Hi Ferny,
I am going to attempt to catch up with the discussion
Before I do it, just a general comment. Despite more than 100 games I have played with MSU I don't feel I am in a position to advice. There are 15 armies out there so if I played them all the same amount of times it would give around 7 games per army. Hardly enough to call myself an expert! So whatever I am going to write below I want you to treat as food for thought rather than ready to use solutions. I will of course try to provide ideas based on my gaming experience but sometimes I may not simply because I have never faced a certain army you may have. Hopefully you will find that feedback useful.
Weaknesses
It is an important thing to know your weaknesses. It is a part of "know thyself" as SunTzu advices
Let's have a closer look at what you have mentioned.
1.
Dispel Scroll
This item is very handy to have, no mistake about it. But why do you feel it is essential? It is one use item so it is not insurance policy that is going to help you no matter what. But what I think is more important is, what kind of spells are you afraid so much that you need to have dispel scroll?
There is nothing there to prevent you from including a scroll caddy though. It does require some points savings elsewhere but it is true for any army. If you were to include level 1 with dispel scroll it is also worthy considering what else can he bring to the table. Channelling is the obvious answer and that is already handy. It helps in generating power and dispel dice which is always good to have. Better more than less.
You may consider the lore though. While Loremaster himself has quite significant selection there is nothing wrong with more redundancy. Or ability to get that higher level spell. Level 1 has smaller chance to succeed in casting one but at the same time allows for less subtle 6-dicing that has also this advantage that if he miscasts you lose just level 1 not the general or main caster. There are some spells that can be simply psychological weapon and make the life of your opponent more difficult as he needs to dispel certain spells and let the Loremaster free reign. Provided you roll well on winds of magic.
2.
+2 or +4 to dispel
This is another hard decision to make it is simply the choice between two good options. It is worth remembering that although the Archmage gives you better chance to dispel a spell you are not going to dispel them all. Your opponent will simply have more power dice sometimes, more caters, too many spells to stop it all. Regardless of the fact whom you pick, Loremaster or Archmage, you need to learn how to make decisions on what to dispel. Having the Loremaster often means that you pick one spell and throw more dice to dispel it while Archmage gives the chance to dispel more but possibly with higher risk.
I would like to point out, however, that I have found out it is perfectly possible to win games without Loremaster even, when he decided to blow himself up. Even against armies that had magic superiority anyway. What I missed was the chance to fight back in the magic phase or the fact I gave away 400+ points rather than the fact I lost that +2 to dispel. It is not to say it is nothing. Every modifier helps. But it does not mean it is the only way to survive enemy's magic phase.
3.
Teclis
I have never used him so I cannot comment on his utility. I am sure he can be very useful but at the same time he also costs significantly more.
4.
Spells vulnerability
Armies are vulnerable to spells, just different armies to different spells. Big spells are more difficult to cast but people 6-dice them often anyway and even risk miscasting as the effect can be more rewarding. One purple sun will hurt Ogres or Dwarves greatly. One time Dwellers or Transmutation will hurt big blocks no matter what.
MSU have magic missiles or chain lightning/comets to fear. Not all the units, however, are similarly vulnerable. Not all of them have to be in the range or arc of sight to be cast. You have to take into account that the enemy is going to roll well for number of hits but at the same time it helps you to plan accordingly. If I lose 6 out of 10 members of the unit it means the unit is much weaker. But it does not mean it is useless. It can either withdraw and secure the points or it can still be used as a redirector, assassination squad etc. They may be even ignored and that can be good thing to exploit.
You still have to make a priority as to what to dispel and when. Obviously, magic missiles may be priority early in the game. But later on something else will be more important, like that Iceshard Blizzard that seems to be less dangerous because it is indirect.
As an example I will tell you about the situation where I managed to surround Saurus regiment from 4 sides but made a grievous mistake in dispelling priority. Here is the link to the game:
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... 60#p868409
I had the unit surrounded but before I could charge we had my opponents magic phase. He first cast chain lightning on one of my units that were not even in the close vicinity of the combat. But knowing how dangerous it can be I decided to dispel it. It gave my opponent a chance to cast a comet and then get it on the head of 5 units engaged in combat. That was excellent plan and great idea and I still beat my head for letting that comet to get in. I was in bad situation already but that comet sealed the deal where I could have fought back.
Bottom line is, there are spells that are going to hurt you but you can do something to minimize their effect. You can try to dispel some, you can limit the choices etc.
5. and 6.
