Favorite battleline in Cos?

[Django]

Hi!

Thinking about getting a CoS army, and having quite a few Stormcast models, it just seems to fit so nicely.

My main issue is the amount of battleline options i CoS. I just can't figure out where to begin with them.

Really liking the Freeguild stuff, and the handgunners seem really good.

 

But to the question: what is your favorite battleline in CoS and why?

[hughwyeth]

Ironbreakers with a 3+ save and some tasty buffs from the various dwarf support heroes are nice. But I like Sisters of the Thorn- they're not great in the game, but they are wizards, good move and great models. 

[Lord of the Isle]

Freeguild with sword and shield using motley medley of Dogs of War Mordheim and Empire militia surely unbeatable for coolness if fairly beatable in other respects!!

[michu]

Aesthetic-wise? Drakespawn Knights. And anything Duardin-related.

[Aloth_Corfiser]

Aesthetic-wise I am Elf-biased: So Sisters of the Watch! I must admit that I own a lot of them. Just all these flaming Bows amassed look really cool and very in line with the more over the top aesthetics of Age of Sigmar.
The Freeguild Guard and their Musket wielding and Crossbow wielding Counterparts are also really nice. Even the old Models hold up quite well. There is just somethng about the humble Human Soldier that is very atmospheric. When the normal Humans would get newer sculpts they would be among my favorite Armies!

[Dankboss]

I use Greatswords for my army core since their points drop.

[Kramer]

Great swords spring to mind. Mostly because they are cool models. 
 

what kind of playstyle do you like? 
Or what city captured your interest? 

[Django]

On 9/7/2020 at 10:09 PM, Kramer said:

Great swords spring to mind. Mostly because they are cool models. 
 

what kind of playstyle do you like? 
Or what city captured your interest? 

Love the great sword models aswell. I like all things freeguild really.

It started when I listened to a podcast that mentioned something along the lines of "the stardrake is better in CoS than in Stormcast", and being the proud owner of a (finally) painted stardrake, that got me thinking, so I dug into CoS rules. I really like the Living City and Hammerhal, and also Hallowheart but to a lesser extent, mostly because I really dislike the idea of spending 100+ euros on endless spells when I only want 2-3 of them.

So I've been thinking about different Living City/Hammerhal lists that include Stormcast models (and/or Gotrek), to get started with CoS. Ideas have been 4x concussors in Living city, or Stardrake/Celestant Prime in Hammerhal.

Really like the Freeguild on Griffon model aswell. One idea have been to get the Griffon + demigryph batallion. My main issue with going down that route is that it's quite one dimensional, and that the demigryphs aren't very useful in other cities. What I'd really like is to be able to pick up a few heroes, and a few battleline boxes, and ally in my Stormcast and get playing with CoS, and then add units over time. But I'm having a hard time finding lists that do this. And especially given how many battleline options there are, I'd prefer to get some that I can use in different cities.

[Django]

On 9/7/2020 at 9:32 PM, Dankboss said:

I use Greatswords for my army core since their points drop.

what makes them so great? Being a stormcast player where everything is on 40mm bases, 1" range always means I can only fight in 1 rank. Can the greatsword fight in 3 ranks? Do you back them up with some hero or to they run solo?

[Dankboss]

34 minutes ago, Django said:

what makes them so great? Being a stormcast player where everything is on 40mm bases, 1" range always means I can only fight in 1 rank. Can the greatsword fight in 3 ranks? Do you back them up with some hero or to they run solo?

Greatswords can fight in ranks of 2. You're usually getting 40 attacks out of a unit of 30 when piling in. They'll need a Freeguild Hero to give them their natural +1 to hit, although in my Hammerhal army I use Twinstone to give them +1 to hit when a Freeguild hero isn't nearby. Even then, they're still good unbuffed and their mortal wounds are great. They can do excellent damage; whatever they go into is probably dead.

I reckon it's their self-reliance and not requiring active buffs to be used on them that makes them pretty good. I use them as my second/ backup threat in my Hammerhalian Lancers army.

