Anvilstrike Tips & FAQ (Updated Nov 19, 2019)

05-21-2019

General Tips against Skaven and Flesheater Courts

Playing against Skaven is all about target priority. Anvilstrike is about laser precision to cut your opponent down at the knees. If you can keep your Longstrikes untouched then you will win the game, even if they are on the objectives first. Skaven with Vortex are the main reason why I bring 2 Incantors - two guaranteed turns of defense against Vortex (and there's no guarantee they make the cast value 8 roll) will give you enough time to shoot down the targets you need. 

Highest priority is to kill their ranged units that can reach Longstrikes. In the situation you described you should be killing their Plague Claws first. The most damage a Plagueclaw can do to your Longstrikes is 6 and that's a very unlikely result but you want to make sure it doesn't happen. Deploy out of their range and then teleport your Longstrikes into range to shoot them down, and make sure your army moves up to screen for them.

Once the catapults are dead the Skaven player must engage you in melee or they'll just keep taking crippling blows with no ability to recover. This is where the Aetherwings step in - when used properly they buy you a turn (or sometimes two) and give you time to shoot more and get the charge you want with Evocators. You always want to fight on your terms - don't let the rats dictate the pace of the game.

Second priority is the objectives. Rule of thumb: you can afford to lose the objectives 2 of 5 rounds, but you must be able to hold them for at least 3 of 5 to win. It is preferably to give up objectives turn 1 because it puts your opponent in a position to give you optimal shooting. If you can, position your Liberator screens such that they enemy can't finish their pile-in on the objective so all they accomplish from charging is putting themselves in range to get hit back by Evocators.

Third priority is support heroes, but it really depends on what value they add. You need to plan ahead - it's not worth killing a Hag if you aren't planning on killing the Witch Aelf block in the next turn. 

Lowest priority is usually the enemy melee units. Heavy hitters can be tied them down with Aetherwings long enough until you clear out the threats to your Longstrikes and let your Evocators get in position.

Playing against FEC is very simple - Terrorgheists should be blocked by Aetherwings and Liberators, then shot/zapped down on your turn. Once the AGKTG are dead there's nothing left to contest your firepower.

05-29-2019

Q: Why Swords over Shackles? Swords can come back to bite you, Shackles are great space creators and charge deniers imo.

A: A few reasons. I have a lot of drops and almost never get to choose the first round turn order so I like having a predatory spell active to act as an insurance policy in case my opponents gets a double turn. Geminids cast on a 7 which is like a coin flip, so having a second predatory endless spell helps ensure something is flying around the battlefield doing damage.

I like the QSS specifically because it helps push more damage against small heroes - the 6" range is good for hitting heroes behind the frontlines like Hags and Battlesmiths. It's not usually enough to kill, but sometimes you activate twice and do the 5 mortal wounds you need to kill a small hero. 

It helps a lot versus the popular Slaanesh, Nurgle, Khorne, and Skaven armies. You can push damage on the greater daemons or even snipe smaller heroes like a Bombadier. If you ever get a game in Chamon against Chaos you will feel very good about taking QSS.

When I have both spells out I push my geminids very far into the enemy and plan my movement so they can never come back to harm me, but also make sure they end in a position that they can do a lot of damage to my enemy if I get to move them. In that situation my opponents usually move the Geminids to minimize their impact so I usually get to move the QSS safely. In the very rare case they DO come back to harm me (like if I want to move the Geminids first) it's only 12 dice doing mw on a 6 - a very low risk of any meaningful damage.

I have tried a lot of different spells and found these two are my favourite combination.

06-10-2019

5-0 Team Tournament Report

Just finished a 16 team GT. I went 5-0 with Anvilstrike and won "MVP", and our team came in 2nd overall (we had a person go 0-5 and another go 1-4 😂). The event was designed to handicap shooting with rounds in Aqshy (all scenery blocks LOS) and Ulgu (12" max range) but it wasn't enough to hinder this list.

I didn't get any photos but my rounds were the following:

1. Slaanesh - Godseekers - 60x Daemonettes, Keeper, 3x Enrapturess - in Aqshy
2. Skaven - 160 Plague Monks (yes, really) 2x Verminlord, 2x Plague Furnace, Vortex
3. FEC - Gristlegore - 2x AGKTG, Regent, Ghoul Patrol, Cogs & Chalice
4. Skaven - 9x Jezzails, clan rats, 2x Verminlord, 2x Hellpit - in Ulgu
5. Gitz - 2x60 Stabbas, buffs, teleports

I played each game slow and careful, never overextending - I always let my opponent make the first move and then counterattack. The list works because it functions off denying my opponent options. Aetherwings stop melee, 2x dispel scroll stops spells, and good deployment + teleport gives me the upper hand against shooting. I purposefully keep my list with lots of drops so I can deploy my wizards, Longstrikes, and Evocators very late so I have all the information I need to have an optimal deployment.

