Cavalry armies post-Brettonia?

[Wired4War]

Which factions do you think could pull off a fully or mostly mounted army? I have a Stormcast army right now, but no cavalry other than a couple heroes yet. I was thinking about getting some dracothian guard or palladors (evocators on dracolines soon), but it also got me thinking if maybe it's time for a new army and who else might have fun mounted armies. These two come to mind:

Beastclaw - essentially the entire army.

Bonesplitterz - two different mounted batteline and a mounted wizard.

What else?

[rokapoke]

You could do it with Seraphon. The heroes would be relatively strong, but the Knights leave a bit to be desired in terms of punch - though it’s a full cavalry army then. Maybe if you count Ripperdactyls and Terradons as cavalry?

[christophe]

Nighthaunt has cavalry battle line and nice new cavalry heroes. Or Deepkin if you want even more original cavalry  : eels are deadly and battlelines if you take the see-unicorn riding king, Bretonnia 2.0

[Socrates]

I play an all mounted Greenskinz force of Boarboyz, Warbosses on Boar, Shamans on Boar & more Boarboyz  

Quite fun, but not that competitive.

Currently adding three Gargants to the force. Not mounted, but i think long-legged enough to keep up with the rest...

[Thiagoma]

Order Draconis have a mean cavalry first Strike.  Won me a small local tournament !

[MacDuff]

My Eels have never let me down (so far). But spitballing other exotic cavalry, my twisted mind came up with mutated Sylvaneth Aelf/flying bug cavalry (giant dragonflies?), mechanical steeds (we once had 1, why not whole units?) that could be part of a Free People's reimagining or an Ironweld extension, and Squig cavalry. Heavier chariot-like platforms could include Sylvaneth beetle-platforms, mini cog-forts, and of course Squig chariots. For flyers, Sylvaneth could also have Tree Revenants on giant wasps, a return of the Birdmen of Catrazza (including a giant one), and winged Doom Divers, with Squig-driven catapults so they could be relaunched. Cockroach cavalry for Ghouls and carrion maggots for the undead would be cool. Fyreslayers could use some help too with Magmadroth hatchlings.

[Gotrek]

Blades of Khorne. Take the lord on juggernaut and skull crushers become battleline. 

[cplhicks]

Slaves to Darkness.  They have proper Knights that are battle line and can take a hero on a horse that buffs calvary units as well as a wizard who can be mounted on a horse.  You can also grab marauder cav as a lighter mounted unit that is also battle line.   Throw in 2 types of chariots (one of which is battleline) and you are off to the races (pun intended ). If that wasn't enough there is a battlion for a calvary army allowing them to once per game charge in the hero phase and cause mortal wounds from getting within 3".  

[Wired4War]

3 hours ago, cplhicks said:

Slaves to Darkness.  They have proper Knights that are battle line and can take a hero on a horse that buffs calvary units as well as a wizard who can be mounted on a horse.  You can also grab marauder cav as a lighter mounted unit that is also battle line.   Throw in 2 types of chariots (one of which is battleline) and you are off to the races (pun intended ). If that wasn't enough there is a battlion for a calvary army allowing them to once per game charge in the hero phase and cause mortal wounds from getting within 3".  

Wow, didn't even consider Slaves! Sounds pretty mean.

[grungolah]

You didn't specify horses...

Nurgle can ride into battle on flies, accompanied by wizards mounted on various things like manticores or their big brother.   

[Rogue Sun]

6 hours ago, Thiagoma said:

Order Draconis have a mean cavalry first Strike.  Won me a small local tournament !

2nd this. Somehow Draconis is still not the worst when it comes to doing one thing: being fast and mounted. Their army really only does one thing, but by god it does it well. Not much in the way of unit diversity, but they can ally with other mounted units to give you magic and such.

[Wired4War]

Definitely don't have to be horses! Pigs, dinos, bugs, lions, tigers, bears, it's all good. 

