Hi everyone! Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere. Lets say you do not have access to high magic or lore of metal (I'm thinking of running a slann with light magic) how would you handle a steam tank?
I had a unit of TG with a Slann (and Razor Banner and Scavenpelt Banner) with +4T and a 4+ Ward from Lord of Life that got hit in the rear by a Steam Tank. The Tank died in the first round of combat.... that's probably an ideal situation though.
Should be able to railroad the Tank pretty easy with Skinks. Remember you can't pivot the Tank within an inch of enemy troops - just put skinks on either side of it and it can only move back and forth.
This. Or terradons. Misdirect it and otherwise ignore it unless you have a carno or a cowboy to toss into it. All you can do.
Or alternatively, a perfectly legal and viable way to deal with an extremely durable and damaging unit?
Abusing the 1" rule to block units are legal according to the RAW, but it is forbidden in several tournaments. I can see that the steam tank is a headache to deal with, but there have got to be some better ways to do it than this..
Of course there are other options, but it is AN option. I don't think it's rules abuse at all. No more than bretonnians sitting 1 inch away from the watchtower to stop an infantry unit taking it. It's a valid tactic. Searing doom, strength 7 (if you can survive impact hits), purple sun/pit of shades, sharpened horns (at a push, it's risky). If you're against railroading, you can let him demolish skinks etc. He can't pursue or overrun. The problem is, it's not just the tank you could be facing. A steam tank is not half as bad as a steam tank backed by life magic. Or a demigryph unit. Or two. Or both. If you're using light magic, something with time warp might be in order (temple guard, pref with characters). Boosted shems can potentially ping a wound or two. To be honest, don't get too caught up on killing the tanks. There are things in the army that are easier to kill, and potentially harder to manage. If you get the opportunity to kill or cripple one, take it. If not, distract it and kill the rest of the army. It's easier said than done cause your opponent will be trying to stop you, but that's the game isn't it
Kroxigor are the only unit I've had any success with against the stank. Whatever you do, keep it away from saurus warriors - S4 will not damage it, and they'll get minced in return! Almost nothing we can do shooting wise. Perhaps the giant bow if you have a stegadon, though hardly worth taking for that alone. If you're taking light, a boosted shems can be worth it at a push. Probably not worth it though. As others stated, a lot of them time better of trying to distract/ignore it. If you can get a wound or two on it early on, most empire players will play conservatively, so makes it a lot safer!
To kill a Steam Tank, or at least damage it beyond the ability to be a serious threat. As usual it's best to combine magic and nonmagic strategies into a coherent approach. Magic Shadow: Best anti-tank lore. Pit of Shades, Penumbral Pendulum and above all Okham's Mindrazor will help you make the tank into a pile of scrap metal. Death: Spirit Leech it as often as possible. Maybe a Purple Sun or two High Magic: Swap spells for Spirit Leech and Searing Doom. Walk Between Worlds is the only anti-tank spell in the lore. Use it to stick whatever tank busting unit your army has right in it's face, Wandering Deliberations: You already have Searing Doom and Spirit Leech from turn one. Now all you need is a Skink Priest to aim your spells. Your opponent will probably prioritize these with his dispels, so it’s hard to kill the tank outright with these two spells alone. Iceshard the tank while you are at it, it can shut down both the cannon and the steam gun. I would recommend having Plan B to engage the wounded tank with your Temple Guard bunker. Earthblood and Wyssans will both help you there. Metal: Both direct damage spells do well, Enchanted Blades if good for when you engage it but it better be softened up first. Life: You aren't going to kill it with magic, but you can buff the crap out whatever unit is fighting the tank to outlast it. Beast: If you can get boosted Saurus heroes to fight the Tank with Savage Beast of Horrors, do so. Wyssans will help a bit. Curse of Anaheir can really hurt if they fail a dangerous terrain test (since Steam Tanks are technically chariots), but