Lore of Shadow Review

Lore of Shadow

Melkoths Mystifiying Miasma 8/10

+Good choice of buffs

+Cheap

-not super effective unless you go for the buffed version

Talk about a signature spell. This on a level 2 with a lvl four with Purple Sun. The buffed version significantly weakens a deathstar -2 Ws, I and M is great. On a shooting unit -2 BS is very good. Spam this spell for an angry opponent, and then maybe chuck out a pit :). So many great uses for each statistic. Use the buffed version on a large unit you really want to hurt, but if you only need to lower one stat stick to the weak version

Steed of Shadows 2/10

-What do you think the special ability is for

-Cant charge with it

So a spell that lets you make a fly move. So it could be handy for getting out of trouble but what do you think smoke and mirrors is for.

Enfeebling Foe. 8/10

+Great debuff

This spell lowers an enemies strength by an average of 2. That can make a S3 unit harmless or downgrade a highish strength unit to an average one. This spell synergies nicely with Warriors though as it means we can keep our armour saves against high strength foes 

The withering 7/10

+Great debuff

The twin spell to foe. This is to put on the high toughness stuff that faces your warriors so you can wound them like you would weaker stuff. Withering + Hyda/HPA vs Kornate warriors = dead hydra

The Penumbral Pendulam 4/10
+Terrifying to ogres
-Short range or expensive

This spell sucks because it is only effective against certain things. Namely low i (so they get hit) and high toughness (to make the most of S10). This looks very nasty to ogres. Except unless you are on the flank (which you wont be without a disk) you just cant get more than a few models in the way. The stuff that does get a lot of stuff in the way tends to not care about a couple of casualties either

Pit of Shades 6/10
+The Damage spell this lore needs
-Scatters

So the lore with great debuffs gets a good damage spell. really though, it cant pack the punch you need if you want a great damage spell. Against say humans its only about 8 dead, which is decent but we dont need magic to kill weak units, we have khornate infantry. The primary purpose of this spell would be to kill war machines as they auto fail I tests. You can scatter of though and if you want the bigger version you scatter twice as far.

Okkams Mindrazor 4/10
+Can turn the balance
-Expensive
-Not a good spell for WoC

Mindrazor is the spell than is most feared when used by elves. +5 S is awesome. For warriors though it is useless. We already have S5 on most stuff. Why would we need +2/+3 S when we wound most stuff on 2 and the majority on 3s.  Maybe for a casting value of 12, but for 18 forget it. Withering makes Chaos Warriors just as effective.


This lore is really good but it just isn't for Warriors of Chaos. Firstly the 6th spell doesn't suit us which is bad, as you always wont a very powerful spell for when you need to damage something very badly. Pit of shades is good for taking out war machines but cant get a huge number of casualties. Pendulum can be useful  but most times isn't. The top 3 spells in the lore being meh or bad is just not good. Then their is steeds which  can fix pendulam, and will waste dice which is bad. That leaves the lore with three great spells.

Melkoths can effect everything or anything and severely weakens any unit you want it to. Enfeebling and withering are more specialised but are just as good. The verdict on this lore then is that it is great for a level 2  for some support hexes, but warriors cant afford a second caster nearly always so sadly i will not be pulling it out anytime soon.

Lore of Heavens Review

Lore of Heavens 7/10

Ice shard blizzard 6/10
+one dicer
-Not guaranteed effects
-Does not effect most armies

Yay its actually a  signature you would want to take
If anyone takes a large shooting unit this spell stuffs them over. Otherwise this spell is good to use your last dice on, in a turn of shutting down war machines. Its only a 50% chance though. This spell really shines though on the short ranges expensive war machines that normally only get a turn of shooting. Organ and volley guns for example.


Harmonic Converge 8/10
+One dicer if dice are tough
+Great buff
+Enhanced version !!!
-Wont help you when you really need it.

The main disadvantage of MSU is that it is harder to buff. The enhanced version effects everything in 12" which can be a huge portion of your army for 3 dice. Is is also extremely effective. Lets say a unit of 12 warriors with MoK and Halberds facing halberdiers. 24 attacks, 16 hitting, 13.1/3 wounds normally. Now with Converge 4 1s are rolled to hit of which 2.2/3 are successfully re-rolled. So 16 hitting goes to 18.2/3.
Of 18.2/3 15.555 wound so 3.11 1s are rolled of which 2.59 are successfully re-rolled. Thats 18.41 wounds, for 12 guys.
So unbuffed 13.1/3 wounds
Buffed 18.41
Thats nearly a 40% increase which is huge for 3 power dice. Razoring elves is only a 15% increase in wounds so you can see how effective its is. Taking into mind that Razor has the advantage of destroying armour saves but Converge also allows you to reroll 1s for armour. Imagine that on Knights facing S3/4

Wind Blast 8/10
+Push enemy out of ranges
+Deathstar killers

The enemy deathstar moves forward 8/10 then gets pushed back 5. Fleeing enemies or normal enemis can be pushed of the board (might have to check the FaQ), archers out of range. Pull enemies out of formation. The possibilities are endless. The buffed version is fairly expensive, so you might not be able to cast much else and you cant spam it. The hits are just a little bonus.