I reckon you could run 30 in a Stormcast army although I can't say what they might be doing there.

[Kramer]

28 minutes ago, Dankboss said:

reckon you could run 30 in a Stormcast army although I can't say what they might be doing there.

Mortal wounds in combat maybe. Bodies for sure. 

[Django]

9 hours ago, Dankboss said:

Greatswords can fight in ranks of 2. You're usually getting 40 attacks out of a unit of 30 when piling in. They'll need a Freeguild Hero to give them their natural +1 to hit, although in my Hammerhal army I use Twinstone to give them +1 to hit when a Freeguild hero isn't nearby. Even then, they're still good unbuffed and their mortal wounds are great. They can do excellent damage; whatever they go into is probably dead.

I reckon it's their self-reliance and not requiring active buffs to be used on them that makes them pretty good. I use them as my second/ backup threat in my Hammerhalian Lancers army.

I reckon you could run 30 in a Stormcast army although I can't say what they might be doing there.

Nice, gonna have to look into them as an option. Need to find battleline that I can field in different cities preferably, so i dont go all in on one Theme and then realize i want to play in a different city.

 

just to clarify though, i want to run my sce in cities and not the other way around. So for example i might wanna try celestant prime/stardrake in Hammerhal. Prime fighting twice is nasty. Problem is i dont know how useful it really is, seeing as he Will die if he doesnt kill what he’s in combat with. 

8 hours ago, Kramer said:

Mortal wounds in combat maybe. Bodies for sure. 

This is very true, although sce is so tight for points to make any kind of list work that it is really hard to find the points to ally in something just for bodies. 

[Lightbox]

From my years of finding them a pain to fight in my friends Aelf army pre-CoS I am quite partial to the idea of phoenix guard as a battleline, hard hitting and hard to kill and the tough anointed isn't bad as a general I don't think, especially on frost phoenix to debuff people whilst cackling manically as you refuse to die (add in living cities wound regeneration...)

I think there are a lot of pretty great battleline options though, especially battleline-if's as you get some pretty meaty units that you're probably gonna be taking anyway! Otherwise I hear pretty good stuff about Darkshards & Eternal guard as options.

Of course the real option is to take big blocks of flagellants and surprise your opponent by them getting better when they lose models.

[Kramer]

50 minutes ago, Django said:

This is very true, although sce is so tight for points to make any kind of list work that it is really hard to find the points to ally in something just for bodies

True as well. On the other hand. That’s where I do struggle the most when playing my stormcast. But that’s only 5/8 games. So not much of an expert here. 

[Dankboss]

1 hour ago, Django said:

just to clarify though, i want to run my sce in cities and not the other way around. So for example i might wanna try celestant prime/stardrake in Hammerhal. Prime fighting twice is nasty. Problem is i dont know how useful it really is, seeing as he Will die if he doesnt kill what he’s in combat with. 

While I haven't used him yet, I believe the trick with the Prime is to deploy him in a way that reduces the enemy's ability to retaliate; he will kill whatever he's targeting if it's turn 3 and he's making 14 attacks with Ghal Maraz that phase. But in order to use him well, you'd need a primary threat (in my case it's Hammerhalian Lancers) that are even more dangerous than he is. That way attention is split.

I use this logic for my Lancers; the unit of 30 Greatswords creates the breathing room necessary to work, as they can't be ignored and they require a serious response to destroy, and if they're ignored in favor of the Lancers, then there's 30 Greatswords getting into the frontline.

[Howdyhedberg]

I like eternal guard because they are pretty defensive when they don't move. Great swords are a good offensive battleline and wildwood rangers are good against monsters!

[Django]

2 hours ago, Kramer said:

True as well. On the other hand. That’s where I do struggle the most when playing my stormcast. But that’s only 5/8 games. So not much of an expert here. 

Very true, haha. There is a lot of things ”wrong” with stormcast, bodies sure is one of the issues. Damage is decent though. But it’s rare to have more than 5 models on an objective, which just means you never control anything else you pretty much table your opponent. This is one the reasons I’m drawn to CoS, because I can use some of my very fun models (Gotrek, Stardrake, Celestant Prime) in lists that are actually powerful. 

