Dhom-hain-ating the South Coast Series?

Intro

Hello bald boys, fishy girls and Ochtar loving enbys! Welcome to the first tactics post here on Teachings of the Túrscoll. Today we'll be taking a look at my list for the South Coast Series taking place in Bournemouth next weekend. I know I promised a Reaver post, but I thought this might be a better one to kick us off. I promise Reaver unit evaluation will be coming!

The goal here is to talk through my decision process for the list. Later in the week we'll take a look at how I hope to play. Finally, next week we'll be evaluating the performance post tournament.

As a quick note book Grand Strategies and Battle Tactics are banned at this event.

The List

Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin

- Enclave: Dhom-Hain

- Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak

- Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders

Isharann Tidecaster (150)*

- General

- Command Trait: Master of Magic

- Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)

- Lore of the Deeps: Counter-current

Akhelian Thrallmaster (110)*

Battleline

20 x Namarti Reavers (340)*

- Reinforced x 1

10 x Namarti Thralls (130)*

10 x Namarti Thralls (130)*

Units

2 x Akhelian Allopexes (330)*

- Razorshell Harpoon

- Reinforced x 1

2 x Akhelian Allopexes (330)*

- Razorshell Harpoon

- Reinforced x 1

Behemoths

Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur (400)*

- Allies

Endless Spells & Invocations

Purple Sun of Shyish (70)

Core Battalions

*Battle Regiment

Total: 1990 / 2000

Reinforced Units: 3 / 4

Allies: 400 / 400

Wounds: 82

Drops: 1

Leaders - Wait no Smash King!?

Kicking off with our leaders, the obvious omission is the so called Smash King. For those uninitiated to the Akhelian Caste, this a King with the Unstoppable Fury command trait. This provides an extra 2 attacks to his melee weapons per enemy unit within 3" when affected by High Tide. You combine this with the Arcane Tome to turn that polearm into a rend 3 damage 4 nightmare. As the king can turn on High Tide once per game, he can charge in and pop the effect to put out an absurd amount of pain. It's easy to see why he's a stable in competitive Idoneth lists.

There are several reasons I've decided not to go with the King for this event, but I have to acknowledge it's a big risk which may not pay off.

1) Nighthaunt

Nighthaunt have recently received a really strong book. We've seen a variety of top players such as Ronya and Matt G pick them up for recent events. In addition, because Nighthaunt were available in the 2nd Ed starter and through the magazine a lot of people were able to pick them up for cheap. They're also very quick and easy to paint. These factors, combined with the size of the event, means I am expecting a high level of nighthaunt representation.

Why is this a problem for the Smash King? Well to start with those Ethereal saves makes the rend on the polearm useless. Then you've got the Kruelghast Cruciator, a staple for nighthaunt, who reduces damage by 1. Lastly, the discorporate command ability allows a unit to gain a 5+ up ward when targeted. Suddenly that scary king is rend 0, damage 3 (at best) and having that reduced by wards. The chances of him doing not very much at all and then immediately dying becomes a lot more realistic.

2) Incarnates

Pretty simple, the incarnate is not something you want to be in combat with. Because of how the level degrades during battleshock, it will always get to hit back. It's a piece you want to try and remove with ranged threats.

3) The Purple Sun

This applies both offensively and defensively. I wanted the ability to reliably cast and defend myself from what is likely to be the most taken endless spell in the game.

Tide-y Leadership

I've chosen to take the Tidecaster as my general with the Master of Magic trait to provide a reroll cast and unbind each turn. She's also bound to the incarnate and carrying an Arcane Tome. That gives me an 82% chance of getting my own Purple Sun off, as well as access to a mystic shield, half run and charge or -1 to hit and d3 mortals. Turning her into a pretty awesome wizard for her points.

Her 4+ save and 5+ ward make her surprisingly durable and protects her from being picked off with spell chip damage. Lastly, access to two rituals gives a lot of flexibility to support the rest of the army.

Enthrall to the Thrallmaster

Primarily I've chosen to take the Thrallmaster as I don't like to run a single hero list. The inability to reliably generate command abilities if your general is slain can cripple even the best army.

So why this guy and not a Soulrender or Lotann? It's nice to be 10 points under as it just means you're not always giving away a triumph. Plus, his buffs can turn a screen of 10 Thralls into a real blitzer that can easily take off twice or even triple their points. He also gives us a little extra fighty goodness for that turn 3 big push.

