Hi, Was wondering what units and taticts I should use against an all Night Goblin army with heaps of Fanatics, usually 9 trolls, squigs and no orcs. My dad runs it with a few pieces of artillery and units of 60 , 80 and 20 night goblins. Each usually has 3 fanatics. I always end up loosing heaps of saurus' when the fanaticts hit, then getting smashed by the trolls and squigs, then the night goblins hit. Any taticts I should use or any good units that would do well in this kind of battle? Please help. Thanks.
The key with fanatics is to spring them as early as possible. You can do this with either skink skirmishers or chameleons. Then, once they are out in the open, you can almost ignore them (or shoot them). At that point, they are as much a danger to him as to you. You could also use terradons to spring the fanatics, but those cost a little more than skirmishers or chameleons. I would probably try to use skirmishers because they are the cheapest unit that you could use for the task. Another thought would be to cast a spell like the light of amyntok(Strength test to do any action) on a unit you suspect of having fanatics. Then, move a unit of skirmishers close to it (8 inches-or whatever the range for fanatics are). Then before he releases them, he has to pass a strength test or take damage. If I remember correctly, if they take any damage on release, they are killed (not sure if that is correct though). Hope this helps.
Just to add to what Arli has said, use terrain to your advantage when triggering fanatics. Fanatics die if they hit terrain (other than hills treated as open ground)so here a couple ideas that should definitely help out: 1) terrain placement - make sure the middle of the board has terrain in it. Woods are ideal (more later) but obstacles and buildings will do and should be put there when placing terrain at the start of the game. This creates narrow passages that offer the only route for fanatics to go through. 2) movement to trigger fanatics - move skirmishers or whatever is being used to trigger fanatics into the terrain once the gobbos are in range. By doing this, your own troops are entirely safe and the fanatics are either forced into the narrow passages or, more likely, will be directed into the terrain to eliminate the risk of their going back through the gobbo lines. Specific terrain tactics: Buildings - keep in mind that a unit "occupies" the entire building on entrance. This greatly extends the range at which fanatics can be triggered. A single building in the center with a unit in it creates a fanatic trigger zone of anything within 8" of it or nearly a two foot swath!! To top it off, the unit inside is stubborn and even skinks can hold out for a couple rounds against night gobbos in combat. Woods - skirmishers are steadfast in woods while ranked units are not. The first part of this makes sallies amazing as you can move them in and shoot (night gobbos hate panic checks) and withstand charges if the slaan is within range since they are unlikely to get wounded much by gobbos. For the second part, trying to grind a unit of 60+ down to size when they have nets nerfing your strength is tough to do. However, if most of the unit is forced to fight in the woods, they lose steadfast from having more ranks and it becomes much easier to break them. If you follow these tips, your fanatic problem should turn into easy victory points and the only thing left will be cleaning out the gobbo trash
Re: Taticts against Night Goblins Several of my friends love Fanatics, so we've all learned to cope pretty well. I agree about setting the Fanatics loose as soon as possible. Although Terradons are more expensive, they work well for this role because they can get to the enemy so much faster. Chameleons can get there on Turn 1, as well, making them just as useful. If possible, try to move your triggering unit so that they get within 8" of two Night Goblins units at the same time. More Fanatics in play at once means more chaos on his side of the field, and more chances for them to run into each other. If his front line is a mix of Night Goblins and something else (Squig Herd?), try to land your Terradons/Chameleons in front of that unit, triggering the Fanatics by getting within 8" of the flank. Then, he either launches the Fanatics at you...leaving them right in front of his line...or out towards your main line, where they'll neither harm the Terradons nor your army (if you've triggered them soon enough). While Chameleons and Terradons are the best at triggering Fanatics, Skinks and Skirmishers are good for protecting your Saurus. They can often shoot down the Fanatics; or, if it's really important to make sure the Fanatic doesn't move again, they can move into him - taking 2D6 S5 hits, but removing the Fanatic from the table. Finally, if you have Wind Blast on a Skink Priest or Heavens Slann, you might be able to just blow one Fanatic into another. For things other than Fanatics... Depending on the size of the game, try putting the Blade of Realities on an Oldblood. Every hit means they need to pass a Leadership test or DIE. Against Elves? Not so good. But he should carve through that big unit of Trolls with no problem. The Doom Diver is nasty...but those Terradons who triggered the Fanatics might be able to help you there. And, they're not so nasty that a Comet won't take care of them. While Gobbos will outfight Skinks in CC point-for-point, a Skink-heavy list will be able to bring lots of awesome stuff to bear, including Krox, Skrox and Salamanders. One or two blocks of Saurus should be able to smash the remaining Goblins into the dirt. Lastly, Stonecutter is right on with the terrain/deployment advice. The only thing I would add is that having bottlenecks on the battlefield also helps you even after the Fanatics are done, because it keeps the enemy from bringing superior numbers to bear against you. A bunch of one-on-one fights between Saurus and Goblins can only end one way. Also, I think it's awesome that you play with your dad. My dad got a little overwhelmed when I tried to teach him.
I'll add that Lore of Death is great against all NG armies. The characters are all low leadership making them very vulnerable to Spirit Leech. Doom and Darkness will also cause huge issues and the Purple Suns will reliably kill his large blocks and annihilate the Trolls.
I had some success using a solo Slann with Higher State of Consciousness to deliberately walk into Fanatics killing them and taking no damage. That will only work if your opponent doesn't have any mobile units to charge your Slann though.
We have a new tool in our arsenal to fight Fanatics. The Lore of High Magic provides us with Walk Between Worlds which lets any unit turn ethereal temporarily and safely kill Night Goblins via their temporary invincibility to them.
Re: Taticts against Night Goblins Yup. I just played an allied game with High Elves against one big Waaagh!!!. My buddy thought we should ditch Walk Between Worlds when he rolled it on his Archmage. I told him we definitely wanted it...and when our unit of ethereal Skink Skirmishers stomped all over two Mangler Squigs, he understood. Our opponent's face was priceless.