Let's Discuss: Lion Rangers

[chord]

With talk of lesser used units in another thread, I was thinking maybe we can try a series of discussion on some of the smaller order factions or lesser known units.  As a new-ish player who started with AoS this would be beneficial to hear more about them.  

I'm thinking we could try discussing from all perspectives:

• Strategy (including Narrative, Matched, Open)
• Hobby (Design, style, etc)
• Fluff/Background

If this works; great; if not it will be the first and last post in the series

 

First up  Lion Rangers

This faction has two units

1. White Lion Chariots (GW Site Link , Warscroll )
2. White Lions (GW Site Link , Warscroll )

[Double Misfire]

Great thread idea!

The background for these guys in the GA: Order book, much like all of the reimagined Azyrheim factions made out of old WFB models is very cool. They've got an awesome unique look and are probably a joy to paint if you're into elves.

Gameplay wise White Lions compare favourably with comparable hard-hitting elite infantry units in the Azyrheim factions (Executioners, Wildwood Rangers, Hammerers, Greatswords, ect), and come in at a reasonable 180 points for 10. The only thing they fall down on compared to these other units is their lack of synergy with other stuff, whether it's keyword based like Hammerers, tied up in a formation, or an easily enhanced special rule like Executioners' severing strike. With their relatively speedy aelf movement and ability to shrug off battleshock not having to depend on nearby units might not be such a bad thing, allowing White Lions to go off and do their own thing without any downside. The only problem with units like this is that while they're functional on paper they don't really do anything a battleline unit like dwarf warriors or Liberators can't, they just do it a lot better for almost twice the points, and after you've filled a matched play list with all the tools you think you'll need for all the different armies and battleplans you might face there's not an awful lot of room left for them.

While the White Lion Chariot is a beautiful model I hated it when it was first released for WFB, as I felt it cheapened the White Lions background to have tame Charcian Lions when they're supposed to be creatures of Chaos, and the idea of one cat, let alone a pair wanting to follow instructions and pull a chariot (in a straight line) felt ridiculous. I feel they suit the more OTT tone of Age of Sigmar a lot better than they ever did the old setting and am pleased the model didn't get discontinued.

I'm not exactly sure what role Lion Chariots are supposed to fill on the battlefield, at 120 points they're quite mobile and fairly hard hitting against lighter stuff, but only have six wounds and aren't going to cap or contest many matched play objectives with their low model count and durability, and don't seem to fill any roles a unit of Silver Helms couldn't do better. I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who'd had any success with them.

[chord]

So I've not read the background in the GA:Order book so all I have to go on is the blurb on the website.    Why are they wearing lion pelts , when they have pet/tame lions pulling their chariots?  Do they kill their pets to wear?   Why was this Aelf faction broken out from other ones? 

Appearance wise my pet peeve is that in the White Lion Chariots the lions have some odd braided beards going on.  I mean these White Lion soldiers must be bad-asses to try and braid a lion's beard!!  I like in the chariot that the model holding the rope seems like he is struggling to keep the lions under control.  As for the Lion Rangers,  their models seem bland until I realized the detail on the lion pelts include fur, tails and claws.  Nice attention to detail.

I think the Lion Rangers seem like they would be able to hold together pretty well.  a 4+ up save,  re-roll saves of 1 in shooting phase, and I would imagine they are fairly immune to battleshock.  7 Bravery that gets boosted to 8 if you include a standard bearer,  and then for each model that flees you have a 50% changes of negating that.  A pile of these guys could stay around awhile especially if you placed mystic shield on them.

The lion chariots.  I think 2-3 of these guys might not be too bad.  If you had 2 and both charged successfully that would be 24 attacks that combat phase for only two models.  And that unit would have a total of 12 wounds with a 9" move.

I think where this faction seems to fall down is in matched play. The points value seems very high for them. Especially the lion chariots.  If you compare them to a Khorgorath which has a very similar Wound/move/save profile, the Khorgi is only 80 points while the Lion Chariots are at 120.  Seems strange.

The lion rangers on the other hand, if they were straight battleline for any Order army I think their point cost would be fair.   But I agree after filling out you army for matched play there is not much room for the lion rangers.

All my strategy is just based on reading the warscroll, not actual play (I've not even seen these in the wild).

 

[chord]

Has anyone tried using these units?

[Double Misfire]

@chordI've got a hunch a series like this would get a bit more traffic if you were to initially run threads analysing the more popular mini-factions like Ironweld Arsenal and Collegiate Arcane.

I've got masses of experience with the Ironweld Arsenal and could write an essay on how many organ gun barrels to fire alone.  

