2250 ETC Shooting/Mobility/Counterattack

Get critiqued on your latest army here...

Moderator: The Dread Knights

Post Reply
User avatar
H3adnotf0und
Dark Rider
Posts: 127
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:42 pm
Location: Athens, Greece

2250 ETC Shooting/Mobility/Counterattack

Post by H3adnotf0und »

This is an ETC list I came up with, after playing 3-4 games with variants of this idea. What do you guys think?

1 Highborn @ 558 Pts
General; Heavy Armour; Sea Dragon Cloak; Shield
Gauntlet of Power
Crown of Black Iron

1 Black Dragon @ [320] Pts

1 Noble @ 118 Pts
Lance; Heavy Armour; Sea Dragon Cloak; Shield
Ring of Hotek

1 Dark Steed

1 Sorceress @ 140 Pts
Magic Level 1
2 X Dispel Scroll

3 X 10 Warriors @ 3 X 125 Pts
Repeating Crossbow; Light Armour; Shield; Musician

3 X 5 Dark Riders @ 127 Pts
Spear; Repeating Crossbow; Light Armour; Musician

2 X 10 Witch Elves @ 142 Pts
Frenzy; 2ndWeapon, Hag


2 X Cold One Chariot @ 97 Pts
Spear

2 X Reaper Bolt Thrower @ 100 Pts

Casting Pool: 3

Dispel Pool: 3

Models in Army: 77

Total Army Cost: 2250
User avatar
Lord myki
Black Guard
Posts: 259
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2004 3:32 pm
Location: On a Black Ark near you

Post by Lord myki »

Overall, your list looks good. Please let us know how it plays.

I would give the Hag, Manbane!
Mere death is but a blink of an eye,
Death by the Druchii is eternal!
User avatar
Vorchild
Master of the Red Legion
Master of the Red Legion
Posts: 7037
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2002 1:06 pm
Location: Land of Chill
Contact:

Post by Vorchild »

List looks potent, but I don't think its going to be as mobile as you might think. If you want to go for the mobile missile platform army, there are better ways of doing it (and they generally involved magic over dragons).

As Myki said, manbane on the hag will be exceptionally useful, or witch brew (with units that small, they will get the outnumber bonus, so its like having a war banner in the unit). You could get the point by dropping a unit of RXBmen. 3 units is a bit much and you'll either be stretching out a long way or be forced to sacrifice shooting potential for space. I worry though that the lord on dragon is going to be a bit too much on his own. Now, if you're used to using a lord on dragon, no problem, but if you haven't, there are any number of things that can either make him useless or wipe him out that you'll have to watch out for. It might be worthwhile then to upgrade the noble on steed to a noble on pegasus. Equal mobility to the dragon, another nasty surprise in the magic item (which will get there faster and be better suited to follow annoying mages around as required) and if they need to, they can combine charge a unit and be pretty assured of wiping it out and blowing through. When in doubt too, he can be used as a deflection screen for the lord.

So, all in all, I think the list will do very well. The only concern I have are the RXBmen who will be left behind rather quickly as most fights will take place on the other side of the table (your shooting is so good that its going to draw them to you - not with a dragon sitting there anyways). Keeping evena single unit back with the RBTs should be enough to provide protection for them (if you want, leave a unit of DR back there too). That would free up 250 pts you could spend on witch elf upgrades, a pegasus, and even another unit of dark riders (or chariot, or harpies, or shades).
_
Image
The storm is coming...
Are you ready?
User avatar
Aeglos
Trainee Warrior
Posts: 46
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:54 pm
Location: Europe - Italy

Post by Aeglos »

WOW!! a very nice army list!but the hag need manbane or wicth brew..

I hate the chariots because they fail even the stupidity test....
But rest is ok!! :D
User avatar
H3adnotf0und
Dark Rider
Posts: 127
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:42 pm
Location: Athens, Greece

Post by H3adnotf0und »

Thank you all for the suggestions! They were really helpful!

Vorchild wrote:It might be worthwhile then to upgrade the noble on steed to a noble on pegasus.

I used to field the peggy noble w/ Lifetaker, Blood Armor. He had some good moments, but most of the time the pegasus was shot down and I was stuck for the rest of the game with a noble on foot, not very keen on survival. So I decided to make him cheaper, by replacing the peggy with a steed and by giving him only one item (for some protection from magic that I badly need). This way also, the opponent can't cancel his 18" move so easily.

