Turragor Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 So, I love the aesthetic of the stormcast eternals. It's what brought me back to warhammer (specifically, popped into local GW in new city for first time after maybe 10 years and saw Knight Venator). Right now though, as I look at the model variety, they're a bit behind other armies. I see a lot of visual variety* in other lists. Stormcast haven't quite the same breadth just yet. They're new and incomplete - it's not a complex explanation. If you look at the variety granted even by the inclusion of 2 kits and a mini-battletome (extremis chamber) and factor in the inclusion of 3 more chambers you can see why it feels like it does (at least for me). But there's nothing at the moment saying I need to stick to Stormcast as there's no allegiance bonus. So that's what I'm thinking about now. Artillery and wizards are mentioned often and I have a wizard, and another on the way. I may get some artillery too but I'll be waiting to see how Steamhead Duardin rumours finally materialise before I decide on that. I've got some spare glade guard, miners and silverhelms to build. Silverhelms I think are quite cool and useful (and battleline). Glade Guard are neat but don't really fit (for me). The miners, though I love. I'm going to work on them first then plug something else in. The army is on a quest for rare minerals and they've sent 2 units of their best miners with an OTT stormcast escort. I'm thinking I'll paint them with blue and silver then elements of gold (echoing the Hammers of Sigmar - copied standard GW) or I'll paint them really muted in colour as a contrast. In game I think they're pretty handy. They don't (being a retired warscroll of sorts) really miss out on a lot of synergy by being plugged into another faction alone (unless I've missed something). As a matter of fact they work in a lot of stormcast combos - vex/retributor - by just adding miners to the strike. They're not an elite unit (come in 10s) helping with model count issues in Stormcast forces. Not too dear for what they can do at 120. Can pop up anywhere (already said but it works really well for objectives). Have a good balance of ranged attacks (pony cart!) and melee. They're actually pretty rend-y too. Drill on their champion is -3! They seem like fun. Tbh if I had the funds and thought I'd survive painting so many, I'd hunt down hundreds of miners. I probably will in the years to come. What else do you think goes well with a stormcast host? In a fluffy sense, in an aesthetic sense and in a gameplay sense. Edit/ *I've been persuaded they're actually quite flexible on the table and I admit I worded my post wrong. I was talking more about needing a break from their aesthetic most of all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Misfire Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 I'd disagree with your main point and argue that Stormcast have loads more variety in unit choices and playstyles compared to other AoS factions, whether brand new ones like Fyreslayers or ones made up of old models like Slaves to Darkness and most of the older WFB armies before they were broken into individual factions (The Empire getting split into Free-Peoples, Devoted, Collegiate Arcane and Ironweld for example). Some of the different themed Stormcast forces I can think of off the top of my head are a shooty force that forces the enemy to come to it with Judicators as battleline and a couple of Heraldors with Paladins waiting to smack down anything that gets too close (basically tall gold dwarfs), a monster mash list with three Stardrakes at 2000 points with a few Liberators and heroes on foot to act as support, and three different varieties of super mobile force respectively centred around prosecutors and the formations that allow them to deep strike and carry units down the board with them, Wardens of the Realmgate shenanigans, and the deepstrike offered by the crazy flexible Warrior Brotherhood formation in GA: Order. Complaining about how many shiny toys Stormcast get aside I think Dispossessed and Ironweld Arsenal with Stormcast are a natural fluffy fit (and look damn good in Stormcast colours!), if the Freeguilds are the Imperial Guard to the Stormcast's Space Marines, then these guys are their natural Adeptus Mechanicus, with the Ironweld warmachines filling most of the 'gaps' in the Stormcast playstyle. Just don't ever expect to take a favourite game vote home with cannons! I've seen a few people running Empire/Collegiate Arcane wizards alongside Stormcast, which is cool and an obvious asthetic fit. The Celestial Hurricanum would be an especially cool centrepiece for a Stormcast army, even if it's rules might be a bit OTT when combined with Retributors and a Lord Celestant on foot! Balthasar Gelt would fit right in to a Stormcast army visually and could easily have survived the End Times if Teclis was able to. Devoted of Sigmar are an obvious fluffy choice but don't do an awful lot for me and haven't got much in the way of