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Sagittarii Orientalis

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Everything posted by Sagittarii Orientalis

  1. Battleplan banning reserves has been one of the staple matched play missions for years since 2018. Since then I have seen no other battleplans literally nullifying one of the key strengths of a faction. Another latest example which could be considered as "inequitableness" would be Broken Realm: Morathi. In that supplement, SCE was the only faction that had to "choose" between pre-existing allegiance abilities and the new allegiance abilities provided in the book. Other factions such as the Deepkin had their cake and ate it too.
  2. I am very frustrated to know that there is a modified version of Total Commitment(banning reserves) among the new handbook battleplans. Total Commitment itself was an inequitable penalty against factions with moderate power(at best) such as Stormcasts and nighthaunt. Since the launch of AoS 2.0, I never understood the addition of hideously designed mission. The mission itself not only leave the worst offenders of the meta at the time unscathed, but also penalise rather underwhelming factions instead. Had there been battleplans penalising factions with strong magic, abilities letting a unit fight twice, etc., the battleplans might have looked more balanced. P.S. I also find it hilarious that the rules designers thought putting units in reserve was too powerful to warrant a ban, but teleportation abilities like Seraphon's or Kharadron's are not. Those abilities are not limited to once-per-battle, and provide far more mobility compared to regular reserve rules.
  3. This is very frustrating. Do rules designers believe once-per-battle Scions of the Storm is toxic enough to warrant outright ban, but teleportation abilities used by Seraphon and fly high rules from Kharadrons are not? There is a reason why many people believe GW is deliberately penalising SCE inequitably.
  4. I would not ponder deeply on how SCE units would perform in 3rd ed., since it is very likely that SCE will get revamped battletome. Who knows? Maybe Lord-Ordinator might regain his initial command ability which allowed one ORDER WARMACHINE to shoot again. Maybe Ballistas could have better to-hit rolls due to limitations on to-hit bonuses. Or maybe they could be nerfed despite being an underperformer. Time will tell.
  5. I actually wish SCE on competitive tabletop were as good as current Space Marines. At least the armoured boys in 40K are solid mid-tier even at the worst, with many chapters(stormhost equivalent) having potential to regularly present themselves at the podium. SCE on the other hand...
  6. Wait, there are units in this game which liberators can actually cut through?
  7. I was experimenting with ballistas simply because of the higher number of wounds and durability(if tucked in cover) they bring for similar points compared to raptors. But yes, you make valid points. And whoever decided to include Total Commitment in the handbook for 3 years should be fired.
  8. Seraphon already has access to armywide -1 Damage, and the new DoK endless spell gives the same ability to DoK units nearby. Granted, these are only limited number of factions with damage reduction but I still see them as strong competitors in the meta. How much threat do these factions pose to Anvilstrike? Significant enough to force SCE players to find alternatives? Or is Anvilstrike still the ultimate weapon in SCE arsenal? I have been using multiple ballistas instead of raptors because of the emergence of -1 Damage lists. Unfortunately, I was not able to play enough games test it due to Covid-19. I would be happy to hear comments from more experienced players.
  9. Probably so that the designers could use as a pretext for delayed stormcast updates. "But look at all these battalions just for stormcast! At least that's better than nothing! Be grateful and stay quiet!" It is as if the rules designers staunchly believe, without concrete evidence, that any reasonable improvement for SCE would immediately throw the overall balance out of the window.
  10. The rules for Myrmidesh Painbringers do not surprise me at all. After all, it is almost impossible to find units that STRUGGLE to wipe out or at least overwhelm SCE battleline at same points value. The Painbringers unit is just one more guest joining the fray.
  11. At least I am glad I did not wast cash on buying broken realm book.
  12. So is vanguard chamber super battalion the most competitive choice for SCE so far? That being said, in a world where karak zilfin, ossiarchs, seraphon, tzeentch and lumineths exist I am not sure how well vanguard chamber does nowadays.
  13. I agree longstrikes raptors are more reliable than ballistas when used against Sons of Behemat. The problem I see is that raptors nowadays are brutally wiped out by latest armies with any degree of shooting element. Ossiarchs, Seraphon, Lumineths, Kharadrons are but few examples. Unless you are tailoring the list everytime you are up against different factions, taking raptors just for the sake of countering gargants seems risky.
  14. Gryph hound unit would have seen more uses if it were a battleline choice. That could add more diversity into stormcast battleline and actually make non-existent unit more competitive.
  15. As far as I know, the most competitive way of using Knight Venator is including him as a mandatory piece in Vanguard Auxiliary Chamber warscroll battalion. Even then, the warscroll battalion tends to get abysmally crushed by more recent armies such as seraphon, ossiarchs, kharadron overlords etc. Other than that, Knight-Venator is the hero you use just because you do not want to see dust settle on the freshly painted model.
