Lores of Magic 101

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Saintofm
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Lores of Magic 101

Post by Saintofm »

Might as well attempt to go into detail on on how things work in the lores of magic, as these things get brought up often enough. So here we go.

Also I don’t know the exact rules on using difficulty for getting each spell, I’ll use the following terms for my spells on how hard it would be for a level 1 wizard to get the spell off, and difficulty will be the most conservative I can get. That is until one of the mods says I can say the number needed to get off.
For a level 1 wizard (give or take, this isn't an exact science I’m using this time).
Very Easy: Need a score of 3-4, can get it on 1 die.
Easy: about a score of 5-7, can be conceivably achieved on 2 dice.
Moderate: 8-10, need at least 3 dice.
Hard: Need a 11-13, need about 4 dice conceivably for this to work
Very Hard: 14-16, about 5 dice
There goes the dice pool: You need to get about a 17-19, so you dice limit for most casters.
This is going to hurt isn't it: Casting Difficulty 20+. This is going to hurt. By now you should be seeing lots of double 6’s, but at this level you need to be a lord class wizard to see get this done.

Now for game jargon:

Lore Attribute: Special rules pertaining to the lore.

Signature Spell: A basic spell from said lore that all wizards know. Because of this, no one will have to roll for this spell. However you can't pick this spell until you roll for your other spells. If there is a spell you don't like or don't want to use on this wizard and/or game you can switch it out for the signature spell. Because of the fact this is the first spell any wizard learns, every wizard in your army can take this spell despite the normal restrictions of one of each spells per army.

Boosting: Increase the difficulty for more perks for the spell, normally extra damage or increased range.

Any other questions, adoring admiration, critiques, your own opinion, and so on post after this.

Lore of Fire (Come on Baby, Light my Fire)
This is the easiest lore to get spells off in, and perfect for new players. It’s also the best to get a few things stated off on.

It’s attribute is called Kindle Flame. Not only are all the spells flaming, but as long as a unit was hit by a magic missile or direct damage spell from this lore that magic phase, it automatically becomes easier to cast spells from lore of fire on them. Why? Because now the lore of fire user can add D3 to their casting score when the dice and magic level is added up.

Signature Spell: Fire Ball.
This is the definition of easy to get off. 24” range, D6 hits at Strength 4. Boost it to double difficulty to price you can get an extra 12 inches to your range (36 now…I’m an American, get over it), and another D6 worth of hits, while the third level (yes, it has a third level of boosting, and is one of the few spells to have this) for a very hard casting difficulty for a 48” range and 3D6 hits.

Pretty much you are going to be using the first two levels a lot as they are not that hard to get off, and have good range. The last one seems a bit overkill as you now have the range of a bolt thrower, and you can probably spend those dice used on it elsewhere. Still, its pretty simple and works nicely.

As a magic missile it cannot be used in close combat, or on a unit in close combat, but this is where the next few spells come into play.

Excample: you can cast the normal version on the Shadow warriors that used their scout rule in front of you with the normal difficulty for D6 hits; use the more difficult version for those great swords 25" away and pelt away 2D6 of them; or blow that bolt thrower into atoms at 48” away with the very difficult one (3D6 hits is bound to get one wound in sooner or latter).

Cascading flame cloak:
Another easy spell to get off, and it only has one level. This remains in play spell is an augmentation spell, one that can aid your troops. The spell effects the wizard and any unit he is in, and causes 2D6 strength 4 hits to any and all enemy units in base contact of the unit every magic phase.

Excample: A group of savage orcs get my Empire Greatsword’s flank, while a nasty unit of Black Orcs has me in the front. During their turn, both units would each suffer 2d6 hits, which could kill between 2-12 orcs in each unit. Not bad, not bad at all.

While this spell can easily be dispelled latter on, it is defiantly a good thing to have as it weakens the enemy for you before you have to go into the nitty gritty of Close Combat. And as it’s every magic phase, that’s 2D6 worth of hits against each enemy unit a turn.