I'll do a short writeup of each game.

Game 1 - Focal Points vs Slaanesh

This was definitely my hardest match of the day. I have a long history with this opponent so I knew not to underestimate him AND it was with that damned Aqshy realmscape.

I deployed my wizards out of range of unbinding and my Longstrikes in range to shoot some daemonettes in the first hero phase if he made me go first. That's exactly what happened - turn 1 I shot 30 Daemonettes off the table and maintained my defensive position, only moving aetherwings to the middle to score. He cast a Pendulum that would eventually reach my Longstrikes then moved up carefully keeping his heroes in terrain so they couldnt be shot (realmscape blocks all LOS), captured the middle (I moved my Aetherwings back to prepare for a double turn) and tried to get a double turn. Score was 4-4.

Unfortunately for him I won the roll so I moved my units back, killed the other 30 daemonettes with Evocators, and teleported 5 liberators onto an objective he left a little too exposed. I moved my Longstrikes a little bit too far backwards and wasn't able to stop his Keeper from charging with my Aetherwings, so he killed some Liberators and 2/3 Aetherwings. I positioned well enough to keep him off my objective even if the unit died, though. Score was now 10-8.

I won the roll for turn 3, shot his keeper down and left him with only 4 heroes on the board, capturing 4 of 5 objectives. He summoned 30 daemonettes and tried to make a 9" charge into my backline but didn't get the roll. He summoned 20 daemonettes on the other side and charged them into my Incantor, but he wasn't able to get the objective because of the spirit flasks and aetherwings splitting his attacks. Bottom of 3 the Score was 16-9, and it was now impossible for him to win. I lost two units of Liberators, 1 unit of Aetherwings, and a Knight-Incantor.

Game 2 - 160 Plague Monks on Total Commitment

He deployed 1 Plague Furnace on each side, 40 on one side, Warpseer + 40 + Corruptor in the middle, and 80 on the other side (near a gnawhole). Gnawholes were near both of my objectives. I deployed in the middle but leaned towards the side he went heavy on, with only Liberators and Aetherwings defending one objective. He went first, failed to cast the cogs, I used a dispel scroll on the Vortex, moved the Corruptor towards the weak flank, teleported 40 monks through the gnawhole and failed the charge. Knowing that I couldn't do any meaningful damage until all his battleshock immunity was gone I prioritized killing the Warpseer. I didn't realize he had the 5+ shrug command trait and my first volley only did 4 wounds. I wasn't confident in the next volley so I moved my Evocators up to get the killing blow if necessary. Unfortunately for me the Longstrikes swung very high and he failed almost every roll, so the Warpseer died and my Evocators were left exposed. I tried to charge the Plague Monks but failed. They were definitely dead if I lost the turn roll.

He won the turn 2 roll, failed the Vortex, charged my Evocators with two units of monks, but a long Aetherwing move (10") was able to block a flank and stop them from being wiped out entirely. I was able to keep 4 Evocators alive, denied the other unit from being able to reach me, and wiped the first unit of Plague Monks because they had no battleshock immunity. He failed to charge up a 7" wall with his Corruptor on the other side. He wasn't able to get enough bodies on my objective so the score was still tied. On my turn I started focusing fire on the second unit of Plague Monks to clear them off and teleported some liberators onto the objective they were holding. I killed the furnace with Evocators and pulled ahead in score.

He won round 3 roll but couldn't really do much of anything. His corruptor failed to kill my Liberators (in cover with the -1 hit realmscape) and his last unit of plague monks was tied down by Aetherwings. The game was over. I only lost 1 unit of Aetherwings, 3 Liberators, and 6 Evocators.

Game 3 - Gristlegore - Gift from the Heavens in Shyish

Not much to say about this one, probably my easiest game of the day. I have a lot of practice against Gristlegore + Ghoul Patrol so I knew exactly how to handle it. He finished deploying first and chose to go first. 