Curse of the Midnight Wind 6/10
+Great on hordes
-Buffed version is expensive

This spell is like converge but effects the enemy and is more expensive. It is better because it stops killing blow and poison, but as a consequence is expensive and the buffed version may just be the only spell you get of. On the big enemy horde this spell is great but think before you cast it.

Urannons Thunderbolt 6/10
+High strength
-Low hits
-Expensive

Every lore should have a cheap missile, except this spell is not cheap on a 10 for what you get. S6 is very nice, but with an average of 3 or 4 hits, that not many dead. On 5 man light cavalry it is great, on 10 man units not so much unless you also cast comet or lightning. Other spells are probably higher up your priority though.

Comet of Cassandora 6/10
+most fun spell in the game to cast
+Potential for great damage, especially on MSU
-Variable

The main problem with this spell, is if the comet fails to fall next turn the chances are the enemy will have moved on. Even then it relies on what you roll for distance. I always cast the enhanced version and then it is averagly 7 S6 hits on each unit within 7 inches of the point. Thats great on a gunline but on a lot of armies you probably get 3 units with it. Sometimes it is your hero though.

Chain Lightning 15+ 6.5/10
+Slaughters MSU with a good rolling strength
-Limited Range
-Might fizzle

So for a higher casting value by four than thunderbolt, you have a 2/3 chance of moving to the next unit, then the next unit, then the next unit etc. If you have a good feel for dice this is the spell for you. Against massed war machines (elves will hate you for this spell) you can wreck havoc.


Well this is the first law i really like the look of. Most people on the internet write it of, but most people on the internet are stupid, particularly if you post on warseer. The best part is the versatility. Once you see the enemy army you can decide what you want to do for you magic. Say if the enemy had a lot of shades you could take thunderbolt, lightning, blizzard and whatever you want. Against close combat horde armies, Converge, Blast and Curse are you natural choices.

Lore of Fire review

Lore of Fire 7/10

Fireball 7/10
+3 versions

Die skirmishers die, die flankers die. This spell is great as their are more powerful versions so you can adapt it to ho many power dice you have. Anything that needs to lose a few models will do so with this spell

Fire Cloak 5/10
+Cheap
+Might just turn the balance
-Doesnt do much damage.

A one dicer spell that might kill a couple of people is meh. If your lucky it might just tip the balance to break steadfast or to in the combat. Apart from that this spell wont have much effect

Flaming Sword of Ruin 6/10
+One dicer
+Decent buff
-Better for other people than WoC

Yay another one dicer spell. Unfortunately WoC don't get cheap casters to spam and cant afford the 1/3 chance of failing. It is a handy buff though except our people don't need buffs and a good army should be MSU so one unit buffs are fail. However when our halberd warriors face T4 it is handy.

Burning Head 4/10
+Buffed version has good range
-hard to get many hits.

So this spell draws a line down the battlefield and anything touched takes a s4 hit. So 2 or 3 kills a unit. If you get down the flanks of an army this spell is good, but without a disk that is very hard.

Piercing Bolt 5/10
+Die bus die.
-Doesn't do much damage against most units.

So D3 S4 hits for every rank. So maybe 1 dead from every rank. When the 50 skaven slaves reform to a bus before getting charged this spell is good. Otherwise a 2nd tier fireball is superior

Fulminating Flame Cage 8/10

+Die non ward deathstar
+Kills weak units
-Pricier for a fire spell

Finally a real winner! The hits are next to nothing, but as it is a hex not a RiP it is one of the best hexs in the game. As most stuff is T3 thats 2/3 of the very strong unit gone when it tries to get towards you. Of course no one is stupid enough to move when this is cast on them, so it will hold them up for a turn. A very good way to kill a horde

Flame Storm 7/10
+Cheap
+Decent effect
-Not a game winner

S4 stone thrower/mortar! Yes please. A 6th spell that only takes 3 dice to cast! Win, win, win. Be warned that it is not as effective as other 6th spells, but the idea with fire is to get more than 1 spell of.

Flame cloak, and fire ball are the real winners here, with flame storm and flaming sword still being good spells. The idea of this lore with warriors of chaos is to cast as many spells as possibly. This lore is good as it can take down small units with fireball, but can then buff and debuff while having a good horde killer spell

Lore of Slannesh review

Lore of Slaneesh 3/10

Lash of Slaneesh 2/10
-You might kill 2 light cavalry if your lucky.
+cheap

D6 S3 hits is worthless in the modern era.The spell is a one dicer though.

Hellshriek 6/10
+Useful
-ItP
-No one fails these tests

This spell is very situational but against low ld flankers it works wonders

Hysterical Frenzy 4/10
+RiP
+Frenzy

If you need frenzy on a unit desperately this is good. However stuff that might need it either cant afford the hits (horsemen) or it takes away the parry save (anvil warriors)

Titillating Delusions 4/10
+RiP
-What a way to kill deathstars except its RiP
-To much itp

This spell like Pandemonium is rubbish. It is epic, but as it is RiP and it will just be dispelled

Aura of acquiescence. 1/10
-Fear means nothing

No body fails leadership tests these days

Ecstatic Seizures 9/10
+Dwellers but cheaper.
+More stuff is lower T than S

The +- says it all


Another fail lore. Seizures is win but nothing else is. No good magic missiles. The body is worse than the sum of its parts

Lore of Tzeentch review

Lore of Tzeentch 6/10


Flickering Fire 4/10
+Cheap
-Not very powerful

So a spell that averages 2 wounds T3 troops with only an 18' range. So you probably wont be in range of the weak flank units that fear this spell. For this price however i wouldn't complain, except Warriors of Chaos can only afford 1 caster. He has casting bonus higher than the casting value of this spell, yet he has a 1/3 chance of failing it on 1 dice. This spell is only useful if you have a dice left over once the other are used.

