Andalf

It won’t contend with hyper efficient WAAC lists but in a ‘friends-on’ environment they are a lot of fun. If you swap the Grave Guard for a Vengorian Lord and the Black Knights for Blood Knights I think that is about as hard hitting as I’d like to make my list. Gives me points to play with for an endless spell or maybe the new battalions might cost points still. I’m also thinking about splitting the skeletons into 10 man squads to threaten deep strikes and generally throw away to get better charges for my faster characters. I still like Radukar the Beast, Annika and Kritza with a load of zombies for this play style more. The real tactic is to put a rank of skeletons in front of Raddy the Wolf and take the charge. There is a lot to chew through with him and the Kosargi, as well as Torgillius nearby maybe landing a -1 to hit debuff. It all works together remarkably well and big scary units can get blunted if they aren’t careful who they target first, or done some work before combat to peel back a few of the layers of defence. With everything else running around the board shooting this deathball isn’t a priority and there are quite a few fast support units that can jump in and tip the scales when it comes to it. It’s not that Vyrkos do a ton of damage with one thing, but I’ve found when everything gets +1 Attack at +1 to wound (or Vampire profiles...) you can develop a lot of momentum that’s hard to stop.

Just reiterating Mr. Hotep as the FAQ does a great job of spelling out the ‘Yes’ but a pretty gak job at spelling out what that means the unit is actually capable of on the table. I’ve had too many discussions about how this works that I’ve decided to shelf the battalion until AoS3, it’s a bit maddening because I’ve bought into three different play styles with Lumineth to basically have my opponents misunderstanding and overblown expectations turn into rather not fun experiences. It does have me really looking forward to what they do with battalions in the next edition too though. The Wind Temple JSJ is an epic play style as far as I’m concerned and I’d hate to see it go away just because other factions didn’t get good rules for their battalions.

Gorslav can also bounce wounds to dire wolves and bring them back because his rules specify summonable deadwalkers units. the list I’ve been using looks like: Radukar’s Court Belladamma Volga 30 Skeletons 20 Grave Guard w/ Great Weapons 2 x 10 Dire Wolves 2 x 5 Black Knights Basically it’s a deathball trying to deliver the grave guard into preferred targets. I’ve run the court in smaller games and found that if you can gang up on units with Vampires and pop The Call of the Hunt it generally does the job, I tend to live and die by that combo. All of the shrug saves on heroes have proven really useful against the Lumineth forest I’ve been running through lately, it takes concerted effort to shoot units I need off the table. I just got the belladamma model tho so I’m looking forward to using her. I do think a zombie horde and Vampire Lord with Spoor Tracker is better.

I think you get to make a pile-in if you charged that turn, which you count as charging when wholly within 12” of a hero from the battalion so I really do think this unit can move 14-16” shoot, and then move another 6”, and also move 6” in the opponents combat phase, so long as it maintains ranges to the characters. So far Reddit is having trouble with this one too but I really think it’s clear as mud... I’d really like to know because it would make the 180point price tag more understandable. Not just that but in case people are running these units against me I don’t want to get gotcha’d, there’s something like 4 LRL players out of 12 in my area.

I’ve also been struggling with Ymetrica. I started using the province and an Alarith battalion after reading Realm Lords and really like the theme of the army. Having upwards of half of my force able to rely on their saves is my favourite part, and the idea of how the formations move when in combat that was given in the books is something that I always imagine, like the opening scene of the first LotR movie where all the elves moved uniform in perfect synchronicity. Unfortunately it doesn’t scale as well as the other provinces, I think because of the issue you mentioned, in that the bonus only applies to Alarith models. I’ve found going all in on the hammer bros puts me way behind in the magic phase but the mountain spirits and command points have proven to be very strategic pieces. I never seem to have the board presence required to either push to far objectives or holdout on the ones I control for more than a turn or two, especially with all the mortal wounds and shooting floating around where you don’t get the rerolls on your saves. I personally would love to run a competitive army that didn’t use Teclis, Sentinels or a Cathaller at all. After trying to go all close combat and using some of the new movement tricks I personally think the Alarith Temple is our best hammer/anvil. I’ll try and think of some lists, the main thing I’ve found is the Mage and the Spirit always do wonders but I always end up wanting to spend the 200 points from the Stoneguard on Starshards or a wizard and some endless spells.

