DanielFM

In fact it's extremely weak to the point of pointlessness. Either they kill your model with exact wounds, or it does nothing. Disappointing, isn't it?

That's not how you pile-in and you know it. That's fishing for something it's not there. Allowed? Sure. Unsportmanlike. Obvious. Mount Traits are a freebie. If you get the chance to use it once per game, you got your serve. Saying "I paid for it, better find a way to use it" is no excuse for bending rules like that.

Hi, this is my take on a Soulstrike Brotherhood army. I usually run an Aquilor+Hunters+Palladors list, so for 120 points, two small units of Castigators (which are bad but a bit better with the bonus) and a Ballista I already wanted to field, I get a CP and the additional artifact. I wanted to try Anvils with Longstrikes, I know I would get a lot more mileage from a bigger unit, but I will likely use the CA in the combat units beyond turn 1. I think it's an interesting list, biased towards shooting but with some magic and CC punch into the mix. Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals - Stormhost: Anvils of the Heldenhammer Leaders Lord-Aquilor (200) - General - Mount Trait: Aethereal Stalker Lord-Arcanum on Tauralon (340) - Mount Trait: Steel Pinions Lord-Relictor (100) Battleline 5 x Vanguard-Hunters (120) - Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes 5 x Vanguard-Hunters (120) - Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes 5 x Judicators (160) - Skybolt Bows - 1x Shockbolt Bows Units 3 x Castigators (80) 3 x Castigators (80) 3 x Vanguard-Palladors (200) - Boltstorm Pistols and Starstrike Javelins 5 x Evocators (200) 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (180) War Machines Celestar Ballista (100) Battalions Soulstrike Brotherhood (120) Total: 2000 / 2000 2x Hunters, 2x Castigators and the Celestar Ballista on the sky, rest on the ground. My questions for you are: -What would be better for that list, Lord Relictor or Castellant? Relictor would have Blessed Weapons (to buff Palladors before they teleport, Longstrikes or Judicators) and could heal someone brought back by Cycle. Lord Castellant would bring the hound to help guard the backline from deepstrikes, and use his lantern on one of the redeploying units (Lord Aquilor, Palladors), on the LAoT before he goes forward or on the backline units. Both sound useful. -Who should get the crappy artifact? Then, which one would you recommend? Please, if possible, no Lens. I'm already sick of seeing it in lists ?. In fact, please don't suggest Realms artifacts (I hate that they are usually clearly better than Battletome ones). -What spell sounds better for the LAoT? Thundershock sounds potentially powerful for close-range support. Stormcaller to put pressure on lone heroes is also cool. Celestial Blades could help my few CC units, and Speed of Lightning could be useful (but for a single turn, when my CC units drop). Thanks for any help! I think this kind of collective thought helps us all to polish the potential of the army.

Taking into account those battalions are now rubbish, I doubt people will keep using them for that. On the other hand, their 3d6 charge could make them useful in min-sized units to deepstrike and tie shooters and fast units, or to kill characters without bubble wrap. Not a lot more besides that, really.

Yeah, but one of my self-imposed principles is that I don't use Stormcast hordes. 20 Stormcast in a single unit are too much to me. It breaks my vision of the army. Shooting myself un the foot? Pretty likely, but that's how I roll. I agree about Sequitors and Evocators completely replacing those units, though.

I wouldn't. They are good, but not 140 points good. I would grudginly return to the boring, unimpressive but cheap Liberators. I see our battlelines as cheap filler and not our workhorses, so that also bias my opinion. Spending so many points on batteline instead of elite units feels wrong to me.

It's nice, I was just working on something similar (yet quite different, mine has LA on Tauralon and Soulstrike Brotherhood). I think the Lord Exorcist is strictly worse than another Incantor. I understand you may like the model, but he is deadweight. 15 Vanguard Hunters may be too many, they tend to be more of an annoyance/distraction/objective grabbers than a killy unit. One unit of 10 and one unit of 5 would save you the points of one of those Liberator units and allow you to upgrade the other to Judicators or spend the points elsewhere. Anvils CA will work wonders on Longstrikes, for sure!

As I run out of reactions, quoted for the truth! Plus congratulations on the Protectors+Ballista combo, it's a really cool hidden gem.

Tempestors are a lateral step for me. They are better at 12 (crossbows+Breath), close combat was never their place, and they can disrupt more than 1 shooting unit at a time. Around 1,8 mortals VS 2.

Sureheart has a smaller range, Command points (as you said) are a valuable resource, not everyone wants to be Hammers, and the Vexillor comes with a really good redeploy/nuke (vs having nothing to contribute to the game besides his CA and shield). I'm in the Team Vexillor ?