Baleful Transmogrification 4/10
+Only needs one dice.
-No one much fails ld tests anymore

Well its another spell you would want to one dice. However with rerolls nothing important is going to fail, and stuff on flanks probably wont take much damage, if any.


Pandemonium 6/10
+One diceable
+RiP
+Ha units that rely on leadership'

Some armies have units with really low leadership and rely on heroes to pass tests. Chuck this on one of them and watch them flee. However units like this are cheap and you can only use this spell on one of many. The effect on casters is worthless as they will just dispel it.

Treason of Tzeentch 9/10
+Die executioner horde die.
-Doesnt work on ITP

This is going to be one of my all time great plans. Let the Dark elf SS cast Okams on the 40 strong frenzied two hand weapon Corsairs. Let them kill my warhounds or my 20 marauders or 12 warriors. Then cast this at them. This spell is so great as it fixes the weaknesses of hordes of killy than Chaos Warriorx stuff that WoC stuggle with and is a reason non ward save deathstars suck.

Call to Glory 0/10
-Worthless
-Expensive

Warriors of Chaos dont need an extra couple of attacks. If he was allowed 50p of wargear, then it would have been worth it. There is a reason no one runs naked Heroes

Infernal gateway 5/10
+Can be the best spell in the game
-Expensive

7 S7 hits. Colour me impressed. Its only a 1/6 chance of destroying a unit and otherwise isnt that much better than your average magic missile.

Tzeentch is a pretty similar story to Nurgle. One great spell and a couple of meh ones. Either cast all the easy spells to draw out dispell and Treason the best enemy unit or vice versa. Its not a bad choice, i just believe that WoC could do so much better

Lore of Nurgle review

Lore of Nurgle 5/10


Magnificent Buboes 6/10
+ Easy to Cast
+Guaranteed a wound
+ Spamable
-On cast cant do much damage

This is a great spell for taking a wound of everyone. Very easy to cast but to do any damage you have to spam it. I would give it a 10/10 but for the fact it takes 2 turns to kill a banner bearer which is alright, but 3 for a mage lord.

Fleshy Abundance 7/10
+Cheap way to get a save
-To many things kill regen

Your warrior unit going to get caned in CC against that unit of swordsmasters. Well put this spell on them with 2 dice and they might just win. The downside is that unit of swords masters will probably have that flaming banner, that is nearly an auto include these days. The other downside is that this works best   on large units, which we shouldn't take. On a Marauder horde it is also very good as they might dish out pain, but they cant take it. This spell turns them into a very tough anvil. The possibilities are endless but where you need it the most it probably wont have much effect.

Plague Squall 0/10
-S1 hits, get real

S1 hits are useless, even if you have 18 of them. If this spell was 4+ i would probably take it, but for twic that forget it.

Cloying Quagmire 4/10
- Expensive

Let me see how many low i things are there How many have a good armour save. Some OKingsoms and Chaos Ogres and Dragon Ogres. This spells niche is just to small, and it doesnt even effect those units much as their units are so small. On a human, i make it one in every 9 die. May as well just magic missile them

Curse of the Leper 7/10
+R.I.P
+Kills things is people forget about it.
-R.I.P


What away to take down a deathstar. Sorry T2 isnt going to cut it against S5 or even 4. Its also R.I.P with a high casting value, so you can expect it to waste 3 enemy power dice next turn. Dont expect it to last turns, but treat is as a good hex.

Rot Glorius Rot 3/10
-Unreliable
-Expensive

Against humans this will kill about 6 people. Pass.




There are some really good spells in here. Unfortunately there are only three in here, and to make the best of those spells casting value you really want a lvl 4. One buff, one debuff and one way to take a wound of someone isnt enough to make it a viable choice.

Game 2 against Daemons.

So i had another game against Daemons today.

He had
2 letter hordes with herald
1 Horror Bus with herald
1 Lord of Change (life)
8 Flesh Hounds
5 Flamers
2 Fiends

I had

3 Hellcannons
5 Knights
1 Lord on Disk
1Sorc Lord (heavens)
2 Heroes on Disk
2x12 Warriors
16 Maraudrs
2x5 Warhounds

So both pretty battle forces.

Turn 1, he went first. He got throne of, but nothing much else. I dropped a comet, which killed the flamers, 12 letters and half a dozen horrors (insanely good rolling) I calculated badly however, and a unit of my warhounds went poof. That really messed up my plan for the next turn.

My Horsemen lined up for flank charges on the hounds and a fiend respectively. My lord on disk charged a fiend and failed to kill it.

Turn 2.
The Flesh hounds charge my horsemen, the other fiend also charges the other unit. One letter horde charges my hounds, the other the two heroes. In the magic phase my warriors are hit by a bolt of change. 4 poof.  My opponent rolls double ones for dwellers. Again my lord fails to damage the fiend and my horsemen are slaughtered

My turn consists of manoeuvring for flank charges. Lord again fails to damage the fiend. My knights did charge the flesh hounds, and killed 4. 2 Knights fell then failed their hanks to a failed leadership test.

