Requizen

Well it's pretty light on bodies, but I think you have enough shooting to chew through whatever walks across the table at you. The Castellant doesn't do much in the list. He really wants one big unit to buff up with the Lantern, and your one big unit is going to be dropping across the table, far away from him and his buff. And even if he drops with them, he can't buff them until next turn. I might swap him out for a Veritant or Venator. I actually don't think it would auto-lose at Total Commitment, given that you bubble the objectives properly and play defensively enough to just shoot anything that comes over, but it's not a great scenario still. The list also will struggle in 3 Places of Power/Duality, but hopefully shooting Heroes will take care of that. Do keep in mind that you have an extra Artifact you're not using.

Yeah it's a bit early to call it either way. I'm just wary of counter-shooting when I have a relatively squishy 540 point unit as the core of my army, it was a big point of fear against KO as well last month (especially with how many "extra wounds" a unit of Arkanauts have). I do still think that a Ballista list vs Anvils is favored towards the Ballistas, though, but that requires some testing and placement as well. Hm well basically I just wouldn't play an army that's build around requiring the use of Reserves. Like, the Castigators are already pretty poor when you have to walk them forwards on foot (not terrible, but not great), and then compound that with the fact that you paid for a Battalion that basically does nothing... feels bad. In other missions, it'll clean up. You could probably still run it and just play cheeky in Total Commitment, but depends heavily on the list in question. I like Hailstorm quite a bit, it's not a Battalion you build around though. It's just more of a "oh, I've already got the models and points, might as well take it" type of Battalion.

That's a lot of points, and again Soulstrike basically just cries if Total Commitment is on the docket (which has been true for pretty much every tournament I've been to since AoS2 came out). You're forgetting a couple things. Jezzails are basically Longstrikes, especially since rerolling hits on a 4+ is only slightly worse than having a 2+, and they can teleport through Gnawholes for no roll, unlike Translocation. Their 30" range and damage 2 makes everything a target, so the game between Jezzails and Longstrikes is basically a quick-draw game of seeing who can get in range first to eliminate each other/Heroes. Similarly, WLCs can move through Gnawholes (albeit one per turn), so unless you zone out 29" from the terrain pieces, you're in trouble. Not impossible but really reduces where you can actually set up. I'm currently eyeing up something like this: Lord Arcanum - General, Staunch, Azyrite Halo Lord Castellant - [Artifact not sure yet (maybe Gryph Feather or Lantern of the Tempest)] Lord Ordinator Knight Incantor - Celestial Blades Sequitors x20 Liberators Liberators 10 Evocators Ballista Ballista Ballista Ballista Geminids 2000/2000

Even though I've been the biggest advocate for it, I'm thinking of shifting away from the Longstrike Anvils build if the army shifts into more shooting, which it will, since Skaven are out, and people are realizing the Stormcast can shoot as well. Taking 9 Longstrikes into an enemy shooting list is a game of chicken - who can shoot off the other army's shooting first? Can they do it before the melee bricks get in? Meanwhile, 3-4 Ballistas behind 20 Staunch Sequitors is way more flexible, if much less killy at a range. Not to mention the Ballista v Longstrike list is, imo heavy favored into the Ballistas. I'll experiment a bit and see how Skaven shakes out, but I can already forsee the changes I'd make.

We'll see with Warcry, but I think it's just a nod. Brettonians got a nod in FEC Battletome (Hollowmourne being a long-forgotten kingdom of heavily armored Knights searching for and protecting relics, some Courts worshipping Lady Olynder), so it's not inconceivable that this is just something similar. Kind of a "hey, we're not saying they are Tomb Kings, but the possibility is there, fill in your own blanks" type of deal.

I mean, it's either "serve and fight endlessly against your hated foe" or "be nothing for eternity". Dude probably cut a deal

That's nice and amusing. As long as he has enough rats to surround you, you'll lose a good number of friends. Assuming it's 1 Hero 1 Battleline required, you could try: Lord Arcanum on Tauralon - Gryph Feather Charm, Azyrite Halo, Steel Pinions, Staunch 5x Judicators The Arcanum is about as impossible to kill as anything in 500 points (excepting an Etheral VLoZD + 10 Zombies), and you can be the anvil to your buddy's Plague Monks. Alternatively, something like: Lord Arcanum on Gryph Charger - Lightning Blast, Staunch, Staff of Focus Judicators Comet Probably not as brutal as the Anvils one, but more flexible and some melee punch. The Comet is honestly gamebreaking at low point values, where pegging two foot Heroes with it could end the game outright.

Saw this linked in a Discord chat, seems that Tomb Kings are back in AoS!

No offense meant, but you very well may have just been positioning them badly. Setting up exactly 18" away and just plopping down feels strong, until you get countercharged as you said. My experience with Ballistas has been something like this: Drop on a flank, where only one unit will be in counter-charge distance. You'll probably kill or cripple it, so that's no big deal. Additionally, sometimes dropping in closer is a better choice if you can get close to something important. A powerful Hero behind models? Drop 9" away from the unit and blast the Hero off. Sure you might get countercharged, but without support, who cares? Damage has been done. Hold off until Turn 2 or Turn 3. Yes, you miss out on shots, but by that point they'll have moved out and will have more spread out targets to choose from. If they don't move out because they're afraid of the drop... good, you've got board control. Additionally, if you wait, you can drop behind things. You don't need to put Libs or Sequitors up in the sky to drop with them, you can move up the board, and drop behind your shieldwall to shoot the things that they're in combat with/will be in combat with. 9" is a pretty big bubble, so you can easily spread them out max away from the Ordinator. Your opponent will be hard pressed to engage all 3 at the same time, without spreading units too thin to do real damage. If you pop all three of them adjacent, they can all get tied up by one unit of Liberators! Honestly from your recounting it sounds like they did enough damage to be worthwhile, and with a bit of practice you'll get even more mileage out of them. I'd say use them a few more times and see if you still hate them.