I deployed >2" back so he couldn't charge me on turn 1 without using his run&charge spell, which I denied with my dispel scroll. I also used a scroll on Unholy Vitality, and was able to get a regular unbind against the cogs. He ran his two terrorgheists up the middle of the board, used all his summons immediately to put a Vhargulf and flayers on one of my flanks (guarded by Evocators with Liberators in front) and deployed his ghoul patrol on the other flank (guarded by Aetherwings and Liberators). He failed his charges on the former and I tied down the latter with Aetherwings. On my turn I shot the general off the table and took the other one down to 2 wounds remaining. I killed all of his flayers and vharghulf with one round of attacks from the Evacators, and moved Liberators up to block ghouls. 

I won the round 2 roll. Going first I teleported Libs onto his objective and killed everything except 2x10 Ghouls and the regent, so he conceded. I only lost my Aetherwings in this game.

Game 4 - Skaven - Places of Arcane Power in Ulgu 

This was an opponent I had practiced with before the event. His list was 9x Jezzails + Bombadier, 2x Hellpit Abominations, Warpseer, Corruptor, and 40/40/20 clan rats. Normally the 9x Jezzail unit presents a problem since it has a longer threat range than Longstrikes, but unfortunately for him the game was in Ulgu with 12" max range realmscape.

He deployed the Corruptor on one side, hellpit and 40 rats on the other, and everything else in the middle. I was expecting him to go second since he deployed his Jezzails slightly back, so I put my Azyros on the side without any of his heroes, Evocators in the middle, and my Incantors out of his unbinding range (he doesnt have Vortex in his list)... but then he decided to go first. He pushed his hellpit on the middle objective and followed it with the Warpseer behind to claim it, then ran6 with clan rats to make a screen but because of the scenery he wasn't able to get up far enough. He had nothing in range for his Jezzails so he ran them forward. 

On my turn I teleported my Longstrikes up >9" from his clan rats and was able to get 7 in range to shoot the Warpseer. Azyros took the left objective with a screen of Aetherwings ready to stop the hellpit next turn, the Evocators charged into the middle and took down the hellpit. Between Longstrikes and Evocator lightning I was able to take down the Warpseer. I charged the second unit of Aetherwings into the Jezzails flank so they wouldnt be able to shoot the Evocators. Score was tied 2-2.

I won the roll for turn and the writing was on the wall - I took almost everything off the table, leaving him with only his Corruptor (holding an objective) and Bombadier. He conceded after my turn was over saying he couldn't even try to score secondary objectives.

Game 5 - Gloomspite Gitz - Blood & Glory in Ghyran

Another player I have a long history playing against, but with a very different list from what she usually brings. It was 2x60 Stabbaz, 1x10 Fanatics, Gobbopalooza, only 2 heroes (Madcap + Fungoid), Loonsplatta Fanatics, and Snufflers. I didn't know what the goal of this list was going to be but I guessed that it probably involved Hand of Gork'ing a fully buffed unit of Stabbaz and unleashing some Fanatics to deal some huge damage. She deployed all her support units behind the Loonshrine, flanked by 1x60 Stabbaz on each side. I put Liberators and Aetherwings on one side to deny Hand of Gork, Gryph Hound in the middle with Longstrikes (fanatics would not survive deploying in range of the gryph hound) and my last deployment was a Heraldor in reserve. Suddenly recalling what the Heraldor does, her face sunk and she immediately regretted deploying her entire army in range of the Loonshrine.

I was told to go first. Knowing the mission, there was no incentive for me to be aggressive so I kept my deployment, cast some Geminids up ahead and took some shots across to start thinning goblins. I dropped the heraldor into play in range of the shrine and put some Aetherwings in front of him - this forced my opponent to come forward, but risked very little even in the event of a double turn. Heraldor blast killed one of the Gobbopalooza and severely wounded the other support heroes and I ended my turn.

My opponent moved her support units away from the shrine and the stabbaz up the middle of the board. In the charge phase she decided not to deploy fanatics and I moved my Aetherwings away from the stabbaz, putting my heraldor >12" away and not even giving her the chance to declare a charge. With this one simple move I was able to shut down an entire turn for my opponent! 

She won the roll for turn and after I gave both Stabbaz units -1 hit she buffed up her units (including spending two command points to use the Loonboss command ability on both Stabbaz units) and moved her Stabbaz and Squigs up for a charge against the Heraldor. She decided not to deploy the Fanatics (wise decision, they would just get tied down with Aetherwings shot down in my turn). The stabbaz were both tied down by one unit of Aetherwings, but the Squigs managed a 12" charge and did 3 wounds to the Heraldor.