Turn 3-5

I charge everything into the letter hordes, including the hellcannons I moved into position last turn. It takes me to turns to kill them  all. After there gone i charge everything into the horrors and kill them quickly My Chaos Lord charges the LoC, rolling 1 and 2s like a bastard and got quickly killed.



Pros
+ Knights were awesome with their damage
+Magic make me reroll 1s or opponent 6s was awesome
+Comet going Nuclear
-The Chaos Lord being unable to kill a chicken
-Glean magic being anoying
-Bloodletters hordes rolling 2s and 3s for break test.

I think being MSU won the game for me. My opponent just couldn't manoeuvre 

Next game i would probably drop the hellcannons, as they cant do anything 150p of warriors or marauders can do. Sure a stone thrower crossed with a Hyrdra is good but it doesn't fix a weakness in the army.  Also i need to cut down on the flying circus. Chain Lighting, Thunder bolt and Comet can deal with warmachines. Maybe 2 guys on disks max, and their protective gear is ott. A good weapon might make them actually kill something

Chosen Review

5/10


+Eye of the Gods roll
+Extra Weapon skill
-Expensive
-Anything that beats warriors beats Chosen

Chosen, player by noobs everywhere. A large unit with two warshrines smashes inexperienced players. However that unit sucks shit, as debuffs and nuke spells own it and it suffers from all the classic all your eggs in one basket. The other way to run them is like warriors, 12 strong with halberds and shields. Favour of gods on the champ and a lucky role and they can do a bit of good. However i wouldn't take them as warriors are already overpriced, and chosen are more so.

An experimental way of running them is this, but only in 3000p

5 Chosen, MoS, Shields, Halberds. Run 6 of these. MSU spam at its finest. Run some marauders with them to break steadfast. Go one smash me with your dwellers and defuff spam.

Chosen just are to expensive to consider in most armies. Stuff that slaughters Warriors slaughters chosen. They are not any better except for the EOTG and that is just a fluke.

Dragon Ogre Review

7/10


+Fast
+No need to babysit
+Strong
-Expensive
-Low I


These guys are better than trolls solely due to they don't need to babysitted.  Their punch is harder, but they dont have much survivability against high strength opponents.. They make up for this by being fast. A fast unit that can hit hard is often needed in a WoC army. The advantage of these over knights is that they can break apart even the hardest armoured target. Knights will bounce of a Steam Tank, but DOgres remove most of its armour save.

I would run these in a unit of three, with Great Weapons, as I2 inst going to go before much. As these will be attacking before the rest of the army, more than one unit is needed. Always try to get flank attacks to minimise return attacks as it doesn't take much to render the unit useless.

I would recommend these in a lot of builds as they add the fast hard hitting element WoC need. If you going light on horsemen always take some of these. They act as a great tar pit and can slaughter weaker units.

Chaos Troll Review

6/10

+Stomp
+Mutant Regeneration
-Need to be babysitted
-Low I

Chaos Trolls are a good edition to a WoC army that can support them. The low leadership and stupidity means you must have a general nearby, and should have a bsb. The problem with that, is WoC heroes should be part of a flying circus. Sure a Sorcerer can be your general, but he doesn't alwasy want to be by your trolls. Throgg is an option, but in most armies you would be better of with a guy on a disk. Only take Throgg in an army with lots of trolls.

Chaos Trolls are best ran as units of three. That allows more mutant regeneration saves and lessens the damage for Pit of Shades and Purple Sun. Charge them into combat quickly, but keep them away from flaming attacks or elites.

Chaos Trolls are good on paper, but ultimately fail except in the few builds that can support them. Warriors of Chaos are just better for heavy lifting. They can tarpit weak stuff, but so can Marauders.

Competitive Warriors 2500p, V1

To start of lets add to units of 12 warriors. These are the killy element of the army.

12 Warriors 180p
Shields 12p
Halberds 12p
Standard 12p
Musician 6p
Flaming Banner 10p
Mark of Khorne 30p
=262p


12 Warriors 180p
Shields 12p
Halberds 12p
Standard 12p
Musician 6p
War Banner 35p
Mark of Khorne 30p
=287p

Now for the disposable elements that still pack a wicked punch.

x3 25 Marauders 100p
MoK 30p
Flails 25p
Musician 4p
Standard 8p
=167p
=501p

Now do i want warshrines. They are a good anvil but treat the table as a bonus as 1/3 of the results are crap. I will add some later if their are spare points.

Standard Caster


Sorcerer Lord 235 (same as above)
Lvl 4 35
Puppet 35
4+ ward tali
=350p

Basic Flying Circus

Exalted Hero 110p
Shield 5p
MoT 10p
Disk 20p
 Sword of Swift slaying 25p
Golden eye of Tzeentch 25
=195p

Exalted Hero 110p
Shield 5p
MoT 10p
Disk 20p
Armour of Morslieb 35p
Gold sigil sworld 15p
=195p

Flankers


4x 5 Marauder Horsemen 260p (adds the needed speed)
Flails 20p
MoS 40p
Musician 24p
=344p

That brings this list to 2133p

That gives room for two warshrines

2 Warshrines 260p
MoT 40p
=300p

=2433p

Now something cheap to bring the points up. I completely forgot about these and should have added them much earlier.

