competitive army list: 2500 points, magic heavy, all comers

[downstroypvp]

Hi there!

Here is a list I put together for a 2500 point army. I am trying to deal with as much nasty thing I can, as well as keeping it magic oriented, because I like playing with a bit of randomness.

I would much appreciate some criticism on it, especially on the quantity of magic this list brings (is it enough to out-magic heavy magic armies like VC or lizardmen, is it too much ?)

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The list
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+ Lords + (295pts)
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* Supreme Sorceress (295pts) general: Dispel Scroll (25pts), Lore of Death, Ring of Hotek (50pts), Wizard Level 4 (35pts)
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She will stay with the unit of 10 RXB, I feel like she is a bit exposed but she should never see combat, soo... I gave her the ring of hotek and hopefully I will try to keep her as close as possible of the executioner/ black guard, depending on what the opponent focuses with his magic.


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+ Heroes + (267pts)
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* Master (112pts) : Battle Standard Bearer (25pts), Heavy Armor (4pts), Sea Dragon Cloak (6pts), Shield (2pts), Warrior Bane (5pts)
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The master BSB has a 2+/ no ward and will stay in the unit of black guards. They will be THE anvil of the army, because they will be stubborn rerollable ld 10 (if general nearby), 9 otherwise. They should not run so hopefully I should be able to keep the bsb alive, except if the unit run into a high str enemy (at that point I might consider popping the BSB out of the unit and stick him elsewhere.)


* Sorceress (155pts) : Dark Steed (10pts), Lore of Death, Obsidian Amulet (30pts), Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
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She will be in one unit of warlock. This is the unit I hesitate the most on. The plan is:
1°) choose the 4 spell of the level 4 first, drop purple sun if I get it
2°) hopefully I should be able to get purple sun on this sorc
3°) vanguard + march 18" if I got first turn, hope for at least 5 dice for the wind of magic
4°) drop the purple sun on the enemy from a flank.

I know that there is a lot of randomness in this tactic (having a good deployment, getting first turn, getting kinda good winds of magic, not being dispelled ...), but if the plan should fail, well, I still have the unit that should be near his warmachine/ redirectors ready to charge into his stuff...
Plus I will try to get a sniping death ability on the sorc so she can threaten enemy characters...

I also gave her a +2MR so that when the unit is targetted by magic they have a 2++ ward save + look out sir.

Still, this unit is really vulnerable to enemy shooting/ heavy cavalry. I will try to screen them with other fast cav unit like a unit of DR.

Finally, I could just get the sorc out of the unit when they are going to charge something different from war machine crew...

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+ Core + (703pts)
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2 * 5 Dark Riders (220pts) (shield + RXT + musician)
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2 units of dark riders fully equiped with a musician to redirect/ shoot/ flank charge/ hunt warmachine... They also should protect the level 2 sorc in the warlock unit.

* Darkshards (155pts)
* 10x Darkshards (130pts)
10x Shield (10pts)
* Standard Bearer (25pts)
Standard of Discipline (15pts)
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The (mini) bunker for the level 4 sorceress. I must protect this unit so it doesn't get into combat at all. Kinda squeshy, but at least a miscast won't blow it up due to ring of hotek (I think the latest fact gives miscast template damage as magical?)

* Witch Elves (174pts)
14x Witch Elves (154pts)
* Standard Bearer (20pts)
Banner of Eternal Flame (10pts)

* Witch Elves (154pts)
14x Witch Elves (154pts)
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Those two units will be run in 7*2 wide to maximize the front rank benefit/ attack. Together they pack a 56 attack punch, which I think is quite nice. They are of course very vulnerable and will drop like flies to enemy shotting/ magic. But hey, they are only 150 points so no problem.

The unit with the flaming banner should chase big nasty monster with regen, because of poison, they should kill it nonetheless (even if hitting/ wounding on 6s, it's still minimum 4 wounds without all the rerolls (1/6*28 poison attacks)).

Depending on the situation, the two units will be run together or separated, preferably one in front/ one on the flank of nasty monsters without ward/ high AS, or hordes.

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+ Special + (985pts)
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* Blackguard of Naggarond (315pts)
19x Black Guard of Naggarond (285pts), Musician (10pts), Standard Bearer (10pts), Tower Master (10pts)
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Those are the anvil of the army, they can take whatever comes in front of them and hold them for at least one turn, thanks to their stubborness. They can also hold their ground against medium infantry unit like WoC wariors, saurus warrior etc...

They are of course very vulnerable to magic/ shooting due to their T3/ 5+ AS...


* Har Ganeth Executioners (390pts)
Draich-Master (10pts), 30x Har Ganeth Executioners (360pts), Musician (10pts), Standard Bearer (10pts)
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This unit is the answer to heavy armored opponents like steam tank/ 1+ cavalry etc... They can also pose a threat to high T opponent like OK, and block of characters thanks to KB. They should also be able to stay for a few round of combat being 30 of them.

Optimaly they should flank what the BG are facing, but because its a 10 wide unit, it may not always be possible.


* 4 Reaper Bolt Thrower (280pts)
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4 RBT because why not? 70 point each is dirt cheap considering the versatility of the unit (S6 rank piercing 1D3W no AS , or 6 S4 armour piercing shot wich are not multiple shot, so they should hit at most on a 4+ on open target (4BS -1 long range)).

Their primal use is either to focus all 4 on threatening monsters/ units (like flying, heavy cavalry ...), and if there is no such target, they should simply aim at chaff, to give me the edge terrain-wise.

