The D.R.A.I.C.H. Boot Camp – Champions

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

Moderators: Layne, The Dread Knights

Post Reply
User avatar
Calisson
Corsair
Corsair
Posts: 8820
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:00 pm
Location: Hag Graef

The D.R.A.I.C.H. Boot Camp – Champions

Post by Calisson »

Last edited by Calisson on Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Calisson
Corsair
Corsair
Posts: 8820
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:00 pm
Location: Hag Graef

Post by Calisson »

1. Eight Week – Graduation Ceremony -Champions.

“And the winner is…”

What is the use for champions?
First, obvious use is that they fight better.
Second use, linked to the first, is to concentrate more attacks in a small front rank.
Third use is to take challenges.
Fourth use is to bring some specific benefits to the whole unit.
Ultimately, we will combine everything.

As usual, we will try to find out whether the contemplated use is worth the cost. However, most of the time, it is not feasible because the cost is too hard to quantify.


Fighting efficiency.
Well, this argument does not hold very long against scrutiny.
Usually a champion costs twice as much as a rank-and-file.
For that price, you get usually just one more attack.
Paying for one more rank-and-file would grant you one more attack as well, but also the ability to take one more wound.
When the attacks are not very efficient, it is usually more important to have 1 more wound available.
Usually the fighting efficiency is not sufficient to justify the cost of a champion.

Fighting concentration.
If the above mentioned rank-and-file is positioned in a rear rank, his attack is not doing any good.
When you count on your attacks to generate as much active combat resolution (ACR) as possible, then one additional attack counts. This is all the more interesting as we get the hatred re-roll to increase the effectiveness of our attacks. If it is combined with either high strength or KB, then one more attack is worth having.

Some champions may increase their efficiency with magic-objects or Khaine’s gifts:
- WE champ can take up to 25pts of Khaine’s gifts
- COK champ may take 25pts of magic objects
- BG champ may take 25pts magic objects
- Kouran may replace the BG champ
- Tullaris may replace the Execs champ.

We will examine whether the cost is well spent.

Taking challenges.
The most important role for a champion is the ability to accept challenges. This allows either:
- to spare the life of several rank-and-files (same CR, but more survivors and possibly numeric superiority kept, hence no immediate autobreak from fear-causing monsters),
- to spare one weak character the attacks from a powerful challenger ,
- to allow a character to kill many rank-and-files and generate much more ACR than against a heavily armoured challenger,
- to allow a character to attack an opposing character who would have liked to escape him (a magician, a BSB).
This role is invaluable; it depends on the value of the characters killed/spared thanks to the champion’s sacrifice.
Of course, the more expansive the champion, the higher the cost of the sacrifice. It tends to keep the champions to the minimum pts.
Usually, when a unit shelters a character, it is of uttermost importance to take a champion. This single use justifies amply the cost of a “mundane” champion.

Winning challenges.
There is a different role for some champions in challenges: the very innovative idea is here to actually win the challenge instead of just getting killed on behalf of someone else!
- WE champ with the Dark Venom of challenges (and possibly the Cry of War of reducing combat ability)
- Tullaris and his Sacred Executioner’s challenge technique.
This will work better against reasonably weak challengers. You would not be happy to send Tullaris against an ASF monster-mounted hero.
We will try to determine how cost-effective it is.

Benefits to the unit.
Some champions may bring specific benefits to the unit:
- WE champ can take Witchbrew as gift of Khaine
- COK champ and BG champ may take Gem of fear, Pearl of ITP, Ring of miscasts, Null shard.
- Kouran makes BG unbreakable
- Tullaris makes Execs fear-causing.
In this case, you need to preserve the champion’s life! This time, you need to have another designated challenger, a cheap master or an assassin. Two exceptions, this is not necessary with the Witchbrew or the Gem, they keep working after the champion’s death.
We will compare the costs to other ways to get the same result.

Hiding the forest behind the tree. (thanks Dyvim Tvar for the reminder)
An important point to remember about champions is that wounds inflicted on a champion in close combat do not carry over onto rank and file models. Putting your champion on the end of a single line can keep multiple rank & files from being killed in the event the unit is flank charged. The same principle applies if your unit is front charged and you lined the unit up in a Congo line.

