[Stormcast Eternals 3.0 - There is no "a" in Vindictors]

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12 hours ago, readercolin said:

Stormcast monsters are:

Knight-Draconis/Stormdrake Guard
Stardrake
Taurelion
Krondy's/Karazai

Of the non-stromdrakes, the stardrake is thoroughly mediocre, and needs to lose ~100 points from its warscroll if it wants to become playable (and it might not be good even then).  I mean, seriously, a stardrake does less damage than a squad of 2 stormdrake guard, and is only better than a Knight-Draconis vs 5+ saves (all while costing 500 points to their 340/300).  Also, someone needs to explain to me why exactly the Knight-Draconis RIDER is better in melee than the Lord-Celestant... the lord celestant gets 2 less attacks and has 1 less rend than the Knight-Draconis does.  And before someone brings the Drakesworn Templar into this, let me remind you that for some reason that is rocking a 4+ SAVE!?!  WHY!?!  Yes, the stardrakes have 18 wounds compared to the Knight-Draconis's 11, and the stardrake can choose models to kill with its cavernous jaws at the start of combat rather than dragged into the tempest's 1 model at the end, but I'm still seriously questioning things here.

Next up, the Taurelion is good.  He buffs nearby units with +1 to hit, which can save you some CP when shooting your vanguard raptors on 2+/2+, or he can stay close to some stormdrakes or fulminators or whatever for that same bonus.  He's also a 3+ save monster and a wizard.  All this being said, in about half a dozen or so games in 3.0, I'm not sure if mine has ever actually gotten into combat, as I generally am just using him as a mobile buff piece.

Finally, Krondy's and Karazai.  These guys are BIG, and hard to transport, which isn't really helping you for transport.  That being said, consensus seems to be that they aren't worth 600 points in an army, but if you want to build around them go to town.

Notable here is that both the Knight-Draconis AND the Taurelion are monsters, but they aren't behemoths, so they don't count against your behemoth limit, but also can't benefit from Master of the Celestial Menagerie (it got FAQ'd to behemoths not monsters).

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As for coalition and allies:

Coalition in a stormkeep allows you to bring Cities of Sigmar units.  Notable here is that while stormcast in a Cities army gain the cities keywords, Cities units in a Stormcast Army don't... not that there are any allegience abilities of note that you would want to use on them, but it does also prevent them from taking Stormcast Spells/prayers (so no runelords with translocation).  As for monsters worth Coalitioning in, the Annointed on Frostheart Phoenix is good as a mobile debuff piece, whether taken as an ally or taken as coalition (just be aware that its damage output is kind of low).  Otherwise, the rest of the monsters are notable in being rather bad, not in being worth bringing.

For other allies, Stormcast can ally in basically anything except daughters of Khaine.  Looking at potential monsters from there, Magmadroth's aren't worth running (new warscrolls pending).  Deepkin allows you to take the Turtle (unless its points go up), but the turtle tends to be better as a buff piece in IdK, not a combat monster.  Lumineth Realm Lords can give you either Avalenor or the Spirit of the Mountain, which I'm not particularly familiar with, but I have a feeling if they were actually good would show up in Lumineth Lists from time to time.  Seraphon gives you Bastiladon's, Stegadons, various Hero Stegadons, Troglodons, and Carnosaurs, which all have the advantage of being big, cool dinosaurs, but also all tend to need some of the Seraphon Allegience Abilities to shine, and may not be the best allies... however one of these is probably second best after the Frostheart Phoenix.  Finally, Sylvaneth can give you various treelord flavors, but the basic treelord is... not worth 180 points, the Spirit of Durthu really needs a wyldwood to shine, and the Treelord Ancient is a support piece, not a combat monster.

Overall, I would probably rank the Frostheart Phoenix as the first choice of allies, followed by your favorite flavor of Dinosaur, and then stick the Turtle in 3rd place for monsters worth bringing.

 

Cool, cheers for such an in-depth breakdown, though going off the tournament lists being posted the battletome might end up being renamed Battletome: Stormdrake Guard at this rate.

[Stormcast Eternals 3.0 - There is no "a" in Vindictors]

While Stormdrake Guard are obviously the best monsters available to Stormcast, are there any others worth taking or allying in? While very good the Stormdrake Guard look a right pain to transport especially if using cases that you can reasonably take on public transport.

[Stormcast Eternals 3.0 - There is no "a" in Vindictors]

21 hours ago, Dogmantra said:

There's no separate "declaration" part of resolving a rule, you just do what it says when you are allowed to, you only care about the game state at the moment you use the rule.

It's the end of the move phase, you can now do anything you want that happens at the end of the move phase. Remember that nothing in AoS happens simultaneously, anything with the same timing that would happen simultanously actually resolves one thing after another, in an order chosen by the player.

First you use Scions of the Storm to drop the Lord Imperatant. Then you choose to drop the Annihilators. Because the Lord Imperatant is on the board when you choose to drop the Annihilators, you can make use of Guided by Lightning.

 

8 hours ago, Lucur said:

As @Dogmantra said above, there is no simultaneous resolving of effects (neither is there a stack mechanic like MTG has). Your turn, your order for abilities with the same timing. The effect of the Lord Important happens as he's on the battlefield, as long as you chose to place him before the Annihilators.

 

Fair enough, guess I'm just used to rulesets that aren't as loose as AoS as to when things happen within a turn.

[Stormcast Eternals 3.0 - There is no "a" in Vindictors]

10 hours ago, Lucur said:

The player whose turn it is decides the order abilities take place in. If you place the Lord first, he's on the table when the Annis are placed, so his rule is in effect.

So you can declare the rule order Lord-Imperatant deploys using Scions of the Storm > Lord-Imperatant uses Guided by Lightning on Annihilators > Annihilators deploy using Scions of the Storm and the 'if any friendly units with this ability are on the battlefield' requirement for Guided by Lightning checks when it resolves and isn't a requirement for you to declare the rule in the first place then?

[Stormcast Eternals 3.0 - There is no "a" in Vindictors]

Just to check, I've seen several references to having a Lord-Imperatant and Annihilators drop in the same turn to stop the Lord-Imperatant getting sniped. But reading his rules Guided by Lightning triggers at the end of the movement phase if he is on the battlefield so doesn't that mean it won't trigger if they both drop on the same turn as he isn't on the battlefield at the point when the rule triggers?

[Stormcast Eternals 3.0 - There is no "a" in Vindictors]

What are the current thoughts on Retributors vs Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers as I can see the extra 2 bodies potentially being useful sometimes?

[AoS 2 - Blades of Khorne Discussion]

I've been looking at Knorne and the 2 start to play boxes. Are the Bloodstoker and Khorograth of much use as they are only in the Goreblade box. Or is the generic start collecting better as the Mighty Lord of Khorne and Bloodsecrator can be bought separately?