That's nice! The problem is not only speed, but also resilience. Paladins die like flores for their price. What about buffing Paladins, instead? Seriously, Evocators are right as they are. It's just that the competition is awful. That's the message we must send to GW. That's why we can't have nice things! ?? Please do not force It so much that GW will notice.

I do too! @ but the Celestant got double nerfed. +1 to hit has lost its synergy with almost everything. It's useful, but a los less special. And he must get into combat, which will happen only if you drop him with Scions and get lucky/invest on the charge, or in you defensive line when the enemy comes for you/your home objectives. Sadly, he is objectively worse. One thing I mourn is the lack of incentives to play a foot-slogging heavy infantry army a-la old Knights Excelsior Exemplar Chamber. They could have used the KE Stormhost rules for that, but instead gave us the most craptacular combination of special rules the world has ever witnessed (sorry for the unchecked hyperbole ?

Well, for starters the Raptors are 80 points cheaper. And they would be brutal with Anvils CA. But both options have their merit.

Just because you banked on already-weak units (that should have been buffed but sadly didn't) like Paladins you shouldn't give people such a sweeping bad opinion of the battletome. I invested in Vanguard units quite a bit (not thousands of points though) and they got buffed ti the point of being interesting (even if still suboptimal). If they asked me, I would say I'm generally pretty happy. My old units are better and the new ones are awesome. Why not Drakesworn+LaoTauralon? They make a good, synergistic tandem and cost only 800 points

Interesting, I expected that. I gotta go back to the old habit of reading every battletome to know the enemy ?

I see, so some of these must depend on external buffs (5+ save through Blood Shield or Bladed shields and losing an attack, for example) and -1 to hit is already the single elegible Temple. I guess it's never a bad idea to try to kill some of this support if it doesn't require disproportionate resources. I mentioned Hurricanes with Aetherwings as the old "block a charge with their special move" can give an extra turn of close range fire. For 190 points it doesn't feel as a super-hefty tax.

The Gryph-hound will have room to retreat: the same path he went through! It's your turn, pile in with him first so you can attack without retaliation. Ok, the charge is difficult, but if you have a spare CP you can reroll. Ok, let's think outside of the box, what can a Veritant do well? Contribute to a Bravery bomb. Aspect of Sigmar plus Lantern plus Anvils Command Trait (yeah, let's go there and make him general) is -3(-4 VS Chaos) by himself. Then, the unbind, Gryph-hound and anti-wizard prayers are a bonus. Is that combo optimal, tournament-competitive? Maybe not, but it's a fun tool to try new things outside of Incantors out of the wazoo. Just for the record, you always come up as dismissive and agressive towards other people's ideas. Maybe you could try to be a bit more positive?

What is the common save for those Witch Aelves (6+6+ reroll?)? Bravery protection? I think Hurricane Raptors+Aetherwings could work (theoretically) against them.

Why is he worse than he was? He gets the gryph-hound for free, and he can get a guaranteed drop at 9 from your enemy (screens and all, I know) then the Gryph-hound is only a charge away from the Wizard. Charge, attack, retreat less than 6 (it's debatable if you must move the whole distance) and the Gryph-hound is in unbind range next turn. If the opponent spend a spell on killing It, congratulations on wasting his precious resources on a free model. Yeah, he gets one less prayer than the Relictor, but for the good ones he is exactly the same. Plus, the extra wound and nice CC profile make it less feeble when droping in the enemy's face. For 20 points you get the hound, a wound, a no-trash combat weapon, the unbind and the (very situational) damage prayer. I can't see how he is a bad deal. As It was worded, spellshield won't work with him. But Lantern of Tempest could be nice to offer a protection bubble when Scion-dropping with friends.

I meant two Ballistas + an Ordinator. What disallows you to bring a Ballista in the battalion then other outside?

Numbers have been run, and three ballistas are better than 2+Ordinator. Anecdotal evidence won't change that.

Sounds nice! But the Ordinator is not really worth it with less than three Ballistas. What about 3 Hurricane Raptors instead? Or a Lord-Veritant for unbind+prayer?

Yes, the combo is definitely legal. Too unreliable to expect a 6 in the single turn you can use the arrow. You can use the Luckstone to get that guaranteed 6, but at this point the investment is huge (artifact, Lord Relictor and 4+ prayer). The payoff is huge, though!

But they look way worse (imho). The staff heads shown (maybe there are nicer alternatives in the sprue) look way too chunky, clunky and baroque. On the other hand, the one handed scepter heads are sleek and look like actually dangerous, practical weapons. That, and you can model lightning between the swords and scepters ?

Evocators: all-round better Retributors but cheaper, faster, more versatile. Evocators on Dracoline: a middle step between Palladors and Dracothian Guard. Not a no-brainer choice but good nonetheless.