Tournament Army List

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Vorchild
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Tournament Army List

Post by Vorchild »

I've got a tournament coming up and I'm anticipating that there will be fairly minimal magic in attendance. 7 dice I'd expect to be the maximum. The scenarios are likely to favour horde armies. I've been debating back and forth between doing something funky (bringing out all the things that people don't expect, including a cauldron, witch elves, assassin, etc), going with heavy magic with accompanying missile support (lots of MMs followed by lots of regular missiles to force continued panic tests - so a mobile missile army) and something that has a strong combat approach. The list below is the combat approach.

Noble
Dark pegasus
lifetaker, blood armour, SDC, lance

This guy is a perennial favourite of mine and always does a solid job. He used to have a great weapon, but alas, it is no longer so...

Noble
BSB, Cold one
Hydra banner, HA, SDC

The tournament favours a BSB, so I thought, why not. ;)

Noble
Dark Steed
Seal, HA, shield, SDC, lance

Fairly basic hunter noble.

Noble
Dark steed
HA, sh, SDC, lance

Another hunter noble.

10 x RXBmen
shields, musician

5 x Dark riders
RXB, mus

5 x Dark riders
RXB, mus

15 x corsairs
standard, mus

Core choices here are pretty basic I guess. Need the fast cav, need the semi-ranked unit that I normally keep in mid-reserve (not so far back that they sit next to the RXBmen, but a bit further back from the main guys) and I need the fire support.

5 x COK
FC

5 x COK
FC

5 x harpies

2 x Cold one chariots

The knights are obviously there to provide a tandem for the BSB. Each unit alone is still worth its points and can still do a lot of damage. With the BSB, they are a whole lot better and he can jump from one unit to another if it gets too shot up. Its a combination that has worked well for me before. I suspect they will draw a lot of magic fire, but hey, that's the game. Chariots are there for secondary punch and will likely be supported by the corsairs.

2 x RBT

Mandatory big fire support often used as bait. Sticks back with the RXBmen typically.

So, I left the lords at home and went with the lower Ld. With 4 stupidity tests a turn, that may be a poor choice, but I've been known to make lots of stupidity checks in a game, so who knows. I feel this list really captures the impatience I currently have for the game, so this list will close fast and hopefully hit hard. To be honest, if I'm facing little in the way of magic and shooting (say, Khorne) I might even be able to hold back and wait. Otherwise, I have no problem sending in the hunter nobles, dark riders, COK, and/or harpies to wipe out enemy mages. With the speed those units have, there is easily the potential to take them out by turn 2 and there shouldn't be too many places to hide from the 8 long range threats I can place our there - most of which are fairly resilient to missiles. So, to be honest, I'm not too worried about magic.

The army is mobile enough that I can refuse flank where necessary and really concentrate my forces where I need them, so that should be a real bonus.

Anyways, just wanted to see what you though about no terror, no magic, no lord.
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Thanee
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Post by Thanee »

No magic can work, but can also be really tough against some armies.

No terror, no lord; no real problem there. Ld9 should be alright.

I would probably try to fit the Seal at least; and give one of the Dark Steed-mounted Nobles the Enchanted Shield. Also give your Pegasus-mounted Noble a Shield, just in case; it's only 2pts. ;)

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Post by Bounce »

The amount of magic at tournaments is surprisingly variant. I went to one where everyone had a Lv 4 and at Convic I didn't verse anyone with more than 1 Lv 2 spell caster.

Sometimes no magic can pay off if your opponent has none, ie Dwarves and Khorne armies.

I would drop the Corsairs, with no other infantry blocks they are going to be all alone and I don't quite see them acheiving much. I don't know.
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Post by Thanee »

Bounce wrote:I would drop the Corsairs, with no other infantry blocks they are going to be all alone and I don't quite see them acheiving much. I don't know.


As someone who plays armies with single blocks of infantry all the time (though I usually play 20 Corsairs with War Banner for maximum CR), I definitely see them achieving something. They also have the Chariots to go with.

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Post by Mr. anderson »

I actually like the army quite a lot because there are no tooled up characters (I only use a highborn with magical equipment in my armies). I doubt you will have any trouble dealing with magic, even if someone comes along with more than 7 PD a turn because those hunter nobles are fast enough to just charge into a unit, kill the sorcerer and then flee far enough to avoid being caught (which is my general tactic to deal with magic users, because I don't like using scroll caddies... so many wasted points)

Something I would suggest is to buff those corsairs up to 20 because I have always fared better using one ranked up unit (although the ranked up unit I use is Warriors... 25 of them) to be able to take a charge no matter what comes along (within reason, that is... ;) ). The shield on your noble has already been mentioned so I won't do it again (dammit... I just did :o ).

For the rest this army looks like you only have to use it the right way to win with it... nothing I find particularly out of place.

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Vorchild
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Post by Vorchild »

I would probably try to fit the Seal at least; and give one of the Dark Steed-mounted Nobles the Enchanted Shield. Also give your Pegasus-mounted Noble a Shield, just in case; it's only 2pts.


The seal is in there. Normally, I'd add in the enchanted shield - still might - it can always work out well. The shield on the pegasus noble may be the most cost effective thing you can do, but I refuse based on the fact that it would then make the blood armour look totally ridiculous. ;) The reason I never did before was because of the great weapon he used to use.

I would drop the Corsairs, with no other infantry blocks they are going to be all alone and I don't quite see them acheiving much. I don't know.


I don't normally use them for much either. I used to have 2 units of 12 when such a thing was viable, but you'd be surprised at how often the single unit can help out. I might still try to find a way to get a second unit of them in there though since the tag team really helps. Otherwise, they'll be attached to the chariots where I think they can still be useful. That being said, I'll be killed on comp if I don't include at least one unit of infantry with a banner.

