[Archive] 2,500 point - first LoA list and games

eudaimon:

Hi there, so this is the list I used in my first two games with the LoA. Both went very well and I had big wins.

Lvl 4 on Hashut, 4+ ward, Earthing Rod

Lvl 2 on Death, Dispel scroll

BSB with Enchanted shield

20 hobgobs with bows Full Cmd

20 hobgobs with bows Full Cmd

40 hobgobs with additional hand weapons Full Cmd

15 Ironsworn Full Cmd

3 Fireborn

3 Bull Centaurs

Destroyer

Magma Cannon

Death Shrieker

Hell Cannon

I wanted to take a bit of everything to see how it went. The idea was to bunker up the lvl 4 and BSB in the ironsworn and have the 40 hobgobs as a holding unit (with steadfast to slow down any choppy enemy unit). The 20 bow hobgobs would hold the flanks of these two units, harrying the enemy and enemy chaff, and rediverting as needed. The Fireborn and Destroyer would charge down on flank (the Destroyer coming across the board into potential flank charges), the warmachines hunkered up on the other flank with the lvl 2, and the Bull Centaurs guarding them.

First up was against chaos warriors. Everything went right pretty much. My Hell Cannon killed his hellcannon in turn 1, and then whittled down the marauders. The Magma cannon focused on hurting his warrior bunker with his lvl 2 and 4 in it. The Death Shrieker reaped much harvest from the marauders. The Destroyer flayed the Chosen with a fighty hero and BSB in it. The Fireborn killed off some fast cav chaff, the Bull Centaurs did the same and then killed off the last few marauders.

Second was High Elves with Stardragon. The Stardragon ate the Destroyer (boo!) but then took a Death Shrieker to the face which killed the lord and severely hurt the dragon. The hellcannon rampaged into some Dragon Princes, but won the grind. The Fireborn killed themselves in a slew of bad toughness rolls. The bull centaurs took on two Lion Chariots and despite running once, later rallied to finish the job. Magma cannon laid waste to the supporting archers and spears. I was helped in this game by one of his lvl 2s falling down a pit on the first turn, and the rest of the unit fleeing off the board.

Overall, I thought it went well. Magic did not very much over the course of either game (I never rolled higher than 8) though it did kill off an eagle and hurt the chariots through Spirit Leach and Curse of Hashut. The Fireborn was pretty crap (I expected them to be with only 3 models, I just wanted to use them) and I would have thought would need to be 6 models minimum. But with only 2 attacks and 2 wounds, I can’t justify the expediture. Especially against… Bull Centaurs, who proved very resilient. The Destroyer performed as expected, it was Rock to Scissors against the warriors, but was Rock to Paper against the stardragon. The core of the army never saw combat (apart from the lvl 4 killing the riderless dragon using his awesome Darkforged blade 2+ to wound), with the 40 hobgobs keeping the elves back, allowing the 40 bow shots to chip away across the whole board.

Artillery was bloody amazing.

So what do you guys think. The Fireborn will go, but what to do with the points? Another piece of artillery? Bulk up the centaurs?

Is the centre of my army too weak without the Destroyer (i.e. if it dies early to a dwarf cannon or flame warded character etc)? How have you fared with hobgobs - I see most lists don’t seem to have them, but I love my chaff. Do you think I should exchange the 40 hobgobs for a big block of ironsworn to hold the middle as a bunker? I do think that against other magic, only have one unit, and that is 15 strong, for my lvl 4 to bunker in could be a BIG problem.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Time of Madness:

20 hobgobs with bows Full Cmd
20 hobgobs with bows Full Cmd
40 hobgobs with additional hand weapons Full Cmd
15 Ironsworn Full Cmd

eudaimon
You have too few points in core? Unless you meant infernal guard and not ironsworn?

Either way the ironsworn/guard? unit is too small. I'd drop the fireborn and invest the points back into making the unit bigger.

Your characters could also use some tweaking.

Time of Madness

eudaimon:

Yeah, I meant the ordinary guard not firesworn.

You suggest tweaking the characters - what setups have done well for you? I don’t want any of them in combat if I can help it, so I am not looking for combat effectiveness, but would love sneaky effectivenss.

As for the Fireborn points, I am 50/50 between bulking up the guard unit, or having a second one. A second unit means I have another option to jump my characters into for a bunker, rather than having all my eggs in one basket as it were. I will play around with it.

nilbog:

Infernal guard are hard to get victory points off. I run a unit of 28 with both characters in there and not once have all of them died, or panicked off the board. However, roughly half that number may well die - so if you’ve got two small units, you’ve given up all the VPs for that unit, whereas my big unit has given up none.

Run k’daai in units of at least 6 or not at all.

You don’t need all those hobgoblins. Two units of 20 with full command and bows, as well as a large infernal guard unit with a magic banner will cover the core requirements.

Character load out could be something like this:

sorcerer-prophet, level 4, enchanted shield, 4+ ward from the BRB

infernal castellen with battle standard, mask of the furnace, shield

Both now have a 2+/4++ save. They won’t kill anything in combat, but should survive a while.