Magic Item Review

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Ferny
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Posts: 1906
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2013 12:03 pm

Magic Item Review

#1 Post by Ferny »

How do you rate our 10 army specific magic items, specifically in the context of T9A v1.0?

Magical Weapons
Great Bow of Elu (35 pts)

Type: Longbow. Strength: As user +1, Multiple Shots (3), Armour Piercing (1).

Spear of the Blazing Dawn (30 / 20 pts)
Characters only
Type: Spear. The Strength of attacks made with this weapon counts as being 1 higher than the Toughness of the target. If the Strength would be higher without this rule, ignore it.

Magical Armour
Daemon Hunter’s Helm (35 / 25 pts)

Cannot be taken by Large Targets
Type: None (6+ Armour Save). The wearer gains Ward Save (3+) against Magical Attacks.

Talismans
Gleaming Robe (45 pts)

Archmage or Mage on foot only
Wearer gain Ethereal. The model cannot make attacks, including special attacks.

Enchanted Items
Cloak of the Stars (20 pts)

Spells targeting the bearer’s unit suffer 1 to their casting roll.

Shard of Cenyrn (10 pts)
One use only. Use at the start of any Close Combat Phase.
Effects last until end of the Close Combat Phase. After rolling to hit, the bearer may choose to reroll all its tohit dice. After rolling to wound, the bearer may choose to reroll all its towound dice. Models wounded by the bearer must reroll all successful saves of any kind from wounds done by the bearer. At the end of the phase the model suffers 1 wound with no saves of any kind allowed and Multiple Wounds (2, Ridden Monster).

Arcane Items
Amethyst Crystal (55 pts)

In each of the opponent’s Magic Phases, after rolling Magic Flux, the bearer may remove 1 Power Dice from the opponent's Magic Dice pool and add +1 for its side’s Channelling roll.

Book of Meladys (45 / 25 pts)
Once per Magic Phase, the bearer may reroll a single Power Dice when making a Casting Attempt, provided the Power Dice was not a natural '6'.

Magical Standards
Banner of Becalming (35 pts)

The bearer gains Channel. At the Start of each enemy Magic Phase select one friendly Wizard within 12" of the bearer. That Wizard gains +1 to its Dispel Attempts during this Magic Phase.

War Banner of Ryma (30 pts)
The bearer’s unit gains Thunderous Charge. Mounts are not affected.
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Former Roles: Advisory Board, HR, Moderator and Highborn Elves Army Support
Iain
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 7:55 am

Re: Magic Item Review

#2 Post by Iain »

Ferny wrote:How do you rate our 10 army specific magic items, specifically in the context of T9A v1.0?

Magical Weapons
Great Bow of Elu (35 pts)

Type: Longbow. Strength: As user +1, Multiple Shots (3), Armour Piercing (1).

6/10 - Has potential but not for that cost, especially on a hero. Either needs multiple wounds at that cost or cheaper

Spear of the Blazing Dawn (30 / 20 pts)
Characters only
Type: Spear. The Strength of attacks made with this weapon counts as being 1 higher than the Toughness of the target. If the Strength would be higher without this rule, ignore it.

8/10 - Excellent piece of kit. Made weaker only due to the poor survivability of foot-characters in general and the attractiveness of honours that don't interact well with it.

Magical Armour
Daemon Hunter’s Helm (35 / 25 pts)

Cannot be taken by Large Targets
Type: None (6+ Armour Save). The wearer gains Ward Save (3+) against Magical Attacks.

6/10 - good but too situational and debuffed the griffon too much in this version due to large target provision.


Talismans
Gleaming Robe (45 pts)

Archmage or Mage on foot only
Wearer gain Ethereal. The model cannot make attacks, including special attacks.

9/10 - appropriately costed, fluffy and effective. T9A got this one dead right

Enchanted Items
Cloak of the Stars (20 pts)

Spells targeting the bearer’s unit suffer 1 to their casting roll.

1/10 - Rubbish item. Am yet to see a list with this in it. Waste of an enchanted item slot and 20pts.

