Newbie to army building

[Gokken]

Hi guys, I been painting for many years but only recently started playing warhammer, because the rules of AOS are simpler.

I play stormcast and lost 14 matches and won 3, people say they are very overpowered and that might be true, because I am not a good army builder.

I lost a bit of the love I have for my army because of all the loses, so my friends suggested this forum for advice.

I havent build my perfect army yet, and I am aiming for this combo.

 

Leaders
Lord Castellant (100)
Lord Relictor (80)

Units
Liberators x 10 (200)
- Warhammers
Judicators x 5 (160)
- Skybolt Bows
Prosecutors with Stormcall Javelins x 6 (160)
Fulminators x 2 (240) ( I thought about tempestors, because of the synergy with relictor-2 to hit.) (concussors because of more damage and reaching 980/1000) insted of 940

Total: 940/1000

Leaders
Lord Castellant (100)
Lord Relictor (80)

Units
Liberators x 5 (100)
- Warhammers
Judicators x 10 (320)
- Skybolt Bows
Prosecutors with Stormcall Javelins x 6 (160)
Fulminators x 2 (240)

Total: 1000/1000

I loose 5 liberators and gaining 5 judicators and there-by exactly hitting 1k.

I also thought about getting celestant on foot into the mix, but not sure how.

I have really strong feelings, for prosecutors so a list without them is not doable for me.

Many of my lists include 10 liberators, because they synergy well with castellant, but are 10 liberators needed for 1k?

Any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated and I apoligise in advance for my english.

[Dez]

Hello and welcome!

im going to give you some general advice, as I don't play Stormcast. Their strength is in the Battalions, so I would heavily consider that whenbuilding a list. 

I hope that helps with direction, good luck!

[Dracothjay]

I am a religious SE player. As mentioned earlier, battalions is where it's at with Stormcast, skyborne slayers, warrior brotherhood etc will see you turn 1 charging and applying stress and pressure to your opponent. 

As for your lists, you don't have enough punch. Although fulminators are great, 2 of them isn't enough. They are powerful, but best served in a large group. Your lords don't have a command ability as well. If you want defensive play role with LCoD, offensive play Lord celestant on foot. You want at least 2 units of judciators. Liberators are good with a castellant to buff them as they can become very durable.

SE power lies in mortal wound spamming, so synergises for that. You can't go wrong with Paladins, retributors are you bad boys that kill anything in front of it.

id say my strongest phase is my shooting phase as mortal wounds from cloak attacks, lanterns and judicators really lay the hurt on enemy forces.

whats your play style?

[Gokken]

I would say I play defensively and maybe to defensively, because my lists did not have enough damage to play offensively.

I was going for warrior brotherhood formation for 2k, but the problem is really the 1k point limit.

I like retributors but the point cost of 220 and move 4 and save 4 is horrible they are so slow and die instantly to anything with rend.

Although 5 retributors got a nice charge in on a bunch 20-30 dryads last time, they lasted 1 round due to the horrible battleshock of loosing 15 dryads to the retributors

I did stalk a lot of your posts Dracothjay, they were very helpful.

I mean for battlelines alone I pay 260+ 160 for prosecutors to take points thats 420 points, half an army just for basic troops and objectives

based on your suggestions I made this.

Leaders
Lord Relictor (80)
Lord Celestant (100)

Units
Judicators x 5 (160)
- Skybolt Bows
Paladin Retributors x 5 (220)
Prosecutors with Stormcall Javelins x 6 (160)
Judicators x 5 (160)
- Skybolt Bows
Liberators x 5 (100)
- Warhammers
Total: 980/1000
 

Now I have paladins, and more ranged compared to my old list and no castellant.

I have less melee, but admittely anything I get into melee with will be severly weakened by the constant barrage of arrows and death!

Thoughts?

[Dracothjay]

A list I want to try is

knight vexillor

10 retributors

5 judicators 

5 liberators

proescutors

vexillor to teleport the 10 rets anywhere as long as its 3" outside of enemy range. When they teleport they do D3 mortal wounds to any unit in front of them judging by a d6 roll, which determines the distance of how many units you can D3 wounds to. Then charge, 4 star soul maces instantly puts the hurt on.

a nice tip with rets, blast to ashes does 2 mortal wounds if you roll a 6 to hit. If you have a Lord celestant on foot and use his +1 to hit, that 6+ drops to a 5+. With 6 rets attacking with their normal maces you should squeeze more mortal wounds out. They are lethal as a unit of 10. 

Ive seen some power defence lists you might like. A lot of them consist of 2 units of 10 liberators backed by a castellant with the LCoD Buffing the no battleshock tests. 10 liberators with 3+ save rerolling 1's and don't have to take battleshock tests........one hell of a tarpit!!

are you looking to expand your Stormcast army soon? I'd recommend aiming for skyborne slayers. I run that formation every game at 1500 points up. At 2k I run a celestant prime and other units depending on my match up. But I highly recommend slayers formation. It's so aggressive, which you might enjoy having played defensively all the time.

warrior brotherhood is far more of a tactical formation. It's mainly used to deep strike units onto objectives and hold them. 

Lately ive been toying with the idea of not running formations at all and trying the whole 'march to battle and fight', but what keeps me coming back to formations is with the skyborne slayers you get to fight on your terms and almost garuanteed each game to get first turn and deep strike the formation straight onto your enemy!

either way you want to play Stormcast externals, they are a fantastic army and are pretty powerful. Just figure out what it is you want to do with your lists. Is it objective holding you want? Is it defensive you want? Offensive? 

I always select a lord with a CA and build around him. Have never used a stardrake yet, 600+ points is a heavy price for the LCoSD, but a lot of players have great success using him. Me personally, I like fielding more units and giving myself more options.

[Dracothjay]

Oh, as for your list, I'd split the prosecutors into two units. Gives you more mobility and extra options to objective hold.  I don't really use prosecutors as they don't match my playstyle. They are best served harassing/weakening units or as I said just before, getting to objectives early and waiting for their more killy brothers to arrive.

[Gokken]

I split the prosecutors and gave them spears insted of hammers, like i normaly do.

Then I used bows insted of crossbows and 2 units, normaly I use 1.

That proved really effective killed, most of the melee train before it reached the liberators.

I lost to objectives but almost table the opponent, but my Paladins decide to suck big time on 25 rolls I got one hit of 6.

Celestant on foot died abit fast, first time playing with him.

The new list feels more powerful, but I need more practice with it

But thanks for the help guys, it really worked great.

 

 

[Dracothjay]

Yeah, you need to keep the LC back out the way and sitting comfortable, but keeping him in range still for his buff. I usually get him involved if I'm struggling bringing down a target or getting rid of a chaff unit. 

That is unfortunate about you Paladins and your rolls, but hang in there mate. When the rets start firing off, boy do they hurt!