8th Ed. Let's do a little exercise: make the cheapst $ LM army

[Pinktaco]

So blatantly stolen from warseer. There's a thread over there where people "compete" about putting out the cheapest legal army at 1000pts. Inspired by that I figured hey, why not do the same here? just our own version.
I'm doing this in hope that newcomers can benefit from it. It'll be nice for new players to know how cheap various points levels of the army can be and can thus prepare accordingly.

Right, so here are the rules:

1) The army can be made with the new 50% characters in mind.

2) The army must be legal (50% core etc).

3) No conversions and no stand-ins, however, it is ok to use a Saurus Oldblood as Scar Vet, due to lack of character models.

4) While the army isn't supposed to be competitive in tournament setting it'll be nice if your suggestion is at the very least playable - for instance don't suggest no mages at 2500pts, unless of course you're deadly serious haha. But do remember that not everybody is entertained by skink clouds.

5) For the sake of simplicity put currency in US dollars.

6) Do try and hit the mark as close as possible.

We need lists for the following:

500pts

1000pts (Pinktaco)

2 x boxes of Saurus Warriors $70
- 16 saurus, full command 206pts
- 16 saurus, full command 140pts

2 x Oldblood on foot 2 x $14,75
- 2 x 216,5pts including mundane/magic items of your preference.

Skink Priest $11,50
- 155pts including lvl 2, Dispel Scroll and Ruby Ring of Fire.

Price: $111

1500pts

2000pts

2500pts

3000pts

I've put up the first one, let's see what you got!
Please feel free to come up with something better/alternative for 1000pts. I'ts okay if we can have various suggestions for the same point level.

 

[Rettile]

sorry pink, but you forgot a rule: 3 units minimum

The cheapest 1000p list i was able to build is the following:

2 oldbloods on foot kitted like no tomorrow
1 skinks box, enough for 2 skirmisher units
2 saurus boxes

Total: 134,50 $


Otherwise, paying 139 $ you can have a fast list like this:

Mounted scar vet
Mounted scar vet with skavenpelt (hopefully conversion is allowed here since we don't have a mounted bsb model)
2 skink boxes
1 cavalry box

I know they're both no magic lists but i think it's ok at this point level, even if i recognize i don't know if with khaine rules magic became dangerous even at 1000 points. One of the scar vets in the second list can be swapped with a priest, tho, taking the list down to 133,5 $ but it would be a 984 points list

I built a 136,50 $ (or 136,75 $, don't remember) list that was more balanced, but i forgot it totally


Remember that even if we can use 500 points for heroes and lords we'll need 500 points made by units, so we're forced to buy 3 boxes not counting heroes and lords. Too bad that COC aren't core, 2 boxes would have been enough! This means that we're probably paying minimum 105$ for 3 boxes, unless you buy jungle swarms, but they're weak and you need more of them, so that's not a good deal IMO

 

[Pinktaco]

Oh.. Wow.. I actually didn't know that rule haha. It's okay. One can make an MSU army and break up the saurus unto 3 units. Price will still be the same. I'll add your suggestions later.

 

[Pinktaco]

Wait, I just quickly looked up the boxes. Maybe I'm wrong you you can keep it super close by having 1 unit of 16 saurus, full command and two unit of 12 skinks. Same priest and 1 OB on foodfoot and one on a CO. It came out at 999/1000pts, looks beastly and should be legal...?! It's within the limit of 50% characters and have 3 units. At least battlescribe don't complain

I'm not sure how it would fare against a heavy amount of rat slaves and a cannon, but it should be able to take on most.

 

[Rettile]

your units with all the possible upgrades should be around 400 points if i'm right, so if the total is 1000 you have too many points on heroes and lords sadly. On the other hand if your lords and heroes are below 50% it can't be 1000 points

 

[SilverFaith]

your units with all the possible upgrades should be around 400 points if i'm right, so if the total is 1000 you have too many points on heroes and lords sadly.

I don't understand the problem here. You can have 75% lords and heroes if you really want to.

Whether or not it's effective is another matter. 2 Oldbloods would probably be a tad cheesy, if nothing else, at this point level, similar to how dual daemon princes are cheesy at 2k games. Still sacrifices a lot of models at this point level.

 

[borkbork]

Sorry, but i find this a little silly.

Perhaps that is because my 3000 point army costed me 80 euros

 

[Pinktaco]

your units with all the possible upgrades should be around 400 points if i'm right, so if the total is 1000 you have too many points on heroes and lords sadly. On the other hand if your lords and heroes are below 50% it can't be 1000 points

50% lords/heroes makes this a none-issue

 

[Rettile]

oh hell. I misunderstood this thing for the whole time! Do you mean that you can field up to 50% lords AND 50% heroes? My god. Just ignore all my previous posts

 

[Pinktaco]

Yes those are the new official rules =] no worries.