Banner of the World Dragon
There is absolutely no reason why you should not include it if you feel like it is needed. It can protect your wizard from killing himself and half of his unit. Probably the most important advantage here. He can survive some attempts to snipe him with spells without bothering to use precious dispel dice. As you say, in some circumstances it can also be used against certain enemies, be it directly or in an indirect way to force them to avoid your regiment.
It is simply an option for you to choose. If you think that the benefits are worth the cost then go for it!
7.
Phoenix Guard
There is absolutely no rule that all your units have to be below 200 points or have no more than 12 warriors in the case of the infantry. Some MSU players deliberately include proper anvil unit that can take the damage and emerge combat ready. PG can be that unit for you. There are advantages to take it. You can have better protection for the characters (no need for BotWD if you add some MR(2) item). They can attack frontally together with flank attacking force to prevent enemy characters from making way. They can provide ranks to break steadfast.
The price to pay is that you need to make room for bigger unit. Then that unit may attract more attention due to its size and characters attached. That attention may mean that they will still suffer as the enemy will direct more resources to deal with it.
But as always it is all about making decision between what can be gained and what can be lost by including such regiment. If gains are higher than losses then why not to try it? If you do then you simply need to think about best ways to use it. How to team it up with other units. How to position it knowing that your enemy will anticipate the characters being positioned there. Maybe you can use it to your advantage sometimes? What spells would be the most helpful? If you run Loremaster then Wildform is good. If you want archmage with shadow then withering helps a lot, not to mention mindrazor.
Therby I disagree it is negated by MSU because the principle of using many units to rule movement phase and engineer combined charges is still there. It is with different tools and you may need to use them differently.
8.
Character assassination
Well, D&D + Hellcannon affects big unit in the same way as small. In fact, it may be even bigger problem because if big unit with associated characters flees the table then the player loses huge portion of his army.
Spirit leach can kill your characters in the same way, big unit or not. Other spells, like Dwellers or Transmutation, are more dangerous for big units than for small. Especially when your characters don’t sit in one regiment.
Characters in big units may not suffer immediately but at the same time they may have no place to escape either. And you have means to protect them too.
The same magic items that help characters in big units help you as well. Loremaster can attempt to heal himself if wounded due to lack of bodyguards. Enemies tend to ignore depleted regiments if character jumps out of them so that you can save points. If you face template weapons deploy in wider formations so it is more difficult to hit many warriors at the same time. If you face cannons, don’t position characters where they can be targeted anyway so that you don’t have to take that LoS roll at all.
Spells need to be in range so make sure you are not. Or at least not at short range so casting is more difficult.
These are not bullet proof solutions but the main point is to show that you are not hapless against these dangers.
9.
Point efficiency
I am not sure what you wanted to emphasise here and what is the weakness. I am guessing it is the fact that you pay for upgrades that otherwise could be used for more warriors? It seems so (I am replying while reading).
I don’t think it is a weakness. Let’s compare two units, both with champion and musician or banner and musician as these are the most common upgrades (at least for me). With the same amount of points spent on number of warriors, two units are now 20 points more expensive.
However, very often big unit has full command and magic banner so that balances out the point cost.
This is yet again another example where you simply make a decision between two options, which are both as good as you can make them. Single unit may benefit from upgrades more but it is easier to block it and prevent it to move to where you want it to be. 2 units are more manoeuvrable and can potentially be two threats rather than one. And you have more flexibility with their use, both can move, both can fight or one can fight and one can move.
That is why I prefer more optimistic point of view and simply look at the options as what they are, possible upgrades. You can take them but you don’t have to. And no matter what you are going to take you simply need to work out what is the best way to use it. Also in the context of the whole army because no matter if it is one unit or two they have to cooperate with other elements.
10.
Tough match ups
It is obvious what I am going to say but every army has a tough match up. In fact, I believe MSU does not have easy ones because it is the approach of high risk factor and the one that always has to work perfectly so that there is no room for error. But that is also the reason it is so appealing to me.
It would help if there were detailed army lists as reference points for each type of potential tough match up. I am not going to rate them though, because I have not faced many of them. Which personally I find interesting because I do attend big tournaments. At this moment, however, I would assume it is due to the fact I haven’t had enough games yet. Seems like a sample of 100+ is still not enough!
A very good and veteran player, Charles Black, the guy who used to win tournaments in the time when many of us learned how to roll a single d6, wrote a very good tactics article in e-zine irresistible force:
http://www.irresistibleforce.com.au/Dow ... Issue4.pdf
it’s a great read by itself but he also explained a method how he assesses particular match up.