Flaming Sword of Rhuin:
The first moderate spell on the list that can be cast on a unit within 24 inches, or go with the hard to get off upgraded version and pick a friendly unit within 48”. That said, once a unit has been chosen, the unit now has flaming attacks and +1 to wound in both Shooting and Close Combat until the caster’s next magic phase. You’ll most likely be using the normal version, but the upgraded version won’t cost you an arm and a leg, so you could use it on a friendly unit, say harpies or a unit of Shadow Warriors, on the other side of the field with no worries.


Burning Head:
What can I say, this spell is cool. This spell is borderline hard spell, however It goes through ranks like a bouncing cannon ball, and can be used in close combat. Basically everything within 18”directly in front of the caster get’s hit with a strength 4 attack. This hits like a canon ball, and goes through each ranks as such. Moreover any unit that takes an unsaved wound from this must check for panic. For a slightly harder version, you can double the range.

This is perfect for units that either have A) Low leadership can start running, and units with lots of ranks or B) are very close to one another can rack up the wounds. Moreover, this can get through the meat shield units some armies use. The second version of this is not that much more expensive, so its not going to kill your Power Dice pool to get it off. It also has no specific target, so unless I’m wrong here (correct me if so) you could conceivably use it in close combat.

Example: The enemy is using a horde of skaven and spamming ranks to keep their steadfast and +3 to LD do to army rules. While screaming skull might not kill every skaven it goes though like a 50 caliber bullet, it can still make the role to wound every rank per rank. So a unit with 7 ranks (like I said, spamming ranks) will need to roll for seven skaven to see if they become charbroiled. S4 attacks so -1 to armor, and wounding on 3+.


Piercing Bolts:

Another one that is borderline and who’s second level is not going to kill your power dice pool to get off. Normal: 24 inch range, Boosted: 48 inch range. In either case, this magic missile causes D3 hits per ranks with 5+ models in it on the targeted unit. This means units with lots of ranks can have the possibility to rack enough unsaved wounds to warrant a panic test. However units without ranks such as skirmishers and fast cavalry, war machines, or monsters; or units who traditionally do not need to have 5 models a rank for a full rank such as Brettonian knights or monstrous units are immune to this spell for the most part because they don't have 5 guys per rank most of the time. Also when monstrous units do do that, I doubt a few wounds from that is going to do much against a monstrous unit in horde formation.

The spell has it’s uses, 1-3 wounds a rank every rank for a typical unit means there will be quite a few kills, but it doesn't mean it will always work that way. Overall, this is the weakest spell in the lore.

Example: The enemy has a unit of ungores with 6 ranks within 24 inches, and the enemy general in the far back with his 4 ranks of beastigores at 48 inches away. You could go hard against the ungores and cause anywhere from 5-15 wounds or the beastigores at a even harder difficulty with 4-12 wounds.

Fulminating Flame Cage:
A hex spell, and a hard spell, but one that is achievable on 3 dice. Pretty much the target unit gets hit by D6 S4 hits, but if the unit has to move for whatever reason, the EVERY MODEL IN the unit takes a Strength 4 hit. This is perfect for hoard armies, and units with Frenzy or stupid, or is fleeing as chances are they are going to move. That said, if they do not move by the caster’s next magic phase it’s automatically dispelled. Still, this can keep an elite unit in one place a s the enemy player may not want to risk losing his heavy hitter.

The basic version has a 24” range, and the longer ranged version is double that for a slightly higher difficulty. While this has the potential of being a what I like to call a Unit Killer, a spell or unit that can wipe out a whole unit or at least take out a good chunk of it. That said you’ll need to have them take a panic test, break in combat, park a unit in front of those frothing Frenzied units, or hope they have stupidity otherwise they just loose D6 wounds.

Ex: My Warriors of chaos opponent has 30 Muraders with mark of Khorn within 18”, and a unit of 18 trolls at 30 inches. I could cast the flame cage on the marauders and have my dark riders parked close enough to bait them. What ever survives the D6 hits has to now test to see if they won’t charge due to frenzy, but if they failed what is left of the unit has is hit (so If I killed no one when I cast the spell, all 30 of them have to take a hit, champion included).

