Trident Realms in 3.0

MiSiO_1 · November 1, 2019, 8:09pm

Well… I really hope so. They have a high piercing and I think it is key. They are very expensive too. I would say Ice Kin Balista is Way better with their freezing bolts when we take Extra 20 into consideration. LB is a piece to work with surge and the extra 20 for a random enthral is costly.

But i hope they will work well. I want to have them in my lists.

I was thinking 2 LBs are like a giga horde. They shoot turn 1, with 3-4 damage a turn. Sound ok. They will help with positioning, makes opponent wonder etc.

Luke · November 5, 2019, 5:35pm

MiSiO I’m looking forward to your hero breakdown, because I am not really seeing much good on the Individual front.

The Centurion looks fine but just isn’t really my style. Particularly now that it has lost Ensnare, I think I’ll stick to the Envoy.
The Stalker I like conceptually but 95pts is so expensive for 4 attacks. No mighty, but perhaps a better roadblock than the Centurion. I’m just not sure when I’d want to take this over a more dedicated shooting piece.
Aquamage is cool, though so far I haven’t found it worth it without taking advantage of the surge (I had hopes for the aura, but I think it’s too matchup-dependent). Once I buy some Water Elementals I expect the Aquamage’s stock to rise considerably.
The Mythican I still don’t understand. Outside of a heavy Thuul list, it is a LOT of points for the spells it brings. I guess it’s my choice if I need more than one Bane Chant? And 5 crushing attacks certainly isn’t bad, just weird split design.
Envoys are great, I miss heal but at least now it’s a great platform for the Lute.
I really want to love the Riverguard Sentinel, but that price tag makes me extremely nervous. I guess I probably need to be looking at it as a roadblock piece, with Def5 Ensnare, that gums up something in the front line before going off to chase wizards. Seems like an extremely easy way to throw points away.
I’m having real difficulty appraising the usefulness of Enthral, so the new Siren is not impressing me. I used her pretty extensively in 2e, but way more for the disorder than for the pull, so I sadly don’t have much experience with the positioning side of things. Drain Life and the Conjurer’s Staff looks like a pretty solid build, but again, so many points!

I guess ultimately I’m comparing a lot of these things to a regiment of Depth Horrors, and it just doesn’t seem like a great use of an unlock. Anyone have good experiences with them?

MiSiO_1 · November 6, 2019, 8:05am

Centurion lost ensnare but is Mighty, +1 Nerve and +1 Att. Thing is wings+no ensnare made him a very poor choice. He is no longer a road blocker. But great hero to hunt casters and engines. Not that great fot grounding dragons but 5 Att is way better than 4.
Stalker is a very good unit. I see him with Wings really. Ensnare and Stealthy + regen are enough to keep him alive. 4 shots on 4+ with piercing (1) is great. He is cheaper centurion with harpoon gun (from 2.0).
Aquamage is a surge specialist but he is useful even without it. Rushing Tides, Weakness (weakness is big), Icy Breath are good enough without surge.
Mythican is a paladin. BC, LB (with boomstick), windblast. You name it. It is a specific piece but he inspires not only thuul but a kraken as well. I like him. Even with wings!
Envoy is an universal source of inspiring we really need. Lute, Bastion or a fury in an Infantry based list (sadly Fury does not work with Lute).
Riverguard sentinel sgould be taken with Scout but it makes him 165 pts… What?! 4 shots are nice, duellist is nice. Fly is the key there. War Machine hunter with a mission to take LB users and other casters. Hard choice between centurion, Lurker and Sentinel. Def 5+ is nice but Naiads with regen will last longer anyway. He is more about hero control.
I do like siren with heal (6) or drain life and Inspiring. Enthral IS a surge thing. It allows easy flanks with disengage-corkscrew combo. Not sure if she is that expensive too. 80+30ish points is ok for a multipurpose caster. She is not a LL any more but the idea of Enthral (5) and windblast (5-8) within the same list is very good.
King was a multipurpose tool but not great at anything really. Now it got a nerf do not get yet. Breath is weaker and he is +10 points.
Eckter is a beast still. WB, phalanx, Def 6. Nice but expensive hero to have. I see him as a toolbox (like king). Windblast is amazing.

MiSiO_1 · November 6, 2019, 8:48am

BTW

Built a 2nd 1500 MSU list for testing (will share results after few games):

Dambusters horde	260	1	280, haste, frogs
Thuul regiment	160	2	355, /w sharpness

Treeleapers troop	110	3	330

Tidal swarm	70	1	70


Leviathan Bane	105	2	210

Knucker	150	1	150

Envoy	95	1	95 /w Bastion, Lute


		11	1490

Boss_Salvage · November 11, 2019, 3:35pm

Had my first game this weekend, with Helm of Confidence on the wyrmriders for deep flanking purposes. Faced highlander-style Ogres (warrior legion, siegebreaker horde, hunter horde, boomer horde, chariot horde, sniff scout troop, giant, blaster, warlock w/ drain life, the grok) in Pillage (7 tokens) and got hammered. Yes, I played too aggressively and had very cold dice (testing out new $$ dice which aren’t going to be used for KOW again ), but pretty sobering on the whole, given that I was rarely tabled in 2E, and rarely so quickly (unless it was against Elves )

I didn’t hate the experience, and we forgot some rules (like my wyrms charged off a hill into a sick (hindered) flank … but I forgot the +1 CS, then got wavered and died), but the army felt really weak, based on my experience at the end of 2E with it. It feels like I really have to hang back and wait with TR, use all those heartpiercers to delete a couple things before getting crashed into and retaliating.

