Short post for the weekend. I'm going to try to keep the meatier posts for the weekdays when people are going to be bored at work.
Today is my birthday so earlier this week I placed my first order for some Trollbloods miniatures. I don't really know much about the game or any strategy involved so I went with what I thought looked cool.
I ordered the following:
Starter Box: Madrak, 2 Axers, 1 Impaler
Dire Troll Bomber (this dude just looks awesome)
Trollkin Champions (this guys also look really cool)
My first caster is going to be Madrak since he is in the starter box so I got the Champions since it looks like they would play well with him. The Bomber is also a dire troll so he's going to be nasty in close combat too.
In September I'm planning to pick up Gunnbjorn so I wanted to grab something that was ranged to go along with him.
I think I'm going to try to make it a goal to pick up a new Trollbloods unit once a month and build up slowly over time. That way I can continue to collect Hordes stuff while continuing to enhance my Games Workshop armies.
I'll be borrowing Steve's starter box to get some games in until my order arrives and then I'll document my progress assembling everything. In the meantime, does anyone have some cool paint scheme suggestions for Trollbloods? I was considering going for something out of the ordinary instead of the default blue. Possibly a dark red or purple color scheme.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Lizardmen in 8th edition: Core
Lizardmen have some really good options in their core selections. Unlike some other armies, you're not likely to ever have a problem not reaching your 25% core requirement.
Saurus Warriors:
I love these guys. They took a decently sized hit in fighting power with the shift to 8th though. Their low initiative almost guarantees they go last every time which means you need to field them in blocks big enough to ensure a full two ranks is still alive (to get all your attacks back) or three ranks if you give them spears. Spears also only give supporting attacks in 8th so a block of warriors that got 20 attacks with spears in 7th will still only get 20 attacks with spears in 8th. Their are ways to mitigate their weaknesses however (Lore of Light) and with the right support, and a decent block size, I think these guys are solid.
Skinks:
I personally prefer these guys as skirmishers. There are however some potential uses for these guys in 8th edition. They are cheap enough that you could field them in giant steadfast blocks. If you take them in big blocks, you can add some kroxigors to the unit to give it some killing potential. This gives you a great way to protect your kroxigors from ranged and close combat threats. Pair big steadfast/hordes blocks of these guys up with some hard hitting units on the flank and I think you might be able to field a competitive army around these guys. They can also be fielded as cheaper throw away blocks than the skirmishers. Since they don't have blowpipes as an option, the extra range on the javelins has actually helped them so they might be good cheap harassment/redirection units as well.
Skink Skirmishers:
These guys lost some things but gained others. Of particular importance is the ability to march and shoot which is absolutely fantastic. You will still be single shotting with your blowpipes most of the time because you want 6s for their poison but that doesn't matter. Take them in units of 10-12 and they make fantastic redirecters, harassment units, and can even do some damage to non-infantry units. Don't bother with the javelin upgrade. The range on them increased to 12" but they now take a penalty for long range. Blowpipes and the chance to double shot sometimes is much more useful than getting non-poisoned hits on 5s.
Jungle Swarms:
I don't know what these guys are for. I didn't know in 7th edition and I don't know now. Really, the only thing I can think of is to annoy your opponent a little. Set it up so he can waste a full unit charging them or get charged in the flank by them and held up for a while. These things aren't going to survive at all being attacked by anything on the front but if you can limit the attacks back of a unit by hitting the flank or rear, it should last a turn or two. They're really expensive though so I'm thinking they still aren't going to be worth it. I'm thinking you'd want to field these in 2-3 bases. 2 is cheap enough to be a throw away unit but any shooting or magic will quickly knock it down to 1 and make it worthless. 3 will weather a little firepower and give you enough oomph to last a round or two of combat.
Saurus Warriors:
I love these guys. They took a decently sized hit in fighting power with the shift to 8th though. Their low initiative almost guarantees they go last every time which means you need to field them in blocks big enough to ensure a full two ranks is still alive (to get all your attacks back) or three ranks if you give them spears. Spears also only give supporting attacks in 8th so a block of warriors that got 20 attacks with spears in 7th will still only get 20 attacks with spears in 8th. Their are ways to mitigate their weaknesses however (Lore of Light) and with the right support, and a decent block size, I think these guys are solid.