On my second turn I shot down the Fungoid general and prepared for a big charge against the Stabbaz. I moved the gryph hound and longstrikes up to cover one unit of Stabbaz (if she deployed Fanatics they would get shot) and a unit of Aetherwings up on the other unit (so the Fanatics could not be deployed) and the Evocators were able to charge without getting caught into a combat with Fanatics. I was able to pile in 2 Evocators in range of the Evocators and used the lightning blast to finish them off.

At this point we realized that she had been using the Loonboss command ability incorrectly - it did not activate in the hero phase, but in the combat phase, and it only lasted for that phase. Her entire strategy revolved around accepting a charge and counterattacking with buffed up Stabbaz. She decided to concede rather than playing it out, though I am confident that the result would have been the same.

07-01-2019

Q: I think Sylvaneth is a pretty good hard counter to your list. Luckily their book hasnt arrived yet

Hasn't been my experience. Sylvaneth are a melee army, and like all other melee armies they just get tied down by Aetherwings and shot/blasted down by the Longstrikes and Evocators.

They have the woods to block sight but the mortal wound output between evocators, geminids, heraldor, and even Stormcaller they can't camp in the woods forever. The Aetherwings and Incantors stop them from being effective in the woods so they have to eventually leave to accomplish anything, and if they leave the woods then they get shot off the table. Any list with Alarielle loses almost automatically because she can't use the woods to block sight.

07-03-2019

Q: How do you perform against Nurgle? Do you go for the 2 block of 30 Plaguebearers at all or do you shoot down the 3 great unclean ones first? After all they give -2 to hit against shooting.

Plaguebearers should be ignored, they don't do anything but take up space. Also worth noting that Plaguebearers -Hit ability only works in the shooting phase (and combat phase) so it will have no effect on your hero phase actions.

Always kill the GUOs first - a 3d3 plaguewind is the only threat in the Nurgle army. You should be able to deny the first 2 casts if you have 2 Incantors, but they need to be dead before they try to cast a third.

07-18-2019

Q: Out of curiosity , whats your gameplan against a plague monk spam or a 9 [Jezzails] spam?

A: Plague Monks are a slow melee unit with paper thin defenses. Don't let them get the charge on any unit that matters and you'll be fine. Try not to engage them with melee weapons since you'll take a bunch of mortal wounds back (evocator lightning blast avoids this ability since it's not a melee weapon). Avoid killing them in melee altogether if they have Death Frenzy - it's worth using a dispel scroll on Frenzy if you plan on engaging them in melee.

Q: I met a player briging 9 Jezzails and 3 WLC. Whats the priority here?

A: When I play Anvilstrike, or any list with any reliance on shooting like Thunderquake or Lofnir, the priority is to always be winning the ranged war because that's how you win the 5 round objective game. You need to make sure your shooting is unmolested while their shooting is disrupted. You can do this either by superior positioning, like keeping key units out of sight/range of their shooting, heavily reducing effectiveness by debuffing, or by prioritizing killing their shooting units without risking the loss of your own.

Longstrike vs Jezzail the advantage goes to Longstrikes because you can either deploy them out of range or off the table, then teleport/drop where you need to be in order to shoot the Jezzails. Lists with 9x Jezzails typically lack the bodies to completely zone you out of shooting range. If their positioning is exceptional and you can't kill the Jezzails then make sure you charge into them to tie down their shooting for at least a round (Aetherwings are great for this since they have a 12" fly move and a small footprint).

Shooting vs Shooting is a very difficult matchup and Stormcast have a tremendous advantage over other armies because of our unique positioning tools.

07-26-2019

Q: Given a choice between the spellweaver and incantor , is there any real reason to take the incantor. Both have auto dispel, but the incantor can suicide charge into a horde for mw output i suppose. Is it worth the extra 40, when all we're doing is casting endless spells with em most of the time?

