I thought after doing a unit by unit analysis it would be a good idea to talk about the different play styles that I think suit the Stormcast. Clearly some armies are better at a certain style than others e.g. wood elves are great at the avoidance and shooting game whilst Demons still grind you down then finish you off.
For me there are 2 viable play styles for the Stromcast given the units that we have seen so far, that is not to say that with new units and / or more games these will not change they merely represent my opinion as of this point in time.
Defensive Gunline
The first play style is one of a defensive gun line, this list is built around the concept of a solid fire base in the shape of multiple units of 10 Judicators with Skybolt Bows, a Judicator Prime and 2 Shockbolt Bows. This provides you with a mechanism for dealing with combat monsters or heroes from a distance and will mean that your opponent needs to close with you as otherwise they will loose a lot of models to shooting.
To support the Judicators I would take a unit of 10 protectors for each unit to stand in front of them and soak up damage and minimise the wounds taken by the Judicators. To back these units up I would take a pair of Lord-Celestant on Dracoths, these provide you with some decent punch in combat and using one as your general will make you immune to battleshock whilst he is alive. Lastly I would take a Celestnat prime as he is simply too good not to take.
This list would deploy the Judicators at the back of the board in cover with the Protectors in front of them with the Lord Celestants close by to counter charge. It would sit there shooting until the enemy close with it and then it would drop in the prime behind the enemies strongest unit whilst charging in with the Protectors and Lord Celestants to hopefully finish of the damaged units.
Alpha Strike
The second style uses the lightening strike special ability of the Stormcast and focussed on targeted elimination of key enemy units before your opponent can react.
This list is built around the Thunderstrike Brotherhood formation at minimum size with all units taking the prime upgrades for extra attacks and the Prosecutors and the Liberators taking the Grandhammer upgrade. All units are deployed off the table ready to deploy from the heavens.
The other critical element to the list is a pair of Knight-Azyros these are the only models that actually deploy (as close as possible to the enemy) on the table ensuring that you almost certainly go first. The pair of them run on their first turn hoping to get as high a dice roll as possible – even on a 1 they should be 11″ from your opponents closest unit meaning that when you Lightening strike in your Thuderstrike Brotherhood its closet model will be 6″ from the enemy rather than the normal 9″ making a successful charge much more likely.
The result of the run roll will determine which units deploy when and in which formation but this tactic will catch a lot of players off guard and will give you a huge starting advantage. It is especially powerful for targeting wizards, warmachines and buffing characters before they can have an impact on the game. Obviously if you can fit in a Celestant Prime then he is a great addition to land in turn three to finish off any damaged opponents.
Would be interested to hear others views on potential play styles.