1) what threats they pose to my army
2) what weaknesses they have to me
3) how I will try and beat it ie minimize threats and maximize strengths
I will try to use his methods to do so for the armies mentioned but please, forgive me for the limited amount of ideas because many of these are simply theoretical
Dark Elves
I haven’t played against such army and the closest thing I had was in 3 games against Guess Range very long time ago:
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... 30#p792265
Both armies were under their 7ed army books then. However, I faced strong magic and shooting so at least partially my experience can be helpful, even if it is more about what not to do!
I assume the following: 2-3 peg riders, one bsb, one lord with 3++ ward against magic and shooting, all with 1+ armour save (if not rerollable). Dark Riders, Shades, Warlocks, possibly level 4 in darkshards, reapers.
1) What threats they post to my army
Very strong shooting, able to decimate any unit in a single turn. Good speed and manoeuvrability (flying characters, fast cavalry), strong magic (warlocks + level4). ASF, hatred, some units with S4 and S5. Scouts, fast cavalry.
2) What weaknesses they have to me
Not much armour (apart from flying characters), low model count (due to large number of characters and relatively expensive models), small units (easier to panic), some units S3 or 4 only, shorter range, low toughness.
3) how I will try and beat it ie minimize threats and maximize strengths
- deploy further away to avoid being in range from the start and force them to come to me at different speed
- threaten scouts with magic missiles
- threaten characters with searing doom (if no protection against flaming) or with bolt thrower (not all of them)
- use longer range to shoot at warlocks and dark riders, in particular if not in the range of BSB, 4++ is good but they are often in units of 5 so they can be panicked
- keep double line formation to deny safe landing zones and provide additional penalties for BS shooting
- use terrain to limit BS shooting efficiency
- If possible approach with refused flank so that not all the shooting can be directed at my units and enemy has to block his own line of sight
- Challenge heroes if they attack my units and make sure any regiment can receive immediate support.
- Make sure overrun does not lead to another fight. If they attack all together it is ok because they don’t block 3 units at the same time. If they attack separately, you can have higher chances to hold and maybe sneak a wound or two anyway. BSB can also be broken in combat.
- Cast spells to make the combat going against them too. If you use Loremaster, wildform, blizzard, miasma are all very helpful.
Lizardmen
Again, I haven’t played against one but I assume there is Slann, scar vet or two, maybe in a block of saurus or temple guard. Lots of skinks skirmishers, chameleons, salamanders.
1) what threats they pose to my army
Very good magic, in particular loremaster combination, channelling stuff and 3 attempts to channel per turn. Scar veterans are very hard to kill and with 3d6 Ld might hold units in place. Skinks are dangerous mainly due to poison. Even if you get rid of them, they are not worth many points and as such are perfectly expendable. Salamanders may evaporate whole regiments too.
2) what weaknesses they have to me
Short range means that skinks need to advance to use their weapons. T2 means they are very vulnerable even to S3 attacks. Because they have to get closer they may be in the charge range. Due to wider skirmishing formation they might get into each other’s way. Very weak in combat. Low ld so if out of range of Slann they may trouble to rally even on 3d6.
3) how I will try and beat it ie minimize threats and maximize strengths
- Keep your characters away from slann so that he cannot spirit leach you, be careful that he cannot use skink priest as a vessel either
- Deploy carefully so that chameleons can’t sneak behind your lines
- Use heavy cavalry and white Lions as a shield against the darts so that more vulnerable units get -2 penalty
- Remember that 7+ to hit cancels poison
- Try to get early charges with Dragon Princes, if you fail you are not exposed and the battle line can follow, if you succeed you can reach and destroy a few skink units and maybe even get to the salamanders
- Use your own shooting and magic missiles. You may have additional penalties due to skirmish but focus fire until the unit is dead. They don’t cost much but dead unit forces panic checks and is one less to worry about. Single skinks can be very annoying.
- Consider engaging with all your units, in fact, archers are awesome in combat against skinks as they re-roll to hit and wound on 3+.
- Keep intact and coherent battle line so no skirmisher can sneak behind your lines and move forward, herding the skinks
- Use your own magic such as miasma, iceshard to make them hit with more penalties
- Keep your eagles hidden so that they can still be used to redirect his main block (if any)
Dwarves
I have played against the new ones only once. The old castle was worse, in my opinion, because they could have more machines and could protect OG better as they didn’t require LoS. It is of course tough game if you want to win big as you will need to approach and that is what your Dwarven opponent wants and is prepared for.