Combination of factors.
If one single factor is often not enough to justify the cost of a champion, a combination of several factors, as long as all of them are genuinely useful, is usually enough to justify the cost.
Last edited by Calisson on Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:05 pm, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
Calisson
Corsair
Corsair
Posts: 8820
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:00 pm
Location: Hag Graef

Post by Calisson »

2. Review of the champions.

For each unit able to bring up a champion, we compute the cost of the champion and the number of attacks, expressed in % of the rank-and-file.
We look at fighting efficiency, fighting concentration, taking challenges, winning challenges, benefits to the unit and the combination of all these factors.

2.1. Shielded warriors
The cost of the champion is 186% and the number of attacks is 200% of the rank-and-file. It seems a very good bargain… until you realize that they don’t kill much of anything anyhow. Cost-efficient maybe, but still not efficient. The only use of a champion is to take a challenge. It is useful only if the unit shelters a character, who may be an assassin. If there is no character, don’t take it and have one more rank-and-file instead or something more useful.

2.2. Unshielded Warriors
Exactly the same except that the champion costs 200% of the r&f.

2.3. MXB
The champ is very cheap: he costs 1.5 MXB. But he does not provide twice as many shots! The improved shooting accuracy is just compensating for the cost in standard conditions (-2 to shoot). It begins to be cost-effective only in more difficult conditions (-3 to hit or worse), when the amount of remaining shooting becomes very low. In other words, it is cost effective when it is no more effective.
Now, there is another factor: the champion takes only 1 wound for the price of 1.5 r&f. This is never cost-effective!
Overall, the champion must be taken only if the unit is babysitting a sorceress, in which case his sacrifice may save the sorceress for one turn, providing time for the rescue. In doing that, the shooting efficiency of the unit is not much affected.

2.4. Shielded MXB
Exactly the same except that the champion costs 145% of the r&f.

2.5. AHW corsairs
Champions cost 200% and have only 150% of the attacks of a rank-and-file. Not worth.
With a banner, the SSS makes the champion worth even less, while the AP banner or the COB KB improvement makes him a better bargain, able to actually win challenges against weak opponents with his 3 attacks.
If there is no character in the unit, the use of a champion is questionable: one more model is better for the same price. Only if you provide KB with the COB is the champion going to be interesting in challenges.
If the unit has a character (including an assassin), then the champion is mandatory.

If ever the champion is taken and if you have 3 pts left, then the pair of rhb is a good idea (nothing prevents to take it when the unit has AHW!): for a cost of 3, it is unlikely to be used more than once in a game, most of the time it will kill no opponent but if ever it does, it pays back much more than the cost. After 10 battles it is likely to have killed more than 30 pts. Not really that much, but cost effective indeed. But don’t take the champ just for that!

2.6. RHB corsairs
Here, the statistics are very different: the champ costs still 200% but he has 200% of the attacks of a rank-and-file. Too bad the main use of the unit is to shoot, for which the champ is 100% like the r&f for twice the price. Really not worth!
With the extra rhb, the cost increases to 230% for 200% of the attacks and 200% of the shooting. Not worth, again.

However, if you consider providing the AP banner (I do not recommend it), then a champ is much more useful, because you will be happy to have 2 more shots and 2 AP attacks in a challenge.

If the unit has a character (including an assassin), then the champion is mandatory and must take the additional rhb for 3 pts. One exception: if the unit is made just for assassin home delivery, the champion is not necessary: the idea here is to move forward with a small unit which will not draw much attention, and when in range, the assassin appears in his cloak and flies 20”.

2.7. Shielded DR
The cost of the champion is 178% of the r&f, not that much. However, the horse is not upgraded! This is why the number of attacks is 150 % of the r&f. The good point is that the additional attack is the one having +1 on the charge. Noticing that DR bases are cavalry, 25mm wide, one additional model in the front rank has little chance to enter the combat, so a greater concentration of attacks is more valuable on the charge than one more model.
Shielded DR are meant to charge and to win the charge; for that purpose, they need a BSB, who needs a champion to take challenges, and possibly win them!

2.8. DR
The cost of the champion is 178% and the number of attacks is 150% of a rank-and-file.
This unit is meant to attack small or medium units; r&f should be enough to win on the charge. This unit is not well adapted to shelter a character. Normally a champion is not expected.

2.9. MXB DR
At 164% of a r&f, the cost of the champion is interesting.
For that cost, he has 150% of the attacks (the additional one is the most powerful) and the improvement of the shooting is roughly compensating for the cost, in standard conditions (-2 to shoot).
Overall the cost of the champion is well balanced with the advantages it brings, both in melee and in shooting.
It becomes equally cost-effective to get one champion (and improve both the melee and the shooting quality) or not to take one and spare the points without loosing much in overall efficiency – and keep the same amount of wounds.

