NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Hi there! I only have a handful of AoS games under my belt and those were when the game first came out. With the general's handbook out I decided to give it another go. I really enjoy the army construction rules laid out in the handbook. I picked up the spire of Dawn set for my daughter and I to play and learn with. I want to expand the two armies to a semi-competitive level. First up I wanted to do the Aelfs. This is the list I came up with and would appreciate any and all comments and criticisms. Guardians of Dawnspire battalion Archmage on steed High warden 10 reavers 20 swordmasters 10 spire guard Skywarden with swift hawk pennant (General) Skywarden with swift hawk pennant 10 shadow warriors Skycutter with bolt thrower Skycutter with bolt thrower 1980/2000 I beefed up the swordmasters into 20 and went with one unit of 10 reavers instead of two to better utilize the battalion ability. This way the 20 swordmasters can better keep up, or I can choose to double shoot the 10 reavers. I figured the crazy speed of the skycutters would be good, and possibly better than the other options I had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chord Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 good call on swapping out for the archmage on horse it will keep up better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 Thanks. I figured he needed a boost to keep up with the rest of the army. It seems to me that the swift hawks can be insanely fasst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grixti Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 Agree that archmage on horse is the better option for the added movement, and yes I have found that the army can be very fast and mobile on the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 Would the skycutters be better with bolt throwers or the trio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Misfire Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 9 hours ago, NoTurtlesAllowed said: Would the skycutters be better with bolt throwers or the trio? They're about the same on average, but the golden rule of AoS list building is to if in doubt always go with the option that has a point of rend. Honestly if you're going for the win and don't care about beautiful models I'd ditch the Skycutters and Shadow warriors for more Reavers, bringing the Guardians of the Dawnspire unit up to 20 to maximise on being able to shoot twice, and taking another unit of five for battleline requirements. Shadow Warriors are brazenly overpointed at 200 points for 10 (possibly something to do with matched play points for them being lifted from previous independent comp systems and Shadow Warriors's original legacy warscroll being much better than their current one), and I'm still struggling to figure out what skycutters are supposed to do beyond look nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 Im fine with ditching the shadow warriors, hesitant on the skycutters because of the beautiful models, but not opposed to building both lists. I think skycutters are just for artillery snipping myself and looking fantastic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Misfire Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 Good call, with the right positioning they could be very good at taking out the likes of low save wizards and skaven weapons teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 And my thought is with their 16"move, flying, 2d6 run, run and shoot, and run and charge, they can get to some isolated spots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 After some thought, I have made a few changes Guardians of Dawnspire battalion Archmage on steed High warden 15 reavers 10 swordmasters 10 spire guard Skywarden with swift hawk pennant (General) Skywarden with swift hawk pennant 10 spire guard 10 spire guard Skycutter with trio Skycutter with trio I dropped the Swordmasters down to 10, bumped the Reavers to 15, dropped the Shadow Warriors and replaced them with 2x 10 man Spire Guard. I also traded the Bolt Throwers for the Trio on the Skycutters. The thought was that the 1" range on the Swordmasters would limit the 20 man unit's power, so I traded them for 5 more Reavers, and dropping the Shadowwarriors for the Spire Guard actually netted me more bodies overall for objectives, and the 20 of them are greater than the 10 Shadow Warriors IMO. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AAUBURGER Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Nice list! I would put the reavers into seperate units, they are pretty mobile so you can harass a few units and a bad roll wont slow all of them down. I would go back up to 20 swordmasters as well, they cut through monsters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chord Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I agree the 1" range on the swordmasters is a bummer. it makes getting large units into range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Griffin Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I think if you're going straight competitive, the Skycutters are very suboptimal for the premium you pay in points. I'd drop them in favor of more Reavers or beefing up the Swordmaster unit up to 20 again. However, I completely understand you wanting to make them work for aesthetic reasons. They are beautiful models and add a lot of eye candy to the force. I'd go with the bolt throwers just for the rend over the trio. Generally, I think the units in this army that are going to do the most work are the Reavers and the