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So I've lost about 12 games with my Khorne against stormcast so far, and I think it's time for a new army. I have beaten them, but it seems like such an uphill battle it's no longer fun for me. I've tried all the tactics that I have seen posted but I just get shot to death like crazy, and my skull cannons have yet to do much more than 2 wounds a game (That's 2 of them).

Can anyone recommend an army that is balanced with shooting and melee like the storm casts?

maybe bring in some "ringers" grab some skaven warmachines, paint em red and have at em with plague mortars, firethrowers and some warplightning.

Ask your opponent to bring less shooting?

Armies with lots of shooting:
Dwarves (artillery, crossbows, guns)
High Elves (archers, repeater bolt throwers, dragons)
Wood Elves (archers, more archers, even more archers)

Well we don't really know what armies you're talking about and what are your house rules and limits. If you can do whatever you want and you just want to destroy your opponent I suggest playing Seraphons with a base of Kroak , a Slann, a standard bearer, a starseer, and two engine of the gods.

Collect a pure Ironweld Arsenal force and your opponent will no doubt weep. :-)

But yeah, why not add some Skaven shooting to your army? With the inclusion of Skaven, Chaos now has lots of shooting options.

I hope you're playing scenarios and not straight up deathmatch (which I never play now).

Why not branch your army out?

There are no such things as force restrictions in AoS. I still see batreps that keep to some unspoken force restrictions and I'd like to see people get more creative with a mix of smaller war bands.

Add in some other cool models and paint them in a similar scheme.

Maybe a Soul Grinder or a unit of Stormfiends.

As for Stormcast, all of their models are elites. Their downfall is lack of numbers and magic.

Rather get "allies" than a completely new army. Slaves to darkness have some tough units.

If getting shot up is a problem try going for some speed, chaos chariots, gorebeast chariots and chaos knights are tough and fairly quick. Also look at getting a proper monster (i.e. not korgorath) like a chimera or a shaggoth. Come to think of it thunderscorn are not a bad idea either.

Let's not forget blood thirsters and Khorne princes either, smaller Khorne daemons sre not terribly hardy.

SKAVEN

Why don't you just put more models down?

XvReaperXv wrote:
So I've lost about 12 games with my Khorne against stormcast so far, and I think it's time for a new army. I have beaten them, but it seems like such an uphill battle it's no longer fun for me. I've tried all the tactics that I have seen posted but I just get shot to death like crazy, and my skull cannons have yet to do much more than 2 wounds a game (That's 2 of them).

Can anyone recommend an army that is balanced with shooting and melee like the storm casts?

What's in your Khorne collection and what is roughly in the Stormcast player's collection? Also are you playing the scenarios and rules out of the box or are you using any sort of comp system? It's things like these which can help with suggestions

Check out the last episode of the Facehammer podcast if you don't already listen. http://www.facehammer.co.uk

Russ Veal has won a few AoS tournaments already with Bloodbound and he also the wrote the SCGT pool choices. In the last hour of the newest podcast, he goes into his general strategy with Khorne, which is using waves basically.

Having used Judicators, they really aren't that effective at range (unless you have loads), although the xbow guys do pack a punch but to do so would put them well within your strike range.
(Bloodwarriors vs. Stormcast in melee is not pretty for the Stormcast)

If it's the same opponent, why not try pointing out that maybe a) he takes less Judicators, or b) you take more stuff?

Because shooting in AoS is far stronger than it was in WFB, your best option is a tide of bodies. Really. A savvy player with ranged troops will focus fire on a particular threat as this amplifies the effects of battleshock. Don't give them an easy choice. Force him to have to pick between 3 or 4 units.
Either one unit gets destroyed and the others skip through fine, or they all get peppered piecemeal and lose a model or two, but still combat worthy.
Thankfully, this tactic pretty much plays into the sweet spot for Khorne anyway.

Failing that, have you tried juggernauts? They're ideal 1st wave - tough to bring down, relatively fast and hit like a Mack Truck.

