Unkillable roadblock dreadlord... or not?

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Sulla
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Location: Flying my manticore 'Bloodmaw', looking for prey.

Post by Sulla »

Houserule it. Our group play the magic rule overriding the lance rule so (for now) magic lances are still 'in'.
Greenman
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Post by Greenman »

well i cant see any new tactics or somthing from the op here, just the usual pok built

some equip is 8th ed of course but the purpose is / was the same in 7th (most important crown of command: dreadlord is not really clever like some pre posters here said, so its just master+pok on pegasus again)

the main difference is to the last ed. that nowadays the lord/master pok built whether its for blocking or unitleading is more killable due spells etc.. he is an option nevertheless but a rather obvious one and known for ages
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Masked jackal
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Post by Masked jackal »

However, it should be relatively easy to keep him from being killed by these spells before he gets into combat, and once he's into combat, he can't be targeted.
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Dumbledore
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Post by Dumbledore »

I've been writing lists before I start painting everything and I have been considering a variation of the unkillable Dreadlord:

258 - Dreadlord - Dragonhelm, Pendant of Khaeleth, Crown of Command, Warrior Bane, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Dark Steed

His save is 1+/*++ and Warrior Bane reduces the attacks of those that it wounds. More importantly, his point allocation allows for my 360 point Supreme Sorceress within 25% for 2500 points.

My main point is this, however. The Other Trickster's Shard presents a problem for him. The target enemy unit will most likely have a character in it, especially those nastiest of deathstars found by Warriors of Chaos etc. When the Dreadlord reaches combat it is always in his interest to challenge (unless there is some special rule and you can never know if there is in advance anyway) as it reduces his exposure to rank and file attacks, making him fight a champion or character that he would anyway suffer hits from. If I were to construct a combat character with any of the several armies that I know well, I would include The Other Trickster's Shard, which would nullify the vital inverse ward.

Countering this point, having a lvl 4 is viewed by most as being much more of a priority than having the slightly higher leadership of a lord, reducing the likelyhood of this coming up. Those armies that can afford both usually are less of a combat problem.

Has anyone else encountered this issue?
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Ichiyo1821
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Post by Ichiyo1821 »

Dumbledore wrote:I've been writing lists before I start painting everything and I have been considering a variation of the unkillable Dreadlord:

258 - Dreadlord - Dragonhelm, Pendant of Khaeleth, Crown of Command, Warrior Bane, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Dark Steed

His save is 1+/*++ and Warrior Bane reduces the attacks of those that it wounds. More importantly, his point allocation allows for my 360 point Supreme Sorceress within 25% for 2500 points.

My main point is this, however. The Other Trickster's Shard presents a problem for him. The target enemy unit will most likely have a character in it, especially those nastiest of deathstars found by Warriors of Chaos etc. When the Dreadlord reaches combat it is always in his interest to challenge (unless there is some special rule and you can never know if there is in advance anyway) as it reduces his exposure to rank and file attacks, making him fight a champion or character that he would anyway suffer hits from. If I were to construct a combat character with any of the several armies that I know well, I would include The Other Trickster's Shard, which would nullify the vital inverse ward.

Countering this point, having a lvl 4 is viewed by most as being much more of a priority than having the slightly higher leadership of a lord, reducing the likelyhood of this coming up. Those armies that can afford both usually are less of a combat problem.

Has anyone else encountered this issue?


Yes that is why I personally kit out my Dreadlord as such:

Cold One, Dragonhelm, SDC, POK, The Other Tricker's Shard, Crimson Death

Now the principle behind this is I would rather try to kill whatever I am throwing my Dreadlord at rather than just holding it. Yes it is almost always that a Dreadlord should be issuing challenges and to be honest how many characters do strike before Elves? The Other Trickser's Shard is actually not an issue for the Dreadlord. Again you mentioned even a Warriors of Chaos Character. Now if it is a combat character what are the chances that he is not carrying a weapon that gives him s6 or 5? Even if he force your Dreadlord to re-roll his wardsave, you still only get wounded on a 6.On top of that you still get an armor save anyway even if he is s6 as you do have as1+. That is still a 4+ as then the pendant save. There are instances where I did charge my Dreadlord out to hold a unit or monster but it's highly unlikely that I will always need to do that. i'd rather than my 270 something point character get something in return and as for the Ld thing. Yes you can argue that the +1 ld is something you can bypass but to be honest, in this edition's environment where you can reduce your opponent's ld, quick reform advantages, Inspiring Presence, abundance if not mandatory BSB, ld 10 goes a long way. Coming from the days where your Dreadlord was either on a Manticore or Dragon far from your main battleline and ld's only purpose was for breaktests, I have never fielded a Druchii army whose battle line is as solid as it is today. With ld and a BSB around, the chances of you failing a ld is so slim that it is very difficult for your opponent to disrupt your battleplan. I've seen armies with lesser ld crumble even if their BSB is near. Unless you plan to run a strict magic list, I cannot see why you would pass up a Dreadlord let alone one that is very, very hard to kill.
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