Astral Hammers just deals d3 Mortals after the attacks, so if you rolled multiple 6s, those hits would deal 2 damage if they wound and then you would also deal d3 MWs at the end. If you're talking about the Grandhammer, if you roll a 6 then it does MWs and the sequence ends, so he gets no bonus out of the Command Trait.

While that is true, it also means they spent an activation using chump damage instead of an actual good fighter into Mollog, which has merit on it's own. Of course, if they just hit Shardgale it's pretty bad. I'd drop it but not sure which ploy to get rid of. I had a hard time trimming down, so many cards are good for this Warband.

Interesting mix, will be curious to see how they keep them on the same level. Like, there's a big difference between a Stormcast or Deepkin Hero and a Witch Aelf or Freeguild Soldier. I assume it comes in with extra feats/skills/stats or whatever.

If you really want a Comet, swap the Judicators to Libs and drop one unit of Aetherwings. As for the Azyros, I find him useful for a few reasons - the rerolls and MWs are nice, but also he's just a fast Hero, so quite useful in 3 Places of Power and the like, plus as a quick moving support piece. You could probably swap him out for a Castellant but honestly you really want your Evos and Longstrikes to be at max effectiveness, so the rerolls are basically godlike for that.

Can't wait to DM this. Realms are a great setting for RPGs, I think it's going to be really cool to see adventurers in it!

How does this look for a first pass at Mollog? https://www.underworldsdb.com/shared.php?deck=0,N343,235,N205,244,249,257,271,277,305,L24,N322,N357,N213,343,330,336,348,349,L37,N409,N420,334,389,391,420,433,N223,N224,N503,N529,N550,N551,331,N527

I would agree that perhaps Templars is more efficient. I think many people just saw "shoot an extra time" and looked at how efficient Ballistas are and hoped for the best, but you are correct that they're a poor overall choice for the CA. Still, if the Evocators are in combat and can pile in twice with the CA, that's pretty great, and using a point on a Ballista is not a terrible use of efficiency. Basically, the list would be - wall of Sequitors backed by Evos, drop in with Ballistas and delete something, let them get charged, countercharge with Sequitors/Evocators, push across for the win. It's a lot like the Longstrike version of the list, but less reliant on the Anvils ability and more efficient if you have to drop in or conserve command points. Ultimately it comes down to choice.

I wonder if both Martyred and Strong Start are good picks for Mollog. If you get Martyred, you can just set up and wait for one of your chumps to die before going in with Mollog, if you get Strong Start, you can just go ham. But of course, there's the downside of getting both, but then you just play whatever and get one or the other (more likely than not).

Hm I think people look too much on his Star Fated Arrow to do massive damage. In actuality, a 5 wound, 3+ save Hero with similar shooting power (less, but not by a huge amount) to a unit of Judicators is really, really useful. 120 point dude that can sit in the back of your board and still contribute quite well towards chipping away at units is nothing to scoff at. Especially when you're focused heavily on shooting and still need something to zip around the backfield for zoning/contesting, or something to chuck onto a 3PoP objective but still contribute to damage, and not just sit there like many of our Heroes do. I would agree that in many/most cases, the Azyros is better, but there seems to be this sentiment that if you don't nuke someone with the SFA, the Venator is useless, and I don't think that's quite true.

Purely preference. Veritant brings dispels and an extra body (and a better melee profile, not that it's a huge deal), Relictor brings extra damage/healing and a lower price point. Both are reasonable picks.

Nice result! Eels are an eesh matchup for us as-is, and in a mission where your Prime can't do the thing it's even worse. I feel like if you can't get the charge against Morrsarr, you're in a baaad position, but if you charge them with the Drake it's no big deal. 4 Stonehorns is also the big scary but imo they still suck at playing missions, so no big deal overall. Obviously it worked out for you!

Popular build going around atm. Longstrikes have a good shot at dropping Nagash pretty quickly, but relies quite a bit on luck and hoping for a double turn. On average, 9 Longstrikes shooting twice deal ~11 wounds to Nagash - without him having any buffs or being debuffed themselves. Once he gets buffs (spells, Command Ability, etc), it's less damage, but it's still one of the best ways to weaken him.

Depends on mission, but mostly you can't. The best you can do is try to weaken the units in his army without killing them. If you bring them down to a few models left, he can bring back a bunch of them (usually something like 4d3 or more), but if you kill the whole unit then it all comes back. If you can get to Nagash with your supporting units (usually Fulminators, Evocators, or Sequitors) then you might be able to grind him down, but the Drake itself can't kill Nagash without insane luck. If you're playing exploding Drake with all the reflecting MWs, the best chance is just to try and get into the Reapers/Skeletons, grind them down, and try to score with the rest of your stuff.

Yeah, I think there's a lot of ways to play around with the list. I'm constantly thinking of dropping the 5 man Evo unit in mine, it brings a lot of punch to the table but there are so many other options to fill in those points with.

This is discussion for anything Stormcast related, so feel free to ask! Even if it's beginner questions someone can give you a hand

I wouldn't quite hold my breath on a new Battletome quite yet, but I think in the next GHB you can see Evos, Sequitors, and maybe the Stardrake going up, with Prosecutors, Palladors, and maybe Paladins going down.