Well She only takes one squad on judicators, with a prime with that damn bow that does d6 wounds. And re rolls 1 against chaos or something. Anyway, that squad is usually good for 5 or so wounds a turn on average. Then her herald strikes any terrain piece I like to use as cover or hide behind for 3 wounds a pop to all units around it. Her bow hero does average of 4-5 wounds a turn. Her lord on dracoth does all kinds of wounds with that storm breath thing. Prosecutors are only usually good for 2-3 wounds a turn.


So by the time I get into combat, I'm severely wounded, and then in melee she has a bunch of maces that don't even roll to hit, just do d3 wounds...... So that hurts. Then I may kill one model but she's always immune to battle shock because of the lords 24 inch bubble. No it that she would ever fail anyway with that high bravery. Where as I usually lose at least 5-6 models a phase depending on the unit. And she gets to shoot and melee while in combat, so my guys that somehow made it into combat have to take double the attacks now!

Sorry for the rant, I've been gaming for many years and never been beaten this badly so easily. She doesn't even have to use tactics, just point at something and it's dead. I have almost every model for Khorne Bloodbound and a lot of Khorne demons.

The only strategy that worked one time was lots and lots of bodies. But that only worked once, then she just kill my bloodsecrator from range so no more bubble then by turn 2 40 reavers were dead...... I'm just frustrated to no end with this army and myself, because I know it's strong but beatable, but I can't seem to do it.

We now play with ppc points only and play scenarios from the first book. Which a lot involve killing everything or making it to an objective or holding out for an objective. So kinda kill games in disguise.

Sounds like you have nothing that really hits at range and she can do what she likes and pick you apart as you are coming in.

You need more ranged attacks to spread out your offensive output and be able to strike from a distance as she can.

An army that has ranged superiority in any game will have an advantage because they can hurt the other army without needing to even move much until the other army can get into striking range.

Khorne has the ability to do massive damage in HtH as they can stack attacks. But I see your main issue is getting there. I would also look at attacking in waves and possibly field something that has higher movement to be a threat.

Chariots are a good alternative or anything flying. The more they are focused on the fast threats, the more of your dudes you get across the table.

You just want a good distraction until you can come in and roll a bucket of dice for attacks.

But also play the scenarios!

I don't use any points system so no idea how "balanced" the forces you're using are. However, if one of you is winning all the time with no effort then it's not a fun battle. Put an extra unit down next time and see if it's more enjoyable for you both.

One cool idea I read on this forum is that the loser can put down +10% more wounds next game. Like a handicap.

Seekers. They can move 14"+2D6"+charge a turn.

Soul Grinder. Real presence that will absorb damage and has ranged attacks (plus some CC attacks that rinse through models if they hit).

Korndogs. Loads of attacks and two wounds each. Khorne. But metal models (ugh).

Chaos Lord Sorcerer. Use for spells. Has a "unit re-roll 1s for a turn buff". Might be useful for armour rolls.

 ShaneTB wrote:


Korndogs. Loads of attacks and two wounds each. Khorne. But metal models (ugh).

I don't know how feasible it is, but you could get a collection of the Khorndogs from the starter set and have plastics - all looking the same, but plastics nonetheless.

I have a min unit of 5.

You play with PPC? Bring a realmgate as part of your army; you can teleport your models to within 6" of your enemy's board edge. Do this turn 1 with a unit of wrathmongers, ideally heading into the enemy unit with the starsoul maces. When a wrathmonger dies it makes an enemy model within 3" swing on its own unit (or another allied unit in range), so those models that do 1d3 wounds automatically will be doing it to themselves. And that's aside from the attacks that the wrathmongers dish out on their own. Or even better, send the wrathmongers into the judicators, because that will be a one-sided combat in your favor.

Also, if you are rolling for initiative, don't. If an army with decent shooting gets a double-turn they win almost automatically regardless of the tactics involved.

Seems like you need fast units more than anything else. Skullcrushers, winged bloodthirster, something so scary she has to focus is so bad that everything else remains untouched.

