8th Ed. Defending my Base in a Map Campaign, What should I use?

[Scalenex]

So here’s the situation, I’m playing a map campaign. My home base has a 3000 point stationary army and my roving armies are variable (starting at 1000 points, going up every four campaign turns when I cash in my renown points during the reinforcement phase and going down when I take casualties). My offensive army can change in composition easily. I’m pretty much stuck with what my defenders are, so I need to put a lot of thought into this.

If I’m attacked, Blood in the Badlands Siege (slightly modified) will be used

-I get 3000 point of Defender Siege Equipment, Attackers get points of Attacking Siege Equipment equal to the value of the army or armies attacking me. My defending equipment will probably be flaming ammunition for every unit I have that shoots and a Hell Gate for sure. The rest of my points I’m less sure on. Probably either Sally Forths or tower upgrades. If I take Skink Priest Wizard Towers are probably an economical idea, if I’m going all Slann they are overpriced. Fortunately I don’t have to choose Siege Equipment until after an assault commences.

-Every turn I’m besieged, the enemies can’t attack me but I have to roll a d6 for every model I have taking a wound on 5 or 6. The longer I’m besieged the weaker my defenders come but the more time I have to bring in reinforcements (either by recalling my roving forces or building new units in my base during the reinforcement phase)

-the only relief forces are my roving armies. Chances are pretty good if my base is attacked my roving forces will either be far away or killed first. My main concern will be to stall for time, not wipe out the attackers quickly. Attrition is my friend on the defender side.

-Note the GM instituted a house rule that Ward Saves and Regeneration Saves can be used concurrently so Regeneration is NOT worthless for Slann.

-Past experience with Siege told me that quantity of bodies is more important than quality but I need at least one unit capable of retaking a lost section (ideally with Flaming Attacks). Chameleon Skinks and Terradons are great if the opposing force has nasty war machines, kind of wasteful otherwise.
-My opponents are Empire, Vampire Counts, Wood Elves, Warriors of Chaos, Chaos Dwarfs, Empire, Lizardmen, Skaven, Dwarves, Chaos Dwarfs, and Tomb Kings. The GM is thinking of assigning arch enemies (I’d prefer not to be locked in a dual when I have eleven potential components). If I do get an arch enemy it will probably be a Force of Destruction army.

-I have to defend a gate, four towers, and two wall sections, so I need at least 7 block infantry troops. Life is good for staying power, Fire is good for building assaults (at some point I will have to liberate at least one section or attack an enemy siege tower). I plan to use Temple Guard to secure the gate and retake anything I lose. I plan to fill every remaining space with Skink Cohorts.

So this is the baseline:

High Add-On Defenders
Fire Slann, Lore Mastery, extra Power dice, Cupped Hands
Life Slann, Lore Mastery, extra Power dice, Forbidden Rod
21 Skinks, 2 Kroxigor, Musician and Champion
20 Skinks, 2 Kroxigors, Musician and Champion
20 Skinks, 2 Kroxigors, Musician and Champion
20 Skinks, 2 Kroxigors, Musician and Champion
20 Skinks, 2 Kroxigors, Musician and Champion
28 Temple Guard, FC, Flaming Banner
28 Temple Guard, Musician, Champion
5 Chameleon Skinks
5 Chameleon Skinks
5 Chameleon Skinks

Here are the critical questions:


One Slann or two?
If I take one Slann, should I go with Fire or Life?
If I take one Slann, should I load up on disciplines (Lore Mastery, Power Dice, Regeneration, Becalming) or go light on Disciplines to save the points for other troops?
If I take one Slann, should I use the extra points saved for a Skink scroll caddy, an Oldblood, or extra mundane troops.

If I take two Slann should I go with one Temple Guard unit or two? Should I skip Lore Mastery?

I am almost certain that I should give a Fire Slann Cupped Hands and a Life Slann the Forbidden Rod regardless of whether they are fielded alone or together.


Skinks
How many Kroxigor should I include? One per Cohort? Two per Cohort? Zero per Cohort? Should I mix it up and put extra Kroxigor in some and less in others swapping units as needed?

Pros: Kroxigor cause Fear and have Stomp. They are less vulnerable to Starvation since they can only take one wound. They pair very nicely with Lifebloom.
Cons: I can buy 11 Skinks for one Kroxigor, in battle each Kroxigor displaces five Skinks.

Are Chameleon Skinks and Terradons worth it, or should I spend the points on more bodies to man the walls?

Should I take one or more Scar Veterans to add CR to my blocks?

 

[Arli]

I would put at 2 kroxigors in each unit of cohorts. These units could be used as fast moving units for flanking and taking back lost sections.

Add a few more scarvets for that combat rez, you will need them.

I would take at least 2 units of chameleons (2x6 at least) and maybe 2 units of terradons (because they have great range).

hope this helps.

 

[Qupakoco]

I really need to get a copy of this campaign. Sounds like fun but I'm not sure how to give advice since I don't really know all of what you are talking about.

