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I'm contemplating this because it would be a small model count army, the idea of playing with a ton of monsters appeals to me, and the wife approves of "the cute hydra/manticore/dragon".

Dreadlord - 554
Black Dragon
Regen Armor
Reverse Ward Save
Sea Dragon Cloak
Shield
Sword of Might (or whichever one is +1S)

Master - 332
Manticore
Ring of Hotek
Enchanged Shield
Heavy Armor
Sea Dragon Cloak
Great Weapon w/ AP

5 Dark Riders - 92
Muso

5 Dark Riders - 92
Muso

5 Dark Riders - 85

5 Harpies - 55
5 Harpies - 55
5 Harpies - 55
5 Harpies - 55
5 Harpies - 55

Cold One Chariot - 100

Cold One Chariot - 100

5 Cold One Knights - 135

5 Cold One Knights - 135

Hydra - 175

Hydra - 175

2250

It will have a ton of trouble with magic heavy armies, I don't question that. VC are the major concern, but I don't think the army is "that bad" in terms of being competitive. That many harpies and dark riders can prevent bad charges on my big monsters, but that only works for so long. Still it'd be a pretty army on the table so it may end up getting built.

Inkies suck currently.

Wait for revamp, bud.

This is with the revamp, it's for the new book.

Dark Elf "Monster Ranchers" - the only DE list I ever wanted to build ...

Personally I think it would be fun as crap to build, paint and rampage around a table. The same for your opponent? Possibly not :S

Can't really say how to make your list better (it's got the 4 big critters plus cold ones and little flying monsters to fill my dinosaur / monster needs), but comp-wise it's pretty atrocious. You know, if that kind of thing matters to you.

- Salvage

I think when people mention the word "Comp" around this, I will generally yell the word "THEME!" and then laugh.

I see it being relatively fun to play, play against, well I know it'll suck for my Ogres, but against say Skaven or Empire, it would be pretty rough on me.

Voodoo Boyz wrote:I think when people mention the word "Comp" around this, I will generally yell the word "THEME!" and then laugh.

Well said

It would give my ogres and skaven a good head kicking, but that's cause it's ogres and non-SAD skaven ...
Main comp hits in my mind:

- 2x flying terror causers
- 3x min light cav for min core (at least no xbows!)
- 2x cheap sexy hydras
- Harpy spam
- Oh, and no ranked units, standards, etc, etc.

But yeah, it is theme-y and if comp means nothing, I says kill away! One thing, does it have some tricky DE anti-magic going on?

- Salvage

Ring of Hotek on the Manticore Master.

Any Mage within 12" of that model miscasts on any casting roll with doubles.

If you roll double 6's, you cast the spell with IF, but then suffer a roll on the miscast table.

Not the greatest, doesn't stop VC and probably not demons either, but it can help.

One fun suggestion I got was to drop all the "Stupid" units and just spend the points on more RxB armed Dark Riders.

Ah my bad.

Well, I like it.

Probably for the very reasons that Boss Salvage is talking about, I dig it.

When does the Spear come out anyway? Yes I'm too lazy to look...

Revised list now that the book is in my hands:

Dreadlord - 561
Dragon
Inverse Ward Save
Regen Armor
Always S6 weapon
Sea Dragon Cloak

Master - 334
1+ Armor
Ring of Hotek
Lance
Manticore

5 Dark Riders - 117
RxB, Muso

5 Dark Riders - 117
RxB, Muso

5 Dark Riders - 117
RxB, Muso

5 Harpies - 55
5 Harpies - 55
6 Harpies - 66

Cold One Chariot - 100
Cold One Chariot - 100

5 Cold One Knights - 135
5 Cold One Knights - 135

Hydra - 175
Hydra - 175

2242 Points

This is actually going to get built, with some fun and stealthy conversions to keep the vast majority of it plastic. I'd like to think that it should be pretty competitive against most things, though it will lose to VC almost automatically, so I'd have to play for a draw and just not engage, which is an actual option with this army.

I like it. I like dragons and monsters. No dispel scrolls at all is somewhat risky. I guess the Manticore also takes a hero slot? Because if it doesn't I'd get a scroll caddy in there.

I really like the massed Harpy/dark rider units. So many Immune To Psych armies nowadays, nice to see someone remembers how to redirect.

Well coming from playing Ogres, you live and breathe by redirecting. Course I have to re-learn my movement and positioning from playing so much Warmachine.

And yes the Manticore takes up a second slot, otherwise I'd have the caddy in there. The Ring of Hotek helps a lot (or I think it does) against the "big" spells that can really hurt your big monsters because once you're casting something that can hurt big monsters, it takes a lot of dice to do it and that means you're probably going to miscast.

