1.0 General
2.0 Building Armies - The Strategic Approach
3.0 What Are Your Orders, Sire?
4.0 Characters Must Die!
5.0 Chaos Dwarf Tactics
6.0 Dark Elf Battle Tactics
7.0 Dwarf Tactics
8.0 Empire Army: A Tactical Study
9.0 High Elf Tactics
10.0 Orcs and Goblins: Dem Taktikal Fings
11.0 Skaven Army List - A Tactical Study
12.0 Against Chaos
These tactical articles were written and posted to the warhammer fantasy battle list server by: Tuomas Pirinen.
Tuomas does not claim to be a guru at Warhammer Fantasy Battle, but he has a lot of good ideas and comments in his articles. Tuomas appreciates any and all comments and criticisms of his articles.
There are other strategies that will work (I do some things differently than Tuomas myself) so take all this information with a grain of salt.
The copyright to these articles belongs to Tuomas Pirinen (c) 1995.
The version of this Warhammer Fantasy Tactics is 1.2
Some rules in Warhammer are not very clear. In the strategy articles written by Toumas, he allows characters to be placed anywhere in a unit that they join. Some people (and sometimes GWUK) claim that characters must be in the front rank of units.
There may be other rules that Toumas interprets in his articles that are interpreted differently by others.
I have taken the liberty of editing this page somewhat for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. I claim no copyright to any of this information.
I have composed a checklist that I follow when building my armies. It is listed below, and after it I tell how I actually go about in each step.
Before choosing the overall strategy it is well worth looking at the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen enemies. While it is true that it is virtually impossible to make a good defensive Skaven army, and thus some of the suggestions below may be useless to some particular force, the general guidelines should prove helpful.
I have listed the main strong points of each army you might be facing, and the things you should look out for. After that are my quick suggestions for "medicine" against this army. One thing you should also consider is the actual person you are playing against! For example, my regular undead opponent is very fond of mummies and the undead chariots, so when I face him I usually take some flaming weapons for my characters, and plenty of missile support to cut down the undead chariots.
Strong Points: Some decent artillery. Unlimited number of Knightly Orders. Cheap Useful troops.
Dealing with them: Without the army book of their own, the Bretonnia is currently pretty weak. You can simply overpower them with superior quality and special characters. Warning! This will change with the army book! For now, any long range attack that allows no save will demolish the Bretonnian Knights.
Strong Points: All troops are powerful hand-to-hand fighters. Countless unique Magic Items. With the undead, the most powerful characters you can get. Chaos Gifts.
Dealing with them: The thing to remember is that very few things can stand against Chaos in fair hand to hand match. Don't be fair. Buy all possible anti-character equipment you can think of, Black Gem of Gnar leading the way. Flee from the battles you are destined to lose.
Shoot, shoot, shoot!
Take plenty of anti-flying items: the Amulet of Ravensdark is particularly good.
Strong Points: Bull Centaurs. Earth shaker Cannon. Dwarfs that can ride monsters! Spell-casting Dwarfs! Access to Chaos only magic items. Good monsters. Cheap hobgoblin and orc and goblin sidekicks. Blunderbusses. High leadership.
Dealing with them: You MUST get rid of the Earth shaker Cannon(s). Flying troops, missile troops, your own artillery, anything will do, just as long as these devices are silenced. Against Bull Centaurs, I'd recommend heroes with weapons that cause multiple wound per hit. Against Blunderbusses, I recommend very fast troops that can outflank them and charge in without taking too many casualties.
Strong Points: Cold One Riders, Dark Riders, Dark Elf Crossbowmen and Witch Elf Characters, The Destroyer.
Dealing with Them: Toughness 3 is the key. Like most other Elves, the Dark Ones are very vulnerable to powerful strikes. Take high strength troops and a few missile units to pick on the rather lightly armored dark elf Regiments. Try to cause as much casualties as possible! Normally, I choose very carefully whatever I wish to move my units to a better position or to attack/shoot my enemies, but against Dark Elves I almost always try to kill as many troops as soon as possible. Since Elves are expensive troops, they can not cope with high casualty ratio.
Strong Points: Staggeringly powerful customized magic items. Special characters with free choice of magic items. Very resistant to Magic. Quality troops. Many devastating war Machines (especially with Runes). High leadership. Toughness 4. The "Stealth Bomber" Gyrocopters.
