Xerxis - 15 pt Turtle "themed" list

[ivanfyodorovich]

Tyrant Xerxis +5
Max Cataphract Cetratii -11
Basalisk Krea -4
Cyclops Savage -5

General Strategy:
Fury on Xerxis from the start for upkeep.

Defender's Ward, Battle Plan: Press Forward, Shield Wall and Paralytic Aura on the Cetratii means 16 defense and 24 armor vs. Ranged, moving 7 inches a turn straight up with all of the other medium bases behind.

Pulling the trigger when in range with feat and Combo Smite Charge from Xerxis, moving CC in front of him to finish off the knocked down heavy and screen Xerx again. Have the Savage charge something and Krea screen Xerx and keep up PA.

Perceived Weakness:
- Magic, magic, magic. Earthquake and it's kin would be very annoying. With everyone clumped up, I am begging for any and all AoE spells to be cast on me via arcnodes. 22 armor on the CC "should" stand up under most power 12-15 aoes, but I wonder if I can't include something better to help eliminate that. A Tyrant Commander could help with Revelle, but paying 3 points for it seems like a waste.

- Boosted Armor Pen weapons (Hunter, Behemoth, etc) would also rain on my parade.

Alternatives:
- Brute replaces Savage for additional defensive options
- Min CC, Basilisk Drake replaces Savage (Bushwhack the Krea for ninja SP attacks), and 4 pts of Solos (Saxon+Extoller?)
- Min CC and a 3 pt Solo (AG, Grundun?)

Thoughts? I would like to keep this themed around Xerxis and the Cataphracts. Also, no Large Base models in the "turtle".

[LiamPiver]

I would definately go with the Brute for his animus and to use him to absorb a ranged attack/transfer target. I know you said you wanted to use Xerxis, but you may want to think about using pMakeda with the Cetrati. They don't hit as hard but she can cast Savagery to have them moving 10in in shield wall the first turn, upkeep it in turn two then cast defenders ward to give them +2 defense and armor and have the krea behind them to give them a +2 to hit what they engage. Combine that with Makeda's carnage and they shouldn't miss with an attack value of 11. She doesn't make them hit as hard as Xerxis but her feat will bring back the Cetrati and that's something considering how much it takes to get rid of them.

[ivanfyodorovich]

I do like the idea of pMakeda, though Xerxis in his Cataphract armor just feels cooler. Savagery plus Shieldwall was the reason I bought the CC originally. I'll have to see how both play.

[LiamPiver]

I hear ya. Xerxis is really cool and you don't have to worry about getting trampled or slammed with all the models being the same base size. That's something I learned the hard way from playing against Trolls. So this is what I'd do. Drop the Savage for the Brute and keep the Brute's Animus up as much as possible. Knockdown is going to hurt so you definately want to make it so Xerxis doesn't get autohit. So this will be a slow battle. Just march up the field in shield wall for 7in. And then on Feat turn don't charge unless it's something huge to keep the shield wall bonus and still hit for about 25 damage per Cetrati. Keep the Krea behind them with her aura up and Defender's Ward on them. Armor 24 from range and Defense 16.

[ivanfyodorovich]

That is exactly what I was thinking as well.

I had thought of the trample immunity (can only trample small base models IIRC), but you mentioned that this would prevent slams. Wouldn't they still knock down the primary target and anything directly behind them (sans Brute animus)? I know the model can't actually move anywhere, since they are both in B2B, but I assumed the rest of the stuff would still happen.

I don't have the book with me right now at work, so I can't check it.

[LiamPiver]

No you're right. I just meant it's not like slamming a heavy into a ton of small based models. The first model would stop when it hit the second model whereas a heavy would mow through a line of small based models.

[ivanfyodorovich]

Gotcha. Excellent point.

[LiamPiver]

Oh and don't worry about armor piercing to much. It's only against base armor.

So a hunter is going to be shooting against base armor 16 or 8 + 4 (shield wall) + 2 (defenders ward). That's dice minus 8 for damage

A behemoth on the other hand is a different story. He's hitting at straight dice so a boost will kill a Cet a turn. Although with Defender's Ward up, he's got to boost attack to hit on average (10) while aiming. But at 13 PC, he's not going to be able to kill enough of them before they get to him. On the charge/feat/fury turn, the Cetrati are doing 31.5 damage (11 + 3 (Fury) + 7 (attack) + 3.5 (weapon master) + 3.5 (charge) + 3.5 (feat)). That's dice + 10.5 per attack. Four Cetrati will kill him on the charge and you should be able to get them close enough to benefit from the +2 Armor bonus from the feat keeping them at 18 Armor.

Denegrah or Stryker however will give this army Hell. But hey they still have to hit a 14 Defense on the way in right. Base 12 + 2 (defenders ward). I don't think the Krea's animus benefits against ranged magic attacks. Check though if so, Stryker will have to use 4 fury to hit on average. And can only hit 3 per round with the AOE so you could do two lines of Cetrati to make it harder for him to target.