FEC at low points; can MSU work?

[wayniac]

I am wanting to focus my AOS experience a little more on smaller point games, ~1000 points, potentially as high as around 1250 (1260?) points because I feel a lot can be done at this level and the games go faster.

Seeing as I mainly play the good and noble Flesh-Eater Courts, I got to thinking how they operate at low points levels.  I almost always take a king on a Terrorgheist because I love the model, but clocking in at over 400 points he seems like too much of an investment at the lower point games.  This also got me thinking about the typical unit size, and maybe if less is more.  I know that Crypt Ghouls get a bonus at 20+ models but I wonder if this is fool's gold; more than 20 is fairly unwieldy, but at only 20 any casualties you suffer will reduce the damage output anyways.  Having units of 10, while it means they die easier, means more unit activations and more of the opportunity for them to maneuver.  

A friend and I were chatting and we came up with the possibility of the following at the 1000 point level; with the intention being it's played on a 4x4 board with approximately 4-8 pieces of terrain (per guidelines 1-2 pieces per 2x2 square):

FLESH-EATER COURTS

Leaders
Abhorrant Ghoul King (100)
- General
- Trait: Ruler of the Night
Crypt Ghast Courtier (80)
Crypt Haunter Courtier (120)
- Artefact: Cursed Book

Units
Crypt Ghouls x 10 (100)
Crypt Ghouls x 10 (100)
Crypt Ghouls x 10 (100)
Crypt Horrors x 6 (280)
Reinforcement Points (100)

Total: 980/1000

The idea here is that the king on foot can summon 10 ghouls, and they act similar to the Ghoul Patrol battalion so they can be brought in at an opportune time to pincer a foe or seize an objective.  The king, haunter courtier and crypt horrors form a solid brick to move up the field, with the King's spell "Black Hunger" can help the Horrors get more attacks, plus with the Ruler of the Night and the Courtier the Horrors should be pretty tanky.  The ghouls themselves basically harass the enemy (I'm thinking one unit in the middle, two on the flanks), with a possible variant not having the reinforcement points but instead take one block of 20 ghouls in the center backed up by the courtier and then the two smaller units as flanks to deal with skirmishers.  The only potential snafu is that there's no source of Rend or Mortal Wounds so I think the list could struggle against high armor or monsters (for example I think this list would get crushed by Beastclaw Raiders, although at the 1k point level I think most things would); I'm not sure how to really handle those anyways due to FEC not having much in the way of rend or mortal wounds short of spamming Crypt Flayers.

Anyways this is mainly brainstorming because I find it very hard to do FEC at low points due to the good stuff (read: king on beast, horrors/flayers) costing a lot of points.  Any suggestions, whether on the list idea here or FEC at the 1000 point level in general?

[ElectricPaladin]

I am inclined to think that small units of ghouls aren't really worth it, except possibly as an outflanking component to jump on an objective, such as one brought onto the battlefield by a ghoul king or the ghoul patrol battalion. The trouble with the list you've presented is that none of your ghouls have any punch, and I don't think you can rely on horrors to do the work. I'd do something more like this:

Leaders
Abhorrant Ghoul King (100)
- General
- Trait: Ruler of the Night
- Artefact: Ring of Immortality
Varghulf Courtier (160)
Crypt Ghast Courtier (80)

Units
Crypt Ghouls x 30 (300)
Crypt Ghouls x 30 (300)

Behemoths

War Machines

Battalions

Scenery

Total: 940/1000

[TerrorPenguin]

4 hours ago, wayniac said:

I am wanting to focus my AOS experience a little more on smaller point games, ~1000 points, potentially as high as around 1250 (1260?) points because I feel a lot can be done at this level and the games go faster.

Seeing as I mainly play the good and noble Flesh-Eater Courts, I got to thinking how they operate at low points levels.  I almost always take a king on a Terrorgheist because I love the model, but clocking in at over 400 points he seems like too much of an investment at the lower point games.  This also got me thinking about the typical unit size, and maybe if less is more.  I know that Crypt Ghouls get a bonus at 20+ models but I wonder if this is fool's gold; more than 20 is fairly unwieldy, but at only 20 any casualties you suffer will reduce the damage output anyways.  Having units of 10, while it means they die easier, means more unit activations and more of the opportunity for them to maneuver.  

A friend and I were chatting and we came up with the possibility of the following at the 1000 point level; with the intention being it's played on a 4x4 board with approximately 4-8 pieces of terrain (per guidelines 1-2 pieces per 2x2 square):

FLESH-EATER COURTS

Leaders
Abhorrant Ghoul King (100)
- General
- Trait: Ruler of the Night
Crypt Ghast Courtier (80)
Crypt Haunter Courtier (120)
- Artefact: Cursed Book

Units
Crypt Ghouls x 10 (100)
Crypt Ghouls x 10 (100)
Crypt Ghouls x 10 (100)
Crypt Horrors x 6 (280)
Reinforcement Points (100)

Total: 980/1000

 

I have taken this exact list, except that instead of the reinforcement points I took ghoul patrol. It didn't go well, as most of my ghoul patrolled units were too far away to receive the buff from the ghoul king. It does depend on whether you're playing the scenarios or not. 

I'd probably be tempted to drop the formation, take one unit of 30 ghouls and one of 10 and use the 10 for objective sitting etc