++ **Pitched Battle** 2,000 (Order - Seraphon) [1,980pts] ++ + Leader + Saurus Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur [210pts]: [Koatl's Claw] Dominant Predator, Celestite Warspear, General Stegadon with Skink Chief [250pts]: 3. Sacred Stegadon Helm, Sunfire Throwers + Behemoth + Bastiladon [220pts]: Ark of Sotek + Other + Salamander Hunting Pack [220pts]: Hunting Pack x 2 + Battalion + Sunclaw Temple-Host [1,080pts] Saurus Sunblood: Eviscerating Blade Saurus Warriors: 3x 10 Saurus Warriors, Celestite Spear, Saurus Warrior Alpha, Stardrake Icon Bearer, Wardrummer Saurus Warriors: 3x 10 Saurus Warriors, Celestite Spear, Saurus Warrior Alpha, Stardrake Icon Bearer, Wardrummer Saurus Warriors: 3x 10 Saurus Warriors, Celestite Spear, Saurus Warrior Alpha, Stardrake Icon Bearer, Wardrummer + Allegiance + Allegiance: Seraphon - Coalesced - Koatl's Claw + Game Options + Game Type: 2000 Points - Battlehost + Realm of Origin + Realm of Origin: Aqshy + Scenery + Scenery: Realmshaper Engine ++ Total: [1,980pts] ++ Overall, more of the Seraphon list I would prefer to play with instead of summoning skink spam. Ideally, the strategic goal is to bunker the saurus units in a terrain piece each, supported as best as possible by the monsters and leaders, with the intent of being able to surge forth after the first clash. It's not a shooty army or a magic-heavy list, but the goal is to be as much of an anvil as possible while still having the model count to be effective. Thoughts? Queries? Concerns?
why the ark of sotek? also probably a good idea to beef up your hero core you have no CP generation and only 2 buff heros. also probably a good idea to have a few screens in there. if your goal is a defencive saurus build i would bring a star priest for his spell (and snake staff is great on a 30 man spear blob) and a star seer to give +1 to saves and 3d6 to charge saurus can be slow and it helps. it would also let you bring geminids so your guys would have a 2+ save at -2 to hit in cover.
I appreciate the advice, but I'm not seeing the value in crutching myself with two characters prone to assassination for a magic game that I'm still prone to losing anyway, especially when playing against someone who's been playing tabletop strategy games for nearly as long as I've been alive. In fact, it was at his suggestion that I take the Ark of Sotek and the salamanders in the list. I would consider taking this advice in a 2500pt list however.
oh you aren't taking them for their magic game you need the CP saurus lists are ravanes for CP. the prayers are also good and the magic is a + but not necessary. also crutching? there is very little negative to bringing skink heroes. what are you fighting that you think is going to drop them right off the bat? the salamanders make sense they are very expensive but they do their job well enough. but the ark is still baffling to me it is not a good unit at all there are better ways to get 3 melee damage then to bring a ark.
It's not the armies I play against that are the biggest concern - Nighthaunt, Gloomspite Gits, Idoneth Deepkin, Hallowheart, Beasts of Chaos... - but the opponent playing them. In his own words, his strategy revolves around shutting down an opponent's means of being able to counter his units, and he's more than able to do that with any of the armies I just listed off even with casual lists. Again, he's been wargaming for nearly as long as I've been alive, and that experience has shown itself time and time again. The silver lining I have in all this is that he wants to see me get better on the tabletop. If bastiladons are that much of a waste of points, I'll take your word for it. Still wouldn't be enough to buy both the starpriest and starseer at the 2000 point range, not without neutering other units.
bastiladons sun cannons are ok it's the ark that isn't GW did them dirty. keep us posted about your up coming games we'll try to work out how to improve the list and your strategy as you go along
You would save yourself some points by putting a unit of 40 saurus in instead of 30. You get a 40 point discount on the unit, so a 40, 30 and 20 would better serve you
If I wasn't so adamant about equipping all 90 saurus with spears, I feel like I just wasted a box of saurus. Point taken about the discount, though it's hard to see it as such when one saurus unit has been demoted from 30-block to 5-hit wonder in order to make it work.
