AoS 2 - Wanderers Discussion

[Aelfric]

1 hour ago, awcamawn said:

The irony of that post in the Herald is that Khaine is confirmed dead (but not necessarily permadead if Morathi would stop drawing power from his literal heart)

If only we had a Forget-me-knot that lasted longer than one combat phase.

[Bohemond]

On 8/31/2018 at 2:26 PM, Aloth_Corfiser said:

May I ask where those hoods/heads are from? Your sisters looks like actual wanderers!

[Origin]

@Bohemond they're wyldwood ranger heads. They take a bit of persuasion to line up but they look a lot better. I did the same with mine, also added some shadow warrior helmets and dark eldar heads. The de heads give them a slight more feral look. 

[Aloth_Corfiser]

Aww thanks Bohemond!
Yes indeed I used Wildwood Ranger Heads but also Hooded Glade Guard Heads.
Usually I try to cut away some of the plastic at the torso using a scalpel. Still some look a bit goofy because the angle in which they tilt their head sometimes seems wrong. 
Glade Guard Heads are generally easier to attach I would say, because the broader hood can mask gaps between Torso and Head. ^^
 

Edited September 8, 2018 by Aloth_Corfiser

[Gwendar]

I've seen quite a few people suggesting lately that the battalion isn't worth it due to the ease of the nomad prince being killed (and its 12" activation right doesn't help) and realm wanderers only allowing 1 unit to move per turn after the initial setup of the entire army, possibly putting the whole army in a strange position since everything needs to fit within the table edges and preferably also in range of the princes targeted unit. 

Could it possibly be worth it to toss out the unnecessary units and battalion to add in more shooting and just use the standard realm wanderers to teleport a shooting unit around per turn? I still see the benefits, especially when it comes to 1 dropping the army, but I was curious as to everyone else's opinions on the pros/cons. 

Edited September 11, 2018 by Gwendar

[Origin]

@Gwendar I'm all for dropping the battalion, the nomad prince is more survivable now than he was is AoS1. Give him the shawl and bubble wrap him and he is pretty hard to shift. Or even give him Mystwalker considering Stalker basically useless. But for me the changes to realm wanderers from all units to one is the hammer blow. A canny opponent can box you out range from anything significant on your turn 1 drop. With the change to one unit per turn I feel that the focus on a unit big unit of sisters is the way to go. Bounce those girls around for max dakka, everything else can move or just park up. All in all AoS2 hit us with the nerf bat.

[Frozenbeast]

I think the point of the battalion might just be the extra artifact it gives you. I think it is anyway valuable to have a starscaster longbow for a final MW on 2 when lucky. The extra round of shooting can end up being useful but it is a tool rather than a reliability you can build your army around imo. 

[Thenord]

Hi guys

Long time reader, first time poster.

Been playing SCE and khorne daemons the last couple of years, and wanted to try a completely different army- ie, wanderers!

Since I have zero experience with this army, I would really like some input on the list I'm working on..

It looks like this:

Nomad prince

Waywatcher (general, eagle eyed)

Waywatcher

Spellweaver (viridesent shawl)

Spellweaver

Anointed on frost pheonix (ally)

30 GG

10 SotW

10 SotW

5 SotT

5 Wild riders

5 wild riders

quicksilver swords

2000 points.

The idea is to get as many spells of as possible close to the anointed, to stack up the +1 to his save, which coupled with shield of thorns from the SotT should make him a super counter anvil, that can go tie up the biggest, baddest unit the opponent has. GG will stay back, boubblewrap the prince and use their boodkins with his command ability to take out  (or try) either a monster or heavy armored unit and afterwords hold objectives. SotW and waywatchers do what they do and shoot stuff, wild riders go objective/ wizard hunting. 

What do you think, could it work or have I totally missed something. I know wanderers are in a tough spot now. But I really love the models and think the playstyle of the army looks like a lot of fun and something completely different than what I'm used to

Cheers!

Edited September 11, 2018 by Thenord

[GM_Monkey]

I'm still trying to find my feet with the battalion, twice I've used it and twice I've killed everything within range, and then been left stranded.