[Skabnoze]

Spiderfang Grots.

Every single model in the allegiance is mounted on a giant spider.  I think they are the only pure cavalry allegiance at this time.

[AlphaKennyThing]

7 hours ago, cplhicks said:

Slaves to Darkness.  They have proper Knights that are battle line and can take a hero on a horse that buffs calvary units as well as a wizard who can be mounted on a horse.  You can also grab marauder cav as a lighter mounted unit that is also battle line.   Throw in 2 types of chariots (one of which is battleline) and you are off to the races (pun intended ). If that wasn't enough there is a battlion for a calvary army allowing them to once per game charge in the hero phase and cause mortal wounds from getting within 3".  

This all day! I love cavalry, and wanted a mounted army for AoS.

For the OP's further info, the battalion is called Ruinbringer Warband. It is very potent at 1,000pts, especially if you give the Chaos Lord on Demonic Mount the Lord of Terror command trait and Helm of the Oppressor for -4 Bravery in 6".

The addition of a mounted Sorceror Lord for some Endless Spell action will be even better!

[Beliman]

Not a competitive army but really fun:

-Freeguild General on Griffon (with Strategic Genius to give 1"+1hit to 2 charging units if you go for an alpha strike our Dauntless/Legendary fighter for charge+more punch).

-Demi-Gryph Knights (target of Rousing Battlecry)- Battleline.

-Tempest's Eye Allegiance for 2"/4" with Archmage on Dragon (with Cogs for 2" more)/Archmage on Aelven Steed or Battlemage on Griffon for only Cogs (2") (losing Tempest's Eye).

-If you don't like magic, swap the wizzard for Palladors (more zone control and take obj.), Dracoth riders (more punch) or Prosecutors (screening, zone control and take obj.).

 

P.D: With the new Lord Arcanum on [insert mount] and Evocators on Dracoline, the list will gain new allies!!

[Deadkitten]

I'm running Blood Knights with a Dragon and wolves as screens.  Cav lists have a couple boxes that need to be checked and not all armies can do it.  Obviously, you want some hammers but this is usually what the cav options are.  You then also want some chaff and an anvil unit.  Plus the Heros and Casters need to be able to keep up.  Any other thoughts on how to set up a Cavalry list and what it needs to be successful? 

[someone2040]

So I think there's an important distinction to make when it comes to cavalry armies. There are a lot of factions that can make an all cavalry army, but there are much fewer factions that can make a diverse all cavalry army.

As an example, Order Draconis IMO while being a good all cavalry army, isn't particularly interesting to build or collect. It has 1 unit and 2 heroes, so I think it's going to get boring once you hit the 1200~point mark. I think (especially since many gamers deem 2k the 'standard') you have to be careful with some of these factions because of this issue.

On the other hand, factions like Slaves to Darkness actually have a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to Cavalry, with access to Marauder Horsemen, Chaos Knights, Chaos Chariots, Chaos Lord on Daemonic Steed, Sorcerer Lord still has a Steed option, and you can get a Chaos Lord and Sorcerer on a Manticore as well.

That's quite a few options you have access too, and that's before you start peeking into allies.

Bretonnians were also a diverse cavalry army. While they basically boiled down to dudes on horses, there was still diversity in the stuff like Questing Knights being good against monsters and Grail Knights being super beat sticks and pegasus knights being able to fly around the battlefield.

[flamingwalnut]

6 hours ago, Beliman said:

Not a competitive army but really fun:

-Freeguild General on Griffon (with Strategic Genius to give 1"+1hit to 2 charging units if you go for an alpha strike our Dauntless/Legendary fighter for charge+more punch).

-Demi-Gryph Knights (target of Rousing Battlecry)- Battleline.

-Tempest's Eye Allegiance for 2"/4" with Archmage on Dragon (with Cogs for 2" more)/Archmage on Aelven Steed or Battlemage on Griffon for only Cogs (2") (losing Tempest's Eye).