To that end, I’m going to brew up a leviathan’s bane to replace the eternal, which is somewhat ironic as the DHE is one of the only straight buffed units I’m fielding, however I’m keen to try a war engine for the first time ever, and if I’m trying to engage at range more effectively than the big gun seems like a thing. Less excited about having to pay for Ensnare (N) on it, but maybe it’s cool? Pull somebody out of line to get Krakened in a flank later?

Fun tidbit from the game: I actually got a longbomb flank on Grok with a kraken! Then only did 5 wounds and was life drained and amputated the next turn. Oof.

Next games will be this:

Naiad Hearpiercers Regiment
Naiad Hearpiercers Regiment
Naiad Hearpiercers Regiment
Naiad Hearpiercers Regiment
Gigas Horde
Gigas Horde
Naiad Wyrmriders Horde - Helm of Confidence
Leviathan’s Bane
Kraken
Kraken
Kraken
Naiad Envoy - Bastion (2), Staying Stone*
Naiad Envoy - War Bow
2250

*Basically I have 5 points leftover but don’t want to differentiate the units, as they’re pretty identical on the table, so something dumb has to go on the bastion envoy. Staying Stone seemed the most likely to maybe one day be relevant? Maybe the tear? Whatever, really.

MiSiO_1 · November 11, 2019, 3:53pm

I do not like lists built around frontal attack in TR. I do not like 3 krakens either. This is a finess army thst will not out muscle most other armies on a stright fight. Especially ogres. I would drop one Kraken for sure.

I feel pieces are in synchronized here. Did you use it in 2.o and is this a stright transition list?

Boss_Salvage · November 11, 2019, 4:30pm

2E had 2x Eternals + Wyrm Centurion instead of the Wyrm horde + second Envoy. It did so much better than I expected But I only played it in 6 games before the edition change.

This army wasn’t created to do well, it was made to look good and do something different from what other TR armies were doing in 2E. It was also built around using Hearpiercers as tarpits, which they’re much worse at now without ensare, which worked great but is hardly an option now. I’m trying to get it to a place that is a) legal, and b) enjoyable to play with a 50% win rate, which is my goal with all armies. There’s very little I’m going to be changing in this army - especially the 3x Kraken and 4x Heartpiercers - but cheers for the feedback. I’m far more interested in building my next army (NS or Ogres) than I am in rebuilding major parts of this one.

While I think there’re competitive TR 3E builds out there, they aren’t going to be 2E ports nor are they going to be the easy button freight trains like Northern Alliance lists can be. TR is going to come down to player skill a bit more and making use of new units, as far as I can tell.

MiSiO_1 · November 11, 2019, 6:02pm

Oh for sure. TR is not a stright foward army. Thst is way I like it. A lot od nimble movement, fly, pushing and pulling is obie way to go.

MiSiO_1 · November 30, 2019, 7:27pm

Tester dambusters today. Not nad but very specific unit thst requires a King term plan. Frontal charges are acceptable but the trick It to gry a flank.

I did test heartpiercers top and I do like them on troops. I think I will test 2 troops to support banes.

Also drafted a 2ooo list. Well… 18oo out of 2ooo but not sure if I like it. I would like to have eckter there but unlocks are a problem do I am stuck. Aby sugestions?

Boss_Salvage · December 2, 2019, 2:54pm

My first thought was to upgrade the Treeleapers to a reg (and drop the Tome), but that comes out to 2005 with Eckter Could work if the Envoy swaps from Lute to Bastion?

MiSiO_1 · December 3, 2019, 7:50am

I have never used riverguard as regiments. 170 seems a lot and they loose some of their flexibility that comes with a smaller base. But the 3.o reality is all about unlocks (especially when we have only ONE, expensive infantry horde to choose from). Very hard to take a monster or two. I was hoping for a GWE/Kraken combination.

Luke · December 4, 2019, 9:16pm

Are the Banes putting in work for you? They seem really really marginal as far as I can tell, so it seems crazy to spend an unlock on them. Pretty much the only time I can imagine taking one is when a horde of Ensnarers is unlocking it for free.

MiSiO_1 · December 5, 2019, 7:48am

They are hard to fit but they provide a nice piercing and can open a flank for a cork screw charge for GWE or pull a unit 1" foward to not be able to see kraken’s flank.