I think with every faction in AOS positioning is vital in the first few turns. The 12" on the hero phase is quite a short range, but you do get units charging into my ranks of Eternal guard shields so it is useful.

The biggest mistake I've made is being to cautious with it, I haven't moved forward enough and I've kept all the shooting units to close to the Nomad prince, sometimes you need to but the battalion front and centre and hope you can control all the objectives at range, creating a nice kill zone. I going to try this my next game with the battalion and see how it goes.

[GM_Monkey]

BTW has anyone been burned by the new rules for Citadel Woods (no Line of sight) means that I can no longer park my eternal guard in them and have a unit of sisters behind them, as the sister can't see anything. Also put massive LOS blocking terrain all of the board.

Also had a realm of shadow's realm feature of reducing all range to 6", in the end we decided to change realms as the game would have been pointless. 

[Aloth_Corfiser]

Hi Thenord welcome ,

I like that list, however I am not that experienced to give good advice. The only thing I  would consider is using the SotW as objective holders and let their ability to shoot twice shine. This could be vital in Games where you need to stay at objectives with respective heroes. I think places of Power is one such particular Scenario. you could add a Spellweaver to your Sisters of the Watch that either heals them or your Wild Riders (which is even better).

You could catch your opponent off guard by rushing forward with your Wild Riders, denying enemy units that want to grab objectives, also advance quickly with the Sisters of the Watch and the Spellweaver to support the Riders and  heal them. 
What I perceive as especially useful is that you could have effectively 2 Task-forces each consisting of 1x SotW, 1x Wild Rider, 1x Spellweaver.  Of course your Waywatchers and the Sisters of the Thorn need to support them. (Buffing the Wildriders with the Shield of Thorns maybe)

@GM_MonkeyI once lost the game when fighting in Aqshy, because every terrain Piece emitted trails of smoke and units could not see each other when they were positioned in certain angles. I forgot the exact specifications, nonetheless it was frustrating, but it could have also been in my favor had we rolled for the -1 rend effect in Aqshy.

 

Edited September 11, 2018 by Aloth_Corfiser

[Origin]

@Thenord I like the list mate, It has pretty much all solid choices. 2 Spellweavers are cool particularly if you:re playing with realm spells.

The only change I would make is to drop a unit of Wildriders, and the quicksilver swords, for 2 units of 10 Eternal Guard and bring the Sisters of the Watch into a single unit of 20. The EG do a great job of camping objectives for cheap. SotW are way to expensive to camp for my tastes, and with their 18" they need to pushed up to be effective, but they are better not moving, thus are the prime candidate for our single teleport.

The frosty is an epic ally choice, he fills so many holes in our roster. Consider giving him the relic option, doppelganger cloak, any -1 to hit etc. 

Good luck

Edited September 11, 2018 by Origin

[Gwendar]

9 hours ago, Origin said:

@Gwendar I'm all for dropping the battalion, the nomad prince is more survivable now than he was is AoS1. Give him the shawl and bubble wrap him and he is pretty hard to shift. Or even give him Mystwalker considering Stalker basically useless. But for me the changes to realm wanderers from all units to one is the hammer blow. A canny opponent can box you out range from anything significant on your turn 1 drop. With the change to one unit per turn I feel that the focus on a unit big unit of sisters is the way to go. Bounce those girls around for max dakka, everything else can move or just park up. All in all AoS2 hit us with the nerf bat.

@GM_Monkey I see all of these points from you and Origin, I guess that's where I'm stuck. When it comes to a pure shooting army (I'm not overly worried about winning every game, I have other armies for competitive play, but definitely want to do decently with Wanderers and not get absolutely ran through every game) is it just better at this point to run something more like this without the battalion? Having the 1 drop is valuable, but anyone with have a brain can box you out since the deployment radius from the table edge is so restrictive. I view the battalion mostly as beneficial for the Princes ability but maybe I'm just overselling it? 

