Handmaiden Builds without Reaver+PoS - are there any?

[Ferny]

Without wanting to wishlist about all the ways this model's rules *could* have been written to dust off this lady more frequently, she clearly has two very strong selling points.

1. Quick to Fire for a unit of sisters can be pretty cool, especially for a large unit of 10-15. Whether this is worth the cost of an additional 8+ sisters I'm not sure? It does guarantee S&S, it pseudo-increases their range and it makes the wood elf tactic of 'retreat in good order and fire' work well. Also, I guess in lists where rare points are tight but hero points are plentiful there's no shooting-based trade off. I would even go as far as to suggest that this is her 'utility' value added on to what she's meant to do by herself, and as such if you don't have a decent sized unit of sisters to boost then she isn't going to make her points back (even including board control, not just kills).

2. Reaver Bow+PoS. With BS7 and QtF this lady is almost always hitting on 2+, so she can make better use of the reaver bow than the utility BSB we see toting it so often. But even more critical than that - if he moves or is at long range then he's hitting on 3+, and 4+ if he does both...and when you're wanting to chug the potion to put those extra critical wounds onto a Big Bad it's tragic to see how many S8 shots miss! But we take him because we need a BSB and this is a useful (albeit unreliable) utility bump, which also allows him to plink at chaff, blocks or whatnot. Sadly for the handmaiden, just the PoS alone does not work with her avelorn bow, and just the reaver bow (in my opinion) doesn't merit her cost, even accounting for the increased accuracy over the noble and her QtF ability for sisters...and to me this means that if either of these items is taken elsewhere then the handmaiden really doesn't cut the mustard.

Prove me wrong! Has anyone fielded her either without a big block of sisters (10+) or without the Reaver+PoS combo? And how did you use her? Did she perform?

[Curu Olannon]

I have never seen anyone field her competitively at all without this setup. Perhaps you could make something like Reaver Bow / Ring of Fury work, but it`s largely the same. As you point out, you kind of need a big unit of Sisters to justify her (I wouldn`t even consider a unit of 20 to be too large as a matter of fact), which sort of forces her role: otherwise a noble is simply better.

The awkward part is that a list with her is typically infantry-oriented, which means that the BSB will likely be on foot as well. Why is this awkward? Well basically there are very few good layouts for a foot BSB: you can go Dawnstone + Enchanted Shield but it`s still not "good" as far as protection goes. Another option is Merwyrm Shield/true 4++ with high magic, another yet again is a utility banner, but that`s about it as far as viable builds go. This is unfortunate as it`s hard to tailor the BSB.

[Ferny]

It's also awkward if your BSB is mounted enchanted shield, dawnstone, lance, PoS...

Combat foot BSB seem to have gone by the wayside with 8th, but I guess you could take a risky Shield of Myrwyrm+Crown of Command to give a unit of Pheonix Guard more staying power?

I guess if she could have been made a BSB then the foot noble almost becomes obsolete (given his current reaver/PoS status). But would it have been so very over-powered for her QtF rule to apply to archers and/or sea guard as well as sisters? I don't know - maybe - but at least it would allow her to break out of such a very, very niche role.

[Tethlis]

They definitely missed the mark by not allowing her to be a BSB. There's a lot that could have been done for both the Seahelm and the Handmaiden, but unfortunately we can't do much about that.

As Curu mentioned, it would be possible to make her a Caddy for a bound item, or perhaps hold a Magic Resistance item if you had to use Sisters for an Archmage character bunker and didn't want to take Banner of the World Dragon.

I do think that the Reaver Bow is practically mandatory though. You're not getting much utility out of the character without putting that good Ballistic Skill to use.

[Eltherion2]

Hand Maiden defensive build to protect Sisters.

Handmaiden of the Everqueen, Obsidian loadstone (MR3), Iron Curse Icon (6+ Ward vs. Warmachines).

[Ferny]

Hand Maiden defensive build to protect Sisters.

Handmaiden of the Everqueen, Obsidian loadstone (MR3), Iron Curse Icon (6+ Ward vs. Warmachines).

Interesting idea - if you have a big block then they are vulnerable to both these weaknesses, but the big block benefits most from her inherent boost.

I'm not sure it's worth 150pts to protect (say) the same in sisters (compared to 300 pts of sisters with vulnerability to magic and war machines)? Maybe in a list where you focus heavily in sisters and have *both* a big unit *and* a handmaiden, which is probably the way to go with her anyway.

Would you be inclined to build your list around this unit? I'd be tempted to go the whole hog and treat it as an excellent AM bunker (all those S&S!) and boost their protection still further.

[Curu Olannon]

Hand Maiden defensive build to protect Sisters.

Handmaiden of the Everqueen, Obsidian loadstone (MR3), Iron Curse Icon (6+ Ward vs. Warmachines).

Interesting idea - if you have a big block then they are vulnerable to both these weaknesses, but the big block benefits most from her inherent boost.

I'm not sure it's worth 150pts to protect (say) the same in sisters (compared to 300 pts of sisters with vulnerability to magic and war machines)? Maybe in a list where you focus heavily in sisters and have *both* a big unit *and* a handmaiden, which is probably the way to go with her anyway.

Would you be inclined to build your list around this unit? I'd be tempted to go the whole hog and treat it as an excellent AM bunker (all those S&S!) and boost their protection still further.

Excellent point. If you are investing this much in them, chances are your AM should have that MR3 item instead, freeing up the Handmaiden for that Reaver Bow

I think other builds are just too marginal, unfortunately. Some proprietary items/choices just for her would have been interesting.

[Ferny]

Hand Maiden defensive build to protect Sisters.

Handmaiden of the Everqueen, Obsidian loadstone (MR3), Iron Curse Icon (6+ Ward vs. Warmachines).

Interesting idea - if you have a big block then they are vulnerable to both these weaknesses, but the big block benefits most from her inherent boost.

I'm not sure it's worth 150pts to protect (say) the same in sisters (compared to 300 pts of sisters with vulnerability to magic and war machines)? Maybe in a list where you focus heavily in sisters and have *both* a big unit *and* a handmaiden, which is probably the way to go with her anyway.

Would you be inclined to build your list around this unit? I'd be tempted to go the whole hog and treat it as an excellent AM bunker (all those S&S!) and boost their protection still further.

Excellent point. If you are investing this much in them, chances are your AM should have that MR3 item instead, freeing up the Handmaiden for that Reaver Bow

I think other builds are just too marginal, unfortunately. Some proprietary items/choices just for her would have been interesting.

But sadly not enough to also give her the PoS, which means that she doesn't capitalise on the reaver bow, but then if both go together so solidly as a unit, that brings us full circle...

[Curu Olannon]

What? Because of the ICI you mean? There`s a reason it only costs 5 points, it`s a very marginal item (at best). I`m sure you can drop it in favour of the PoS Otherwise your am can take it, assuming you`re leaving the book at home.

[Ferny]

Doh - ignore my above post - it was stooopid

[Eltherion2]

Reaver Bow, Spellshield (MR1), Iron Curse Icon