2 x 5 War hounds 60p

=2488p

This list is very powerful in CC and can actually stand up to high elves with good manoeuvring.  There is a large fast element. I would have liked a larger flying circus, but i didn't want to compromise anything. After a few games i will decent whether to keep the war shrines or replace them.

Chaos Ogres Review

4/10

+Can be marked
+Cant take Chaos Armour
-Less efficient than Chaos Warriors

Chaos Ogres are one of those units you just have to avoid. There like three wound, four attack warriors of chaos for three times the price and have worse weapon skill and initiative. I just can never justify them in any list. Anything that kills Warriors of Chaos kills these, and they are not as fast as DOgres.

Orc Machine

After i finish my WoC i will probably move onto Orcs and Goblins. Orcs and Goblins interest me, as they have the most interesting army book. Heaps of crazy fun units, and a few competitive builds. I think unlike everyone else on the internet that they are very competitive. Sure maybe not as much as skaven or dark elves. I would rate them second tier alongside High Elves and Lizards.

Firstly they can chariot spam. Chariot spam is good and O&G can do it better than anyone else as they can take tonnes of war machines as well. O&G magic is also good and magic mushrooms are awesome. The green skins can also field more war machines than anyone else and still have a decent cc force.

Here is one way i would make and O&G army.

Lets start with as many warmachines as we can muster

2 rock lobbers with bully 190p (bye bye hordes)
2 Doom divers 180p (bye bye knights)
6 spear chuckas with bullies 270p (bye bye anything)

Sure empire or dwarves could field better fire power, but than they own face in close combat. What we need is an army that is content to sit back and wait for the enemy to come to you, but still being able to move to the enemy quickly.

That leads on to a nice sized unit of Boar Boyz to be the ideal choice.

10 Boar boyz 160p
Big Unz 40p
Shields 20p
Spears 20p
Standard 10p
Musician 10p
Flaming Pendant 10p
=270p

Savage Orc Big Boss 150p
Additional Hand Weapon 3p
War Boar 24p
=177p (thanks nike phoros for this combo)

Those two together can hack through nearly anything.

For more balance some Wolf Riders need to be added

4x 10 Wolf Riders 400p
Musician 40p
Spears 40p (so i can actually kill a warmachine crew)
=480p

I know that a lot of people consider this to many, but i disagree. They die easily and they suck at killing. 4 units should be enough to defeat the enemy scouts them destroy some war machines after a couple of casualties.

3 disposable units should be enough to hold up the enemy.

25 Night Goblines 75p
1 Fanatic 25p
x3 = 300p

Now for the hard hitters

20 Savage Orcs 160p
Musician 10p
Standard 10p
Additional Hand weapons 10p
=190
x3 =570p

Now for magic. Little waagh is better as it is based around buffing/de buffing, and spells can be spammed.

Lets start with a
Night Goblin Great Shaman 140p
SDispell Scroll 25p
Lvl 4 35p
 =200p

Now
Night Goblin Shaman 50p
Lvl 4 35p


Night Goblin Shaman 50p
Lvl 4 35p

Finally we need a banner bearer. Cheap is cheerful.

Night Goblin big boss 30p
BSb = 25p
Light Armour, Shield 4p
= 55p


Lords = 200p
Heroes = 225p
Core = 1350p
Special  = 447p
Rare  = 270p

=2492

Powerful war machines, magic spam good combat. This list seems balanced and with equal players, should beat all but the good top tier armies.

Trolling aka Trollwing aka Throggwing

Throgg 175 (cant really not have him)

Sorcerer Lord 235 (same as above)
Lvl 4 35
Puppet 35
4+ ward tali
=350p

6x 5 Marauder Horsemen 390p (adds the needed speed)
Flails 30p
MoS 60p
Musician 36p
=516p

4x5 Warhounds 120p (redirectors, screeners   )

4x 3 Trolls 135 540p

4x 20 Marauders 80p
MoS 10p
=90p
=360p

Now the remaining question is DOgres or Knights. Both units cost relatively the same the way i take them. It really comes down to whether i would rather have extra strength or initiative. Now as their are things called lore of death, lore of shadow and lore of metal. Death and shadow kill DOgres and trolls while Lore of metal kills Knights. I would take knights, but i think a flying circus would be a better idea

Exalted Hero

-MoT

-Shield

-Disc

-Halberd

-Armor of Destiny

-199

Exalted Hero

-MoT

-Shield

-Disc

-Halberd

-Golden Eye of Tzeentch

-174

=2444.

Now to decide what magic lore to take. Death is out, as we have the flying circus to assassinate. enemy characters. Purple sun wont work either, as it will cause so much pain if it backfires.

Shadow is meh. Pendulam is bad, pit of shades is bad for above reasons. Why do we need mindrazor when we have S5 nearly everywhere and out ld is lower than our S. Sig 1 and 3 spells are very good however, and nearly make the lore worthwhile. 

Heavens is good. Blizzard good. Harmonic Converge great. Re roll half of our failed to wounds. Curse is great to cast on units with Killing Blow. Thunderbolt = bye bye war machine crew or skirmishers. Commet and Lighting are both great.