This unit is sometimes used to shelter a mounted sorceress.
If this is the case, then the champion is not supposed to take challenges for the sorceress: the unit must avoid melee and is agile enough to avoid them (both with the movement, and with the fast cavalry fleeing rule). On the other hand, the rule “Look out Ma’am” works only if there were at least 5 r&f. If you take a champion, you must increase the size of the unit to 6. With the sorceress, it climbs to 7. The unit starts to become more cumbersome, more likely to be shot at or charged than without champion. It is the sole case where I would recommend NOT to take a champion with a character.
It seems better to have a unit of 6 with “look out Ma’am”, able to flee any charge and next turn rally and move, and if shooting dwindles the unit too much, the sorceress will leave that unit while her escort will provide her a last curtain and will keep harassing the enemy: they can line up in a single Congo-line separating the sorceress on one flank and her foes on the other flank, in order to increase the size of the curtain they provide, and it will not prevent them to shoot at 360°!

2.10. “Naked” shades.
The cost of the champion is 213% of a rank-and-file and the number of attacks is 200%, almost the same. However, their main use is not melee and there is not much use concentrating more attacks.
When shooting with a usual -2 penalty (moving and multiple shots at short distance), the champion hits at 3+ and the r&f at 4+, i.e. the champ hits 133% more often, for 213% of the price.
Conclusion: the champ must never be taken with naked shades.

2.11. AHW shades.
The cost of the champion is 213% but the number of attacks is only 150% of the rank-and-file.
The only reason for taking a champion is if the unit shelters an assassin, in order to choose who takes the challenge. Other than that, never take a champion.

2.12. GW shades.
The cost of the champion is 200% of the rank-and-file and the number of attacks is 200% as well.
This unit is meant for hitting hard the heavily armoured foes. The champion increases the fighting concentration, which is necessary when you hit on the opponent’s narrow side.
The drawbacks of the champ are twofold: first, he can take only one wound, second, his shooting efficiency is 133% of the r&f for 200% of the price.
When all is taken together, I recommend always taking a champ in this unit.
By the way, the need for a champ is even more increased with an assassin (for example the KB one) for which you need also 5 ordinary shades for a total of at least 6.

2.13. Armoured GW shades.
Here, the cost of the champion is 195% of the r&f, less than the increased fighting efficiency at 200%!
The same reasons as above are valid to justify the champ, and in addition he is one of the very few cost-effective ones.
This said, I consider that armoured shades (of any kind) make no sense, even if the armour is cost-effective because too little an armour is not effective at all. Only in a massive shade death star would I consider armoured shades - with a champion, of course.

2.14. WE.
The cost of the champion is 200% of the rank-and-file for only 133% as many attacks and 100% as many wounds. The champion is not cost-efficient.
However, one reason to take a champion is for challenges, in case there is a Death Hag or an Assassin in the unit. Another, better reason is to take a Khaine’s gift.
With Rune of Khaine, the WE costs an awful 450% of the r&f for 200% of the attacks. It may only useful for challenges against low armoured foes. I would never recommend that.
With Manbane, the cost is the same but the Hag becomes the only one in the unit able to cope with high Toughness foes. The cost-benefit is difficult to evaluate. I’m afraid it is situational.
More interesting is the witchbrew, all the more as its effects survive the Hag. This is especially useful as the unit is frenzied and can easily find itself baited to a difficult position. It is a must in a big unit of WE.
Another gift to investigate could be Cry of War. For a mere 10 pts, it reduces by 1 the combat ability of the opponent’s unit. Unfortunately it depends on a leadership test, so it is not reliable. I would not recommend it.

2.15. Execs.
The cost of the champion is 200% of the the rank-and-file, the same as the number of attacks, 200% as well.
That is very interesting: it concentrates one more attack on the unit’s frontage. It is a must for any Exec unit which size is over 7, i.e. where at least one Exec is relegated in the rear and cannot fight.
Doubling the chances of a KB in a challenge is very valuable as well. The only drawback is that the champ can take only one wound for the price of two Execs.
The champion is always useful in the unit, as long as the unit is at least medium sized.

