Raze and Ruin 2015 - Tally Comp Preview Part 4

Now for today's Tally Comp preview! This marks the half way point, and covers the two armies I've played the most. We will be talking about Lizardmen, Ogres, Orcs and Skaven in this post. As I've said before, this is the draft version of the comp, and it is still available for changes to be made. If you have anything to say about it, please let me know. I've had some good feedback already, so any more would be great! So, after that rambling start, here we go...

Lizardmen

The Generic Comp bonuses are modified as below when taken in a Lizardmen army:

- The +2 bonus for the Arabyan Carpet is reduced to +1 if taken on an Oldblood

The following characters are -1 each for the first 2, and -2 each after that:

·        Saurus Oldblood

·        Saurus Scar-Veteran mounted on a Cold One

-1 per Slann with both Harmonic Convergence and the Channelling Staff

-1 per Slann after the 1st (including Lord Kroak)
-1 if both Dispel Scroll and Cube of Darkness are in the army

-1 Razor Standard
-1 per unit of Skink Skirmishers after the 3rd

-1 per Chameleon Skinks unit after the 1st
-1 per unit of Skink Cohorts costing under 100 points after the 2nd

-1 per unit of 20+ Temple Guard
-2 Lord Kroak

-3 Tetto'Eko

+1 per Slann with Lore of Fire, Lore of Beasts or Lore of High Magic (excluding Focus of Mystery)
+1 for a Saurus Scar-Veteran upgraded to a Battle Standard Bearer

+1 for Higher State of Consciousness

+1 for the first unit of 20+ Saurus
+1 for the first Skink Cohort containing at least 2 Kroxigor
+1 for the first unit of 4+ Ripperdactyl Riders
+1 per Bastilodon with Ark of Sotek
+1 per 4+ Kroxigor unit
+1 per 6+ Cold One Rider unit

+1 per 4+ Jungle Swarm unit

+1 per Stegadon (Note – does not include Ancient Stegadons)

+1 per unit of 2+ Razordons

+2 per Troglodon
+1 Chakax
+2 Tiktaq'To
+2 Oxyotl
+2 Tehenhauin. If Tehenhauin is your General and your army does not include any Saurus characters, the penalties for Skink units do not apply

Changes

Well there are a few here. The most obvious one is the restriction on Saurus characters. Oldbloods are just plain good, whatever version you have, and mounted Scar Vets (whilst decreasing in popularity) haven't lost any effectiveness either. So the decision was made to lump them together for the comp. Now two costs you -2, and more than that starts getting pricy real fast.

Also added is a negative for Temple Guard, and another for Lord Kroak. The Lord Kroak Temple Guard unit is appearing in a fair few lists recently (4 at Midlands if I remember correctly!) and is a very tough nut for some armies to crack. There is also a negative for the Razor Banner, as again that seems to appear in a lot of Temple Guard lists and significantly increases their power. I hope the current level of comp on this is about right, let me know if it's not.

In terms of the positives, there have been a couple of changes here too. Saurus have been added to the bonus pool, and their inclusion has made me question the necessity for the Skink/Krox unit to get a bonus. I've kept it in for now though. I've also upped the bonuses for Tiktaq'to and Oxyotl, as they are undoubtedly two of the worst Special Characters in any of the army books!

Finally, the bonus for Ripperdactyls has been changed. They are a very tough unit to comp - with their Toad rule just gets better the more units of them you have. However, they are a finesse unit so absolutely deserve a bonus of some point. The level has been set at the moment for the first unit of 4+ which I feel is about right.

Ogre Kingdoms

The Generic Comp bonuses are modified as below when taken in an Ogre Kingdoms army:

-The Runemaw does not count for the Racial Magic Item +2 bonus

-The +2 bonus for the Arabyan Carpet is reduced to +1 if taken on a Tyrant

If no Monstrous Infantry unit in your army is bigger than 4 models, then each Core Monstrous Infantry unit after the 4th gives +1

-1 Hellheart, additional -1 if both the Hellheart and Dispel Scroll are in the army
-1 Runemaw, if you only have a single unit of Monstrous Infantry of 8+ models
-0.5 for every Ogre character (except Hunters) you have if you only have a single unit of Monstrous Infantry of 8+ models
-1 per unit of 3+ Mournfang Cavalry
-1 if you have 1 Ironblaster, -4 if you have 2 Ironblasters

+1 per Big Name worth over 20 points

+1 per Hunter
+1 for the first unit of 25+ Gnoblars
+1 per unit of 5+ Sabretusks
+1 per unit of Yhetees
+1 per Gorger after the 1st

+1 per Scraplauncher

+1 per Slave Giant
+1 per Thundertusk

+1 if your army does not include any Ironblasters
+1 Skrag the Slaughterer
+2 Bragg the Gutsman
+2 Greasus Goldtooth

 

Changes

Not as many here. I've added a bonus choice for Gorgers if you take more than one, and I've upped the bonus given to Bragg and Greasus.

