Within the Realm

Grow the Hobby Day 10

So the tenth "Grow the Hobby" picture was my newest army - the Trident Realm of R'leyh.  You can see my previous posts about it here, here and here.  That was waaayyy back in 2nd edition - and when third came out - well a lot changed.  So I figured I'd show what it is now.

First though, are some of the stuff I'm no longer using.

First, I've gone to one horde of gigas instead of the two required for the King Crabs formation.  Plus they were changed from Large Infantry to Monstrous Infantry - meaning they went from 40x40 bases to 50x50, or 120x40 to 150x50 regiment bases.  At this size, the Deadzone Nameless Ogres I was using now actually fit, so I went from a horde of 4 to a horde of 5 (ok, I was going to go a full 6, but then I ended up two short of a second horde, which I've yet to finish)

The second horde of gigas, needing new basing and painting for two of them

I ended up dropping the Heartpiercers - I'd mainly used them as chaff, and they were pretty expensive for that.

I also have never finished the Riverguard troop that I had tried the water effects on their base.  But I haven't found a place for them in the army yet either, so they remain unpainted.

I had painted up two Nameless Goliaths for Krakens, but I have found models I like more now.

Siren

Near the end of 2nd I found out how good the Siren was - and so they nerfed her completely.  I've used the model as a Naiad Envoy at times, but have not gone back to the siren.

Trident King[1]

This looked interesting so I tried it for a while.  However he only has Me 4+ - and is unique so you can't give him any items to help.  In the end he didn't seem worth the points (though I liked the very inspiring a lot).

Ok, now the current army  (I am so looking forward to Easy Army being updated so I can use it to generate decent army lists).  This is the army I'm taking to Indy Storm the first weekend of February.

Army: Trident Realm of R'lyeh
Points: 2300
Unit Strength: 27

• 235, Naiad Ensnarer Horde
• Liliana's Tear
• 165, Placoderm Regiment
• 165, Placoderm Regiment
• 75, Naiad Envoy
• Bastion (2)
• 160, Thuul Regiment
• 160, Thuul Regiment
• 190, Depth Horror Horde
• Healing Brew
• 120, Thuul Mythican
• Wings of Honeymaze
• 205, Gigas Horde
• 240, Kraken
• 240, Kraken
• 55, Naiad Envoy
• 70, Tidal Swarm Regiment
• 70, Tidal Swarm Regiment
• 150, Knucker

www.goodarmylists.com

One thing I've learned it to set battle groups with my units - so when I deploy and play them, I tend to think of what the group will do, not the individual units.

The first one is the center.  Their job is to hold the center, which is valuable in most scenarios.  The battlegroups on the flanks are there to kill things, these guys are to hold the line.

Naiad Ensnarer Horde

I want the high nerve of an infantry horde for my center.  Since they removed the option for a Placoderm horde, I went with ensnarers.  Sure they don't have defense worth a crap, but with ensnare, pathfinder and regeneration they can often park themselves in difficult terrain and stay there the entire game (so long as I can protect the flanks and rear).  Give them Liliana's Tear to ignore those pesky bumps to nerve checks.
165, Placoderm Regiment

165, Placoderm Regiment

The DE 6+ placoderms go on the flanks of the ensnares to protect them.  I had to rebase these, as they went from infantry to heavy infantry (i.e. 20mm to 25mm bases) - and added more models to have 16 per regiment.

75, Naiad Envoy
-- Bastion (2)

A naiad envoy stands behind the naiads in range of both placoderms to inspire everyone. I was playing him with the Horn of Riteous Fury (giving infantry and heavy infantry fury), but since I want them to hold the line, not attack, I don't care if they are wavered.

Next on one flank is my 'fast' battlegroup.  ('Fast is relative - the center used to be Sp 4, but is now Sp 5, and these are all sp 6).

160, Thuul Regiment

160, Thuul Regiment

Of course, with the C'thulhu theme, I had to have thuuls.  Originally the second unit were hidden ones, so they were painted to show them changing color to indicate the camouflage.  Hidden ones gone in third (and normal thuul now cost what they did without pathfinder or TC(1) - grrr).

190, Depth Horror Horde
-- Healing Brew

The Depth Horrors hit fast and pretty hard, with CS(2) and Me 3+ (the thuuls also have 3+ - so this entire side hits very well).  Plus they are a fearless 18 nerve.  I had been giving them the Brew of Courage so they would always be inspired, but I came so tight on points I have them a Healing Brew to gain a wound or two back (if I can remember to use it!).

120, Thuul Mythican
-- Wings of Honeymaze

I shall call him Mini-me

The winged thuul mythican is a theme must - plus he inspires and helps out the thuuls.  Right now I'm running him without spells - so his 5 3+/CS(1) attacks have little reason not to get in.  Plus he can hunt war engines if needed.

On the other flank is the monster group.  These are the hard hitters.

205, Gigas Horde

240, Kraken

This model has to be in the army, of course.  Originally I thought of using him as a Coral Giant, but it just isn't reliable enough, so it became a Kraken (even if down to only 12 attacks instead of 15).

240, Kraken

The old nameless goliath models just did not fit next to the big guy - so when I saw the Gibbering Hordes Alpha Crawler on sale for half price, I figured he'd make a great 2nd Kraken.  I replaced the little arms with tentacles and added a few more around the mouth.  Of course I have to keep a couple of empty bases because he doesn't like to fit close to many other models.

55, Naiad Envoy

Finally another enjoy to inspire the big guys.

Finally, I have a few units to throw in when needed (and I'm still learning to use the the best way.

70, Tidal Swarm Regiment

Nameless scuttlers

70, Tidal Swarm Regiment

Nameless inkers (I have one more to finish up and add to make the PMC of 9 models for a swarm here).  Cheap, short chaff, generally to help the monsters from getting charged - or where needed.

150, Knucker

This model was from a kickstarter for a card game (Volfyirion) that I saw - I wanted the model so I backed it.  I have yet to try the game, but I love the model!  The fast (Sp 9), nimble monster with pathfinder is not overly powerful (only having 6 attacks), but is best held back a turn or two to take advantage of his speed and flexibility to get in some long range flank charges - or maybe hunt war engines since he is stealthy as well.

Thus the army I'm taking to a tournament this weekend.  I have kept tweaking the list every time I've played, so this will be not only the first time with this variant, but the first time I've played any variant more than once.

Because it is all fun and games . . .