2.16. Tullaris.
The total cost of Tullaris is 107 pts (see DE FAQ released in Feb 09).
It looks incredibly expensive for a model that can take a single wound.
However…
He rerolls fluffed wound rolls, which is much better than Black Lotus, and is comparable to the heartseeker.
In a challenge he receives a bonus for killing his foe, let’s compare this to black lotus.
He causes permanently fear, which should be probably worth around 40 pts.
Now, imagine a regular champ able to take all these assets, you would find out that he would cost 109 pts.
Tullaris is not expensive, he is just worth his cost!

Is him cost-effective? Hard to say.
Against a Toughness 4 foe with 2+ save:
For each attack, 75% hits thanks to hatred,
Each successful hit brings 17%KB and 67% wound but you reroll the 17% which missed and get finally 19% KB and 78% wound (only 3% missed) – by the way, against higher T foes, more wounds are missed, therefore you get more KB!
Each successful wound at T6 lessens the armour save by 3. Let’s consider a 5+ remaining save.
The overall average result with 2 attacks is 29% KB plus 78% unsaved wound. Computation gives between 0.5 and 1.5 wounds on a target with 1 wound, and between 0.7 to 2 on a target with 2 wounds. You would want only 1 wound foes! He is dangerous but not reliable.

Now, provide the COB’s blessing and he will get 44% KB plus 1.17% unsaved wound for his 3 attacks on the same foe.
Computation gives between 1 and 3 wounds on a target with 2 wounds, and between 0.9 and 2.3 if the target has only 1 wound. You would expect to kill your foe 50% of the time at least, providing with the benefit of the rule Sacred Executioner!
The only small, little difficulty is that if the challenged foe survives… then only a mundane armour remains to save Tullaris. Well, we’re here to play, aren’t we?

Tullaris may be worth considering in a unit blessed with COB, however personally I still feel it is too situational and the risk of loosing all the benefits provided to your unit is not worth taking for competitive games.

Dyvim Tvar considers Tullaris not worth:
His biggest benefit is that the unit he joins causes fear, meaning that, among other things, you don't need to test to charge a fear-causing enemy (since he dies easily, I don't think he helps much if you are trying to keep your unit of executioners from auto-breaking). But he is so expensive! I would rather try to deal with fear by having some redundancy -- taking multiple, cheaper units that still hit hard, so that if one unit doesn't make its fear test you aren't lost. For the price of Tullaris, you could add a cold-one chariot to your list.

2.17. BG.
The cost of the champion is 208% of the rank-and-file and he has 150% of the r&f’s attacks. Never worth the cost.
But he has something unique: he may take magic objects.
The Soulrender of AP, the Armour of 1+ Darkness can improve his individual performances.
Gem of Fear causing, Ring of Miscasts and 1 Null shard can improve the whole unit’s resistance. The ring is the favourite along with the shard.

The use of magic objects is enough to justify the cost of the champ. However, he would need to be protected from challenges, which requires a character or an assassin in the unit. This is an incitation to build the über-death-star-of-doom.

2.18. Kouran.
The total cost of Kouran is 88 pts (see DE FAQ released in Feb 09).
It looks incredibly expensive for a model that can take a single wound.
However…
For the cost, remember that he has Crimson Death; his unit is unbreakable which corresponds to a significant portion of the Banner of Nagarythe without the need for a BSB; he is a genuine champion; not forgetting his armour. A regular champ with all these advantages would cost how much? 130pts? 150pts? Definitively he is very interesting if all the options mentioned are made of good use. If you don’t want all of this stuff, then just take the “ordinary” champ and spare the extra pts.

Let me quote clivegh in Dark Elf's win the Broadside Bash (Indy GT)

We get Magic Weapon that allows for all attacks at S6, Armour that makes players take a T Test to attack, and he makes the unit unbreakable.
In practical terms that makes the unit have to be killed to the man for 75pts. It allows for the unit to attack undead spirit creatures, makes fighting High Elves or DE much harder to kill him as they suck at T.
But the Biggest reason? YOU DO NOT NEED A BSB in an army with him. The BG can wade out into the middle of no mans land and just kill anything that attacks it. Give it the ASF Banner and just watch everyone get out of the way. Form a Line of 20 across and march across the centre of the board. Yuck.
But it also means no characters can be in that unit as it is unbreakable. That would also mean no Assassins in the unit. So it does take away some of the flexibility.
But it is a good choice.