Every turn I’m besieged, the enemies can’t attack me but I have to roll a d6 for every model I have taking a wound on 5 or 6. The longer I’m besieged the weaker my defenders come but the more time I have to bring in reinforcements (either by recalling my roving forces or building new units in my base during the reinforcement phase)

So your army gets smaller and smaller as the game wears on? That seems like a bum deal. Having a Life Slann will help mitigate that to an extent, I suppose. But when you are losing 1/3 of your army every turn I don't know if it'll help much.

Note the GM instituted a house rule that Ward Saves and Regeneration Saves can be used concurrently so Regeneration is NOT worthless for Slann.

How common are flaming attacks? Since you're defending a building, more or less, does the the attacker still benefit from flaming attacks on a structure? If so, Regeneration on your Slann might go away pretty fast.

Past experience with Siege told me that quantity of bodies is more important than quality but I need at least one unit capable of retaking a lost section (ideally with Flaming Attacks). Chameleon Skinks and Terradons are great if the opposing force has nasty war machines, kind of wasteful otherwise.

Yah, losing a Skink is better than a Saurus. But losing a Saurus is better than losing a Temple Guard. Perhaps you should use your own wisdom to swap out one of those TG units for regular Saurus. Perhaps a Scar-Vet give you some punch. Are Terradons and Chameleons subject to starvation as well? Does starvation cause panic? So many questions...

Here are the critical questions:


One Slann or two?
If I take one Slann, should I go with Fire or Life? Life is generally better than Fire for our army.
If I take one Slann, should I load up on disciplines (Lore Mastery, Power Dice, Regeneration, Becalming) or go light on Disciplines to save the points for other troops? Load up.
If I take one Slann, should I use the extra points saved for a Skink scroll caddy, an Oldblood, or extra mundane troops. I'd go with a Scroll Caddy or more troops. Quantity over quality, remember?

If I take two Slann should I go with one Temple Guard unit or two? Should I skip Lore Mastery? One TG unit to regain wall sections. Take Plaque of Tepok and Rumination/Higher State on the 2nd Slann to keep him on the cheap side.

I am almost certain that I should give a Fire Slann Cupped Hands and a Life Slann the Forbidden Rod regardless of whether they are fielded alone or together.


Skinks
How many Kroxigor should I include? One per Cohort? Two per Cohort? Zero per Cohort? Should I mix it up and put extra Kroxigor in some and less in others swapping units as needed? I guess this depends on what your experience is on which wall areas are assaulted the most. I generally think redundancy is good because it makes you more flexible. I vote 2 Krox per cohort.

Pros: Kroxigor cause Fear and have Stomp. They are less vulnerable to Starvation since they can only take one wound. They pair very nicely with Lifebloom. Krox still get stomp if they are defending a wall with Skinks? I've never had a Skrox unit in a building, so I'm just wondering.
Cons: I can buy 11 Skinks for one Kroxigor, in battle each Kroxigor displaces five Skinks. Skinks are terrible fighters though. And Krox have a bunch of wounds to keep them from dying from starvation.

Are Chameleon Skinks and Terradons worth it, or should I spend the points on more bodies to man the walls? Chameleons are worth it if they can deploy as scouts. Take out them war machines! Terradons are good, but 6 Chameleons are cheaper. Quantity!!

Should I take one or more Scar Veterans to add CR to my blocks? Scar-vets are always good. I guess it depends on how many points you have left over in Heroes. One certainly wouldn't hurt.

I hope that helps a little. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on the campaign rules.

 

[Scalenex]

I really need to get a copy of this campaign. Sounds like fun but I'm not sure how to give advice since I don't really know all of what you are talking about.

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=7ef2ba1d0772cee9&id=7EF2BA1D0772CEE9!228&authkey=!AJOMu9jjc7JZu7Y

So your army gets smaller and smaller as the game wears on? That seems like a bum deal. Having a Life Slann will help mitigate that to an extent, I suppose. But when you are losing 1/3 of your army every turn I don't know if it'll help much.

Every four turns we get reinforcements and they start from our base(s) so I only need to hold out long enough last until then. Only a very lucky or skilled player will be able to assault my base right after the reinforcement phase without me putting them at my main base.

How common are flaming attacks? Since you're defending a building, more or less, does the the attacker still benefit from flaming attacks on a structure? If so, Regeneration on your Slann might go away pretty fast.


Good point.

Yah, losing a Skink is better than a Saurus. But losing a Saurus is better than losing a Temple Guard. Perhaps you should use your own wisdom to swap out one of those TG units for regular Saurus. Perhaps a Scar-Vet give you some punch. Are Terradons and Chameleons subject to starvation as well? Does starvation cause panic? So many questions...
[/color]

Temple Guard can take Flaming banners. They also hit harder which is good for liberating lost building sections.
Even Scouts and Vanguard are subject to starvation. Multiwound models suffer less than regular models. Starvation rolls happen in the Pre-Battle Phase and Panic tests can only happen during the actual battle. That’s Blood in the Badlands rules, not specific to the campaing.
Scar-vets are always good. I guess it depends on how many points you have left over in Heroes. One certainly wouldn't hurt.

We’ll crunch the numbers. The base rules are posted above. I’m going to post a campaign blog in either the general or RPG section once I have a written piece ready. I also am having an internal debate whether I want to split my roving force into many tiny pieces to grab all the empty tiles or keep my roving force together and lay the smack down on one of my neighbors.