So, my store is doing an escalation league, starting at 120 points and increasing by 20 points each week.

I kinda want to try an Ankaur reanimation list, and I took it to the extreme for my first draft:

Ankaur Maro
# of Trays: 1 ( 40 points)
- Heartseeker ( 10 points)
= 50 total unit cost

Reanimates
# of Trays: 12 ( 64 points)
- Necromancer ( 3 points)
- Lingering Dead ( 3 points)
= 70 total unit cost

Thoughts? Obviously it'll have a hard time in token-gathering situations (I assume?) but I would expect the endlessly refilling 4-wide Reanimates unit to roll over just about anything it encounters. Do you think I took it too far? Would it be better if it wasn't quite as focused?

I'm a new player, so I'm not sure if this is good or not - HOWEVER, I'm assuming just by looking at this list that it could be considered a 'death star unit' correct? (Also the list does actually look fun to play)

My only concern would be flanking units like oathsworn. but at 120 I think you would be ok.

My question is: What 20 points would you add? You need a vague but plausible plan for escalation.

You can can add a good 40 through two archer units, but you need a plan for the other 40 in 20 point increments

On 6/10/2017 at 4:26 PM, Zetan said:

So, my store is doing an escalation league, starting at 120 points and increasing by 20 points each week.

I kinda want to try an Ankaur reanimation list, and I took it to the extreme for my first draft:

Ankaur Maro
# of Trays: 1 ( 40 points)
- Heartseeker ( 10 points)
= 50 total unit cost

Reanimates
# of Trays: 12 ( 64 points)
- Necromancer ( 3 points)
- Lingering Dead ( 3 points)
= 70 total unit cost

Thoughts? Obviously it'll have a hard time in token-gathering situations (I assume?) but I would expect the endlessly refilling 4-wide Reanimates unit to roll over just about anything it encounters. Do you think I took it too far? Would it be better if it wasn't quite as focused?

This army looks strong to me. I think it may struggle with reaching many different points on the field, but you could always run (surf) Ankaur out from behind the Reanimates to split your opponent's attention. It's risky, but if you're in a pinch, it might work.

On 6/11/2017 at 5:01 PM, Church14 said:

My question is: What 20 points would you add? You need a vague but plausible plan for escalation.

You can can add a good 40 through two archer units, but you need a plan for the other 40 in 20 point increments

I agree that archers are a good next step, but I feel like Ankaur needs one of his unique upgrades. Maybe give him Regenerative Magic (5), and give the Reanimates 10 points of upgrades, like Terrifying Heraldry (5) and Aggressive Drummer (5).

Then bring in 2x1 Reanimate Archers w/ Combat Ingenuity for 24 points, since you only used 15 points in week 2.

It didn't even occur to me that this league would require the same army throughout. I'll have to ask my escalation league coordinator if that's how ours will be, too.

Few things:

1) Our escalation league doesn't enforce same army. You can build an entirely different 140-point list if your 120 wasn't working. So I don't have to worry too much about that. But the FFG rules for an escalation event didn't make any sense (they didn't actually... escalate...) so we just made our own rules.

2) I tested this list out against a friend. She brought a Daqan deathstar, and as many have pointed out, Daqan just does it better. As soon as our deathstars got engaged, Kari flanked in and killed my necromancer, removing my regen power. Ankaur couldn't keep up, and my deathstar was wiped out by turn 5. So I'm thinking of taking an anti-deathstar list (lots of blight) instead. I'll post a few ideas once I've got them mathed out.

Points: 118/120

Reanimates
# of Trays: 9 ( 50 points)
- File Leader ( 6 points)
- Support Carrion Lancer ( 6 points)
- Profane Banner Bearer ( 5 points)
- Triumphant Cry ( 3 points)
= 70 total unit cost

Reanimate Archers
# of Trays: 2 ( 18 points)
- Combat Ingenuity ( 6 points)
= 24 total unit cost

Reanimate Archers
# of Trays: 2 ( 18 points)
- Combat Ingenuity ( 6 points)
= 24 total unit cost

Here's my thinking on this one:

One thing that has been bugging me with the Reanimates is that their move init is low, but their attack init is high, meaning I'm often looking at a situation where if I try to charge I'll already be engaged, but I try to fight I won't be. File Leader fixes that nicely. I can choose melee plus skill, drop a blight token, and be prepared to still fight first when charged. With Profane Banner Bearer, my Archers will be protected from Kari's bow (though I guess not from her surge ability after she charges) and with Triumphant Cry, I can respond to multiple smaller units more easily.

Obviously the Archers are there to lay on the blight as thick as possible with Combat Ingenuity.

I think this list should perform a lot better against the list I fought last night, and possibly pretty decent against others as well.

If you have File Leader, might I suggest Raven Standard Bearer so you can have a revealed attack at initiative 3, before the Spearman block can charge you? I haven't quite figured out how to use Profane Banner Bearer yet. Kari can engage your Reanimates, and still kill the Archers with her surge ability because she's not able to use it on a unit she is engaged with. And ideally your Archers won't be engaged with any unit that is also engaged with your Reanimates, because they'd rather hang back and rain blight upon your foes.

Oh, I see. You don't mind getting hit by the Spearman because you should have enough blight to nullify their attack. Reasonable. If that's the case, I might ditch File Leader for something else. Deathcaller is pretty nice against Kari, but you'll have to find a way to get blight on her after initiative 2 and before initiative 4 (3 if your Reanimates have Raven Standard Bearer). Hmm. What about Mistlands Saboteur to get rid of their Shield Wall?

Oh yeah, reading Deathcaller again, it does seem decent. I misread "Wounds" as "Damage" and thought it was dumb... when is 1-2 damage going to be worth a blight token?

With Simultaneous Orders, you could theoretically put on blight with the front line lancer then immediately use it in the same turn. But you have to get her when she's unengaged and in line of sight, which isn't going to happen more than once.

I do really like File Leader, though. I might consider Raven-Standard Bearer and Lingering Dead, find out if my archers getting shot is actually an issue.