Dyvim Tvar has different feelings.
Since Black Guard are already Stubborn and Immune to Psychology, becoming Unbreakable is not a tremendous upgrade. You can already leave them unsupported and still be (fairly) sure that they will hold to the last model. Also, the Unbreakable ability is removed if you kill Kouran. Admitedly, the Armor of Grief gives him a little bit more ability to survive, but he does still only have one wound. Also, as you note there is the downside that once you add Kouran, no other characters can join the unit.

2.19. COK
For 159% of the cost of a rank-and-file, oops sorry, of a knight, the champion has 150% of its attacks, and the 50% additional is the most efficient.
The mere necessity of concentrating the attacks on a unit which models are wider than average justifies the cost of the champ.
Of course, if ever the unit shelters a character, the cost is even more justified.
In addition, he has something unique: he may take magic objects, the same as a BG.
Soulrender of AP, Armour of 1+ Darkness or, better, the enchanted +1 shield can improve his individual performances. The KB Deathpiercer could also be considered, however it is much better on a character.
Gem of Fear it is useless in the already fear-causing unit (good point reminded by Zakath). Ring of Miscasts and 1 Null shard can improve the whole unit’s resistance.
The ring is the favourite along with the shard.

Complement, courtesy of Dyvim Tvar
In addition, taking a champion gives the unit a much better chance of holding up against characters on large, terror-causing monsters. If charged by such an enemy, issue a challenge. That way, only the champion can die and you will maintain your unit strength, making sure that the unit does not auto-break from Terror (at least in the first round). Holding the big monster for even just one round may be enough to make a difference.
Finally, an important point to remember about champions is that wounds inflicted on a champion in close combat do not carry over onto rank and file models. Putting your Dreadknight on the end of a single line of knights can keep multiple knights from being killed in the event the unit is flank charged.

Here, a choice must be made:
Either the champ is there to protect a character and he must remain as “cheap” as possible (well, he ain’t any cheap), or he brings a benefit to the whole unit and must be protected from challenges.
In any case, the champ is a must-have.
Last edited by Calisson on Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:55 pm, edited 4 times in total.
User avatar
Calisson
Corsair
Corsair
Posts: 8820
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:00 pm
Location: Hag Graef

Post by Calisson »

3. The concert of Khaine: unit’s battle Musicians.

In the previous Boot Camp threads, little mention was made about musicians. It’s time to pay them their due.
Let’s listen to them now. It will open the closure ceremony,in the next thread.


The use for musicians is twofold: when you have a draw in melee and when you need to rally.

Draw melee.
Even the best tooled up unit may find its match, in which case the side with a musician wins by 1 over the one without musician. You never want to even the combat and find yourself missing a musician, and fleeing for a mere few pts, and see your costly unit destroyed because of meagreness.

Think about it:
With Ld 10, a Ld-1 test taken because a lack of muso will fail 16.7% of the time, 2.8% if rerolled.
With Ld 9, a Ld-1 test taken because a lack of muso will fail 27.8% of the time, 7.7% if rerolled.
With Ld 8, a Ld-1 test taken because a lack of muso will fail 41.7% of the time, 17.4% if rerolled.

Of course, you would have to take the test only when the melee resulted in a draw. This does not happen every game for every unit. How often does it happen? Hard to say. Up to everyone’s experience to guess.

But when you see the consequences, you understand immediately that any unit designed for melee must have a musician if they can:
Most of our units are Ld 8. Usually a musician improvement costs half the cost of a rank & file, which makes 10% of the pts of a unit of 5. For that cost, you would avoid a test which fails 42% of the time. If you feel it may happen more than every 4 battle, or if you have a unit stronger than 5, then there is no hesitation, you must have a musician.

There are two units with Ld 9 which may take a muso: COK and BG. Here, instead of failing 42%, you fail 28% of the test because a lack of a muso when your melee results in a draw.

For COK, the muso is a bargain, at less than 1/3 of a COK. It is a must-have.

For BG, this is an exception: the Ld is high, the unit is stubborn, more often than not, the unit would loose the combat and the muso would not help, they are designed to stand until someone rescues the stubborn BG.
Here, it depends on the size of the unit: for a unit of 5 BG, the muso is not really necessary. For a bigger unit of 10, the value of the unit becomes sufficient to justify its “health insurance” and take the muso.

There are exceptions when you don’t need a muso: are an unbreakable unit, a stubborn rather small unit within BSB range, or if you can count on a Ld 10 general with BSB is in vicinity.