I was wondering if there is a different interpretation on how I understand the rules of the temple and how it works in the combat phase. Does it mean that I can fly, and pile-in 6” during any charge phase? As-in: I can move my unit up to within range of my 12” bows while staying wholly within 12” of my hero from this battalion. I can shoot in my phase and then count as charging in my phase and be able to pile-in and fly specifically 6” away keeping my Windchargers at 18” range and my hero somewhere nearby. Without making this play the only time I can see this battalion being of any use is if more than one unit gets charged by the enemy and you get the opportunity to leave combat before they get killed. I guess it also allows you to bounce to extreme range in CC to minimize incoming attacks or out of pile in range, but that still means you’re counting heavily on being charged, right? I’ve been enjoying the speed the Hurakan units bring and I’m starting to feel like I have enough of a handle on them to try the battalion so I just don’t want it to be wasted points, I feel there must be a sweet spot in the # of kangaroos to bring before losing the effectiveness at taking/holding objectives and I’d really like to know what that is...

I suppose you could read niche against armies that don’t bring monsters, every opponent I currently play has them in multiples though. I apologize but I haven’t played against an army in a long time that didn’t have something I’d be happy to aim Kragnos at, but I do understand the no Mortal Wound save gripe, even just a 6+++, and then he’d have everything layered on in his scroll and I do feel like they are trying to get away from that in AoS forcing the generalship to layer on the buffs.

Ummm... even on a 2 and 4 to charge I’d say 8 mortals for moving into combat with something is pretty nuts, even 4-6 is Good... I don’t know about you guys but I often need 8+ charges in game when I use close combat armies and if you pull one of those off with this guy that unit is literally dead... what more could you ask for? If you shoot him, like with all god characters, then your boingrots/FLoSH live. He’s really scary, even for his points, and saying otherwise is a bit disingenuous IMO. People are going to put him next to as many mawcrushas as they can or him + a megagargant. I don’t know how my Lumineth would handle plinking away at that for 3 turns, I don’t have a unit that can take the charge and I don’t think I bring enough shots. Even if you did bring the classic Teclis+Sentinels it’d be up to some dice because you might not Lambent Light him for the rerolls to drop him in a turn. Which is where that list always wins and loses basically...

I like Eltharion in this list mostly because it kind of stays on theme. He’s a great support piece and does a lot more MW at range than any wizard can. The teleport is great for this army but could break up a battle line that really needs to support itself, and you have Dawnriders, the Regent and Loreseeker for pouncing on long objectives. Outside of that one spell I don’t see the Windmage doing much except getting shot. If you can get speed of hysh off on Eltharion he can even move up with the Dawnriders and Lord Regent, I think it’s a great choice with the expectation of getting second and hoping for that first double turn as well. I really like this army build and could see myself running it a lot. I would consider dropping the Legion and spending the 140 points you’d get there on the Wizard of your choice (Calligrave to sit in the Shrine Luminor and Sanctum of Amyntok would be my choice). I haven’t found any of the relics that aren’t some kind of save of much value yet personally and with the Shrine the one CP isn’t as important. I would also think about going Illiatha. The Command Ability could help all your units, rerolling 1’s on 30 sentinels for free every turn is no joke, and you’ve twinned everything. I believe the artefact is nice for a Lord Regent or Cathaller and it gives you free choice for your Command Trait. Using your shrine reroll every turn to push Twinstones up is actually a remarkable replacement for bringing Teclis and it’s only 40 points ($115 🤢)

I think Black Knights are going to find a place in a lot of my lists either as 2x5 or 1x10 man. I’ve been planning around a lot of Vyrkos and Legion of Blood lists which would find them handy; as an arm chair general for now, here’s a few of my thoughts. They die faster than Wolves. This does have a bit of tactical flexibility in the sense that they can be used as mini-missiles to do the mortals on the charge even with just one model and then if you land an early raise with Endless Legions you at least have something in the bank to bring back. They go a bit further with the +1A command abilities scattered throughout the book, with a smaller foot print and two melee profiles they are more likely to swing with everything on a charge. With the native bonuses that I’m set to receive from nearby vampires in the bloodlines I’ve chosen they start to become a bit more compelling in the chaff killing + flank support with minimal resources beyond particular placement of models. The D3 Mortals on the charge combined with the Bravery debuff from one or two Deathrattle squads is more targetable/useable with two small 5 man cav squads with 12” move than any 4” move horde we have. I’m just thinking ideas out that I really do think will work and justify the points tag, I’m thinking this army needs to be used much more creatively to hem your opponents in than it used to with creative healing and use of the gravesites.

