I've been eyeing Forces of Nature for a while now - they have a LOT of potential as a defensive army, yet they can pile on the speed, have universal pathfinder, and plenty of Crushing Strength. This makes for a very mobile and fast army that can beat opponents to favorable positions while retaining plenty of killing power and endurance.
List after the break!
List after the break!
Kings of War Army List: 1000pts
Forces of Nature (Neutral): 1000pts
Large Infantry:
190pts - Forest Shambler Horde
190pts - Forest Shambler Horde
Large Cavalry:
135pts - Slyph Talonriders
Heroes:
260pts - Tree Herder
Monsters:
225pts - Beast of Nature w/ Breath Attack(10), Fly and Speed 10, Vicious and 7 attacks
This is a first try of sorts, so it has some interesting features - for 1000pts, it has 2 big blocks of Forest Shamblers, which are (point for point) some of the best heavy infantry in the game. Backed up by a Tree Herder - in turn one of the nastiest and downright useful heroes around, with 7 attacks, CS (3), Surge (8), Inspiring, and no shambling himself - they are nasty core that will hold against a lot of enemy models at this level.
I felt I needed some form of shooting to put pressure on war machines, so after a lot of fiddling around, I settled on Slyph Talonriders. This was a tough call - they're fast and shooty, but they cost a lot more per shot than Centaur Bray-Hunters or Naiad Heartpiercers. However, the Bray-Hunters have a point less Ra (significantly offset by Nimble, though), are slightly slower, and don't have Fly, which limits their versatility. The Heartpiercers are much slower, more skittish with worse Nerve, and shorter range, yet make up for this with piercing and Regen 4+ - they'll stand up to enemy shooting a lot better, but they're front line shooting support, not mobile and adaptive. The Slyph Talonriders have the speed I want, the range I want, and the hitting ability I'm looking for, so I'm going with those.
I felt I needed some form of shooting to put pressure on war machines, so after a lot of fiddling around, I settled on Slyph Talonriders. This was a tough call - they're fast and shooty, but they cost a lot more per shot than Centaur Bray-Hunters or Naiad Heartpiercers. However, the Bray-Hunters have a point less Ra (significantly offset by Nimble, though), are slightly slower, and don't have Fly, which limits their versatility. The Heartpiercers are much slower, more skittish with worse Nerve, and shorter range, yet make up for this with piercing and Regen 4+ - they'll stand up to enemy shooting a lot better, but they're front line shooting support, not mobile and adaptive. The Slyph Talonriders have the speed I want, the range I want, and the hitting ability I'm looking for, so I'm going with those.
Finally, the Beast of Nature - oh boy is this guy customizable! With Fly, Speed 10, Vicious, and 7 attacks at CS (2) and Me 3+, he is deadly. I tacked on the breath attack because I might need some more close in ranged support before Surging in a unit of Forest Shamblers, and it's only 15 points. This guy is there for 3 things - distraction, individual/war engine hunting, and Flank/Rear charges. If he can get a rear charge (not too hard with Fly and Speed 10), he'll be dishing out 21 attacks that will do a lot of damage, even to heavily armored targets. Even a flank charge gives him 14 attacks, which will likely do more than the Forest Shamblers!
Modeling:
One of the reasons I'm interested in this army is the potential for interesting modeling. Mantic has some really broad yet well defined rules on models and modeling (last page) - in short, so long as the size looks about right ("no Treemen representing orclings!"), the unit doesn't have less than the Minimum Model Count, it all fits on the right size unit footprint, and you tell your opponent in no uncertain terms or misleading modeling what each unit is, go nuts. This means you can go farther afield than GW ever let you go for good looking minis to fit a theme, and put together a very unique and original looking army.
They might be a little small, but maybe a little green stuff and some foliage will make these guys a pretty decent shambler group. 9 should be all I need for 2 full units (60% is only 4 per horde), but I can always pick up 2 more if I feel there aren't enough models on the multi-base. GW dryads wouldn't be a bad call either, but I like the un-natural nature feel of these, and they resemble the old GW Treekin a bit more.
I'll probably model a halfling with a bow on it's back eventually, and I might replace the face with something less... intensely terrifying, but it fits right in the theme of things. Nice model, really nice price!
I just like this model - these are all reaper models (mainly because they're quality, and cheap), but this guy wouldn't look out of place in a Mantic lineup, and looks a whole lot more forest-y than GW's Treeman (otherwise known as "Bits-Gone-Wild").
Wings! Lots of legs! Monstery-looking! Perfect. Slap a bit of a green scaly coat on this fella, and we're good to go.
Final Thoughts:
All of the models I listed above (in quantities to fill the minimum model count of the 1000pt list), comes to just over $50. That's one heck of a budget list! It also forms a good core army to expand onto, which I plan to do with Salamanders (GW Saurus warriors, in a green color of course), Hunters of the Wild, a druid or two, a winged Unicorn, and maybe some Centaurs.
On the Reaper page, those two little triangles on the right side of the image are scale markers. The upper one is approximately 25mm. The Saproling models are pretty much man sized. I definitely need to pick up that Tree Herder and Dracolisk model though, they're great.
ReplyDeleteYou make a very valid point - turns out they're just a little too small. So instead, I'm using GW Dryads as Forest Shamblers - a box of 16 is only $41 (odd how GW is cheaper...) and that will make 4 hordes (or 3 hordes with well placed center models, which is my plan).
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