Skinks:
I personally prefer these guys as skirmishers. There are however some potential uses for these guys in 8th edition. They are cheap enough that you could field them in giant steadfast blocks. If you take them in big blocks, you can add some kroxigors to the unit to give it some killing potential. This gives you a great way to protect your kroxigors from ranged and close combat threats. Pair big steadfast/hordes blocks of these guys up with some hard hitting units on the flank and I think you might be able to field a competitive army around these guys. They can also be fielded as cheaper throw away blocks than the skirmishers. Since they don't have blowpipes as an option, the extra range on the javelins has actually helped them so they might be good cheap harassment/redirection units as well.
Skink Skirmishers:
These guys lost some things but gained others. Of particular importance is the ability to march and shoot which is absolutely fantastic. You will still be single shotting with your blowpipes most of the time because you want 6s for their poison but that doesn't matter. Take them in units of 10-12 and they make fantastic redirecters, harassment units, and can even do some damage to non-infantry units. Don't bother with the javelin upgrade. The range on them increased to 12" but they now take a penalty for long range. Blowpipes and the chance to double shot sometimes is much more useful than getting non-poisoned hits on 5s.
Jungle Swarms:
I don't know what these guys are for. I didn't know in 7th edition and I don't know now. Really, the only thing I can think of is to annoy your opponent a little. Set it up so he can waste a full unit charging them or get charged in the flank by them and held up for a while. These things aren't going to survive at all being attacked by anything on the front but if you can limit the attacks back of a unit by hitting the flank or rear, it should last a turn or two. They're really expensive though so I'm thinking they still aren't going to be worth it. I'm thinking you'd want to field these in 2-3 bases. 2 is cheap enough to be a throw away unit but any shooting or magic will quickly knock it down to 1 and make it worthless. 3 will weather a little firepower and give you enough oomph to last a round or two of combat.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
1st Foray Into 8th Edition (part 1)
Two weeks ago I had my first foray into 8th edition. Unfortunately, as always, I failed at taking pictures.
The first game I played was against Sam and his Daemons of Chaos again. I took my Lizardmen. I used a list very similar to my standard 7th edition list with a few tweaks to scale it up to 2500 points.
My list:
Slann Mage-Priest
- Focus of Mystery
- Focused Rumination
- Becalming Cogitation
- Cupped Hands of the Old Ones
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Lore of Light
Skink Priest
- Level 2
- Engine of the Gods
- Plaque of Tepok
Skink Priest
- Level 2
- Cube of Darkness
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
20 Saurus Warriors
- Full Command
- Spears
20 Saurus Warriors
- Full Command
- Spears
20 Temple Guard
- Full Command
12 Chameleon Skinks
3 Terradon Riders
2 Salamanders
Sam's list (guesstimate):
Kairos Fateweaver
Herald of Khorne
Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut
Herald of Slaanesh
3 Nurglings
20 Bloodletters
20 Bloodletters
20 Daemonettes
3 Bloodcrushers
5 Flamers
6 Flamers
We rolled Battle for the Pass. Our terrain setup had a watchtower on both sides of the board near the deployment line. One side had a town with a handful of obstacles, a Sigmarite Shrine, and a Mysterious Forest. Off to the side in the middle was a hill and the other deployment zone had a Magic Circle and an Arcane Ruins. Sam deployed on the side opposite the town and won the roll to go first.
His deployment was very simple, place everything as far forward as it could go and stick the nurglings behind my Temple Guard unit. My deployment put a unit of saurus ready to move up and man a wall on the first turn with support from the Engine of the Gods and two unit of Skink Skirmishers (one deployed in the shrine). Another unit of skinks containing the on foot priest was placed ready to move into the watchtower. The temple guard were placed next to the tower with a unit of saurus, a unit of warriors, and the salamanders to support. I placed my terradons behind the watchtower and promptly forgot to make their vanguard move.
With his first turn, Sam moved everything up, killed some temple guard with some flamers and didn't do much else. He rolled poorly on the winds of magic and Kairos was close enough to the slann to lose his 6 rolls.
On my first turn I moved the priest and skirmishers into the tower. I moved my one unit of saurus up to the wall hoping to take the charge from the bloodcrushers and hoping the wall would give me what I needed to win combat, I moved the terradons towards the engine planning to fly them over the enemy and use the chameleon skinks to hunt down Kairos in the backfield. I moved the skinks supporting the wall saurus up to take a charge from the daemonettes. My saurus supporting my TG moved up to take the charge from one of the bloodletter units and my salamanders moved up and positioned on a slant to take a charge from the other bloodletters (and force an overrun towards the board edge.
