Reuben Parker

I guess taker could be seen as more the all rounder as it doesn’t care so much about the opponents army and wants to play objectives and quite probably is the most flexible in build. Rarely see lists with duplicate megas in taker and split between 2 big 6 small or 3 big 3 small and then also splits as to if people want to run 3 solo small gargants to try to really leverage the counts as 15 rule. stomper tribe has most potential damage output but will face armies where the damage buff never triggers and due to its rules the warstomper and 9 small build feels the best to me. IMHO though there are a couple of valid trait artifact combos though for some variety then breaker my fav I see a few different builds for. I personally like the triple gatebreaker and unit of 3 with +1 vs heroes / wizards as it’s the list with the most sniping potential and I’ve always found killing key buff heroes is great for objective play armies as it tends to heavily drop the enemies damage output and lower the chances they can table you. Also can give some counter play vs the top lists which focus on shooting.

My other issue with Taker tribe is that I think it has anti synergies. You want to play objectives and double down on that with solo gargants and probably strong right foot for the 3d6 kick. This can be very powerful on certain battle plans. However it increases the drop count which ups the chance the opponent makes you play first. When the kraken eater really wants to play second so he can control the objective in your opponents turn 1 then kick in your turn 1 hero phase. Also not sure about other people but I don’t see running any item except the sandals it’s such a big damage boost from average 4 potential dmg at -2 on a good profile to 9 potential dmg at -3 however that’s just a thought in my mind maybe I need to go and look at common meta builds and see if many fit into the 4-6 drop range and if the increase drops really makes a difference in many matchups.

I agree I think breaker with +1 vs heroes and wizards is best. Horses for courses though if others prefer taker. The other comment above is correct 20-30 isn’t that meaningful but 10-15 can be. However I think breaker ability to snipe key buff heroes swings it. If you kill more and they’re doing you less damage then that aids winning as well.

I just finished painting a sons of behemat and now onto another more theme and “fun” style army of pure Alarith temple. With the lockdown still going on here in Canada I’ve been more relaxed in my hobbying and just working on models and lists I like rather than worrying about how competitive.

I’ve picked fyreslayers as khorne and Ogre wound counts seem way too low and pile in on death VB plus the HGB blob will probably be too much for them. BS again seems to have a low wound count for themselves as BS can often be up around 200 and the shooting Rukk really isn’t what it used to be after all the nerfs. Idol is nice but is the only standout threat.

The tribe is now complete , many tomb kings were harmed in the making of this army.

3rd mega on the way for my tomb king destroying tribe. I don’t like the club the kraken eater has both in look and it being a useless weapon underwater. Swapped for a spear / harpoon made from a necrosphinx. I did want a trident but it was a bit too unstable.

Yet to play with lockdowns but I can see from battle reports and just the warscrolls the issues you mention. Kind of why I’m thinking my favourite build will be triple gatebreaker mega and 3 mancrushers in one unit. +1 to hit vs characters/wizards at least that build has the most counter play in terms of chance to determine first turn (normally want to play second) and the best ranged sniping game. Try to blunt the most powerful hitters / combo pieces early and then the army can do its primary function of having 35 wound counts as 20 all the way to the last wound models winning on objectives. without some form of control anything can be deleted in AoS. Not the scariest thing at high level play but the easiest example is Skarbrand with normal support in reapers he averages 56 mortal wounds and 22 at -2 with the other axe.

I haven’t worked out all of mine but in general they’re a breaker tribe contracted by Nagash to wipe out the last enclaves of Tomb Kings who survived from the world that was

That also would be my assumption. it is complicated though by the fact logically start of the phase is also part of the combat phase. If a unit says it gets +1 save in the combat phase they get that against attacks at the start of the phase. annoyingly I can’t see any clear answer for his ability and “start of the phase” in the faq.

Soon I will have everything that I need gatebreaker, warstomper and 6 mancrushers painted. Have a kraken eater on order. I’m also making the stomper amd kraken dual builds as breakers. meaning I can run a lot of different builds including 3 gatebreaker breaker tribe which I’m excited to try. after the 3rd mega is done I’ll probably buy 4 more mancrushers so I can run the 9 mancrusher stomper build and the spare 10th may even come in handy if SoB get some points shaved off next GHB.

Out of curiosity how are people interpreting the war stomper pickup attack. It’s worded differently to mancrusher and kraken eater which do it after pile in. stomper just says during the combat phase. So by the wording it appears you can do it outside of normal combat sequences. Also could you use it before something that triggers at the start of the phase? Pickup a lumineth warden champion before he gets to do d3 mortal wounds??? Faq didn’t seem to address it.

