Shootcast - The Thread.

[Ben]

Now that Stormcast have a dedicated spot on the forums I thought we could have some discussions around   the various builds in the Stormcast book.  Shootcast is one of the hot lists.  

Who is playing Shootcast, what are you running, which combos do you finds best and which are less effective? 

[readercolin]

Depends upon how heavily you are relying on the "shooting" of the shootcast.  I have 2 lists that I mess around with:

List 1:

Stormhost: Celestial Warbringers
Lord-Arcanum on Celestial Dracoline
	general
	pride-leader
Knight-Heralder
Lord-Arcanum on Gryph Charger
Lord-Ordinator

5x Sequitors
5x Sequitors
5x Sequitors

6x Evocators on Celestial Dracolines
Celestar Ballista
Celestar Ballista
Celestar Ballista

This list had 3 ballista's + ordinator to start in the sky and then decend to kill key pieces.  Meanwhile the Lord-Arcanum's, knight heralders, and evokitties stick together as a fast moving, hard hitting ground force.  Finally, the sequitors are there to hold objectives.  What I've found playing this is that, generally, 3 ballistas + ordinator tend to out-perform 4 ballistas.  Second, I really want the 4th ballista, and I would drop the Lord-Arcanum on Gryph charger to get it, but then I have 110 points remaining and I don't have any models to put in there.  Third, the evokitties have a very strong tendency to utterly obliterate whatever they hit, but then frequently die to a counterattack.  However, they have the mobility to really scoot around the enemy forces and threaten objectives, and I have frequently been able to either get someone to blob up and allow me to win on objectives, or leave units out that are under-supported, which then proceeds to get them obliterated by the cats.  Lastly, the ballistas tend to be... underwhelming.  I usually deploy them in the sky and then bring them down to either snipe an enemy centerpiece, or to clean up chaff for the evokitties to get in on a jucy target.  However, they usually fail to kill large chaff units, or particularly large centerpiece units.  This is where the 4th ballista might be enough to make up for that.

List 2:

Stormhost: Anvils of Heldenhammer
Lord-Arcanum on Celestial Dracoline
	general
	pride-leader
Knight-Heralder
Knight-Vexilor
	Pennant of the Storm Bringer

5x Sequitors
5x Sequitors
5x Sequitors

6x Evocators on Celestial Dracolines
9x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows

Extra Command Point

This list is basically the same as the one above, but it swaps out the ballistas + ordinator for a large pack of longstrikes.  Additionally, the switch to Anvils gives us a regular use for our command points, as we want to shoot with the longstrikes in our hero phase basically every turn, and we can also use a spare command point to let the evokitties attack again if they are tangled up in a block of chaff.  The longstrikes are worse than the ballistas if chaff needs to get cleaned up, but are significantly better at taking out key centerpieces of the enemy army.  Overall, after testing this setup out a bit, I think I would stick to running the vanguard raptors over the ballistas 9/10.

I have seen other people play with even more shooting than my lists.  However, in my experience it has greatly helped my forces to be able to have a fast-moving, hard hitting cavalry force, as it allows me to force my opponents to react to me.  It also allows me to easily skirt around their movements and play the objective game, which is something that I find very hard to do if you were to try to replace them with something like foot evocators.

[Xeperi]

You'll definitely be wanting this:

http://shiftingobjectives.blogspot.com/2019/10/anvilstrike-tips-faq-updated-oct-25-2019.html

[Kenvs]

That blog was great, do you have any idea of the list used.  It mentions most of the components but doesn’t really specify numbers.

[PJetski]

6 hours ago, Kenvs said:

That blog was great, do you have any idea of the list used.  It mentions most of the components but doesn’t really specify numbers.

Relictor
Incantor
Incantor
Azyros
Heraldor

5x Liberators
5x Liberators
5x Liberators
3x Aetherwings
3x Aetherwings
9x Longstrikes
10x Evocators

Geminids

[Xeperi]

I think I pieced this together from his other posts to include the fine detail stuff, though it might not be perfect:

 

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
- Stormhost: Anvils of the Heldenhammer
Knight-Incantor (140)
- General
- Trait: Deathly Aura
- Spell: Stormcaller
Knight-Incantor (140)
- Spell: Celestial Blades
Lord-Relictor (100)
- Prayer: Translocation
Knight-Azyros (100)
- Artefact: Soulthief
Knight-Heraldor (100)
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warhammer & Shield
- 1x Grandhammers
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warhammer & Shield
- 1x Grandhammers
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warhammer & Shield
- 1x Grandhammers
10 x Evocators (400)
- 10x Grandstaves
- Lore of Invigoration: Speed of Lightning
9 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (540)
3 x Aetherwings (50)
3 x Aetherwings (50)
Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (60)
Total: 1980 / 2000

 

[Roark]

This is my Astral Templars list. The skyborne gun platform and a hammer of Evocators do the killing, and the Aetherwings interfere to keep them unmolested, improve combat selection, cap objectives, delay the enemy from claiming objectives etc.