In the shooting phase, one of my salamanders misfired and ate 3 skinks. The other successfully landed the template on bloodletters and flamers killing one flamer and several bloodletters. In the magic phase I rolled a 10 for winds of magic and channeled an additional dice. This was followed by a successful magic phase that resulted in me casting Net of Amyntok on the Nurglings (I was worried about them charging my temple guard in the rear), placing a Comet of Cassandora in the middle of the demon line (next to the Bloodcrushers and Flamers). You can see the comet market in the picture below. I also successfully cast either Shem's Burning Gaze or Banishment (can't remember which, might have been both) to do some extra wounds.
In the daemons phase, he charged bloodletters into salamanders, bloodletters into warriors, brought bloodcrushers around to set up the charge on my temple guard, and charged daemonettes into skinks. The below picture was taken just after his movement phase. He also attempted to charge the nurglings into my temple guard but the net of amyntok held and they took damage instead.
When his magic phase hit, I rolled for Comet of Cassandora, and it went off. The marker is the dice next to the bloodcrushers. It dealt severe damage to both flamers and crushers killing one flamer, wounding the herald, and killing one crusher. He rolled double 6s for his winds of magic and I became very worried. He cast the first spell with enough power that it would have taken most of my dispel dice to stop it so I used my Cube of Darkness. I rolled a 6 and ended what could have potentially been a really bad magic phase for myself. His shooting took out a couple of guys (not many). In close combat, his daemonettes killed my skinks to a man and overran into the fortified building where they had to stop (can't overrun into combat with a fortified building). His bloodletters fighting my warriors won combat but I maintained enough ranks to keep my steadfast and held. My salamanders were massacred but one barely survived and fled. He either went off the board or was caught but the bloodletters who pursued were pulled out of position.
On my 2nd turn I charged my stegadon into the daemonettes, my wall warriors into the daemonette flank, and my temple guard into the flank of the bloodletters fighting the warriors. My shooting from chameleon skinks killed some flamers. My skinks in the watchtower unloaded 22 poisoned shots into the remaining bloodcrushers and killed off the herald and another bloodcrusher leaving only a single lone crusher. In my magic phase I was able to successfully cast The Speed of Light and Birona's Timewarp on my temple guard unit giving them an extra attack, WS10, I10, and Always Strikes First. I believe I also got some other spells off.
With it being clear that Sam was about to rapidly lose a full unit of daemonettes and bloodletters, his bloodcrushers had mostly been annihilated, and my chameleon skinks and terradons were closing in on Kairos, while my lizards had taken minimal casualties, Sam conceded.
Lessons learned:
Steadfast is pretty great. Normally my saurus would have booked it after losing to bloodletters they never got to attack. My salamanders not having partials are also pretty awesome now. I love the lore of light, but magic is VERY finnicky now. Sam had no backup plan in the even of bad Winds of Magic rolls and I had pretty good magic defense. This meant I was able to shut down his magic for a full two phases with ease. Cube of Darkness is an excellent item. Now that dispel scrolls are one per army, these items that can end an entire magic phase are suddenly infinitely more useful. My slann can alleviate the risk of a bad roll somewhat through the use of his extra power die discipline. March and shoot on skirmishers is incredibly useful. Terrain is important as if used properly, it can provide several major benefits. There are also some really cool synergies between Lore of Heavens, Lore of Light, and Lizardmen that I picked up on during the game. I think both lores can really complement Lizardmen well.
The first game I played was against Sam and his Daemons of Chaos again. I took my Lizardmen. I used a list very similar to my standard 7th edition list with a few tweaks to scale it up to 2500 points.
My list:
Slann Mage-Priest
- Focus of Mystery
- Focused Rumination
- Becalming Cogitation
- Cupped Hands of the Old Ones
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Lore of Light
Skink Priest
- Level 2
- Engine of the Gods
- Plaque of Tepok
Skink Priest
- Level 2
- Cube of Darkness
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
20 Saurus Warriors
- Full Command
- Spears
20 Saurus Warriors
- Full Command
- Spears
20 Temple Guard
- Full Command
12 Chameleon Skinks
3 Terradon Riders
2 Salamanders
Sam's list (guesstimate):
Kairos Fateweaver
Herald of Khorne
Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut
Herald of Slaanesh
3 Nurglings
20 Bloodletters
20 Bloodletters
20 Daemonettes
3 Bloodcrushers
5 Flamers
6 Flamers
We rolled Battle for the Pass. Our terrain setup had a watchtower on both sides of the board near the deployment line. One side had a town with a handful of obstacles, a Sigmarite Shrine, and a Mysterious Forest. Off to the side in the middle was a hill and the other deployment zone had a Magic Circle and an Arcane Ruins. Sam deployed on the side opposite the town and won the roll to go first.
