:: The Necessity Of Multiple Mages To Support The Star Dragon ::
The following analysis is based on 2400 point armies
This is a topic whose headline I find to be the sad truth, unfortunately. I have been completely unable to create a list that I like which doesn`t feature at least 4 levels in magic alongside a Star Dragon. First, let us look back at how it used to be: In our old book you always got Drain Magic for free: A spell that was cast on 7+ and increased all casting values from there on out by +3. Tremendous spell to get for free if you ask me. Furthermore, we got Shield of Saphery as a signature spell, a 5+ to cast 18" 5+ ward augment. Together, these spells were almost always useful, easy to cast and, perhaps most importantly, you always got them if you wanted them. Add to this, we had potential game-breakers such as Vaul`s Unmaking (remove a select magic item 24", 12+ to cast) and Flames of the Phoenix (24" S3 flaming hit on every model in unit, increases +1S per turn, 11+ to cast). Between this, I found we could get by with a single Level 2. He gave me amazing amounts of return for the tiny investment, also in big parts due to Annulian Crystal. I`m not saying it was optimal, but I do believe it was feasible. Freeing up the points you`d otherwise spend on a second mage allowed for a LOT of freedom. I feel the following report demonstrates this very well (pay attention to T1 and T2 magic offense. The mage cost ~180 points).
HE vs VC.
So, fast forward to our new book. We now "only" get 2 spells. On the upside, we have 2 signatures, both of which are quite good. On the downside, both our signatures are heavily dependent on context: Soul Quench has short range and cannot be cast if the mage is in combat, Shield of Saphery really only benefits a unit if it`s being targeted and Drain Magic only works to dispel enemy magic, rather than prevent it as the old one did. Why I wouldn`t say High Magic got worse (the inclusion of spells such as Apotheosis and Walk Between Worlds are total game-changers), it became less flexible for a barebones mage investment. Furthermore, the casting values have increased, so despite the +1 to cast you need to spend more dice: especially since you`re likely to try and boost Soul Quench/Walk Between Worlds every now and then. This significantly increases the frequency of miscasts, which leads to BOTWD protection pretty much being a necessity. This is doubly true bearing in mind the short range of High Magic spells, meaning your mage often has to go close to the action where death snipes etc are abundant.
Why have I only considered High Magic thus far? Long story short: No other lores sport more than 2 spells (whereas High Magic used to, hence the logical starting point) and no other lores come close to High in terms of flexibility in the context of a Star Dragon list. True, lores like Beasts and Heavens have really good signatures, but what else? There`s no healing, no damage prevention and what you`ll get will vary greatly from game to game with few game-changers.
But but, I hear you say. There are items that provide you with more spells! Yes indeed, there are. The problem with these is that they are just as situational as our signatures. If we had the Empire`s Ring of Volans, we might actually consider a one-mage approach... But then again, taking that ring is a one-use only and it`s too expensive to combine with a dispel scroll, so probably not. The question is then, can you possibly create a context where the Ring of Fury is worthwhile? This context essentially means that the mage has to stay out of combat, which means that the BSB has to stay out of combat to provide BOTWD protection as there is no other sensible unit to carry the BOTWD with the purpose being to stay outside of combat. Keeping the BSB out of combat is, contrary to popular belief, a very sensible option seeing as he`ll always be squishy when he carries the BOTWD: Even fully armoured on an armoured horse he`s only T3 2+ W2 - not much to write home about. The question then becomes bunker. What kind of a bunker could these guys possibly benefit from? In a nutshell, there are 3 options:
- Silver Helms
- 2 or more units of Ellyrian Reavers
- Infantry
Silver Helms obviously provide the best protection with a way stronger armour save than Reavers. They do however suffer from a lack of mobility since they are not fast cav. With 2 units of Reavers acting as dedicated bunkers, you could possibly run them around swapping characters every turn (in effect they would still maintain fast cav benefits). I have found that this works well with Light Mages, at least well enough to warrant more playtesting, but there`s a huge difference between Light and High: Banishment has the range of a Bolt Thrower. Soul Quench has the range of a Short Bow. Whereas Reavers are relatively easy to keep safe when you can stay far away, having to get them up in the face of your opponent is nothing short of insanity. Infantry are an interesting choice because they have the most wounds to cover your characters per points invested, but in a meta where armour and speed dominates, you`ll have a huge points sink that is easy to grab for a skilled opponent. Effectively you need to dedicate the rest of your army to keep them safe - if you want to do so - which is detrimental to their intended role: They are there to support the Dragon, not the other way around.
That leaves us with Silver Helms. A unit that are only 3 wide with Full Command are relatively mobile: With such a small frontage even relatively big wheels expend fairly little movement, their armour means they can get relatively close without fearing a wipe-out, and lastly they are strong enough to probably wipe out anything that isn`t dedicated to combat. Could it work? Possibly, but given that we need Reavers and/or Helms darts and/or preferably a bus to bring some static res alongside the Dragon, our Core Tax is running out of points. It`s thus time to see a barebones setup and perhaps calculate some points to see what, if anything, we have potentially gained from this trade.