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
- Stormhost: Astral Templars
Knight-Incantor (140)
- General
- Trait: Dauntless Hunters 
- Spell: Azyrite Halo
Lord-Ordinator (140)
Knight-Azyros (100)
- Artefact: Godbeast Plate 
Knight-Heraldor (100)
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warblade & Shield
- 1x Grandblades
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warblade & Shield
- 1x Grandblades
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warblade & Shield
- 1x Grandblades
10 x Evocators (440)
- 10x Grandstaves
- Lore of Invigoration: Speed of Lightning
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Hurricane Crossbows (140)
3 x Aetherwings (50)
3 x Aetherwings (50)
3 x Aetherwings (50)
3 x Aetherwings (50)
Celestar Ballista (110)
Celestar Ballista (110)
Celestar Ballista (110)
Celestar Ballista (110)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 138
 

[armisael]

11 hours ago, PJetski said:

Relictor
Incantor
Incantor
Azyros
Heraldor

5x Liberators
5x Liberators
5x Liberators
3x Aetherwings
3x Aetherwings
9x Longstrikes
10x Evocators

Geminids

What’s about artefact, command trait, pray and spell? Please may you give me more detail

[Xeperi]

It's Anvils of the Heldenhammer, so the artefact and command trait are set.  The Prayer is Translocation to move the Longstrikes when needed.  I think I have the spells right in my post above but it's been awhile so I'm not 100% sure. 

[PJetski]

7 hours ago, Xeperi said:

It's Anvils of the Heldenhammer, so the artefact and command trait are set.  The Prayer is Translocation to move the Longstrikes when needed.  I think I have the spells right in my post above but it's been awhile so I'm not 100% sure. 

Yup, you basically nailed it.

The only thing I changed is the Incantor spells. The general knows Lightning Blast, and the other one knows Stormcaller.

[schwabbele]

Few questions to the more expierienced generals out there:

1) How do we play against new IJ? They are super mobile, and their damage potential is insane. 

2) Deployment - Should we always build a castle or spread forces out? If we spread - how to do it without loosing longstrikes asap ( consider @PJetski tips for proper placement applied )

3) Can Aetherwings use their ability when they are in combat? I thinkk yes but not sure 100%

[Wrathful]

On 11/11/2019 at 11:35 PM, Xeperi said:

I think I pieced this together from his other posts to include the fine detail stuff, though it might not be perfect:

 

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
- Stormhost: Anvils of the Heldenhammer
Knight-Incantor (140)
- General
- Trait: Deathly Aura
- Spell: Stormcaller
Knight-Incantor (140)
- Spell: Celestial Blades
Lord-Relictor (100)
- Prayer: Translocation
Knight-Azyros (100)
- Artefact: Soulthief
Knight-Heraldor (100)
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warhammer & Shield
- 1x Grandhammers
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warhammer & Shield
- 1x Grandhammers
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warhammer & Shield
- 1x Grandhammers
10 x Evocators (400)
- 10x Grandstaves
- Lore of Invigoration: Speed of Lightning
9 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (540)
3 x Aetherwings (50)
3 x Aetherwings (50)
Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (60)
Total: 1980 / 2000

 

Thank you! I was looking for a way to put my 10 evo's in a shooting list! Awesome! And the blog is really helpful!

[PJetski]

On 11/16/2019 at 3:09 PM, schwabbele said:

Few questions to the more expierienced generals out there:

1) How do we play against new IJ? They are super mobile, and their damage potential is insane. 

2) Deployment - Should we always build a castle or spread forces out? If we spread - how to do it without loosing longstrikes asap ( consider @PJetski tips for proper placement applied )

3) Can Aetherwings use their ability when they are in combat? I thinkk yes but not sure 100%

1)  Same way you play against any other melee army - tie them down with Aetherwings, shoot their key targets with Longstrikes, and counterattack with Evocators/Desolators. If you can keep your melee hammer alive you will win, since their mortal wounds cut through Ironjawz like butter.

