8th Ed. What to get to move to 2000 points

[ruevein]

Hey Lizards,

Playing some games with my VC friend and we realize that we both are ready to move from 1k points to 1500 or 2000. But this has brought me into the point of being unable to decide what I want to buy to get to 2000 points.

So far what I have is:

Oldblood/Scar-Vet on foot
Skink Priest on foot
Skink Chief on foot (have been proxying him as a second priest in some games)

11 Skink Skirmishers with Javelin
10 Skink Skirmishers with Blow Pipes
48 Saurus warriors with spears and 3 sets of full command

Bastilladon with Solar engine
3 Ripperdactyls (or a chief on ripperdactyl)

Salamander
Ancient Stegadon with Giant Blowpipes

I figure I need another box of skinks guaranteed, but I was hoping you guys could help me make a good all comers list with what I got (don't need to use all of it obviously if there are better options) and also give me some suggestions on things I should get as staple choices that I should almost always have in larger lists.

Thanks in advance.

 

[darthjoshua37]

Obviously most will tell you that a slann needs to be your "staple" in anything 2k or over. I kinda disagree. 2 priests at level 2 do the magic job for me well enough. I rely on 30 or 40 jav skinks at two k. I believe they are well worth it I'd think about tg or cor or more salamanders

 

[Zwuppie]

3 sets of fullcommand i could be misunderstanding, but it is only allowed to have one champion, one musician and one banner per unit!

 

[ruevein]

3 sets of fullcommand i could be misunderstanding, but it is only allowed to have one champion, one musician and one banner per unit!

Sorry, I mean to say I have 48 warriors in total including 3 champions, 3 standard bearers, and 3 musicians so I can break them into 3 squads if need be.

 

[MHK Pathfinder]

well against VS, a salamander or two will do wonders against blocks of zombies or skeletons if you can get them in position.

I'd pick another box or two of skinks and arm them with HW, shields, and javs. Pick up 2 kroxigor, and you can run two fast flanking units of 11 skinks + 1 krox.

Also, I'm a big advocate for lots of chameleon skinks. Their utility surpasses their cost IMO.

Cold One Riders are a good choice too. Some people don't like them, but a unit of 6 can do work, if given the right match-up.

 

[Zwuppie]

Sorry, I mean to say I have 48 warriors in total including 3 champions, 3 standard bearers, and 3 musicians so I can break them into 3 squads if need be.

Well i understand, you can use the champions as normal warriors if it is necessary! but when using saurus i would use 5x6 saurus warriors or 6x5, depending on the opponent

 

[Scalenex]

I disagree on the endorsement for Salamanders. Salamanders are a great unit in general but I think they lose out against Vampire Counts. They are good at burning undead Core, but that same Core can be replenished very quickly. Salamanders are also vulnerable against scream attacks and ethereals among other things

It's generally better to bypass VC Core entirely or to beat them in close combat. If you fight them in close combat you get to take out models with direct kills AND instability rather than just with direct kills.

As you go into higher points games, your VC friend will probably fall into the three pillars of competitive VC lists.

1) Things with scream attacks, 2) ethereal units, and 3) powerful magic phases

A bunker Slann will give you a multi-tiered approach letting you roast ethereals with magic and blast the nastier Rare and Special monsters while giving you a solid unit capable of wounding most VC heavy hitters consistently. Your non-Core choices should lean heavily on high strength attacks or they should help cover whatever base your Slann's lore choice doesn't cover.

If you don't have a Slann to dampen enemy magic phase, the Lore of Vampires lore attribute will be used on any and all wounded monsters and characters. Most of the nastiest VC stuff is T5 or 6. If they are healing one or two wounds every VC magic phase, you can't afford to nickel and dime them to death. You have to inflicts lots of wounds in a single turn. If you run without a Slann, I would recommend loading up on as many high strength attacks as possible. This means Kroxigor, Ancient Stegadons, and Saurus characters. Ideally you want TWO Carnosaurs.

Whatever you take, the more ways you can sneak in flaming attacks, the better off you are. There are a lot of nasty things with Regenerate. Even more important you want to give every character (and TG unit champions) a cheap magical item just in case they have to fight an ethereal unit.

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