1) what threats they pose to my army
Hard to breach formation, high toughness and good armour. Very high ld, often stubborn. Very dangerous war machines. Dangerous shooters. Better than usual magic defence as they still can take multiple scrolls. High strength attacks in close combat with possible hatred. Gyros. 5++ ward save banner against magic and shooting.
2) what weaknesses they have to me
Slow. Move or fire weapons (with the exception of gyros). If designed to castle will have to remain in that formation or the castle starts having dangerous breaches in its walls.
Irondrakes have flaming attacks so dragon armour is very handy. Organ Gun and other shooters have BS based shooting so that can be modified by magic or by intervening troops.
They are predictable, you can guess in which corer they might deploy (the one with the hill).
Their war machines are very expensive so every lost one is a problem.
They leave ¾ of the board open for you to use.
3) how I will try and beat it ie minimize threats and maximize strengths
- you don’t have to advance, if you don’t he is not going to reach you with his troops and his shooting will be limited. It may not be an interesting game and I am sure Dwarven player will complain but if you don’t have a plan to win, then have a plan not to lose.
- Assuming you want to try you can use your deployment drops advantage. Place bolt thrower and eagles where cannons cannot shoot them. Deploy in lines to avoid grudge throwers hits. Create double line so that gyros have no safe landing zone and more fragile units are protected from BS based shooting.
- Try to get a unit or character to attack irondrakes. They can hold against them even if it is a constant draw but a noble can actually inflict some casualties that will force the opponent to take break tests. That is not to break them (but if they do all the better) but to keep them occupied and not shooting at other regiments.
- Use lions as protectors for other regiments.
- Use reavers as a shield if needs be (in particular for DP so they can charge irondrakes) even in conga line so that they offer protection to more units.
- Use magic to affect accuracy, miasma, iceshard or to eliminate war machines, fireball
- Use your own shooting to hunt down gyros
- Advance with terrain as an ally, might be useful to approach longer way too as that may affect line of sight of the Dwarven shooters and they would need to readjust.
- Keep your eagle somewhere safe but close if possible to prevent the charges from the fighting blocks
Chaos Dwarves
I played against them once. They didn’t have destroyer, or magma cannon or daemon but since it is “any build” I guess my one time experience may still be useful. Here is the link to the report if you want more details:
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... 30#p795089
Nurgle DoC
Not sure if that qualifies but this is the report when I faced Nurlge themed army list:
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=48704
Again, not much experience yet so some theoretical food for thoughts
1) what threats they pose to my army
Very resilient, high toughness + ward saves (often 4++). Reign of Chaos. Dangerous magic (visitations, curse of the lepper), greater daemon, beasts with many attacks, drones (haven’t faced them yet though). Itp, cause fear/terror
2) what weaknesses they have to me
Slow and cumbersome block of plaguebearers slows the army down. Not much shooting even with cannons. Ld 8 of the heralds, instability, cannot flee. Small support units still vulnerable to missiles of any kind.
3) how I will try and beat it ie minimize threats and maximize strengths
- deploy further to let them come to you as they need to. Plaguebearers march 8” per turn so will need 3 turns to touch your deployment zone. Whatever is deployed at 32.1” will not be in charge range for them for 3 turns, that is half of the game when that unit can be ignored.
- Target support units first so that they cannot mess up your deployment and against them shooting and magic can have an effect
- Use your own magic to snipe heralds (particularly bsb), searing doom may be good against greater daemons if they roll 2+ armour save.
- Beast of nurgle have S4 so heavy cavalry can deal with them (especially with flaming attacks and wyssans) if they are not that numerous or one hero with 1+ rerollable can pin them down.
- Use movement to confuse the enemy as he will not be able to cover all angles and will have to react to your positioning anyway, which can slow them down even further.
- GUO is pedestrian and as such can be diverted, use it to your advantage.
- Even plaguebearers can die if engaged from different angles so try to get the units in position as well as destroying support in the meantime.
- Kill any additional horrors and heralds asap if possible. Single GUO can be better managed in the magic phase. You will not dispel it all but with 4 spells against you it is easier to make your priorities. Without channels he can also suffer from low wind of magic result.
- Keep units in mutual support so that any additional daemonic regiment is not going to surprise you.
Warriors of Chaos
Despite quite a handful of games against WOC I didn’t face multiple chimeras with flying DP and/or heroes on disks. I faced some though, in different configurations.
