"Shooty" Circle List - could it work? Against who?

[jeffszusz]

I'm curious how a "shooty" Circle list might perform. Something made up of almost exclusively Bloodtrackers, Reeves, Wolf Riders, Woldwyrds, Woldstalkers, Nyss Hunters, a few units of Stones for movement shenanigans, and Woldwardens for geomancying - perhaps pKrueger for his spell list and feat. (obviously an extra beast or two for fury generation)

What would make the most sense to take in a 25 point shooty list? 35pt?

Possible 35 Point List:
pKrueger
Gorax
Woldwarden
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 5 Grunts)
Reeves of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Reeves of Orboros Chieftain & Standard
Shifting Stones
Stone keeper
Shifting Stones
Tharn Bloodtrackers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Nuala the Huntress

Which of these would you leave home? Which would you keep? Anything you'd add?
What kind of opponent would you take something like this against?
I'm looking at something that could possibly be competitive, but fun having lots of "shooty" models on the table is the game here.

[Stallandor]

Keep it Pure Circle.

Take the shootiest most shooty army you can:

Either Kruger works...
Argus (def spray)
Woldwyrd (it is our only shooty specific beast)
Megalith (geomancy, and the big DEF buff)
min Reeves
Reeves Cheiftan & Standard
min Bloodtrackers
-Nuala
Stonwald and woldstalkers

50 points, looking for a Pureblood and shifting stones - and with the extra heavy, drop the Argus for max unit sizes.

This army prob looks better at 50 points:
Either Kruger
Pureblood (Spray time!)
Woldwyrd (it is our only shooty specific beast)
Megalith (geomancy, and the big DEF buff)
min Reeves
Reeves Cheiftan & Standard
min Bloodtrackers
-Nuala
Stonwald and woldstalkers
Shifting stones
Shifting Stones
-Stonekeeper
Reeve Hunter
3x Warwolf

Would be pretty fun to play - and would stuff up alot of opponents reaching for thier "anti circle" army.

[VaulSC]

What if there is a lot of armour on the other side, the usual problem - khador jacks, cetratii etc. I'd be interested in how mass circle shooting goes, but wouldn't it be better with curse of shadows? Try a similar combo out but with Mohsar, for example. That way you can pick a target, CoS it, then hit it with heaps of shots. Then pillars of salt to stop the charges.

Otherwise you might be stuck with all the 'light' shooting in the world, but without being able to bring anything down with it. It's important not to overlap your strengths too much in a list, right?

[gmorf33]

Mohsar would probably support a ranged style list much better than the kruegers. Kruegers (especially P) can already decimate light infantry, and our ranged options are going to be mostly effective vs. infantry. Mohsar can give out mirage to help get tied up units out of melee so they can shoot, he can debuff armor so they can actually damage tougher stuff, sunhammer to help chip away at the heavy stuff, and with that much infantry out there, he can SoF around to help out where needed or just to get out of trouble. Not to mention salt pillars to help keep your shooters out of melee as well.

[jeffszusz]

Mohsar *does* sound like a better fit. Not "shooty" himself so much as keeping the rest of them alive longer and making them more effective. I like it.

I like your lists at 35 and 50 points, Stallandor. Why do you say keep it pure Circle? It's hard to deny that the Nyss Hunters are the best ranged unit we can take, barring Faction synergy.

[jeffszusz]

I tried to come up with a 15 and a 25 point list, but with the need to keep enough beasts around to generate fury, it looks like this sort of gimmick won't work below 35.

[gmorf33]

Mohsar *does* sound like a better fit. Not "shooty" himself so much as keeping the rest of them alive longer and making them more effective. I like it.

He's actually pretty shooty. Eyeless sight & 360 vision with a great POW 13 spray as well as fury for up to 3 Crevasse spells. He might not have long range shooting, but with SoF and the aforementioned abilities, there isn't much on the table he can't shoot if he really wants too.

[Stallandor]

If you take the Nyss drop the reeves they are trying to do the exact same thing.

I like moshar shooting ideas as well. But don't theory it all day, give it a crack!

[Rez]

I was putting together a 35 point Mohsar list utilising the Woldwyrd, thought it would definitely qualify as a shooty list.

Mohsar
- Megalith
- Woldwyrd
- Woldwyrd
Max Trackers + Nuala
Min Wolf Riders
Stones + UA

Idea wasnt to make an inherently shooty list, it just worked out that way. This list has a heap of infantry removal and good magic denial. Biggest issue would be multiple jacks - Wolf Riders would prey the biggest target on the field, would have to use remnants of Trackers + Curse and Pillars to control the rest of them. Will definitely be giving this list a crack, I think it could be pretty decent.

[SlimShady]

Rez, as much as you rave about the Wolf Riders kicking butt, I'm starting to get curious about them. I never use mine and it isn't because I don't think they are good, I'm just not that experienced with them. All your raving about them is making me think about squeezing them into more lists though. Good thing my META has been moving to bigger games so I can fit them in more.

What casters do you enjoy using them with the most?

I don't like the idea of Circle shooty, our faction isn't built enough to support it. Maybe down the road (Grayle is a decent start with Awareness) after we get something that packs more of a ranged punch.

Shady

[Rez]

Heh, everyone has their units they like to use - your pretty partial to Woldstalkers! :P

I like them cause they are versatile. They can kill infantry (both light and heavy) and trouble beasts/jacks. Against a gunline type list you can run 18" to engage and rely on Def 15 to stop the enemy from clearing them out. Ive had good success using them with Kromac - 3 attacks from each model just about guarantees Warpath triggers (good against Errants) and IR is great, as 15/16 is a damn good statline.

Really though they shine with Mohsar (and most likely Cassius). Curse of Shadows means they can wreck heavies. Easily. From memory 3 Wolf Riders will do 39 damage to an Arm 19 heavy on average rolls. For 6 points you get a unit that can kill heavies, which is pretty awesome. They work well in tandem with Megalith, he debuffs and they kill. I had three of them drop a healthy Angelius with just their thrown weapons last week - good rolls, but it shows their potential. I tend to only use the min unit, but I need to test out the max more often. I get the feeling it will just make them more of a target though.

[jeffszusz]

I don't like the idea of Circle shooty, our faction isn't built enough to support it. Maybe down the road (Grayle is a decent start with Awareness) after we get something that packs more of a ranged punch.

I agree, I don't expect to win very often with a purely ranged Circle list, but I think it will be fun to play for a few games. I'm going to wait on trying it until I have some more experience with judging my movement distances and familiarity with how the enemy factions can move too.