His deployment was very simple, place everything as far forward as it could go and stick the nurglings behind my Temple Guard unit. My deployment put a unit of saurus ready to move up and man a wall on the first turn with support from the Engine of the Gods and two unit of Skink Skirmishers (one deployed in the shrine). Another unit of skinks containing the on foot priest was placed ready to move into the watchtower. The temple guard were placed next to the tower with a unit of saurus, a unit of warriors, and the salamanders to support. I placed my terradons behind the watchtower and promptly forgot to make their vanguard move.
With his first turn, Sam moved everything up, killed some temple guard with some flamers and didn't do much else. He rolled poorly on the winds of magic and Kairos was close enough to the slann to lose his 6 rolls.
On my first turn I moved the priest and skirmishers into the tower. I moved my one unit of saurus up to the wall hoping to take the charge from the bloodcrushers and hoping the wall would give me what I needed to win combat, I moved the terradons towards the engine planning to fly them over the enemy and use the chameleon skinks to hunt down Kairos in the backfield. I moved the skinks supporting the wall saurus up to take a charge from the daemonettes. My saurus supporting my TG moved up to take the charge from one of the bloodletter units and my salamanders moved up and positioned on a slant to take a charge from the other bloodletters (and force an overrun towards the board edge.
In the shooting phase, one of my salamanders misfired and ate 3 skinks. The other successfully landed the template on bloodletters and flamers killing one flamer and several bloodletters. In the magic phase I rolled a 10 for winds of magic and channeled an additional dice. This was followed by a successful magic phase that resulted in me casting Net of Amyntok on the Nurglings (I was worried about them charging my temple guard in the rear), placing a Comet of Cassandora in the middle of the demon line (next to the Bloodcrushers and Flamers). You can see the comet market in the picture below. I also successfully cast either Shem's Burning Gaze or Banishment (can't remember which, might have been both) to do some extra wounds.
In the daemons phase, he charged bloodletters into salamanders, bloodletters into warriors, brought bloodcrushers around to set up the charge on my temple guard, and charged daemonettes into skinks. The below picture was taken just after his movement phase. He also attempted to charge the nurglings into my temple guard but the net of amyntok held and they took damage instead.
 |
| From 2010-07-24 |
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| From 2010-07-24 |
When his magic phase hit, I rolled for Comet of Cassandora, and it went off. The marker is the dice next to the bloodcrushers. It dealt severe damage to both flamers and crushers killing one flamer, wounding the herald, and killing one crusher. He rolled double 6s for his winds of magic and I became very worried. He cast the first spell with enough power that it would have taken most of my dispel dice to stop it so I used my Cube of Darkness. I rolled a 6 and ended what could have potentially been a really bad magic phase for myself. His shooting took out a couple of guys (not many). In close combat, his daemonettes killed my skinks to a man and overran into the fortified building where they had to stop (can't overrun into combat with a fortified building). His bloodletters fighting my warriors won combat but I maintained enough ranks to keep my steadfast and held. My salamanders were massacred but one barely survived and fled. He either went off the board or was caught but the bloodletters who pursued were pulled out of position.
On my 2nd turn I charged my stegadon into the daemonettes, my wall warriors into the daemonette flank, and my temple guard into the flank of the bloodletters fighting the warriors. My shooting from chameleon skinks killed some flamers. My skinks in the watchtower unloaded 22 poisoned shots into the remaining bloodcrushers and killed off the herald and another bloodcrusher leaving only a single lone crusher. In my magic phase I was able to successfully cast The Speed of Light and Birona's Timewarp on my temple guard unit giving them an extra attack, WS10, I10, and Always Strikes First. I believe I also got some other spells off.
With it being clear that Sam was about to rapidly lose a full unit of daemonettes and bloodletters, his bloodcrushers had mostly been annihilated, and my chameleon skinks and terradons were closing in on Kairos, while my lizards had taken minimal casualties, Sam conceded.
