8th Ed. Dam you purple sun

[angry lizard]

Had a game against new armies book empire in the bag until a snotty 2nd level death wizard totalled powered the purple sun down along my lines. Took out 15 saurus 2 salamanders steg and 500 point slann. Apart from the obvious dispel scrolls etc is there any other ways to defend against this cursed spell. Which should be re-named Lizard Killer
thaks for any help,
Now even angrier lizard

 

[Scalenex]

Besides dispels you can nullify casters with Becalming Cognition, kill them the oother wizards first (such as by triggering Cupped Hands on them when the Slann is wielding a Banehead). I've used bubbled Speed of Light spells to dissuade casting of Purple Sun.

 

[Rhodium]

Had a game against new armies book empire in the bag until a snotty 2nd level death wizard totalled powered the purple sun down along my lines. Took out 15 saurus 2 salamanders steg and 500 point slann. Apart from the obvious dispel scrolls etc is there any other ways to defend against this cursed spell. Which should be re-named Lizard Killer
thaks for any help,
Now even angrier lizard

Well as you state, scroll or a cube (at any point as it is a RiP spell) is the best defence against it,

Secondly, if it does go off then you need to sacrafice one of your own magic phases to end it.

Thirdly, how did it destroy so much? Purple sun starts at the caster and move forwards in a straight line, thus you must have had a steg. 2 sallies a solo slann (otherwise he gets a look out sir if he was in a unit) and a block of saurus!
This means either you lined up all these units in a line from a death caster who has purple or sun
Or
You let a death caster with purple sun down your flank
Or
You let purple sun exist for more than one phase

All three of these options are poor tactical decisions, purple is nasty but it shouldn't be removing that amount of models from play in one go, the best tactic is try to avoid getting your units in line from the death caster and to end it ASAP, also if you aren't too scared of losing the slann, (LoS and such) get him in 24 and becalm him to ensure no IF castings

 

[Stonecutter]

It is a nasty spell against lizzies due to the low initiative but here are a few methods I have found useful:

1) kill the wizard - often easier said then done but if you can suicide something in it is frequently worth doing so.

2) cogitation - stealing 6s really limits the likelihood of the spell going off so if a wizard with the spell is sitting on the flank of your army they should be becalmed even if they are only a 2nd level.

3) protect your flanks - careful spacing can make it difficult or nearly impossible for a wizard to get in an ideal spot to purple sun your army. This may entail moving out of the leadership bubble but it is often worth it since a vortex from the front will usually only be able to hit one unit.

4) change formation - going with a frontage of 10 and 2 ranks deep can cut the number of casualties in half if the vortex is coming in from the front.

5) save your dispel dice and scrolls - if there is a real threat of purple sun ruining the army then eat the other spells and save any magic defence to stop the sun.

6) Lore of light - the one buff can make all your units within 12" I10, which dramatically reduces the effectiveness of purple sun.

7) look out, sir - a slaan in a unit gets a look out, sir roll against purple sun since it is a template attack. Unless you roll a 1, the slaan will live even if the entire unit fails.

Hope this helps.