Hunter/harrassment Master on Dark Steed - uses and abuses?

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Nostromo
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Hunter/harrassment Master on Dark Steed - uses and abuses?

Post by Nostromo »

I have been thinking lately about playing around with a character similar to this.

Master
Dark Steed, HA, SDC, Shield, Lance
Ring of Hotek, Cloak of Hag Graef. 162 points

The idea is to charge up one flank, perhaps screened by some Dark Riders and provide the typical warmachine/wizard hunter role. This character has the flexibility to join up with a CoK unit at any time to add some punch (alternatively for his own protection).

Then I considered utilising a Dreadlord to get Lifetaker on him too, but the points cost was probably out of proportion for such a character. At any rate, he can be given a crossbow for 10 points. But I digress...

What do you think of his uses? Cheaper than a pegasus hero, harder to shoot, and with the option to join a bunch of CoKs if wizards were hiding in units and warmachines were not available. He can ride alongside Dark Riders for the 4+ Look Out Sir! save, or alternatively join them for better protection (but they lose their fast cavalry bonuses).

I think he would be useful to draw fire away from bigger units - shooting will be pretty ineffective against him, and the DR are expendable enough. In conjunction with a couple of units of shades (and assassin), I should have the initiative when it comes to directing the flow of the battle.

So... Pitfalls for such a character? How would you run him, if at all?

Just to mention - I realise DR are not an optimal choice, but I don't care too much for super competitiveness. I would rather discuss this option for what it is (and what it isn't!).
Flash29
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Post by Flash29 »

he doesn't have a ward save so death magic and the like as well as boltthrowers will kill him pretty easily, your fast but not that strong, you won't last long if you commit him to combat and last but not least, its painfully obvious what you're trying to do
Infekted
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Post by Infekted »

Death magic yes. Bolt thrower not so much. Only be st2-3 after all... A cannon would still hurt bad tho.
I think I'd rather go with a pega with this build. Movement is mainly what would keep that guy alive. Best off maxing it as much as poss. He would make steed a shadows a somewhat useful spell as well.
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Tethlis
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Post by Tethlis »

The bolt thrower is a greater risk than the cannon. The cannon becomes Strength 5, but you receive the full benefit of a 1+ armor save against it, so you can do the math on how likely that will be. The bolt thrower, however, ignores armor altogether (part of its written rules, while cannons do NOT ignore armor) so bolt throwers cut through Cloak of Hag Graef easily.

Still, noone is really using bolt throwers these days, so I think that's less of a concern.

Like virtually everything in our list, I think it's a good choice, but is it necessarily better than other alternatives out there? If you're running him solo, I sort of feel like you may as well just take a Pegasus. However, I can appreciate the value of not taking standard Pegasus character builds since there seems to be a growing dislike out there for Dark Elf armies that use them. I think it's a viable character, if you find yourself needing such a build against your regular opponents.
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Joey_boy
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Post by Joey_boy »

Why not throw in the mask of EEE! to give him a bit of terror action?
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Ehakir
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Post by Ehakir »

Why not keep him cheap and retain from giving him any magic items at all? Do you need the cloak and ring for the purpose you want to use him for? In my opinion, the ring should really be on a pegasus hero, as its survivability increases a lot because of the extra wound on the pegasus and as its manouvrability is a lot better too because of the flying.

For a hero which is there just to annoy and harras, wouldn't it be enough to have the opponent think he's loaded up on protective gear or magic items, whilst you can spend these points on a unit of 5 witch elves instead?
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Nostromo
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Post by Nostromo »

Funny you mention that Ehakir - I eliminated the magic items and Dark Riders from my list and decided to run him mundane with a unit of 5 CoK w/ musician. Still a relatively cheap unit - he isn't overly nasty, but the unit certainly has a significant psychological impact for the price. It should also be a bit more durable to shooting and soak up some missile fire. Has anyone had much luck with 5 man CoK squads in this role? The Master would add some extra teeth to them, and could join up with my larger BSB-led CoK unit later in the game if the smaller unit evaporates.

Thoughts? Will post up a list soon for critique.
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