Hello! I had the chance to test out a synergy combo in a game yesterday and wanted to get my thoughts and impressions out. Apologies if I seem tobounce around a vit. I'm typing this via phone. I'll edit it and format it better soon.
Here's the list.
++ Standard Army (Waiqar the Undying : Wave 0 (2017)) [200 Points] ++
+ Infantry +
Ardus Ix'Erebus [38 Points]: 1 Tray, Ardus' Fury
Reanimates [54 Points]: 3x2 Trays, Aggressive Drummer, Blighted Vexillum Bearer, File Leader, Front Line Carrion Lancer
Reanimates [54 Points]: 3x2 Trays, Aggressive Drummer, Blighted Vexillum Bearer, File Leader, Front Line Carrion Lancer
Reanimates [54 Points]: 3x2 Trays, Aggressive Drummer, Blighted Vexillum Bearer, File Leader, Front Line Carrion Lance
List Objectives:
1) Handle Oathsworn Cavalry
Oathsworn cav are very popular in my local area and i kept this in mind when thinking about ways to handle them. The Surge Mortal Strike from the Front Line Carrion Lancer is the key to this.
2) Ardus's Host of Crows
This ability is key to this list. It allows me to grab 3 trays of 3x2 reanimates with FLCL, which puts alot of pressure on the board.
Essential Ideas:
Blighted Vexillum Bearer + File Leader
This worked wonders. I played extremely reactive. Deployed all 3 blocks against the back edge, used Spd 2 Marches with turns to slowly move across the board. My opponent got fouled up on terrain with 1x block of oathsworn and a deathstar, giving me advantage of picking engagements.
Once my opponent got close enough, i just dialed in Red Attack woth Panic modifier (god I wish that was a surge) and just waited to receive charges. It was very interesting to modify the normal activation order. I WANTED to activate units with Attack dialed in while ther WERENT engaged.
1) it completely threw my opponent, who thought I had made mistakes
2) i was able to decimate units on the charge BEFORE they got to attack.
Here's the idea. Block dials in Attack. Activates whilst unengaged. Opponent charges in
1) Proc Blighted Vexillum Bearer to give that unit a Blight
2) Proc File Leader to attack the charging unit before they attack
I was able to deal enough damage on average to remove rerolls AND had the blight to remove a die. Against spearmen, the Mortal strike from the FLCL was not important, so I spent the Blight. Vs. Golems, the Surge Mortal Strike was very helpul, removing an entire tray in of itself. Vs. Oathsworn Cav, also very useful, specially against they Init 3 Atk w/ +1 Def.
Thoughts overall:
Yes. This felt smooth and solid. Gave me a solid combat presence without having a deathstar to worry about. The blocks themselves had alot of teeth againt high Defense units, but since I had 3 of them, i was okay feeding one to a Deathstar.
Don't be aggressive with Ardus. He works miracles in this list as a followup, not a combat leader.
Don't be afraid to take charges. In fact, you should be looking dor opportunities to do just that. Had an instamce in this game where one block was engaged and already fought, but received a charge at a later init and was able to proc the whole combo again against the charging unit. It was rwally satisfying to kill half a unit of Golems on the init they charged my unit to "clean it up". They floundered and did very little.
Going forward:
I swapped Aggressive Drummer for Moment of Inspiration. AD was NEVER used, and adding the white die vs. Low defense units will be very helpful. I should be able to generate a few inspiration tokens early on to 1) clear blight or 2) reproc Moment of Inspiration