A unit of 20 can do fine, 3 blocks of 30 is rather unnecessary. With that amount of saurus i would take 2 40s and a 10 personally, the 10 would just be a screen or sit on a home objective
AoS is a series of trades that you want to lean in your favor. You can't think of it like demoting one 30 block to a "5-hit wonder" because one of your 30 blocks is always going to die without it doing anything anyways. Why spend 270 points on a screen when you could spend 90? You're never going to be in a situation where you don't lose anything, so having screening units you are comfortable losing, while they also help maximize the effectiveness of your hammer units is hugely beneficial. Basically, you'll already have to effectively use at least one of the units like a pawn, so its no sweat if that unit is actually a pawn. I also agree with @Erta Wanderer that the list desperately needs heroes for CP. Saurus are super weak on their own, and you don't have the CP or a starpriest to buff them, or a starseer to get them into combat faster. Its basically 17'' maximum threat range on all the saurus units, which is just way too easy to play around. I'd 100% dump the steg for 2 skink heroes (maybe even double starpriest if you wanted to go 40/40/10). Personally, i'd also dump the scar vet and the sunblood and just run the old blood on carno to satisfy the battalion, which should free up some more points. Without the heroes, you just straight up don't have the CP to pump into the sunblood anyways, especially cause his ability won't give you the CP regen from the command trait. However, with all that said I think it's always important to take lists through their paces before changing things too drastically. This might work perfectly for what you want, and in that case all this "change that and that" talk is pointless. Last advice - don't use battlescribe It formats lists horribly.
After the recent game I had tonight using a modified 2500pt Thunder Lizard variant of this list, with 20 saurus per Sunclaw unit, I've come to a better solution to the CP problem: don't even bother with Koatl's Claw. This list has more going for it being Thunder Lizard anyway, which is far less CP intensive, and thus the only reason to take the starpriest/starseer at all is to make full use of the RSE, which took my squig-happy Gloomspite Gits opponent by surprise with how effective it was even when rolling 4+ for mortal wounds from within my deployment zone (never underestimate a 36" bubble that can turn an opponent's faction-based terrain against them). Spoiler: The Thunder Lizard variant list in question +++ Aqshy Thunder Lizard (Age of Sigmar) +++ ++ **Pitched Battle** (Order - Seraphon) [2,500pts] ++ + Leader + Saurus Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur [210pts]: [The Thunder Lizard] Prime Warbeast, Celestite Warspear, Clawed Forelimbs, Fusil of Conflagration, General, Massive Jaws Skink Starpriest [120pts]: Serpent Staff, Venombolt Skink Starseer [140pts]: Astral Bolt, Astromancer's Staff Stegadon with Skink Chief [250pts]: Crushing Stomps, Grinding Jaws, Massive Horns, Meteoric Javelins, Meteoric Warspear, Sunfire Throwers + Behemoth + Bastiladon [220pts]: Bludgeoning Tail, Meteoric Javelins, Solar Engine Dread Saurian* [510pts]: Armoured Tail, Gargantuan Jaws, Raking Claws + Other + Razordon Hunting Pack** [160pts] . Hunting Pack . . Razordon: Volley of Spikes . . 3x Skink Handler: 3x Celestite Goad . Hunting Pack . . Razordon: Volley of Spikes . . 3x Skink Handler: 3x Celestite Goad + Battalion + Sunclaw Temple-Host [810pts] . Saurus Sunblood: Celestite Warmace, Fearsome Jaws . Saurus Warriors: Celestite Spear***, Saurus Warrior Alpha, Stardrake Icon Bearer, Wardrummer . . 2x 10 Saurus Warriors: 2x Powerful Jaws . Saurus Warriors: Celestite Spear***, Saurus Warrior Alpha, Stardrake Icon Bearer, Wardrummer . . 2x 10 Saurus Warriors: 2x Powerful Jaws . Saurus Warriors: Celestite Spear***, Saurus Warrior Alpha, Stardrake Icon Bearer, Wardrummer . . 2x 10 Saurus Warriors: 2x Powerful Jaws + Allegiance + Allegiance . Allegiance: Seraphon . . Coalesced: The Thunder Lizard + Realm of Origin + Realm of Origin: Origin: Aqshy + Malign Sorcery + Bound Endless Spell: Burning Head**** [40pts] Bound Endless Spell: Ravenak's Gnashing Jaws**** [40pts] + Scenery + Scenery: Realmshaper Engine ++ Total: [2,500pts] ++ Before anyone asks, yes, I forgot to include a second artifact. *A vanity inclusion, mostly because I wanted to get some use out of the model apart from taking up shelf space. As my opponent commented after the game, it really is only viable in larger Apocalypse-scale games of 3000pts and larger. I will be looking to replace it with something more conducive to this particular list, be it units or incorporating existing units into a second warscroll battallion like Thunderquake. **Apart from 40k/Horus Heresy, I don't have any salamander models yet and likely won't be able to get them for at least 7 months. ***No saurus with clubs yet, also not likely to change for at least 7 months. ****Useless expenditure of points that didn't materialize, given how far back both skink mages were from the front line, with at least one of them attending the RSE. I could have easily spent this on expanding the razordon hunting pack to 3 with this.