You could get the Caddy in there by taking a Manticore on the Lord as well instead of the Dragon, but I want the Dragon.

ok, magic phase could be a nightmare, but the army would look great, love massive creatures in WH, especially dragons and manticores, just annoyed i cant find an army with both these and a griffon in lol

What is an inky?

Not to pirate your list, but I'm thinking along similar lines. Not going with the dragon though, I'm putting in two manticores.

Couple thoughts. If you can finagle a CO champion, that is a nice spot to put the ring of hotek as it will assure that your battle line is under the bubble.

Also, think about the killing blow lance with the manticore. That is 9-11 killing blow attacks.

Pirate away, I believe the list will be fairly popular because it meets so many cool aspects:

Looks AMAZING on the table top.
Extremely fast, tons of movement options.
Relatively small army to transport around and deploys easily.
Fairly effective, though it will take some finesse to work against harder lists.

Oh what I'd give for taking the scroll caddy and the Dragon + Manticore, but oh well. Dual Manticore is probably a safe bet because you can take a Sorceress on a Dark Pegasus to add to your anti-magic duties. I simply must use the Dragon though, too cool not to.

I really like this list! It's pretty much exactly what I'd make if I did DE. Might go with the two Manticores and sorceress on Pegasus, simply because that's a great model, and I like magic too, and I'm unimpressed with the DE dragon. Maybe a conversion from the new HE dragon, though, since that one's boss....

But yeah, don't even think about comp, it's not designed to win tournaments, it's there to be themed and have fun!

Edit- could you take the High Sorceress on a Dragon? That might be an option, though perhaps not the best in terms of playing.

Dude, I would LOVE to play against or with that list! If it was well painted, it would be beautiful. Quite a few redirecters and small units, very maneuvrable, and with a few hard-hitters. I think it would be a great army, for while it does have a lot going for it, it also has a lot going against it in terms of combat res, and durability.

I say have a go at it! It's one of the things I've always wanted to do, A Beast Lords army, and I think theme excuses almost anything, when the them is pure of heart!

I recently purchased and built a high elf dragon and converted it to DE, and have very similar thoughts as far as list is concerned, just no chariots (how do you make them for DE?). One question.....what is redirecting??

Some bad choices in there, some ugly ones, and a few good ones too. It's fun, but doesn't really take advantage of all of the upgraded units in the new book.

Some bad choices in there, some ugly ones, and a few good ones too. It's fun, but doesn't really take advantage of all of the upgraded units in the new book.

@ Therion: Out of curiosity; what specific list would (take advantage of all the upgraded units)?

Uriah

I'm not going to build a list just to satisfy your curiosity, as I don't even know who you are, but the upgraded units are wizards, armour piercing xbows, black guard, hydras, harpies, and a few magic items like focus familiar and pendant of khaeleth. In 2.25K I'd take four wizards for sure, and put the lord on a dark pegasus with focus familiar and pendant, possibly lifetaker. Back them up with archers with shields, any combination of small black guard units/shades with gws/cold one chariots, and two hydras or one and two RBTs. It's pretty hardcore. A recent WAAC tournament in Denmark (participants are encouraged to bring the cheesiest lists possible) had DE at 1st, 2nd and 5th places, and all of the lists were the type I described (magic heavy non-engagement armies with serious counter punch). Daemons took third and fourth place. The tournament winner boasted about throwing 551 power dice during the five games that he played.

I'm not saying there's anything particularly wrong about Dragons and Manticores, except that other armies deal with them much easier than with elusive sorceresses. Additionally, being unkillable (pendant, regen and whatnot) doesn't do you much good if a Bloodthirster or a GUO who Siren traps you with the help of a Herald slams 6 resolution out of your monstrous mount and just runs you down. Finally, the lores DE have access to have some very nice spells like Pit of Shades and Spirit of the Forge, and they deal with many common tournament problems.

Oh I'm not saying that this is the "best way" to build them.

Or that it's even really good, I've already mentioned VC as a near auto-loss where you have to play for the Draw. Against Daemons you're still mostly screwed and you have to try for some stupid avoidance all game to try and survive because you still can't kill the Bloodthirster with this list (Sad how the Lord with that setup is better on a Horse rather than the Dragon against the BT).

The list is actually just for theme and it's not terrible enough to lose all the time in a normal tournament. At the kind of WAAC tournament you're describing, I'd expect to lose.

voodooboyz, do you ever post lists that aren't broken? I've never seen you make a list-thread where the army wasn't purpose-built cookie-cutter nastyness. I'm sure you're a nice guy, but when it comes to list building it looks like the gloves come off

Anyway, it lacks static CR and staying power. I also think more than three units of harpies might be overkill.