  16. Final results were 3-2, and finishing in 9th amongst 32 players. 3 wins were against Tzeentch, Orruk Warclans(Ironfist warscroll battalion) and Ogor Mawtribes with......4 stonehorns! 2 losses however were against Seraphon list with combination of kroak and 12 salamanders, and then Ossiarchs with Katakros and double mortek Crawler. So the result was largely in line with what others have pointed out earlier - Anvilstrike lists performing ace against melee-oriented army, and being decimated by latest armies with good shooting. In this case, 12 salamanders and double mortek crawlers would fit the category. As for the tournament itself, I like the selection of missions. Focal Points does reward armies with good behemoth heavily, but the rest of the missions do not reward or punish armies with specific elements or battle traits as much. So no Better Parts of Valour or Total Commitment for the stormcasts at least. While total absence of some of the more recent battletomes like Kharadron Overlords, or the past powerhouse factions like FEC, Hedonites and Skaventide is unexpected, the results and the mission composition of the tournament do give us some food for thought.
  17. I am also aware of the FEC nerf. The ability to take always strikes first on mobile monster which durability and mobility can be boosted by magic(run and charge for example) still seems plenty strong to me. But I haven't played against FEC for a long time, so I might be flawed. As for Syll’eskan Host, is it forbidden to use in matched play games? I recall the WD rules having points for them. My memory might be wrong though.
  18. How do Hedonites and Flesh Courts perform in competitive games nowadays? Despite the past nerfs, I felt they still had solid advantage in from of "Always Strikes First" and summoning, particularly the Syll’eskan Host for Hedonites. If there are fewer players using those factions, then I agree Gavriel list might show its value again. That, and the presence of Total Commitment would also dictate the popularity of Gavriel lists. I wish TOs could ban this mission.
  19. You have also posted another list that allegedly took 2nd place in a swedish tourney. And those are indeed interesting results. Is there a way I can see the missions, tourney terrain rules and the matchups for those tournaments? Thank you.
  20. I wholeheartedly agree with PJetski. I would also include ossiarch bonereapers(with 1~2 mortek crawlers) and lumineth realm lords to the list of factions that severely punishes Anvilstrike. Even when used against melee-oriented armies, I rarely felt Anvilstrike had overwhelming advantage. Melee factions with powerful and mobile (battleline) monsters, summoning, movement tricks can give a headache to already slow and small sized Anvilstrike lists. And now the meta is even more hostile against Anvilstrikes. Starcast lists seem to be using Kroak as crutch, and even then rarely hear them going 5-0, 4-1, or even 3-2 as often as many other factions. Unless we are comparing SCE to nighthaunt or sylvaneth that is.
  21. My bad! For unknown reason, I confused it with long gone ethereal amulet. I was so oblivious to stormcast artefacts because only few of them were useful to me.
  22. I do not think Obsidian Amulet is legal after General's Handbook 2020 was released.
  23. I think your list contradicts your idea behind the lists, i.e., "I feel that our normal battleline (Sequitors or Liberators) don't stand in the line of any serious damage output, so why spend any points on them?" And I agree with your statement. Hence why I spend minimum points on battleline units in form of 3 units of 5 liberators. The bread and butter of the SCE army in this case would be vanguard raptors and/or celestar ballistas for shooting. For close combat you have evocators and dracothian guard, although I would never ever use tempestors with their miserable rules. Your list however spent considerable points on judicators, which firepower pales in comparison to longstrike vanguard raptors. If you want screening units in addition to aetherwings, take liberators instead of gryph hounds. Liberators are cheaper, more durable, and are battleline. I personally struggle to see the use of gryph hound units with their current rules and points cost. You can then spend remaining points to take larger unit of vanguard raptors, close combat units to block enemy units and deal damage, and additional heroes. Knight Incantor is an excellent choice where most of the armies in AoS have magical superiority against stormcast. Knight heraldor adds mortal wounds output and improves mobility on your close combat units. Knight Azyros, while his re-roll aura has short range, would be more useful than Knight Venator in most cases. Taking multiple heroes is important not only because they are crucial in missions where heroes have advantage in controlling objectives. Having more than one of them is crucial because once you lose that single hero in your list, you cannot use the precious command ability. And in the days where lumineth sentinels, ossiarch mortek crawlers take out 5-wound heroes with contemptuous ease, you can never rely on one hero to use command abilities.
  24. Never pick lord veritant if you want anti-magic ability. Knight Incantor does it better, can also cast spells, and deal mortal wounds to enemies should they approach at unawares.
  25. Cheers for the final results, Scurvydog! At least it is pleasant to hear that the tournament did not include missions that invalidate another army's strength or highly favour armies with already cost effective battleline and monsters/behemoths. The former would be Total Commitment, and the latter Focal Points, The Better Part of Valour, Shifting Objectives. I hope organisers of other numerous tournaments could give a thought about the imbalance that can be brought by such missions.
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