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Skarbrand Fiasco


Bademeister

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Hey folks,

first things first. I am not a Khorne player. I play Death (everything except OBR) and  Ogors. I am helpless i want to ask you (Khorne players) for advice.

"That one guy" in my local store is playing Khorne. Its ok, i'm fine with that, but i don't like Skarbrand and the way he goes crazy with buffs, command abilities and so on.

With the the following list he wrecks me face. Some highlights: all 3 Bloodthirster are bubblewrapped in the Warriors and Reavers. Each standing next to the other. The Insensate Rage guy gets buffed by both Priets. He is also wearing the artefact to attack at the start of the combat phase. Now the show begins. So he gonna roll that 4+, uses 2 Command Points, one with the Unfettered Fury one and the other to attack twice with (my beloved) Skarbrand. So everbody is buffed by the Bloodsecrator, especially Skarbrand (who ddn't fight in the first Round). He is attacking 4 times with alle the guys. 6's with the Insenate Rage deamon rain down my units within 8", skarbrand doing his thing and throwing minimum of 16 Mortal Wounds on a 1+ (stupid ability) and some massive hits with his 2nd weapon, twice. Alltogether something aroung 44 Wounds. Most of the units die before they can do anything, don't forget all that things happen AT THE START of the combat phase. 

After he whiped the floor with my miniatures and proud i can try to fight back with the little which get left behind by his slaughter. 

I nearly forgot to mention that Skardbrand doing this 2 times in the 2nd battleround. So alltogether 88 Wounds in 4 activations.

Thats the point i can't understand how unbalanced a single model can be and thats why i need some advice, how t handle "that one guy" in my local store.

Thank you for reading and pointing with your finger at me while you can't stop laughing.

 

Allegiance: Khorne
- Slaughterhost: Reapers of Vengeance

Leaders
Bloodsecrator (120)
- General
- Command Trait: Mage Eater
- Artefact: Skullshard Mantle
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (270)
- Artefact: Khartoth the Bloodhunger
Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury (270)
- Artefact: The Crimson Crown
Skarbrand (380)
Slaughterpriest (100)
- Blood Blessing: Bronzed Flesh
Slaughterpriest (100)
- Blood Blessing: Killing Frenzy

Battleline
5 x Blood Warriors (100)
- Goreaxes
10 x Bloodreavers (70)
- Reaver Blades
10 x Bloodreavers (70)
- Reaver Blades
10 x Bloodreavers (70)
- Reaver Blades
10 x Bloodreavers (70)
- Reaver Blades
10 x Bloodreavers (70)
- Reaver Blades

Battalions
Gore Pilgrims (140)
Tyrants of Blood (140)

Total: 1970 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 119
 

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Well, Skarbrand is certainly strong but from your description there seem to be a couple possible issues. First, it sounds like he's getting pretty lucky on damage. For him to do 88 your opponent must be rolling catastrophically well on the bloodthirster damage. I can see about 44 on the first swing  with all 3 of them, but Skarbrand himself 'only' averages about 25 damage in an activation. Not to mention nailing that 4+ on the artifact to fight first certainly won't happen every game.

Second, it's a touch hard to tell but it sounds like you're saying that he's using the command ability from the Unfettered thirster (pile in an extra 3" and able to pile in from 6" away) in combination with the tyrants of blood ability to fight immediately after another thirster has fought. This combo doesn't work because the battalion specifically says you can only use the ability if you're within 3" of an enemy. The Unfettered ability only changes pile in and the battalion makes no mention of pile in range, just a hard cap of 3". 

Ignoring all that, there is some counter play. The first thing is Skarbrand really only gets one good round of combat unless he starts getting hurt. If you can feed some chaff into him on round 2 then he'll blow all of his good attacks killing them and reset to his standard damage bracket for round 3. Then your opponent is stuck doing a lot less for the rest of the game, or has to hide him and do nothing to make him angry again. Try sending small skeleton units/ghouls/whatever isn't important at him and keep him docile. The second is that the thirsters are generally strongest when they're all together. If you spread your army out and focus on objectives then he'll either have to break up the death ball and try to counter you or just lose on scenario. Once he separates you can try to focus down one thirster at a time to get around the Tyrants bonus. His army is seriously lacking in damage outside of the thirsters, so if you can take them out then you should be in a pretty good spot. 

Edited by Grimrock
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Yeah, to understand what I tried to say with activating the different command abilities. 

Very good point with the flat 3" range on the Batailon description. This will change something and charging one at a time would be far more easyer. 

Maybe I have to change my playstyle and go more for objective game than trying to kill his Bloodthirster 

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Interesting to See a Khorne army as too powerful. From my experience, in most matchups in competetive play, Khorne has massive difficulties in keeping up with other armies. Especially the Thirsters are vulnerable to shooting. 

As your armies are Death and Ogors, I would recommend playing either Flesh Eater Gristlegore to have a lot of options to fight First as well or Ogors. 

The Bloodreavers are the key to obejective grabbing and Screening, both vital for this army. 

You could either munch them away with summoned units as Flesh Eater or shoot them with Leadbelchers. If the screen is gone, you are able to Charge..no-not the one who striktes First! What would even be funnier: Try to Spam Leadbelchers and just shoot the Bloodthirsters. Beastclaw have good shooting as well to Grind down Bloodthirsters and are more than a Match in close Combat. 

Generally, every Bloodthirster except Skarbrand gets pretty weak when he is bracketed twice or thrice. And they are only 14 wounds with a 4+ armor. 

 

You may build up screen of cheap units as well with a counter unit 3" behind the Screen. Bloodthirsters have a maximum of 2" range. 

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6 hours ago, Bademeister said:

Yeah, to understand what I tried to say with activating the different command abilities. 

Very good point with the flat 3" range on the Batailon description. This will change something and charging one at a time would be far more easyer. 

Maybe I have to change my playstyle and go more for objective game than trying to kill his Bloodthirster 

One of the biggest problems with Skarbrand is that he has a large base and doesn't have fly.  He can't jump screens and it's easy to lock him in place.  I would try pining your opponents bubblewrap screen in place with trash units while the rest of your army takes objectives.  Then your opponent either has to spend a turn killing your chaff (and not moving) or separate the Bloodthrusters from the screen/Skarbrand to chase the rest of your army.

A big take away from the game I played this weekend is that movement is the most important part of AoS, not killing the opponents army.

EDIT: Also, it reduces your opponent ability fight twice / stack up attacks if there is only one unit in range.  Try to not group up your units near the deathball.  Your opponent has limited number of combat phases and he'll probably wait to active all his combos if the only unit to kill is trash or a screen.

Edited by meatpipeline
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Yup, as others have eluded too, just don't play his game.  Feed Skarbrand trash while you win on objectives or just shoot him to death.  Underguts with plenty of Iron-blasters and the trophy rack is almost an auto-win against this army as you just shoot Skarbrand off the board from a safe distance.  Four of them shout comfortably do it in one turn, if they don't impact hits should do the job (although your shooting from 24" so their shouldn't be much danger of a charge anyway).

For Death,  just use an allegiance that lets you resummon units and let him murder away while you resummon and win the objective game.

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