Knight Vexillor

[Agent of Chaos]

Are any Stormcast players using the Knight-Vexillor? I haven't seen any strategy discussion around using the Pennant of the Stormbringer to drop 10 Retributors into the enemy's face. Has this been a viable tactic for people? Its obviously more reliable than the Lightning Chariot prayer, thus freeing up your Lord Relictor to take a different prayer. Also means your Retributors aren't trapped in the clouds waiting for Scions of the Storm to work. Obvious downside is the pennant is one use only and Knight Vexillor costs 140 points. Does his re-roll charges within 12" ability make him worth the points? For the sake of context I'm looking to include him in a 2000 point list which does include a Relictor so lightning chariot/scions are still options for moving the Retributors around. If I dropped the Vexillor I'd be replacing him with a 3rd unit of Prosecutors with Tridents and a unit of Aetherwings  (to go with the 6 x longstrikes).  Interested to hear people's thoughts/experiences...

[kozokus]

Now that he doest not teleport closer than Scion of the storm, i don't bother anymore with that banner and take the comet one instead. and blast some unit at the start of the game because a 24" range auto-hit with a 2-12" bubble of arcane bolt is more than most sorcerer can achive in a whole game.

I only use him for his reroll charge bonus for the purpose of securising the charges of paladins and dracoths. because i REALLY want them in combat.

[Let's 'ere it for da boyz!]

I'm guessing you're basing your higher opinion of the Vexillor on the Warscroll in Azyr?  The amended scroll in the new Battletome and on the GW site reflects the nerfed Pennant of the Stormbringer ability.

I can't see why you'd pay 140 pts for the ability to do something you'd get for free just by keeping Stormcast Allegiance, as it's literally exactly the same as Scions of the Storm.

[rokapoke]

7 minutes ago, Let's 'ere it for da boyz! said:

I can't see why you'd pay 140 pts for the ability to do something you'd get for free just by keeping Stormcast Allegiance, as it's literally exactly the same as Scions of the Storm.

Ever have a unit stuck in combat at one end of the table but want to move them across the battlefield? Scions of the Storm won't help you there.

Ever need to surgically strike on a particular turn and have a bad habit of rolling 1s and 2s? The Pennant is a 100% sure thing.

Is it worth 140 points? Sometimes. I expect it's like the Knight Venator and his Star-Fated Arrow. When it works, it's amazing and would be a bargain at twice the price. When it doesn't work, it wouldn't have been worth spending 10 points on.

[Let's 'ere it for da boyz!]

4 minutes ago, rokapoke said:

 

14 minutes ago, Let's 'ere it for da boyz! said:

 

Ever have a unit stuck in combat at one end of the table but want to move them across the battlefield? Scions of the Storm won't help you there.

Ever need to surgically strike on a particular turn and have a bad habit of rolling 1s and 2s? The Pennant is a 100% sure thing.

Is it worth 140 points? Sometimes. I expect it's like the Knight Venator and his Star-Fated Arrow. When it works, it's amazing and would be a bargain at twice the price. When it doesn't work, it wouldn't have been worth spending 10 points on.

 

Fair points.  I thought about using it before it got nerfed, but didn't own the model.  Now that it's not as useful, I hadn't planned on getting one.

Maybe I'll proxy one in a friendly game a few times and see how he performs.

[Lord Baerion]

It's not a sure thing, but I have one in my first 1K list along with 2 units of prosecutors and a unit of fulminators all who plan on starting in the celestial realm.  The hope would be the vexillor and 2 of the 3 units come in at the same time.  Vexillor drops down and sends down the comet, retributors with 3d6" re-roll charge distance and fly can hopefully get into a juicy target (wizard, bloodsecrator, etc.) and Fulminators even with a re-roll have a good chance of hitting their 9" charge.

Obviously it's all up to rolling 3+'s, but could work out to be a pretty solid alpha strike.

[kozokus]

3 hours ago, Lord Baerion said:

 The hope would be the vexillor and 2 of the 3 units come in at the same time.

Sadly, you can only throw the comet on the hero phase, so not when he drops in the movement phase :(. You ll have to wait a turn.

[Lord Baerion]

A bummer, but yes you're correct.  Still re-rolls for the charge will be big that turn they come down.

