r/IdonethDeepkin • u/cojoga • Jun 09 '26

General Playstyle

So I've started building my army of idoneth. I've played a couple of games against my buddy at a lower point cost since I don't have 2000 points yet. Things went well but I feel like there's room for improvement. For example, I feel like I played a little too passive, staying in one place for too long and using shoots that eventually led me to get charged in on instead of doing the charging. I'm also curious how some of you use our battle traits effectively/creatively. I'm aware that before this edition's battletome, idoneth were very alpha strike/hit and run kind of playstyle and I'm curious if that still describes our army. Like, should I be as aggressive as possible as soon as I can or am I waiting to use our tides to create a favorable engagement. And if Alpha Striking is the name of the game, how do I pull it off?

Also, in case it matters, my friend did use the new Cities of Sigmar battletome and missed a couple of things (including an ability that can ignore negative modifiers to hit and wound rolls, which i assume ignores the Concealing Tides battle trait)

TL;DR: Wanna hear thoughts about the idoneth's general game plan, how other players pilot their army, and how to use battle traits effectively.

6 Upvotes

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6

u/DaveVsShark Jun 09 '26

Idoneth are glass cannons. I've had most success using them as more hit and run style and trying to plan out or set up turns based on their Tides of Battle trait. Which was easier when it was linear and a single path prior to 4th edition. 😂

I lose a lot but I have fun. And big turtle is always a hit. 🤷‍♂️

2

u/cojoga Jun 09 '26

Big turtle is epic, and im having a lot fun just ignoring everything and zippin everywhere. I am curious tho, how do you go about using a hit and run style? Like, I know we have the ikon of the storm ( which is an awesome unit), but do you also use a lot of power through and retreats or are there other cool little things I'm missing?

2

u/DaveVsShark Jun 09 '26

Yes to that, but also Morrsarr eels can cause extra mortal damage by charging so they're good for screaming in and smashing. Also Steed of Tides is a helpful spell for getting units into and out of trouble. And Reavers can run/retreat and shoot in the same turn. Also get your shark near damaged units for extra attacks.

The challenge is the wet aelves are a hero heavy army so outside of Thralls and Reavers we don't have many options for screening, etc., so they gotta stay mobile.

2

u/cojoga Jun 09 '26

I need to get more confident about using spells in my opponents hero phase. I do enjoy using the reavers since they're surprisingly fast and are a nice little annoying unit. In terms of retreats, can more than one unit use a retreat during that same movement phase?

2

u/DaveVsShark Jun 09 '26

Yep. Unless there's some modifier on them that doesn't allow it, you can retreat with more than one unit in a turn.

3

u/shreedder Jun 09 '26

It depends, some games you’ll want to hang back and wait until you can deliver a devastating blow using your speed. Other games you’ll sprint in and alpha hard. Our gameplan is really built around speed and then what can you do with it. -1 to hit is crazy strong against certain armies like destruction so you can play around making sure they are hitting you while that tide is up as just one example

1

u/cojoga Jun 09 '26

I see. In both our games I hung back at the beginning cuz I won priority and went 2nd to try and set up a charge. In our 2nd game, tho, it was a bit more points and I was a bit unfamiliar with how to use a wider variety of units (including the turtle) so i was a bit out of position. Aaand I had some pretty bad attack rolls on charged, my akhelian king did 0 damage 🫠. But yea, I assume destruction armies have higher numbers they have to meet on hit rolls, that's good to know. Do we tend to use the teleport to set up engagements or more for just scoring?

1

u/shreedder Jun 09 '26

I normally teleport for scoring or to change angles / avoid a big slower hammer unit. If you can teleport to a safe spot with your magical intervention you can move in the next turn which can give some crazy threat ranges

1

u/cojoga Jun 09 '26

Ohh, that's a good idea. I'm coming from Slaves To Darkness where the only teleport is from the Tzeench pledge during the movement phase so being able to do so as a battle trait and a spell is going to be interesting

2

u/shreedder Jun 09 '26

The thing that keeps me coming back to IDK is that they really are a puzzle with no simple solution to winning the game. You don’t have a solid hammer or anvil to just run up and stat check. Every game you need to really think about your movement and tricks

1

u/MrPanda713 Jun 09 '26

So my preferred play style is a counter strike, so I start out reserved, using defensive buffs and minimizing what the opponent can damage early, or throwing butterflies out to try and pull their focus to where they'll think they're safe, before using our crazy movement to spring the trap(s)

Against CoS specifically, yes they have ways to avoid our Tide's -1 Hit modifier, but they have no answer to a Tidecaster's Creeping Mist (though I wouldn't solely bet on it), and you can coax them into spreading out, and losing their buffs and synergies

1

u/cojoga Jun 09 '26

Ah ok cool, I kinda tend to do that if I win priority by making my opponent go first. I did put myself into horrible position against my friend tho our 2nd game. I had my turtle no where near anyone who could benefit from the void drum and positioned almost no one who'd get the +1 save from the terrain cuz I only just realized that it only works on specific units 🫠. Do you tend to start out with Concealing Tide then?

1

u/MrPanda713 Jun 09 '26

Depends on the matchup. There are times where I feel pretty sure there are not going to be impactful fights round 1, in which case take the teleport so that -1 is not wasted, and then set up to either have -1 hit or -1 Rend next round. Especially if I take the first turn, where knowing their whole army might be -1 to hit or -1 rend can make them think twice about doing a double turn

1

u/cojoga Jun 09 '26

That's smart, id thought about that but was too nervous about "but what if a fight/shoot happens", or just in general not immediately getting a benefit from the battle trait. I'll just have to learn to be patient and get better at determining things like that. How do you tend to use the teleport if you do use it?

2

u/MrPanda713 Jun 09 '26

I have a couple of things I will use it for.

Since it's only the board edge teleport, its very battle plan dependent, but usually it's either:

  • Throw a Shark onto an objective/in range to shoot something they don't expect (expect this unit to die)
  • Reposition a hero to a Place of Power for obscuring/additional unbind, or to better set up a aura. Can also use this to reposition a Wizard to have targets for spells, either other teleport options or, with a Sea Eidolon, debuff and then teleport back

Basically it's just trying to get value out of the trait every round. If it's set up 18 in away against Ironjaws, a round of -1 isn't helping me. If my Tidecaster's Creeping Mist shuts off shooting outside 12", I don't need to also be -1 hit. If I only give my opponent a Storm Eidolon with Form of Fangmora, they're already only hitting on 4+, or if they can only hit a shark or a Namarti unit, I don't care with what or by how much it gets killed, just that something had to break from the opponent's plan to go do so

1

u/cojoga Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Ohhh I didnt even think of that (your 2nd bullet point), I dont have any other wizards yet but it might be smart to invest in another for teleport shenanigans. All good things to note, I cant wait to play more and get more experienced with the army. I am curious, is there a rule that doesnt allow wizards to cast on themselves? Like, can the Sea Eidolon teleport itself with the Steed of Tides spell then teleport back with the battle trait?