Rallying.
Any unit will flee once in a while (as a charge reaction, terror test…) except an unbreakable unit.
With a musician, a Ld 8 test will become Ld 9 and 11.1% will pass instead of failing; a Ld 9 test will become Ld 10 and gain similarly 8.3%. Round it to 10% if you want, it’s easier for reasoning and we don’t need to be accurate.
You understand that if a unit had to make one test every battle, paying up to 10% of the price of the unit in order to improve the test by 10% makes sense.
Said otherwise, for a unit costing 100pts, paying 5pts for a musician is cost-effective if the unit flees once every 2 battles (or more often).

More generally speaking, a musician improvement costing n% of the total price of the unit is cost-effective if you expect the unit to flee, in average, once every (10 / n) battles.


Is the muso necessary?
If you’re sure never to flee with the unit and never come to a draw in melee (either you’re too good or too weak or you’re able to avoid melees), then you can remain without a musician, and, with the “impressive” amount of spared points, well… there’s not so much that you can buy, can you?
Seriously, the muso is necessary in pretty much any kind of unit. Not taking one is a mistake.
The lack of muso is a considerable drawback for harpies and, in a lesser extent, for shades.

The only melee unit for which I could understand not to take a musician are:
- the unbreakable BG with Kouran, because it is unbreakable,
- and the MSE BG taken by 5 per unit within range of a BSB.
- you should also consider not taking a musician for small MXB units which, if ever charged, have little chance to resist, and cannot flee because the table’s edge is right behind them.

For all other units, I believe the musician is necessary.


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. End of the eight week.

ANNOUNCEMENT: the Boot Camp will be ended in another, last, thread.

(see hyperlinks in the beginning of the thread).

What is left to do is to summarize the quality of the diverse troops available, and to determine for which use they are eligible, in which settings.

If you find that some of the conclusions drawn here are inconsistent with your own feeling, it could be worth investigating. I could further analyse the reasons for the divergence – or identify the flaw in my reasoning, and correct it for the sake of all D.netters.

I am eager to learn about actual successful / unsuccessful live experience in application of this lengthy theory-hammering.



A group of Hag Queens created and made popular the following hymn to honour all champions.

“I've paid my dues,
Time after time,
I've done death sentence,
Was committed to crime,
And bad missiles,
I've taken a few,
I've had my share of blood kicked in my face,
But I've come through.

We are the champions,
My fiends,
And we'll keep on fighting,
Till the end,
We are the champions,
We are the champions,
No Khaine for losers,
Cause we are the champions,
Of the world.

I've taken crossbows,
And my cutlass calls,
You fought me for fame and fortune,
And everything that goes with it,
I’ll kill you all.

But it's been no bed of roses,
No pleasure cruise,
I consider it a challenge before the whole elfic race,
And I ain't gonna lose.”
Last edited by Calisson on Sun Mar 08, 2009 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Winds never stop blowing, Oceans are borderless. Get a ship and a crew, so the World will be ours! Today the World, tomorrow Nagg! {--|oBrotherhood of the Coast!o|--}
User avatar
Zakath the slaughterer
Master of Puppets
Posts: 2002
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:22 am
Location: Suomi Finland

Post by Zakath the slaughterer »

Yet again a nice read :) Thank you!

2.19. COK --
Soulrender of AP, Armour of 1+ Darkness can improve his individual performances. The KB Deathpiercer could also be considered, however it is much better on a character.
Gem of Fear causing, Ring of Miscasts and 1 Null shard can improve the whole unit’s resistance. The ring is the favourite along with the shard.

I don't understand though how the Gem of Nightmares increases the unit's resistance (unless it made Fear causing units cause Terror, I don't remember) or how the Armour of Darkness is better than Enchanted Shield ;) Those are just minor points though...
Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings/
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams/
Blinded by me, you cant see a thing/
Just call my name, `cause Ill hear you scream
User avatar
Calisson
Corsair
Corsair
Posts: 8820
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:00 pm
Location: Hag Graef

Post by Calisson »

Zakath the Slaughterer wrote:I don't understand though how the Gem of Nightmares increases the unit's resistance (unless it made Fear causing units cause Terror, I don't remember) or how the Armour of Darkness is better than Enchanted Shield ;)
Good points. You remember well, the Gem does not make them terror causing.
My mistakes. :oops:
Edited. :roll:
Thanks for the appreciation ;)