Shard of Cenyrn (10 pts)
One use only. Use at the start of any Close Combat Phase.
Effects last until end of the Close Combat Phase. After rolling to hit, the bearer may choose to reroll all its tohit dice. After rolling to wound, the bearer may choose to reroll all its towound dice. Models wounded by the bearer must reroll all successful saves of any kind from wounds done by the bearer. At the end of the phase the model suffers 1 wound with no saves of any kind allowed and Multiple Wounds (2, Ridden Monster).

6/10 - pretty decent but rerolling ALL dice (not just fails) and the multiwounds to large targets is a hard one to swallow, especially given the vulnerability of flyers (read ordinance and lack of armour/ward).

Arcane Items
Amethyst Crystal (55 pts)

In each of the opponent’s Magic Phases, after rolling Magic Flux, the bearer may remove 1 Power Dice from the opponent's Magic Dice pool and add +1 for its side’s Channelling roll.

5/10 - great item, if it were 5 points cheaper it'd get a solid 8/10. It's cost prohibits a hero caster from taking it.

Book of Meladys (45 / 25 pts)
Once per Magic Phase, the bearer may reroll a single Power Dice when making a Casting Attempt, provided the Power Dice was not a natural '6'.

6/10 - Good on a hero, wasted on a lord as it is too pricey and doesn't do enough. If it were reroll a power dice in casters phase and a dispel dice in opponents it would be more attractive.

Magical Standards
Banner of Becalming (35 pts)

The bearer gains Channel. At the Start of each enemy Magic Phase select one friendly Wizard within 12" of the bearer. That Wizard gains +1 to its Dispel Attempts during this Magic Phase.

9/10 - A great item. Very fluffy and effective. Costed appropriately for what it does. I think T9A got this one dead right

War Banner of Ryma (30 pts)
The bearer’s unit gains Thunderous Charge. Mounts are not affected.

7.5/10 - a very good item and well suited for a lot of units but 5 points overcosted. I realise this was almost certainly deliberate to prevent HBE from using on a core unit (lancers) but I think it was unnecessary. It's not like our core has a lot of strength statistics and even lancers will only be granted str 6 on the charge.
In conclusion, the HBE magic items have a couple of good ones, alot of mediocre and a stinker. With a slight points adjustment to a couple I think they would be more competitive against the BRB items
chumchu
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 3:24 pm

Re: Magic Item Review

#3 Post by chumchu »

Too powerful

War Banner of Ryma (30 pts)
Cheap, versatile and provides high strength attacks to deal with difficult units.

Slightly too powerful

Great Bow of Elu (35 pts)
Always worth trying to include.

Balanced

Banner of Becalming (35 pts)
Good value but I'm often lacking a unit for it.

Daemon Hunter’s Helm (35 / 25 pts)
Makes very tanky mounted characters.

Spear of the Blazing Dawn (30 / 20 pts)
Good, but limited by the weakness of foot characters.

Shard of Cenryn (10 pts)
Has it's builds (chariot and cav heroes primarily).

Slightly Weak

Book of Meladys (45 / 25 pts)
Better on offense than book of arcane power for a hero. But if you go for multiple mages you probably want the better defense that book of arcane power provides. If you go for archmage + mage then mage usually carries dispel scroll and book of meladys is overcosted for archmages.

Gleaming Robe (45 pts)
Significantly more vulnerable now than before with open lists, ubiquitous ways to get magical attacks, and a 2++ that it can be countered with divine attacks as well.

Too weak

Amethyst Crystal (55 pts)
Just not worth the arcane slot on an expensive archmage. I definitely prefer dispel scroll for defense and if I want even more magic defense I'd rather have banner of becalming.

GW-tier

Cloak of the Stars (20 pts)
This one is both weak and very situational.
fjupp
Ferny
9th Age Moderator
Posts: 1906
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2013 12:03 pm

Re: Magic Item Review

#4 Post by Ferny »

I'll play.
Ferny wrote:How do you rate our 10 army specific magic items, specifically in the context of T9A v1.0?

