Big Model Army

[hobgoblinclub]

The more I play AoS, the more I’m gravitating towards larger models.  When 8^th ended I was gutted that rank and file was going away.  ‘Round bases are for kids’, ‘Pew! Pew!’ and all that.

A year later and all I’m buying is big models!

I’m planning an army with nothing smaller than Blightkings (monstrous infantry?).  It’ll be bile trolls, plaguedrones, a warpfire dragon, a Lord of Change etc. etc.

Before I splash the cash, build it all, and spend a year painting it (I’m famously slow) is this sort of list any good?  In a scenario driven environment can an army of big stuff, without any infantry, compete?  We play (fairly) friendly games.  It’s not overly competitive, but I’m concerned about the ability of list such as this to take and hold objectives.  Due to the low model count, it’s not going to be difficult for the enemy to seriously reduce the number of scoring units I have available.

Who’s playing such a force of large models, and does it work?  Thanks.

[Nico]

The only serious weakspot that you'll come up against frequently is against Stormcast alpha strike lists (e.g. Skyborne Slayers) as they'll be able to selectively target the big monsters you have in turn one. This is because you don't have anything that can cost effectively wall off your valuable units - losing a lot of Blightkings to Starsoul maces to the face is not good as they're expensive wounds to lose.

There are some brutal hard counters to monsters (Wildwood Rangers, Blunderbusses and Protectors) out there - but they are rarer than they ought to be. 

With monsters being able to hold objectives (even on one wound) - you should be fine in that sense. You could have individual Chaos Spawns as scoring units in your own territory, if you don't want derpy little units of 10 marauders or Skaven Slaves to do that job. 

That said, Chaos have somehow managed to end up with the worst monsters (without the hero keyword) in the game.

 

 

 

[Dangermouse425]

The Aleguzzler Gargant formation from Godbeasts would be a great way to do a "Monster mash" army. As it's Destruction-aligned, you could then add in all sorts: Trolls, Maw Crushas, Ogre monsters of various types, etc.

Alternatively, you could just do a Giant-only army. That would be awesome.

[Nico]

The Bloodscorch Bulltribe looks pretty good - add a Bloodstoker and Bloodsecrator.

It's about as subtle as a brick though.

[hobgoblinclub]

9 hours ago, Dangermouse425 said:

The Aleguzzler Gargant formation from Godbeasts would be a great way to do a "Monster mash" army. As it's Destruction-aligned, you could then add in all sorts: Trolls, Maw Crushas, Ogre monsters of various types, etc.

Alternatively, you could just do a Giant-only army. That would be awesome.

We were talking about an all giant army at Warhammer Fest. With that formation out, it'd be great if GW would release a giant kit with options for a leader/champion, and maybe a ranged option (think scaled up leadbelcher). The old kit with an expansion sprue would more than suffice.

[Gharak]

I use a similar list

10 blightkings

3 plague drones

Chimera

Morbidex twiceborn

Sorcerer lord w Mark of Nurgle

Brayshaman (to resummon the chimera or morbidex)

3 Bile trolls

 

I've a load of plaguebearers, nurglings, 2 Daemonprinces, some chaos warriors and knights which I can swap in depending on opponent. 

 

Stormcast are hard work, I've never been alphastriked so far but a single wounded stardrake demolished my blightkings in 1 round last game, took me by suprise as they're rarely wiped out.

I find I do suffer against high armour armies due to lack of rend, blightkings are great and kick out a lot of dice but with no rend they can bounce.

[hobgoblinclub]

Interesting!  That is a fairly similar list @Gharak.  I just can't wait to play a game without any little stuff on the table.  I've been playing with plaguemonks recently.  They hit pretty hard at times, but they're darn fiddly.

[TalesOfSigmar]

I'm planning a Monster Mash list, currently sitting at the 5 x Giants using the formation, Troll Hag and then either Collosal Squig (already purchased) or units of River Trolls. Plan is to take it to Blood and Glory in November for a laugh. Not expecting it to do much scoring wise but could still be fun to put down all those big models and just stumble forwards!

Got an idea of a display board, basing and terrain to go with it, but might be out of my limited creative range.

[Chris Tomlin]

My Chaos, Order and Destruction armies are all based around units with a base size of 40mm and upwards. My Chaos in particular is pretty much Blightkings, Varanguard and monsters. 

Like you, I used to dislike "massive models" (the silly stuff that is, always liked my general on a monster if possible) in WFB, but I almost see AoS as being a different scale as well as a skirmish game. Armies like this can do just fine, just make sure you check the sort of scenarios you will be playing. Can always add in some smaller stuff if required for scoring units.

[hobgoblinclub]

@TalesOfSigmar just go for it. If your display board ends up looking like a paper mache Tracy Island, you could always number the giants and paint up them up in the colours of the Thunderbirds' vehicles. 

[Soup Dragon]

I run a 'large model' army - 3 stonehorns + 3 thundertusks + bits. The success of this type of list very much depends upon the comp. At SCGT it did well despite my incompetent playing, as the monsters can capture. However under Clash comp it struggles as a scoring unit has to have at least 2 models. The 'all Gargant' army would have the same restrictions. I would recommend running these types of army though as they are a lot of fun.