Fools of War! Preparation Part Two

The follow up part to my two part series on preparing a list for Fools of War! (WV edition).  The first part where I went over the comp and did some small analysis on the scenarios and scoring can be found here.

(Me pre-event)

Key Points:

• Unit Strength is being used, so at a minimum you want to be able to contest a wide area of control, as well as have enough bodies to win invade.  Flying monsters have a lot less of an impact here, and fast large infantry/large cav hordes will be the key targets to deny points in those missions. 
• Need to have something disposable to drop in the back line for control and scour, otherwise you can give up free VP to late game chaff moves, and can utilize the scour mechanic to deny your opponent objectives if he pushes too hard. 
• 2 units to carry loot will be necessary, doesn't have to be 2 equally good units, but forcing an opponent to choose where to target early can give you an edge if you can either sneak a real loot token by, or make him waste time going for a fake one. 
• Kill still counts, so some stuff that can hit really well will be important
• Meta specific, there's usually a couple guys rocking def 6 elemental/golem armies, so some tools to handle that easily will make that matchup a lot more forgiving. 

List:

Corsair Section

Two Troops of Corsairs

Mobile chaff, can add 1 US late game if they live, and overall just a nice can-do unit to redirect or block while pinging some damage on bigger units.  Also can take a cheeky loot counter with vanguard, letting you either push it forward and force an early engagement or make your opponent chase on an off side of the field. 

Firebrand

I took corsairs, so it's a pretty sure bet I'm taking Firebrand.  She's been a great addition to my list in testing, is great for poking at dragons, shooting that last wound on a unit, blocking regiments, and hunting warmachines.  The -/15 nerve with self inspiring is not to be taken lightly, she requires a fairly significant investment in hitting to knock her out in one shot, and can often skirt out of the way if she's not killed.  While she can't take a cav or horde charge to the face usually, she's one of the most user friendly individuals I've gotten to play with, there really isn't any task she can't be somewhat competent with. 

Komodon Section

2 Komodon's

The biggest change to my usual list, I dropped a horde of ghekkotahs to upgrade lekelidons for this, in the hopes that the scenario benefits will outweigh the loss of US and staying power.  I feel like my usual list in pillage can really struggle to hold more than 1-2 tokens at a time, and having something that I'm comfortable leaving behind on one without sacrificing its ability to contribute to the game is key.

Center Section

Horde of Salamander Primes- w/chant of hate

The main loot carrier, and a great overall center unit that can vie for control, push damage with bc support and added vicious, and adds a nice stable portion of the list.  Normally these guys have blood of the old king, but there really wasn't anywhere to go with the extra 10 points, and I do tend to have more than 1 combat with the horde.

Horde of Ancients on Rhinosaurs- w/potion of the Caterpillar

The other big hitty unit, very high threat and 3 US for missions.  Expensive, but offers significant value and forces the opponent to respond.  With pathfinder you can play cheeky defense with midline forests, and make some bad charges happen. 

Clan Lord of Fire Drake w/ banner of the griffon

The big monster of the list, I prefer him without wings personally, stock version is a poor mans demonspawn for 55 pts less, and that's a perfectly good template for him.  Adding rallying just helps even more in his role as a backfield defender.  A strong backup, who can help early on with the breath attack to pick out wizards/inspirers/ralliers and smack a few wounds in the later turns. 

Fast Section

2 Regiments of Kaisenor Lancers- 1 w/blessing of the gods, 1 w/helm of the ram

The main hitters in the list, with CS1 and TC2 or Elite they hit like trucks, and can have bane chant support to turn one into Rhinosaurs and the other into CS2 TC1 shock troops.  Without nimble they do tend to pick a lane and go for it, so deployment of these guys is key.

Hero Support

Herald w/mount and lute of insatiable darkness

Something I think will be a future staple in salamander lists.  While the army gets CS1 as a whole, getting access to bane chant for 30 points cheaper than before is amazing, and with the addition of vicious to a lot of the units, getting CS2 TC1 or CS2 TC2 vicious is not difficult with this guy, and is a huge boon for going against def 6 armies.

Battle Captain w/ wings of honeymaze

The Battle Captain is a great 115 pt chaff piece, that can do a pretty consistent 2 damage and poke fliers out of the air and pretty easily stop shooting hordes.  He also has the advantage of being able to charge as an individual so can bounce around a lot, especially if your opponent sees the actual army as a bigger threat.  I've been a fan of this option, and find him comparable to the skylord. 

Drops: 12
Unit Strength: 15
Points: 2000
Magic Item Points: 155/ 115 if you don't count wings of honeymaze (I don't because its a role changing upgrade, rather than an enhancement)

List Analysis:

So my list has a few hitters, one main anvil, a fair amount of chaff role players, and a couple support guys, who can fill the chaff (herald) and hitter (clan lord) roles where needed.  There is also a long range component which isn't typical to my lists, but I felt it was necessary given control and scour were in play.  Ranged shooting is a mash of 36" blast d3, and 12" breath attack/pistols.  I feel this is a good mix for the mission layout, as 3 of the scenarios really want a charging component, and the 12" shooting will perform pretty well there, and with the height 4 36" shooting, you can almost always get a shot, typically without cover depending on the terrain, as well as cheeky height 6 shooting over forests sometimes. 

The main plan will be to operate in four groups, fast, center, corsair, and komodon.

The corsair chaff section will typically deploy together, and in push can be both distractionary and force redirection if you give it a (fake?) loot counter and vanguard it up.  They can also set a good claim on a side of the board in control that an opponent will have to invest more than a regiment to deal with in order to win it, and add 2 US in invade if they get ignored. 

The Komodons can claim corners, scour tokens, and just annoy opponents with cover free artillery shots, that are fairly consistent too.  I personally think the komodon model is a pretty good model for war machines in the game, similar to the ratkin ones, consistent small wounds with potential for big gains.  They are very close to enslaved guardian/ ogre shooter regiments in output, but cost a fair bit less and have height 4. 

The rest of the list is pretty straightforward, and is the killy bit.  Kaisenors with their respective upgrades can put a world of hurt on targets, and ancients on rhinosaurs allow for easier matchups in the def 6 elemental/golem lists that I'm sure will be there.  The primes and Clan lord can make a great middle line threat, and the clan lord can play with the fast section too with speed 7.  Often I tag team the primes and ancients, since they both have pathfinder they work pretty will in conjunction with each other.     

Overall I feel this list is pretty balanced, and can compete at the least.  There are tools designed for each mission, which can let me play to the objective easily, as well as hopefully get some killing done in the middle turns.  While I am pretty worried about flying armies, due to my lack of numbers and generally large flanks, I'm betting on less fliers being present from the CoK changes.  Each unit has a pretty good role they can perform, and some crossover that is inherent to playing salamanders.  The biggest question marks for me atm, are the komodons and if they will produce the damage they should, as well as get me some easy objectives, and the ancients on rhinosaurs.  With the 295 pt price tag, they are an easy targets to identify and aim for with shooting, and -/18 nerve will go down pretty quick if it can be concentrated, you pay a lot of the potential to oneshot any unit on the table, and whether or not I can play them competently will be a deciding factor on my success this event.