Sonnia vs. The Dreamer

[knoerzer]

Okay guys, this thursday I have to face the dreamer....again... I was wondering what crew would you play against the dreamer with Sonnia as your master?

Also it should be known that I will be using her Avatar.

[Thechosenone]

know anything about the dreamer player? is he gunna be nightmare bombing?

If so, hug the back, spread out. survive the bomb then pick apart the pieces.

[knoerzer]

The player is fairly new to it, he uses a cheat sheet to play :/ kinda unfair in my book, but I can't do much about that. I have beaten him once, and last week tied him, that is why we have to play Thursday again...

[Fading Memory]

Do you have access to all the Guild models?

What models has the Dreamer player used against you in the past?

What do you mean by cheat sheet?

Has he used the Alpha Strike before?

You will beat him. We will devise a strategy.

[knoerzer]

by cheat sheet he has wrote down how to move the dreamer in all 6 rounds.

I could get access to all the guild pieces, I know people that would let me borrow them if I asked, so yes I do.

He has used the dreamer, LCB, 3 alps, teddy, 3 daydreams and I think just some other little pieces I can't think of.

I don't believe he has used the alpha strike b4... although I have never heard of it myself.

Thank you guys for helping me. This was the one squad I never wanted to play against and here I am trying to beat it.

[Fading Memory]

The Alpha Strike allows Lord Chompy bits to beat the poo out of your models still in your deploy zone on his first activation.

Before I try to offer advice, how many points in the game?

[Fading Memory]

And do you know what strategy you are playing, and the deployment type (diagonal, standard, corners) or will they be random?

[knoerzer]

Its 40 points scrap. Avatars allowed. and you can proxy from all the books.

[FearLord]

If it were me, I think it would go a little something like this...

http://www.wyrd-games.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25197

[Adran]

First point, I assume the player knows that there have been changes to the alps recently.

Secondly, do you know how he plans on moving his dreamer for the 6 turns?

If you do, then you can try setting up a trap to ambush him. or put him in situations where his pre-planned moves just don't help him.

Killing Daydreams when ever you can is good.

I would look at schemes like Kill protegy, to get rid of Teddy, since if he brings him into the fight, you will be able to kill him, and if he doesn't, you don't have to face him. (make sue you have something that will kill Teddy)

Exterminate Spirits is another posibility, but you then need to make sure you have a plan to kill the dreamer as well as the daydreams.

Austringer can be useful for this, with its ability to hit without line of sight.

[TheOneWhoFell]

basic oppinion?

keep them at a range, allowing Sonnia to blow them up using her spells. Your melee guys should have AE... Stalkers (immolating demise) Loco (Boom - but you have to be careful with this as he is vulnerable without Perdita on the board). I would make sure to cast Inferno on Criid every turn. This leaves her unprotected from your guys, but it's a useful way to keep models away from her.

Austringers are always useful against low Wd models... I might even take some Death Marshals... Nightmares like to be near their opponents, and this would make Pine Box useful.

What about proxying the Witchling Handler..?

[Adran]

Pine box is not a huge amount of use, as they can be unburied by the dreamer.

The Exocist does extra damage against nightmares, so could eb a great choice.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Keep in mind a lot of nightmares have 2" reach on melee and ability ranges that do well in 4" so can cuddle models with 1" reach like death marshals. I love the death marshals and I love slow to die I have to say, they are easy to kill and ignore with a dreamer crew. My point is the model doesn't have some kind of melee for 2" or some other ability that can reach out 2" if in melee than I wouldn't put them in. Witchling are great 4 ss models against dreamer. Judge and executioner have great slow to die action that can really only be dealt with by lcb.

[TheOneWhoFell]

Pine box is not a huge amount of use, as they can be unburied by the dreamer.

The Exocist does extra damage against nightmares, so could eb a great choice.

Yeah, I always forget that they can be unburied by the dreamer...

I still saye Area Effects... get someone like Papa who doesn't target anyone with "Take ya With me" and Boom, walk up to the Dreamer and take them all out

[Fetid Strumpet]

I'd advise against Papa if he has any idea of how to do the first turn alpha, or at least position him completely on his own WAY AWAY from any of the rest of your crew and advance him solo the entire game hoping for a moment to pounce. If you position him at all in range of your crew I'd come in with just the Dreamer/Chompy, pop Chompy on first turn, kill Poppa with Chompy and either just eat the dmg, or prevent some of it with a SS, and then pop back into my Deployment zone as the Dreamer. Inflicting all that dmg on your crew would be worth it even if Chompy had to eat all the dmg himself as well.

[TheOneWhoFell]

That's part of the reason I would run him with 'Dita...

[knoerzer]

I was thinking about having the austringer to take out the daydreams, and I don't know how he moves his LCB, but I think if I have sam and nino and stalkers I should be okay... I was even thinking the Judge for his spell: Judged 2/4/8 damage against undead and spirit.