I could also do this to the trolls, knowing their stupidity will more then likely do themselves in. While I doubt this will kill the unit (each troll has 3 wound each, there will be survivors).

As the spell is not remains in play, the only way to dispel it is to set it off or wait it out, or dispel it when it was first cast.


Flame Storm:
The first round template spells. Pretty much you should guess the strength of hits here: every undeathneath the template is hit by Strength 4 hits. There are two versions of this.

Then basic one is in the moderate difficulty which allows you to place a small template anywhere within 30 inches of the caster, and then role a scatter die and D6 to see how off cores it goes. However go with the very hard level of difficulty (although still somewhat manageable) boosted version of this spell,s its now a large template and 2D6 scatter. Either way this can take out a good chunk of a unit. Also, remembered that template spells can’t touch friendly models, though they may scatter onto them.

Since it’s direct damage and not a vortex it goes away.

Example. I have enough zombies in front of me to have the body count of the Night, Dawn, and Day of the Dead combined. I could use a small templat on them, much more manageable but will largly just work on a smaller unit. However the larger one can cover more ground, therefore more enemies, but will scatter farther (either way unless I see a direct hit on the scatter die, I’m going to hit my mark).

Lore overview.

Perks: Perfect for new players as the spells are largely moderately priced, and even the hard ones are manageable. Nothing a level 2 wizzard can’t handle really. All the spells that do damage do so on strength 4, so against most units in the game you will be wounding on a 3 or 4. As flaming attacks, Regeneration is canceled and flammable units are at your mercy.

Down Sides: All the spells that do damage, and that is all but one of them, will be hitting at strength 4. I love this strength as it makes figuring out what I need to wound it with so much eaiser (T3 need a 3; T4 need a 4; T 5 need a 5; you get the idea). I can also see this being good against about, if I had to guess, 60% of the units out there as that about the number that are toughness 3 and 4. However this makes tougher foes such as chaos spawn, chosen of chaos who get that one blessing that boosts toughness, monsters, and war machines as they will be needing 5’s and 6’s. Also most of the spells need to targeting someone a fair distance away, with only maybe 2-3 workable up close and personal with the enemy.

Tune in next time as I talk about metal.
Last edited by Saintofm on Thu Oct 11, 2012 5:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Lorddrittz
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Post by Lorddrittz »

I love the Level 1 with Fireball as a supporting caster usually carrying a scroll for my army.

The Fireball is just awesome basically 3 spells in 1 with the low level D6, 2D6 and 3D6 Fireballs depending on the dice you have for that Magic Phase.
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Daeron
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Re: Lores of Magic 101

Post by Daeron »

I love the post and will be rereading it a few times (and looking forward to the next post).

There is one detail I'd like to bring up but I'm not sure if I have it the right way. I don't have the BRB with me, I can check it at home, but I read 2 days ago which is why it's still fresh in my mind.
saintofm wrote:Signature Spell: A basic spell from said lore that all wizards know. Because of this, no one will have to roll for this spell.

From what I understood: "every wizzard can choose to replace a spell with the signature spell".
The example given in the rulebook is (IIRC) a wizzard rolling spells 1,4,2,4. As he has double 4's he can replace one "4" with a spell of his choosing (and take spell 6 for example). THEN the wizzard can still choose to replace his spell 4 with the signature spell, ending without spell 4! I'm going to double, and triple check this tonight.

In this, Dark Elves are an exception with our current army book. Our Dark Magic offers a spell we don't roll on and is known to all casters, regardless of the Lore and spells they have choosen. Furthermore, Chillwind serves as the "always selectable spell", even though we roll for it.
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Post by Omnichron »

Good writeup. Daeron is right about the signature though. You have to roll for spells and then you can exchange one of them with the signature... it's not added to what you can cast.