[Grimku]

White Lions and Swordmasters share the exact same stat line and have the lion's share (heh) of difference in their abilities. White Lions will stick in combat longer (in theory) but Swordmasters will do more damage due to re-rolling hits AND are more likely to actually get to combat since they re-roll ALL saves in shooting phase vs Lions only re-rolling 1's.

 

Their ability does fit lore-wise, maybe some sort of "look out sir" for a specified hero to match their "protector" role would be appropriate. I wish they also had some different damage output (d3 damage, -1 rend vs monsters, etc.) compared to the Swordmasters.

[chord]

34 minutes ago, Double Misfire said:

@chordI've got a hunch a series like this would get a bit more traffic if you were to initially run threads analysing the more popular mini-factions like Ironweld Arsenal and Collegiate Arcane.

I've got masses of experience with the Ironweld Arsenal and could write an essay on how many organ gun barrels to fire alone.  

Good Point,  I'll do that for the next one. 

[chord]

23 minutes ago, Grimku said:

White Lions and Swordmasters share the exact same stat line and have the lion's share (heh) of difference in their abilities. White Lions will stick in combat longer (in theory) but Swordmasters will do more damage due to re-rolling hits AND are more likely to actually get to combat since they re-roll ALL saves in shooting phase vs Lions only re-rolling 1's.

 

Their ability does fit lore-wise, maybe some sort of "look out sir" for a specified hero to match their "protector" role would be appropriate. I wish they also had some different damage output (d3 damage, -1 rend vs monsters, etc.) compared to the Swordmasters.

Good catch on the Swordmasters stat line match up.  And swordmasters get battleline for their faction I believe.

Maybe a good bonus to differentiate them could have been -1 rend on a successful charge or when not moving/charging that turn?

[Double Misfire]

Just now, chord said:

Good Point,  I'll do that for the next one. 

I'll start making my ranking of models with the engineer keyword now.  

It might be wise to give the OP an appendix of the various legacy warmachines who didn't make it into the Ironweld, as they're all effectively part of the faction too (Grudge Thrower, Dwarf Bolt Thrower, Flame Cannon, Empire cannon and Mortar, possibly even elf bolth throwers?)

[Grimku]

20 minutes ago, chord said:

Good catch on the Swordmasters stat line match up.  And swordmasters get battleline for their faction I believe.

Maybe a good bonus to differentiate them could have been -1 rend on a successful charge or when not moving/charging that turn?

It's hard to look at White Lions and not look at their leader, Korhil. He's everything a white lion SHOULD be.

 

+2 to save rolls in the shooting phase

Can take wound or mortal wounds for a HIGHBORN HERO within 3"

Command ability grants +1 to wound rolls vs monsters for HIGHBORN units.

 

White Lions should do that stuff but sadly Kohril didn't match the jump to the Lion Rangers faction, meaning they can't even benefit from his command ability.

 

You COULD, however, take the old warscroll for White Lions.. Should be the same amount of points I think? Then at least they benefit from Highborn buffs and command abilities instead of being stranded on Lion Ranger island.

 

 

[chord]

44 minutes ago, Double Misfire said:

I'll start making my ranking of models with the engineer keyword now.  

It might be wise to give the OP an appendix of the various legacy warmachines who didn't make it into the Ironweld, as they're all effectively part of the faction too (Grudge Thrower, Dwarf Bolt Thrower, Flame Cannon, Empire cannon and Mortar, possibly even elf bolth throwers?)

That is a good idea but highlights an issue GW created with AoS.  For us new people there is no good chart showing what was old and made it over and what didn't without reading through all of them. 

I'll give it a shot

[chord]

17 minutes ago, Grimku said:

It's hard to look at White Lions and not look at their leader, Korhil. He's everything a white lion SHOULD be.

 

+2 to save rolls in the shooting phase

Can take wound or mortal wounds for a HIGHBORN HERO within 3"

Command ability grants +1 to wound rolls vs monsters for HIGHBORN units.

 

White Lions should do that stuff but sadly Kohril didn't match the jump to the Lion Rangers faction, meaning they can't even benefit from his command ability.

 

You COULD, however, take the old warscroll for White Lions.. Should be the same amount of points I think? Then at least they benefit from Highborn buffs and command abilities instead of being stranded on Lion Ranger island.

 

 

Hmm interesting as a new person I've not read through all the legacy scrolls yet. Good point. Without their named leader they are not as useful.   Kohril could have made the jump as "White Lion General" or some generic hero.  I wonder why they didn't do that.