Dealing with them: If you have a very powerful hand to hand fighter (like Chaos Lord or Black Orc War Boss), I recommend mounting him on monster, and giving him the Sword of Destruction. This way, you can negate the nigh-invincible 800+ point Dwarf Lord's magic items.
I recommend taking fliers to deal with the war machines
Take any and all War Machines that allow no save, since the high armor save values of the Dwarfs is legendary. Trying to out shoot Dwarfs is almost always futile: crossbows, hand guns, cannon balls and bothersome Gyrocopters will soon make mess of your army. The only army I'd really recommend to challenge the Dwarfs in a missile duel is the High Elves. They can mow the Dwarfs down if they have enough Repeater Bolt throwers.
The weakness of the Dwarfs is their slowness. If you keep your wits about you, you should be able to dictate the events. Attack their flanks, evade the most powerful characters unless you are sure you can win, be persistent on your use of spells. Even the Master Rune of Valaya fails sometimes. Make sure your hand to hand troops have a very high strength so you can negate the high toughness and armor saves of the Dwarfs.
Strong Points: Vast array of troops that make it very hard to predict what kind of an army you are facing. War Altar of Sigmar that makes Empire troops immune to psychology and break tests and grants them magical superiority. Flagellants. Supreme Patriarch with the Staff of Volans. Some very dangerous War machines.
Dealing with them: Take all sort of War machines (preferably with strength 10) to take out the empire artillery, war wagons, steam tanks and especially the War Altar of Sigmar. I recommend Goblin Doom Divers if you can lay your hands on them. (Via allies perhaps?)
The Special characters of the Empire are quite useful, but they are not adept hand to hand fighters. Engage and destroy.
Humans have low leadership scores, so terror and such things work very well against them. If you have truly superior hand to hand troops, charging across the battlefield as fast as possible is a good plan. Almost any flying creature can easily deal with the War Machine crews of the Empire. Ring of Corin might be good for taking out most troublesome magic items like the Staff of Volans.
Strong Points: Repeater Bolt Throwers! Chariots that come from the regimental allowance. Very powerful mages. High movement rate.
Dealing with them: Ruby Chalice is essential to your main unit. If you can get troops with multiple wounds, go for them! Repeater Bolt Throwers can't penetrate such units. An overall tactic that works best against the High Elves is to attack, and do it quickly. High Elves have some decent hand to hand troops, but practically every army has better ones. If you have access to Dark Elf allies (or you are a Dark Elf Lord!) take the dark spawn of Naggaroth! They get hatred against the High Elves for free, and are generally much better fighters.
Strong Points: Superior numbers. Many good hand to hand units. Dangerous, if quirky, war machines. Powerful magic items. Goblin Fanatics. Very wide choice of different troops. Very useful shamans. Mork's War Banner that will kill your wizards by merely touching them!
Dealing with them: There are two methods I use when dealing with Orcs and Goblins. I either make a superior and lightning fast assault army, or go for full defense. Neither is 100 percent sure. If the Greenskins are having a good day, a hand to hand against them is hopeless. On the other hand, a systematical concentration on their units with Chaos or Skaven army should break them. Start with the most powerful units! Breaking Goblins is no use since this doesn't even cause panic tests! Defense against Greenskins should never be done halfheartedly. The basic toughness of 4 and many relatively fast and powerful units will soon race across the battlefield, shrugging the missile casualties off with their countless ranks, and crush your troops.
Strong Points: Large and numerous units. Dangerous war machines (if they can be persuaded to work!). Some extremely deadly spells. Many good magic items. Very dangerous special characters, especially Deathmaster Snitkch. Vermin Lords. Warpstone, Screaming Bell boosted Grey Seers (especially Thanquol).
Dealing with them: Skaven are all or nothing army: If their initial charge fails, they are history. You must be ready to take casualties: Nothing will prevent this. If you try to play defensively, you'll need a lots of missile troops since the number of opponents you must cut down is very great indeed. Crown of Command is essential: otherwise your army will break as the Plague Censer Bearers and Skaven characters put an awful pressure on your units.