No matter the type of war gaming, the only way to beat a shooty army (without being a shooty army yourself) is by having a decent amount of units that close fast, and can suck up some damage. As already mentioned, Chaos Knights and Chaos Chariots (or Gorebeast Chariots) fit that bill. They can take keyword Khorne and receive all the buffs from Khorne heroes. Knights get a -1 rend if they charged that turn, and a Lord on Daemonic Mount buffs them nicely, as well as being a bad ass in his own right. I don't think you need to change armies, you just need to tailor your army to beat hers. If money allows, pick up the Slaves to Darkness Start Collecting! box for the Knights and Chariot. Since Stormcasts are weak in the area of magic, look to Tzeentch for a wizard or two (Lord of Change, Kairos Fateweaver). As mentioned, Skaven, and also Beastmen, have some great units as well. And yes, a Soul Grinder. God, I want a Soul Grinder, lol. Run your mounted units up front to take fire, engage, and whittle down her shooty units, with your foot units coming up behind them to mop up.

Mortal Khorne alone are a bit tough to win with,though some of the heavy cav helps alot.

I allie in some Tzeench Demons and have no problems winning with them.This gives me the ranged units and summoning/casting Khorne alone doesnt have.

Also my Bloodbound have done pretty well since I started recieving aid from Skarbrand

I think it would be a pity to abandon your preferred army just to get one that fights better, and it's against the spirit of AoS.

Can't you add more units to your Khaos to offset the enemy firepower?

If your army relies on melee and keeps getting shot up before it can get into melee, it means you should have faster moving units, or tougher units, or more units.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
You play with PPC? Bring a realmgate as part of your army; you can teleport your models to within 6" of your enemy's board edge. Do this turn 1 with a unit of wrathmongers, ideally heading into the enemy unit with the starsoul maces. When a wrathmonger dies it makes an enemy model within 3" swing on its own unit (or another allied unit in range), so those models that do 1d3 wounds automatically will be doing it to themselves. And that's aside from the attacks that the wrathmongers dish out on their own. Or even better, send the wrathmongers into the judicators, because that will be a one-sided combat in your favor.

Also, if you are rolling for initiative, don't. If an army with decent shooting gets a double-turn they win almost automatically regardless of the tactics involved.

Yes she always wins initiative lol, how would you play this then, roll for first turn then just go back and forth the rest of the game?

XvReaperXv wrote:

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
You play with PPC? Bring a realmgate as part of your army; you can teleport your models to within 6" of your enemy's board edge. Do this turn 1 with a unit of wrathmongers, ideally heading into the enemy unit with the starsoul maces. When a wrathmonger dies it makes an enemy model within 3" swing on its own unit (or another allied unit in range), so those models that do 1d3 wounds automatically will be doing it to themselves. And that's aside from the attacks that the wrathmongers dish out on their own. Or even better, send the wrathmongers into the judicators, because that will be a one-sided combat in your favor.

Also, if you are rolling for initiative, don't. If an army with decent shooting gets a double-turn they win almost automatically regardless of the tactics involved.

Yes she always wins initiative lol, how would you play this then, roll for first turn then just go back and forth the rest of the game?

At my FLGS we just stick with the same order from turn 1, however you feel like deciding it. Should probably go without saying that we don't use the triumph table or sudden death rules either.

XvReaperXv wrote:
Well She only takes one squad on judicators, with a prime with that damn bow that does d6 wounds.

It doesn't do D6 wounds - it does D6 hits.

It is AoS tell them to bring less until it is even or you winning. In AoS the only balance is your imagination!!!!!

OgreChubbs wrote:
It is AoS tell them to bring less until it is even or you winning. In AoS the only balance is your imagination!!!!!

I was going to say something like this. Why not just bring more minis or bodies?

He's using PPC comp, which is for balancing equal-pointed armies.

By the way Reaper, update us how it goes!

That's pretty much why I have more confidence in eyeballing balance than using comp. It's quite sad that he's looking for a new army because a comp is telling me their forces are balanced even though he loses every time. Without it, it would simply come to what everybody said: Field more or have her field less. Easy.