My Aetherstrike experiences

[Marc Wilson]

I've played a list based strongly on this formation in two tournaments, London's Calling and. SCGT. Below is the list I took to the latter:

It's a 6 drop list which, in general, gave the first turn option unless facing a Sylvaneth player. I pretty much choose the first turn in all games except those I lost. This was for several reasons - huge potential to alpha-strike; getting up early in scenarios; the ability to do damage in the opponents turn.

Part 1: Leaders

The breakdown for the list is roughly:

Celestent on Dracoth:

Really key the list - I.e two 10s of Judicators. He is very defensive as Aetherstrike plays out as a big blob, and he sits in the middle of it, holding it together.  In general he sat dead centre - with 10 judicators strung either side of him and the 5 other leaders all clustered behind him. Mirror Shield is nice and prevents people opting to target him. On balance the Obsidian Amulet might be better to give 4+ against spells, and besides it's probably worthwhile tempting the enemy into Easton shots on him. 24" Inspiring presence is very good - and everything is always in range. Drake Kin on the mount as added insurance from multiple damage attacks. I would change the Hammer for the Axe as he charged infrequently charged but was almost always in the company of friendly models for +1A from each. All units above always stayed within 6' of him, removing casualties from the middle of the judicators where possible.

Castellent

Nornally giving +1 to the general, though his 12' MW attack often came in useful in later turns. No one seemed to know anything about it!  Always glued to General. Light of be tempest was OK-ish. But the rerolls still get through reliably. Obviously this would be great against Skyfires but I never faced them.

Lightning Chariot Relictor

Normally used first turn to teleport the azyros into cover 9' from two units. Obviously has a number of uses though possibly better on paper. In mid to late game it's hard to find and 18' diameter area of enemy free space. I did do a 24' move then trigger a lightning storm to polish off the odd leader! In general, and to my surprise I found his two origin prayers had more applications.

Bless Weapons Relictor

Over 11 games I don't think this prayer made a consistent difference. If near damned terrain I'd roll this then sacrifice if I'd got Bless Weapons on for the extra shot on a 5. Only ever used on the biggest unit of Judicators.

Venator

Does his big shot first turn, but in practice this is often saved. I toyed with the Luckstone but even then you have the sabe to get through. For a single use item it's not worth it.

Azyros

Sacrificial lamb - normally teleported or ran to a position where he was giving RR1s and provided a juicy target for the enemy.

[Marc Wilson]

Reserved for units and observations

Units

Judicators

In keeping with the rest of the list they would move up 5' along with the rest of the blob, in horizontal lines spreading from the general. This is so they can; prevent losses from shooting without reply; contest wide objectives (unit within 3'); stay within 6' of the General for the plus 1 save. Quite often would split attacks - see below.

Hurricane Raptors

I would deploy these in the sky then drop into terrain in the middle of the board, close to judicators if possible, to ensure a big free shot if destroyed. From there they largely stood still and shot until killed. I was careful not to pile in to preserve the extra shots! There is debate over whether they can shoot 9 times when 'set up' - I played it to my advantage obviously ( in lack of clarity). These were often to first to die, but normally accounted for their value in enemy units plus trigger the big judicators.

Aetherwings

These little chaps were great. I'd normally dangle them out 3' or so in front of the judicators blocking obvious enemy approaches. They would always charge the enemy when possible to give them the Hobson's choice. Activating at the start of the opponents charge phase is extremely useful and prevented many a charge.

[Marc Wilson]

I found the list simple to play (eventually) in that it's quite formulaic. For others that might be boring but for my limited capacity it was ideal :). It's clearly a one-trick pony and very much a blob which doesn't move much, and I'm not sure whether it gives opponents the best experience.

With so much shooting I was quite prudent with my shooting - splitting it a lot to not 'overkill' and waste wounds. Remaining models or those not in battleshock threat can be passed on to the next shooting unit and so on.

Very often people forgot the return shot mechanic or couldn't help themselves taking off applicable units as it is counter productive to not go for them.

On the flipside, the best ways to combat Aetherstrike IMO is to kill the general, triggering no free shot, and thereafter being susceptibile to battleshock and losing the +1 to save, and if possible to kill the non-formation leaders, ignore the formation leaders and whittle down but not destroy the units. The birds are a problem, ideally you want to try to destroy them from shooting on your table edge and avoid a revenge volley.

I did lack R2 and would be tempted to drop one of the judicators for 6 Longstrikes in some list jiggery pokery to provide an alternative, longer range free shot. Overall I finished 7/22 and 27/192 and the games I lost were down to single (big) mistakes (like not reading wording). I have no doubt looking back that this is a powerful list which could have won all games.

thanks to all opponents and @HobbyKiller and @Jack Armstrong for practice games and feedback. I'm not sure that I would use it again but on my experience qualifies as a 'power list' which ever variant of the battalion is taken.