Allegiance: Wanderers
Waywatcher (120)
- General
- Trait: Stalker of the Hidden Paths/Eagle Eye/Whatever
Waywatcher (120)
Waywatcher (120)
Nomad Prince (80)
Spellweaver (100)
- Heartwood Staff
- Artefact: Viridescent Shawl 
30 x Glade Guard (360)
20 x Sisters of the Watch (360)
20 x Sisters of the Watch (360)
20 x Sisters of the Watch (360)

Total: 1980 / 2000

Otherwise with the battalion I have pretty much the same setup Adreal has been using posted previously, maximizing on SotW.

Edited September 11, 2018 by Gwendar

[adreal]

Wondering what people think of this list?

[mmimzie]

Howdy folks. I was wondering about sisters of thorn.

I see them in alot of the wanders list here. Do you bring them all to fill the battalions?? What units do you buff with them?? 

[GM_Monkey]

16 hours ago, mmimzie said:

Howdy folks. I was wondering about sisters of thorn.

I see them in alot of the wanders list here. Do you bring them all to fill the battalions?? What units do you buff with them?? 

I really dislike Sister of the Thorn but feel obliged to bring them to fill and the battalion, to get a second tanker and faster wizard unit and for the spell.

I usually always cast it on a stationary Fortress of Boughs Eternal guard (added bonus if I can get them into cover as well.)

However they can't fight for anything 1 attack 4+ 4+ plus the mounts 2 attacks isn't that good for 220 points. They're shooting attack is only 9" so difficult to get off without getting charged next turn, so outside of a wizard they just aren't that good. Plus with the nurf to mystic shield getting a 4, 5, 6 mortal wound is so much harder, as soon as you introduce any rend it gets even harder again.

[Frozenbeast]

5 hours ago, GM_Monkey said:

I really dislike Sister of the Thorn but feel obliged to bring them to fill and the battalion, to get a second tanker and faster wizard unit and for the spell.

I usually always cast it on a stationary Fortress of Boughs Eternal guard (added bonus if I can get them into cover as well.)

However they can't fight for anything 1 attack 4+ 4+ plus the mounts 2 attacks isn't that good for 220 points. They're shooting attack is only 9" so difficult to get off without getting charged next turn, so outside of a wizard they just aren't that good. Plus with the nurf to mystic shield getting a 4, 5, 6 mortal wound is so much harder, as soon as you introduce any rend it gets even harder again.

 

You might as well go with  second unit of WR and a second Spellweaver outside the battallion. you'll have anyway 10 wounds to shield your core units plus they are fast and high bravery and you'll have a second free dispell during the game.

 

[Cambot1231]

On 9/11/2018 at 4:35 AM, Aloth_Corfiser said:

Hi Thenord welcome ,

I like that list, however I am not that experienced to give good advice. The only thing I  would consider is using the SotW as objective holders and let their ability to shoot twice shine. This could be vital in Games where you need to stay at objectives with respective heroes. I think places of Power is one such particular Scenario. you could add a Spellweaver to your Sisters of the Watch that either heals them or your Wild Riders (which is even better).

You could catch your opponent off guard by rushing forward with your Wild Riders, denying enemy units that want to grab objectives, also advance quickly with the Sisters of the Watch and the Spellweaver to support the Riders and  heal them. 
What I perceive as especially useful is that you could have effectively 2 Task-forces each consisting of 1x SotW, 1x Wild Rider, 1x Spellweaver.  Of course your Waywatchers and the Sisters of the Thorn need to support them. (Buffing the Wildriders with the Shield of Thorns maybe)

@GM_MonkeyI once lost the game when fighting in Aqshy, because every terrain Piece emitted trails of smoke and units could not see each other when they were positioned in certain angles. I forgot the exact specifications, nonetheless it was frustrating, but it could have also been in my favor had we rolled for the -1 rend effect in Aqshy.

 

I used this tactic comprised of Spellweaver,  Sisters of the Thorn supporting Wild Riders as a flanking objective grabber.  A nice little detachment from the rest of the battalion.  Healing up the lost calvary units and giving sisters plus one to cast from the shawl can be good and make up for the individual weaknesses of each unit while the shooting units are on the other side of the board doing their thing with the battalion.  