BSB BOTWD Horse with horse armour, stuff to protect dude, stuff to provide dude with some much needed S6 on charge = 172 points
Mage with mandatory level upgrade, bound spell item and 1+ scroll on naked horse = 180
Hero points spent = 352/600 - 248 left to spend.
12 Core cavalry with mandatory armour upgrade and front rank occupiers = 306
Core tax spent = 306/600 - 294 left to spend.
Actually, this kind of looks half promising. The big question is, can we get something real for the rest of these points? First, let`s turn to the rare section: We want at least a Frostheart and an Eagle and 3 RBTs. From here, we can either add an RBT or another Eagle, but not both. Let`s assume the Eagle, this makes our rare section cost 550 points. In other words, our core can go up to 650, which means we can potentially bring the following: 14 Silver Helms with Shields and Full Command = 352. I assume we can ditch one model from the bunker for the sake of argument, which means we have enough for 3 full ranks (woho!). In a perfect world then, our Silver Helms provide +3 static combat resolution when helping out the big Dragon. If we want this configuration, we are sacrificing Reavers in core. An alternative setup is 2 barebones Helm darts (250 points), leaving us enough points for a unit of Reavers. This setup has no static res bonus worth speaking of and no way to break any kind of steadfast.
The first setup allows us to field 2 more Nobles on Barded Steeds with fairly decent setup. This does provide a bus that has unparalleled power compared to most SD support busses, but it lacks magical protection from BOTWD. The upside is of course that you -can- of course place the BSB here. With 3 Nobles, 2 of which are decently equipped, we are starting to get some serious fighting power out of what is essentially a supporting unit. Let`s have a look:
Noble on Barded Steed with Ogre Blade, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour = 134
Noble on Barded Steed with Potion of Strength, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance = 117
This brings our hero total to 603, which is slightly too much. We could ditch the BSB`s Lance for a Spear though, saving 4 points. This adds up and we`re pretty much at the very edge of what we can afford. 2 fighter heroes that are expendable sounds nice, but remember that we haven`t only lost our second mage but also our Reavers.
The second setup doesn`t care about grinding anyway, so we might as well continue our Blitzkrieg approach. For 260 points, we could get a Noble on a Griffon with Dawnstone, Enchanted Shield, Lance and Heavy Armour. Degrading Lance to Spear for the BSB, we still don`t have the points though: 168 + 180 = 348, so we need to cut 8 points from this Griffon. The only logical place to do this is the Dawnstone, which allows for very little in terms of defense. The best I can do for this guy (remember 17 points to spend) is probably Potion of Foolhardiness, Luckstone and Lion Cloak.
Are there other setups here that make sense? Dual-Noble on Eagles sounds interesting, but are there points left over to make this worthwhile?
Noble on Eagle x2 = 240. Dang, nope, I`m sorry. What about one on an Eagle and a barebones one to ride with the naked Helms?
Noble on Eagle with Dawnstone, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour, Lance, Potion of Strength = 180
Noble on Barded Steed with Lance, Shield, Heavy Armour = 97
Total = 277, which is far too much given our 252 budget. There is nothing obvious we could ditch either, as even leaving the Potion of Strength and the Lance for a spear, we`re still not there (601 points). We could leave the Dawnstone, which makes the Eagle a glasscannon if there ever was one.
To summarize then, our options include 2 decent fighter nobles, a griffon noble with fairly minimal equipment and lastly a naked barded steed noble + fairly naked great eagle noble. At this point, it`s time to remember what the rest looks like: by taking this approach we also gave up a bit of our core flexibility and we`re down to 2 units of Helms (one for protection, one for assault) or one protective unit of Helms + MSU cav support. Furthermore, our magic is tied up to S4 18" ranged magic missiles and we have invested a hefty amount to keep that magic around (if successful, lots of points are preserved as well though). It`s important to remember that we`re not trading 2x L2 for 1x L2 + some more fighting power and core changes, we`re also trading out massive amounts of magical flexibility. Anyone who`s ever gotten a crucial Apotheosis through on a Star Dragon knows what I`m talking about, and 2x L2s have a 90% chance of getting one specific spell whereas a single level 2 has only a 44% chance. Risky, at best. Madness, at worst.
Taking a step back then, here is a sample of the alternative, go with the magic investment:
Prince on Star Dragon: Dragonhelm, Star Lance, Crown of Atrazar, The Other Trickster`s Shard, Shield = 598
Noble BSB on Barded Steed, Banner of the World Dragon, Heavy armour, Shield, Lance = 172
Noble on Barded Steed, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour, Ogre Blade = 134
Mage L2 on Steed, Scroll = 155
Mage L2 on Steed, Ironcurse Icon = 135
Heroes = 596, Characters = 1194
16 Silver Helms, Full Command & Shields = 398
5 Ellyrian Reavers = 80
5 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows (swap) = 85
5 Ellyrian Reavers, Champion = 90
Core = 653
3x1 Repeater Bolt Thrower = 210
Frostheart Phoenix = 240
2x1 Great Eagle = 100
Rare = 550
Army total = 2397
In the light of this analysis (which turned out to be lengthier than I`d have thought), I believe it`s safe to say that it`s obvious that this is the superior setup in an all-comers, competitive setting.
TL;DR - Star Dragon needs at least 4 levels in magic supporting it