Slaneesh is bad. Spell 6 is great but their are just to many itp armies out their and a 1,2,5 are awful spells

Nurgle is not bad, it is a waste on a level 4.

Fire = waste. Wow it kills infantry. We have a whole army for that. Wow it kills scouts. Why do you think i have six units of horsemen.

Tzeentch is  meh. Gateway, is onlt 7 s7 hits or 6 dead t3 people. The other spells just are not that great apart from treason and pandemonium. 

The clear winner is heavens with shadows a little bit behind. Heavens especially deals with some of this armies weaknesses. 


Horsemen flank, and disrupt the enemy death stars and take out shooting and if possible magic.
War hounds screen.
Marauders break steadfast
Trolololos munt shit


Pretty simple plan. Probably need more trolls through and some D ogres or knights would be nice. Thats what i would add to get to 3000p


Experiment status: Not perfect but not a failure either

Chaos Chariot Review

5/10


+impact hits
+best chariot in the game
-Cant get enough to spam
-To expensive

Chariots just cant seem to fit into a Warriors of Chaos army. One or two die to quickly, and you need more than one to have a good impact. With the max of three in all but the largest games, you just cant take enough. Chariots at 120p are to much, as one marked you can get killier stuff or more survivable stuff. As chariots cant march they are simply to slow to have a good impact.

If i was to run them, i would have 3 chariots with MoK and two units of 3 DOgres. Put this all into one wing and stomp your opponent into the ground. You need horsemen to delay the enemy, Hell cannons to weaken the hordes and the Flying circus as well if you do that. There lies the problem. You just cant get all that stuff into an army without compromises. 

Chaos Knight review

6/10

+Hit like a truck
-Good Armour
-Expensive
-Die all to easily to magic

In 7th edition, these were the best WoC unit. Now however, they just cant get enough kills to break steadfast and are to expensive to get a big unit. That's what warseer level players think anyway. You dont use them to break steadfast. One way to use them is to charge a huge horde in the side. When they reform to face you, flash them in the side with your ranked up unit. Just stay away from elves and high strength stuff cause you cant afford causalities.  High strength magic seems to kill Knights pretty easily as well.

I would run them like this
5 Knights, Musician, MoK.

15 S5 hits at WS and I5. Warriors get better than this, but the Knights advantage is that they are mobile and are heavily armoured. Use them strategically and they are well worth their points, but mess up with them and its an expensive points sink. I still believe that points are better spent elsewhere though cause they cant hit more than 5 warriors with halberds.

New Series-Thoughts on grey knights

After reading through the codex, and seeing the awesome variability i decided that Grey Knights will be my first proper 40k army. I have a battleforce as Blood Angels army around, but decided I hate painting red. Space Wolves appeal to me, but they just don't have the options available that Grey Knights do. Ever codex and army book should be written like this. Three FoC changing special characters, and a huge range of semi competitive, builds along with a couple of very competitive ones. Hint GW, hint. Make all fantasy books like this and watch the game grow.

So onto my thoughts on Grey Knights.

1. Any non space marine/eldar army is going to have a hard time with the inability to block psychic powers.

2. Psycannons are strong. Grey Knights look very at mid range fire fights.

3. A typical Grey Knight army is not competitive. A good player has tactics that work well against Grey Knights. GK just don't have the melta to take down a lot of vehicles.

4. Coteaz is good, very good. Lets you have the bread and butter in core, leaving special for the cheese (no pun intended).

I have decided that my GK army will be an inquisition force. Coteaz with henchman core, Dreads in heavy, and my choice of VDreads, Purifiers and Techs for elites.


Now onto the first part of my Grey Knight tactica. Grey Knights are unfortunately have a lack of anti tank weaponry.

Every army, with the prevalence of mech these days needs melta. GK can get it with VDreads, Servitors or Warrior Acolytes in good numbers.

VDreads are bad as there are better options in elites, and there are better weapon options. Servitors are bad as they need to be babysitted, and multi melta is move or fire. That leaves Warrior Acolytes as the best option for meltas.

I consider that we need three combi meltas to get reliable kills, and maybe even a second round of killing. More would be good but unfortunately there is a limit of three heavy weapons.

3 Warrior Acolytes 12p
3 combi melta 30p

That forms the core of a disposable mech killer unit.

For other people in the squad, they should be armed with storm bolters. I prefer these to hot shots, as they have greater range, higher strength and double shots. As this is supposed to be a disposable unit, points shouldn't be spent on anything apart from Warrior Acolytes. They either don't have synergy or are expensive.

Now onto vehicle options.

Razorbacks are out, as they have no fire points.
Rhinos are meh, as they only have two fire points, and three people minimum in a squad.
Chimeras are the best. They do have weaker side armour, but 5 fire points. Yes please. Plenty of defensive weapons. Yes please.

To capitalise on the fire points there should be five bodies. That leaves us with

5 Warrior Acolytes, 20p

2x Storm bolters 6p

3x Combi Meltas 30p

Chimera 55p
=111p

Disposable and can take out any armour with ease. Small units can get mowed down by the combined fire of light weapons.

Looks to me to be a good unit and a key part of a coteaz army.

Chaos War hounds Review

10/10


+Cheap
+Fast
+Cheap
-Don't pack much punch
-Die easily.

