Shadowblade

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:40 am

Keep thinking about Shadowblade but then shy away because of the cost. Has anyone a Shadowblade success story they care to share, and against Wood Elves in particular

Sulla · Post by **Sulla** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:03 am

I'm in the same boat as you regarding price, but he should be quite good vs WE I would imagine. There's a good chance that whatever he tries to assassinate won't be in a fully ranked unit so even if he fails to kill it, he shouldn't be easily broken... There's no army that he is guaranteed points against though. He's so expensive, after all.

Desert icon · Post by **Desert icon** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:38 pm

Used him once against a unit of Waywatchers in trees, and he didn't do very well for me (probably because I'm cursed). He managed to squeeze in 1 kill, and the combat was drawn due to lack of wounding attacks in return. Next turn he killed another two, and they ran off (I failed to catch them). During the Wood Elf player's turn he was machine-gunned by Treesinging (because my opponent hates Shadowblade with a passion) and died.

All things considered, he did keep those Waywatchers from annihilating my Cold Ones, and did take on quite a few Treesinging spells (thus keeping my opponent from moving trees around or casting other things), but he didn't do as well as I would have expected him to do. Regardless, he's a good character to use against War Machines, at least I think.

While on the topic of Shadowblade and War Machines, I did use him once against an Orc Rock Lobba, and he almost died to goblins. It took him 2 turns to finish that machine off. Things like that make me very disappointed in his performance, but in theory, he's a good hero, if a tad bit expensive.

Post by **Loki** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:46 pm

Moving this to Druchii Discussion. Pleas only post questions about rules in the Rules Questions forum. Thank you. Any problems, feel free to PM me.

Loki

Post by **Dalamar** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:50 pm

If he still had his 7 attacks I think I'd still be taking him now and then.

Now a regular assassin does his job better at half the price and doesn't take hero slot.

Gh9st · Post by **Gh9st** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:59 pm

I used him just for the sake of it once, in an assassin heavy army, I didn't plan on winning...but did! A 1000 point game, with Shadowblade and 4 other assassins. I place my victory on his shoulders, I had him appear in a Salamander unit, killing them, before charging into a unit of Temple Guard with Hero.

He fought a one sided duel against the Hero, and after spent each turn killing the Temple Guard...enough that he suffered no attacks back. The Orc player (his ally) diverted troops to help the stricken Temple Guard and allowed me to mop the army up in bite size chunks.

A lot of the success with Shadow may have been Psychological but it sure was effective. There's something to be said for having a guy pop up in the middle of your army...right next to your expensive Lvl 4 Sorceress you were sure was safe in that unit right at the back. ^^ Got to be scary.

Fr0 · Post by **Fr0** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:08 pm

Dalamar wrote:Now a regular assassin does his job better at half the price and doesn't take hero slot.

Precisely why I haven't taken him in a list in years. He does certainly have a lot of potential, but damn he's expensive. My memory is hazy on the like 2 times I fielded him but I used him back in 6th, I believe with 5th ed rules and he killed a Vampire Lord, and took out almost the entire unit he was in. Completely worth his points in that case.

Taking a couple assassins will probably be much better than taking Shadowblade.I'm sure you'll get a couple of success stories here though.

Phierlihy · Post by **Phierlihy** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:51 pm

I've used him twice in friendly games - once he died to a Dwarven war machine Engineer (not the character either) and once to High Elf Spearmen. I've decided to leave him behind from now on.

Narius phinshredder · Fri Jul 24, 2009 12:39 pm

Used him in against Empire once, really helpful if you use him in a volley gun crew. Took out the other member with ease then over run into other handgunners! Maybe he doesn't get his points back but he can help you from getting trashed by something annoying!

Somethingjaded · Post by **Somethingjaded** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:47 am

He is great if you are really worried about a war machine...

and I used him to great effect against vampire counts.

I popped him out, failed to do much against a named lord in a unit of graveguard, with regen banner. He got run off, recovered, came back for a second charge by himself. got a killing blow off on the lord, dropped him, this was on turn 4, plenty of time to let the dead general rules do some damage to the army.

I fielded many assassins this game and no magic. Not a brilliant move, but it was fun, and I came out on top.

Korius · Post by **Korius** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:41 am

I think his fluff and some of his rules are really great but personally i would avoid him because of the cost. Plus if you take a couple of normal assassins they are cheaper and don't take a hero slot. Plus you can make up your own awesome fluff for those guys!

Mlambie · Post by **Mlambie** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:37 pm

main uses as i see it is simply for taking out that annoying organ gun, helblaster cannon, anvil of doom (maybe) and the like, and then moving on and doing what he can with the rest. he coudl really disrupt a "murder hill" like my friends Orcs and Goblins tend to use, with Doom Diver, BT's and sometimes a lobba. coudl really earn his points back.

