Hey guys, Looking at getting back into AoS and looking for some feedback on a list. A friend of mine running some big hordes with multi-buffs to get them throwing 5 re-roll atk & wounds so I am thinking how to counter this. The idea I have come up with is 2 skink hordes backed by an Astrolith Bearer hidden behind an Eternal Starhost wall. The idea is you start in an aggressive position to maximise shooting then each turn retreat whilst staying as close to 18" away to keep peppering with shots (3+ to hit, Astrolith plants early to give rerolls). The Saurus guard mop up casulties / provide a defensive wall. The Razordons would possibly be better as Salamanders for the mortal wounds but for this exact match up it's there for just more hits. The lists I am thinking is: (Updated 12-07-2016) 1x Skink Chief 1x Saurus Astrolith Bearer 1x Saurus Eternity Warden 1x Skink Starpriest 1x Skink Starpriest 10 x Saurus Guard 10 x Saurus Guard 10 x Saurus Guard 40 x Skinks 40 x Skinks 1 x Razordons 1 x Razordons 1 x Eternal Starhost I'd love to hear some thoughts on this?
The idea is interesting... however, you are seriously laking some key units: - you literally have no magic. Not only you cannot support your troops, but you are without defences from enemy's magic. - you don't invest tons of point into skinks, without saving 60 points to have a Skink Chief as general, gaining that sweet +1 to hit. - the BSB doesn't have command abilities, and the range of the astrolith is "only" 10"
@Killer Angel Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the Skink Starpriests are wizards? On the topic of which, the new 'Rules of One' have made taking multiples of the same caster dramatically less useful, as you can still only cast their unique spell once per turn. Having said that, the starpriest is nice and cheap caster that you can still keep for generic spells, but I would perhaps consider seeing if there is room for adding in a skink starseer in lieu of the second starpriest, just for added flexibility (and delicious re-rolls). As a whole, I think the list could work well in simple pitched battle scenarios, but be wary of both mortal wounds (each dead Guard is costly) and objective missions (playing too defensively will cap your effectiveness at reaching win conditions). Also Killer Angel's comment on the skink chief is spot on, it is a great force multiplier. One last thing of note- I assume you are taking your army as Seraphon allegiance as opposed to Order allegience?
@Killer Angel - Thanks for the feedback. - The Star Priests are the only magic makers I did have a Slann but dropped him as I wouldn't be using the summoning and none of the alignments seemed essential - It's units within 10" for his ability though so thats a 20" bubble and you only need one unit in range - none of the guys I had (before adding chief, see below) have command abilities so I just threw in the Astrolith as he'd be at the back. - I couldn't find points for the Skink Chief - if he has them I will throw him in (I guess from your comment he is 60pts so a straight swap for a Razordon) @InfamousBeany - Thanks for responding, I haven't seen the allegiance abilities yet but I am assuming it will be Serephon as long as there's something helpful! Do you think dropping a second Razordon for a Starseer is worthwhile? Thanks again guys!
@Tozon FYI here (http://imgur.com/a/sg32b) is an album with an explanation of how allegiances and army construction work- brief version, at 2000 points you would need 3 or more battleline units (saurus warriors and skinks by default), at present I believe you only have 2 (The two 40-skink units). This is where your allegiance comes into play. As your army is exclusively made up of models with the Order and Seraphon keywords, you can choose to either be of Order allegiance or Seraphon allegiance. Being Order allegiance gets you a unique army-wide ability, as well as options for magic items and hero abilities (see link for details). Being Seraphon allegiance means forgoing the aforementioned special abilities, but it lets you take Saurus Guard and Cavalry as your 'battleline' units. This is why I asked- this army is perfectly legal under a Seraphon allegiance, but wouldn't be under Order allegiance due to only having 2 "standard" battleline units. I do hope that clears it up a bit, apologies for the info dump! Also I think dropping a razordon for the chief (which you are correct in assuming is 60 points) is a great change, really helps your combat effectiveness.
Im quite sceptic to those skinks. Those are huge units, hard to maneuver and easy to catch. They firepower is not that great (1 shot 2+ 4+) In seraphon alligience the guard are filling the battleline tax. You can invest in some mord elite units instead of skinks.
Of course they are! My eyes saw "starpriest " and my mind read "skink priest " That said : Yes, given also the lack of bite attacks, 2 starpriest are 1 too much. 1 unit of 40 skinks works. 2 units could have some problems
heresy! purge thine traitor! No, but seriously though, all the constellations are great. when you take into account that the whole army gains buffs, the a large army like this will be really affected. the slanns casting powers are insane. seeing as many scenarios I have seen give you signature spells, then all his spells are put to good use. for roughly half the points of lord kroak, he is a complete boss. also keep in mind he can unbind, so the enemy will not gain their spells more often.
Mortal wounds would be a real pain for you, as well as anything with a 3+ save live lording against the skinks. For sure you need to run a priest or two. For instance a Maw Krusha that closes the distance with your horde w/o dieing (pretty easy for it, destruction gets their crazy strong movement bonuses) it enters combat with the chance for 8+ mortal wounds (thats up to 8 dead guard for free) and it has 2 attacks with -2 rend, dropping your guard to 4 save and in your current army you have no save rerolls, both of the -2 rend attacks do more than 1 (one does D3, the other does 2) which kills multiple guard. Guard can be a great anvil, but maybe look into cavalry or bastiladons/stegadons. Definitely want to say look into Bastiladons imo, defenseive, shooty and ridiculously hard to kill. Maybe swap it up and run a Thunderquake starhost unless you're dead set on the skinks. I wouldn't run normal skinks, instead just proxy them as chams and drop a lot of them. Imo chams are a lot more useful than normal skinks other than the specific skink formations (which can run chams anyway).