1) what threats they pose to my army
Extremely fast, very good armour, some characters almost unkillable. Very good in combat, have multitudes of attacks. DP can heal itself in combat, tzeentch level 4 on a disk has powerful magic hard to prioritize against as magic missiles can be of significant strength. Tzeentch lore attribute.
2) what weaknesses they have to me
Low model count. Very different speed (apart from chimeras and characters the rest of the army may be pedestrian or chariots). Chimeras very vulnerable to fire based attacks. Low Ld if not close to general. Every turn the characters are out of combat, too long in combat works for you. No rank bonus so even single file provides steadfast.
3) how I will try and beat it ie minimize threats and maximize strengths
- Deploy on the edge, they will fly to you anyway. Prepare for turn 2 charges.
- Use Sisters to inflict a wound and pick up with the rest of the shooting on Chimera. They have only 4w and at T5 they will suffer. If possible, deploy Dragon Princes so that they can charge CHimeras turn 1 (if they have banner of eternal flame) or they will have to slow down.
- Fireball and burning gaze are also very useful. Even wounded Chimera will be more reluctant to engage any of your units.
- Deploy and move in mutual support so if you are charged you can hold on steadfast and counter attack
- It is even more important if your enemy is going to charge his BSB solo. You can break him and he is going to die automatically
- Have some champions to challenge, some heroes have to challenge some can’t refuse (like DP when fighting alone) so that you can buy more time
- Position carefully so the overrun does not lead to new combat immediately
- Use your own magic (I am still assuming we have the loremaster) to affect combats, all spells you have matter.
- Keep moving, although you deployed at the edge, smaller unit count means you have chance to move around and avoid dangers while threatening his other units. Like isolated warriors regiment if there is one (often is).
- If you face sorcerer on disk try to trap him with cavalry, he is not strong and his magic will be limited
I haven’t faced shooty ogres but I imagine they might castle as well. I haven’t played against new WE yet so I can’t say much yet. I try to observe their games though as I will need to get some ideas as I think they will be popular at least for a while.
Game against DE
It looks like you played very well and neutralized his shooting advantage. Well done! When looking at the situation described, the charge of corsairs, there are things that may have worked slightly better for you:
- Don’t charge with DP’s at all, they are very vulnerable to mindrazor also because it is first round of combat where corsairs still have re-rolls due to hatred. The reason is that although they provide a lot of attacks, they don’t have rerolls. I wonder how many corsairs did you get with DP? The trouble is you are about to lose a unit, which is not necessary.
- 2 units of Swordmastes at the flank of the corsairs will fare better on their own. Btw, how many casualties SM inflicted?
- You may still lose combat but lions were there to hold them in place and you would have had counter charging Dragon Princes without mindrazor on corsairs
- Second thing is double flee which was even better because he is in worse position, i.e. you attack from both flanks.
I understand the idea to try out the situation and see what is going to happen but if we are to analyse the options, double flee was a better one. Also, if he didn’t have mindrazor I would have cast miasma on initiative as that means he does not get rerolls in the subsequent round of combat (if he stayed) as even with ASF he needs high initiative enough to get re-rolls.
How to make the enemy move
It is a good point that local magic and shooting superiority may force the enemy to move towards you. It is possible to achieve such situation in the deployment phase. If you think that you need your magic and shooting do the job then start deploying combat units first. Your opponent will react to it and you can place your shooters where it hurts the most. Of course it does not mean you have to place your assault troops in the harms range either. Simply start with them. There is a chance your enemy will face a dilemma, to advance towards your combat troops where you want him to go and get shot in the process or move towards the shooters where it might be the longer way and he might expose his flank to the combat troops.
Even with more standard deployment pattern you can achieve that because you decide where to point your bows at. And what is the target for spells. Loremaster may be just level 2 but with huge amount of spells he will be able to sneak in some. It is then important to know at which order to cast them and how to make those you want to go through.
Finally, if you deploy out of range of some units, your enemy is also forced to move if he wants to earn some points. There are armies out there which are better at it than yours but the DE army you fought against as well as a theoretical situation with Dwarven force are not such cases.
You demonstrated it against DE. You used your advantage at the deployment phase and forced him to move in order to have his xbows at range and move his combat blocks to engage you because this what they were there for.
In the case of Dwarven example Irondrakes are one of the dangers. However, if they vanguard they are already isolated. Well positioned Dragon Princes can even be able to charge them your turn 1. The rest of the army can simply “castle” in the opposite corner and move with wide flanking move. Your DP should be opposite Iron Drakes but out of range of the OG. Dwarven player, as I have mentioned before, now has a dilemma. TO move and lose position or stay and be unable to score many points. It might be dull game but if he has a right to position in the corner and expect you to attack him so do you. Yes, you may need to force opponents to move but they must have a way to do so as well. With shorter range of many shooters, move or fire for others and the risk coming from abandoning good defensive position he may be in trouble too. There is no need to play to your opponents strengths.