Also something that could be worth to add, is how well the lore works with Dark Elves, and what kind of lists could/should use it. Imho, the fire lore is one of the least usable lores for us as it has lots of low dmg spells (where we already have the dark magic and lots of low dmg attacks in our army).

Also, the "threat" levels of all the spells might have a big impact of what spells you get through (and how easy it is to cast)... like, when you go metal and meet an opponent without armor, some of your spells are wasted and he will just dispel those that works against him...

On the completely opposite side, the death lores signature, Spirit leech, is such a threat to most characters that most players won't waste dice on the other spells, which means you have a bigger chance of getting Soulblight off, or maybe even some of the other snipe spells.

A more balanced example is the best lore (imo), Shadow. Even though one of the many spells can get dispelled, you have several others that works incredibly well... and Miasma can be quite the gamechanger, one of the few signature spells that can have such an impact on an entire battle.

Keep up the work with the other spells though, it's always good to read what others thinks about spells and lores.
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Post by Saintofm »

I'll keep this in mind with the next Lore. untill then

How does Lore of Fire Work with Dark Elves: So so.

Lore of fire is a super easy lore to get spells off and elves of any flavor tend to have some of the best spell casters so have a super easy lore dosn't help too much. I can see some of the offencive capabilities with most of the spells, such as fire ball and flame wall, and even it's one defensive spell, flame wall, but that's it. It has no magor strengths or weaknessess. It's just simple and easy, but is largly an offencive lore, which kindove plays to the dark elves as they are more hammers than anvils so to speak.

The best combo with the lore: 2 of them actualy.

Flame cage and Burning skull. Start off with flame cage. Now use a flaming skull. Flaming skull goes through the ranks and if it so much as gets one wound in, panic test. If They fail the panic test then the flame cage goes into effect, giving every model in the unit, including hers and champions, a S4 flAMING flaming wound.

The main problem with this is two fold.
1. You are expecting your enemy not to panic. Granted, doing a super quick test with a hundred panic tests with a pair of D6's, I figure (beguining estimate, need to do ten more of these to make it scientific) that you have a 40% chance a LD 7 unit will hold their ground. This is increased if you have a L 8 unit or charecter, and even more so with a LD9 or 10 unit or charecter.

2. The unit is not immune to psychology which is short hand for ignore panic, terror, and fear, and default action is holding their ground.

High LD or ignores panic makes this combo a little iffy at best.

Combo 2: Flame wall and Swords of Rhuine: Adds defence and offencive capabilitiesas you will deny your foe regeneration , do double damage if they are flamable, and scare cavalrey. That and the +1 to wound bonus dosn't hurt.

Mix Lore Combos:

Lore of Fire and Metal: Swords of Rhuin and Blades of Albion.
+1 to hit and armor piercing from the one, and +1 to wound and flaming attacks with the other. Now you can fight those nurgle warriors of chaos with some ease.

Lore of fire and Shadow: Any damaging spell and Whithering. While this can be said about any lore of magic, the fact you lower a target's toughness is irresitably good. Then you add the damaging spells form lore of fire, it's more fun then a barrul full of monkeys and a black momba.

Lore of Fire and Death: Flame Cage and Doom and Darkness followed up by either a flaming skull or all the crossbowmen you can muster.

Doom and darkness lowers a target's LD by 3. This means they are less likly to pass most leadership tests like break or mycology. So you start off with doom and darknees and flame cage, then either with a spell that us assured to get a panic test or even a good round of shooting afterwords and they run. Reversly you can hope the unit is stupid and see if they don't get a double 1 and let the magic happen, but that's about it.

Dark Magic: Flame cage and Black Horror. Again for the panic test.

Lore comboes enemies could use (note this is with what I have book wise).

Lore of life: Flame wall and Sheild of Thorns: basicly for added protection as now you are doing extra damage simply for the enemy being in base contact with you.

Beasts: Swordas ad Wyssan's Wild Form
Wild form bumps a unit's strenght and toughness by 1, and swords of Rhuine give a +1 to hit mod.

