Storm of magic experience

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Persuader
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Storm of magic experience

Post by Persuader »

Hey all,

Played my first game of SoM yesterday. (whooh that s*** is random ) :D

I had a Keeper of Secrets with Spirit swallower and 16 bloodletters as 'extra'
My thought was if I assault a caster on a fulcrum with my 550pts Lord character I could A) easily win and claim the fulcrum for myself. B) He would reign supreme thanks to his high T and spirit swallower.

Boy, did that turn out different.
First of all the unbinding spell puts a lot of pressure on you when you have such an expensive character. So I think I'll try 2 or 3 of the SoM book casters instead next time (Zoat etc) More options and harder for the opponent to take down.

Also considering the higher T value of a Lamisu vs a dark elf sorceress what do you guys think is better when placed on a Fulcrum?
DE Sorceress: No armour, T3
vs
SoM casters

(eventually my Keeper died with a ground shaking KABOOM miscast, killing himself and an enemy mage who was standing next to him on a fulcrum)

The other thing that completely blew me off my feet was the windcatcher prism (the item that gives you buffs depending on what is spinned on the wheel)
My opponent had this on his BSB in a unit of hammerers. which, together with his dwarven buffs did some SERIOUS dmg.
Next time I'm taking this item as well. Although I'm still wondering in which unit to place it. Maybe Executioners (Khainite problem), Bg max 20 ....
maybe just on a char that goes with the warriors.


So what do you guys think about spellcaster choices, SoM items, ...



Really curious about what you guys think about this.
:lol:
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Post by Tethlis »

I had tremendous success with the following:

-Supreme Sorc (Level 4) with Sacrificial Dagger, Lore of Shadow, NOT on a fulcrum. You can put her up there if you want it, but Shadow is still just a generally useful and versatile Lore with lots of useful spells, so Sacrificial Dagger makes sense for helping to micro-manage her phase since you'll probably want to be casting most of her spells every turn (not to mention the excellent Shadow Cataclysm spells themselves.)

-Sorc (Level 2) with Pendant of Khaeleth, rides a Dark Pegasus, Dark Magic. Oblivion bomber, designed to fly towards your opponent's most crowded Fulcrum and potentially throw every dice for your entire Winds of Magic roll at blowing up that Fulcrum. This is decidedly stupidly broken, but I had to try it a few times just to make a point to certain opponents about who was really running the magic show ;)

-Sorc (Level 1) with Null Stone, Lore of Metal.
-Sorc (Level 1) with generic MR1 item.

These served as my generic fulcrum campers, fairly cheap but with good survivability versus hostile spells since they get boosted up to a 2+ Ward versus magic missiles, Death Sniper spells, Casket of Souls and other direct-damage options for very cheap. I love Lore of Metal for how versatile it is: supreme survivability or supreme killing power are both available, and for very modest cast values as well. I'm a big fan.

I also used a Keeper, with mixed success. Gateway on Turn 1 made quick work of him/her in the inaugural run, which was a pretty dramatic waste of 500+ points. Still, great for getting offensive and taking opponents off fulcrums. I think Daemons are by far the most "competitive" choice out there, but I also like some of the packs of monsters (such as Harpies, with their amazing and cheap upgrades.)

For magic items, I think the Living Deadwood Staff is monstrouly strong, but can only really be used properly in the hands of Wood Elves. Wood Elves actually strike me as the strongest Storm of Magic force, since you can combine the Living Deadwood Staff with tree raising under opponents, Treesinging, Deepwood Sphere and Strangleroot to basically create the most offensive direct-damage movement/magic/shooting phase in creation. Dark Elves can't really use that with the same effectiveness though.
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Post by Sulla »

I don't think you can unbind sorcerous pact units. But their own alliance rules usually take care of them quite quickly anyway.

Other than that, I think DE casters are more than good enough; I use Malekith, a pendant peggy bomber, a lvl2 death with the tome of furion and a couple of metal/shadow mages. No BSB etc. For my SoM points, I take 2 black dragons for fun and theme (Mally should be fielded with his airforce IMO).

Mally goes on the closest fulcrum to wizard duel enemies to death, being fairly resilient, The death mage fires out purple suns at monsters and a sacrificial lvl1 mounts the other fulcrum. The peggy bomber hides until an approach to a fulcrum presents itself, then flies forward to attack, with the goal of inflicting as many s10 hits on the enemy as possible.
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Post by Maldor »

Anyone tried a Pact with VC? Seems a Vampire with Forbidden Lore makes a great fulcrum caster (pick any lore except Life, I personally like the idea of Heavens for the equilibrium spell), and a Black Coach would go a great way toward sucking away any magic (thanks to PoD we can get away with the loss).
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Post by Sulla »

A black coach in SoM would be insane. It would probably be fully powered in the first phase. Definately by the second. Use the shadow presence spell to get it on the other side of the field and assassinate fulcrum mages with it. Then trow it into combat to die once you have magical dominance.
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Post by Hack n slash »

Nice idea but mages on fulcrums count as in buildings and chariots(black coach) can't assume buildings, and yes it dose suck up a lot of dice mine was fully powered by the second magic phase. My favourite item is woodwakers wand, cheap to cast won't blow up your sorceress and gives you a mega unit(sort of) to wander around killing things including fulcrum mages.
The only reason i don't have it is i've not taken it yet!
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Post by Sulla »

My mistake, and I just had that issue with my beastman chariots too, so no excuses for forgetting. Still nice for hunting all the annoying things hiding behind the lines, just a little slow getting there unless you have the shadow mages to boost it to the other side.
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Post by Persuader »

Sulla wrote:I don't think you can unbind sorcerous pact units. But their own alliance rules usually take care of them quite quickly anyway.