Magical Weapons
Great Bow of Elu (35 pts)

Type: Longbow. Strength: As user +1, Multiple Shots (3), Armour Piercing (1).

I think this is good and useful - works well on our non-combat combat lords/heroes (motc, looking at you) or chariot lion lords who don't need a magic weapon. A little superfluous perhaps with MS3 from the QC honour though. Other than that, solid.

Spear of the Blazing Dawn (30 / 20 pts)
Characters only
Type: Spear. The Strength of attacks made with this weapon counts as being 1 higher than the Toughness of the target. If the Strength would be higher without this rule, ignore it.

With the new costings it is a viable alternative to hero sword IMO. It is also an iconic weapon type. Restriction to foot is limiting, but access to mounts wouldn't fix it if it were bad, it just shifts it around. An interesting proplem highlighted elsewhere was that the target enemy isn't likely to be killed dead, but is likely to then stomp. In all, IMO, viable :).

Magical Armour
Daemon Hunter’s Helm (35 / 25 pts)

Cannot be taken by Large Targets
Type: None (6+ Armour Save). The wearer gains Ward Save (3+) against Magical Attacks.

Good item in the right build. No more to say on it ;)

Talismans
Gleaming Robe (45 pts)

Archmage or Mage on foot only
Wearer gain Ethereal. The model cannot make attacks, including special attacks.

Grants a ward save even when 55pt items are taken. IMO this is solid - allows [arch]mage to advance and bunker with combat troops. Only needs to fear spells (dispel them with the annulian and/or banner), characters (which can be challenged out), and certain units. Seems legit.

Enchanted Items
Cloak of the Stars (20 pts)

Spells targeting the bearer’s unit suffer 1 to their casting roll.

Design fail - does not address the needs of the army. Unlikely to ever be taken competitively. Wants re-working.

Shard of Cenyrn (10 pts)
One use only. Use at the start of any Close Combat Phase.
Effects last until end of the Close Combat Phase. After rolling to hit, the bearer may choose to reroll all its tohit dice. After rolling to wound, the bearer may choose to reroll all its towound dice. Models wounded by the bearer must reroll all successful saves of any kind from wounds done by the bearer. At the end of the phase the model suffers 1 wound with no saves of any kind allowed and Multiple Wounds (2, Ridden Monster).

Adds solid reliability at cheap price. Interesting alternative to Divine Icon. And the ill-effects can be warded away with white magic or healed if you choose an appropriate lore. Does what it's meant to do - solid.

Arcane Items
Amethyst Crystal (55 pts)

In each of the opponent’s Magic Phases, after rolling Magic Flux, the bearer may remove 1 Power Dice from the opponent's Magic Dice pool and add +1 for its side’s Channelling roll.

Intentionally not allowed for heroes, this item is IMO gamechanging. Ignoring channels, it makes it a 50% chance that PD are equal to or just one more than DD, and 75% that it's no more than 2 more.

Book of Meladys (45 / 25 pts)
Once per Magic Phase, the bearer may reroll a single Power Dice when making a Casting Attempt, provided the Power Dice was not a natural '6'.

This seems great at hero level for caster who wants to 1 or 2 dice smallish fairly critical spells but for which the risk is high. I think it's a tad too expensive at lord level.

Magical Standards
Banner of Becalming (35 pts)

The bearer gains Channel. At the Start of each enemy Magic Phase select one friendly Wizard within 12" of the bearer. That Wizard gains +1 to its Dispel Attempts during this Magic Phase.

I find I always take this when I don't have an AM, and even then might well take it if it doesn't have +3/+3.

War Banner of Ryma (30 pts)
The bearer’s unit gains Thunderous Charge. Mounts are not affected.
Excellent on KoR. Solid on BSB in lancer unit. Situational on infantry. IMO a good banner, v powerful, but toned down from earlier versions.
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Former Roles: Advisory Board, HR, Moderator and Highborn Elves Army Support
sparkytrypod
Posts: 494
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:37 am
Location: ireland

Re: Magic Item Review

#5 Post by sparkytrypod »

ok, my turn!

