1200 Tournament Overview

[Zihark]

On sunday there was a tournament for 1200 points wanting to get some experience and have some fun I attended. It was a very tournament to prep for as I haven't got much competitive experience it was hard writing a solid list the list I went with was as follows:

Archmage lvl 4, Talisman of Preservation, High Magic
Noble, BSB, Heavy Armour, Shield of the Meyrwyrm

20 Pheonix Guard Full Command

20 Seaguard Banner, Musician

5 Reavers

2 Bolt Throwers

So the games were as follows:

Meeting Engagement vs Orks

I will just highlight the main points of this match-up my first turn i torched his main unit down to half strength with convocation and took out a squig and some wolf riders with shooting. In the main combat he charged my pheonix guard with the goblin star and 2 chariots i lost but rolled double 1. I then won next turn and ran down his hq the game was pretty much done after that a combination of magic and shooting sorted the rest of his army.

Blood & Glory vs Ogres

This was a learning experience I don't have any way to deal with high Armour targets his goretusk units got into my pheonix guard and mullered them i called game after turn 2. In hindsight I should have ran and just regrouped next turn but still he had two big units of goretusks and I didnt have any real counter except for bolt throwers.

Dawn Attack vs Wood Elves

I felt sorry for this guy he had 3 fortitude put into a small unit 1 irresistible fiery convocation won me the game by turn 2 with my army untouched.

Battleline vs Chaos

Similar problem to the ogres he had a lot of high armored targets with lots of chariots and juggernaughts a bsb and a demon princce eventually he got into combat with my pheonix guard and i failed a re rollable ld 9 test enough said.

I ended up in 7th out of 12 which wasn't bad as it was my second real fantasy tournament. I find myself struggling against competitive lists my army lists lack any real hitting power I feel I need to get some white lions/swordmasters and start experimenting with my lists. I applogise for the lack of details but I didn't have time to take pictures as all the matches only had a short time span with so many matches i cant give accurate details of the fights.

I learned I needed more attack power and to not worry about falling back with the pheonix guard when the odds are stacked against them.

[Domine Nox]

Shield of the Merwyrm and Heavy Armor on an AM?

[siovim]

That's for the BSB, look closely.

Personally i think your list is fine. You might consider a razor standard to the phoenix guard, so they become really nasty.

High Magic is good for killing lots of poorly protected enemies, which your army already have a lot of ways do deal with. You should consider Metal for extra threats against armoured foes, and when the opponent don't have much armour, it's augment and hexes are decent. Beast and Shadow are also good for enhancing your own killing prowess.

Your core seems to be a bit over the limit. Try to stay at bare minimum for at this lvl. Maybe changing the seaguard to archers for extra points, and drop a bolt thrower to include a small unit of White Lions or for the banner on the Phoenix Guard would be a good idea??

[Domine Nox]

That's for the BSB, look closely.

Ah, yep. My bad, lousy phone viewing.

I definitely agree with siovim about magic. Only go with High if you have a way to deal with armor. If you're hurting in the armor department Metal, Death or Shadow are good ways to get around it. Metal directly, Death and Shadow indirectly.

[Zihark]

Thank you for the reply I did realize I was over the limit but I wanted a chaff unit or two my original list did use archers but i felt i needed something a little more durable but still had shooting hence the sea guard. But in the end they weren't great frankly I struggle with high elf core all the options seem mediocre to me heavy armoured cav is ok but you really need to support them and find the right targets reavers are usfull to bog people down and hunt war machines.

Archers/Seaguard: Str 3 shooting isn't great i found i need a lot of shots do even cause a few wounds on something I am not sure what to do in core yet I have all the options I just need to keep trying options till i find something that strikes me a unit to go for. I do like the flexiblity of the core i just find it hard to work with as there are so many ways to go.

[tshe900013]

Hello Zihark,

I would suggest a mix of archer and silverhelms for your core units. Archers will allow you to shoot and kill things you don't want to melee (fanatics, mangler squigs, Dark Elf witch elves, etc) and the silverhelms will give you some punch on the charge.

I used to use the sea guard all the time - but here is why I stopped:

1) They don't have long bows - so missile fire range was 24".
2) Spears don't help a lot because you are fighting in 3 ranks anyway (it only gives you rank #4).
5) Any time you face a STR 5 enemy - you get no armor save (and many of the low initiative armies take great weapons and have STR 5 or 6 anyway).

Another way to think of it - 3 ranks of 5 archers get 15 STR 3 ASF attacks on an enemy - the exact same # attacks 3 ranks of 5 sea guards get.

My other suggestion to get some punch would be to give the Noble BSB armor of caledor and a great weapon. Gives him 2+ armor save, and a STR 6 attack. He cannot re-roll misses in hand to hand, but will cut open some armor foes when he hits.

If you give the razor banner (armor piercing) to the phoenix guard - then anything the noble wounds will have a -4 armor save.

Regards,
Todd

[Nicene]

I would say go with archers. They're actually cheaper than Seaguard, too, so you can free up a couple points. Razor standard would be sweet.

Lore of metal would also help with armor, as they say.

Basically, I agree with everything everyone said. Fiery Convocation is obviously a game winner, but it may be overkill, especially at 1200.