Battleline - It's a Nemarti Party

My view is that 2 X 10 Thralls should form the backbone of any Idoneth army. They are incredibly cheap and probably one of the best screen options in the game.

Our ability to provide them with a 5+ up ward near the boat (and on turn 3 if they stick around), the Forgotten Nightmares trait to force shooting into the nearest unit, and the availability of cover from Low Tide, make them pretty annoying for your opponent. Often they will have to commit far more than they would like just to clear out a measly 130 point unit.

Their incredibly effective combat profile is almost a bonus. If your opponent, for one reason or another, doesn't take them out early they can carve through elites and hordes alike easily earning back their cost.

Reavers are one of my absolute favourite units in the Idoneth arsenal. They have high quantity high quality shooting with a very respectfulable 26" inch threat range. That single point of rend is often enough to force your opponent to spend a CP and they work equally well against high and low save opponents due to the shear quantity of attacks. A perfect counter to the Kronespine Incarnate and his 4+ save allowing you to chip away levels without being punched back.

If you do get off that purple sun they can even be hitting you at rend 2, ouch!

The cherry on top is the +1 to hit when targeting enemy units within 9", effectively mitigating the -1 to hit from unleash hell.

I've played with 40 Reavers in quite a few lists, but have gone with 20 here to bring more of a combat punch.

The Allopex Agenda

My final troop choices in the battle regiment go to a couple of reinforced Allopexes. These babies are the Swiss army knife of AoS. They aren't an exceptional hammer, anvil or shooting unit but they do all of the above pretty well.

That 24" range and 14" move mean they are going to be putting shots anywhere on the board, something your opponent has to think about if they elect to give you first turn. Although they will do less damage than Reavers, the range and manuverability make up for it.

The tasty -2 rend 2 damage jaws (often 4 attacks each) and smattering of crew hits mean they are no slouches in combat. 8 wounds and a 4+ up save mean they can generally survive to fight back even when charged. You've also got the chance of a cheeky rally and watching your opponent seethe if a brand new shark pops up!

Movement is king in AoS and 14" is pretty much as good as it gets. You can swing across the field to contest an objective, or push up to secure those opponent territory battle tactics.

The Crutch-spine Incarnate

I don't want to say too much about the Incarnate. It's a very silly unit and I suspect it's days are numbered. However, we've seen so many tournament winning lists taking the Kronespine over the past few months that it almost feels mandatory.

Not only does it provide a ton of tasty bonuses to your army, and banes to your opponent, but it requires a really serious commitment for your opponent to remove. Anything that goes into combat with the beast is going to get hit back, at least for one round, and its high rend high damage attacks which barely degrade mean your opponent is likely to pay a heavy price.

Although the levelling mechanic is random, most skilled players will try and commit to put at least 12+ wounds into it if they want it to go down a level. Watching the incarnate take 11 and then roll higher than average is just too painful to take.

Finally, in a list that peaks on 3 and provides a lot of ranged threat, the ability to trap an opponent in an unfavourable no retreat combat is also beneficial.

Subfaction and Grand Strategy

The two subfactions which offer a benefit to the list are Fuethan and Dhom Hain. I've gone for Dhom Hain as I wasn't keen on taking single units just for a chance at exploding 6s, and making the sharks BL doesn't feel that important.

Dhom Hain provides two separate benefits depending on turn order. Going first in the round allows Thralls to charge and fight twice if they can kill all enemy units within 3" of their initial combat. This is nice if it comes off, but not something I would expect or rely on.

The aspect that I do think is quite useful is the 3 unit redeploy on Nemarti for a single CP when taking the bottom of the round. It gives the ability to reposition both screens if needed and potentially to sneak some extra bodies onto an objective.

Or simply use it as some extra movement if you're not worried about being charged, such as trying to keep pressure on when going second during round 3.

Last but not least the Grand Strategy. It's so early in the Season to evaluate what might be easiest to achieve, but killing the enemy battleline feels like the one that is broadly achievable. Defending territory or getting units into the opponents are the other viable picks, but both seem likely to suffer on battleplans with larger and smaller territories respectively. Still, it's a bit of a gamble. You could face 3 x 10 skinks and do it with your eyes closed, or Nurgle flies and basically be playing 3 points behind before a die is rolled.

The end... For now!

Phew, we made it! That was a lot of waffle about a list that includes the double cheeseburger that is the krondspine and purple sun. Still, thank you for reading and please do tweet me any opinions or predictions (@ButchTurtle).

Join me next time as we'll be talking deployment, playing the list and best and worst match ups.

Much Love xxx

Hazel