AoS 2 - Slaves to Darkness 2 Discussion

[MartianKiwi]

Im building an Archaon list using starting box (and using Karkadrak has Varanguard)

And was wondering which hero(s) I should add

Archaon

2X10 Chaos Warrior

10 Chaos Knight

3 Varanguard

240pts left

Chaos Lord + Chaos Sorcerer + Gravetide

Chaos Sorcerer on Manticore

Gaunt summoner

 

Sorry if this was discussed before... thanks!

[annarborhawk]

On 10/3/2020 at 8:59 AM, JackStreicher said:

 I usually use ensorcelled weapons since lances are just bad imo

I think that's the issue, then. The 1" range IS really tough with the large cav bases.  As Rrork, I've not had a problem getting the whole unit of 5 in with 2" lances. (So yeah, you better get the damn charge in or they're toast). Not saying I love knights, but moderate buffs and lances make them pretty hard-hitting on the charge.

[LordPrometheus]

48 minutes ago, annarborhawk said:

I think that's the issue, then. The 1" range IS really tough with the large cav bases.  As Rrork, I've not had a problem getting the whole unit of 5 in with 2" lances. (So yeah, you better get the damn charge in or they're toast). Not saying I love knights, but moderate buffs and lances make them pretty hard-hitting on the charge.

Also the Chaos Lord on Karkadrak has the CA to give them reroll charges and add 1 to hit rolls. Pretty sweet.

[Tasman]

17 hours ago, LordPrometheus said:

Also the Chaos Lord on Karkadrak has the CA to give them reroll charges and add 1 to hit rolls. Pretty sweet.

Yeah, and as much as I love the model, a regular CLoDM does the same thing for less points.

[Xasz]

Thoughts on the list by Marc Brookes that won Hammertime III?

Quote

Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness
- Damned Legion: Knights of the Empty Throne

Leaders
Knights of the Empty Throne Varanguard x 6 (560)
- General
- Command Trait: Wall of Cursed Iron
- Artefact: Grasping Plate
- Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Knights of the Empty Throne Varanguard x 3 (280)
- Artefact: Corrupted Nullstone
- Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Chaos Lord (110)
- Reaperblade & Daemonbound Steel
- Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Chaos Lord (110)
- Reaperblade & Daemonbound Steel
- Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (110)
- Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
- Spell: Mask of Darkness

Battleline
5 x Chaos Warriors (90)
- Hand Weapon & Shield
- Mark of Chaos: Khorne
5 x Chaos Warriors (90)
- Hand Weapon & Shield
- Mark of Chaos: Khorne
5 x Chaos Warriors (90)
- Hand Weapon & Shield
- Mark of Chaos: Khorne
20 x Chaos Marauders (160)
- Axes & Shields
- Mark of Chaos: Khorne

Behemoths
Chaos Warshrine (170)
- Mark of Chaos: Khorne

Battalions
Bloodmarked Warband (180)

Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Extra Command Point (50)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 126

3 games, n = 35

Source: https://tabletop.to/hammertime-iii 

[Agent of Chaos]

6 hours ago, Xasz said:

Thoughts on the list by Marc Brookes that won Hammertime III?

I like it. Never thought of combining Bloodmarked with Knights of the Empty Throne. Its got 6" pile in shenanigans, lots of fighting twice and some anti magic capabilities. A shooty list could mean trouble for the big unit of Varanguard but you cant protect against everything. 

[kozokus]

45 minutes ago, Agent of Chaos said:

I like it. Never thought of combining Bloodmarked with Knights of the Empty Throne. Its got 6" pile in shenanigans, lots of fighting twice and some anti magic capabilities. A shooty list could mean trouble for the big unit of Varanguard but you cant protect against everything. 

I wonder if squeezing it in Plaguetouched would'n be better.

Imagine : 

6 and 3 varanguard as before

chaos lord + sorcerer

15 and 5 warriors

20 maraudeurs / 5 knights

warshrine 

plaguetouched.

 

less dammage, but better surviability in shooting, one drop vs two, synergy with ennemy nurgle.

[Xasz]

The Mark of Khorne is pretty cool though (+1 to wound is rather rare).

From the podcast, the unit of 6 never died (they were talking about Failure is Not an Option and if they ever came back as a unit of 3, they didn't have to)

Although I don't know which armies/lists he had to fight.

[Agent of Chaos]

Would be very interested to know what army his opponents were. 

Would also work well in Plagetouched and only slightly less melee power with the exploding 6's to wound and extra mortals from the battalion.

[cbok]

Which weapon option was the varanguard using in this list?

[Xasz]

1 hour ago, cbok said:

Which weapon option was the varanguard using in this list?

