RARE CHOICE:
Black Winged Riders of Doom: 75pts each
[0-2 per army]
Code: Select all
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Doomrider: - 5 5 4 4 2 5 1 9
Champion*: - 5 6 4 4 2 5 2 9
Dark Pegasus: 8 4 - 4 - - 4 2 -
Unit size: 3-10
Equipment: Spear, Light Armour
Options:
- may upgrade light armour to heavy armour for 3pts per model
- may choose one of the following for the whole unit:
repeater handbows for 5pts per model
repeater crossbows for 8pts per model
- may have shields for 3pts per model, however the unit may not use any missile weapons.
- may swap spears for lances for 4pts per model, however the unit may not use any missile weapons.
- if a unit has lances, shields and heavy armour, they may take sea dragon cloaks for +5pts per model.
Command:
- may upgrade one model to Musician for 12pts
- may upgrade one model to Standard Bearer for 24pts
- may upgrade one model to Champion for 36pts
- Champion may take up to 25 points worth of magic items.
- unit may carry a 25pt magic banner
Special Rules: Flying Cavalry, Horned charge#
*Champion name title suggestions: Malevolent Terror, Hellcraver, Overseer of Souls, Defiler of Souls, Abyssal Persecutor
(you can thank a combination of my own ideas, a thesaurus and MTG website for these titles!)
# forgot the correct dark pegasus special rule title that gives +1 strength to the pegusi on the charge...
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NOTES: ok, heres a sort of '1st draft' based on the initial rules and debate I layed out above: I thought that people should be able to customise their riders somewhat and thought it'd be cool if both shades (as 'scouting' doomriders) and the more aggresive/hardy 'knight-like' soldiery were used to fill the ranks of doomrider units.
Hence I allowed somewhat of a split between the 2 styles with lots of chances for flexiability:
- shade doomriders: options to make good use of the BS value (I raised it to 5) and can swoop in to polish off enemies in combat if needed with 3 S5 attacks. Option to increase the armous save (initially only 5+) with buying shields because they are fragile - however, perhaps if you get good with using them, they wouldnt need to be bought...
- the 'knightly' riders: options to take lances and heavy armour - make the most of the S4 and also have options for heavy armour too. Of course they can't take missile weapons though.
- finally, you could just merely use the riders at their cheapest - they do pack a heck of a punch (3 str5 attacks per model) but suffer from only a 5+ armour save so use them wisely!
My thoughts now:
still not sure about the S6 attacks - think maybe I should drop the doomriders str stat to 5? On the other hand I do want them to be on par with cold one knights. I'm also wondering about the Ld9... Theyre also super expensive, but I think thats appropriate:
Peg Knights for Brettonians are 55pts each but the doomriders have steeds that give S5 on charges, have WS5 (+1 from bretts), BS5 and the ability to use missile weapons, S4 (+1 from bretts), I5 (+1 from bretts), and Ld9 (+1 from bretts) - hence I waned to to make them +30 points more as standard.
However to protect them I wanted an armour save that would be able to protect them a little better - hence options for sheilds and heavy armour - and, for the grandest of elite (to represent those nobles whose combat prowess is a step below that of a master...) the chance to wear Sea Dragon Cloaks. By this point though the models are very expensive and the person choosing the unit has a tricky way to play them: keep them alive and save them for the right moment to strike...
They can't take units on their own as unless playing HUGE games, most players will only be taking 3 of them (225pts with no upgrades) which means 9 Strength 5 attacks: good yes, but they can't negate ranks and will doubtfully outnumber and to take a standard bearer is expensive...
Basically I wanted this unit to only feature in armies of 3k or more, but not to be limited to only that. They could be potentially game winning as they are highly manouvrable - can certainly threated even 'hard' enemy units - particularly if charging the flank of knight units, kroxigors, ogres etc who form thin lines. However they are very fragile - unless upgraded with the full armour. Even then the unit is equivalent to 6 cold one knights (albeit with T4...)
I do enjoy the concept of being able to use the unit as Dark Rider support however and the options to take missiles at the expense of extra combat punch and protection from enemy missiles/magic. They do still pack a very large punch, but do so at the expense of cost (each model is nealy 3 times the cost of a cold one knight).
Finally, I wanted them to of course be RARE, but also having the option for up to 2 units would allow players the chance to field different combinations of the 2 (3 if you include the basic/no upgrades models) variants in one army.
However, I think the unit is massively open to abuse: being able to stick a BSB Master with the Hydra Banner and/or coupled with a Cauldron would make the unit VERY capable of taking on enemy units one on one - even with only 3 models.
Saying that, it would be very cool to have a unit for our Pegasus mounted Masters to join during games so I don't want to stop characters joining them.
I'm thus thinking about having a rule that suggests that Battle Standard Bearers may not join units of Doomriders... The hydra banner is much more powerful version of the cauldron's +1 attack as it affects mounts too. And in this unit, the mounts are as deadly as the riders...
Whatcha think? Anyone???!
- Beanz