Light: Net of Amock+Flame Cage+anything that makes the unit runaway such as a panic test.

The net makes a unit have to pass a strength test if they want to do anything other then sit still without taking D6 S4 hits, and flame cage again does damage to the whole unit if they move for what ever.

Lore of Heavens: Wind Blast and Flame Cage.
Wing blast moves units. Flame cage goes in effect when the victim unit moves. Nuff said.

Gut Magic: Flame cage and Braingobler: The former is spoken for, the latter causes an instant panic test.

Bullgorger and Sword: Bullgorger increases the unit's strength and +1 to wound is just there to tick people off.


high Magic: Swords and Curse of Arrow attraction: You already have your archers able to rerole failed shots, why not make them get through thick skinned adversaries like dwarves and ogres?


Warriors of Chaos Lore of Slannesh:

Hell Shreik, and to you're immortal surprise: Flame Cage. Yeah, yeah, panic test+attack everyone spell.

Flame Cage and Histaric Frenzy: Histaric frenzy can be used on firned and foe, and the unit becomes frenzied but while the spell is on them they D6 S3 hits at the start of each player turn. Why flanflame cage to go with this? If you have a unit you know is going to beat them up, make beating them up easier. Of if you have a unit with fast cavalrey or a charecter with fly, and now you can bate the frenzied unit.

Titillating Delusions, and you won't believe it: Flame cage.

As long as the target unit is not immune to psychology you pick spot and they want to move to it. Remember what flame cage does?

Anything else is up to you guys to figure out.
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Post by Saintofm »

Lore of Metal (Metal Militia).
This is mixed bag, but it’s a lore I like.

Lore Attribute: Metalshifting.
This attribute does 3 things, but all relate to the damaging spells.
1. Ignores armor
2. Flaming attacks
3. Does damage based upon target’s armor value (if they get a higher armor save against range attacks you get both).
This means a sorceress on a dark steed is wounded on a 6+, a beastigore on a 5+, Empire Great Sword on a 4+, orc boar boy on a 3+, and a Knight Errant on a 2+. I am of the opinion that 1’s are still failures as Cold one knights still fail an initiative test on a roll of 6, and a giant still fails a strength test on a roll of 6, and a Demigriff riding knight still fails their armor on a roll of 1. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Signature Spell, Searing Doom: This magic missile does D6 hits at a range of 24”, and a hard difficulty, but still manageable for a level 2 wizard. Double the difficulty for something that is going to kill your dice pool for the most part and you get an extra D6 of hits. Seriously, just 2 D6 hits, no increased range. While this is nice for overkillig a large unit of heavily armored foes, it’s not worth it against a good chunk of the enemies you’ll face. Seriously, extra range is one thing, but at this difficulty I’d expect something more substantial.

Ex: I have a unit of Damonetts on seekers who can charge me, but farther away but well within my range is a unit of juggernauts ready to flank my knights. Both have armor, but the Slannehsies will take wounds on a 6+, and the khornites will take it on a 4+. I could do normal or boosted version of this spell BUT both would be wounding on the same roll of the dice. Also, either way, I prefer the standard.

Plauge of Rust: Moderately difficulty, it has a range of 24”, and boosted to the higher end of moderately for 48”. Pretty much this hex spell permanently reduces its target unit’s armor save by one for the rest of the game. There is no dispelling, it just takes it away.

At one end this makes wounding with your enemy against the enemy easier as there is less armor to worry about, but at the other end half the spells in this list wound based on armor save and that would take away this lore’s main strength offensively. That said it’s cheaper then searing doom, and perfect for helping one of your units in close combat.

Enchanted Blades of Alban: Higher end of the moderately difficult to cast spectrum, but is well worth it. Choose a target friendly unit for this augmentation spell and all of their shooting and close combat attacks are now +1 to hit and armor piercing. Team this up with lore of fire’s Flaming sword, and you have a devastating combo. Like flaming sword, this lasts until the caster’s next magic phase. The boosted version of this spell does the same thing except instead of a 24” range its double and now in the hard to cast range.