[adreal]

So last night I tried a battalion list with two extra squads of eternal guard against a blades of khorne list, managed to get the win because I could hold objectives in turn 1 with my eternal guard, so my 30 sisters of the watch and 20 glade guard could be aggressive. 

Also 3 waywatchers is really good

[Gwendar]

23 minutes ago, adreal said:

So last night I tried a battalion list with two extra squads of eternal guard against a blades of khorne list, managed to get the win because I could hold objectives in turn 1 with my eternal guard, so my 30 sisters of the watch and 20 glade guard could be aggressive. 

Also 3 waywatchers is really good

No more pure shooting lists then eh? I've thought of adding in eternal guard but..I don't know if I really want another "gunline" style army utilizing them + sotw. The EQ always seem to do their job nicely from what I've seen.

[adreal]

2 minutes ago, Gwendar said:

No more pure shooting lists then eh? I've thought of adding in eternal guard but..I don't know if I really want another "gunline" style army utilizing them + sotw. The EQ always seem to do their job nicely from what I've seen.

Well the battalion is pure shooting (apart from the cav units), but I need something to take early objectives so I can get points on the board, plus it's nice to actually deploy things.

[Gwendar]

1 hour ago, adreal said:

Well the battalion is pure shooting (apart from the cav units), but I need something to take early objectives so I can get points on the board, plus it's nice to actually deploy things.

True, ever thought of trying it out without a battalion? I posted a list suggestion above and I've been really curious to run it and continually move out of range of things to whittle it down with the high body/shooting count. 

[adreal]

I have, but I do like the flexability of the single drop and being able to put pressure where I want to. Loosing being able to wander with more then 1 unit hampers us, plus the free shooting phase in the hero phase is alot of fun when we get to pull it off

[GM_Monkey]

On 9/14/2018 at 3:02 PM, Frozenbeast said:

 

You might as well go with  second unit of WR and a second Spellweaver outside the battallion. you'll have anyway 10 wounds to shield your core units plus they are fast and high bravery and you'll have a second free dispell during the game.

 

Then you loose the shield of thorn spell which does work on a unit of 20 eternal guard. (and I also means I have to, buy, build and paint another unit of Wild Riders and I'm so behind on my army so far).

But you're right I should try that out.

Edited September 17, 2018 by GM_Monkey

[DionTheWanderer]

On 9/14/2018 at 9:41 AM, GM_Monkey said:

I really dislike Sister of the Thorn but feel obliged to bring them to fill and the battalion, to get a second tanker and faster wizard unit and for the spell.

I usually always cast it on a stationary Fortress of Boughs Eternal guard (added bonus if I can get them into cover as well.)

However they can't fight for anything 1 attack 4+ 4+ plus the mounts 2 attacks isn't that good for 220 points. They're shooting attack is only 9" so difficult to get off without getting charged next turn, so outside of a wizard they just aren't that good. Plus with the nurf to mystic shield getting a 4, 5, 6 mortal wound is so much harder, as soon as you introduce any rend it gets even harder again.

I find they're at their best ~8" behind a unit of 20 EG defending an objective, ideally in cover. For extra punch, have a spellweaver in range to replenish any casualties on the two units.  

20 EG at 3/3/3+, rerolling 1s and 2s, causing mortal wounds on 4+ is bloody hard to shift. Add the sisters' javelins, and you'll be doing a reasonable amount of damage in return. 

Plus, while they're mediocre in combat, 10 wounds of sisters (with a possibility of 2D3 being returned by a blessings of life spell) are a pain to get rid of, so if they do wipe out your eternal guard, you have a fallback unit that might stick around long enough to hold an objective on a final critical turn or two. 

That means for 140+220+100 = 460 points, i.e. less than a quarter of your army you have a *very* stubborn defensive unit. This gives you a fulcrum around which you can either go for mobility, firepower, or a combination of the two. 

*Disclaimer* - I'm a pretty new player, and don't exactly have a stellar record in matches, so more experienced players may have ways round this.