8th Ed. escalation list 500pt steps stopping at 2400pts

[xhotlbeast]

Hey everyone so the group and I are starting a new escalation campaign beginning with 500pts and only stepping up when you have painted the next section. I was suggested to make the full list then break it down into the 500pt chunks.
The full list atm is looking pretty good using the 50% characters although I'm not sure whether to get the chief and rippers or CoC to go with the cowboys.

Slann High magic Loremaster 435
harmonic con., becalming cog., focus of myst., channeling staff, obsidian amulet.

Scar vet 1
cold one, AoD, BSB, GW

Scar vet 2
cold one, Steg helm, ironcurse icon, Light Armour, GW


Skink Chief
ripper, biting blade,enchanted shield, egg of Quango, luck stone, light armour.

30 saurus
FC, hand weap & shields

4 units of 10 skink skirmishers
Javs & shields

Bastiladon
Solar engine

4 ripperdactyls

3 ripperdactyls

26 TG
FC, banner of eternal flame, warrior bane

leaves me with 20pts to throw around, the option for CoC would be to drop the 3 man rippers and drop the egg of the chief and run 5 CoC with spears which would put me right on 2400.

What are your thoughts should I run the with the extra rippers or CoC? and how to break it down and what to run in the first 500pt chunk?

 

[Gringold]

Some quick thoughts from an inexperienced general:

- Most people run their Slann in TG bunker as both the General and the BSB. That would free up your Scar vet cowboy to do more reckless cowboy stuff.

- I would prefer to cap out at exactly 25% core. So if you trimmed that down to 600 or close to it, that would free up 40 points.

- The Ripper Egg Chief looks fun, but others have reported in their battle reports that he is unreliable at best. If I was looking to add more stuff, he would be under consideration for cutting.

- I prefer Rippers and Terradons in units of 3, so I would trim down to two units of 3 Rippers, freeing up some more points.

So with your 20 initial free points, + 40 from core, + points from Ripper, + points from Ripper Egg Chief, that gives you roughly 232 to play with. You could do a 6 Cold One bus with partial command and spears for your cowboys, or you could add some other neat stuff like Terradon Riders or a second Bastiladon + a Salamander Hunting Pack, etc.

 

[xhotlbeast]

thanks for the ideas, I agree with moving the bsb to the slann. I was thinking of running a bsb scar vet on carnosaur to get the 18" Ld bubble for the rippers and skinks, but I would end up only having 2 characters both costing too much to use in the first 500pt chunk, so I settled for the cowboys but I have no idea how to use them.

The idea of having two bastiladons is awesome, having two 6" bubbles of +1 initiative plus terror would be great however wouldn't that start to spread the amount of power dice a bit thin between the slann and the 2 solar monsters?

A salamander would be a good idea, great if I came up against elves
If I didn't get the Cold one bus how should I use the cowboys?

how is this for the total list? if its good what parts should I use in the first 500pt escalation list?

characters

Slann High magic Loremaster
bsb, harmonic con., becalming cog., focus of myst., channeling staff, obsidian amulet.

Scar vet 1
cold one, AoD, GW

Scar vet 2
cold one, Steg helm, Light Armour, GW

core

26 saurus
FC, HWS & shields

3 x 10 skink skirmishers
Javs & shields

11 skink skirmishers
javs and shields

special

2 Bastiladons
Solar engine

2 x 3 ripperdactyls

26 TG
FC, banner of eternal flame, warrior bane

rare

1 salamander
extra handler

 

[Madrck]

Unless I've missed a rules change, please don't post individual points. It brings the wrath of GW legal down on poor ol' red devil.

Cowboys do work no matter how you want to field them. In units, as support, aggressive hunters, flank support, flank denial. You name it they have a chance at success. Cannons suck but when don't they.
I love my basti, but I've been running a loremaster slann for a few months now and basti has been cut because I always want my dice for all those juicy spells. One is still very viable (the +initiative) can change the way a fight will go. But at str 4 unless you had a mageless army you are prob never going to want a second.
I would use the points for a second sally to have a unit of two. Walk between worlds on a unit of 2 sallies is such a fun rewarding maneuver for a loremaster.
I'd use the last of your points to get a small unit (prob 5) of camo skinks. Won't always be your MVP but they will keep your opponent honest in deployment. 10 poison shots a round in their back line because that thought it wasn't scary enough would be a huge mistake on their behalf. Can use it to deny vanguards, protect your own deployment zone if they have ambushers/entomb beneath the sands. Or just as a front line screen when all else is covered. They add a depth of strategy to your army that easily makes them worth their meager points.
I've also become a fan of having 1 unit of blowpipes. still normally just a better monster hunter then javs, and if you get hand of glory off (I normally use my last dice to 1 dice it) it's d3 to BS. Rest of your list looks very solid.

At 500 points I'd take a scarvet, basti, rippers and a unit of skirmishers. Your fast with a strong spell to 6 dice. Scarvets are monsters on CO, they only really struggle with ranked up infantry so just make sure you get the flank charge with your rippers at the same time. Should be able to take down just about anything at that points lvl

 

[xhotlbeast]

Whoops my bad wasn't sure where the line was in the breakdown of pts forgive me I'll edit the post asap.

thats sounds like a good idea with a 2 man sally and camos, I haven't used any camo skinks yet but they sound like a fun unit to run, I like the start list too now I know what I will be painting this christmas

can the bastiladon still use its bound spell if its engaged in combat?

 

[xhotlbeast]

done got rid off the stuff up.
in the start list I forgot ask should I run javs and shields to let them live longer, then put the blowpipes unit in the next escalation when there is more chance of monsters and me having an infantry unit to be the backbone?

 

[Korhedron]

Hi. I see no Stegadon here? Our big beastie does wonders in small games. For 1000p I've had success with basti, unit of saurus, skirmishes, scarves and regular Stegadon. But if you don't plan on including one, that's fine
But remember one thing about your fliers and basti: terror makes things flee, fleeing through enemies forces difficult terrain tests. So if you put the fliers behind a unit: try to position fliers and basti so that a failed charge due to long range with the basti makes them take that test, and/or get run over by the fliers! After a filed charge, solar engine can still fire it's beam, so there really is little harm in trying

 

[xhotlbeast]

Thats a great idea. I found the basti was awesome in the last tournament i played in.
What you swap out for the steg in the list? I love using using big monsters I haven't used the steg in a list yet so I don't know how to use him, how would you build it to fit in with the list im using?

 

[Korhedron]

http://www.lustria-online.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15183
That was a thread about the 1000 point meta just before the end times. There's several interesting lists there. I'm rather a novice general myself, but a Stegadon likes to slam into things alongside infantry blocks. Skink likes to dart around the board, supporting and redirecting your infantry blocks, while fliers usually like to bring combat resolution to blocks engaged by your own blocks. I'd keep either a saurus block, or a tg block, and build your army around it. On the board you do the same thing, with each element seeking favourable matchups.
At 1000 points, one big block, one big beastie, 1-2 skink units, basti and a flier unit should do nicely. Add flavour to your taste