All around, this is a good spell, and one you should try to get as this makes hitting, especially if you’ve been in a round or two in close combat, all the more easier. Add the armor piercing rule, and you can worry less about the armor.

Ex. I can cast this upon my knights who are charging a Brettonian grail knights. Their strength on the charge means they go through 3 layers of armor, but now they can get armor piercing and get though a 4th (reducing knightly armor to a 6+). They could also have +1 to hit, hitting them on 3’s instead of 4’s.

On the other hand, I could also cast it on the unit of 6 shades parked next to a trebuchet. They are scouting so no charges this turn, but they can still shoot and still multiple shot them, but now with the -1 cancled out with the +1. I get the 12 shots without worrying about the -1, thus 12 shots hitting on 2’s.

Glittering Robes: Higher end of the moderate range as well, and thee spell to try and role for in this lore. Why? Because this spell gives you +2 scaly skin. Cast this on Witch Elves and they now have a 5+ armor save. Cast this on Executioners, they now have a 3+. They now have some staying power. The boosted version is in the very hard range and all friendlies within 12” get the +2 to armor.

Seriously, you will want this spell!

Ex. Ogre iron guts are charging me, and get 9 S5 wounds from the charge on my Executioners. If this spell is cast upon them they can keep their 5+ armor save they started with, and when the fighting starts still get the 6+ armor save, while my troops can beat them just as senseless. Yes the iron guts can still beat me within a centimeter of my life, but I have a better chance.

Or maybe you could have cast it army wide so your unarmored troops have some protection, and your other armored troops keep their armor.


Gehenna’s Golden Houdns: Pick a single model 12” away for yet another borderline moderate difficulty value, or go 24” for the hard version, and cause D6 hits on it. Perfect for characters, monsters, chariots, and unit champions. The Victim get’s a “look out sir” role as long as there are five or more models in the unit, but that still allows you to kill something.

It’s not too difficult all around, and both versions are achievable on three dice, maybe 2 if the caster has a high enough level. Still, this is the spell equivalent of a sniper rifle, where one good shot can leave a unit helpless, or in the case of the undead, an army crumbling. On the other hand, you are going to want to go with the boosted one as that gives you some range as you can’t use the spell in CC, something if your this close and personal you might as well want to use it. 12” range normal, 24” range boosted.

Also, direct damage spell with a specific target that doesn’t scatter, and don’t say can be used in close combat. Guess what that means!! Give up? Something with this short of range cannot be used in CC which sucks as you are asking to be charged if you get close enough to use this spell properly. Go with the signature spell instead; at east you take care of the damn unit.

Example: My wizard is held up with their unit in a building, with a vampire count BSB in a unit of grave guard ready to charge next turn. I could use it on the BSB, thus getting rid of a annoyance at best and I’m going to feel this in the morning at worse level of hurt this BSB can cause, but maybe just maybe I want to use it on that LV 4 vampire Lord flying around and being a pest, with his weapons, gifts, and that 2+ armor he has. I could boost my spell, target him, and now his whole army can start crumbling.

Transmutation of Lead: Hard spell with a 24” range, and boosted to even harder to cast version for double the range. Until the caster’s next turn, the victim unit takes a beating with this hex as all of their Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, and Armor Save values are reduced by 1 untill the caster’s next magic phase. It is now harder for them to hit something and easier to be hit, and when they are hit they can’t take it as well.

Its not a bad hex, and still manageable Its only a point harder then black horror. When combined with albion blades, and/or plague of rust you can do serious damage on units who rely on their armor to see them though.

Ex. I got some corsairs that are in combat with some Slannehsi warriors of chaos. I got a 4+ armor to get through and I’ll be hitting on 4’s. So, lets make it easy and give em a -1 on their WS, and -1 to their armor.

Or lets say they are allies with a chaos dwarf army. I could use this same spell on their gunners and give em an additional -1 to whatever modifiers may happen.