Shame I was trying to muse on what the new rules could be. Was hoping for either a global rule or maybe some battalions. plus side I did come up with a nice idea for a trident Kraken eater today but 6-8 inch tridents don’t seem readily available online. My friend says he’s going to try making one from a vermin lord kit so fingers crossed it comes out well.

In honour of the nice faq love 6 (7) mancrushers done, now onto the megas. Adding some flavour with tomb kings pieces. Rumour has it that their breaker tribe was hired by Nagash to erase the last tomb king enclaves surviving from the world that was.

Yeah I’m just painting my 6th then onto the two Megas.

I haven’t had the chance to play as only have 3 sharks but I think it could be surprisingly strong. As long as sharks get a 4th bite (easy with the shooting) they put out very similar damage to spear eels charging and massively better in non charge combats. 2 spear eels cost slightly more than 1 shark on the charge both have 4 attacks 3+3+-2 2dmg, eels an average of 8 no rend damage compared to the sharks 6. Once you add in fuethan giving re rolls on the bites and the shooting sharks actually have better damage output even in charge turns. to be clear I’m not saying sharks should always replace spear eels as they have command models and the once per game MW. However I do think the two units now have advantages over one another. you could also run the same list with 6 sharks and an aspect of storm as he gets great utility from the cloud of midnight, scoring in hero missions and makes the shark bites 2+ rr1s to wound.

Saying this won’t change competitive pay is a silly until things are tried. Considering IDK can do things now like. fuethan reverse tides caster 2 scryer 3x10 thrall / reaver 2x3 shield eels 9 sharks can be 36 quality shots to thin out casters and or mortal wound spammers whilst still being very good in melee (their output is exceedingly close to spear eels as long as you get the 4th bite) Double scryer allows reserves and long bomb charges. yes most likely a whole army of sharks isn’t the way to go but still it’s an example.

based on what your going to have I would probably go. King -1 to hit trait, born from agony & cloud of midnight 2x2 sharks (one set with launchers one set with nets) 3 spear eel 3 shield eel will be 980 so a shot at a triumph and gives a bit of a mixture. I don’t Volt is really worth it at 1k losing out on cloud of midnight would be pretty huge.

Yeah something like this. Can also wrap 30 thralls in one unit drop lotaan and run another shark as an alternative. quite different to most lists currently so maybe a nice switchup. I might tweak things to get a second soulscryer as I’ve always found mass thralls really benefit from double scryer.

I know some people are still on the fence for sharks but I really like the new warscroll. I do think they now compete with spear eels as long as your getting the 4th bite which is pretty easy with their own shooting. A bit less damage output compared when eels charge but way better when charged or ongoing combat and only lose damage output every 8 wounds. Losing the monster keyword as long as that’s correct is what really brings them up though. sharks in reverse tide fuethan and an aspect of storm is something I’m excited to try. Something we couldn’t say prior to this change.

The tanky side may well be best again though doesn’t breaker do that better? If you go breaker +5 wounds and 6+++ shrug it takes 48 unsaved wounds statistically to kill him. Also KE & taker have the lowest damage output so the less you kill the more damage your taking in subsequent turns. From what I’ve seen no SoB players are struggling to hold objectives if their models are alive. They struggle when models die so a focus on living longer and blunting the opponents high damage dealers would seem to be the most favourable setups.

Indeed the +1 vs heroes and wizards seems to be generally the best. Also breaker has a good trait in plus 2 attacks and ok item. The other thing with breaker I noted previously is that they essentially have the rule “opponents don’t get +1 save from cover” as people don’t want to give you +1 damage. This is something that your always passively getting which a lot of the time may go unnoticed. Most armies want to sit smaller heroes or elite units in cover. Then it all combines together. Breaker Mega has great ranged attack with +1 to hit vs heroes and that hero doesn’t want to use cover to boost their save.

I think realm lords will actually be an incredibly bad matchup normally. They have two spells that cause units to test bravery anytime they want to perform an action and multiple ways to lower bravery. Meaning 50% of a SoB army will often not be reliably doing stuff. To move then charge then swing you need to make and pass 3 checks at most likely bravery -2.

Deepkin Dom-Hain will be similar with the re roll all wounds vs monsters for eels.

Agreed Also in taker he gets the sandals which massively boost his damage output. From average 4 at -2 on a 3+3+ to 9 at -3. In general I’m not sold that KE taker is the way to go but if you have him then it feels like you need him as the focus to make him worthwhile.