Great Bow of Elu (35 pts)
Type: Longbow. Strength: As user +1, Multiple Shots (3), Armour Piercing (1).

its ok, can have its uses on an eagle noble or a shooty list. if your BSB is using this on foot, he is dead. i just wish it was 25 points, or more like the bow of the seafarer from the 7th book. i doubt i will ever use it.

Spear of the Blazing Dawn (30 / 20 pts)
Characters only
Type: Spear. The Strength of attacks made with this weapon counts as being 1 higher than the Toughness of the target. If the Strength would be higher without this rule, ignore it.

Has to be used in conjunction with the high warden of the flame honour for a foot character to have a chance at survival. This items intended role (i think anyway) is to take out big nastys, against any character on a monster thunderstomp will pulp your face, however killing chariots and high toughness models, i.e chaos chariots or non ridden monsters it can shine.
what about fighting humans or other elves? it has a really limited scope of use when you consider its on a foot character and its intended targets are invariable faster.
I probably wont use it.

Daemon Hunter’s Helm (35 / 25 pts)
Cannot be taken by Large Targets
Type: None (6+ Armour Save). The wearer gains Ward Save (3+) against Magical Attacks.

Cool item, i loved using it on a griffon before the last change. now i am stuck between using it or the dusk stone on a cav mounted character, so far the dusk stone is the safer option for me. a cool item, that can have some good applications, an eagle rider with this and the bow of elu maybe, just to be annoying for example.

Gleaming Robe (45 pts)
Archmage or Mage on foot only
Wearer gain Ethereal. The model cannot make attacks, including special attacks.

yup, i like this, want your mage in the front lines, this is your go to item. With the toning down of the lore of death i think this can have a place. I am using it on my only archmage all the time, havnt lost him in combat yet. handy if you are fighting a single character without a magic weapon, easy challenge and win on res.

Cloak of the Stars (20 pts)
Spells targeting the bearer’s unit suffer 1 to their casting roll.

sigh, i would never waste an enchanted item slot on this, every rulebook item is better, nope not for me!


Shard of Cenyrn (10 pts)
One use only. Use at the start of any Close Combat Phase.
Effects last until end of the Close Combat Phase. After rolling to hit, the bearer may choose to reroll all its tohit dice. After rolling to wound, the bearer may choose to reroll all its towound dice. Models wounded by the bearer must reroll all successful saves of any kind from wounds done by the bearer. At the end of the phase the model suffers 1 wound with no saves of any kind allowed and Multiple Wounds (2, Ridden Monster).

a bit of a toxic item for me, having to reroll all the to hit dice and/or all the wound dice can make this of limited use i think, if your prince gets 2 or 3 hits do you gamble and roll them all again? dangerous! i will be steering clear of it!

Amethyst Crystal (55 pts)
In each of the opponent’s Magic Phases, after rolling Magic Flux, the bearer may remove 1 Power Dice from the opponent's Magic Dice pool and add +1 for its side’s Channelling roll.

i play with one wizard, i play with a scroll! if you have more than one wizard its a good item. no complaints really.

Book of Meladys (45 / 25 pts)
Once per Magic Phase, the bearer may reroll a single Power Dice when making a Casting Attempt, provided the Power Dice was not a natural '6'.

i play with one wizard, i play with a scroll! if you have more than one wizard its a good item. no complaints really.

banner of Becalming (35 pts)
The bearer gains Channel. At the Start of each enemy Magic Phase select one friendly Wizard within 12" of the bearer. That Wizard gains +1 to its Dispel Attempts during this Magic Phase.

its ok, cant see myself wasting a special unit banner slot on it though.

War Banner of Ryma (30 pts)
The bearer’s unit gains Thunderous Charge. Mounts are not affected.

no complaints!


so i guess for my current set up, all i am using is gleaming robes and thats it!
death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain

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