Daemonforged Blades.

[Tizianolol]

Interesting list. A question. Of the unit of 6 varanguards( hero) kills like 1 enemy models. Can this 6 varanguards get +1 attacks? Or it must be another unit? Thx!

[Xasz]

1 hour ago, Tizianolol said:

Interesting list. A question. Of the unit of 6 varanguards( hero) kills like 1 enemy models. Can this 6 varanguards get +1 attacks? Or it must be another unit? Thx!

Yes, like many other effects/rules in AoS, the unit can target itself.

The Varanguard will probably use their first activation (or another unit in close vicinity) to activate the +1A from Bloodmarked and make use of it in the same turn through an additional activation.

The math behind that unit is pretty sick. It's fast, can be teleported, rr1 to hit, +1 to wound, rr its 3+ save through the sorcerer, ignores spells on 4+, 6" pile in if needed, additional activation through lords/warscroll, potential ward save from shrine (+ rr charge or other buffs through prayer), if they ever get wiped out 3 dudes can come back on a 5+... and whatnot. Their damage is really scary as well.

I wish their was a stream or something, I'd really like to see how he moved around the board (especially the squishy parts of the list).

[JackStreicher]

34 minutes ago, Xasz said:

I wish their was a stream or something, I'd really like to see how he moved around the board (especially the squishy parts of the list).

Yes!

I really like the List, yet I try not to play Khorne Or Nurgle x_X

Lately, since the Kakadrak Lord had been deminished by the removal of the Malign Sorcery Artefacts I‘ve been playing around with some (semi-comp) lists as well, due to a unit of Varanguards can easily spread the S2D Auras across a rather big area (also works well if you want to field the War Mammoth)

Edited October 9, 2020 by JackStreicher

[Gdead909]

Hey guys getting started with S2D. Currently building my SCB, belakor, demon prince and warshrine. 
 

can someone direct me to a good cabalists list?  I have a grasp on despoilers but I wanted to understand cabalists 

[Kurrilino]

On 10/8/2020 at 7:52 PM, Agent of Chaos said:

Would be very interested to know what army his opponents were. 

Would also work well in Plagetouched and only slightly less melee power with the exploding 6's to wound and extra mortals from the battalion.

He commented on the list and mentioned that he didn't meet one of the top tier armies.

If i remember correct he played KO but i don't remember which one the other were.

[Salyx]

3 hours ago, Gdead909 said:

Hey guys getting started with S2D. Currently building my SCB, belakor, demon prince and warshrine. 
 

can someone direct me to a good cabalists list?  I have a grasp on despoilers but I wanted to understand cabalists 

 

I do Not have an actual list. However, the playing style of Cabalists is to sacrifice some models in order to gain bonuses to cast. This can best be done with splinteres fangs, because they can regenerate and are cheap. 

With These bonuses, you can get some of the good spells through, although their short range can suck for that. 

More importantly, you can make good use of endless spells. You have access to All Slaves to Darkness endless spells as well as the Slaanesh and Tzeentch endless spells if your Sorcerer has the appripiate mark. You can even use the Beastmen endless spells if you ally in a Shaman or a Shaggoth. However, they get nö casting bonuses, because they do not get the Cabalists keyword. Having the General trait for +1 to the Ritual is crucial. Your Main goal as Cabalists is to Do as many Mortal wounds as possible with the Darkfire Demonrift. 

IT improves if there are other endless spells or Sorcerers nearby. So you should cast them after you cast all your other endless spells, so that you have some nearby. Good choices for that are the Sigil, the Pendulum, the Prismatic Palisade or the Umbral Spell Portal, because they can be easily controlled. Furthermore, you can send the Demonrift through the Spell Portal so that you already have one endless spell nearby. 

Additionally, try to get as many Sorcerers nearby to improve the Demonrift. Mobile Sorcerers like Belakor, the Gaunt Summoner or the Sorcerer Lord in Manticore are you best bets. If you have These three nearby and cast two endless spells, tge Demonrift does D3+5 Mortal Wounds to All units it passed over. However, it was weakened by the limitations to endless spells, you now can only take three. 

Nevertheless, it will still wreck Sorcerer-heavy armies like Tzeentch (Horrors are Sorcerers as well) or Hallowheart, where one Demonrift can annihilate All These mean Sorcerers. 

I guess for this army setup a unit of Chaos Warriors as anvils can Come quite in Handy, since you have to cast spells before you can move. 

[Thalassic Monstrosity]

Hello!

