First I wanted to thank everyone for the comments on my past articles through facebook, I definitely appreciate the feedback, and I'm going to clarify a few things from the first article that I think I could have done better.
The grading scale isn't so much of a view of how effective that unit is compared to all units in the game, rather it's a scale of how justifiable are the points spent going to be on that unit. These are also assuming a 2000 point or higher standard
It goes as follows:
A's - Units that should always be included in the list, either because there is no other option in it's role (Kaisenors fall in this category, due to the lack of other cavalry or speed options in faction), or because it is the best way to spend the points. In all likelihood a unit will get an A because of the first reason, as the game is balanced well enough to not have too many obvious A+ units.
B's - Units that are almost always gonna be good for return on investment, they are consistent, fulfill a role very well in the army, but you could have situations where another unit will be better.
C's - Units that are more situational in where they excel, or perform a role already fulfilled by another unit that is a better choice.
D's - Units that are very corner case in their application, or fulfill a role very poorly compared to other similar options. Ceremonial Guard fit in this category, as they don't dish out considerable damage compared to primes or ancients, and are very niche in their application of phalanx.
F's- Units that probably shouldn't be an option. Either far too points inefficient or don't fulfill any conceivable role in the list. As far as I'm aware there isn't an F unit in the game, that I've seen anyways.
+'s and -'s imply they're borderline between the two connecting grades, so a B+ unit is almost good enough to be basically an auto take, while a C- unit is a really tough argument that there isn't something in the list that could do what it does better.
Other caveats from the last article, I was very unfair in my grading of salamander primes, I graded them on the aggregate and didn't do that for any other unit in the article, so I'm included the change here and editing the last article to reflect the change.
Salamander Primes
C+ for troops and regiments, B for Hordes.
Lastly I graded the Ancients on Rhinosaurs a tad too high, and this is a change to reflect the CoK 17 changes really. 3 months ago I think an A- would have been the appropriate grade for the unit, however with more consistency in cavalry options, as well as more efficient bane chant access the ability to wound on 2's is easier obtained and the 300 point pricetag after pathfinder on a non flying unit is a tougher pill to swallow, so the unit is as follows:
Ancients on Rhinosaurs
D+ for regiments, B for Horde
So now on to the Troops and Irregulars!
(Yar Har fiddle Dee Dee, Being a Pirate is alright with me)
Corsairs
Lizardmen Pirates! I really like this unit, it's kind of like a version of rangers, but a tad cheaper and with pistols, so 12" range and pierce 1 instead of bows. These guys are pretty nifty allrounders, although they are abit pricey for the chaff role you would use them in. I reeeeeeeeally wish there was a regiment form of them like for rangers, but I understand given Firebrands special Rules. This unit is a great pair for kaisenors to vanguard at the double and clear chaff or soften targets, if they get forgotten they can perform very well on the flank, the only real issue I have with them is they don't have pathfinder like rangers do, but kept the def 4. With the ranged 5+ and def 4 I think this unit is good, but not a given for any salamander list.
Overall, C for Corsairs. With Firebrand, B due to losing the waver.
Firebrand!
(Note she does have cs1 as far as I'm aware)
A little bonus, since you really only take her with corsairs, I felt it would be appropriate to include her in this section of the review. This is basically a must if you take corsairs, the fearless bubble and inspiring bubble match sizes, and her own nerve is fairly good for the price tag. 5 att means she can ping units just like lb 5, but 12" range, and she can put a few extra wounds on in melee for late game. She won't hold a line by herself though, and can't take items (boots of levitation would be soooooooo good here) so really consider her a third corsair to make a solid 370 point skirmish block.
Overall, C by herself, B with corsairs
Ghekkotah Hunters
The other skirmishing unit, and another one I like particularly well. Sp 7 with Pathfinder and nimble lets them get to where you want, and makes them an effective chaff unit for rhinosaurs or kaisenors as well. Their attacks aren't going to be the most effective things in the world, but they can ping a wound or two on weaker units. These guys compete directly with the Corsairs for ranged chaff, and I think corsairs edge out if you take Firebrand, but otherwise take these guys for the extra discount. For pure points efficiency regular Ghekkotah's are probably the better choice at 70 pts, but the extra 2 nerve is very handy for forcing more dedication in chaff clearing. The Cloaks would have been a great upgrade if lb and bw were affected by it, and would have given them a really huge buff on chaff power. Putting a bow on these guys make them a poor mans ranger unit for the same cost, so I'd avoid that.
Overall, C+ for Hunters
Ember Sprites
So this unit, I think you love or hate. I'm sure these things can be really good in the right hands, at the horde level you're paying 10 points per breath attack for a real unit rather than a warmachine, and that's pretty damn tasty. Plus it has vicious, which is really nifty for your bw. The downside of course is that it's speed 5, and you can't shoot if you at the double, which if you're using these guys as chaff you'll want to do with that speed. So I wouldn't take these as your dedicated chaff, they are too slow to really chaff where you want it, but play them just like you would a Ratkin weapon team or Goblin War-Trombone and keep them behind a line and they might just perform decently. This is a unit I want to play around with more before I come up with a definite opinion on them, my gut says they can work, but it might be too much work to make these guys effective.
Overall, C for horde, C- for regiment.
Ghekkotah Skyraiders
I'm gonna be too harsh on this unit. Throwing that out there, but the good news is it flies. And it hits on 4's. Plus it has a 22" threat range for all 12 of its attacks in horde form. I think this unit is only playable as a regiment tbh, and as a 130 point chaff regiment with def 3 I just don't see where this takes the place of hunters or corsairs. It is playable if you run it like a hero with wings of honemaze however, use it to smack a shooting horde or warmachine, since that's about all it can really hope to accomplish. Even then though, theres 2 better options in the hero section that cost the same as a regiment, and I am kind of disappointed by this unit overall cause it's a pretty dope looking unit using the gw line, and has some sweet options if you use pterodactyls.
Overall, D+ for regiment, D- for Horde.
There were a lot of low grades in this part of the review, but don't take that as they are neccesarily bad units. I think the ember sprites, corsairs, and hunters all can do excellent jobs, but they compete pretty well with each other for what you choose, which lowers the grades between them all and is a good thing for lists. And with chaff, it's very hard to give a B or higher to a unit that isn't like gargoyles or beast packs, due to the high cost of these in particular.
No comments:
Post a Comment