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Seeing as how the new big Terminator guys are called out as a new kind of paladin, I don’t see anything being phased. If anything I’m expecting a more 40kified version of the rule set and hopefully not quite as strong a release schedule necessary seeing as most factions are in a good spot and the ones that aren’t seem like upgrades are inbound.

I’m a firm believer that the teleport spell and the new ballistas dazzling folks is the answer my Ymetrica force has been dreaming of. I’ve been trying a lot of Duo-Cow + Teclis lists and I think the extra 340 points for things to help run the gauntlet and get your scoring into position, and stay there, is a bit more helpful. I’ve basically abandoned magic outside of bringing Teclis but with 5 man hammer bro squads I think you’ll miss the reroll saves in combat the stonemage gives you in the battalion. He’s also good for deploying a free 6” run through your cows free command ability, and the mage symbiosis rule is too good to pass up on the behemoths. Leaves you a few points for rune of petrification which is good for these slow Lumineth lists.

It’s funny I’ve been using a similar basis of ideas to build my Settler’s lists. with the Assassin and some Shadow Warriors. I’ve still been using free guild to unlock battle line so I really like your approach with this. So far I’ve been pretty hell bent on Eltharion and 10 Dawnriders as counter charge elements which I thought this army lacks. More and more I’m coming around to patching in a big squad of sentinels but it’s starting to feel a little lame. Are Vanari units capable of taking a settler’s spell because they have the Cities of Sigmar keyword?

Ymetrica seems to have the lowest showings in win percentages amongst the nation abilities, at least from info I’ve seen here. I personally play the province because I like the special characters and have my own personal background. I don’t think having more than one big squad of hammer bros 10-15 is worth it. I use the battalion with Avalenor and a max unit (or even 10 to play with endless spells). If you do invest heavily in more than one spirit multiple mages seems worth it, and they all still ignore the -2 rend. With the new teleport spell I see them being much more powerful. I also think the ballista is worth just the targetable -1 to hit in this force if you’re going to take a few 5 man bumper squads. I’ve been backing the army up with a mix of Vanari squads to provide more casting support which compared to the other Lumineth nations is pretty bad actually, I don’t get a lot of spells off because they tend to fail/deny so I’ve also been thinking about trying to switch to a more CP based approach to buffing my dudes. The wind temple has me super excited because I’ll have less wizards per unit but a few more vectors to do damage from that are more reliable than 10 man sentinel/warden squads.

The layers being offered up don’t sound too bad until making some lists with the idea in mind to break stuff a bit. Severith alone I think is a fun challenge, but him +2 generic spirits and 3-4 ballista with Windchargers running amok and still room for Teclis is doable in a Helon army. It’s sensitive to being outdropped, but with so many targets that pump out D3 damage shots, moving so fast and teleporting in/out of combat, I can’t think of many armies capable of shooting it off the board. People didn’t like mass sentinels being able to take out their support characters but an army like this would be pretty demoralizing to see being setup across the table, even without battalions and going up to 8+ drops. The complaints against Lumineth sound exactly like the ones taken against High Elves at the end of WHFB. As pointed out, you really need to lean into something skewed with Lumineth in order to have enough redundancy that your house of cards doesn’t randomly collapse on you when you don’t get a spell through or you roll poorly for damage consistently from lots of D3 damage weapons or sunmetal mortals. Because of this it’s pretty unlikely you’ll see more than two ‘temples’ tucked into one list, because the benefits don’t play broadly enough across your army or truly doesn’t fit the play style, which seems like you really need to be decisive about at list building. Scinari, Vanari, Alarith and Hurakan can be seriously invested in, in many different ways, and it’s needing to think about how you’ll manage every TSN turning point in this particular matchup that has people overwhelmed more than anything, imho.