-If you don't like magic, swap the wizzard for Palladors (more zone control and take obj.), Dracoth riders (more punch) or Prosecutors (screening, zone control and take obj.).

 

P.D: With the new Lord Arcanum on [insert mount] and Evocators on Dracoline, the list will gain new allies!!

Love the list, but got to point out for those that care: for Matched Play, Tempest Eye has to be Mixed Order, so the Demigryphs aren't battleline and this list now lacks them...

Of course! Swifthawks are in Tempest Eye, and while the models are out of print (and thus may get phased out at some point...) Reavers are always battleline and not hard to convert out of Wild Riders or Marauder Horsemen.

[Beliman]

10 minutes ago, flamingwalnut said:

Love the list, but got to point out for those that care: for Matched Play, Tempest Eye has to be Mixed Order, so the Demigryphs aren't battleline and this list now lacks them...

Of course! Swifthawks are in Tempest Eye, and while the models are out of print (and thus may get phased out at some point...) Reavers are always battleline and not hard to convert out of Wild Riders or Marauder Horsemen.

We talked about  this in another post.

From the last errata, I believe that you only sacrifice "Allegiance abilities". So, if I'm right, you still can have the "Battleline If...", Artifacts, Relics, Battalions and Allies from your main Allegiance and still have the Firestrom Abilities.

[flamingwalnut]

1 hour ago, Beliman said:

We talked about  this in another post.

From the last errata, I believe that you only sacrifice "Allegiance abilities". So, if I'm right, you still can have the "Battleline If...", Artifacts, Relics, Battalions and Allies from your main Allegiance and still have the Firestrom Abilities.

Except you don't qualify for the Freeguild allegiance at all, so how would you get the Battleline If? If you removed the Archmages, than perhaps.

Pretty sure all of that discussion in the Firestorm thread was in regards to armies who had no allegiance. Either way, to unlock any part of an allegiance you need to qualify, and taking things that are out of faction and not allies removes that.

So, you can have Battleline If when you still qualify for the allegiance, but opt for a General Order/Firestorm allegiance. So, say, Order Serpentis with Anvilguard. It is fine, as long as you keep to Order Serpentis and their deaignated allies so you don't break that allegiance.

Otherwise all Mixed Order lists would still have Skink battleline.

[Beliman]

58 minutes ago, flamingwalnut said:

Except you don't qualify for the Freeguild allegiance at all, so how would you get the Battleline If? If you removed the Archmages, than perhaps.

Pretty sure all of that discussion in the Firestorm thread was in regards to armies who had no allegiance. Either way, to unlock any part of an allegiance you need to qualify, and taking things that are out of faction and not allies removes that.

So, you can have Battleline If when you still qualify for the allegiance, but opt for a General Order/Firestorm allegiance. So, say, Order Serpentis with Anvilguard. It is fine, as long as you keep to Order Serpentis and their deaignated allies so you don't break that allegiance.

Otherwise all Mixed Order lists would still have Skink battleline.

I believe that my list is "legal" (there are other posts in the Order forum about that btw):

1-Take an Allegiance: Free People.

2-Build list: Demi-gryph knights battleline if you have Free people allegiance (Battalions and Allies can be taken). Archmage, Battlemage on Griffon**, etc... are just possible allies (remember to take a wizzard to cast Cogs).

3-Then, the army can chose Allegiance abilities from Free people or Order (GHB2017) that give you Battle traits, Artefacts/weapons and Command Traits.

4-From the Firestorm errata, If you chose the Grand Alliance abilities instead of any other (Free people), your army can benefit from the Free Cities (thx again @Double Misfire).