Lessons learned:
Steadfast is pretty great. Normally my saurus would have booked it after losing to bloodletters they never got to attack. My salamanders not having partials are also pretty awesome now. I love the lore of light, but magic is VERY finnicky now. Sam had no backup plan in the even of bad Winds of Magic rolls and I had pretty good magic defense. This meant I was able to shut down his magic for a full two phases with ease. Cube of Darkness is an excellent item. Now that dispel scrolls are one per army, these items that can end an entire magic phase are suddenly infinitely more useful. My slann can alleviate the risk of a bad roll somewhat through the use of his extra power die discipline. March and shoot on skirmishers is incredibly useful. Terrain is important as if used properly, it can provide several major benefits. There are also some really cool synergies between Lore of Heavens, Lore of Light, and Lizardmen that I picked up on during the game. I think both lores can really complement Lizardmen well.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Lizardmen in 8th edition: Heroes
Your selections in this area of the army will be heavily dependent on what decisions you came to about your Lords. You also need to decide if you want a stegadon or not as this will eat up the majority of your points.
Saurus Scar Veteran:
These guys serve the same basic basic purpose as Oldbloods. They can be equipped for a variety of purposes and are relatively cheap so you can take a bunch of them. They have the option to be the army BSB and serve this role very well. If you don't have the points to take a Slann as a BSB or are concerned about your general and your BSB being the same model, this is the guy you should go with.
One of my favorite ways to use these guys is to give them Light Armor, a Great Weapon, and some extra magical item kick (offensive or defensive). It's cheap so you don't have to worry about them dying too much and they can bring a little oomph to the offensive power of your saurus warrior or cavalry blocks.
Stegadons:
Before discussing the other two hero options, we need to think about stegadons. Do we want one in the army? The offensive power of stegadons grew a lot in 8th edition. Thunderstomp in these guys is no joke. If you get him into a combat, he is going to destroy a lot of things. However, they are EXPENSIVE and can quickly eat up your hero points. If you're taking a stegadon, there is a pretty good chance you will only be taking one or two other heroes. The other major downside is the new line of sight rules that make it extremely difficult to hide this guy. The new partial template hits and cannons against multi-part models rules can also devastate a stegadon if you aren't careful. If you are taking one and risking a critical hero on it, you need to make sure you have a plan for keeping this guy protected
Skink Priest:
Skink Priests are pretty cheap. You can get a level 2 wizard for only 100 points or a level 1 wizard for only 65. With all of the cool arcane items now available, it's worth considering spamming these guys on the cheap to take advantage of this and help ensure a good magic phase or to help disable your opponent's magic phase. If you took two slanns for your Lord choice, I would recommend investing few points in this area unless you want specific arcane items that you couldn't get on your slann.
Some items I would recommend considering: Cube of Darkness, Diadem of Power, Plaque of Tepok, Forbidden Rod, Dispel Scroll, and Feedback Scroll.
These guys can also take an Engine of the Gods but if you do take one, be prepared to face a lot of enemy fire. Make sure you always activate The Portent of Warding up until the point you're in combat or enemy warmachines and casters have been taken care of. If you're going to take this, you should also bring some warmachine hunting characters to assure yourself of a way to eliminate the threat. Luckily, you can get some warmachine protection through the use of the lore of heavens signature spell (Iceshard Blizzard). If facing a warmachine heavy army, you will want to use this. If you also have a slann with the lore of light, pha's protection provides additional protection from ranged attacks.
Skink Chief:
They are really cheap but you get what you pay for. That isn't to say they don't have a purpose but they have a difficult time fulfilling multiple roles. They aren't killy enough to be used for combat resolution purposes and they die pretty easily. They can however be used successfully as item carriers. Want to give a unit some MR? Toss a chief in with the MR item. It's the cheapest way to do it if you don't have the points to spare on your other characters. They can also make decent warmachine hunters. Give them cloak of feathers or a terradon to ride and they can be removing warmachines from battle in no time.
I really love the idea of putting one on a stegadon with the warspear as that combination will destroy units in close combat. However, without the engine's powers, or the skink priests to cast Iceshard Blizzard, this guy is a sitting duck against a lot of armies. If you're going to take him and you might face gunline armies, I'd consider the lore of light on a slann for pha's protection a necessity. I think this option is workable but it will require building a list to support it or playing an opponent that can't do anything about it.
