I see You use them in 10x1 lines. You deploy them like this or You widen during a game?
It depends what I want them to do. Oftentimes I place them in a 3/3/3/1 formation to go in marching column and then reform to 10x1 in turn 2. I would rarely deploy them directly in 10x1, since with quick to fire they are plenty mobile to reform during gameplay.
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Game 5 - 1600pts vs Empire of Man
Had a game last Saturday. Iāve been slower to write a report about it, since I got totally wrecked, hehe ^^
I brought the somewhat soft list I brought VS the Noglins, with the Bull Centaurs, which are honestly a bit of a meme pick at this point. They simply donāt perform reliably for their points. Theyād need either heavy armour, another attack or a stomp, preferably all of it, to be competitive.
My opponent this time was a very experienced general of the Empire. Heād brought a lvl 4 on pegasus, a lector on war altar (general), as well as 5 demigryphs, 2 cannons, and some chaff (including two units of knights). His meme choice to soften the list was 5 outriders.
Deployment
My opponent secured the deployment zone with the hill inside of it, placed a cannon on it. The other cannon couldnāt fit entirely on the hill, so set up on the flank. His remaining forces were fairly centered, with the chaff on the flanks.
I set up my Lamassu and bulltaurs to run around what I perceived to be an opening behind the enemy forces. The infantry were placed as far up the board as possible, but I did not roll steed of shadows this time, and they all saw 0(!) combat time. The Iron Daemon set up a bit wonky to try to lower the chance of a cannon ball hitting it.
Game Summary
So as I mentioned, my opponent knew what he was doing, and the rolls were fairly average on both sides. Without steed of shadows, my infantry were completely out, and my bulltaurs got outmaneuvered and messed up behind enemy lines. The lamassu did ok, but caught a cannonball that rolled the full 4 multiple wounds, after which he got caught by a long bomb charge from the demigryphs that managed to tear him down (no champion in the demigryph unit, or any unit for that matter - a sign of a thoughtful general).
My Iron Daemon did manage to pop 3 wounds off the pegasus lord in a final act of desperation, but was hit twice by cannonballs during the game, which was enough to take it down. The Infernal Guard tried their best to reach the cannon on the flank, but they were simply too slow, and caught a panic test from shooting that they sadly failed, eliminating all hope of them taking out the enemy war machine.
In the end Iād taken off 5 bowmen and my lamassu had taken out a single cannon. For my part I gave up about 1350 victory points, so in the end it came to a 20-0 loss for me 
I was on a winning streak, it had to happen.
Thoughts
Steed of Shadows is essential for getting my infantry into action. Iām going as far as to consider getting a lore familiar for my level 4. Ultimately I think I wont, but will have to be WAY more aggressive with the infantry, in case I donāt get the spell.
Bull Centaurs are just not that good. They are fun and look good, and can do some work, but as I said, they arenāt reliable value for their points. I could have played smarter and possibly saved them, but Iām not convinced theyād do much, either way.
If the demigryphs had failed their charge, Iād been able to take out the other cannon with my lamassu, and preserved my iron daemon, so the game would have looked a bit different. I could as a matter of fact have deployed out of range, but I was too concerned with dispel ranges that I didnāt even consider he could do a charge like that - there was a fairly large wheel involved. But thatās how it goes.
My last battle is against the monster mash Ogre List (with no magic), and Iāll be bringing the lovely unhittable wyvern + lamassu combo. Itāll be a banger, for sure, Iām looking forward to it.
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Thanks for the report, ugh, tough game my friend 
Honestly - you should! You wrote it yourself, that spell is essential for your playstyle and army. And if that is the case, you have to commit and make sure you get the spell you need. Thatās exactly what lore familiar is for.
Yes, itās a damn shame but thatās just what it is. Been like this forever for Renders unfortunately. In 8th they were tough as nails (arguably the toughest monstrous cavalry in the game) but you basically only took them as a tax for the Taurāruk. In TOW they lost part of their toughness but gained shock-troopiness with First Charge and their Stampede D3 Impact Hits. Itās been said before, theyāre basically light chariots with the same pros and cons. But ultimately theyāre still a tax to be taken for the Taurāruk, who still shall not be underestimated. Personally Iād say if youāre already taking Renders, go all in and also get a Taurāruk. That combined unit makes a mean (first) charge which can run over almost any unit.
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I keep thinking how big of a difference is access to this spell myself. A tool to fly 36" with IG, CT or even BO is crazy. Drilled blunderbusses or glaives chargin rear turn 2 or cutthroats in a 10x1 line blocking cannonsā LoS is huge!