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+ Rare + (250pts)
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2*5 Doomfire Warlocks (250pts)
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Ok this is not nice but they are the best unit of the book, so better get them. They should be used like either chaff remover, war machine/ flying unit hunter, and can eventually flank/ rear charge engaged units.

The two units nets me + 2 channel attempt (suming at 4 thanks to the 2 others casters), they give me LOS on almost all the battlefield, so I should be able to soulblight whatever I need (3 soulblight in the list, not that I plan on using all 3 in one turn...)


Their M9 should put them out of LOS of most shooting unit except warmachine, and its exactly what I want them to be: target for war machine.


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Tactical plan/ how to deal with stuff
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1°) Unkillable flying demon prince:
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This should be tough to deal with. I don't have other trickster shard, nor a very potent melee fighter. I am still unsure on how to deal with him, maybe just bolt him, or engage him with the executioners? Or try to avoid him altogether...

He is the main reason why I might replace the level 2 sorceress with a master on peg with trickster shard. Not sure if it will make a difference though, and I like to have this very threatening/ mobile ball of amethyst death running around.


2°) death star (phoenix guard/ hammerer, ogre unit with 4 characters)
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Given the mobility this list has I should be able to take the fight against those death * when I want, and hopefully I should get some soulblight/ shooting before engaging them with my most potent melee unit (ideal whould be exe on the flak and BG on the front + whatever could help on the rear/ other flank.)

I am not too concerned about death star as I should be able to avoid them altogether if need be.


3°) heavy war machine/ gunline (dwarf, empire)
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I think I should be able to deal with those list, given that I have 4 units that can move 30" in the first turn, with 3 lvl 2 casters. Plus I have some potent shooting too (10 RXB on DR, 10 RXB in darkshard, 4 RBT).

3 of my units are itp, so panic test shouldn't be a problem (must take care of executioners, but in those kind of list I may even just screen them behind something to preserve the points cause they shouldn't be that usefull)


4°) The wood elf mass bow list
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This is one that I fear a bit, because even if I am very mobile, so are WE, plus I only have T3 units, so their bow are going to hurt, plus they have high ld, and high I, so death magic shouldn't be very usefull, hopefully I should get some doombolt in?

I also have 4 RBT that can outrange them (they have no warmachine), and the 4 wanguarding units should be usefull too.


5°) Monster heavy list
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This one is kinda scary too because of T3 almost no AS, and no monsters, so very vunerable to stomp, but thanks to soulblight, RBT, executioner AND 2 units of furies I should be able to deal with it.


6°) mobile list (Woc double chimera etc)
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I think this one will also be a problem, because even if I can tackle 2 flying monsters (DR + warlocks + RBT + furies), I am not sure if I can handle 3 flying monster that will stomp to the ground all my units.


7°) hordes (skavens, gobelins, squeletons)
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This is not a list in itself but nonetheless, it needs to be adressed. I think that against a horde my best bet is double charge with either BG + furies or 2*furies. furies should be able to delete any T2/3 hordes thanks to their 28 attackper unit of 14.

I think this is the list that I fear the less, because I have plenty of way to deal with it in any pahse (movement I should outmanever them, magic is quite strong thanks to doombolt, and 24 S4 armour piercing shots. + 20 RXB)


8°) Heavy armored cavalry/ infantry (1+/ 2+, like pegasus knight/ skullcrushers, Woc, dwarfs)
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30 executioners should do the trick, although it depends on the type of troups. RBT should help too.

I think that those are the unit I fear the most, as I don't have a lot of way to deal with heavy armour in my list appart from executioners/ RBT.


9°) Etheral units
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Correct me if I'm wrong but the flaming attacks from the banner are considered magical? NAyway I could deal with them either with magic/ or with the units of fury with the flaming banner (if it works).


10°) Magic heavy list (VC, TK, lizardmen, HE)
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I *should* out magic about anything, I have a level 4 + 3 level 2. And death magic should net me more power dice, plus I have the ring of hotek as an additional protection, which should protect either the darkshard+BG or the exe+darkshard.




I think that's all (sorry for the long post). Feel free to comment, and critizice the list. I am very open to suggestions if you find something that this list couldn't handle.



Thanks for your insight.

[Rork]

It seems you've got it pretty well covered...

But just one thing - the magic banners do not give you magical attacks. So magic will be the best way to handle them.

The flanking sun sorceress may not work as well as you might hope - you're pinning a lot on her, and your opponent will be pretty wise to what she's going to do. It could be very much all or nothing.

[downstroypvp]

Thanks for the reply!

So the banner doesn't gives me magical attacks, that's too bad. I can only deal with wraith and stuff with magic, I don't like that very much.

The hazardous sun was kinda assumed, maybe just to lol one game or two. I have in mind to swap her with a master on dark peg, and shuffle a bit the BSB master equipment to complete the points (plus the peg master will be able to deal with etheral as I will give him a magic weapon of some sort...). But I don't really like losing a caster as I really want to dominate the magic phase, or at least be in par with other magic heavy list.

Also I put the banner of discipline in the unit with the sorc general so that I could get an inspiring presence with ld 10, but I am not sure if it worth the 25 points. Also I still don't know if inspiring presence/ doom and darkness affects spells like spirit leech. It seems like the FAQ says so (at least for inspiring presence) but still I am not sure (unmodified modified ld seems kinda weird to me).

Ty for the feedback.