Explain my Dark Steed's Stupidity

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

Moderators: Layne, The Dread Knights

Post Reply
User avatar
Silic
Noble
Posts: 473
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2003 2:33 pm
Contact:

Explain my Dark Steed's Stupidity

Post by Silic »

Howdy all.

I have been away from Warhammer fantasy for a few solid years now, and with the release of 8th edition, I have decided to pick up the old Dark Elves and try it out again.

Fluff and the story have always been my driving factors for army lists. My army is essentially Dark Elves who have broken away from the greater Malekith-run empire, sighting Chaos's influence over Morathi and him, subsequently, as the reason for the race's failure (When I post this edition's army list, I will include more of the history).

With this fluff, my army is more basic than others, including many spearelves and a lack of big monsters. I do not like the current cold one models, and have opted for my chariot(s) to be pulled by dark steeds. I will be using the High Elf Tiranoc Chariot kits. My problem is, how do I explain (or nullify in-game) the stupidity rule that goes with the cold one's chariot?

Much appreciated.
-Scion
Bitterman
Beastmaster
Posts: 319
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:08 pm

Re: Explain my Dark Steed's Stupidity

Post by Bitterman »

Scion wrote:I do not like the current cold one models


Weirdo. :P

how do I explain (or nullify in-game) the stupidity rule that goes with the cold one's chariot?


"Viciously wild"?

Dark Steeds are temperamental beasts at the best of times, and usually cause their Dark Riders a great deal of difficulty just staying in the saddle - only their superb Elven horsemanship means that they can handle these steeds as well as a human can handle a normal horse. When tethered to a chariot, this problem is exacerbated, and without the intimate link between a horse and it's rider, they can prove very difficult to control! (...with exactly the same in-game effects as Stupidity).

Just a thought.
User avatar
Calisson
Corsair
Corsair
Posts: 8820
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:00 pm
Location: Hag Graef

Post by Calisson »

You'll have to explain why it is so slow (the same reason as stupid could do it).
More difficult is to explain why it is so sturdy: DE chariots are much more resistant than HE.
Some heavy barding on the horses would help.
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
Lord damian valar
Cold One Knight
Posts: 221
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2003 5:36 am
Location: the Netherlands

.

Post by Lord damian valar »

I had the same problems with the old Cold one models of 6th edition and thus put Elven steeds before my chariots (have upgraded them to Chaos knight Steeds now), I gave them unicorn horns and made them black unicorns which fluffwise were dominated (we had the spell back then to back it up) under control. On a failed stupidity test the strong willed black unicorn tried to break free of the spell and thus went stupid.

Hope this helps you out!
User avatar
Tethlis
Malekith's Best Friend
Posts: 1444
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 2:54 am
Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Post by Tethlis »

Effing Tired
Life in Druchii society is a brutal affair, and particularly brutal for any who attempt to escape it. Persecuted by enemies of their Empire, as well as their Empire itself, any splinter of Malekith's Empire is constantly hunted by friend and foe alike. A life on the run has taken its toll on the Druchii beasts of burden, and continuous hardship and harassment has pushed these beasts to the limit of their endurance.

;)

Seriously, you can use anything to justify your fluff. I'm mostly joking, but virtually any rule can be recreated with a bit of imagination. I'm not sure I agree with the idea of Dark Steeds being cantankerous, since regular Dark Steeds themselves don't follow the rules for Stupidity at all.

If you like your army desperate, then I would say that the Dark Steeds are not intended to pull such a heavy contraption, but necessity requires them to and thus they rebel against this new role.

Of course, if you went with daemonic, unicorn or Chaos steeds, justifying a rebellious animal is a bit easier since each of those choices is more sentient and capricious than a regular horse.
There is no escape from Chaos. It marks us all.


Image
Image
Gorbad ironclaw
Malekith's Best Friend
Posts: 1449
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2003 6:07 pm

Post by Gorbad ironclaw »

Maybe the chariot is really too heavy to be dragged efficiently by the horses so that's why it's a bit slower and sometimes they just can't manage the acceleration to get you to where you want to be.

Personally I used a troll to pull my chariot as I also don't really like the Cold One models.
User avatar
Silic
Noble
Posts: 473
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2003 2:33 pm
Contact:

Post by Silic »

The idea of the chariot + barding accouting for stupidity and the speed are excellant ideas. Thanks gents!

Baring my unoriginality, I do love the idea of manipulating them into unicorns. It adds a sense of fiestiness to them, in my opinion.
User avatar
Asikari
Highborn
Posts: 733
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 7:57 pm
Location: Everywhere, Nowhere

Post by Asikari »

In order to pull the heavy dark elf chariot, the druchii beastmasters began breeding the Dark Steeds for size. Unfortunately, by doing so, the brain suffered.
"The strength you normally use is like the small visible segment of an iceberg..." Tohei-sensai

"Few problems can't be solved by the judicious application of brute force" Asikari
User avatar
Silic
Noble
Posts: 473
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2003 2:33 pm
Contact:

Post by Silic »

Apologies for the delayed response.

Final question: With the wysiwyg rules, would any of this reasoning hold up in GW tournaments?
User avatar
Irtehdar
Assassin
Posts: 593
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:34 am
Location: Stranded on an iceflow in the Sea of Chill

Post by Irtehdar »

For CoC pulled by Dark Steeds:
Slower Movement=Its a heavy wagon.
Stupidity=The wheel hits a bump or hole and the crew has to whip the animals forward to get free.

For CoK riding Dark Steeds:
Slower Movement=The Knight is wearing a bigger heavier armour.
Stupidity=While Dark Riders can retain a good control over their mounts that good control goes out the window when wearing a big suit of armour.

Or you can just say the rider got a text message from his mom and had to reply before continuing the fighting.
Daddy! I sorta kinda had an accident... I was playing with my slave and it sorta... Umm... It's arm fell off!
*sobs*

"3/4 of games are won by deathstars. Copy this into your signature if you still use real tactics to win"

Any idiot can measure strenght. Against properly played MSU you must measure something you cannot see.
User avatar
Meteor
Executioner
Posts: 1956
Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2010 10:57 am
Location: Hell

Post by Meteor »

Irtehdar wrote:For CoC pulled by Dark Steeds:
Stupidity=The wheel hits a bump or hole and the crew has to whip the animals forward to get free.


That's a pretty neat one that doesn't change the personality of the horses

Irtehdar wrote:Or you can just say the rider got a text message from his mom and had to reply before continuing the fighting.


nice :D
What's mine is mine, What's yours is mine.
Now that we understand each other, lets get down to business.

Jacks -Shade
- WS 5 - - S 3 - - T 2 - - D 6 - - I 5 -

Equipment
Short Sword, MC Long Sword*, Dagger, RxB & RHB [20/10] MC Shade Cloak, 4 Throwing Daggers, 3x Healing Vials, 451C, [3]Dark Venom, [4]Unseen Chains, Food, Dark Steed- Spike

Skills
Basic Stealth, Awareness, TWF, Suithenlu Khythan, Ride

Magic Item
Eye of the Jabberwock

*Magical properties possibly imbued
Gorbad ironclaw
Malekith's Best Friend
Posts: 1449
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2003 6:07 pm

Post by Gorbad ironclaw »

Scion wrote:Apologies for the delayed response.

Final question: With the wysiwyg rules, would any of this reasoning hold up in GW tournaments?


There is only one kind of chariots available in the Dark Elf army so it's going to be really hard to confuse it with something else. I don't see anyone complaining about it and even if they do if it's any kind of decent TO they will tell them to get on with it.
Post Reply