He does not look impressive on paperā¦ How would You use him?
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What doesnāt impress you? D3+1 S5 AP-2 Impact Hits, 4 attacks at S5 with inbuilt Armour Bane, Natural Armour Save 4+, 4 Wounds, thatās all pretty damn good! In fact, thatās Black Orc Warboss levels of good with a few ups and downs. A humble Darkforged Weapon or Great Weapon is a good choice for him, the Obsidian Vembraces are a great fit, even a few of the more expensive Magic Weapons would work nicely. How about this build:
Bull Centaur Taurāruk
.+ Darkforged Weapon (anything besides a 4 and maybe a 1 would be good here)
.+ Shield
.+ Obsidian Vembraces
.+ Bedazzling Helmet
Guy has Armour Save 2+, is -1 to hit, has 4 attacks with at least S6 AP-1 Armour Bane 1 (plus whatever the Darkforged Weapon grants). And thatās after he has caused D3+1 S5 AP-2 impact hits.
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You are right. He is a better centaur. What about Centaur tax? Is it worth it? If I could take him on him own then there would be no debate really.
Not sure why I was sure he has W3 not W4.
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The tax is a shame, especially since weāre already paying the Infernal Guard tax. It is what it is. But thatās what I meant, if youāre already getting Renders, go all in! 3 Renders with Great Weapons, Baāhal and the Rampaging Standard is quite a commitment pointswise, but if they hit they hit.
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True. I will finally use them in a game 
I like that they gives us some board control. Enemy cav can not just move into charge range when they are near.
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Haha, best of look, brother! Hope it pans out.
I think that unit would work well with a Black Orc Boss/Warboss on Chariot on the other flank, but that might be putting too many eggs in the same basket. And/or Iron Daemon. Maybe a modification of my Fury Road army list without the Warriors of Chaos allies 
(the Taurāruk build there would also be decent I think. But Vembraces + Bedazzling helmet kinda tickles me)
Hi @Jasko ,
I was also thinking about this too b/c I have 4 painted Centaur models and could use one of them as the Taurāruk.
But in terms of load-out I was thinking either:
- 2x Mantle of Stone (dropping him to I2) w/ Obsidian
- 1x Mantle of Stone, 1x mask of the furnance, 1x charmed shield.
Both are 75pts of kit, the first makes him T7 with a 3+ armor save, and the second makes since T6 with a 2+ armor save and either a 1x 5+ ward save or 3+ ward save against flaming attacks.
Also, does the Obsidian Vambraces boost his strength when calculating impact hits? The rule book says itās āunmodified strengthā so rules as written this would be a no, but possibly the rule book intended this to mean āstrength modified by a weaponā rather than an enchanment/buff.
Erik
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Yeah the second loadout is the one I put in the Fury Road army list. I think itās a good choice, that boost to Toughness is always good. T6 def fits the current META, as does a 3+ Ward against Flaming attacks. First loadout can be very effective too, especially if youāre going with a Great Weapon, where I2 makes no difference. Good call! Just goes to show that itās quite a capable character which can be tooled out in various directions.
I mean, Darkforged Weapon and Great Weapon are both excellent choices for him which leave his 75pts free for the Vembraces and various stuff to make him really tough, but his 4 attacks at S5 and that crucial inbuilt Armour Bane would also work really well with a couple of magic weapons. Just consider:
- Black Hammer of Hashut
- Dark Maul
- Dagger of Malice (Maybe? Risky though)
- Ogre Blade (Black Hammer is a bit better imho)
- Duellistās Blades (expensive for those 2 extra attacks and only AS4+)
- Giant Blade
- Berserker Blade
- Sword of Might
- Biting Blade (this may actually be a hidden gem for him!)
Consider: Biting Blade + Obsidian Vembraces + Mantle of Stone + Charmed Shield: 4 attacks, S6, AP-2, Armour Bane 2 at T6, AS3+ and you would still have points to spare. Thatās not a bad model! His weakness is the relatively low WS, though, that can really ruin a day. And heās not exactly cheap.
RAW Impact Hits def do not benefit from the Vembraces. I think thatās fair too from a lore standpoint, the Impact Hits come from the mass of his whole body, him wearing some magic bracelets donāt do much there 
Shame, but D3+1 S5 AP-2 is still pretty good and would place him in the top tier for a light chariot.
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I do like -1 to hit. Great combo with Ash storm and BO with Effigy of Mork. 3 combat units with -1/-2 do hit.
Is it? One less AP but flaming attacks and flammable killerā¦ More situational.
