New to AoS/Stormcast - Army help?

[vanderbilt005]

Hi everyone

 

I'm wanting to get into AoS and it has been probably a good 15+ years since I've played any sort of warhammer so I figure I am coming into it as a complete newbie again. After looking over all of the various models I have fallen in love with the Stormcast Eternals and was looking for some advice on whether my planned out starter army is decent. I'm looking to have fun and be somewhat balanced so that I can both win and lose  Also a question for stuff like Staunch Defender, does the entire unit need to be within the 6" of the Castellant or just a single model for the bonus to apply? Finally any suggestions/tips/ideas on how I would build this out to a 2000 point list? I'm pretty lost with the battalion stuff and as far as looks go about the only models I really don't like are the Vanguard Hunters. Love pretty much everything else however.

This is what I am thinking about starting with:

Lord-Castellant (100)

- General

- Command Trait : Staunch Defender

- Artefact : Mirrorshield

- Mystic Light : Lantern of the Tempest Lord

-Relictor (80)

- Prayer : Bless Weapons 

10 x Liberators (200) -Warhammers - 2 x Grandhammers

10 x Liberators (200) -Warhammers - 2 x Grandhammers

5 x Judicators (160) -Skybolt Bows

5 x Judicators (160) -Skybolt Bows

3 x Prosecutors with Stormcall Javelins (100) - 1 x Stormsurge Tridents

[Richelieu]

First, welcome back!  I too, took a many year hiatus from wargaming and then fell in love with the Sigmarines. 

Second, you only need a single model to be in range of staunch defender for the entire unit to benefit. 

Third, mystic lights are artifacts, thus the Castellant cannot take both a mirror shield and lantern of the tempest Lord. 

Fourth, people generally don't take such a large quantity of battle line outside of any battalion requirements or synergies, such as in the Vanguard Wing.  

Battalions grant all the units contained therein additional benefits as described on the battalion Warscroll.  In order to take a battalion you must take the requisite set of units and pay the battalion points cost.

As for expansion... That list is well on its way to a Vanguard Wing, which is very competitive.  There are a couple downsides to Vanguard wings though.  No other list will make use of 30 liberators and 3 units of prosecutors and it can make for very unfun games for opponents who don't know what is about to drop from the skies.  

[vanderbilt005]

Thank you for the advice

I missed that little part about the light counting as an artefact. I'm guessing keeping the mirror shield would be better over the lantern?

As far as the units any suggestions on what to take out/add? Just playing around real quick would going down to 5x Liberators and adding 5x Retributors and another Relictor w/ lightning chariot work out decently? It just seemed like I kept getting odd point values and wasn't quite sure where to fix things

[Richelieu]

Mirror Shield is usually the default artifact for your General as it makes sniping them exceedingly difficult (other than mortal wounds).   If you have a battalion, and can therefore take an additional artifact for your army, making someone else your general and giving them mirror shield and then putting the tempest lantern on Castellant can provide further ranged protection.

Don't worry about hitting 1K points on the nose.  Ending up at 990 or 980 can get you a Triumph (that you'll invariably forget to use).   Retributors can be tempting because of their superb damage output, but even with lightning chariot, with a 4" move they're still pretty much at the mercy of your opponent's willingness to engage them.  Fulminators are a favorite of many Stormcast players (myself included, as evidenced by my profile pic).  Defense, solid mobility, normal and mortal wound output.  They're the full package and look awesome to boot.