8th Ed. Tactics advice for Newb vs TK

[ahbrown42]

I've gotten some great army building advice from the community and now have a battle tactics question.

I'm playing a 1000 pt friendly against TK (this will be my first LM game and 2nd game ever). The main block of my army is a 5x5 Saurus unit anchored with my Scar Vet general in Troop Killer build.

The rest is 2 x 6 units of Chamo skinks. 2 x 10 skink skirmisher units. 2 salamanders and a Lv 2 Priest.

So the Chamo skinks are for character hunting (I expect either two Tomb Scorpions or a TS and a skull thrower).

Should I use the skinks to redirect and try and flank charge with the saurus? Invite a charge on the saurus and then flank charge with the skinks?

I'm worried I have an anvil with no hammer so maybe one of the units needs to changed?

 

[eppe]

I noticed that at 1k, you lack a CC hammer. You need to ensure the Salamanders work to their fullest prior to entering CC because once that happens all your shooting is shut down.

If he doesn't have any lone heroes use your chameleons to shot at his flank or rear. You should be able to widdle down some units prior to entering CC. Use your salamanders, remember once CC happens they are essentially shut down.

 

[Arli]

You should target his heirophant. Once that model is dead, the entire army crumbles.

 

[Stonecutter]

The new TK can come in a number of different flavours. Having played about a dozen games against them, the biggest threat is the casket of souls (it was in every list I played against). It is relatively cheap, adds d3 PD to the magic phase and cannot miscast. If its spell goes off, it can bounce across your entire army with a bit of luck (bounces on 3+) and cause significant damage, especially to smaller units. Consequently, if he has one or more of those, dedicate the chameleons to going after them or kill any other war machine. While targeting the hierophant is nice, I doubt very much if your opponent is going to be kind enough to leave him out on his own to get shot to pieces. Another problem you may run into are the monsters. They are T8 and thus are really difficult to wound in close combat. They would be next on the priority list for shooting since they only have a 5+ save and with the volume of fire, you should be able to take one down in a single round. Other than that, enjoy the battle as the TK have some neat new troop choices to experience.

 

[Lord Tsunami]

saurus warriors can murder any infantry he brings. low T and low S makes skeletons ideal targets. He cant really bring a deathstar of TG in a 1k point game (or does he?)

sphinxes are very weak to skinks. bring several units of 10 and use them to harass and redirect the sphinx. remember that you can always stand and shoot with javelins. VERY useful here.

casket is indeed nasty at low points level, but you can just dispel it.... also, it is very weak to skinks as well. if all else fails, remember that cold blooded actually helps against the casket (FAQed)

Chariots are a bit weird. if he has a big(ish) unit and charges your saurus block, you could be in trouble, since you will likely have fairly small units at 1000 points. use skinks to redirect them if you can and try and get the charge on them. if you can survive the first turn fairly unhurt (assuming he gets the charge) you will murder them in a few rounds.

a stegadon could probably do well against anything he brings except a sphinx. skeletons and chariots alike will have a hard time hurting him, and he can stomp away till nothing remains of the enemy.

i always try and remind ppl that the game is poorly balanced at 1000p. for example, you cant include a slann or an ancient stegadon. the slann is what makes LM really pop in the magic phase, but at 1000p he has to stay at home, while your opponent could bring both a lvl 4 mage and 2 sphinxes (not that he should, but he COULD). 1000p is a great stepping stone to get to know the game, but especially now with the % based restrictions, it can make for very unbalanced battles. if you have too much troubble, remember to look forward to the more standard 2400-ish point size battles.