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Itās also 5pts cheaper 
So you can pair it with the Obsidian Vembraces on a Taurāruk 
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Oh for sure. 5 points is what is always missing
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Final Game 2k pts vs Orcs & Goblins
The escalation has long since ended, but my final opponent and I had some logistical issues, what with family life and work life being a thing and all.
In any case, we finally got around to it, and had an absolute blast.
Because the league was over, we decided to just grab the opportunity to test out our lists for the upcoming teams tournament that will take place in the weekend next week (my opponent here is part of my team, along with a Tomb Kings player).
My opponent had the mandatory big blocks with fanatics (one with spider banner and one with burning banner), some doom divers and a rock lobber, some bolt throwers, and a smallish unit of bigāun boar boyz. For characters he had a wyvern orc warboss and a lvl 4 noblin shaman.
I brought a lamassu/blorc wyvernboss combo, a sizeable unit of black orcs, 12 IG with fireglaives and blackshard armour, as well as twin bolters, a dreadquake, and an iron daemon.
The reason we have so little in the way of characters is cause the team tournament has a 40% characters comp.
Deployment:
We rolled flank attack, and to my dismay, I ended up having my fliers in the same flank as the poisoned noblin archers
I went up and goaded the boar boyz to fail an impetuous roll, which they did, and got a wonky disordered charge off on my lamassu. They barely beat him in combat and I used stubborn to FBIGO. They then got multi charged by both fliers and got predictably stomped.
And that was the length of my luck. My dreadquake got doom divered, and my warboss whiffed a charge against the poisoned block. They got off like 192 shots against my flying guys, what with regular shooting and stand and shoots and whatnot. Letās just say it did not go well for my guys
The iron daemon moves up the left hand side and scares off the other block of goblins, but not before it is torn a new one by the three fanatics. Eventually it is shot off by a magic missile, iirc. Some war machines panic and flee off the table, nice.
My black orcs take on the warboss over numerous round of combat, and at one time have a good chance to rout him, but he passes his LD.
Game ends 15-5 to the Orcs, and I have learnt a valuable lesson to not underestimate massed poisoned shortbows with buffed AP and re-rolling 1ās to hit. Ouchie.
It wasnāt that my army didnāt perform, I just got horribly matched up on the right hand side.
BONUS BATREP
1200pts vs Khorne Daemons!
I visited my sister the other day, whose son has taken an interest in Warhammer, and Daemons of Khorne in particular! Far be it from me to nurture the aspiring champions of the hobby, so Iāve been helping out on his journey. Khorne Daemons are AMAZING for a beginner, since they have no shooting or magic. Itās simply move up - charge - fight! Splendid.
I brought a wyvern boss, a flying prophet, and an iron daemon, as well as some blorcs and the mandatory IG unit (a bit harsh, maybe, but I was a bit worried, cause:)
For his army, Iād written it to include a Bloodthirster - if you havenāt checked this thing out, itās the absolute cannonest of glass cannons, oh my god does it have a potentially devastating damage output in CC 
Besides that, he had a gnarly Daemonic Herald on Juggernaut (a new model heād just gotten), two units of flesh hounds and a block of bloodletters.
I shot 3 wounds off his bloodthirster with the iron daemon, after which it followed up with a devastating charge. Now, he scored 4 wounds with d3 multiple wounds, so honestly there was little chance for the ID to survive, but he rolled only 6 wounds total, so I had the opportunity to get in with my wyvern boss and issue a challenge, saving my ID from certain destruction (for now).
The blorcs fought some flesh hounds, and the bloodthirster had poor luck vs the warboss, after which it poofed out of existence due to instability. Iād flown my dwarfs up behind the bloodletters, and they came at them from behind.
His Daemonic Herald had done a stellar job as a BSB, and got a charge off vs the severely damaged iron daemon, putting it out of action with the juggernautās impact hits. After that, however, he was ganked upon, and was banished.
For the greedy Sorcerer Prophet, the spoils of the daemonic realms was free for the taking.
Wrap Up
Had his bloodthirster had a slight bit more luck, heād have cleaned me out. If the ID had taken 1 more wound, the greater daemon had been able to overrun, and the wyvern would not have it in its charge arc. The flesh hounds also quite whiffed their attacks. To his credit, my nephew took these proceeding exceedingly well. Good lad.
The flying sorcerer really has merit, I may just have to play with him a bit more.
Looking forward to participating in the first Danish Club Championship in the weekend of next week. Weāre aiming for top third in terms of rankings, cause there are some really strong teams, with opponents Iāve either met before on the battlefield, or have seen in action vs others.
This was it for the escalation league. Peace to all 
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