Which Lords of Sacrament allegiance to choose on 2nd edition?

[ogmaadn]

Hi all,

So far I've only played either Lords of Sacrament or generic Grand Host armies (no Nagash) since they seemed the most competitive alternatives for Legion of Nagash armies.

Now that the new AoS edition is bringing really exciting changes like free summoning (rather "resurrecting" for us), endless spells... I feel that Legion of Sacrament can really become a top-tier competitive army despite the battalion's increase in points.

However, when playing a Lords of Sacrament battalion I'm not sure if sticking to the Legion of Sacrament allegiance is the best option or rather going for the Grand Host, specially if you play units such as Grave Guard or Morghasts like I do (since Sacrament lists use to have an important lack of hammer units). Let's say I use to play a list similar to this:

Lords of Sacrament: Arkhan+2 Necros+Mortis+battalion

Battletines: x40 skellies + x5 Dire Wolves + x5 Dire Wolves

Elite: x30 Grave Guard + x2 Morghasts Harbingers

And then some room for Endless Spells (i.e. Spell Portal+Shackles+Palisade)

On one hand, the Legion of Sacrament battle traits don't seem a big deal: The Master's Teaching seems extremely situational  and redundant considering Endless Legions, so now that summoning is free, Endless Legions should be enough to bring back slained units (in a LoS list with big blocks of skellies, you are not going to have those many small units that can be killed and then resurrected either). And Black Disciples (+1 to casting) is ok, but not a major advantage.

On the other hand, the Grand Host battle traits seem better for me, specially considering the aforementioned list: the +1 attack for Morghasts is probably more useful since there is already  enough magic power for LoS so +1 to casting is not crucial, however the lack of a hard-hitting killy unit uses to hurt LoS lists more,  that's why I include both Morghasts and a big block of GG to march along with regular skellies. And Legions Innumerable seems to me way more useful than Master's Teaching since it provides more regen power to keep all units alive rather than simply bringing one back if you get considerably lucky and everything just comes together. And even then, in this list for example you could only potentially resurrect one of the Dire Wolves units at best since the big blocks are hard to erase completely (so that's why I think Endless Legions is enough for this purpose). Not to mention that you could even use your Grave Guard as battleline hence dropping a unit of Dire Wolves and getting more Endless Spells, or even an extra command point...

The only thing I can see why I'd pick LoS allegiance over Grand Host is artifacts though I'm not sure that's enough reason to pick it up instead, specially now that we are going to have tons of new options for realm artifacts and so.

I think this is an interesting topic coming into the new edition, What do you think?

[Sception]

Depends on what you gill out the rest of your list with.  For the list you posted?  Grand host, no question.  Trade those skittles for 40 rasps (either 1 big unit or 2x20) , the grave guard for grimghasts or spirit hosts, and the morghasts for some hexwraiths or the new banshees, or maybe some ghostly heroes like the guardian of souls, or a cairne banshee, or either version of the knight of shrouds (mounted to buff grimghasts, on foot to buff spirit hosts)?  Then you're better off with legion of sacrament, and the ghostly units will help convey the sorcerous theme.

Either way, be sure to leave points over for some endless spells.  Pirple sun is expensive but beastly, pallisades and shackles are amazing utility for cheap, spellportal is nigh indispensible at a price somewhere in between.

[ogmaadn]

@Sception Thanks for your feedback, really interesting to hear that ghost army alternative but for now I think I'll stock to skellies and traditional death.

My only concern is about artifacts: it is true that, in the new edition, we have new tools to protect heroes such as the Look Out, Sir! rule. But still I'm not sure if leaning towards Grand Host means that I'm gonna miss some of the protective artifacts that Legion of Sacrament provides for the squishy heroes on the list.

According to the previous army list, there are 110 points left that will be  indeed invested on endless spell. I was planning on using them for Spell Portal+Shackles+Palisade, but given the fact that under the Grand Host I can drop one of the Dire Wolves units (since GG are battleline), I could invest those 60 points on more Endless Spells, so maybe a Purple Sun+Spell Portal that should be nuts, or maybe a Purple Sun+Shackles+Palisade if I need more protection (though it feels that Spell Portal is gonna become almost mandatory for Arkhan and some Sacrament spells).

[themortalgod]

I think Sacrament can really double down on spell casting that will now be able to match or even exceed the magic that Tzeentch can put out. Its main weakness before was that necromancy lacked offensive power so it lacked hitting power. Malign Sorcery patches that hole.

Lords of Sacrament + Corpse Cart with Bell makes for a ridiculous amount of casting power. Toss cogs on Arkhan and he can cast 4 spells per turn at +5 to cast and each necromancer can toss 2 spells each at +3 to cast. One could be up to 3 spells with a balewind. 

Also, my 2¢ is that Purple Sun is garbage that is all about luck. Most of the time it will do hardly anything, sometimes it will wreck. Personally, I feel the pendulum is the true sleeper wrecking ball of the set. Also, depending on how you angle it, you can mitigate it ever being turned back on you.

 

[CharnelChimera]

What do you guys think of allying in a Ghoul King on Terrorgheist into a Lords of Sacrament battalion using list? Using the extra command point turn 1 or 2 for an extra 160 points of Flayers seems like it could be worth it, and it's not like the GKoTG is a slouch in combat, either.

[Sception]

Tough choice between that and a VLoZD.  Both are strong.  the vamp lord has better casting, though, and can take an artifact, which I think will make the vamp/dragon the better big monster hero if you're running Legion of Sacrament.  Also he'd leave your ally slots open for new nighthaunt stuff.  If you run any spirit hosts or hexwraiths, you'll really want that knight-of-shrouds-on-foot, which is only available to legion of nagash lists via allies points.  In a Grand Host list that sticks to more skeletal and morghast units rather than ghostly options I could see the ghoul/gheist being better.

[Honk]

Just saw the MWG battles for AoS v2. 

They didn’t use it, but with the realm spells and the battalion, legion of sacrament could really escalate hard. Especially through the portal.

 

Purple sun imo depends on you ability to roll sixes. Devastating against fe 40 skellis, especially because the model is „slain“. Or other blobs.

Single hero 1/6 chance... yes, might be really bad, but on the other hand it could rotate around your head all game and do nothing. Those endless spells really stir things up and are quite unpredictable.