[knoerzer]

On the Papa thing, I don't really like him, just because I have never played with him, I might one day, but he is not one I would choice first.

[Fading Memory]

From Book 3 I would take:

The Brutal Effigy - will give you some much needed healing.

Sue - good against Terrifying models (your opponent will probably take Coppelious too) and Circle of Flames is just awesome. He also can boost Wp and has anti-casting abilities.

From the other books I would take:

Judge - is a beast, Flurry will easily take down Teddy in one activation (if you can get him close enough)

Austringer - ignores LoS (good agaisnt Stiched Together) and can Deliver Orders

Witchling Stalkers x2 - Bounce spells off them to blast the enemy, then Violation of Magic them to create new ones. Magical Weapons against spirits.

Watcher - Fast mobile model

Plus the Avatar you want...That's 37 pts with 3ss added to the cache.

For schemes I would take Bodyguard and Kill Protegee. With 7ss, Sonnia will be hard to take down. It also means your opponent may try to throw more models at her allowing your models some much needed freedom.

If you really need speed, drop Sue for another Watcher and another cheap model of your licking, the Exorcist can replace some of Sue's abilities, but is slow and easy to hit.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Oh yeah, totally forgot you are playing a crew of mostly living models... Yeah, you almost need to be more concerned about the second turn rather than the first as he can and most likely will preload his crew with defensive stance and terrifying before coming in on you.

Yeah, whatever you can bring that is effective and immune to terrifying will be golden. Be careful in your deployment if you do bring Witchlings, you don't want them blowing up and chain damaging your crew as well.

[knoerzer]

I like the brutal effigy, but I will have to read up on sue, and I have ran the exorcist against him before and he didnt do much for me.

[knoerzer]

Okay I know I want to run witchlings, and avatar and nino and sam. so who else??

OR i can take out same for something else.

[Fading Memory]

I have never personally used Sue, but in theory he should be awesome.

[Therapist]

I would drop sam. Hell be a prime target for him to unbury stuff next to so dont count on being able to shoot anything before he dies. I always run the guardian with Sonnia because of how squishy she is. The dreamer isnt a good match for her because her highest damage she cant use if shes in melee and thats where the dreamer is going to show up.

If she can survive long enough to manifest you should be okay. Searing wave can be devastating especially if hes bunched around Sonnia. The guardians job is to keep you alive long enough. I would Put sonnia and the guardian together, far enough away that you can cast inferno every turn without damaging your other models. the guardians armor will reduce the dmg to 1. The end result is that you want him to focus on somethjng other than sonnia.

guardian = harder to kill = maybe go after something else

inferno = damage for anyone near her and more if she dies so, again, hopefully hell find an easier target. inferno is also one of her manifest requirements. survive to turn 3 and (2) manifest and youll still have casting master +2 and your 0 action to either heal a bit or blast every bad guy inside of 8" dependingon what you need more.

Also, to point out the obvious, if you know what his cheat sheet says you know what hell do. I doubt hes going tobe very good at adapting outside his box.

[nix]

Couple of suggestions and one tip.

Lets start with the tip. If its at all possible, position your models to block Sonnia's LOS to Dreamer AND any nightmares within 3" of Dreamer. Once this happens Sonnia can cast at Dreamer with no targeting restrictions. This is due to her Magic Seeker ability (Dreamer is Ca 7). This will only work before Manifesting, as after manifest aSonnia is too tall and can see over most everything. Also, Violating Dreamer is a fantastic and amusing use of a spell to create a witchling stalker. Be careful as Dreamer's WP is high, but with careful use of stones you can inflict 3 damage to him with this spell.

Ok, some suggestions on your crew. First, if your planning on starting with or getting 2 or more Witchling Stalkers on the table, load up and proxy a Witchling Handler. Vs Dreamer the Witchling Handler is gold. Witchling Stalkers will get a on both thier Df and Wp duels while within 3" of the Handler. Proper positioning of the Stalkers can keep LCB and other nightmares away from the Handler and force the Stalkers to be attacked as a front line. Her other abilities make both her and the Stalkers dangerous to any enemy left within their realm of control.

Based on your comfort level, you could also swap out a single Witchling for 2 Desperate Merc's. By using Inferno in range on turn 1, you can turn both Merc's into Witchling Stalkers turn 2 without significantly slowing down your manifest track. This is an added benefit if the Dreamer player is taking a slower approach and not dropping into your lines turn 2, as you might get some shots off with the wounded Merc's before you turn them into Stalkers.

Lastly, if you can guage the approach of the "Nightmare Alpha Strike", do not forget defensive stance. It may slow you down moving across the board, but it makes things much easier when your defending against LCB and the initial attack run of the Dreamer crew.