Saurus Scar Veteran:
These guys serve the same basic basic purpose as Oldbloods. They can be equipped for a variety of purposes and are relatively cheap so you can take a bunch of them. They have the option to be the army BSB and serve this role very well. If you don't have the points to take a Slann as a BSB or are concerned about your general and your BSB being the same model, this is the guy you should go with.
One of my favorite ways to use these guys is to give them Light Armor, a Great Weapon, and some extra magical item kick (offensive or defensive). It's cheap so you don't have to worry about them dying too much and they can bring a little oomph to the offensive power of your saurus warrior or cavalry blocks.
Stegadons:
Before discussing the other two hero options, we need to think about stegadons. Do we want one in the army? The offensive power of stegadons grew a lot in 8th edition. Thunderstomp in these guys is no joke. If you get him into a combat, he is going to destroy a lot of things. However, they are EXPENSIVE and can quickly eat up your hero points. If you're taking a stegadon, there is a pretty good chance you will only be taking one or two other heroes. The other major downside is the new line of sight rules that make it extremely difficult to hide this guy. The new partial template hits and cannons against multi-part models rules can also devastate a stegadon if you aren't careful. If you are taking one and risking a critical hero on it, you need to make sure you have a plan for keeping this guy protected
Skink Priest:
Skink Priests are pretty cheap. You can get a level 2 wizard for only 100 points or a level 1 wizard for only 65. With all of the cool arcane items now available, it's worth considering spamming these guys on the cheap to take advantage of this and help ensure a good magic phase or to help disable your opponent's magic phase. If you took two slanns for your Lord choice, I would recommend investing few points in this area unless you want specific arcane items that you couldn't get on your slann.
Some items I would recommend considering: Cube of Darkness, Diadem of Power, Plaque of Tepok, Forbidden Rod, Dispel Scroll, and Feedback Scroll.
These guys can also take an Engine of the Gods but if you do take one, be prepared to face a lot of enemy fire. Make sure you always activate The Portent of Warding up until the point you're in combat or enemy warmachines and casters have been taken care of. If you're going to take this, you should also bring some warmachine hunting characters to assure yourself of a way to eliminate the threat. Luckily, you can get some warmachine protection through the use of the lore of heavens signature spell (Iceshard Blizzard). If facing a warmachine heavy army, you will want to use this. If you also have a slann with the lore of light, pha's protection provides additional protection from ranged attacks.
Skink Chief:
They are really cheap but you get what you pay for. That isn't to say they don't have a purpose but they have a difficult time fulfilling multiple roles. They aren't killy enough to be used for combat resolution purposes and they die pretty easily. They can however be used successfully as item carriers. Want to give a unit some MR? Toss a chief in with the MR item. It's the cheapest way to do it if you don't have the points to spare on your other characters. They can also make decent warmachine hunters. Give them cloak of feathers or a terradon to ride and they can be removing warmachines from battle in no time.
I really love the idea of putting one on a stegadon with the warspear as that combination will destroy units in close combat. However, without the engine's powers, or the skink priests to cast Iceshard Blizzard, this guy is a sitting duck against a lot of armies. If you're going to take him and you might face gunline armies, I'd consider the lore of light on a slann for pha's protection a necessity. I think this option is workable but it will require building a list to support it or playing an opponent that can't do anything about it.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Lizardmen in 8th edition: Lords
My buddy Steve over at Boisterous Exuberance has been running a series of articles on his impressions of Dark Elves in 8th edition (part 1). I thought it would be a good idea to do the same.
Slann Mage-Priest:
This is the choice that is going to define your list. The new 8th edition rules drastically change what options are available to you. All of the BRB lores are quite excellent and which one you choose will have a huge impact on what other units you should take with your army to maximize synergy. With the new Lord percentage restrictions it is now also possible to take up to two slanns in a 2500 point list. The third important consideration is that the new miscast results are so devastating that you may want to seriously consider running your slanns without a temple guard bubble. Strength 10 hits centered over the slann is going to wipe out the entire unit very fast.
2 Slanns:
If you take two slanns, you only have 75 points total for all of their magic items. That's not much. Luckily, you do get one free discipline per slann at this level. If you are giving them temple guard, you need to use this allotment to get you miscast protection. Luckily you can get this for free through the Lore of Life so I would recommend taking this on one of your slanns if it is in a temple guard unit. You should also take the Focus of Mystery to ensure you get Throne of Vines. If the second slann is also in a temple guard unit. You need to give him Cupped Hands of the Old Ones. Since your first slann is going to have to do without The Focused Rumination, you should give it to your second slann. He won't know all of the spells from his chosen lore but having the free power dice every spell will give you some protection from a bad winds of magic roll and you can ensure the second slann will use minimum pool dice so that both slanns can contribute to the magic phase.