As for the Highborn on Dragon survivability, I think I'm getting the hang of it. I used him in my last 4 games and he wasn't killed in any of them.
Steve tu
Beastmaster
Posts: 333
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:28 pm
Location: Newcastle

Post by Steve tu »

It might be worth thinking about a standard on the unit of DR's your noble will run around in - that way, you have a decent combat unit that can hit flanks and still have a good chance of breaking the enemy.

Plus, it is easy not to give up the points for standards when you are fleeing all the time...
User avatar
Thanee
Rending Star
Rending Star
Posts: 5030
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2002 6:10 am
Location: Germany

Post by Thanee »

Changes I would consider:

- Harpies!! 5 only cost 65pts and are *always* (almost) worth it, especially with such a big missile magnet drawing the fire away from them
- Enchanted Shield for the Noble (it's just +8pts); or Seal of Ghrond
- *maybe* DoDP, Blood Armour, Seal of Ghrond for the Highborn (+SDC/Shield)? No 5+ Ward Save, but a better Armour Save instead (likely 1+ after first charge... 2+ against shooting before that, hence the Shield).
- Manbane for the Hags (not Witchbrew, Manbane is better and usually good for the +1 CR, that is the most you get out of Witchbrew usually; esp. against T4-5 opponents)
- Musicians for the Witch Elves (now that's a pretty cheap "CR bonus", i.e. one Wound less you need to make in order not to lose combat against a tougher opponent)
- *maybe* Standard Bearers for the Witch Elves (I don't subscribe to the philosophy of not giving WE standards, but maybe you prefer it that way, so that's optional; there's always the risk of losing it, of course)

To save points... I agree that you can lose one unit of RXB Warriors. Maybe up the other two to 12 each or something like that, if you don't need the full unit's worth in points for any changes.

Bye
Thanee♠
User avatar
H3adnotf0und
Dark Rider
Posts: 127
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:42 pm
Location: Athens, Greece

Post by H3adnotf0und »

Thanee wrote:- Harpies!! 5 only cost 65pts and are *always* (almost) worth it, especially with such a big missile magnet drawing the fire away from them


How do you use 'em? For march blocking? For attacking warmachine crews? I have used them in a couple of games and I found that is its quite frustrating, that in addition to being vunerable to shooting, they are of limited use against armies with multiple fear/terror causing troops (quite common these days) because of their low Ld. In addition, the fact that they have low/average characteristics, means they will struggle to beat some warmachine crews (dwarfs turn them into minced white meat). The best use I found for them is claiming table quarters at the end of the game. Is it really worth it? Should I consider 5 Shades instead?
User avatar
Thanee
Rending Star
Rending Star
Posts: 5030
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2002 6:10 am
Location: Germany

Post by Thanee »

Against dwarven warmachines they are not superb, but still alright, unless there's a hero within the unit, as it happens every now and then. If the Harpies score no wounds and the dwarves do only one, it's still one round without shooting for them, due to outnumbering and therefore a draw in combat.

Against typical T3 warmachine crews Harpies almost automatically win.

That's their primary use in my games... warmachine elimination.

For targets that can easily shoot them down, they often pair up with a unit of Dark Riders, so at least one of them gets through. If the Harpies get shot down, something else isn't in their stead, so they often are not bad, even if they do not kill anything. You can also use them as missile shields, specifically.

Other than that, I usually put them in strategic positions with lots of charge options to hinder the movement possibilities of opposing wizards (so they have to hide in units and as such are limited in their use of magic and can be attacked in close combat). When a wizard is in the open, Harpies usually rip him to shreds.

Then... when an enemy unit is broken and flees, sometimes they do not rally and can be chased down and killed by Harpies with ease. Same with Terror, when they flee in their own turn, due to a failed Terror test.

In my last game against High Elves, my 5 Harpies scored ~400 victory points on their own (2 RBTs, 1 Mage). Admittedly, I was a bit lucky, since they made their panic test when they were reduced to 3, but that was after the first RBT was taken down and at this point already they were worth their points.

Bye
Thanee
User avatar
Uriain
Executioner
Posts: 169
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:57 am
Location: Alberta Where REAL beef comes from

Post by Uriain »

I have had similar luck as Thanee has. My harpies killed a Black Orc Warboss (Flank charge) who was the general, 500 points for those beauties. Again though, stuff like that is heavily based on the luck of the dice. But against almost all warmachines (minus dwarves) Harpies are a good buy if you are doing a faster style list, such as yours.
Building Hand Eye Co-ordination. . . . One kill at a time.
Post Reply