Swordmasters. Investing more points into each of these units will probably be your best shot. Don't forget that you can use the Guardians hero phase movement on the Swordmaster to move them 12" up the board. That's a seriously fast, choppy unit at 20 strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Dropping the swordmasters to 10 was a tough one for me. I want them at 20, I want a fat squad of reavers, I want my skycutter chariots, but it seems I cant have it all! I know the skycutters are not that great, but it is hard to drop them when I think of the 16" move, 2d6, run, shoot, charge and possibly reroll run and charge. It is such an extreme threat range. Plus they look awesome. I guess I will need to build them all and try different lists. I like to convert heavily, so I will have to plan accordingly here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immersturm Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Not a fan of the Spire Guard. Haven't tried them, but on paper they seem highly overpriced. The way I would get around it is taking Reavers in groups of 5, but this isn't an option in the Battalion. Shooting twice with them on top of a pennant. However, not all is lost. Check the Battalion rules. The phoenix and mage guys are also Swifthawks is taken as part of this Battalion. That should make Skycutters Battleline for you, given your Swifthawk allegiance. Use the free points to beef up the Phoenix boys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 I don't think Skycutters are battleline. Spireguard are on the poor side, but I like how they get the bonus to bravery, reroll battleshock and half the amount lost. Gives them some staying power, plus with the pennants they can put out some damage. Enough defending them. They are the cheapest battleline unit I got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immersturm Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Sorry, mixed it up with Shadow Warriors (I am ill, everything blurrs in my head) are Battleline if you have Swifthawk allegiance. Same goes for Spire Guard. So you can basically limit the Spireguard to a minimal, take shadow warriors to camp cover and keep your one big unit of Reavers to shoot twice. Marginal difference, so I guess it comes down to preference. Now if you excuse me, I have pills ans hot soup waiting for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 17 minutes ago, Immersturm said: Sorry, mixed it up with Shadow Warriors (I am ill, everything blurrs in my head) are Battleline if you have Swifthawk allegiance. Same goes for Spire Guard. So you can basically limit the Spireguard to a minimal, take shadow warriors to camp cover and keep your one big unit of Reavers to shoot twice. Marginal difference, so I guess it comes down to preference. Now if you excuse me, I have pills ans hot soup waiting for me So I should go back to first list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immersturm Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Yes, I prefer that one. Purely theoretical though. No experience as of yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWilddog Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I like the Reavers in the big unit of 15. Combined with the Battalion shooting in the hero phases that's a lot of dakka. After playing a few games that unit has always been my MVP. Soften a target up with the dakka then slam in the Swormasters or High Warden. Move, rinse, repeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 I assume reckless is the trait I want, but what about the artifacts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immersturm Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Quicksilver Potion on the Warden seems like a good idea, especially considering how glass-cannon-y he is. Nothing else really stands out. I suppose you can boost damage or rend, but it doesn't seem to be as good. As for the second, Skywardens do not seem choppy enough to warrant a boost in melee, so maybe the Phoenix Pill for the General? I suppose a relic blade would make the trident pretty deadly to chaff with low saves, but that is what the shooting is for to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grixti Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Well if your taking the dawnspire battalion the high warden's command ability allows all swifthawks agents within 16" to reroll dice on the charge, so reckless would not be needed if you are taking him as your general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RossMHoward Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 If you have Dual Skywardens, double QS potions can be very good. Lets say you engage an enormous unit with two of them. With their bounding leap ability you can leapfrog one to the other side of a unit and attack from there. The outcome of this, is that now half the unit has to pile toward one Skywarden, and the other half toward the initial Skywarden. This can effectively limit the amount of attacks each Skywarden receives. Which is important as they're very fragile units. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTurtlesAllowed Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 7 hours ago, Grixti said: Well if your taking the dawnspire battalion the high warden's command ability allows all swifthawks agents within 16" to reroll dice on the charge, so reckless would not be needed if you are taking him as your general. I was thinking of making skywarden the General for his ability Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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