Hey Swordmaster,
I think you'll find the list in it's current form to perform in a very polarized manner. Either you'll get the defensive spells off that your list relies on and sucessfully combine force to take out your opponents, or you'll have a situation where one unfortunate miscast or one lucky volley of arrows on your opponent's part will put you too far behind to recover from. At 26 points per model on average, the loss of any one of them is felt dearly.
Saying that I belive Lore of Light can still help me. Magic missiles are good to deal with small support units horde armies have often and sometimes killing a little thing can panic big but poorly disciplined foe like Goblins
Pha's protection is very good at any stage of the game. And it seems that getting into combat with horde units can be the safest thing to do. In addtion I could make my troops either unbreakable or very difficult to hit thus helping me in a war of attrition. Some horde units have T3 and not much armour to speak about and our troops excel at killing these quickly enough. It is, of course, but it is even better to have a challenge like that
I completely agree - the lore does have many spells that will help us in an attrition war. Net of Amyntok is also great for slowing down S3 hordes (bonus points if they have a wizard in there too!). None of the spells are as spectacular as a Dwellers, mind you, but that's part of what makes it very tough to prioritize dispelling against. Didn't get Pha's off on that important combat? Speed of light will have most troops hitting on 5's as well. The list goes on.
You are correct that I have only Spearelves as rank breaking unit. I did try, however, the army with a single archmage and even with the aid of Banner of Sorcery it was not good enough for me. The reason being that I might not have a good spells choice to keep the magic phase going at every stage of the battle. Single Archmage is, in my opinion, a defiensive option, focused more on dispelling than casting. Any time he casts a spell is a great bonus but he does not add as much as Archmage+Mage.
Personally, for the cost, I think that the silver wand is one of the best items in our list. With 5 spells, the odds of you not getting the spells you need are very small indeed. And in a lore with almost no throwaway spells, this greatly increases the versatility of the archmage.
In a list with almost 600 points centered around the magic phase, taking down your archmage is going to be one of your opponent's top priorities; if they take him out, your level 1's (or single 2) aren't going to do much. Due to the presence of so many points in characters, your troops will then face a *very* tough fight with no magical support.
With a single Archmage and the banner, you effectively cut the spending on the magic phase by almost 300 points. With the presence of more troops, your tactical options increase, and your army functions better without magical support.
I'm a big fan of this build:
Archmage, Level 4, Silver Wand, Forliath's Robes, Talisman of Protection
His 4+ ward helps him fear miscasts less (yeah, 2-4 is still awful, but it's a managed risk), his robes let him be in a unit that is guaranteed to be in the thick of combat, allowing him to impart his aura spells where they will be the most effective. Nothing is more spectacular than getting off a combo charge with a couple units of elites, then getting off a timewarp aura.
I tend to approach a game with the mentality that I'm going to lose my archmage to something. However, my goal is to get the most out of him as possible when that happens. I'll risk a miscast if the benefit the spell will provide is worth it - so the aggressiveness of the single archmage is really set by your frame of mind.
However, I always say I am really happy for any suggestions. Do you have any particular army list in mind then? Or maybe which characters and with which magic items would you keep and what would you take in exchange?
Time to put my money where my mouth is then haha! I think a list that I would be more comfortable running, but maintaining your original feel would look something like this (I don't have my book in front of me either, so this is just off of memory):
Prince - Heavy Armour, barded Steed, Shield, Dragon Helm, Foe Bane, Vembrances and Talisman of Loec
Archmage - level 4, Folariath's Robe, Talisman of Protection, Silver Wand - Lore of Light
BSB, GW, Armour of Caledor, Dawnstone
35 Spears, FC, Standard of Discipline
13 Archers, M
11 Archers, M
13 Swordmasters, Champion (Archmage goes here)
14 Swordmasters, Standard, Banner of Sorcery
5 Ellyrian Reavers, spears
5 Dragon princes, Musician
9 Silver Helms, FC
Great Eagle
Great Eagle
I think the points work out, I'll double check when I get to my book.
So, here's the changes I made:
- Dropped the light armour off the archers, and made room in core for another rank on that unit of spears.
- Dropped both the mages and some command on the first unit of swordmasters, and added a second. this one has the banner of sorcery, spreading out the liability in your magic phase
- Added a second Eagle to the list to give you more positioning options.
With two eagles, the reavers, the knights and the prince, you've got an extremely fast list, capable of assaulting the backline. However, with the two units of swordmasters and the spears, you also bring significant threat to bear to the front lines as well. Seems like a great recipe to surround your opponents!
Speaking of battle reports, any chances for yours in a near future? They are a great inspiration!
haha, thank you very much! It's been a busy summer, with moves and events, so there wasn't much time for warhammer. However... winter is coming...
Couldn't resist lol
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