Warm thanks to Dyvim Tvar below, which comments are now included in the main posts of the thread. :)
Last edited by Calisson on Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Winds never stop blowing, Oceans are borderless. Get a ship and a crew, so the World will be ours! Today the World, tomorrow Nagg! {--|oBrotherhood of the Coast!o|--}
User avatar
Dyvim tvar
Lord of the Dragon Caves
Lord of the Dragon Caves
Posts: 8372
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 6:34 pm
Location: The Dragon Caves of the Underway (Indianapolis IN)
Contact:

Post by Dyvim tvar »

Calisson wrote:2.18. Kouran.
The total cost of Kouran is 88 pts (see DE FAQ released in Feb 09).
It looks incredibly expensive for a model that can take a single wound.
However…
For the cost, remember that he has Crimson Death; his unit is unbreakable which corresponds to a significant portion of the Banner of Nagarythe without the need for a BSB; he is a genuine champion; not forgetting his armour. A regular champ with all these advantages would cost how much? 130pts? 150pts? Definitively he is very interesting if all the options mentioned are made of good use. If you don’t want all of this stuff, then just take the “ordinary” champ and spare the extra pts.

Let me quote clivegh in Dark Elf's win the Broadside Bash (Indy GT)

We get Magic Weapon that allows for all attacks at S6, Armour that makes players take a T Test to attack, and he makes the unit unbreakable.
In practical terms that makes the unit have to be killed to the man for 75pts. It allows for the unit to attack undead spirit creatures, makes fighting High Elves or DE much harder to kill him as they suck at T.
But the Biggest reason? YOU DO NOT NEED A BSB in an army with him. The BG can wade out into the middle of no mans land and just kill anything that attacks it. Give it the ASF Banner and just watch everyone get out of the way. Form a Line of 20 across and march across the centre of the board. Yuck.
But it also means no characters can be in that unit as it is unbreakable. That would also mean no Assassins in the unit. So it does take away some of the flexibility.
But it is a good choice.


I'm not sure Kouran is worth it. If you compare him to a regular Tower Master with Crimson Death, he is 36 points more. They have the exact same stat lines. The benefits you get for that 36 points are that the unit becomes Unbreakable and you get the Armor of Grief, so enemy models need to make a Toughness test to atatck Kouran.

Since Black Guard are already Stubborn and Immune to Psychology, becoming Unbreakable is not a tremendous upgrade. You can already leave them unsupported and still be (fairly) sure that they will hold to the last model. Also, the Unbreakable ability is removed if you kill Kouran. Admitedly, the Armor of Grief gives him a little bit more ability to survive, but he does still only have one wound. Also, as you note there is the downside that once you add Kouran, no other characters can join the unit. Bottom line is that I would just take a Tower Master with Crimson Death. Or if you have the ASF banner give him Soulrender and save 10 more points.

I have similar feelings about Tullaris. His biggest benefit is that the unit he joins causes fear, meaning that, among other things, you don't need to test to charge a fear-causing enemy (since he dies easily, I don't think he helps much if you are trying to keep your unit of executioners from auto-breaking). But he is so expensive! I would rather try to deal with fear by having some redundancy -- taking multiple, cheaper units that still hit hard, so that if one unit doesn't make its fear test you aren't lost. For the price of Tullaris, you could add a cold-one chariot to your list.

And a quick note on Dread Knights in Cold One Knight units. I totally agree that they are worthwhile. In addition to the other points you have listed, taking a champion gives the unit a much better chance of holding up against characters on large, terror-causing monsters. If charged by such an enemy, issue a challenge. That way, only the champion can die and you will maintain your unit strength, making sure that the unit does not auto-break from Terror (at least in the first round). Holding the big monster for even just one round may be enough to make a difference.

Finally, an important point to remember about champions is that wounds inflicted on a champion in close combat do not carry over onto rank and file models. Putting your Dreadknight on the end of a single line of knights can keep multiple knights from being killed in the even the unit is flank charged.
Truly These are the End Times ...
User avatar
Calisson
Corsair
Corsair
Posts: 8820
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:00 pm
Location: Hag Graef

Post by Calisson »

For everyone's information, I just added a new chapter 3 in which I analyse the role of musicians.
No big surprise for seasoned players: they are useful everywhere except in some BG settings.
Winds never stop blowing, Oceans are borderless. Get a ship and a crew, so the World will be ours! Today the World, tomorrow Nagg! {--|oBrotherhood of the Coast!o|--}
Post Reply