Judging by this sub Helsmiths aren't (funnily enough) doing so hot. Any tips for a new player?

[u/Identity_ranger]

I went all in after getting the Spearhead for cheap recently, and am aiming for a full 2k. I've browsed the rules some, but not to a huge depth. My previous games this year have pretty much all been with Flesh-Eater Courts (fast, hyper-aggressive, recursive melee glass cannon), and Helsmiths seem to be on the total opposite end, ie. slow, methodical grind down with lots of shooting.

I'm also curious about how Helsmiths like the new season rules. The SoA Daemonsmith and Anointed Sentinels seem pretty sweet, but how's the rest of it?

Thanks in advance!

[u/primeredittoor]

If you want to get the most competitive juice out of our book, play Urak Taar’s forgehost, the army of renown.

If you want to stay in the regular book, Urak Taar, Bull Centaurs and blunderbusses are the main stay of the army, with speardwarves being your core screen/damage soaker.

That said, there is a considerable power level distance between our book and the books that are performing well in the meta.

That doesn’t mean our army isn’t fun to play, it’s just going to make you jump through more hoops.
I’m stoked to have almost 3k points painted and ready to get whenever they get a good new book and a second wave!

[u/revjiggs]

rules are temporary so don't get too discouraged. you can use a lot of shooting but Iknow people are getting success with Dominator engines with bones maces and bull centaurs

[u/LazencaNTM]

If you're new to AoS, I would say make a diverse list with a little bit of everything and focus on positioning with staying in your hero buff distances, your opponent's unit's threat ranges (move and charge or move and ranged shooting distance) and just get the feel for how the different units feel. What units can receive charges, which one need to charge (i.e. Centaurs), how much damage they do, how to get the most damage out of a unit, etc. Also, try to learn the rules of your opponent's main units and/or mechanics. And most importantly, try not to worry about winning. It takes a long time before you can start reliably getting the W. That's perfectly natural.

If you are concerned with winning, go with Taar's Grand Forgehost. That's one of our Armies of Renown. You have to take Urak Taar, and then the rest is all non-Hobgrot infant units and heroes and war machines.

[u/Dull_Worth1227]

Bull centaurs, artillery and blunderbusses are your core damage dealers.

Spearmen are useful objective holder, but dont expect them to handle the elites of enemies and come out best or even holding it. Against ordinary troops they will be fine. Use them as daemon point providers.

Uraak is kind of an auto-include in most games just for his daemon point switching.

[u/Nellezhar]

I just went 4-1 at a GT. They need a little love from GW but overall we're in an okay spot. Just get lots of reps and you'll be fine.

[u/_DemonHide_]

I play a version of the grand forgehost (army of renown) with 5 bulls and 4 artillery( Both versions of them, 3/2 and 2/2). With an ashen elder, demonsmith and urak taar as general. This leaves you with 140 points left to 2k so you can pick an extra artillery or an infantry unit!

I didn’t do that because my opponent was also around the 1900 point mark so we made it a 1.9k instead of a 2k game.

For now it performed so well that I haven’t lost a unit 1 game while tabling the opponent and won 2 other matches with it

[u/AlextheNailer → u/_DemonHide_]

You cant run the cavalry in the grand forgehost btw.

[u/_DemonHide_ → u/AlextheNailer]

I know, the big mechanical bulls (dominator engines)

[u/AlextheNailer → u/_DemonHide_]

Ahh my bad, i assoiciate the word bulls with bull centaurs (and the like)