I'm considering focusing on Slaves to Darkness for a while to oppose my friend's Lumineth. What would you all recommend as good tools to square up against them? I know he's working on a pretty strong (from what I've heard) list with Cathallars and Sentinels.

Any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated!

[Xasz]

11 hours ago, Kurrilino said:

He commented on the list and mentioned that he didn't meet one of the top tier armies.

If i remember correct he played KO but i don't remember which one the other were.

Sadly, that makes it a little bit less impressive.

[Kurrilino]

7 hours ago, Thalassic Monstrosity said:

Hello!

I'm considering focusing on Slaves to Darkness for a while to oppose my friend's Lumineth. What would you all recommend as good tools to square up against them? I know he's working on a pretty strong (from what I've heard) list with Cathallars and Sentinels.

Any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated!

Sadly all tools to do that have been removed from StD.

You have zero Magic phase since Lum are able to negate the few spells we have, Std have no shooting phase, and they are better in combat.

Since they deny the magic without rolling, they destroy the only one trick pony we have.

Best thing is to switch to Nurgle or Tzeench.

[Kurrilino]

On 10/8/2020 at 3:26 PM, Agent of Chaos said:

I like it. Never thought of combining Bloodmarked with Knights of the Empty Throne. Its got 6" pile in shenanigans, lots of fighting twice and some anti magic capabilities. A shooty list could mean trouble for the big unit of Varanguard but you cant protect against everything. 

I guess mostly because it is illegal.

As soon as you play Knights of empty Throne, you lose the StD and Khorne allegiance.

It's just a Chaos army with different rules than than the core Chaos rules.

Pg.85 is explaining why.

StD are designed to not work with anything cool

Edited October 11, 2020 by Kurrilino

[Grimrock]

3 hours ago, Kurrilino said:

I guess mostly because it is illegal.

As soon as you play Knights of empty Throne, you lose the StD and Khorne allegiance.

It's just a Chaos army with different rules than than the core Chaos rules.

Pg.85 is explaining why.

StD are designed to not work with anything cool

Actually they fixed that in the FAQ for the Wrath of the Everchosen. Knights of the Empty Throne are treated as a Damned Legion for Slaves to Darkness and maintain that allegiance. That means they have access to all the standard battalions. 

Edited October 11, 2020 by Grimrock

[Thalassic Monstrosity]

3 hours ago, Kurrilino said:

Sadly all tools to do that have been removed from StD.

You have zero Magic phase since Lum are able to negate the few spells we have, Std have no shooting phase, and they are better in combat.

Since they deny the magic without rolling, they destroy the only one trick pony we have.

Best thing is to switch to Nurgle or Tzeench.

Thanks for the answer! Granted I wish that WASN'T the answer but c'est la vie.

[whispersofblood]

14 hours ago, Thalassic Monstrosity said:

Hello!

I'm considering focusing on Slaves to Darkness for a while to oppose my friend's Lumineth. What would you all recommend as good tools to square up against them? I know he's working on a pretty strong (from what I've heard) list with Cathallars and Sentinels.

Any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated!

Chaos Knights are a problem unit for LRL, just keep them away from buffed stoneguard. Be'lakor is also good.

[Scurvydog]

23 hours ago, Thalassic Monstrosity said:

Hello!

I'm considering focusing on Slaves to Darkness for a while to oppose my friend's Lumineth. What would you all recommend as good tools to square up against them? I know he's working on a pretty strong (from what I've heard) list with Cathallars and Sentinels.

Any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated!

Despite the doom and gloom going about, StD does have some good elements to them for fighting Lumineth. As the main power of sentinels and wardens come from their mortal wound output, it helps quite a bit that chaos warriors and knights all have chaos runeshields providing a 5+ MW save, so you can tank this a bit better. If he brings Teclis you can use Tzeentch marks to counter this a bit, having 1/3 chance to ignore spells and then also 5+ save against mortal wounds will greatly reduce the damage he can do with spells and probably force him to go defensive, but you should be able to outpunch him then. Undivided can also be handy, as the Cathellars might force you to do unfavorable battleshocks.

Sentinels are very squishy and the army has expensive units. Ravagers marauder summoning potential will force him to protect his sentinels, if they are exposed and anywhere near any table edge, 10 marauders will easily win a fight against 10 sentinels. If he cheeses a lot, bring Belakor to your second game, he is rather nasty, so I wouldnt pull him out vs a friend unless they asked for it  

Try to use fast moving units to pin down his wardens in unfavorable combat, if you can flank them and force them to split attacks the better. If he has dawnriders dont let them charge marauders or even chaos warriors, try to engage them with anything else, for example chaos knights and he will only have 1 attack and the chaos knights should easily win that skirmish.