These just happen to be the only Warriors of Chaos unit I give the prestige of a 10/10 ranking. Sure they don't fit every build, but they are incredibly good in the right build.

The only way to run them is naked in a unit of 5. Never give them upgrades, or go big. This unit is great, as it is so disposable. It only costs 30p, not much gets cheaper than that. War hounds first strength is as a deployment drop. Secondly the screen your warriors or marauders, protecting them from missile fire. Your opponent has to choose what to target. I would much rather have my War hounds shot to pieces than my Horsemen. so the war hounds die, to see your Marauders wreck havoc.

If the hounds make it to combat treat it as a bonus. Block strong enemy units with the hounds, while your warriors and marauders slaughter the weaker ones. Place them in front of enemies so you can get a flank charge with something strong next turn. Remember you want your war hounds to be wiped out in combat. When you don't, the over run is nasty.

Always take four, or at least two if you are really short of points, which we often are. Remember the concept of target saturation, and make sure you have a build which the hounds will work in

Marauder Cavalry review

9/10

+Fast
+ Hit hard
+Mark of Slannesh
+ Many  options
+Cheap
-Marks expensive on small units
-Frail

I would never leave home without these, unless playing a crazy list. We need them to hunt warmachines, and they add much needed mobility. With vanguard move we can move close for second turn charges, or even first turn charges if we go second.

Always give flails, as it puts them further up the opponents target priority and it means that they can kill war machine crews easier, as well as being painful to small units. There are two ways to run them

1. 5 strong , flails, MoS. This unit is disposable, but packs a large packs. This unit is great, just remember about target saturation.

2. Between 15 and 20, flails, MoK. Fast, cheapish and packs a huge punch.


 You cant really go wrong with these guys, just make sure they are immune to panic and dont invest to much points in them. They die really easily. 

Chaos Marauders Review

So I come to the unit that everyone talks about. Hordes of 40 are the death of warseer level gamers. Arguably under priced and ultimately devastating if they get to combat untouched.

8/10

+Cheap
+ Access to Marks
+Many weapon options
- Nothing that's not made up for by price

However you take them, make sure they are itp. MoS for disposable units or MoK for hordes. Here are three common ways to take them.

1. Horde, MoS, with watchtower and crown of command.

2. Horde, Flails/GW, MoK

3. Small unit MoS


#1 is extremely good, in a well supported list. Stelek has an example of such a list. Flails on these.

#2 can be taken in most builds, just don't go to small or large. I still haven't figured out the optimum number. Remember for these to work you need target saturation. I consider Flails the best, as you want to strike before a lot of things with "optimum" sized units. If you play like you should, combat should only last one round.

#3. Sure good thing if you have heaps of the. Around 20 is optimum, as the opponent needs to invest a lot of shooting their way to break steadfast. Charge a couple of these at an enemy unit and watch it fold. Again flails, as you don't have enough bodies.

With all, dont bother with armour, as many enemies pierce it, and it is more efficient to have more bodies than a 6+ save. Marauders main weakness really is that they die like anything else to flank charges, magic war machines and certain elites.

Chaos Warriors Review

6/10

+I5
+ 2 Base attacks
+High base leadership
+WS 4
+S & T 4
+ Good armour
- Expensive
-To high minimum unit size
-Not survivable enough

You know you really want to have some in your army, but you know you just cant always. No other core unit in the game is as killy with as a good a save. Against ordinary troops they can do a lot of damage and not suffer many wounds in return. The problem is that they cant hold their own against the true elites. Anything that strikes before warriors will mulch the small units, which are the best way to run them. That's pretty much all the elves. I5 isn't good against ASF or I6.  Combine that with high strength and there wont be many Chaos Warriors left to strike back. Taking large units is no good as buffs and Dwellers really hurt.

 There are two good ways to run Warriors.

1.  MoT, Shields.
These form a strong anvil unit, that anything with low strength will just bounce of. Against s5 up however they really cant survive well.

2. MoK, Shields, Halberds, Flaming Banner. Bye bye hydra.  These are really killy, and will butcher any infantry, unit you get to elves. Striking after to something cheaper and as/more destructive is bad. These are more killy, than the equivalent points of Marauders with GW and MoK ceritus peribus (all things remain the same)

Not looking to bright is it. The problem is they are to expensive. Compare them to Black Guard and do some math hammer. A unit of 12 is expensive, and will die easy to high strength missiles. A larger unit is a death star, and we all know how bad death stars are. Then you will rage quit Warhammer, when they get butchered in combat or dwellered.

I would recommend one or two units, of the Khornate version to deal with Hydras and the like and blend weak hordes., about 12 strong. Damn it, they are just to expensive and there is two much high strength or negate armour save stuff out there to make taking many units viable.

O Fuck You

My rant today is about comp. In my small city their is only one wargaming club, which runs a few tournaments. 40k is not comped and looks fine for gaming. I however prefer to play fantasy and that is comped to the ground.

• NO Storm of Magic units/items/spells/abilities ect.
• Banned Special characters: Teclis
• Banned Items: Power scroll, Book of Hoeth, Infernal puppet and folding

fortress.
• Maximum of one (1) special character-this can be either a lord or hero                                                                                                                                    

• Any number of special champions may be used in addition to a single special character selection.