1 hour ago, Dankboss said:

While I haven't used him yet, I believe the trick with the Prime is to deploy him in a way that reduces the enemy's ability to retaliate; he will kill whatever he's targeting if it's turn 3 and he's making 14 attacks with Ghal Maraz that phase. But in order to use him well, you'd need a primary threat (in my case it's Hammerhalian Lancers) that are even more dangerous than he is. That way attention is split.

I use this logic for my Lancers; the unit of 30 Greatswords creates the breathing room necessary to work, as they can't be ignored and they require a serious response to destroy, and if they're ignored in favor of the Lancers, then there's 30 Greatswords getting into the frontline.

The prime is pretty hard to play, but is very rewarding when you pull something nice off. Probably super good in Hammerhal, being able to charge in your Demigryphs, tying up something, then charging with the Prime from behind so that not a lot of models can pile in to him (making sure the demigryphs are the closest model for most of the unit), doubble hitting, and always remembering that he gives a 12” aura of -2 bravery the turn he comes down - and he is the master of sniping enemy heroes, so whatever support hero is there to make sure a unit doesn’t need to check for battlechock is easily wiped off the board. Loving the idea. 

If I were to start a CoS army with 3 units of demigryphs, 1 freeguild general on griffon, and then adding the celestant prime, I’d have around 700p left. Would probably want 1-2 wizards (Incantor?), and a few MSU for banners. Already have 1 unit of 10 freeguild guard and 1 unit of 10 freeguild handgunners from old fantasy, so probably wanna try those. What else would you add? 

 

 

[Django]

15 minutes ago, Howdyhedberg said:

I like eternal guard because they are pretty defensive when they don't move. Great swords are a good offensive battleline and wildwood rangers are good against monsters!

Loving the looks of the eternal guard and wildwood rangers, the eternal guard seem a bit too defensive though, how are they performing for you? I guess you could charge them in and as long as they don’t just straight up die, and don’t pile on next turn, they will be very hard to kill with their 3+ save. 

[Kramer]

22 minutes ago, Django said:

bodies sure is one of the issues. Damage is decent though. But it’s rare to have more than 5 models on an objective, which just means you never control anything else you pretty much table your opponent. This is one the reasons I’m drawn to CoS, because I can use some of my very fun models (Gotrek, Stardrake, Celestant Prime) in lists that are actually powerful. 

Yeah cities is great for that. Even after they removed half the old range on release I could still field a great little force of random cool things. 

[Howdyhedberg]

14 hours ago, Django said:

Loving the looks of the eternal guard and wildwood rangers, the eternal guard seem a bit too defensive though, how are they performing for you? I guess you could charge them in and as long as they don’t just straight up die, and don’t pile on next turn, they will be very hard to kill with their 3+ save. 

Well, I'm not sure if pile in counts as a move? Since you so it in the combat phase. 

They are great for holding objectives, or chokeholds. As long as they don't die, they can usually give a punch back. 

[Kierdale]

Corsairs.

 

 

 

 

 

For looks :(

[Myrdin]

Freeguild guard all the way.

From all the other choices, they are affordable yet keep consistent in terms of usefulness both as MSU as well as Big blobs. I always take them. The fact they are universal battle line makes them even more tasty. The ones with halberd in a blob of 40 can be actually pretty scary (they dont need buffs, their skill allows them to be rather self sufficient with greater numbers) and since they are battle line the enemies will either underestimate them, in which case they will deliver a surprise punch for their points/model cost, or overestimate them, in which case they are dedicating much more for a unit that gains them much less.

Love them, play them, never leave home with out them!

Edited September 14, 2020 by Myrdin

[Popisdead]

Sisters of the Watch

Eternal Guard

Wildwood Rangers.

Wild Riders

 

<cough cough> old WE player.  It does say favourite 😉  

[Frowny]

Pistoliers in the battalion.

Good damage, OK durability, and so much flexibility!