2400 pts "exec netlist" + thoughts on 9th age (as of .11)

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Thraundil
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2400 pts "exec netlist" + thoughts on 9th age (as of .11)

Post by Thraundil »

Guys - Thraundil is back!

I pretty much lost all interest in Warhammer this past summer somehow, but with 9th age emerging I am trying to get my mojo back on.



First, here is my take on the executioner netlist. It features almost no shooting (since I really find reaper auxiliaries to be utter trash in the 'meta' of my area - one that I expect will continue in 9th age). Rather, it is a list that should be simple to play on paper: shove the two big infantry units forward and kill stuff with it. And the bonus: both units are able to take a charge head-on from most stuff. And the ones it cant fight, it should simply not push too fast forward against !lol!


Cult High Priest, Chosen of Nabh General, Headsmans Axe, Crimson Mail, Holy Icon, Lucky Charm
Cult Priest BSB, Chosen of Nabh, Executioners Blade, Mithril armor, Standard of Alternate Realities
Oracle lvl 2, dispel scroll. Lore undecided
Oracle lvl 2, scepter of power, amulet of spite. Lore undecided
3x5 Dark Riders with crossbows
36 Dread legionaires, spears, Chosen of Nabh, FC, icon of the relentless company
24 Executioners, Chosen of Nabh, FC, standard of speed
3 Reapers, repeating shot
Divine Altar of Nabh
Divine Altar of Nabh

The list comes out to 2395 points I think. Although its an infantry list, its very fast: 15" move on the spears on turn 1 (typically), and 12" on the exec. The two combat chars + the scroll caddy goes in spears, while the MR-girl goes in exec. Two altars mean an excellent 5+ ward on both units - possibly replaced by +1 attack if I get a very sure charge. The lord priest is deadly - hatred, S7, multiwound 2 wardbreaking. I like the cute trick with the BSB magic banner, which even makes the lords attacks non magical, so no cheeky 3+ ward vs magical attacks here! As a bonus, all the spearmen attacks are magical. I dont have much in the way of flak clear, but the points are pretty tight...

Lore ponderings include:

2x dark magic. Double signature - seriously, this spell makes spearmen rampaging murderers. S4 AP(2), whats not to love? Apply it twice for much hilarity. The downside: if I pick double signature, I dont have much else to pressure with pre-close combat. And ideally, I want 3 hexes/augments, such that "what to dispel" becomes non trivial for my opponent.

Dark + Beast. Again, those two signatures are beautiful. And beast attribute is fun when I want to really get up close and personal asap. Plus, almost every spell in the lore of beasts will complement the list beautifully. Flak cleaing magic missile, frenzy for my units, a big dragon to back up the charge - whats not to love?

Double beast. Im leaning towards this. Simply because beast signature is also strong before close combat, whereas black signature isnt. And beast attribute makes my low mobility a lot less scary.

Double shadow, or shadow + something else. Because miasma. The things my heroes cant fight - stuff with high initiative - can be manageable with miasma. But if I take double shadow, I completely forego any damaging magic, so my flak clear will be even worse for it. And if I take shadow + beast for example, I only get a single miasma.


I welcome any feedback you might have :)
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Thraundil
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Re: 2400 pts "exec netlist" + thoughts on 9th age (as of .11

Post by Thraundil »

A few thoughts on Dread Elves in the 9th age.

The good first.

1. Knights have received a major buff with beast masters making stupidity almost a non-factor, point reduction and T4 to boot. Very nice unit indeed, the major problem of which is 'getting the charge'. I have spotted some nice options with a razor banner on them + any strength augment spell giving them a huge amount of damage even if they receive a charge, but it can easily go wrong. My main concern is that a standard unit of 10 knights is still 'meh'. You must have the BSB in there with beast master - and then the unit becomes a semi knight star. Raptor chariots at 100 points are a steal with a beast master around, too!

2. Lords and heroes are very flexible, I especially like the addition of the Cult High priest with the option to take magical armours and stuff. And beast masters and fleet commanders are genuinely useful, and will see lots of use I predict.

3. Hydra has regen back! However, they are NOT worth the points as a rare choice in my opinion. Divine altars are higher toughness, more wounds, and can buff. Sure, you miss the flaming breath and the high volume of attacks, but I just think the altar buffs more than make up for it.