• Max 1 Lord choice of either a Warrior/Magic type. (An Archlector is mage for this purpose)

• Max 3 Hero choices of Warrior/Magic type

• Max 2 of the same Special choice (No Triplication)

• Max 1 of the same Rare choice (No Duplication). For the purposes of this rule it is permissible for double RBT’s and Eagles.
This compensation DOES NOT ALLOW double Hellcanons, Screaming Skull Catapults, Treemen or other similar choices. Further more, 2 for 1 choices count as a single selection. Also, units that are upgraded count as a single unit, for example Longbeard Rangers, Wood Elf Scouts and similar options.    

• Max 4 warmachines. This includes Daemon Engines, Steam Tanks, Hellcannons, Anvils of Doom and any other similar models that fire a missile weapon that is significantly more powerful than normal.  Salamanders and Stegadons count as a single Warmachine slot. Thus 3 Salamander models/bases will count as 3 warmachine slots. 

• In addition, for Skaven Players, a single Hellpit/Screaming Bell/Furnace/Warp Lighting cannon/Plague claw catapult/Doom Wheel are treated as a single Warmachine slot. The selection of a single weapons team does not count to this restriction. HOWEVER two weapon teams count as 1 warmachine slot (3 teams=1 slot, 4 teams=2 slots, 5 teams=2 slots, etc, etc.).

• Max 45 models with ranged attacks. Models with a range of 18”
or less count as ½ a model. These allowances DO NOT include warmachine slots described above. Further more, this does not include characters.

• Max 4 chariots or units of chariots. This includes characters mounted in a chariot.

• Only 1 unit may cost between 400-500 pts. This DOES NOT includes characters.                             

• Only 1 unit may have between 40-50 models.                   

• A MAXIMUM of 12 POWERDICE may be used in a single magic phase, regardless of the source. This may be reduced as listed below.

• If the LOREMASTER ability (page 76 WFB rulebook) is used it counts as 2PD, these dice will be subtracted from your power dice MAXIMUM.
• The use of RUINATION for a Lizardmen Slaan counts as 3PD. These dice will be subtracted from your power dice MAXIMUM.                                                                        

• Any ability that grants FREE POWERDICE (e.g. Dark Star Cloak) will minus the same number of powerdice from your POWERDICE MAXIMUM. An army with loremaster and +1 powerdice would therefore have a MAXIMUM total of 9 powerdice.

What bullshit. It is clear that a noob is organising this tournament.

From his point of view Warriors of Chaos are very strong, thats why they needed Puppet and Hellcannons removed or limited. Well actually he is a dumb fuck cause WoC are shit. Noobs are scared shit of them but good players can crush them. We need hell cannons and  puppet. We cant compete in magic compared to the big four, we cant shoot (apart from hellcannons, and there are things that slaughter us in combat. So what are we supposed to do when we play Dark of High elves. Marauder hordes will get dwellered/purple suned and then get the remained crushed. Bolt throwers and Okkams will slaughter our warriors. Sure we can take their magic and warmachines out turn two or three, but sadly we dont get super damage lores that work well on elves. To kill Swordsmasters and the like we need a couple of turns of dual hellcannon fire.

Dark Elves got the nerf bat as well. Sure they can still be good, but they wont be balanced and will lose to certain builds. They cant chariot monster spam. They cant sac dagger much. And they cant bolt thrower spam.

Lizards lost the best thing going for them, their great magic.

Shit dwarfs dont stand a chance with only four war machines, same as empire. 4 four machines in nothing with the low accuracy of skaven.

Why did they ban power scrolls. Sure they are good but everyone can get them.

Sure Teclis sucks to face. But he is normally in an expensive bunker unit. Just ignore it and kill the rest of the army or charge a flyer into him.

Wood elves cant even take many archers, and their rock bottom.

So this stupid noob has weakened everything. So what that your not smart enough to beat the good armies. It's not cheese, it is called good list building. Good players with good armies can deal with everything. So what if this tourney is aimed for less experienced players. They need to learn how to deal with things and the best way to do that is practise, and watch others deal with things. And finally, if you want it to be just a social occasion, that is what the game store is for. A tourney is supposed to be competitive. 

Thoughts against Daemons

I played my first game against Daemons a couple of days ago. Even though it was the players first game, and we ditched it after a few turns I learnt many things.

1. Flamers are nasty towards flanks. A unit of 5 slaughtered my Marauder Horsemen. Stupid Ld7 away from General and BSB. They were nasty anyway, until i turn to charged them with my Exalted Hero on disk :)

2. Hordes of blood letters are killer. A well aimed Hell cannon shot can kill about 10 of them, but I kept scattering wildly.

3. Daemon magic is nasty. My opponent took a Herald of Tzeentch (life), 30 Horrors and a LoC. So he couldn't utilise them properly but they did some damage. I kept having to dispell thrones, but at my advise he kept dice for for the extra pd spell, which ate the last of my PD, one for Glean Magic and the rest for whatever.  One turn Glean magic turned into Chain Lighting, which killed 8 Chaos Warriors and a hell cannon crew.

4. I'm not so sure about lore of Heavens. Chain lighting is good and all and so are the buff and de buff, but i keep thinking Lore of Tzeentch would be superior.

5. Warhounds are crucial. These kept my warriors from being charged so i got another turn of shooting of. With some lucky rolling that destroyed a blood letter horde.