The question of how to make it bigger and badder (say by making it 20 strong with a war banner) comes at a cost though, in this case 75 points cost. So, where would you guys suggest I pick that up? Or, do I go instead with 2 units of 10 for a bit less in terms of cost but less effectiveness arguably?

Thanks for the comments guys - keep 'em coming! ;)
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Post by Slortor »

id drop back to the two small units personally - unless you feel that the hammering on sports will cost you badly. As long as ur not afraid to flee then 2 units of corsairs and 2 chariots should be able to bait+flee+charge = kill most units.

I like the army though - go for it :)
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Post by Vorchild »

A low sports score will definitely cost dearly, so no can do.

Something that has been brought to my attention though is that I really should expect a few daemon armies to be present. I looked over things again and the army did seem to be fairly daemon ready (well, not Tzeentch) but do you guys think there's a need for something else to help deal specifically with the new daemon threat?
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Post by Bounce »

Could have difficulty in killing any Greater Daemons,
I would either Increase or Decrease the Corsair unit. 15 means you won't win a static CR and the back rank won't get to really do anything. Either go for a unit that is capable of winning fights by itself or a smaller unit to flank and take out enemy flankers and warmachines. I know Dark riders seem the obvious unit for defeating fast Cav and Warmachines but Corsairs can do the same job and have more attacks and CR.
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Post by Raneth »

Noble
BSB, Cold one
Hydra banner, HA, SDC

The tournament favours a BSB, so I thought, why not.

The knights are obviously there to provide a tandem for the BSB. Each unit alone is still worth its points and can still do a lot of damage. With the BSB, they are a whole lot better and he can jump from one unit to another if it gets too shot up.

BSB needs a DS instead of a CO?

Rather have spearWars than corsairs. Apart from this, looks good (VERY controllish) but despite 2 COK units and Chariots I feel the list lacks power. Could be wrong tho. :P
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Post by Thanee »

Vorchild wrote:The seal is in there.


Ah, I see it now. :)

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Vorchild
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Post by Vorchild »

Rather have spearWars than corsairs. Apart from this, looks good (VERY controllish) but despite 2 COK units and Chariots I feel the list lacks power. Could be wrong tho.


If the BSB goes down quickly (bunch of wizards with lore of metal would kill him pretty quick) then yeah, its going to be rough. to be honest though, its hard to include much more in the way of attack punch. Static res, sure, but then you trade strength attacks for it. I'll admit I've not balanced this list quite the way I likely should. ;)

BSB needs a DS instead of a CO


Chances are he's going to be in a stupid unit anyway, so the cold one gives him the much needed better save, the extra strength attacks (compounded by the banner) and I've got a nice BSB on cold one model I converted from a Rakarth fig. ;)

Could have difficulty in killing any Greater Daemons,


Yep, there is that. But is there any way anyone can truly be prepared for a greater daemon? ;) I've found the best way to take them down is a ton of small arms fire and the single bolts from RBTs. It'll take some luck, but I think it can be done. When in doubt, I'll have to charge a couple chariots at it if I get the chance. Taking the knights in or the characters would be suicidal.

Ah, I see it now.


Pay more attention next time, will ya? ;)
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Post by Vorchild »

So, as a follow up, I have to confess that I drew twice and lost once with this list. :(

In the end, the reasons for this seemed to be 3-fold. The first is that its far too one-dimensional for what I consider to be a successful Druchii list, but in the end, it might just be my style of play that just sucks when I play like that. ;) There is so much dependence on some of those units to make it into combat and do a significant amount of damage once they get there. Stupidity was also a factor. Though I tend to beat the odds a little bit in any tournament I play with regards to stupidity checks (and this time was no exception), without fail, I failed my tests at the worst possible moments. In the first game this included the first couple turns with the BSB unit such that it ended up not being able to cover ground quickly enough (though this almost paid off later anyways), in the second game this meant flopping down in front of a unit of 4 kroxigors, and in the third game this meant trudging slowly right in front of a Bret lord and his lance of doom. So, being over-reliant on stupidity prone units without the benefit of a lord's Ld was likely ill-advised.

The third thing was just bad luck (I played both a WFB and 40K tournament that weekend and didn't win a single game the entire time :( ). Though this includes bad dice rolls like getting a charge off on a treeman in the rear with the BSB and full unit of knights and the knights not scoring a single hit and the cole ones only getting two (no wounds), it also included running into scenarios and armies that weren't exactly great to run into. In the first game, it was wood elves (with their extra piece of terrain) with a punch of wandering units of sheep (indestructible) that counted as difficult terrain and blocked LOS (not a bad idea in the end, but its really restricted ways to get at the enemy units). In essence, stuff largely beyond control.

There were things that worked well though. Despite having his unit wiped out in all three games, the BSB managed to survive each time (and only ran off the table once). Moreover, I was often able to keep my units in the fight with him around giving the re-rolls which was pretty useful. So, rather than the BSB himself being a useful pick, his kit was likely what was wrong. The noble on pegasus shone once again as he managed to dish out a fair bit of damage (took out a lance with a damsel all on his own in the last turn of game 3 to get me the draw rather than the loss), and as always, I managed to keep my RBTs alive and functioning and only losing 1 in both the second (flying skink hero) and third (pegasus knights) games while always making back the points (killed the skink hero witha volley from the second RBT :twisted: - vengeance is sweet...).

The problems in the end were army build issues like not having enough maneuverability (I had to make a last minute substitution for another unit of RXBmen over DR) or mobile enough or strong enough firepower (magic defence wasn't an issue as predicted, but not having any MMs on my side really hurt).
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