Ok, returning to LRR topic - I finally got to testing them and... they are far from broken. I mean, I feel I was even overestimating them.
We played battle for the pass with new aqshy rules against OBR.
I had teclis, LoE, Cathallar, 3 x 10 wardens, 20 and 10 sentinels, Icon of Petrifection (or how was that called?) and Auralan battalion, Zaitrek. My opponent brought Katakros, 40 and 2x20 mortek guard, boneshaper, two harvesters.
I've lost by turn 3 15-3.
First imperssions:
1) Teclis is overestimated greatly. He is always out of range for like half of his spells despite potential 24 inch movement. He was super bad in close combat, because 2 attacks on 4+/2+ and 6 attacks on 3+/3 are super random. Well, I admitt I've rolled a lot of 1's on all of his 2+ rolls. But still, he is very underwhelming in combat. I know, it is petrifex and such, but if it wasn't for this fact, I'd call him pure garbage. I know, that he is at least okayish against non-tanky factions. It is also hard to chose, which spells you need most. Like, they are all good, but you don't have enough good targets for them. And attack spells are fairly short-ragned. He is really good at shutting down spells, but my opponent had only boneshaper, so that part of him wasn't particulary useful. So this leads to conclusion: Teclis will be very good against certain armies and not so much against other armies;
2) Light of Eltharion is garbage. Total waste of points. You don't need his CA, if you play carefully and don't receive too much battleshocks. I'd probably take another Cathallar. He is supposed to be tanky, but he was just mawed down by mortek. He also failed to deal any good damage, which is OK, because it is petrifex. But, I am sure, 3 salamander could be now worse. Just compare - 220 pts for 6 attacks with exploding sixes, 2 at -1 and 4 at -3, all d3 vs 240pts for 12 ranged attacks at -2 d3 + 9 close combat attacks at -2 d3, and each 6 is straight d3 mortal wounds. He was finished by Katakros and halving damage didn't help at all.
3) Cathallar was great. Ignore battleshock is very helpful. If it wasn't for bravery 10 across the board, she would debuff enemies even further. She is also a good support caster, because teclis cannot do everything in one turn;
4) Wardens are okayish, because of MW, but otherwise is very-very poor. We've read the shining company rules, and looks like once you break it, you cannot reassemble. So your -1 to-hit is gone till the end of the battle. But without running and charing they are ultra-slow. You only have single speed of Hysh to compensate for that. They still die very quickly even under Protection of Teclis, unless you use Aetherquartz. And you can activate it only once per phase. And that's what I was talking about - they are okayish, because they have lots of drawbacks on top of their strengths. And they are as significant, as I assumed.
5) Sentinels. Sentinels are what made the list work. 5+ MW on 30" is great. The problem is that it is only 10 MW from 30 bodies on average and... it is your army's damage. Seriously. Maybe some more MW from teclis and wardens and some damage from Eltharion and that's it. I only could kill something because of full rerolls against units, so I had more MW. But you are going to kill literally one unit per turn. That doesn't bring you anywhere.
6) Aetherquartz is helpful, but you have only one chance to use it, unless you are going with Syar. And even then it is just once per phase. So you need think twice when is the best moment to spend it;
7) Lightning-Fast reactions are okay, but most of damage comes from shooting and magic. They are nice, but not ultimate, especially against Petrifex.
8) Zaitrec is interesting, because you have lots of copies of spells, so almost every unit is able to cast something important. The thing is you need powe of hysh on, or you are doing no damage. It is hadny, when you need to throw Sparkling light on a target nearby, while other dedicated casters are far away. And +1 to casts very helpful. But still I have a feeling, I would be good with only one spell per Vanari unit. So, maybe I'll try Syar next time.
9) Even under Protection of teclis they die like flies to any rend or even without it. They are squshy indeed.
10) They have problems with controlling the table. Want to be fast? Forget about Shining Company? Want to have 5+ bubble from teclis? Forget about spreading. Want to move teclis outside of the center of your force? Forget 5+ ward. And you'll get a feeling that teclis only can cast 3 spells, because Protection of Teclis is an auto-choice.
11) They don't have much weight of attacks. Maybe, cavalry can solve this problem, but you have to find points for it first. I don't see how they can deal with Horrors, for example. They are good at sniping heroes and such, but they are all but exceptional, when you have to remove lots of wounds.
Conclusions: I even not sure if they are a top tier army at all. But I am sure, that they are not easy to play. By the end of the game I was losing on points heavily, but I was able to remove most of my opp's army. This reminds me of my games with old seraphon against OBR. Exactly the same situation. And with modern seraphon I could deal with such a list with zero problems. I could strike where he is weakest, because he cannot be everywhere and salamanders are good enough to cut through 20 OBR under harvester.
I think, I'd just drop teclis and eltharion and take more wardens/sentinels and cavarly, while cathallar would be my heroes for magic support and battleshock control. I wouldn't bother with shining company - just rush and deal as much damage as you can. I don't see how an army with such poor protection can withstand modern Tzeentch, OBR and Seraphon.