The major problem with this setup is it is very expensive. You have to provide a temple guard buffer for two slanns and this quickly adds up. You can always go for a more conservative route and only place one slann in the temple guard, or even running both slanns outside the temple guard, but this leaves you having to dedicate your two disciplines and 75 points towards defensive items that will ensure the slann doesn't get killed.
1 slann:
This is still my recommendation and how I prefer to personally run my lists. I stick him in a temple guard unit and make sure he has some form of miscast protection. Either the lore of life or the cupped hands depending on what I want to do with the rest of my army. Then I give him The Focus of Mystery, The Focused Rumination, and Becalming Cogitation. This ensures that he will have a decent magic phase regardless of what the winds of magic roll and offers him a great deal of protection against the opponent's magic phase. I also make him the BSB as I don't want to have to take another character just to carry the standard. This does pose a risk for some scenarios (all my eggs in one basket) but if I am aware of this and keep the unit safe, it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
I will address synergy with the different lores of magic in a separate post but I will say that I like to give my Slann the lore of light. There are several spells in this lore that help negate the innate weaknesses in the lizardmen army. It also nicely complements Lore of Heavens which your skink priests will have.
Saurus Oldblood:
If you don't want to go with a heavy magic list or are looking to supplement a single slann list with something killy, the oldblood is what you want. One of the old builds I liked in 7th edition was to give an oldblood the maiming shield and scimitar of the sun resplendent. The items in the new BRB allow you to take this idea and make it even better. Sword of Strife is 10 less points than the scimitar and you can take Sword of Bloodshed for 20 points less than both the shield and the scimitar on only one item.
Light Armor, Sword of Bloodshed, Maiming Shield, and Potion of Foolhardiness.
This gives you a 2+ armor save and 9 attacks (10 on the charge). That's going to do some damage to just about anything you run him into.
Shield, Sword of Bloodshed, Glittering Scales, and The Other Trickster's Shard
This gives a 2+ armor save, 8 attacks, and means most attacks need 5s to hit him, and enemies have to reroll successful ward saves.
Shield, Sword of Strife, Glittering Scales, and Talisman of Endurance
This gives a 2+ armor save, with 7 attacks, most attacks need 5s to hit him, and a 5+ ward save.
Sword of Strife, Horned One, Glittering Scales
This gives a movement 8 mount with 7 attacks, most attacks need 5s to hit him, and a 1+ armor save.
Other items worth considering are still the blade of realities, trickster's helm, and stacking Aura of Quetzl with Glittering Scales.
Regardless of what you want in a close combat character. You can get it with the oldblood.
Slann Mage-Priest:
This is the choice that is going to define your list. The new 8th edition rules drastically change what options are available to you. All of the BRB lores are quite excellent and which one you choose will have a huge impact on what other units you should take with your army to maximize synergy. With the new Lord percentage restrictions it is now also possible to take up to two slanns in a 2500 point list. The third important consideration is that the new miscast results are so devastating that you may want to seriously consider running your slanns without a temple guard bubble. Strength 10 hits centered over the slann is going to wipe out the entire unit very fast.
2 Slanns:
If you take two slanns, you only have 75 points total for all of their magic items. That's not much. Luckily, you do get one free discipline per slann at this level. If you are giving them temple guard, you need to use this allotment to get you miscast protection. Luckily you can get this for free through the Lore of Life so I would recommend taking this on one of your slanns if it is in a temple guard unit. You should also take the Focus of Mystery to ensure you get Throne of Vines. If the second slann is also in a temple guard unit. You need to give him Cupped Hands of the Old Ones. Since your first slann is going to have to do without The Focused Rumination, you should give it to your second slann. He won't know all of the spells from his chosen lore but having the free power dice every spell will give you some protection from a bad winds of magic roll and you can ensure the second slann will use minimum pool dice so that both slanns can contribute to the magic phase.
The major problem with this setup is it is very expensive. You have to provide a temple guard buffer for two slanns and this quickly adds up. You can always go for a more conservative route and only place one slann in the temple guard, or even running both slanns outside the temple guard, but this leaves you having to dedicate your two disciplines and 75 points towards defensive items that will ensure the slann doesn't get killed.