A: This is actually something I have been thinking about lately, and ultimately it depends what you are going to do with that hero and what the rest of your list looks like. Here's a bunch of random thoughts with no particular sequence:

• If you have no realm spells or endless spells then the Spellweaver isn't casting anything except Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield, which is a poor use of 100pt.
• Keywords are also important here - only STORMCAST heroes can activate the command abilities from Stormhosts.
• Allied units can't take artefacts, can't be put in reserve with Scions, and can't benefit from most of our abilities
• Spirit Flasks is not worth 40 points on its own but it's a good ability - doing 3d3 mw can swing a combat in your favour. If you are going to die you may as well drop the flasks.
• 3+ save won't save you against any significant damage, but the 3+ save is handy when you have that hero holding an objective and there is light damage or shooting coming your way. Reliably killing a 3+ save hero requires more than just some chaff units. 

I think if If you already have 1 Incantor and plan on casting Geminids or a realm spell every turn then you can bring a Spellweaver. In a list like Anvilstrike you really need that STORMCAST keyword to activate the command ability.

10-04-2019

Q: How do you play the Longshot ability?

A: I play Longstrikes with 30" range in the hero phase. I used to play it 24" because I wasn't certain about the ruling and decided to take a more conservative approach, but I have been convinced otherwise.

"Add 6" to the Range characteristic of this unit’s Longstrike Crossbows if this unit did not move in the movement phase of the same turn."

The way the ability is worded the 6" bonus range is always active unless you do the specific action to disable it.

Since it does not specify "in the shooting phase" then it is active in all phases, even if the hero phase comes before the movement phase. It may seem strange at first, but warscroll abilities break the normal rules of the game quite frequently. 

10-23-2019

How to completely avoid any kind of outflank charge with Aetherwings:

1. Deploy your army tight and put aetherwings on both flanks of your army. 
2. Put Liberators as a secondary screen behind the Aetherwings, but make sure these Liberators are 4" from the frontline of the Aetherwings
3. The enemy drops into play >9" from your Aetherwings in the movement phase
4. At the start of the enemy charge phase move your Aetherwings

• If you roll average (7+) then you can move your Aetherwings within 3" of the enemy unit - now they can't declare a charge at all and spend their combat phase fighting some throwaway birds
• If you roll low (3-6) then move the Aetherwings away from your enemy. If you did this correctly, there should be no units within 12" of the enemy - now they can't declare a charge at all and they spend their combat phase doing nothing.. Consider doing this even if you roll 7+, as you can keep your Aetherwings alive and use them again later.
• If you roll a 2 then move the Aetherwings back towards the Liberators but position in such a way that they can't fit their models between the Aetherwings and the Liberators. They can charge you, but they will spend their combat phase fighting only Aetherwings. 

There are other parts to consider, like how they can fail their charges and how to position a counterattack unit like Evocators based on the enemy weapon range.

10-23-2019

Q: I'd be very interested to hear more from you on how you tend to play Anvilstrike lists in the current meta - I apologize, as I know you've done a fair few write-ups and tournament reports in the past, but analysis from players who have been running the list successfully isn't always easy to come by. I know smart Aetherwing usage is pretty much the make-or-break factor in determining your results, but any other info you could provide on how you tend to approach deployment would be super helpful. It sounds like when you're up against anyone with a potential deepstrike, you favor a very castle-y deployment which heavily screens your Longstrikes - would that change much against a fast alpha-strike army like Slaanesh/DoK, or against a horde army like Skaven/Gitz? Which units do you tend to keep on the board, and which do you tend to keep in reserve for a deepstrike?

Also, having asked that, I'm curious - it sounds like when played well, Anvilstrike is a good counter to a lot of the stronger meta choices (Slaanesh, FEC, DoK). What would you say our worst matchups are? My instincts tell me it would be either hordes that you just don't have enough damage to whittle down in time. Maybe Fyreslayers, just because they can tank so much damage (at least, until you can kill all their heroes)?

A: Deployment is key. You want your dispel scrolls in range of wizards with spells that can threaten your Longstrikes and you want to wait to drop Longstrikes until near the end (but plan ahead so you dont run out of room).

If there is any kind of threat of a turn 1 charge I use a castle deployment. If I don't think my enemy will come that quickly I tend to make sure I deploy Longstrikes within 30" of some kind of useful target. I have a picture here from my last GT (sorry it's blurry) where I was playing against a deepkin Soulscryer list on Duality of Death. You can see the Aetherwings on both flanks ready to intercept the outflank charge, with Liberators on either side just in case. Then I put my Evocators and Longstrikes in the center of that pile, knowing deepkin have no way to pile in and attack again.