Final Transmutation: I love this spell. Why? Because it has a normal rather hard to cast value with an 18” range, or you can double the range for almost needing a 20 to get it off. In either situation, this direct damage spell hits every model in a unit (champions and characters as well). Moreover, if a role of 5 or 6 is rolled to wound them, they are removed from play without any kind of save at all, even if they have no armor. Against foes with multiple wounds like heroes and monstrous units, this requires a 6+ to instant kill it, but this can be very devastating on the regular troops, and as it auto kills on a 5 and 6 even without armor even units like Witch Elves and 95% of the beastman army can be affected by it. Against hevily armored foes, you still get the flaming, ignore auto wounds on their armor save value, so you don’t need the high numbers on everything. Even better, or worse if you are hit , is if those auto kills are unsaveable. Obviously armor and reregeneration is out of the question but now wards are useless to (why I hate the new magic resistance).

TO further insult to injury, any other enemy unit within 12 inches of the target unit must test for stupidity during their following turn. This can be devastating even if it doesn’t wound as it can keep wizards and heroes from doing their thing, while heavy hitting units won’t be going as fast as they should. Too bad can’t use it in close combat. Oh well.

Overall it’s a high risk/high reward spell, and one that can count as a unit killer in the right situation.

Ex: So you are in a game against lizardmen and you finally have a chance to cast a spell on that horde of Sourus guard with their Slann overlord. You get this off, all your dice to ensure that irresistible force makes the spell go through. Now the unit champion and everyone else is going to test to see if they live through this, and even if it doesn’t kill the whole unit you get a half a chance to kill most of them. There is also the 1/6 chance to take that fat toad and turn him into a gold statue.

Overall opinion of the lore:
It has a large number of moderate to difficult spells to get off, with at least one of the best augmentation spells in the game, and a number of spells that work well against heavily armored foes.

Strengths:
Nearly all of the Spells work well against heavily armored armies and units as three spells have a greater chance of wounding the higher the armor save, and the two can severly hamper a armored foe’s armor save value.
Two really decent augmentation spells.
Two Really nice hex spells
Goes through heavily armored foes like a movie goer goes through popcorn.

Weakness:

It’s practically a one trick pony against heavily armored foes to the near useless to everything else. Seriously, unless a target has a 4+ or 5+ armor save, don’t expect much deaths from the damage spells.
Spells are moderately difficult to hard for the most part.
Not enough range, have to be up close and personal for a couple of spells.

How does it work with Dark Elves: I haven’t used it in a game, yet, but am dying to try it out with my knight death star. That said, this is just pure speculation on this part.

As with most armies, it really depends. Of all the armies in the game, you can count the heaviest armored ones on one hand. In no particular order, that usually means Brettonia, Warriors of Chaos, Lizardmen, and maybe dwarves. Moderately armored armies such as Dark Elves, High Elves, and the such are rarer still. You are more likely to see lightly armored forces such as empire, Orcs and goblins, ogres, and Beast men who have the occasional unit that has more protection than a dignitary’s daughter on a hot date.

This means that most of the damaging spells won’t really do much against most armies, and you’ll be wanting the hexes and augmentations as the augmentations increase armor and accuracy with armor piercing ( the former desperately needed in any given elf army, and your mostly going for the armor piercing in the other unless it’s crossbows, then it’s accuracy). As for the hexes, when fighting those heavily armored foes, sometimes you just want to deny them armor, but really since one of those hexes also works on your enemy’s accuracy, you’ll be wanting that instead.

While we can still get off lots of dice, the fact of the matter is power of darkness can still be dispelled and your getting D3+1 dice back, meaning if you spend 2 dice on power of darkness you get anywhere from 2 to 4 dice in return. Not much of a pay back. With the other options such as dark star cloak and sac dagger are also limited as they only provide one die at a time, and in the case of the cloak, only one die a magic phase.

Again, this is one of those lores you make your judgment on. If you know you’ll be facing heavily armored foes, it’s great. If you want to make your guys hit better, then also great. Other than that, it’s a double edge sword if I ever saw one.