The thing with Ogres is that they are tough to comp right. You have to hit Ironblasters, you have to hit Mournfang and you have to hit the Deathstar. Once you've done that though, what's left? A load of WS3 lightly armoured bodies that need to be in combat to be the most effective. So we add some bonuses, but the bonus units aren't that good, which is why they are getting bonuses. 

I personally feel that there are enough builds that hit all possible comp scores, but if you feel that they are over-comped, let me know.

Orcs & Goblins

+3 if your army contains only Goblins
+5 if your army contains only Orcs
*Mangler Squigs, Trolls and Giants can count as either Orcs or Goblins as you want. War machines without Orc Bullies count as Goblins. War machines with Orc Bullies count as Orcs. Arachnarok Spiders, Squig Herds and Squig Hoppers count as Goblins.

-1 for every Black Orc character you have more of than units of Black Orcs
-1 if you have more than 6 Fanatics
-1 per unit of Savage Orc Big’Uns of 30+ models. This is increased to -2 if the Lucky Shrunken Head is also present in the army
-1 per Doom Diver Catapult
-1 for the 2nd Rock Lobber
-1 per Mangler Squig

+2 if your army contains no war machines

+1 for the first unit of Orc Arrer Boyz
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Orc Boyz
+1 for the first unit of Forest Goblin Spider Riders
+1 if you have 1 or more Nasty Skulkers
+1 per unit of Snotlings

+1 per unit of 20+ Black Orcs
+1 per unit of Orc Boar Boyz
+1 per unit of Savage Orc Boar Boyz
+1 per Arachnarok, increased to +2 per Arachnarok with Catchweb Shrine
+1 per Giant
+1 per unit of Squig Hoppers
+1 if your army contains 1 or more characters on Giant Cave Squigs
+1 per unit of 4+ River Trolls or Stone Trolls
+1 Azhag the Slaughterer

+1 Gorbad Ironclaw
+1 Wurrzag
+1 Grom the Paunch
+1 Skarsnik
+1 Gitilla Da Hunter
+1 Snagla Gronspit 

Changes

Again, no big changes here. Last time, the only O&G lists were all-Goblin lists. I've not seen a single Orc taken under this comp system! This makes me question if there are enough bonuses for an all Orc army, but I don't know what one of those would look like. If you do, let me know what sort of score it comes to!

Skaven

-1 if you take 2 of the following items, -2 if you take 3 of the following items, -3 if you take all 4:
   • Brass Orb
   • Power Scroll
   • Storm Banner
   • Doom Rocket
-1 per Screaming Bell

-1 per Grey Seer after the 1st
-1 per Assassin with Weeping Blades

-1 per Warlock Engineer after the 3rd
-1 per unit of Giant Rats with less than 10 models after the 1st
-1 per unit of Rat Swarms with less than 3 swarms after the 1st

-1 per unit of 31+ Skaven Slaves after the 1st
-1 per unit of Gutter Runners after the 1st
-1 per Doomwheel
-1 per Warp Lightning Cannon
-1 if you have 1 Hell Pit Abomination, -4 if you have 2 Hell Pit Abominations

-1 per Stormfiend model with ranged weapon

+1 for the first unit of Night Runners
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Giant Rats
+1 per Warp Grinder
+1 per Doom Flayer
+1 per unit of Rat Ogres

+1 per unit of 5+ Warplock Jezzails
+1 per unit of Plague Censer Bearers
+1 per unit of Poison Wind Globadiers

+1 per Rat Ogre Bonebreaker

+1 per Great Pox Rat
+2 for the Vermin Lord (Army Book only)
+1 Thanquol (Army Book only)
+1 Ikit Claw
+1 Throt the Unclean
+1 Tretch Craventail
+1 Skweel Gnawtooth

Changes

Seems a theme emerging today! Not many changes here either. However, there are some key things to mention. First of these is a reduction in the penalty for a second Warp Lightning Cannon to enable Skaven to have a chance against some of the big hitters out there. I've also put a negative for each Grey Seer after the first, as two seem to be cropping up with alarming regularity in successful lists.

The big addition to the negatives are the Stormfiends. These are tough, and with their special rules can put out a world of hurt. With the ranged weapons they have access to they can also do it from a great distance too, and this for me is too much. As they can each be armed individually, the answer to me is to hit every Stormfiend model with a ranged weapon. I only hope that's the right call!

The bonuses haven't changed. Skaven have access to some of the cheapest bonus options of all the armies, so adding more wasn't big on the agenda. I have clarified that only the army book versions of the Vermin Lord and Thanquol get the bonus, as I don't think the new ones are good enough for a penalty or bad enough for a bonus.

So for today that's it. Tomorrow we get to the last 4 army books before I move on to the End Times army lists on Saturday. Tune in again to see what comes with them!