Ironjawz cant fight first or fight twice and they don't have the durability of DOK, so it's actually easier than a lot of other matchups. Just watch out for their hero phase teleport (use a dispel scroll on this to cripple their mobility) and plan around their chain pile-ins if they wipe a unit. Be sure you tie down their biggest hitters (huge units of ardboyz, gruntas, maw-krushas) with aetherwings so they cant pile in to the rest of your army.

2) If you are playing against any kind of aggressive list that can reach you on turn 1 you should use a castle deployment. Ironjawz, Slaanesh, FEC, Idoneth, etc. If they cant reach you on the first turn you can deploy more aggressively, keeping units in reserve to drop on any objectives they leave open (or you can clear in the hero phase).

3) Yes, Aetherwings move 2d6" with zero restrictions at the start of the opponents charge phase

[Talas]

How do you protect your Raptors against magic? I just had some quite bad matches against Tzeentch and Hallowheart and my Raptors were almost wiped turn one. My knight-incantors were outranged through spellportals both times.

[PJetski]

7 minutes ago, Talas said:

How do you protect your Raptors against magic? I just had some quite bad matches against Tzeentch and Hallowheart and my Raptors were almost wiped turn one. My knight-incantors were outranged through spellportals both times.

I bring 2 Incantors in my list.

The main threat from Hallowheart is that it does a lot of AOE damage through Chain Lightning, Luminark attack, Roaming Wildfire, Geminids, Comet, etc.. If you try to castle up youll end up taking 5d3 mortal wounds on the first turn and quickly lose the game. Their spells are far less potent when they only damage single units.

All their damage comes from their wizards and for the most part you have a longer shooting range than they have casting range. While they can cast the Spellportal far in the back and use its infinite setup range to cast outside of your dispel scroll range, remember there are other limitations on it:

1. Only one spell per turn can come through the portal, so the damage it can deal is limited. They will usually only deal D3 mortal wounds through the portal.

2. Endless Spells cannot be set up through the portal when initially cast, and any Endless Spells that come through the portal do not immediately do any damage.

3. The wizard has to be near the portal - if they deploy a wizard at the very back out of your range then that wizard is doing almost nothing else in that battle

Deployment is key. If you know they have the choice of taking the first turn, make sure you deploy your key units out of range of the majority of their offensive magic. Keep your units spread and focus your shooting on taking down their wizards. Do not engage their Phoenix Guard - let them crawl across the table and do nothing for the first 1 or 2 turns.

If you can't deploy such that your Incantors are in unbinding range of all their wizards then you can deploy your Longstrikes in reserve on the first turn and drop them into play. If they have the Everblaze Comet you need to watch where they deploy their Stormcast wizards and make sure your Incantors are within 30" and your Longstrikes are >36" away.

This is actually one of the advantages of having so many drops - you can see where your opponent is setting up their units so you can get a perfect counter deployment.

If you position properly you can hit their wizards before they cast too many spells and you should be able to win the 5 round game.

[Talas]

38 minutes ago, PJetski said:

I bring 2 Incantors in my list.

The main threat from Hallowheart is that it does a lot of AOE damage through Chain Lightning, Luminark attack, Roaming Wildfire, Geminids, Comet, etc.. If you try to castle up youll end up taking 5d3 mortal wounds on the first turn and quickly lose the game. Their spells are far less potent when they only damage single units.

All their damage comes from their wizards and for the most part you have a longer shooting range than they have casting range. While they can cast the Spellportal far in the back and use its infinite setup range to cast outside of your dispel scroll range, remember there are other limitations on it:

1. Only one spell per turn can come through the portal, so the damage it can deal is limited. They will usually only deal D3 mortal wounds through the portal.

2. Endless Spells cannot be set up through the portal when initially cast, and any Endless Spells that come through the portal do not immediately do any damage.

3. The wizard has to be near the portal - if they deploy a wizard at the very back out of your range then that wizard is doing almost nothing else in that battle

Deployment is key. If you know they have the choice of taking the first turn, make sure you deploy your key units out of range of the majority of their offensive magic. Keep your units spread and focus your shooting on taking down their wizards. Do not engage their Phoenix Guard - let them crawl across the table and do nothing for the first 1 or 2 turns.

