8th Ed. Arli's Growth league experience

[Arli]

So, my local club has started a growth league. It started at 300 points and you gain 100 points per week. You can chose to bank a weeks worth of points (it's all or nothing though). We are going into week 3 this week. I plan on banking this week to add a unit of Saurus Warriors next week. I decided to do this because I have 3 wins in the league so far and I think I can manage a loss or two to gain the extra power next week.

Here's how it went so far:

Week 1: 300 points

Skink Chief (no equipment)
Cohort x 10 standard, musician, brave

Ripperdactyl x 3

Razordon x 1

Won against two opponents (tomb Kings and O&G). The O&G player failed his animosity test on turns 1 and 2 and killed his units off the board before I could get to him.

Week 2: 400 points

Skink Chief shield, light armor, blowpipe
cohort x 11 standard, musician, brave Poison attacks
Kroxigor x 1

Ripperdactyl x3

razordon x 1

Played the O&G player. Ripperdactyls ate his unit like it was nothing. It was ugly to watch. Then his other units ran off the board on turn 2.

 

[SilverFaith]

this is probably the wrong forum. I don't see how this is related to rules help, at least.

But the idea sounds pretty fun, though it sounds like it favours upgradeable units and models far more than inhherently costly models. A vampire, for example, would be easy to slowly build towards something epic, but a Slann would be near impossible to ever get the points for without taking heavy loses.

I am curious though, how does the the army building work? do you follow the standard %rules?

Regardless, I'd probably have made saurus warriors a first-buy priority, because at 110 points, it delays your purchases for 2 weeks because of those 10 points. having it at first, and then building up from there, would make a lot more sense.

Though you did do that with rippers, but their use is of dubious use. Against tk and o&g, sure, but against elves, they need a bit more luck to do worth anything. And this is coming from someone who really likes the rippers...

 

[Arli]

I moved it to the Discussion forum. Initially, I was going to ask a rules related question but got side tracked.

To answer your question. I wanted a little bit of flexibility in the list at 300 points. I ended up winning both games the first week. I then added a kroxigor and finished outfitting the chief with non magical gear.

I banked my points last week, so that this coming week, I can get either:

10 Saurus standard, Musician
5 chameleon skinks
add 1 handler to razordon
or
10 Temple guard with full command

As to the army building works, it is all still the same percentages 25% to lords/heroes...etc.

Fortunately, there are only three of us in the growth league (so far) and it looks like no one else will join. Today I faced the Tomb Kings player with his army being 500 points and me at 400 points.

Surprisingly, I won that game! The Ripperdactyls destroyed a unit of archers with his Heirophant in it. Then pulled out a rear charge his Skeleton unit the next turn (which had the bloat toad in it).

He did overun the skink cohorts and the chief, but he was doomed from the Rippers.

I got extremely lucky on this game!

 

[SilverFaith]

Hey, just said what I would have done, not that it would have been a better choice! People are rather fond of skinks, and for good reason

10 Saurus standard, Musician
5 chameleon skinks
add 1 handler to razordon
or
10 Temple guard with full command

I likely wouldn't go for TG unless you need the high strength, and plan on getting a slann (and with these cost increases, you probably wont.)

And chameleons can give some massive aid in dealing with artillery which is bound to show up sooner or later, and with 10 Saurus, you also have a block that should be able to deal with skeletons, or at least better than skinks.

I'd consider getting a scar-vet or old blood soon though. they scale extremely hard with just a few items, especially the old blood quickly becomes unkillable with just a few cheap items bringing him to 1+ AS.

 

[Arli]

I will probably go with the saurus unit and chameleons. Next after that, will be a either a Scar-Vet or a Skink Priest. in order to get a Slann, I would need to bank the points for 3 weeks.

No points roll over, it's all or nothing.

At this point, I think the best option would be to shoot for Tetto'ecko by banking 2 weeks of points again.

The chameleons will come in handy as there is already a Spear Chucker and a Screaming Skull Catapult to deal with.

Another unit of Rippers would work well. Another bloat toad will be great to have. At this point, they scare the hell out of my opponents. If I can draw fire to that unit, I will count that as a win as well.

 

[serbianwolf]

what about point distribution and rare/special/core requiriments?

 

[Arli]

The requirements were not relaxed. At the 300 points level, you could only take 75 points of Lords, Heroes. All the other categories were the same as they always are.

The problem comes in when increasing the force each week, if you do not use up the 100 points, any left over points are lost (until the next week).

 

[heuningby]

If you are going to put in a scarvet, I would put him on a cold one. That's 100 points and you can add light armour and a halberd/Great weapon the next week.

 

[SilverFaith]

If you are going to put in a scarvet, I would put him on a cold one. That's 100 points and you can add light armour and a halberd/Great weapon the next week.

I know this slides into list-tailoring territory, but i'd steer clear of great weapons in this setup. since the enemies are O&G and TK, the overall low initiative will mean that GW is actually a bad choice. It WILL make a difference.

I'd also argue that mundane weapons potentially become a "waste of points", because while you can upgrade to a magic weapon later, those points are simply lost.

Furthermore, its easier to get 1+ if you go with a shield rather than a 2-handed weapon. Scarvet cowboy is 3+, LM is 2+, so you need that shield to get to 1+.

It's a matter of taste, though. Taking a scarvet on foot at firsts might be a better idea, because without his gear and upgrades, he'll be an easy kill. He's far more tough when in a unit. For 100 points, you could take a naked cowboy with a 3+ save and nothing else, or you could take a scarvet with Light armour and dragons helm for a 3+ save as well, and still have 4 points for, say, a great weapon, giving you +2S, 3+AS and a 2+ ward against flaming attacks. Plus the ability to get look out sir rolls, which is a massive + early on.

 

[Arli]

I was looking at a scar-vet for my next increase. I think it would be wise to go that route instead of a priest. I was probably going to put him into the saurus unit though. I will upgrade him to a cold one later.

So far, I have not had to deal with any magic from the O&G, but it is built into the TK army.