Competitive CoS Gunline (2000) FAITH, STEEL AND GUNPOWDER!

[Galamund]

Hey all, I am wanting to run a very competitive CoS army. I've got tons of old Empire minis and think I can build a hell of a gunline.

 

HEROES:

General (General, Drillmaster)

Cogsmith with Grudgeraker

Battlemage (Adjutant to the General)

Celestial Hurricanum with Battlemage

BATTLELINE:

40 Guard with Halberds

20 Handgunners (Long Rifle)

20 Handgunners (Long Rifle)

20 Crossbowmen

ARTILLERY

3x Helstorm Rocket Batteries

Greywater Fastness Battalion

 

This gets me to 1920 points. The plan is to have the Halberd Guards be the outer screen, with the missile troops behind them as a second screen. Behind that I'll park the Hurricanum and the triple Rocket Batteries. Using the Battalion, the Rocket Batteries fire twice on T1, giving me 18 shots hitting on 3s RR1s. This does about 10-12 wounds to a model with a 4+invul, and so it has the potential to alpha-strike almost anything off the table at 39". The 60 missile troops can be hitting on 2s wounding on 2s relatively easily, rerolling 1s from the General's Drillmaster, with either rending shots from the Handguns or larger plain volleys from the Crossbows to clear chaff and light infantry targets. The Wizards do Wizard stuff (Greywater has decent spells imho) and the Hurricanum pours MWs into targets. I've also got 80pts to spend on Endless Spells, too.

As I see it, this list's weakness is mobility and board control. So far to remedy that I've been thinking of dropping the Crossbows for 2x10 Shadow Warriors to pop up and hold objectives, etc. Aside from that, I'm moving huge blocks of troops at a slow march at best.

What other weaknesses do you think this has? Am I deluded in thinking that shooting alpha strikes can work in AoS? Or am I using too much of a 40k mindset and overestimating the power of shooting in this game? Thank you so much for your thoughts!

FAITH, STEEL AND GUNPOWDER!

Edited September 29, 2019 by Galamund

[spenson]

As you said, the army has a big issue with board control. This is a big weakness in my opinion because a lot of scenarios reward taking your opponent's objectives or being able to stay right in the middle of the table.

If I played Greywater I'd probably go really greedy with 4 rocket batteries shooting twice in the first turn and a lord ordinator. The rest of the army would be a wizard and a horde of MSU Freeguild guards or something.

I don't really see the point of drillmaster since the rocket batteries already reroll 1's to hit and it will be hard to have the handgunners wholly within 12" of the general if you want to shoot turn 1.

It's a shame that the battalion requires greywater fastness units because the combo Vitriolic Spray (anvilgard spell that removes the save) and empowered Umbral Spellportal is absolutely awesome.

Edited September 29, 2019 by spenson

[stratigo]

I think tempest’s eye makes a better gunline. You use the first turn to board position, and then blaze away

[Requizen]

Have you thought of using an Ordinator rather than a Hurricanum for the +1 hit bonus on the artillery? Obviously not the same (doesn't affect the other units, not a wizard, etc), but frees up points for more models and mobility while keeping a strong artillery threat.

[swarmofseals]

I don't think the artillery is going to be a competitive choice. At baseline handgunners and crossbows are like three times more efficient than artillery. I'm also not a fan of the hurricanum in this build as the handgunners are already at 2+ to hit.