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I have a 2750 point tournament coming up this Saturday! I have also just purchased a painted Orion model, which I'll be fielding. Here's what I'm thinking to bring:

Orion- 575
Noble, Wildrider Kindred, Great Stag, Moonstone- 195
Branchwraith, Lvl 1, Cluster of Radiants- 140

4 x 8 Dryads- 96 each
6 Wildriders, Full Command, Warbanner- 217
5 Wildriders, Mus, Std- 148

4 Treekin- 260
4 Treekin- 260

Treeman- 285
Treeman- 285

Total- 2749
6 DD, not much offensive magic, though!

My plan is to make one unit out Orion, the Noble, and the larger unit of Wildriders, warp them somewhere interesting with the moonstone, and try to roll into the enemy army . I will probably wait to do this trick until after moving up my treekin and treeman units, and hopefully catch the enemy in between. I think, with their stubborn lead, the treeman can sort of act as an anvil, and have Orion and company be a BIG hammer (at least for woodies ).

It's almost 1000 points in a single unit, but hopefully it will take my opponents by suprise. I need to include Orion to make the points level, and he will be fun to try out . I know the other Noble is expensive but I have an awesome model on Great Stag that I want to use. I've read that its best to leave Orion's hounds at home, so that's what I've done, and put him with a unit that can hopefully keep him from losing due to CR (and so losing wounds).

What do you think? I got a glance at the list of army entries, and there are a few O&G, VC, and High Elves armies, along with a scattering of others (I think DE and Skaven). Any advice against particular armies, taking into account the above list, is also appreciated (I had my first game against O&G last week, and had a nasty suprise finding out about the WAAAGH! Banner ). I think I might do really well against some armies, but struggle against others, especially if I can't get Orion's unit into a good charging position.

That is a pretty good list. I hope the forests are there for you to use the moonstone effectively.

My only alternative would be to drop a treeman. You could then pick up an eagle, another unit of wild riders, pick up one more wild rider for your big unit (to run them at 2x5 for a rank bonus), and then maybe run 3 units of 3 treekin. I think you would have enough points for all that maybe even another dryad to kill the extra points. This way it gives you some more speed, a unit that can manipulate the opponents movement or hunt war machines. It will also give your big unit another +1 for CR. I am not sure if 3x3 treekin is more effective than 2x4, I am just assuming the more the merrier.

Unfortunately my wildriders won't get a rank bonus since they're fast cav :-/. They should already be at 2x5 formation size (since Orion and the Great Stag are on 50mm bases) which I'll use to squeeze them in my free forrest to teleport, and then spread them out as far as they can fit in the forrest they arrive in.

I would like to fit in one more wildrider to the other unit, but I dropped it for the warbanner. It's cool that they're troops with Orion in the list

I hope there are a lot of forrests, too! There tend to be at the GW Bunker (in MD) where this is being held, so hopefully I get some .

LOL I am slowly putting my stag model together and I can't believe I forgot it is on a double wide base.

Forgetting about fast calvary and not getting the rank bonus, I can excuse myself for that, it won't be the last mistake I make.

Any other thoughts about the hammer, guys? I know it's putting lots of my eggs in one basket, but it seems like the best/safest way to use Orion.

What I like about your hammer is it can change. You can use it how you plan for that one devastating surprise attack, or you can split it up and put your noble with one unit of wildriders and orion with the other and have a pretty good 1,2 punch. Remember orion is running around with a bolt thrower and no minus for moving and shooting. I don't think he would count as fast calvary so could still only move his 9" but still that should be enough to catch any hiding monsters. You could even hide him behind a treeman for the first turn. He attacks with 6 str. 7 attacks when he charges, I think that is even going to scare a dragon.

So any way you look at it, I think he can be used and you can put all the eggs in one basket or divide them up and still achieve what you want.

What about dropping the Lvl 1 upgrade on the Branchwraith, for Annoyance of Nettlings and an extra Wildrider (since I had one point to spare)?

Orion- 575
Noble, Wildrider Kindred, Great Stag, Moonstone- 195
Branchwraith, Cluster of Radiants, Annoyance of Nettlings- 115

4 x 8 Dryads- 96 each
6 Wildriders, Full Command, Warbanner- 217
6 Wildriders, Mus, Std- 174

4 Treekin- 260
4 Treekin- 260

Treeman- 285
Treeman- 285

Total- 2750

I've only got 5 DD now, but if I'm going barebones magic defense, I feel like I might as well go the whole way . I feel like I'm really going to need Annoyance on the Branchwraith- I always ended up putting my characters in combat, and he can take a nasty champion or even character out of the equation, helping me out a lot for static combat res.

Alternatively, I could drop a wildrider from the larger unit to afford Annoyance, and keep the Lvl 1 on the Branchwraith.

But I've got units of 6, and I feel like using them

Hmmm.. I would really like to know how no magic turns out for you since my current DE monster/no magic list has ...well no magic, so I say go for it.

I am under the same impression as you. If I am already going barebones, why not go all the way. What is the difference between 5 or 6 DD and how often are you actually going to get a spell from a level 1 at 2k or over?

I think the advantage in my DE monster list is its speed. I am hoping to be combating my opponent's wizards by turn 2. You only have your wild riders and Orion to get catch enemy wizards early.

I hope it works for you.

Well if this list ends up being in place to combat a forest spirit list, you ought to be able to get away with minimal magic defense for sure.

It would be super weird to see woods getting tree-singing-ed back and forth.

RZ

Yes... like volleyball

Although, my possible forrest spirit opponent is in the Last Man Standing league... this is for a stand alone tourney Saturday, where I think I probably will run into some magic heavies. Might just have to take my lumps and see how it goes... probably worth it to add back in the last DD, though.

Last change (the tournament's tomorrow)- I think I will need that last dispel dice, AND I want annoyance of nettlings, so I'm going to make both of the wildrider units 5-strong. Orion's unit isn't going to get to fight anyway, and with no rank bonus, the last guy is really just giving me an extra wound for the unit, and 2 more US. I'd like to keep them but they're really the only thing left to cut!

So here goes:

Orion- 575
Noble, Wildrider Kindred, Great Stag, Moonstone- 195
Branchwraith, Lvl 1, Cluster of Radiants, Annoyance of Nettlings- 165

4 x 8 Dryads- 96 each
5 Wildriders, Full Command, Warbanner- 191
5 Wildriders, Mus, Std- 148

4 Treekin- 260
4 Treekin- 260

Treeman- 285
Treeman- 285

Total- 2748

I think it's more worth it to keep the warbanner in Orion's unit, than the extra body... since it won't be in combat anyway.

I'll have to be careful about issuing a challenge! I wouldn't want to have Orion in btb with a nasty HQ, only to have the unit champion receive the challenge (or maybe I would, depending on who he's up against!).

I'll post how it does in the bat rep forum!

Sounds great. Good luck. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up being the lowest model count out there. There's going to be some scary looking games at deployment I think.

RZ

Good luck today RiTides, hope you're kicking butt as I type this! Way to be with Orion, definitely never heard of the big guy leaving the woods for an RTT I'll be waiting to read those reports of astounding victory!

- Salvage

Yes, Good Luck.

Thanks for the well wishes, guys

I ended up playing against Daemons, Dark Elves, and Empire, and had a win, a loss, and a draw (not necessarily in that order).

To find out what I got against who, you'll have to read the bat rep I'll be posting up tomorrow or Monday

It was a lot of fun and a great experience!

I am glad you had fun and a good experience. Looking forward to the reports. Those can be some really tough armies.

So long as you had fun...