models to get excited about. Looking forward to seeing your miners painted up (don't forget to add pony carts!), maybe add a Runelord to lead the expedition and a warmachine or two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turragor Posted August 9, 2016 Author Share Posted August 9, 2016 I gotta say you're probably right. There IS a ton of variety you can experience playing with Stormcast based on your unit choices already. And their only real 'gaps' are artillery, horde units and wizards. I think I what I meant was more a feeling of same-ness brought on by all the big gold men that do slightly similar things. So I can marry the needs of painting variety and tabletop coolness and effect. I like all your suggestions... I think I'm going to expand on my expedition force idea. Trooping out of Azyrheim an army made up of all the surviving factions could have a ton of agents and units involved - all for different reasons. The miners are the first bit of variety. A warmachine (I think one would scratch that itch without upsetting opponents :)) would be great. Wizards of other races. I have an elf wizard on the way but it's warscroll isn't great for the points (compared to battlemage range of spell choice). Oh and there will be ponies. Two units of miners, two equipment packed ponies. They are too big for small cavalry oval and a little small on a dracothian guard oval... but that just means I can stick the piles of miner sprue extras around them! The miner kit is really quite fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Misfire Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 I forgot to add that in a weird bit of back-to-front coincidence I'm currently getting ready to add a small Wardens of the Realmgate batallion (2 units of 5 Liberators, 5 Protectors, a Lord Castellant, a couple of gryph-hounds and a baleful realmgate) of Tempest Lords to my Dispossessed/Ironweld force for a bit of visual and gaming variety. The army is already done up as an expedition force with lots of dwarfs with maps and backpacks led out of Azyrheim by a Runelord on the hunt for treasures from the Age of Myth. The realmgate will be done up with a dwarf-made wooden scaffold implying that it's in the process of being rebuilt/restored. I picked Tempest Lords because I loved their background in Godbeasts and I thought it would be fittinga punishment for a group of Tempest Lords who'd shamed themselves by being reforged before reaching their kill tally to be assigned to essentially babysit a group of duardin bordering on being tourists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turragor Posted August 9, 2016 Author Share Posted August 9, 2016 Your idea is more fleshed out than mine, I'm extra inspired to work on it now! Here's an in progress miner - colour scheme test mostly. Not sure of colours. I could make them blue and goldy to echo stormcast or just do them muted like workers. I like the latter but figure something needs to tie them in. Ofc if they're not bright blue then they will also fit into other order armies and not tie me into 'all order are blue and gold' syndrome. Miner update here: http://www.tga.community/forums/topic/2113-turragors-progress/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wilson Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 I've been using Stormcast and Miners together for a few tournaments and really believe they're a great unit. This is especially the case using RAW GHB where they can contest objectives as soon as they appear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turragor Posted August 9, 2016 Author Share Posted August 9, 2016 1 hour ago, Marc Wilson said: I've been using Stormcast and Miners together for a few tournaments and really believe they're a great unit. This is especially the case using RAW GHB where they can contest objectives as soon as they appear. You've got the experience to back my hunch up! How many units do you use? I've 2 ready for paint and figure I wouldn't want many more than that. Perhaps in some cases 1 is enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Misfire Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 5 hours ago, Turragor said: Your idea is more fleshed out than mine, I'm extra inspired to work on it now! Here's an in progress miner - colour scheme test mostly. Not sure of colours. I could make them blue and goldy to echo stormcast or just do them muted like workers. I like the latter but figure something needs to tie them in. Ofc if they're not bright blue then they will also fit into other order armies and not tie me into 'all order are blue and gold' syndrome. Miner update here: http://www.tga.community/forums/topic/2113-turragors-progress/ The miner looks great in his existing muted workers colours, they've got no reason to match the Stormcast and personally I think the studio devoted army in gold and blue look naff. I've given a few of my old WFB dwarfs Empire twin tailed comet shields and banner icons to subtly tie them into an Azyrheim/AoS theme, I'll