Help for tournament in 2 weeks!

[Cursed]

Hello every one! :)

 

I was reading a lot on this forum for the last few months and I finally decided to create an account and talk with you guys! :P sorry for stalking for so long!

 

Back to business, I have a big tournament in a few weeks and I really want to bring a magic heavy list because the tourney will use all the realm rules and I want to bombard my ennemies with spells. :P I already know all the battleplans and realms for the 3 rounds.

 

Round 1

Places of Arcane Power

Realm of Fire / Burning Skies

Round 2

Shifting Objectives

Realm of Metal / Rust Plague

Round 3

Border War

Realm of Life / Fecund Quagmire

 

I'm torn between 2 lists and if some of you could help me and give me advice, it would be really appreciated. 

 

Legion of Sacrament 2000pts

Shadow Realm

 

Arkhan / soul harvest 320

Necro / overwhelming dread / Spellmirror artefact 110

Necro / fading vigour / Betrayer's Crown or Shroud of Darkness artefact 110

Mortis Engine 180

Lords of Sacrament 130

Umbral Spellportal 60

Prismatic palisade 40

Pendulum or Balewind 40

40 Skeleton warriors 280

5 Dire wolves 60

5 Dire wolves 60

20 Grimghast reapers 280

1 extra CP 50

 

for the rest of the points I have 2 options

#1: 40 Skeleton warriors 280

or

#2: Vampire lord / vile transference 140

10 Dire Wolves 120

Soulsnare shackles 20

 

Thank you all for your help! :)

 

ps: Sadly I don't have a Vampire lord on zombie dragon and only 20 Reapers so I can't boost their unit to 30. :(

[yarrickson]

I like option 2, gives you another cast for your endless/realm spells, and gives Arkhan another spell option. The wolves give you a bit of blocking/objective grabbing. Also I think (without knowing you) that a 2nd block of 40 skeletons can often cause issues (not intentional) of slow play. It's a lot to move/charge/pile in and a lot of dice to roll. Really slows the game down. Not what I would have wanted at my first tourney. One block should be fine. Shackles are situational but a nice option to have. Would think you'll be running out of casts most turns before you get to them. 

[Cursed]

moving quickly a lot of skeletons is not a problem! in my 30ish games since Legions of Nagash, I've fielded 2 blocks of 40 in most of them and I'm getting pretty good at it!  I use thin cardboard sheets to move them in the first few turns of the game and it really help!

 

I've thought a lot about it in the last days. The vampire Lord will be really useful in the first game for a fast wizard to grab ojectives and vile transference is really nice to have. But I'm worried the list won't have enough punching power without the second block of skeletons.  10 Dire wolves are fast and somewhat tanky but they don't do much in the offensive. In the round 2 and 3 I think the skeletons will be more useful because i'll have more places to protect and hold down. In a places of power you want to take 1-2 objectives fast and stay there as long as possible while hunting down ennemy wizard/heroes. In border war you need to hold up at least 3 objectives most of the time. For shifting objectives since the good objectives is always changing having 2 blocks of skeleton in each side of the board can help to respond since they have a slow movement. So I'm pretty set on option #1 for my list.  I think Game 1 will be the hardest but i'll be stronger for the other 2 games.

 

Also what do you think about balewind vs pendulum? I like the pendulum for an automatic 2d6 MW when you have the second turn of a round but I also like the extra spell cast and range from the balewind! Fading vigour is really good to shut down charges from a nasty unit in the first turn so with extra range to cast it, it could make a good difference!