Were is this written, we just assumed this because I think they use the word pact in the spell description & when talking about TK, VC or DoC.
If what you say is true, that would mean that only the characters/monsters/units from the SoM book could be unbound?
Tethlis wrote:-Sorc (Level 1) with Null Stone, Lore of Metal.
-Sorc (Level 1) with generic MR1 item.

These served as my generic fulcrum campers, fairly cheap but with good survivability versus hostile spells since they get boosted up to a 2+ Ward versus magic missiles, Death Sniper spells, Casket of Souls and other direct-damage options for very cheap. I love Lore of Metal for how versatile it is: supreme survivability or supreme killing power are both available, and for very modest cast values as well. I'm a big fan.

Thanks for reminding me, 3/4 casters I lost were because of magic so the MR would certainly help.

Think I'll give my Black Coach a try next game, its idd obvious that it will reach its max sooner in SoM.

thanks guys.

Anyone tried the Zoat yet or the truthsayer?
with there T4/5 and I think one of them has MR as well. I think they would be good candidates as well for fulcrum occupiers.
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Post by Hansleonard »

Sorcerous pacts are not scrolls of Binding. They are a direct pact made between a mage and either demon or undead.

They deteriorate as they are distrustful allies, but apart from that you can't unbind them. However if they go below hated allies then the pact ends and they are removed as casualties.
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Post by Persuader »

Ok, thx hansleonard.

So it seems that both have there disadvantages.
Scrolls of Binding can be unbound & pacts can vanish...
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Post by Smiler666 »

aragorn never had these problems =(
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Post by Hansleonard »

Persuader wrote:Ok, thx hansleonard.

So it seems that both have there disadvantages.
Scrolls of Binding can be unbound & pacts can vanish...


You pretty much nailed it there yes..

What i think could be the most stable solution.. Is to Summon a Mage using the Cantrip Spell.. Only problem there is that it can be dispelled, and the effect of it depends on you allready controlling some fulcrums.

But once they have been summoned they will fight to the death without any chance that the opponent or unlucky dice rolls can send them away.
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Post by Sulla »

hansleonard wrote:What i think could be the most stable solution.. Is to Summon a Mage using the Cantrip Spell.. Only problem there is that it can be dispelled, and the effect of it depends on you allready controlling some fulcrums.

But once they have been summoned they will fight to the death without any chance that the opponent or unlucky dice rolls can send them away.
Be wary of enemy Lore of Light casters. The default spell should kill off a summoned model in one shot because of the summoning rules.
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Post by Lord tsunami »

I just close my eyes and pretend SoM never existed. currently my gaming group is doing a Mordheim campagin. i can recommend that :D
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Post by Sulla »

You should give it a go. It's better balanced than normal warhammer or mordheim.
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Post by Calisson »

sulla wrote:It's better balanced than normal warhammer
:shock:
There are some flaws of WH magic system which are mitigated in SoM, however magic itself gains a tremendous importance in SoM.

I'd say that in regular WH, big blocks of infantry are king and improving them with magic/banners/BSB/characters/CoB is paramount. You need to tune-up the rest of the army around your 1 or 2 big blocks.
In SoM, magic-users are the key to the game like a chess' King and are powerful like a chess' Queen. You need to tune-up the rest of the army around magic-users.
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Post by Sulla »

Calisson wrote:
sulla wrote:It's better balanced than normal warhammer
:shock:
There are some flaws of WH magic system which are mitigated in SoM, however magic itself gains a tremendous importance in SoM.

I'd say that in regular WH, big blocks of infantry are king and improving them with magic/banners/BSB/characters/CoB is paramount. You need to tune-up the rest of the army around your 1 or 2 big blocks.
In SoM, magic-users are the key to the game like a chess' King and are powerful like a chess' Queen. You need to tune-up the rest of the army around magic-users.
The tools needed to win SoM games; casters to claim fulcrums, and models with many attacks to kill those mages, plus the important spells (the cantrips) are readily available to everyone. So the game comes down to skill and luck.

In WHFB, the most efficient units are not found in every army and armies can have a much greater advantage over each other, leading to far more mismatches.

Only having one main mission that you need to tailor your army for, vs 6 in WHFB makes it easier to balance the armies too,
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Post by Lord tsunami »

It's better balanced than normal warhammer or mordheim.


Yahtzee is a perfectly balanced game. That does NOT mean i want to spend my saturdays playing it for several hours ;)
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Post by Sulla »

Lord Tsunami wrote:
It's better balanced than normal warhammer or mordheim.


Yahtzee is a perfectly balanced game. That does NOT mean i want to spend my saturdays playing it for several hours ;)
Alright, let's come at this from a different angle. You don't like the game. What is it about it that you don't like?
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Post by Persuader »

I find my SoM games much more exciting then regular warhammer ATM.

In a regular game of warhammer I rarely play more then 4 turns

a SoM game stays stirring till the last round.
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