1 slann:
This is still my recommendation and how I prefer to personally run my lists. I stick him in a temple guard unit and make sure he has some form of miscast protection. Either the lore of life or the cupped hands depending on what I want to do with the rest of my army. Then I give him The Focus of Mystery, The Focused Rumination, and Becalming Cogitation. This ensures that he will have a decent magic phase regardless of what the winds of magic roll and offers him a great deal of protection against the opponent's magic phase. I also make him the BSB as I don't want to have to take another character just to carry the standard. This does pose a risk for some scenarios (all my eggs in one basket) but if I am aware of this and keep the unit safe, it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
I will address synergy with the different lores of magic in a separate post but I will say that I like to give my Slann the lore of light. There are several spells in this lore that help negate the innate weaknesses in the lizardmen army. It also nicely complements Lore of Heavens which your skink priests will have.
Saurus Oldblood:
If you don't want to go with a heavy magic list or are looking to supplement a single slann list with something killy, the oldblood is what you want. One of the old builds I liked in 7th edition was to give an oldblood the maiming shield and scimitar of the sun resplendent. The items in the new BRB allow you to take this idea and make it even better. Sword of Strife is 10 less points than the scimitar and you can take Sword of Bloodshed for 20 points less than both the shield and the scimitar on only one item.
Light Armor, Sword of Bloodshed, Maiming Shield, and Potion of Foolhardiness.
This gives you a 2+ armor save and 9 attacks (10 on the charge). That's going to do some damage to just about anything you run him into.
Shield, Sword of Bloodshed, Glittering Scales, and The Other Trickster's Shard
This gives a 2+ armor save, 8 attacks, and means most attacks need 5s to hit him, and enemies have to reroll successful ward saves.
Shield, Sword of Strife, Glittering Scales, and Talisman of Endurance
This gives a 2+ armor save, with 7 attacks, most attacks need 5s to hit him, and a 5+ ward save.
Sword of Strife, Horned One, Glittering Scales
This gives a movement 8 mount with 7 attacks, most attacks need 5s to hit him, and a 1+ armor save.
Other items worth considering are still the blade of realities, trickster's helm, and stacking Aura of Quetzl with Glittering Scales.
Regardless of what you want in a close combat character. You can get it with the oldblood.
Monday, August 2, 2010
July Competition Progress
At the start of this month, several friends of mine began a hobbying competition that will last until the end of the year. The basic premise is that we compete in four major categories and at the end of the month, we reach an agreement on who won in each. Each category you win in net you a single point. At the end of the year, the person with the most points wins. The categories are blogging, painting, assembly, and playing. You can see a full description of the competition here.
So what have I accomplished this month?
Not much unfortunately.
I did get two games of 8th edition in. (Battle reports coming I promise!) The first I took my Lizardmen against Sam's Demons. The second was a learning game where I took my Ogres against my Lizardmen (played by Nathan).
I made some progress on the Slann I've been painting (an updated progress post of that is also coming).
Beyond that, I've been neglectful of this blog and haven't really assembled anything new.
So I think the only thing I have a shot at this month might be painting.
Next month I'm hoping to compete in all major categories.
So what have I accomplished this month?
Not much unfortunately.
I did get two games of 8th edition in. (Battle reports coming I promise!) The first I took my Lizardmen against Sam's Demons. The second was a learning game where I took my Ogres against my Lizardmen (played by Nathan).
I made some progress on the Slann I've been painting (an updated progress post of that is also coming).
Beyond that, I've been neglectful of this blog and haven't really assembled anything new.
So I think the only thing I have a shot at this month might be painting.
Next month I'm hoping to compete in all major categories.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Beginning Hordes
After putting it off for a long time, I've finally decided to take the dive and start playing Hordes. The new Mk ii book is out which I picked up, as well as the Trollbloods faction deck. I have several friends that have started to get into Warmachine and to a lesser extent Hordes and I've just been waiting for the new rules. I don't have a good grip on the rules yet as I haven't finished reading them and have never played so I'm not sure what warlock I'll be using but I'm pretty excited. Trollbloods have some of the coolest looking models in the game and I love the character of the guys. A special rule called Comfort Food? Awesome. Steve and I will be learning the basics using the starter boxes during our lunch breaks which should make the work day a lot more bearable. After we've had a chance to get a few games under our belt, I'll be sure to post up my impressions and thoughts on how I want to proceed with my army.
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