The ultimate war machine/harasser: master on DP build

Dreadimperator · Post by **Dreadimperator** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:26 am

Hey guys, in my tinkering i've put together what I think may be the ideal war machine/lone wizard hunter--I've affectionately nicknamed him "Puck".

Master on DP
PoK, Dragonhelm, Lance, Heavy armor, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield
(189)

I know the master or dreadlord on DP is fairly old news, but this item combination is one which I think makes him incredibly useful and efficient.
Basically, almost anything will bounce off of him in the magic and shooting phases--potentially wasting valuable cannonball/bolth thrower/spell attempts by the opponent that could have been constructively used elsewhere. He cannot be ignored, as he can and will take down prime backrank targets if allowed to, but the effort needed to take him down is a victory in and of itself in most cases for the rest of the army.

Consider that he starts with a 1+ armor save vs shooting and magic.
The natural counters to that are generally lore of metal and/or high strength shooting from war machines.

High strength shooting should give him the equivalent of a 2+ ward save (S5 or higher)

and lore of metal, normally the perfect bypass for this sort of thing, triggers the 2+ ward save for flaming attacks from the dragonhelm. Of course, this would also be the case for any high volume fireball from lore of fire.

About the only things that should be able to wing him are death magic with a good roll or massed regular strength bowfire. Even so, avoiding the 24" bubble around the death mage is fairly doable, and in the case of massed bowfire requires you to fail a 1+ armor save followed by the equivalent of a 4+ ward save on 2 wounds.

I plan to play him like a gnat...and hope that opponent keeps swatting!

Let me know what you all think.

Dreadimperator · Post by **Dreadimperator** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:23 am

whoops! just stumbled upon the 8th edition characters thread and this is very similar to a build already put up by pjeos, so credit to him where credit is due.

Sulla · Post by **Sulla** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:44 am

Now assume the general or supreme sorceress is using the pendant and make another master to do the job...

C_freman · Post by **C_freman** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:04 am

Just one comment: a master in a DP has 3 wounds, not 2

Masamune · Post by **Masamune** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:20 am

Impale attack is nice too among other things. DP masters are a favourite of mine and I fit them in when I can.

Pjeos · Post by **Pjeos** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:51 am

Hi there,

I don't consider SSorcs to have to take PoK. I usually give them 4+WS in order to provide some protection against Death Magic.

As for Dreadlords, if you're playing the Stubborn Dreadlord, PoK is great, but some other defensive builds ara available, ie: AoES+Dragonhelm+DawnStone, so that PoK is available for your warmachine/gunline hunter.

On the other hand, you can instead take Dawnstone+Cloak of Hag Graef for your warmachiner Master as cannons and stonethrowers no longer negate AS. Against S10 cannonballs, you'll take S5 hits, 3+ rerollable AS. Against any other shooting it will be 2+ rerollable AS, save RBT, but these are rarely seen nowadays, MHO.

See ya

Meteor · Post by **Meteor** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 11:20 am

I use that setup for stalling big nasty things.

Post by **Thanee** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 11:49 am

sulla wrote:Now assume the general or supreme sorceress is using the pendant and make another master to do the job...

Supreme Sorceress -> Talisman of Preservation
Dreadlord -> Armour of Eternal Servitude + Dragonbane Gem

Bye
Thanee

Auere · Post by **Auere** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:36 pm

Master on DP
PoK, Dragonhelm, Lance, Heavy armor, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield
(189)

It is a very efficient build. I would use the last 5 magic item points to give him potion of foolhardiness - an extra S6 attack on a charge (+immune to psycology). Very much worth 5 points!

If you are not running a cauldron BSB in addition, you could consider making him the BSB. He is very mobile and as a BSB he adds +1SCR to any battle in addition to his kills. The extra SCR is also very helpful if he is planning on going after big nasties.

Post by **Dalamar** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:25 pm

BSB was required to offset the outnumbering bonus the big nasties had...
Since they can no longer outnumber, and terror/fear doesn't break automatically... BSB is a bonus but not requirement.

Dreadimperator · Post by **Dreadimperator** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:36 pm

I tend to make my cauldron the BSB currently, but its definitely an option to keep in mind. Kind of like him as cheap as possible though.

Auere · Post by **Auere** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:44 pm

BSB was required to offset the outnumbering bonus the big nasties had...
Since they can no longer outnumber, and terror/fear doesn't break automatically... BSB is a bonus but not requirement.

True, but the +1SCR is still great. An unkillable master BSB on DP actually has a desent chance to crumble a bloodthirster or even break a dragonlord on a charge if he does well with the saves. +1SCR could mean all the difference in pillowfights like those... At least he should be able to hold them up!

In addition, if the master is BSB, why not charge him into a big unit and hold it up? He can easily do a couple of wounds each round in collaboration with the pegasus, and with a +1SCR and reroll on the break test, he is not going anywhere!

Lastly, having the critical BSB bonus on something as mobile as a pegasus - which even grants him an extra wound - is really great in terms of getting him into the right positions to have maximum impact on the game.