In practice the list may not perform that well, but I have yet to try it, but it is primarily built using the starter box set and a couple extra kits.  Eventually I'd like to add another unit of Fulminators and Retributors to the list to make an even stronger alpha strike.

I like the Vexillor, but I feel for 140 points he is a little overcosted for what he does which is why I'll probably use my artifact as the lichebone pennant to add more value and heal the Dracoths.

 

[chord]

5 hours ago, rokapoke said:

Sometimes. I expect it's like the Knight Venator and his Star-Fated Arrow. When it works, it's amazing and would be a bargain at twice the price. When it doesn't work, it wouldn't have been worth spending 10 points on.

Except the Venator is very useful without the SFA.  The Vexillor not so much once the pennant is used.

I do like the concept of us the stormbringer pennant later on in the game,  grab an objective late, pull a unit out of a bad match up, etc. Anyone had luck using it like that?

 

[Requizen]

25 minutes ago, chord said:

Except the Venator is very useful without the SFA.  The Vexillor not so much once the pennant is used.

I do like the concept of us the stormbringer pennant later on in the game,  grab an objective late, pull a unit out of a bad match up, etc. Anyone had luck using it like that?

 

If you're going to bring the Vexillor in any capacity, I think you're also bringing Lichebone Standard. Healing a wound in each nearby unit is awesome for us. So even once his ability is done, he's giving rerolls to charges and potentially healing multiple units. That's pretty good still. 

I'm with @rokapoke. Guaranteed things in this game always come at a premium, and bad rolls will always come when you least want them. If you're running Hammmerstrike and don't want your Prosecutors sitting on your deployment line (Thundertusks, Skyfires, etc), you want to teleport them. Scions bringing them in too early can ****** you up super hard, too late and you'll have gone without a huge chunk of your army. 

Being able to put a unit where you want on the table, when you want it to be there with impunity is a massive ability. A 15 man unit of Paladins that can go from touching your back end of the table to suddenly 9"  away without a roll is huuuge. Even at a 9" range that's such a huge swing of board control that many armies just won't be able to deal with it. 

You also can consider using it to teleport himself. Say you're running Skyborne Slayers. Give him the Lichebone Standard and then jump him up to where the Slayers are coming in. Congrats, you just brought in a massive blob that only have 5" charges with rerolls (so almost impossible to fail) that will be healing up. Your opponent will never be able to shift that block most likely.

[Olincay]

Also if you're running a combined order army he's the only way of teleporting stormcasts accross the table since we loose Scions of the storm. 

It is abit of a shame that it's 9" away, but what can you do. 

[Heksagon]

Vexillor can be pretty good with a Hammerstrike. Teleporting 10 paladins after their drop is quite handy, especially if you want to move them to the objective/other units.

Healing banner is also really good with Paladins.

[Agent of Chaos]

Didnt realise the stormbringer pennant had been nerfed so that its now 9" away. Still great for claiming late objectives or moving an outmatched unit from one side of the table to the other as others have mentioned but now feeling he might not be worth it.

I've played a couple of games against Stormcast and both times my opponents used Scions of the storm to deploy his retributors. In both cases they didnt land until turn 3 or 4 by which time it was too late for them to earn back their points. 

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and comments!

[Riddlesworthy]

I wouldn't take him without the Lichebone pennant, but with it he's a good support piece with an anvil of liberators and pairs well with lord celestants (either version) with the staunch defender trait

[stickybluetoffee]

7 hours ago, Heksagon said:

Vexillor can be pretty good with a Hammerstrike. Teleporting 10 paladins after their drop is quite handy, especially if you want to move them to the objective/other units.

Healing banner is also really good with Paladins.

Absolutely. At best you use the lightning chariot to throw him forward in the hero phase and drop the comet. Then you move / run the prosecutors up, drop the Paladins in so they're really close with a re-roll charge.

Of course that relies on the lightning chariot and it's a fair few points but could pay off. The more expensive version without the reliance on the prayer is use 1 vexillator with the pennant to transport the second with the meteoric standard.

sounds all good and gives you a potent alpha strike. However not convinced that alpha strike pays off all the points invested.