New Stormcast Vanguard Player

[Andrethegreat]

I'm a New Stormcast Vanguard  Player, in fact I'm new to AOS, and would welcome any tips on how to play them.  

[Nozdormu]

0. Don't bother about Vanguard-Hunters and Palladors - they are not worth their points.
1. Get a unit of 9-12 Vanguard-Raptors.
2. Choose Anvils of the Heldenhammer stormhost for Command ability that allows you to shoot in hero phase.
3. Get at least 2 units of Aetherwings to block enemy charges (they ability allows to fly within 3'' of enemy unit at start of the enemy charge phase)
4. Shoot your enemies.

Done!

Edited January 13, 2020 by Nozdormu

[NauticalSoup]

While Nozdormu's comments might seem harsh, that is sadly the consensus on the Vanguard chamber at the moment.

Although for my money I have had a lot more fun not playing SCE at all, despite just starting the army I've already begun focusing on Orruks instead in the hopes that Stormcast get some updates in the foreseeable future.

Vanguard-Raptors + Anvils CA is bananas good though.

[Sedraxis]

Ok, so now you've met the guys who claim that anything that isn't extremely powerful is unplayable. Good to talk if you want to 5-0 every tournament and never play anyone outside of strictly competitive areas.

Here's my advice as someone who plays a variety of armies with lots of people on different levels, both for fun and competitively:

Pretty much everything is viable, you as a player determine how good your army is through playing it rather then just listbuilding. A good list still needs a good captain and a lot of players tend to ignore/forget that. Since you are new to the game I will assume that you will play mostly friends/local gameshop folks, which means all this talk about what is viable or not probably won't matter anyway! Yay!

When it comes to the Stormcast Vanguard chamber their main strength is lots of extra movement options and lots of units with both shooting and melee attacks. You know, hit and run style tactics! One moment you attack from the left, next turn you strike them from the back or capture an objective on the other side of the field.

Do you already have some models and experience with the game? Or are you still getting ready to step in?

[Andrethegreat]

26 minutes ago, Sedraxis said:

Ok, so now you've met the guys who claim that anything that isn't extremely powerful is unplayable. Good to talk if you want to 5-0 every tournament and never play anyone outside of strictly competitive areas.

Here's my advice as someone who plays a variety of armies with lots of people on different levels, both for fun and competitively:

Pretty much everything is viable, you as a player determine how good your army is through playing it rather then just listbuilding. A good list still needs a good captain and a lot of players tend to ignore/forget that. Since you are new to the game I will assume that you will play mostly friends/local gameshop folks, which means all this talk about what is viable or not probably won't matter anyway! Yay!

When it comes to the Stormcast Vanguard chamber their main strength is lots of extra movement options and lots of units with both shooting and melee attacks. You know, hit and run style tactics! One moment you attack from the left, next turn you strike them from the back or capture an objective on the other side of the field.

Do you already have some models and experience with the game? Or are you still getting ready to step in?

So! far, I played two games with a friend, and we did not finish one and the other I win, but I think he might have been a little easy on me because he knows I'm just starting out, I don't plan on doing any competitive games. Me and my friend are playing for fun. and thanks for every ones feed back.  

Edited January 13, 2020 by Andrethegreat

[Milano]

I played roughly 15+ games with them..well, so lets try to answer your question. 
As stated before Vanguards (except Raptors and Aetherwings) aren’t to powerful compared to other units of Stormcast Eternals, BUT you can have some very fun and triumphant games on a casual to ambitious level. 

With Vanguard all your army does shoot - focus fire a unit or hero and they are no more. Boost that with Anvils of Heldenhammer even more. Aquilor is horrible in combat but moving a group of raptors/palladors guaranteed(!) each round will make the opponent insane! (Bluff deployment anyone?!  ) The hunters are best kept in air and dropped 7” to the enemy back line, thats a fair chance to charge successfully. Enemy casters and vulnerable heroes be aware. All in all don't frontal clash with your opponent, rather use your movement to dictate where and when you will enter a fight. Under the circumstances you set.

Frankly the army is hard to master and even in that state tricky to play..but if you don't give up after few losses, you will have a unique and awesome looking army on the table which chews traditional play-styles for breakfast and rewards smart movement with a fair chance to win. Have fun!  

[NauticalSoup]

2 hours ago, Sedraxis said:

Ok, so now you've met the guys who claim that anything that isn't extremely powerful is unplayable. 

I don't think anyone said they we're unplayable - the original observation was just "they aren't worth their points".

Tone might've been harsh but I think that's actually pretty mild claim. Just gotta manage expectations - I sadly have seen two players in our local community give up on the game entirely because they landed on strike chamber SCE, and even in casual games underperformers... underperform. Nobody likes buying super expensive minis and slaving over painting them for weeks just to watch somebody scoop them off the table over and over.

So, you know. Just go in with both eyes open.

Best of luck whatever you decide to build!

[Alladinthepaladin]

3 hours ago, NauticalSoup said:

I don't think anyone said they we're unplayable - the original observation was just "they aren't worth their points".

Tone might've been harsh but I think that's actually pretty mild claim. Just gotta manage expectations - I sadly have seen two players in our local community give up on the game entirely because they landed on strike chamber SCE, and even in casual games underperformers... underperform. Nobody likes buying super expensive minis and slaving over painting them for weeks just to watch somebody scoop them off the table over and over.

So, you know. Just go in with both eyes open.

Best of luck whatever you decide to build!

Welcome!

 

I am starting a non-raptors vanguard force for fun also. I strongly believe if you find the right people they will “list tailor” their army power downward to make a fun game for both. There is also pseudo narrative type games you can play.

Vanguard have some really nice looking models, so as long as you have a good group of players build and paint what you want and have fun.

Some of my friends have pretty hard hitting lists but they would happily pick out some of the most broken units to play my future vanguard

Look up Vanguard Stormcast battle reports on YouTube - you can see how some of the common units play and get a good sense.

[snipersyn]

You can also just use the Longstrikes-Anvil tangent as one of your core pieces and tailor from there. Not everyone plays under the competitive meta. Get out there, throw down and have at it!