Coincidentally, could he join skirmishers that scout? im thinking shadowblade in shadow warriors! How sweet would it be if shadow blade took out alith anar hiding in those wieners!

What about units that enter play specially, such as miners or those skaven gutter runners?

Mayordaley · Post by **Mayordaley** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 3:58 am

Two guys at my local store love to run Thorek and an anvil; so to counter them I have run Shadowblade. In almost every game (I did happen to roll a one once!) I have popped Shadowblade out and after a turn or two killed Thorek. If the question is if he is worth the pts, then you have to ask yourself what did he kill? In my experience against Thorek, Shadowblade is priceless, but a "homegrown" runelord that is immune to killing blow maybe not. Again, I would have to say that Shadowblade's use is situational.

Red... · Post by **Red...** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 11:40 am

MayorDaley has it spot on.

He's best used as a one hit wonder, as his potion of strength will let him get the job done against most targets. After he's made that one invaluable kill, anything else is a bonus. So for me it's really a case of is the one thing he can probably kill worth the 300 points and hero slot? If yes, then take him. If not, don't.

Run him against a Tomb King Army and you can save yourself a lot of misery

Run him against a fighting warriors of chaos army and you're just flushing points away.

his psychological bonus is huge. You can physically see the terror in your opponent's face when you pop shadowblade up in the rear of his army XD

Shadowblade07 · Post by **Shadowblade07** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:35 pm

now here is a topic i can relate too:)

I would have to disagree with deathknight about throwing the points away against warriors of chaos. since their characters and sorcerers have to challenge, obviously you accept, use the potion, pop the sorcerer( the usual target), you win double CR in a challenge, you win and hopefully run a unit down! warriors of chaos cant stop it:) i used it against a Gateway list, and since the unit the sorcerer was in only had two ranks there wasnt a whole lot of static res coming my way. Rolling a killing blow helped yea but thats kinda his strength. thats why he costs as much as he does. against VC and tomb kings, he's priceless. against dwarves, well depends on what kinda list they bring. I've used him against demons where he showed up in a unit of flamers. He gets some of his points back just showing up! He got KB on one, wounded another, they wounded him once but it was saved, they failed instability and POP! Against a goblin army...pure madness. the opponent had ten fanatics, not one went towards my lines. yea shadowblade died in the process, but showing up in the middle of his army, all the fanatics had to go towards him, decimating more than shadowblade could ever dream of, then his heart of woe went off and killed more! I use him whenever i can, with the CoB for an extra attack whenever i want. Yea he may seem like the most situational guy in the world but if thats the case he's not being used right. with such a small frontage playing against an army that doesnt cause fear across the table like empire, he can hold up a unit of knights if he gets there side, or even front if you roll good, and being stubborn if you wait till they are close to the CoB he virtually impossible to dislodge. And his rending stars pretty much guarantee small units will steer clear, or even lone mages. yea 300 pts is a pretty hefty price tag, and a hero slot...but hey i guess i overlook that, im a little biased. Assassins drew me into the dark elves, and what better to use than the master?

Red... · Post by **Red...** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:59 pm

Shadowblade07

Gah, how terrifying. Shadowblade himself answered this thread

I think the issue is that its too easy for shadowblade to go wrong because he only has four attacks. Yes, hitting on 3s (rerolling for hatred) and wounding on 2s means he should do well, but if he fluffs any of his dice (e.g. he gets three hits then rolls two ones or gets just two hits and your opponent passes a ward save, etc) then he is immediately mincemeat.

By the way, I said "fighting warriors of chaos army" by which I meant something along the lines of a beserker army of khorne rather than a magic army (in which case I would have said "magic warriors of chaos army).

The other glitch with Shadowblade is that he is easy arrow fodder if he ever gets out of hand to hand combat. So, once he's killed that block of high elf spearmen, he suddenly finds himself alone and in the open. Ping ping ping that's one dead 300 point model.

Aeth · Post by **Aeth** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:41 pm

mlambie wrote:Coincidentally, could he join skirmishers that scout? im thinking shadowblade in shadow warriors! How sweet would it be if shadow blade took out alith anar hiding in those wieners!

Now that would be cool

Shadowblade07 · Post by **Shadowblade07** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 6:13 pm

By the way, I said "fighting warriors of chaos army" by which I meant something along the lines of a beserker army of khorne rather than a magic army (in which case I would have said "magic warriors of chaos army).

I stand corrected, sorry

still unless that warriors of chaos guy had the armor of immunity to KB then he would fall even harder than the sorcerer. anybody who fluffs any roll is going to have bad stuff happen to them tho. Its just all a matter of preference then. I take him all the time unless a tourney says "no special characters". He has yet to really let me down.