I'm planning for 800 points battles for a tournament in March. The army selection rules are the same as in the rulebook, apart from the fact that you are only allowed 25% of your points for Lords/Heroes in total. However, I'm worried about a few units, and I'm hoping you'll be able to tell me how to eal with them whilst be able to do well against the usual things. What is the most effective way to counter... ...ethereal units, specifically Hexwraiths? ...Empire/Dwarf gunlines? ...Knights? Thanks.
ethereal units, specifically Hexwraiths---Scar-vet with magical weapon. You will probably not be able to take a priest though. ...Empire/Dwarf gunlines----Two units of 6 chameleons. That should take care of them. ...Knights---a salamander will deal with those high armor saves. Since you will only be able to have one, make sure to take the extra handler (snack). Also, when facing knights, never(NEVER) let them charge you. That is where they are deadliest (+2 to str on the charge). As for your core: A unit of Saurus and either a unit of skirmishers or a cohort unit with one kroxigor (fear causing at this level of play would be fun and effective).
Facing something ethereal, you can bet your opponent is going to send it after your heroes or spendy units. Saurus are useless against them, unless you are really crafty with your movement or have enough models to kill them with just your rank bonuses (unlikely at 800 pts). Magic and avoidance are your best options against ethereal units in a small game. Skink skirmishers can run circles around just about anything, even though they wont hurt an ethereal unit. Gunlines are mean, but fortunately you have lots of options for these. Terradons if you can fly over them. With Vanguard, Terradons could possibly get to them on Turn 1. Alternatively you can use a Salamander. Move a unit of skirmishers up along with the Salamander so they can soak up some gunfire. Your Salamander should be close enough to roast them on Turn 2, seeing how you would have put 24" behind you. Chameleons work well for this as well and you can probably take them out on Turn 1 if you win the roll off. Chameleons are hard to hit as well, and a unit of 5 is cheaper than either Terradons or a single Salamander. As for knights... Salamanders! -3 AS is great for those guys with lots of armor. The Sally is decent in combat as well with it's high strength, but more effective when used as a panic-inducing flamethrower. Just don't let them charge you. As said before, Skinks and Salamanders can run circles around them. If you stay out of their charge arc, you can keep roasting them throughout the game. That's my thoughts! Mobility, poison, and fire FTW against these baddies.
If you just give your scar vet venom of the firefly frog and great weapon, you can still afford a skink priest w/ plaque of tepoc, and the venom makes your attacks magic so you can still kill those pesky ethereals, hope this helps
I've found that the best list for 800 pt games is this one. I'll explain my choices at the end, and if anyone has anything better, please share so I can improve my competitive list. LIST [*]Lords & Heroes >Tetto'Eko (185) [*]Core >30 Saurus Warriors (360) >>Spears, Full Command >12 Skink Skirmishers (94) >>Patrol Leader [*]Rare >Salamander (80) >Salamander (80) OR LIST [*]Lords & Heroes >Tetto'Eko (185) [*]Core >30 Saurus Warriors (360) >>Spears, Full Command [*]Special >7 Chameleon Skinks (101) >>Stalker [*]Rare >Salamander (80) >Salamander (80) WHY I choose to have Tetto'Eko because he's a great magic character, and because he gives vanguard to D3 units. I play aggressively, and being up in my opponent's face quickly is a major advantage to me, as well as allowing my Salamanders and Skinks to get a free march up and fire first turn, doing some serious damage (hopefully) with either the Sallies or (Cham) Skinks, as well as being a useful replacement option in case of anything. Getting the scouted Chameleons closer to shoot isn't all that vital, but if the enemy has war machines like the Empire/Dwarves you were worrying about, you might want to maximize chances to hit at close range with the 14 shots you get and miss out on moving up the Saurus or Sallies. The magic spells he gets (Loremaster) is really good as well for the gunline (Comet of Cassandora being highly reliable with Tetto'Eko), area-of-denial for any unit (CoC) and magic missiles to take out pesky knights with a Urannon's Thunderbolt which is great at taking out giants/monsters in a turn or two or to help the Chameleons/Skirmishers out a little. The buffs are a must for the Skinks' shooting (especially the bubble version) and Curse of the Midnight Wind is good for keeping your Saurus unit in with a chance. Saurus with Spears are my favourite option, since you get more attacks if you get charged. You're only M4, so with or without vanguard you're probably going to get charged, and the spears really help. Skink Skirmishers are good for almost anything short of combat, they're monster hunters, lone character killers, and war machine destroyers. Why miss these guys out? Chameleon Skinks, see above, except with Scout. What's not to like? Sure, there's less of them, but they're going to be hitting similar amounts due to the better BS. Salamanders are the perfect counter to hordes, hard combat units you can break down to make it easier to chew with the Saurus, and heavily armoured things (like knights!) Just aim for the flank. With two separate ones you can always get around things, redirect if you have to (although Skirmishers are better), and flank. You may have noticed that I prefer to keep to only 3/4 units (you can put the two Sallies in one unit if you want) And this is so that I can get as many of them vanguarded as possible since it's advantageous to move everything or most things due to the reasons I've stated above, and a lot of units will make these options more difficult. Plus, I have kept to units under 100 pts. This is to make sure that if something dies (with the exception of the ChamSkinks) the opponent will not have enough victory points to win. Killing a 100 pt unit and then delaying/running away is a horribly annoying coward's tactic that people use in these kind of tournaments. (I've suffered more than my fair share of these things happening to me.) Through my experience and mistakes, I've come up with this list + tactics. What do you guys think, and I hope this would be of help to OP although it's a year late xD