Spell combinations:

Spell combinations
Enchanted Blades of Aiban and Transmutation of lead: Blades give +1 to hit and armor pericing (goes through 1 layer of armor). Transmutation of lead make all enemy attacks -1 to weapon skill and ballistic skill and -1 to armor save. This means you get an easier time to hit your foe and they have a harder time to hit you. You are also now going through two layers of armor, this means even a S3 unit of spearmen can have a half a chance of getting through heavy cavalry’s armor for the most part. Make it a S4 unit like Black Guard, even more armor, or a S5 unit like the Hydra or Coldone Chariot on the charge, or a S6 units like knights on the charge and Executioners, there is no more armor to hide behind. Maybe a 6+ for some charecters, Knights of Chaos, and Empire knights, but that is it.

Searing Doom and Final Transmutation: start off with final transmutation to level the playing field, than searing doom on the straglers. Only really works on heavily armored foes (4+ at the least, preferably 3 or 2+).

Glistening Robes and Enchated Blades: One adds to the offence, the other defence via +2 scaly skin.

Other Dark Elf Lores Combinations
Fire: Swords of Rhuin and Blades of Albion. Frankly it provides to two main needs: Acuracy with +1 to hit and killability with +1 to wound. This means if you get both off on a unit of repeater crossbowmen, you can get multiple shots on an enemy unit at over half range to and still hit largely on on 4’s with multiple shots and 3’s with single shots. This also means if that unit were goblins then the you’d be wounding on 3’s, or if it was a unit of orcs wounding on 4’s. And if they get into close combat with you, it won’t just be the repater crossbows that have armor piercing but the close combat attacks as well.

Shadow:
Steed of shadow and any of the damaging spells. For all intensive purposes you have to be in pretty damn close to hit someone with a basic verson of some of these spells. This means that you can use oen or two, then steed of shadows to fly to safety or harass another unit.

Withering and Lead spell: basically both make it easier to kill your foe.

Melkoth’s Mystifying Miasma and Enchanted Blades: Makes it easier to hit your foe while reducing the chance of being hit in return.

Death
Spirit leach on a low LD target and any of the Lore of Metal spells: Yeah, you are going to need those power dice.

Soul Blight and Transmutation of lead: Makes it easier to hit and wound your foe.

What our enemies may use
High
Arrow Attraction and Blades of Albion: Armor piercing arrows that have a dang good chance of hitting something.
Life
Flesh to stone and Glistening Scales: Up the anti on defense.

Beasts: Any of the augments: They basicly help make the target more unkillable or a close combat monster
Transmutation of lead and Wysans wild form or The Savage Beast of Horrors: makes you capable of killing stuff dead.

Heavens
Curse of the midnight wind and Transmutation of lead. Makes a unit more killable as they get less chances to get that 6+ armor save.


Tune in next time as I look at death.
Who needs sanity? I have a Hydra
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Lorddrittz
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Post by Lorddrittz »

Nice Lore run downs and synergies.

I was thinking it might be useful at the end of your Magic Lore coverage to look at the Dark Elf specific Sorceress combos. ie : Do we take more than 2 casters? If so which Lore combos and item combos. Maybe linking to some of the other threads mentioned on this site
eg: How to tool up your Level 4
http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=70597
Dark Elf Battles

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Daeron
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Post by Daeron »

saintofm wrote:Plauge of Rust: Moderately difficulty, it has a range of 24”, and boosted to the higher end of moderately for 48”. Pretty much this hex spell permanently reduces its target unit’s armor save by one for the rest of the game. There is no dispelling, it just takes it away.

At one end this makes wounding with your enemy against the enemy easier as there is less armor to worry about, but at the other end half the spells in this list wound based on armor save and that would take away this lore’s main strength offensively. That said it’s cheaper then searing doom, and perfect for helping one of your units in close combat.


Hmm... I need to double check this, but I thought the damage of metal was on the base value of a model's armor. Thus, it would be unmodified by hex spells and modifiers such as this spell.
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