And then the bad. Sadly, I so far see quite a lot of it :(

1. Triple nerf to witch elves. Core --> special, point cost up, no frenzy. Ugh! Someone did a wonderful calculation; witch elves are the hands down worst special infantry choice for us.

2. Semi nerf to warlocks. Frankly, I agree with it, but its on 3 counts as well; points up for making them a wizard, no vanguard, and ward saves are weaker now with divine attacks readily available for many races. Poison darts with the new deployment system are ACE, though. The moment the opponent drops his war machines, announce you finish your deployment, and on T1 move 18" straight up with locks and take out a cannon with the poisonous shots. Overall, though, it is pretty meh. For 190 pts you get a lvl 2 caster which you cannot really move forward, which means a standard lvl 2 is cheaper. Commit more models to the unit, and it just gets more and more pricy.

3. Nerf to pegasus heroes. Yes, 1+ save pegasus heroes was pretty strong, but honestly the mounted master was the strongest entry in our 8th edition army book. But 3+ save is pretty much a joke on a flyer, which means you must buy a magic armor. Which means no decent ward - or a lord choice - has to be spent on it. Which means you might as well go for a manticore, if thats the case.

4. And this is the big one: overall removal of ASF. Was it annoying to face an elf and never ever be first to strike? Without a doubt. This will still be the case for many rank-and-file troops, since our core are I5 and most our special I6. Where it really hurts though is versus other heroes. In particular; combat heroes. Dread elves are, like I see it, very much a combat focused army now. Shooting is mediocre, and with the game-wide magic nerf you really need combat to make points. But lo and behold: elves are still the fragile T3 guys - who now dont get to strike first versus big baddies like daemons and warriors. And high elves with the frostheart phoenix obliterates dread elves in close combat. It has also severely weakened our troops overall with the loss of reroll to hit - but without a similar reduction in point cost. Instead we get a flat +1, which is nice. Especially when figthing stuff with lower weapon skill, hitting them on 2's. Hitting elites on 3's almost always is great too. But I'd rather hit on 4's with rerolls than 3's.


Overall: I love the effort put into 9th age, I really do. But I feel like Dread Elves have received the short end of the stick, receiving many "comparative nerfs" with respect to 8th edition. We have been hit on many of our major strength units, and the few things we got in return where in my opinion straightforward and should probably have happened a long time ago (T4 knights, fleet and beast master useful).
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Re: 2400 pts "exec netlist" + thoughts on 9th age (as of .11

Post by Amboadine »

Welcome back stranger.
Good to see you active again :)
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Re: 2400 pts "exec netlist" + thoughts on 9th age (as of .11

Post by Calisson »

Nice to see you back in the mood and in the game!

DE has been nerfed in 9th, for sure.
We used to have a very powerful book, it is now clearly in the fat of the bell curve.
We cannot complain that it has been hit too hard, as I have seen some - rare - good results, many many average results and no catastrophic result on the reports in 9th Age forum.

I am concerned that the only option is to go infantry heavy, though.
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Re: 2400 pts "exec netlist" + thoughts on 9th age (as of .11

Post by DarkSky »

Regarding the overall power I agree. But you need to see this in the greater context, almost all strong army books of 8th have been nerfed. Overall I like the balance in 9th Age much better than 8th edition.
The only thing I really don't like is the way the Cult rules have been implemented. As it stands now, this is a straight nerf and severly removes option, causing many lists to be very similar.

ASF replaces with Reflexes is a huge nerf. Although some are claiming "hitting on 2s is overpowered" the re-rolls were significantly better:

8/9 (3s+RR) > 5/6 (2s) (more WS)
3/4 (4s+RR) > 2/3 (3s) (equal, less WS)
5/9 (5s+RR) > 1/2 (4s) (-1 ToHit or less than half WS)
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Re: 2400 pts "exec netlist" + thoughts on 9th age (as of .11

Post by Lord Drakon »

Welcome back Thraundil!

I am looking forward to your results, I will try the opposite with shooty monster mash list. Your point about the Divine Altar and Hydra is a good one, I will test both options and see what I like most.
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