MiSiO_1 · December 5, 2019, 8:47am

This is my latest elemental based list. I also consider 2 banes instead of nHPs or 2 nHP troops instead of banes. Still banes allows nice surge into flank combo with GWE.

I was also thinking to drop Tome or Weakness for Eushing Tides and Mead of Madness for WE horde for nice 16" charge range. Or even Haste on WE to get 17" charge range.

([Neutral] The Trident Realm of Neritica) [13 US, 1,500 pts]

+ INF +

Naiad Heartpiercers* (10) Troop [1 US, 120 pts]

Riverguard Treeleapers (10) Troop [1 US, 115 pts]: Poison Frog

+ LRG INF +

Depth Horrors (06) Horde [3 US, 190 pts]: 05 - Blade of Slashing

Depth Horrors (06) Horde [3 US, 190 pts]: 05 - Healing Brew

Water Elementals (06) Horde [3 US, 225 pts]: 05 - War-Bow of Kaba

+ WAR ENG +

Leviathan’s Bane [105 pts]

+ MON +

Greater Water Elemental [1 US, 180 pts]

Knucker [1 US, 150 pts]

+ HERO +

Naiad Envoy [100 pts]: 25 - Lute of Insatiable Darkness, Bastion (2) [1]

Thuul Aquamage [125 pts]: 20 - Tome of Darkness, Surge (8), sub, Weakness (2)

Created with BattleScribe

Luke · December 5, 2019, 11:54pm

Tome of Darkness seems like an unnecessary luxury at 1500pts, and I think the Lute and Bastion each deserve their own Envoy. I’d drop one. In fact, I might try to swap the Envoy out for an Eternal - it does leave some of your units with no inspire, but offers another effective combat unit and excellent roadblock. Especially with the water elementals, having another piece that can be up front to control surge distance seems valuable.

MiSiO_1 · December 8, 2019, 5:23pm

Ok. Here is a list that includes Dambusters. They deserve some tests. Not sure if Iike Sentinel. He os expensive and does not inspire Kraken.

Army: Trident Realm of Neritica

Points: 1500

Unit Strength: 14

190, Depth Horror Horde

– Blade of Slashing

185, Depth Horror Horde

265, Riverguard Dambuster Horde

– Poison Frog

110, Riverguard Treeleaper Troop

240, Kraken

150, Knucker

115, Depth Horror Eternal

135, Riverguard Sentinel

www.goodarmylists.com

Luke · December 9, 2019, 6:29am

Took third at a 16-person, 2300 point, one day event this weekend, running this list:
Horde of Naiad Ensnarers with dragonshard shield 230+20
Troop of Naiad Heartpiercers with piercing arrow 120+10
Regiment of Tidal Swarm 70
Regiment of Tidal Swarm 70
Horde of Depth Horrors with caterpillar potion 185+20
Horde of Depth Horrors 185
Horde of Gigas with blade of slashing 205+5
Knucker 150
Knucker 150
Knucker 150
Coral Giant 215
Naiad Envoy with lute 55+25
Naiad Envoy with bastion [2] 55+20
Depth Horror Eternal with trickster’s wand 115+15
Trident King 230

It was an adaptation of my 2250 list, so the artifacts are… a little indulgent. Didn’t use dragonshard shield at all, caterpillar on the depth horrors was nice but not worth the cost, and the trickster’s wand… it’s probably good if you can follow it up with a nerve check.

I was probably too tentative with the naiads so they didn’t get much action, but they were fine. The depth horrors were great, solid damage output, tough to shift, affordable unit strength and unlocks. Tidal swarm are excellent at controlling engagements, and knuckers are always incredible. I tend to treat gigas as if they were more fragile than they are, so I think I should play around with them as an anvil. I was happy with the heartpiercers, and I expect I’ll be happier once I build enough for a regiment.

Not quite sure what I’ll change. Any suggestions?

MiSiO_1 · December 9, 2019, 12:37pm

Hex wand is an interesting option. What is DHE role armed with that wand?

How did King did? Him getting more expensive is hard. 230 is a lot for a hero like this.

Luke · December 9, 2019, 1:41pm

I’ve been meaning to try out the wand since I realized that hex is 2 wounds per successful cast this edition, and I wanted it on something with height three so it was harder for wizards to hide. The DHE was there to inspire, block for, and help push damage of the depth horrors, so I figured I’d have a couple turns before combat. I don’t think it’s a good fit, but hex itself might be good.

You know, I didn’t really think much about the king. This event he was surely not worth his cost, but I didn’t play him well. He’s in the list mostly to help kill chaff with his ranged attack, and because I like the model and spd8 nimble is fun to play with. I’m going to have to think more about how to get good use out of him.

MiSiO_1 · December 13, 2019, 11:44am

@Luke … and how good Heartpiercers were? I know You had just one troop (I consider 2 troops to get a solid 16, 4+, P1 shots).