Rusted Weapons Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Hi, i'd like a discussion here about peoples experiences of using alpha strikes in AoS or having them used against their armies. I play Sylvaneth and have been on the receiving end of a few alpha attempts, the most potent thus far being the stormcasts teleporting 20 Decimators under the Vexillor Banner, with the Starsoul Maces dishing out plentiful mortal wounds to my general and other essential units. It'd be great to know other peoples experience so that we could become more aware of potential strikes or useful ways across factions, of defending against them. I've found that deploying my general and/or essential units at the very board with a half moon crescent formation around them, of a unit of relative chaff has been moderately successful but it feels a bit basic and so i'd love to know any other tactics you guys are using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Quote It'd be great to know other peoples experience so that we could become more aware of potential strikes or useful ways across factions, of defending against them. I've found that deploying my general and/or essential units at the very board with a half moon crescent formation around them, of a unit of relative chaff has been moderately successful but it feels a bit basic and so i'd love to know any other tactics you guys are using? That's pretty much it. you can also do this in a corner if objective grabbing will not be hard that way. Sylvaneth aren't the best for dealing with this as models are so expensive. Dryad wall is your best bet, deployed in a Wyldwood - so they have to do deadly rolls when they charge in. It's annoying that Shield of Thorns is not in the Lore for Sylvaneth - could it be more fluffy - you could take Sisters as part of one of the formations? While you can deploy off the table, the risk is then that they teleport into the wood and block you from deploying later on. You might want to keep your beatsticks off the table. Another option is to leave a unit out as bait for the teleporters to go for (this doesn't work against Skyborne Slayers - only against Vexillor plus Paladins) right in the corner of the board. They come in and probably kill the bait, but then that's several hundred points (at least 600) doing nothing else all game due to movement 4. Other good alpha strike defences include 30 Plaguebearers, any Death chaff with the 5+ ward save, Spirit Hosts, a Mourngul, Fanatics, Wrathmongers and weirdly Cocktail Stick Holders (Big Stabbaz). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daedalus81 Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Depends on what is being dropped in. With that scenario half the army is tied up to bring in that unit. Wrap your important units in chaff to give you time to respond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrubyandwells Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Bryan Carmichael has a couple of great articles on defending against alphastrikes: https://hobbykiller.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/how-to-stop-unwanted-friends-from-dropping-in/ https://hobbykiller.wordpress.com/2016/05/09/how-to-avoided-getting-thunderstruck/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RossMHoward Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Skyborne Slayers are a pain but against the Vexillor + Retributors have you thought about using a unit of Tree Revenants to hunt down the Vexillor? With the waypipe relocation and the ability to re roll a dice once per phase they can be pretty useful for this. Another option is to deploy your Wyldwood in a board corner and deploy a cheaper wizard (like a branchwraith) with Verdant Blessing and a screen of dryads. If you buy the Forest Folk formation, once this unit is Alpha struck on you can use the spell to create a new Wyldwood. Alpha strike your own reserves around this and then use the battalion ability for the Forest Folk to relocate the Branchwraith and her Dryad bodyguard out of danger. If you're worried about wasting a turn casting Verdant Blessing then try to build the Gnarlroot Wargrove. This gives your Sylvaneth Wizards 2 spell casts per turn + two unbinds per wizard + a bonus spell that can heal dead models. This makes them great at potentially withering an alpha strike and then relocating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Schmidt Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 1 hour ago, scrubyandwells said: Bryan Carmichael has a couple of great articles on defending against alphastrikes: https://hobbykiller.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/how-to-stop-unwanted-friends-from-dropping-in/ https://hobbykiller.wordpress.com/2016/05/09/how-to-avoided-getting-thunderstruck/ I really like these articles. Units like wolf riders are handy for this because of their base sizes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusted Weapons Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 @Nico absolutely on point with the sisters of the thorn ability, I really wanted to add the sisters into my gnarlroot as my 'any order wizard' unit only to be disappointed to read the ability is restricted to wanderers! boo, totally fits the fluff. I had a fear you might say that the surround at an edge/in a corner unit was one of the only real ways of protecting from the alpha hits. @scrubyandwells thanks for the articles i'll have a look at these tomorrow. @RossMHoward this is something I will attempt to play test tomorrow night at my club regards the tree revenants waypiping/sniping out the teleporter, I guess the fear is that if I miss the first turn and these guys are then used as the chaff to protect the ancient theres no waypiping models left to do the damage, thanks also for the counter alpha striking idea. The verdant blessing is a spell ive over looked really, focussing more on the reaping, throne of vines and especially regrowth but i think i will develop a much more magic orientated build in with more household battalions carrying branchwych's and ancients within a gnarlroot clan to give me those two spells per turn and thus all the woods etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wilson Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 In poacher turns game keeper fashion I don't generally mind when I see a little semi circle bubble as it puts me in control of the table. If I really want to go for it sometimes I can shoot a hole through the daisy chain of skinks, blood etc and complete a charge. Even if I don't make a decent contact only one unit (normally)is attacking before i return blows. What I don't like is to see a long line across the table edge limiting my impact and MW output. Usually connections don't add up to the 640 invested in the trick. It's incredibly difficult for a SE player to not spaff his spumfen at the first opportunity so terrified they are that something will get to the Vexillor. it also irks me when juicy big targets are tight up against some unfortunately angled GW terrain meaning I can't get the full crew in. These points relate really to the Vexillor. As mentioned above its hard to avoid the Slayers - spreading out and shoving it all forward is probably the best bet. With the Warrior Brotherhood (plus Azyros) there's not much you can do to avoid getting rudely shanked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmimzie Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 My key characters stay in the back under a dome of protection created by my zombie horde. This same zombie horde is like those hero's hands reaching out accross the map to swat my enemies like flies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Quote @Nico absolutely on point with the sisters of the thorn ability, I really wanted to add the sisters into my gnarlroot as my 'any order wizard' unit only to be disappointed to read the ability is restricted to wanderers! boo, totally fits the fluff. I had a fear you might say that the surround at an edge/in a corner unit was one of the only real ways of protecting from the alpha hits. I've reread the Warscroll on the app and found no such restriction on Shield of Thorns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Quote What I don't like is to see a long line across the table edge limiting my impact and MW output. Usually connections don't add up to the 640 invested in the trick. It's incredibly difficult for a SE player to not spaff his spumfen at the first opportunity so terrified they are that something will get to the Vexillor. I did exactly this when facing up against a Verminlord Deceiver even though I had a ring of Paladins around the Vexillor - you just get the fear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RossMHoward Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Sisters are pretty much my order wiz choice for the gnarlroot wargrove for this exact reason. They don't gain the double spell from the wargrove but Shield Of Thorns in the order back and in the update app just specifies that you pick a unit (you could even cast it on your enemy). It's a great option to keep the Treelord Alive and they can also since an order unit within the Wargrove gains the Sylvaneth Keyword, they can also pick another spell. @carrigher82 I'm with you on the reaping though. Can't wait to combo that with the Silverwood Circlet on my Treelord and charge him forward with a unit of Kurnoth hunters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Quote It's a great option to keep the Treelord Alive and they can also since an order unit within the Wargrove gains the Sylvaneth Keyword, they can also pick another spell. I agree with your conclusion but for a different reason. They don't gain the keyword (except for qualifying for the allegiance), however, the Lore requires a Wizard in a Sylvaneth Army (not a "Sylvaneth Wizard"), which they do qualify for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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