[PJetski]

Notes on your list:

There's no point running Aetherstrike if you're not going to use at least 9 Raptors in a single squad.

2 Lord Relictor is wholly unnecessary, especially in SCGT where there is a rule about casting the same prayer more than once.

LCOD is not necessary. Those point could be better spent on other things.

You have far too many Judicators. They don't do much damage, their main use is dying so your Raptors can shoot in retaliation. They aren't worth 160 points, they are just a waste of 60 points when you could take Liberators instead. Bring the minimum amount to fill out battalions and avoid them otherwise.

Azyros should definitely not be a sacrificial lamb. Rerolling hit1 is very good and he enables your first battalion ability that lets your raptors shoot in the hero phase.

The weakness of Aetherstrike is ranged units killing your Raptors. The only 5 models you should be worried about with an Aetherstrike:

1. Skyfires

2. Stormfiends

3. Hellcannons

4. Thundertusk

5. Wizards - Just measure ranges carefully, make sure your raptors are never in danger of taking lots of mortal wounds from spells.

If you bring a unit of Protectors you can counter Skyfires, Hellcannons, and all other regular shooting (Kunnin Rukk comes to mind) especially when combined with the Lantern of the Tempest. Stormfiends and Thundertusks require very careful deployment and movement to play around, but are manageable.

I have attached my most recent Aetherstrike list

Cheers

[Marc Wilson]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. The above is based on 2 tournaments against other optimized tournament armies, using SCGT scenarios which to some extent part put an emphasis on a survivable general, battleline, multiple leaders and simultaneous contesting of objectives. In my experience having contingency is vital, as is a general with protection from Dx, rerolls and access to healing in the list. Aetherstrike is still a multiple drop armie and plenty of armies can elect to go first. Certainly there are many who can each out and touch a Veritant or a unit of Raptors. If your Veritant goes, any competent opponent will battleshock off the single big unit in short time leaving the impact of the Aetherstrike quite limp.

Russ won a recent 1 dayer with a Stardrake varient on the list. There are plenty of options. As I stated quite clearly this is my experience not 'this is the best list etc...' and my post is geared to all in the community - players and opponents alike.

When you talk in absolutes your helpfulness could be misconstrued as arrogance, which in turn could expose you to ridicule.

 

Cheers

Marc

[Turragor]

2 hours ago, PJetski said:

There's no point running Aetherstrike if you're not going to use at least 9 Raptors in a single squad.

You've interesting views on another tried and tested approach but he's just shown an alternative version has merit too.

I like that there's some options so think saying "there's no point unless" is kind of unhelpful.

2 Relictors are f-ing awesome but I take the same prayer to get a failsafe. I have tried bless weapons but prefer double lightning chariot.

I like your list too.

Can't all aetherstrikers just get along? Won't someone think of the children?

[Aezeal]

52 minutes ago, Turragor said:

You've interesting views on another tried and tested approach but he's just shown an alternative version has merit too.

I like that there's some options so think saying "there's no point unless" is kind of unhelpful.

2 Relictors are f-ing awesome but I take the same prayer to get a failsafe. I have tried bless weapons but prefer double lightning chariot.

I like your list too.

Can't all aetherstrikers just get along? Won't someone think of the children?

Just kill each other you stormcasts and forget the children.. Trees will rule the realms. Sylvaneth for live YO.

[chord]

17 hours ago, Turragor said:

 

2 Relictors are f-ing awesome but I take the same prayer to get a failsafe. I have tried bless weapons but prefer double lightning chariot.

 

Agreed I've been running 2 Relictors way before the new battletome. Love the model and for the points they are a great value. 

[Turragor]

4 minutes ago, chord said:

Agreed I've been running 2 Relictors way before the new battletome. Love the model and for the points they are a great value. 

They can be pretty sturdy and slippery. Not going to kill much but you can use them in imaginative ways!

[M J Gherardi]

Thanks for the write up Marc. I've played against a similar list with 20 judicators and felt it to be quite potent.

I do believe your variant or the one used by Russ is the best for tackling the SCGT scenarios. 9 raptors in whatever form of list are quite vulnerable.

[papagumdrop]

Seems to vary by the competition and format as to how many Vanguard Raptor Longstrikes. I am also working on a Stardrake/Aetherstrike list with 6 Longstrikes as the "designated battalion shooter". In playing around with the points I was wondering if there is any worth to plussing up the required Aetherwing units to 6? Has anyone tried this yet and if so, does it help hold up enemy units longer or does it buy you about 1 turn of blocking no matter what? Interested in either experience or theory, thanks.