How to play against two big fliers
It is a tough one for sure. I have faced big fliers before, twice against Dragon + 2 Terror Geists, once against 2 dragon list on Masters (see the link below for reference).
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=41143
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=46565
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... 17#p854846
I lost first badly, won second and lost last 9-11 so I can’t claim I know perfect solution. But let’s try to assess the threat the Star Dragon army is for you with the same method as before:
1) what threats they pose to my army
two powerful fliers. Star dragon is capable of destroying any unit on his own. Frostheart is dangerous to your small infantry due to t-stomp. Hard to kill too. Some shooting that can be dangerous to your small regiments. Sea guard as a good match up for your elites. High magic can help with movement.
2) what weaknesses they have to me
no cavalry. No long range shooting. Manageable magic. Not much of the magic defence. Star dragon and frost phoenix have to either stay with the army thus being slower or race forward thus being isolated. Fewer units meaning they can be outdeployed.
3) how I will try and beat it ie minimize threats and maximize strengths
There is no doubt it is difficult game but there are a few things you can do:
- as always in the case of powerful flying individuals, deploy further away
- make sure your cavalry can charge frosty, it can be slowed down because it relies on t-stomps to do damage, you can even break it on the charge if it is outside the bsb range but main thing is to split the fliers
- don’t let them land behind your lines
- shoot swordmasters
- if possible match up swordmasters against Lions, SM can win against them, here is the example:
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... 60#p849993
- your core troops are also good against white lions
- cavalry is good against sea guard
- magic is your friend too, searing doom even 6-dice for big version against the dragon helps.
- Make sure whatever dragon charges can be steadfast and may have champions to challenge
- Make sure the dragon does not overrun into fresh fight
- The longer it is out of combat the better
- You can try to spirit leach bsb so that it is easier to panic/ break other troops
- Keep moving, you will threaten his army and make targets for star dragon more difficult to catch (as you can move out of its arc of sight)
- Were there any buildings? Loremaster in the building is excellent idea as you can move in and out thus saving you from dragon charge and you can use a unit with more than 10 models to keep him safe.
- Don’t ignore the dragon but consider this. The dragon costs around 600 points. The opponent often wants at least 600 points of kills to make it even. It means he needs to kill 4 units of yours to make it. If you limit number of combats to 4 or less he already is not gaining points. If at the same time you keep killing his stuff it means you are even in pure kills if you do it fast enough. So, be aware of a dragon but try to get the kills elsewhere too.
Light council
I have never faced this type of an army so again, apologies for not speaking from experience. But I am going to try, nevertheless, to assess that army too, in the manner I did with all other forces:
1) what threats they pose to my army
very powerful magic. Hard to get bunker. Good shooting that can add to the magic.
2) what weaknesses they have to me
all eggs in one basket. No option to defend his support units. Slow (ha may be reluctant to move WL at full speed to be able to shoot with handmaiden). BS based shooting that can be mitigated by your spells, terrain and intervening units. Magic missile based spells requiring line of sight.
3) how I will try and beat it ie minimize threats and maximize strengths
- Because his magic missiles often have 24” range for base spells at least, deploy further to avoid being targeted turn 1.
- Use your own shooters and magic to target his reavers
- Staying out of range will make him move towards you. That affects his line of sight but more importantly, shooting capabilities.
- Use the fact his magic missiles have limited range to move some fast units outside of it and outflank him in order to hunt down bolt throwers
- Keep moving so that he constantly needs to change the facing thus limiting his target selection
- Burning gaze and fireballs are flaming so you may be bolder with Dragon Princes but you need to be aware of Banishment.
- Don’t panic, you will suffer casualties but there are softer targets in his list and even more so if he starts to move in order to get into range.
- He is defensive in nature and have few units so there is a chance he will like to castle, use that to anticipate where he is going to deploy his units and position yours in the opposite corner (but don’t castle just be prepared to move around his flanks when he moves towards you).
- Use terrain to block line of sight or at least add penalties for bolt throwers and archers.
Ok, I think there is already way too much too read so I stop here. I do hope this monstrosity of a post is going to provide some food for thought as otherwise it would have been a huge waste of time on my part!
Cheers!