Witchbrew for everyone

[Gastronauticon]

Browsing through the new army book it occurs to me that it appears possible to have Witchbrew in any unit which may also contain a Death Hag i.e not only Witch Elves.

Or is it only regular Hag and not Death Hag?

Can anyone come up with a sound tactical tweak in which this can be extra useful?

[Archdukechocula]

Browsing through the new army book it occurs to me that it appears possible to have Witchbrew in any unit which may also contain a Death Hag i.e not only Witch Elves.

Or is it only regular Hag and not Death Hag?

Can anyone come up with a sound tactical tweak in which this can be extra useful?

Good question. Technically, it says "hag only" for the witchbrew, and nowhere does it say a Death Hag counts as a Hag (even though it would seem intuitive to say that she is a Hag), so I guess the Death Hag can't equip it. Seems sort of dumb, but hey, what else is new?

[Kuren rath]

I think death hags could take witchbrew because no matter how you look at it they are still hags. Plus Hellebron has it and she isn't a basic hag.

Honestly i can't think of a single situation where the witchbrew is really useful that you would purposly put yourself into. It may have been good for many small unit armies because it can remove the outnumber bonus, but investing 115 points just to take a death hag with witchbrew isn't cost effective. If you wanted to use it for a bait unit to negate flank attacks you're better off just using black guard for thier stubborn ability.

Mostly witchbrew is a safety net for witch elves in case they are put in a bad situation by frenzy. You accidently charge a big unit no problem, charged into a trap and got hit from behind or in the flank you're fine, and charged an opponent on a hill no worries. Wasting the 115 points to give this safety net to another unit just isn't worth it.

However it might be useful for small units without large rank bonuses if you can get them attacked from behind. That way the opponent doesn't get the rear bonus or outnumber plus you would still get a full front units worth of attacks.

[Archdukechocula]

I think death hags could take witchbrew because no matter how you look at it they are still hags. Plus Hellebron has it and she isn't a basic hag.

Look under the Witch Elf unit entry. Under the champion upgrade it says they are allowed temple of khaine items (Hag Only). It does not say this under the Death Hag unit entry. To me this very strongly suggests that only the Hag champion can take Hag Only items.

Also, Hellbron is a special character. Hag or not, she doesn't follow the same rules. For example Shadowblade has the Potion of Strength, whereas normal assassins can only take items from the Temple of Khaine.

[Gibious]

Witchbrew and cry of war are a on par COB gifts

[Dggrj]

Witchbrew could be useful, though, on the Death Hag when she's with the Cauldron, as it might cause weak WM hunters to lose combat and break. That is [i]if[/i/ she could take it, which it sounds like no. Just to provide a use, Kuren.

[Kuren rath]

Look under the Witch Elf unit entry. Under the champion upgrade it says they are allowed temple of khaine items (Hag Only). It does not say this under the Death Hag unit entry. To me this very strongly suggests that only the Hag champion can take Hag Only items.

The (hag only) part of entry means that only the hag can take a gift not that the unit can only take hag only gifts.

It's worded like that to show that you can only take a gift of khaine if you take a champion. If you look at the cold one knights or black guard entry its the same format for their champions with magic items.

A death hag is just a superior hag, they don't even have a seperate beastiary entry, so i see no reason why they wouldn't be able to take witch brew.

[Calisson]

It seems to me that:
- a Death Hag is a Hag (same in French: "Grande Matriarche" is a "Matriarche"). See P.50, event if it is only fluff, you can check that the Hags and Death Hags are united in the same sentence describing their skills in combat.
- IMO, the Hag-only entry is just made in order to prevent assassins to take the item.

So if ever I intended to take a Death Hag in a unit of Corsairs, especially if they are frenzied, I would not hesitate to take the witchbrew, if I had the pts spared.

Good point, Gastronauticon.

[Druchii77]

I tend to lump myself into the camp that says Death Hags may indeed take witchbrew. The wording in the entry is simply there to keep people from thinking that poisons or gifts of khaine are usable for the whole unit (imagine an entire unit using manbane!). This isn't a prohibition for Death Hags. Both Hags and Death Hags are Hags. That is pretty obvious.

[Killerk]

I to think that the hag can the brew.

I was planning on using a of a unit of frenzied corsairs (around 20-25)affected by the cauldron, with a bsb hag giving them first strike, and an assassin. The unit was supposed to receive charges form every thing!!! They could take out heavy cav and large units break in combat and chase them down if they recived a charge. in a back up I'll be using a large unit of exes, lots of harpies and DR and rxb warriors to make up for point sink, and youd have to go low on characters.

[Archdukechocula]

The (hag only) part of entry means that only the hag can take a gift not that the unit can only take hag only gifts.

Good point. I think you are probably right, and frankly that makes more sense anyway.

[Empressofthelight]

i assumed that the (hag only) included the death hag and i use the witches brew everytime. especialy when your fighting a large unit of zombies or a large unit of anything.

[Desert icon]

Dark Elf FAQ and Errata states that a Death Hag is a Hag in all respects. She's just... Haggy-er.

Q. Is a Death Hag a type of Hag? More specifically, ss a Death Hag allowed to choose items from the Gifts of Khaine marked as "Hag's only?"

A. Yes and yes. In fact she's ever more haggy than a Hag!

Located on page 4 of the FAQ and Errata.

[Demetrius]

Death Hag BSB with SOHG in range of a COB and in a unit of Executioners= a VERY powerful unit. They basicly become BG on steriods since they are LD9 stubborn and ITP with rerolls on break tests, that dont care about outnumber and flank/rear charges. Then comes their damage potential... with 2 S6 attacks that ASF each... with WS5 Hatred and KB...

The downside is obviously the cost (about 600 points) and the frenzied hag, but who cares about frenzy since if they are baited and get flanked, they really DO NOT CARE.

And then you can chuck in Tullaris and Hellebron in there just for the fun of it. Deathstar anyone?