The Hunter Challenge

There has been a lot of talk about balancing games in AoS, and the perceived needs for points values, proper comp, etc.

I'm deliberately not going to look at points or comp, as I am actually quite enjoying the freedom of games without rigid points values, (I know, a kind of heresy), it reminds me a bit of how we used to play 3rd(?) before Warhammer Armies, and I am fortunate enough to play with people who are interested in good games rather than winning games. (That's not to disparage tournament play at all, I have enjoyed building and playing those lists too in the past, it's just clear that AoS isn't really set up for that,band apparently deliberately.)

So, what am I Posting about? Well, I don't yet have a feel for how 'good' all the units are, by a long stretch. I actually like the fact that if my opponent wants to bring a 3 terrogeist list and nothing else, then that's fine - I just want to be able to bring enough to have a reasonable chance of taking them down (and not too much that it's too easy for me, which won't make my opponent happy either, particularly if he paid for and carefully painted 3 of these to have a cool and fear-inducing army that fits his theme. Tbh, if anybody actually takes it now to WAAC and worse, proxies it, I'll happily take anything to table them turn 2 and demonstrate how daft that is in AoS. But that's a different story.)

So, I was thinking about a 'fluffy' standard for getting the measure of other units. At the same time, I was wondering whether in this edition, a lone hunter could take down a thundertusk, like in the fluff. ( they can't, or at least you'd have to be very very lucky, and the attrition rate of hunters would be catastrophic to the fragile work-to-feast ratio ogres - even ogors - operate under).

These two thoughts combined into half an idea - what can a lone hunter take down? 10 skeletons warriors? 2 chaos Knights? 3 silver helms? And if a lone hunter can't take it down alone, how many hunters could?

Given how poorly used my hunters have been in the past (hunters, yes - have 3 currently, cool concept, good conversion potential, poor performance for the points previously) I thought it would also give them an important job, and they might like that after several years on the shelf. So I thought I would share - if people want to contribute, feel free, and we might get a 'hunter-worth' standard; but I also thought the community at large would like to know the answer:

It takes 3 hunters to reasonably reliably take down a Thundertusk. Occasionally all 3 survive. 2 really struggle, but I managed it once.

Obviously in my great hunt, the 'tusk was riderless, so we ignored the riders' attacks (you can do that in AoS, y'know) - we were collecting for training, in the great tradition, not stealing from another tribe! We captured 5 Thundertusks for the loss of about 9 hunters, I think - but bear in mind some were foolish and went in alone/in pairs.

Tonight I will try and capture a stonehorn. I'll tell you how it goes.

My hunter died...bad. Next time he will bring many friends.

My hunter died...bad. Next time he will bring many friends.

Did you use his run/spear special attack?  In combat I think the stonehorn massively stomps him to death, but he is supposed to Hunt, not brawl the stonehorn.  He can avoid combat by not running right at the monster,but run circles around the hunting grounds launching d6 wound shots.  The wounds reduce the stonehorn's charge range.  Granted, there is a risk he misses his first shot and the stonehorn can close the gap and get a charge off immediately...it's a dangerous line of work for a Hunter...the bad ones don't last long.

In combat the Hunter remains pretty disappointing, they're alright but not exactly powerhouses, and a 5+ save means those 7 wounds won't last long.

I think you're best bet would be to run them around behind a screen and throw spears at things, but then, at 4+ to hit it's not exactly a sure bet.
You could use them to pick off wounded monsters with some reliability, but against most monsters with high wounds remaining they're going to be in for a rough time of it.

I had one go toe-to-toe against a scar vet on a carnosaur.  Knocked off 6 wounds with a lucky spear before combat.  The opponent also through in a saurus hero on foot of some sort and tipped the balance, the hunter died but the carnosaur only had 2 wounds remaining.  Wound on 3+ with rerolls of 1 really was nice.