If you can't deploy such that your Incantors are in unbinding range of all their wizards then you can deploy your Longstrikes in reserve on the first turn and drop them into play. If they have the Everblaze Comet you need to watch where they deploy their Stormcast wizards and make sure your Incantors are within 30" and your Longstrikes are >36" away.

This is actually one of the advantages of having so many drops - you can see where your opponent is setting up their units so you can get a perfect counter deployment.

If you position properly you can hit their wizards before they cast too many spells and you should be able to win the 5 round game.

This is some great advice. Thank you!

[Wrathful]

This thread really helps to understand how this list works!

I have a question: do the long strikes benefit from the 6inches bonus in the first hero phase? They didn't move but there wasn't a movement phase either... how does it work?

[Nizrah]

1 minute ago, Wrathful said:

This thread really helps to understand how this list works!

I have a question: do the long strikes benefit from the 6inches bonus in the first hero phase? They didn't move but there wasn't a movement phase either... how does it work?

Delete this if you dont want to start another war... xD!

And answer for your Q is, yes they benefit from extra 6 inches in Hero Phase.

[PJetski]

40 minutes ago, Wrathful said:

This thread really helps to understand how this list works!

I have a question: do the long strikes benefit from the 6inches bonus in the first hero phase? They didn't move but there wasn't a movement phase either... how does it work?

I think it does, but you should ask your tournament organizer ahead of time and play however they rule it.

[Wrathful]

Thanks for the answers! It will help in future games!

Probably it will get faq'd some day.........

[CountryMou3e]

On 11/20/2019 at 10:00 PM, Wrathful said:

This thread really helps to understand how this list works!

I have a question: do the long strikes benefit from the 6inches bonus in the first hero phase? They didn't move but there wasn't a movement phase either... how does it work?

ofcourse they do, deployment is a 'setup'

[SonOfIronsunz]

I'm just getting into AoS, and have been interested in Stormcast for awhile. 

 

I had a question regarding these shootcast lists, what is the purpose of the Knight Azyros in these lists? is there just an extra 100 points left that you had to fill? On their warscroll they don't seem impressive or particularly useful.

[Marcvs]

2 hours ago, SonOfIronsunz said:

I had a question regarding these shootcast lists, what is the purpose of the Knight Azyros in these lists? is there just an extra 100 points left that you had to fill? On their warscroll they don't seem impressive or particularly useful.

I'd say to use the ability that allows to reroll 1s for attacks against enemies within 10" of the Azyros -further boost to the Logstrikes shooting and more chances to get MWs

Edited December 11, 2019 by Marcvs

[Marcvs]

hi all, I am trying to come up with a mini-shootcast list for a series of meeting engagement matches (calling it a tournament would be too much ) against fairly competitive-oriented friends. This is what I have at the moment:

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
- Stormhost: Anvils of the Heldenhammer
SPEARHEAD
Knight-Incantor (140)
- General
- Command Trait : Deathly Aura
- Spell : Lightning Blast
3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Hurricane Crossbows (140)
3 x Aetherwings (50)
MAIN BODY
Lord-Relictor (100)
6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (340)
5 x Liberators (100)
- Warhammer & Shield
3 x Aetherwings (50)
REARGUARD
3 x Castigators (80)

TOTAL: 1000/1000 EXTRA COMMAND POINTS: 0 WOUNDS: 56
 

We only play scenarios with the "classical" order of arrival (spearhead - main body - rearguard) and we allow swapping them before playing anyway, so I do not have to consider possible variations in this sense.

The idea is

• turn 1: use scions to drop the Hurricanes and deliver some pain (and -1 to charges), hoping the aetherwings can catch up and use their 2d6 movement for screening if needed
• turn 2: have something in range for the longstrikes to double tap (possibly double tap with the hurricanes too if they are still alive)

Problems:

• not enough presence for holding objectives
• would gladly swap those crappy castigators for something even marginally better (like prosecutors) but cannot find points to spare (and I need a unit for rearguard, so no swapping for endless spells)

Any thoughts? (or other ways to build a shootcast list for meeting engagent -I have access to most models on foot + mounted heroes)

[SonOfIronsunz]

15 minutes ago, Marcvs said:

I'd say to use the ability that allows to reroll 1s for attacks against enemies within 10" of the Azyros -further boost to the Logstrikes shooting and more chances to get MWs

Thank you for the enlightenment. I don't know how I didn't see that on the warscroll.