AoS Optimizing Koatl's Claw for 2k

[PabloTho]

Hey everyone. I'm working on a 2k Koatl's Claw list that I want to bring to a tournament. My local meta is quite spicy so I'm not necessarily gunning for a 1st place finish (otherwise I'd bring FoS), but I want to get as much out of my Saurus as I can using the models I have.

Here's my first draft:

Leaders:

Scar Vet on Carno (210)
General
Command trait: Mighty War Leader
Artifact: Eviscerating Blade

Oldblood on Carno (230)
Artifact: Dimensional Blade

Skink Starpriest (120)
Artifact: Stegadon Helm
Spell: Hand of Glory

Lord Kroak (320)
Spell: Stellar Tempest

Battleline:

5 Saurus Guard (100)

10 Saurus Knights (200)

5 Saurus Knights (100)

5 Saurus Knights (100)

10 Saurus Warriors (90)

10 Saurus Warriors (90)

10 Saurus Warriors (90)

Battalions:

Firelance Temple-Host (160)

Sunclaw Temple-Host (140)

Endless Spells:

Bound Balewind Vortex (50)

This all amounts to 2000 points exactly.

I guess the list is built around 4 key threats. The two Carnos speak for themselves. The Oldblood in particular will slap whatever he touches with -2 rend on his spear and Jaws. The Scar Vet is less reliable but might spike high with his warspear to vomit mortal wounds on something.

The block of 10 Knights is a bit of a blender, but ultimately relies on the Starpriest for mortal wounds on 6s to wound and the command abilities of the two Carnos to start doing major work.

This is Kroak's main purpose - while he's a background threat in his own right, sitting on the vortex and casting Comets + Deliverance whenever it's possible, he's also a CP battery who will hopefully enable my Carnos to deal out their commands as often as possible.

I haven't played with the list yet, but have played with a variation that swapped Kroak and the BWV for a Starseer and two Sallies. The Starseer is awesome for turn 1 charges and his spell is great too, but I thought I might get more utility out of Kroak.

That said, Kroak isn't quite at peak capacity without an Astrolith, so maybe I'm wrong?

The Warriors are mostly a screening / backline objective control unit, and fill out the Sunclaw battalion which is mainly just to enable more rend on the Oldblood. Again - maybe an egregious expense just to make the Oldblood a bit more killy, but the list is otherwise lacking rend so I thought it could be useful.

With all this in mind, what changes do you'll think I should make? Most suggestions I've gotten so far are to drop the Sunclaw and fill out the Firelance with more Knights, but I don't have any more models to use.

I do, however, have a lot of pretty much everything else in the Seraphon roster, so I can probably make any other tweaks you might think of.

Thanks!

 

[Nart]

I have no idea, to be honest, how does dual battalion lists work, but I saw one getting into top 3 once.

I am not a fan of guard for coalesced kroak. He should be fine on his own. But you can bring geminids and have some left over points. There's no point in taking bound vortex, unless you are casting Drain Magic. And I cannot imagine a situation, where you would need Drain Magic. Even 10 points left can take you to a triumph, which is huge for saurus knights.

I don't know which models you have, but a starseer is always a good addition to Koatl's Claw army. I would take Cloak of Feathers on the starpriest. Defence effect more or less the same, but extra movement and fly can be handy. Gambling with Incandescent Rectrices can be viable too. Yes, it is 4+, but against armies like Lumineth it can be the only way for a skink to survive a bit more.

 

[PabloTho]

Thanks @Nart - I've played a couple of practice games now and think I agree with you on Coalesced Guard. If I drop those, and switch the Bound vortex for a regular one, then I've got 110 points to play around with.

I could make one of the Warriors units a block of 20, which would keep my wound count up and make that unit a more considerable threat. Otherwise I like the idea of bringing Geminids. Good tips! If I can, I'll play a game with both variations and see which works better.

 

[Nart]

If you have 110 points leftover and a spare 10 saurus block, maybe you should drop a battalion and take single 40 saurus block. You will receive a discount for a large unit too. You can take a starseer or another starpriest instea of battalion and get a bonus CP for leftover points.

 

[Tav]

i find a list like this would work better with a starseer and cogs so that you can effectively launch the knights out. the sun claw isn't really helping outside of drops. better off just having 10s of skinks to act as screens to protect the knights as they are just as fast and won't slow the frontline down