try and get some pictures of the force to show you up this weekend or next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wilson Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 In scenarios where the victory condition is 'more enemy models' I have used 30. You want to split them up into 10s as each 10 gets a cart which has 4 extra wounds, plus the steam harpoon. Taking the banner which halves battleshock in conjunction with running down the wounds on the cart first means they can normally hold their position for a round. You can always be sneaky and just take one unit - your opponent may well forget about them until they pop up and nab something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turragor Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 1 hour ago, Marc Wilson said: In scenarios where the victory condition is 'more enemy models' I have used 30. You want to split them up into 10s as each 10 gets a cart which has 4 extra wounds, plus the steam harpoon. Taking the banner which halves battleshock in conjunction with running down the wounds on the cart first means they can normally hold their position for a round. You can always be sneaky and just take one unit - your opponent may well forget about them until they pop up and nab something. I'll bear this in mind. I'm not averse to acquiring 30 total tbh. Love the models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Misfire Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 3 hours ago, Marc Wilson said: In scenarios where the victory condition is 'more enemy models' I have used 30. You want to split them up into 10s as each 10 gets a cart which has 4 extra wounds, plus the steam harpoon. Taking the banner which halves battleshock in conjunction with running down the wounds on the cart first means they can normally hold their position for a round. You can always be sneaky and just take one unit - your opponent may well forget about them until they pop up and nab something. I haven't used/painted miners for AoS yet, but having 13 wounds in a unit with a cart is a pretty tasty prospect for a popup speedbump. Don't forget that if you allocate wounds to the cart and it's not killed you can heal them back with the likes of an Excelsior Warpriest or Jade Battlemage. If you fancy a bit of variety in your deepstriking duardin Joseph Bugman also deepstrikes and allows you to do the same thing for a unit of Quarrellers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turragor Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 5 minutes ago, Double Misfire said: I haven't used/painted miners for AoS yet, but having 13 wounds in a unit with a cart is a pretty tasty prospect for a popup speedbump. Don't forget that if you allocate wounds to the cart and it's not killed you can heal them back with the likes of an Excelsior Warpriest or Jade Battlemage. If you fancy a bit of variety in your deepstriking duardin Joseph Bugman also deepstrikes and allows you to do the same thing for a unit of Quarrellers. I think I've come up with the idea for my order force now. The Earth and Sky patrol. Those muddy stunties popping up from the ground and then the big golden lightning boys flung down from the sky. A vertical pincer formation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Misfire Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 4 minutes ago, Turragor said: I think I've come up with the idea for my order force now. The Earth and Sky patrol. Those muddy stunties popping up from the ground and then the big golden lightning boys flung down from the sky. A vertical pincer formation. Very nice. If you wanted to give the Earth side a bit of a kick you could always take a Runefather or Runeson on Magmadroth along with an Auric Runesmiter on foot (conveniently included in the same box) to allow it to pop out of the earth too. If you made the Magmadroth Rider your general and gave him the Reckless commmand trait you'd have a decent chance of seeing combat with most of your underground stuff on the turn it appeared too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forgebellows Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 I gotta try this sometime. Everything deploys off the board and drops and pops on turn one lol. LEADERS Lord Celestant On Dracoth (220) Josef Bugman (100) Auric Runesmiter (100) - Latch axe UNITS Paladin Protectors x 5 (200) Paladin Decimators x 5 (200) Judicators x 5 (160) - Skybolt Bows - Shockbolt Bow : 1 - Thunderbolt Crossbow : 0 Judicators x 5 (160) - Skybolt Bows - Shockbolt Bow : 1 - Thunderbolt Crossbow : 0 Liberators x 5 (100) - Warhammer & Shield - Grandblades : 1 - Grandhammers : 0 Liberators x 5 (100) - Warhammer & Shield - Grandblades : 1 - Grandhammers : 0 Quarrellers x 30 (360) - Shield - Clan Banner Vulkite Berzerkers x 10 (160) - Handaxes & Throwing Axes BATTALIONS The Skyborne Slayers (140) WOUNDS: 134 TOTAL POINTS: 2000 / 2000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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