 

[Gringold]

This is the cheapest I can come up with for a 2000 point army: $292.50

Saurus Oldblood: $14.75
Scar Veteran with Battle Standard: $22.25
2 Skink Regiments: $70
2 Saurus Warrior Regiments: $70
2 Stegadon kits (which include a Skink Priest and a Skink Chief in each): $115.50

----------

1,999 points

Lords 246 points
Saurus Oldblood, Shield, Warrior Bane, Armour of Fortune, Dawnstone, Crown of Command

Heroes 607 points
Scar Veteran, BSB, Shield, Armour of Destiny
Skink Chief, Lustrian Javelin, Light Armour, Biting Blade, Enchanted Shield, Luckstone, The Egg of Quango
Skink Chief, Lustrian Javelin, Light Armour, Sword of Might, Charmed Shield, Ruby Ring of Ruin
Skink Priest, Level 2, Cube of Darkness, Lore of Beasts
Skink Priest, Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Ironcurse Icon (or other random 5 pt item), Lore of Heavens

Core 646 points
28 Saurus Warriors, full command
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers

Special 0 points

Rare 500 points
Ancient Stegadon, Sharpened Horns
Ancient Stegadon, Sharpened Horns

----------

Both Saurus characters go with the Saurus Warrior block.

One Skink character goes with each Skirmisher unit.

A little too much Core, but otherwise doesn't look bad for being a budget army.

 

[Pinktaco]

Your suggestion with the stegadons is actually quite nice. Not only do they come with "free" characters, but they're quite scalable in when dealing with more points. You could put on an engine and still keep the upgrades to reach 300pts for the steg alone. The characters can easily net you 200pts and can go around 250-260 depending on equipment.

HOWEVER I think it's fair to say that you don't strictly HAVE to pay the GW BSB.yes I know i'm breaking the rules here, but honestly we would never be able to get a skink chief bsb or mounted saurus bsb then.
On top of that you can easily remove one box of skinks. We can reach 2000pts with 2 boxes of saurus warriors and 1 box of skinks. On the list I came up with the OB is on a CO though, but that's still cheaper then the BSB. I'll have to look more into it tomorrow.

 

[morbal]

Only a thought but a batalion box isn't that expensive. you can use 5 col ones and make 1 or 2 cowboys? or is that against the rules?
take a stegadon and you have a decent list i think? or do i miss something about the batallion box?

 

[Gringold]

I think in order to make really effective use of the Battalion box, you have to buy two of them and run all the models. A Slann and two Battalion boxes clocks in a $269.50 and still needs some additional models to round out to a 2000 point army.

I had assumed that converting regular Cold One Cavalry into Oldblood and Scar Vet Cowboys was against the rules of this competition (since an Oldblood on Cold One model exists separately). If that's not the case, then the Battalion box is a tremendous value. If it is the case, then you are locked into running 40 Saurus, 2 x 12 Skinks, 20 Temple Guard, and 2 x 8 Cold Ones in order to maximize the value of the box. Its close to competitive, but when I try to add filler for the remaining 150 or so points, it ends up being slightly more expensive than my previous 2,000 point army attempt.

 

[Gringold]

Your suggestion with the stegadons is actually quite nice. Not only do they come with "free" characters, but they're quite scalable in when dealing with more points. You could put on an engine and still keep the upgrades to reach 300pts for the steg alone. The characters can easily net you 200pts and can go around 250-260 depending on equipment.

HOWEVER I think it's fair to say that you don't strictly HAVE to pay the GW BSB.yes I know i'm breaking the rules here, but honestly we would never be able to get a skink chief bsb or mounted saurus bsb then.
On top of that you can easily remove one box of skinks. We can reach 2000pts with 2 boxes of saurus warriors and 1 box of skinks. On the list I came up with the OB is on a CO though, but that's still cheaper then the BSB. I'll have to look more into it tomorrow.

I took your advice and removed one Skink Regiment from the 2,000 point list. Added a Scar Veteran on Cold One instead and it shaved $18 off. The revised list is below (obviously the magic items can be swapped around if they aren't currently optimal):

Total cost: $274.50

Saurus Oldblood: $14.75
Scar Veteran with Battle Standard: $22.25
Saurus Oldblood on Cold One: $17
1 Skink Regiment: $35
2 Saurus Warrior Regiments: $70
2 Stegadon kits (which include a Skink Priest and a Skink Chief in each): $115.50

----------

1,998 points

Lords 246 points
Saurus Oldblood, Shield, Sword of Anti-Heroes, Armour of Fortune, Crown of Command

Heroes 752 points
Scar Veteran, Cold One, Great Weapon, Light Armour, Dragonhelm, Dawnstone, Ironcurse Icon
Scar Veteran, BSB, Shield, Armour of Destiny
Skink Chief, Lustrian Javelin, Light Armour, Biting Blade, Enchanted Shield, Luckstone, The Egg of Quango
Skink Chief, Lustrian Javelin, Light Armour, Sword of Might, Charmed Shield, Ruby Ring of Ruin
Skink Priest, Level 2, Cube of Darkness, Lore of Beasts
Skink Priest, Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Lore of Heavens

Core 500 points
30 Saurus Warriors, full command
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers

Special 0 points

Rare 500 points
Ancient Stegadon, Sharpened Horns
Ancient Stegadon, Sharpened Horns