancient stegs, but I'd have to free up some points, and drop TWO salamanders. That alone makes it not worth it. I could add two if I dropped even more points and put a cheapo character on the back of one; that way I could keep my 4 salamanders.

Showing the list to my friends, it's been stated that should drop the back rank off the temple guard and use the points to upgrade the stegs; I just don't know that it's worth it. I suspect either variety of steg will get wrecked and shot to crap; and that's pretty much what mine are supposed to do anyway.

If they're there to eat cannonballs then keep them cheap. I don't like characters on stegs since every model riding now gets hit by templates, including cannons.

Have you thought about trading in a unit of skinks for a second unit of chameleons? Having more war machine hunters is never a bad thing.

Also, do they have the scenarios they'll be using posted yet?

 

[Vilicate]

If they're there to eat cannonballs then keep them cheap. I don't like characters on stegs since every model riding now gets hit by templates, including cannons.

Have you thought about trading in a unit of skinks for a second unit of chameleons? Having more war machine hunters is never a bad thing.

Also, do they have the scenarios they'll be using posted yet?

A no on the scenarios. I'm looking forward to seeing what exactly I'm going to be up against. They actually haven't even posted the rules yet...I'm really interested to see how they're going to handle the new terrain generation rules.

That's a winning idea with the chameleons! I'm definitely going to do that! That's exactly the kind of stuff that helps me to see outside the box. That's why I like to post my list up.

 

[Gor-rok]

+1 on adding the chameleons; they're terrific.

As far as dropping Temple Guard in favor of upgrading stegadons, or anything else for that matter, don't do it. If things go poorly for your supporting units, the Lifestar is going to be getting it from all sides, and you'll want all the extra durability you can manage.

In a previous game my Daemon opponent got wise, tied up my support, shut down as many buff spells as he could, and hammered the Lifestar from three sides, with a couple nasty hexes thrown in. If I had started with anything less than 26 Temple Guard it would have been all over for them and the Slann; as it was, when the dust settled, they were the ones left standing.

Keep us posted on how this list plays out in the big leagues. I've had great success with a similar setup in friendly local games, but nothing approaching the challenge level of 'Ardboyz.

 

[Vilicate]

I've got a practice game tonight. I'll try and take pictures so I can post a BR.

I do quite a bit of traveling for tournaments, and I qualified at Quake City Rumble for the Vegas GT Finals next year in the summer. I'd like to take something similar to this list for the big tournament.

Thanks for the comments and advice guys! I always love to hear more brainstorming!

 

[wolfmage]

If you can spare 100 points the upgrade from scar-vet to chakax will be worth it as your slann can keep his wounds up with the lore attribute and even out of challenge he still hits like hell. My opponents will accept his challenge simply to preserve the life of more of their squishy units (squishy meaning pretty much everything else)

 

[Vilicate]

Just fyi, it's not a Scar-Vet, it's an oldblood.

So what makes Chakax a better choice than my Oldblood? My guy has 5 S7 poisoned attacks, at WS6, an extra wound, a 2+ AS and a 4+ ward. Am I missing one of Chakax's special rules that really make him a better pick?

 

[vapor]

None of our special characters are worth taking, ever.

 

[Gor-rok]

Gor-rok is still a great choice if you can spare the points. Very hard to kill, stubborn regardless of ranks, and makes cavalry and such take terrain tests just to charge him- it's a sweet combination, and not too terribly expensive. I may be biased, but nothing holds a saurus block together like the Great White Lizard.

Lord Kroak was spectacular in 7th ed. against Daemons and undead, and won me some unbelievable victories. Now with the FAQ, I can't see any advantage whatsoever. Roll irresistible and the spell fails? I'll just use his model as a regular Slann, thanks.