I think I'm a lot like @Lizerd with his love for carnosaurs, but my object of fascination lies in the good ol Steggie-boys. However i know that Stegageddon, though fun and would be a dream come true, won't be able to compete well. I need to make it work as well as i can and i think I've found a pretty good solution. Allegiance: Seraphon - Constellation: Thunder Lizard Slann Starmaster (260) Stegadon with Skink Chief (270) Skink Starpriest (120) Skink Priest (70) 20 x Skinks (120) 20 x Skinks (120) Stegadon (240) Stegadon (240) 3 x Kroxigor (140) Bastiladon (220) Thunderquake Temple-host (150) Bound The Burning Head (40) Total: 1990 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 1 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 107 Here we have lots of options to play around and move things as I might need them. Its 7 drops so we never choose who goes first (hyperbole I know but my meta says so). This is made easier by our 4 guns which have a 32" threat range and a burning head to give us basically multiple hands of glory. We have 3 dice available for free CP each turn. We can make the steg chief general and get extra killy or make the skink priest general and get a free use of his command ability (which further helps save CP for when we want to. . . ) have our bastiladon shoot twice, give a unit fly, give +1 to hit for a skink unit (every model except one) or provide extra melee attacks from the chief (stegs with 8 extra attacks? Yes please). Finally 2 solid squads of skinks are good targets for the priest buffs and help me fight for objectives in this hoard game. As always your constructive criticism is appreciated. I debate dropping the burning head and switching a steg to an engine for possible heals and summoning potential.
Im personally not a fan of the blobs of 20 Skinks. I feel like they are too few to deal any real damage and hence threaten objectives, and too many to work as a screen. I would much rather see 4x10 (as you mention drops is irrelevant in most cases) or 1 blob of 40. On the other hand with your current list you arent really getting much out of the Thunder Lizard command ability - 1 Bastiladon isnt really enough imo. I would probably switch 1 Stegadon for a Bastiladon, make the Skinks into 10 man screens - You want to buff the Bastiladon anyways since it is shooting 18 shots a turn and much longer range. I wouldnt get rid of the Burning Head - It is 40 pts, but you are saving potentially multiple CPs per turn. 9" radius is rather large, so you can easily fit 1 Bastiladon and 2 Stegs or 2 Bastiladons etc. That right there is money. You already want to use a CP to shoot twice and buff with +1 to hit.
Try something like this, it’s mire refined to have better healing in the hopes of keeping your stegadons alive for longer. If you don’t have an EoTG you can drop the one in this list and swap it for a bastiladon and more skinks to screen the stegadons and other heroes Allegiance: Seraphon - Constellation: Thunder Lizard Leaders Slann Starmaster (260) Stegadon with Skink Chief (270) - General - Command Trait: Prime Warbeast - Artefact: Sacred Stegadon Helm Skink Starseer (140) Skink Starpriest (120) Engine of the Gods (260) - Artefact: Fusil of Conflaguration Battleline 10 x Skinks (60) - Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (60) - Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers Stegadon (240) - Weapon: Skystreak Bow Stegadon (240) - Weapon: Skystreak Bow Units 3 x Kroxigor (140) - 1x Moonhammers Battalions Thunderquake Temple-host (150) Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs Bound Emerald Lifeswarm (60) Total: 2000 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 1 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 90
It took me forever to realize the full potential of burning head but now I get it. Pop it behind your gunline. I just couldn’t see it doing a lot in melee, especially if it gives your enemy potential bonuses. Silly me.
@Lizerd Unfortunately at the moment I only own two steggos. I'm picking up a third sometime soon, but a fourth will be hard to come by until GW puts them back on the shelf. I really want about 4 or 5. I thought about the lifeswarm and really like the idea of healing the big dinos I just came up 10 points short on this build. It was a choice of Steg chief or EotG, but if I went engine thered be really only one thing to spend command points with. The skink priest. I dont know how I feel about using skinks as screens anymore. Without the summoning of more and more skinks I feel like they are too vital to just be speed bumps anymore. Hence why the big groups and hence why splitting them among multiple units. I dont know I haven't been able to test anything cause of Corona
So what do you guys think is more powerful the stegadon helm of the feather cloak? The helm only adds damage to the skinks weapon not the stegadon right? The cloak for 4+ flying inches and -1 to hit seems really good. Also the skink chief on stegadon can target itself with it's command ability, right?
I think I prefer the feather cloak if I am thinking about it. A natural 4+ save is bad for a monster. That basically dies to everything. Now if someone were to throw something at the steg with a +1 save they would likely be throwing something that is already strong enough to take on hero type units. If the unit is 5 models or less we suddenly become a 2+, but that unit they threw at us is still tooled to take on heavily armored heroes and the like so I don't think that it will matter as much. In other words we die to everything if we dont have it and we die to hero killers if we do have it. I like the feather cloak a lot because of the utility of fly, and having a natural -1 to hit is good against literally everything except magic/abilities. Summon Starlight was our best spell in old tome (arguably best spell in the game IMHO) and you almost always saw our slanns with Miasma Blades or Gryph Feather Charms for just the reason of -1 to hit. I prefer the cloak of feathers on my big dino heroes. Yes, they are a skink unit wholly within 24" of themselves so they can use their command ability on themselves. @Lizerd I took your list and changed it based on what I own. I took out the Engine (as I only have 3 Stegs) added a bastiladon and with the extra 40 points added the bound burning head. Also I don't own a starseer yet so I thought I could switch that out with a priest and use the last 70 for Bound Geminids. Thoughts? Also @Grotpunter I feel like if I am running the Thunderquake battalion it is much more geared towards buffing stegadons as the bastiladons aren't splendid in combat and they don't really need to run + shoot. That is why I have two stegs 1 bast instead of vice versa. Your input is greatly appreciated.
It is a bit hard to pilot and requires a fair amount of prepositioning. But it saves you some CP, which is very important. It is best to stick it by single unit, because concentrating too much can hurt your game. Not that we have any choice. Skinks are still the cheapest thing we have, and we need to stop some enemy units to engage our big dinos. But 20 skinks is a bad choice in any case. They are so easy to put below 15, making them completely useless. Taking knights, guard or warriors for the same points seems more viable. Especially in coalesced, where skinks will flee after minimal casualties. And speding CP on 20x skink unit is just inefficient. Aetherquartz Brooch! Cloak seem better to me, because you can make Stegadon with 2+ with Armored Crest and Nimble anyway (not in thunder lizard, however). And you still may have Control Fate and Priest's Staff atop of it. Additional movement and "Fly" is very strong addition atop of bonus protection. After Priest's prayer you can move 20" and still charge. This is very strong. But they need it. With 5" movement you are not going too far. And you still want to charge to tie important enemy units. You want have much freedom with choosing targets or supporting key points on the battlefield without this mobility.
Looks decent, emerald lifeswarm can be pretty useful both in keeping your monsters alive and dishing out mortal wounds. Burning head with a gun line also seems fun, and a pretty solid strategy. now the real challenge is finding a match