that's fairly luck based. You are generally better seeking a non-magical strategy if you are packing lots of Beasts. Heavens: Heavens has lots of spells that will NEARLY do the job. Iceshard will nerf the shooting early on it but it won’t slow down the tank once it’s in close combat with you. Two spells hit with Strength 6 but that’s probably not enough. Even if you get both off every round that’s only 1 or 2 wounds per turn. Fire: Fire will let you let you clear away Empire chaff without a lot of fuss. Now that you don't have Empire chaff to worry about. Use your Skink Skirmishers to pull every dirty redirecting trick possible. Light: Redirect or tarpit the tank and hit the rest of the army. Light gives you a strong edge on every unit except the Steam Tank so play avoidance with the metal monster and go to town on everyone else. Non-magic Solutions Living Tanks: Carnsaurs will kill a STANK if you can avoid them being killed by cannons. Ancient Stegadons can severely damage a STANK if you get a good impact hit round, but the cannon danger applies. If you want to use your big dinosaurs better go full Monster Mash list for target saturation. Nice thing is no Empire unit is a good match up against big dinosaurs (except cannons...always cannons). Magic wise this strategy mixes well with anti-cannon spells like Iceshard Blizzard and Pha's Protection, Walk Between Worlds to get your dinosaurs to the target faster, and Life for healing. Elite Infantry: A large unit of Kroxigors can bash a tank fairly well. Temple Guard with the Razor Standard will do well too, and the aforementioned Razor Standard will work well against all four knight options, Great Swords and most Empire characters. Magic wise this strategy works well with any buff spells that target whole units such as Enchanted Blades of Alban, Wyssan’s Wildform, and especially Okham’s Mindrazor. Hexing the tank isn’t bad either if you can dock it’s toughness or armor save. Avoidance: You don’t have to engage the STANK, and this is the route I usually take if I find myself not taking a great anti-Tank lore. If the Empire player is not advancing much you can go around it. If the Empire player is playing aggressively, you can redirect the Tank with Skirmishers or tarpit in a Cohort. Magic wise this strategy works well with defensive spells or low magic lists. It’s also a good strategy if the Empire player is keeping a level four Life mage near the tank at all times. Since most of the damage will be healed quickly, it’s probably not even worth attacking the tank until the mage is dead. John Henry Approach: Scar Veterans or Oldbloods with strength 7 or above. They need a unit to absorb attrition damage from the tanks grinding but the Steam Tank will eventually die as long as your character (or ideal characters) cannot be individually targeted by the tank. This approach mixes well with Monster Mash or Elite Infantry. Magic wise this strategy works well if you can boost the individual characters or hex the tank itself.
Wow, thanks for your many good replies! Haven't built my lizard force to the point of gaming yet but I always like to be prepared!
tried and tested method for me is oldblood on cold one, armour of destiny and dawnstone. Had a halberd for strength 6. Took the charge from the stank, 9 strength 6 impact hits and only 1 impact hit got through to wound thanks to rerolls and ward. two turns later, stank begone!
You forgot Amber Spear. Boosted Amber Spear is a very big threat to the Steam Tank. It's str 10, d6 multiple wounds, and no armour saves allowed. Plus it auto hits, so all you need to do is roll to wound.
Now that the stank is T6, it is a lot easier to handle than when it was T10. If you only need to delay it a turn or two, a suicide charge even from skirmish skinks will keep it locked up for a bit since the stank will be prevented from moving for at least one turn and it cannot pursue or reform. This can provide sufficient time to move something into range to deal with it like skrox, which are ideal since they will be steadfast, get a "free" round of attacks on the turn they charge ,and will eventually grind a stank into the dust with S7 (S8 when a priest gets a wild form off on them!!). The main issue is preventing the stank from getting impact hits on a high value target like TG/steggie/sallies and skirmishers are a cheap and easy solution to accomplish this although they will likely have to "take one for the team"