Against Slaanesh or FEC I would make sure the Evocators are behind the Liberators, possibly even out of range of a double tap to ensure their safety. Ideally you want to have the Evocators within 3" so they can pile in during the enemy turn, then use the anvils CA to pile them in during the hero phase immediately, but that's only useful if you can be sure that they won't hit your Evocators with their second pile-in. It's fine to lose Aetherwings and Liberators if it means you can fight first with Evocators later.

Against DOK I would put my Evocators further up because they are a slow melee army and can't stop me from fighting first on the charge. 

The worst matchups are long range mortal wounds that can hit the Longstrikes and Evocators before they get hit first. Jezzails are a tricky unit to deal with, Seraphon teleporting wizards in range to throw Pendulums through the army is a problem, and I suspect some COS lists (Hallowheart and Greywater notably) to a threat.

I would say all matchups against melee armies are favourable for Anvilstrike, most magic armies are not an issue because we can easily pack in 2+ dispel scrolls, and even most ranged lists are not a problem because Longstrikes have such a ridiculous threat range. Fyreslayers aren't really a problem because we can use the precision fire of Longstrikes to take down their heroes and make the hearthguard just another slow melee unit. Everyone plays the same Hermdar list with 30 Hearthguard, but I am much more concerned about the Lofnir shooting lists... thankfully they are exceedingly rare.

11-19-2019

Q:

1) How do we play against new IJ? They are super mobile, and their damage potential is insane. 

2) Deployment - Should we always build a castle or spread forces out? If we spread - how to do it without loosing longstrikes asap

3) Can Aetherwings use their ability when they are in combat? I thinkk yes but not sure 100%

1)  Same way you play against any other melee army - tie them down with Aetherwings, shoot their key targets with Longstrikes, and counterattack with Evocators/Desolators. If you can keep your melee hammer alive you will win, since their mortal wounds cut through Ironjawz like butter.

Ironjawz cant fight first or fight twice and they don't have the durability of DOK, so it's actually easier than a lot of other matchups. Just watch out for their hero phase teleport (use a dispel scroll on this to cripple their mobility) and plan around their chain pile-ins if they wipe a unit. Be sure you tie down their biggest hitters (huge units of ardboyz, gruntas, maw-krushas) with aetherwings so they cant pile in to the rest of your army.

2) If you are playing against any kind of aggressive list that can reach you on turn 1 you should use a castle deployment. Ironjawz, Slaanesh, FEC, Idoneth, etc. If they cant reach you on the first turn you can deploy more aggressively, keeping units in reserve to drop on any objectives they leave open (or you can clear in the hero phase).

3) Yes, Aetherwings move 2d6" with zero restrictions at the start of the opponents charge phase

Q: How do you protect your Raptors against magic? I just had some quite bad matches against Tzeentch and Hallowheart and my Raptors were almost wiped turn one. My knight-incantors were outranged through spellportals both times.

I bring 2 Incantors in my list.

The main threat from Hallowheart is that it does a lot of AOE damage through Chain Lightning, Luminark attack, Roaming Wildfire, Geminids, Comet, etc.. If you try to castle up youll end up taking 5d3 mortal wounds on the first turn and quickly lose the game. Their spells are far less potent when they only damage single units.

All their damage comes from their wizards and for the most part you have a longer shooting range than they have casting range. While they can cast the Spellportal far in the back and use its infinite setup range to cast outside of your dispel scroll range, remember there are other limitations on it:

1. Only one spell per turn can come through the portal, so the damage it can deal is limited. They will usually only deal D3 mortal wounds through the portal.

2. Endless Spells cannot be set up through the portal when initially cast, and any Endless Spells that come through the portal do not immediately do any damage.

3. The wizard has to be near the portal - if they deploy a wizard at the very back out of your range then that wizard is doing almost nothing else in that battle

Deployment is key. If you know they have the choice of taking the first turn, make sure you deploy your key units out of range of the majority of their offensive magic. Keep your units spread and focus your shooting on taking down their wizards. Do not engage their Phoenix Guard - let them crawl across the table and do nothing for the first 1 or 2 turns.

If you can't deploy such that your Incantors are in unbinding range of all their wizards then you can deploy your Longstrikes in reserve on the first turn and drop them into play. If they have the Everblaze Comet you need to watch where they deploy their Stormcast wizards and make sure your Incantors are within 30" and your Longstrikes are >36" away.

This is actually one of the advantages of having so many drops - you can see where your opponent is setting up their units so you can get a perfect counter deployment.

If you position properly you can hit their wizards before they cast too many spells and you should be able to win the 5 round game.