On 6/29/2018 at 10:38 AM, Double Misfire said:

Page 55 – Season of War: Firestorm City & Warlord Armies Change the third and fourth paragraphs to: ‘When you organise your collection to be an army from a specific city or under the command of a specific warlord, and you choose to use the Grand Alliance allegiance abilities instead of any others available to your army, it benefits from an additional City & Warlord allegiance ability; these can be found on the following pages. This does not change the army’s Grand Alliance allegiance, and you can still use the battle traits, command traits and artefacts of power for the Grand Alliance normally. You cannot use the City & Warlord allegiance abilities with any other allegiance abilities apart from Grand Alliance ones.

5-If I chose the GA: Order Allegiance abilitites, I take the GA battle traits and Free city bonus, then I can chose artefacts and weapons from my realm of origin or/and GA:Order. The trait can only be taken from the GA:Order.

**[Important]-Take allies from the same Free City (Eldrich Council, Stormcasts, etc...) to still have the requirments for the Free city (or take the battlemage on griffon for fluff reasons).

P.D: Maybe I'm wrong, but re-reading the rules, I can't find anything that doens't support that.

[flamingwalnut]

@Beliman  You are correct except: Eldritch Council is not a legal ally for Free Guild. So, any archmages removes your Demigryph battleline. That is all I was saying.

So, a legit list could be:

General on Griffon

Demigryphs for battleline

Battlemage on Griffon

You can even use Stormcast stuff as long as you stay in your ally points. Then just use Tempest Eye instead of Freeguild for Allegiance ability and you're golden. It is just those Archmages that throw off your Battleline. If you want to keep everything, Reavers can help.

Anyways, all of this talk is a bit off topic. To add to the All Cavalry idea: I am building a Blood Knight heavy force and so far it has been awesome. Even in Legions of Nagash, you can fill Battleline with Dire Wolves and keep a Knightly theme (hunting dogs, etc). 

[Beliman]

5 minutes ago, flamingwalnut said:

You are correct except: Eldritch Council is not a legal ally for Free Guild. So, any archmages removes your Demigryph battleline. That is all I was saying.

Yep, you are correct.

Only the Lord-Arcanum on Draconline/Taurlon can be the wizzard with the Tempest's Eye bonus.  All of them are over 200points, so the list aims for 2k points ?

[David Griffin]

I played Brets when AoS first dropped, and the next army I gravitated to was a Blood Knight heavy Death list. You can run Legion of Blood, rolling out Blood Knights, Vampires on Nightmares, and Vampires of Zombie Dragons with Dire Wolves as screening chaff.

Legion of Blood gives all your vampires +1 attack. You still pack tons of punch on the charge and can take advantage of some seriously great command abilities from the Vampire Lords to further buff your attack profiles on the Blood Knights.

It's a lot of fun, and the army feels very similar to what I enjoyed doing most when I played my Brets.

[Wired4War]

4 hours ago, someone2040 said:

So I think there's an important distinction to make when it comes to cavalry armies. There are a lot of factions that can make an all cavalry army, but there are much fewer factions that can make a diverse all cavalry army.

As an example, Order Draconis IMO while being a good all cavalry army, isn't particularly interesting to build or collect. It has 1 unit and 2 heroes, so I think it's going to get boring once you hit the 1200~point mark. I think (especially since many gamers deem 2k the 'standard') you have to be careful with some of these factions because of this issue.

On the other hand, factions like Slaves to Darkness actually have a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to Cavalry, with access to Marauder Horsemen, Chaos Knights, Chaos Chariots, Chaos Lord on Daemonic Steed, Sorcerer Lord still has a Steed option, and you can get a Chaos Lord and Sorcerer on a Manticore as well.

That's quite a few options you have access too, and that's before you start peeking into allies.

Bretonnians were also a diverse cavalry army. While they basically boiled down to dudes on horses, there was still diversity in the stuff like Questing Knights being good against monsters and Grail Knights being super beat sticks and pegasus knights being able to fly around the battlefield.

This is definitely something I'm looking for, having a nice variety, and especially mounted heroes that won't be left behind.