Troops with good armor save are often a very good buy since the strength of the Skaven rank and file is rather feeble. If you do take all those knights and Iron Breakers, be sure you have some way of dealing with the Poison Wind Globadiers and Plague Censer Bearers. Banner of Wrath is very good at this. Kill their mages! Skaven sorcerers are hideously dangerous creatures.
Strong Points: Extremely Powerful Characters. Horrible Spells. Nagash (if your opponent can stand you when you roll on the floor, laughing at his hat). Mummies and Wraiths. Screaming Skull Catapults. Staggering ability to absorb damage.
Dealing with Them: You must realize that the undead characters are the thing that count in their army, while most of the rank and file are there just to provide "Look out, Sir!" rolls. Go for full thrust against these: Black Gem of Gnar, Van Horstmann's Speculum, Dark Mace of Death, Black Amulet and lots of anti-character spells should do the trick. Try to get the High Magic Spell "Drain Magic" to shut out the horrendously powerful Undead magic.
Strong Points: The Wardancers. Unless your opponent wishes so, you'll never score a single hit against them in hand-to-hand. It doesn't matter how powerful you are -Wardancers on Shadow's Coil are untouchable. Wood Elf Scouts. Hail of Doom arrow. Powerful Chariots. Very good mages. Treemen if you are an Orc General.
Dealing with them: The magic items I take against them are Ruby Chalice and the things that increase your combat resolution. The best ways to deal with Wardancers is with missile troops and psychology. While they do have a good Elven leadership, repeated tests against it will eventually rout the unit. A mid-powerful unit of Wraiths is good opponent for Wardancers since they force a break test at the end of the each hand to hand round regardless of winning/losing. While the Wardancers are reasonably difficult to hit with arrows, it is also good to remember that each wound caused is worth at least 20 points, and since the Wardancer units are rather small, even few casualties will soon cause a panic test.
Of course knowing your enemy is only half the battle! The most important thing is to know your own army! I won't go over this in length here, having dealt with the individual armies in my previous articles. One thing though: choose a strategy that suits your own army! Think carefully what way would be best for dealing with your chosen opponent, and start composing the overall strategy of your troops:
After deciding in what way you intend to deal with the opposition, you must choose your overall plan: Will you defend, attack, or try to strike out a balance between these basic tactics?
Skaven, Chaos, Orc and Goblin and to some extend, the Dark Elves, are at their best while attacking and should generally avoid any attempts to out-shoot the artillery of the Empire. Some armies, like the High Elves and Dwarfs will very often dig in their Deployment zone and refuse to come to you. Then you`ll have no choice: If you can't defeat them in an archery tourney, don't try -> kill them in the Old Fashioned Way: Good old hand to hand combat! I personally feel that frenzy is the mark of true melee troops. If your army has them, go get them!
Charge
There is nothing wrong with putting every possible effort into make a truly formidable assault army. There are suitable troops in every army for your main units: Iron Breakers for Dwarfs, Dragon Ogres for Chaos and Flagellants for the Empire, etc. Take the most powerful characters you can get, and plenty of them. Arm them to teeth, put them inside best armor you can find, protect them from magic, and put them into the first rank of your assault units.
Simple: Remember to protect your units! Be sure that every main unit has some kind of protection against magic, good armor save or Ruby Chalice against missiles, and as great numbers that you can muster.
Pick your fights: Defeating a unit of Skavenslaves is truly glorious, but it will avail you not if that 24 strong Rat Ogre unit, led by a Vermin Lord, is bearing on you from the back!
Steady Advance
When playing a mainly offensive army and facing another of the kind, it might be good idea to soften the opposing units a bit before engaging them. Troops should move towards enemy, but not charge headlong against the first unit in their path. While they move forward, the war machines and archers pick on the opponent`s units, so they might lose that one crucial extra rank before hand to hand begins.
The Waves
The Waves suits well for offensive armies that can field large and/or numerous regiments. The basic idea is to divide the army in two parts: First part should consists of very fast troops that can cause considerable damage in hand to hand, followed by slower and more powerful troops. For example, an Empire army could lead it's attack with War Wagons, Kislev Winged Lancers and Steam Tanks, supported by flyers, Outriders, Pistoliers and Kislev Horse Archers.
Following these units would come the slow moving, but powerful Knightly Orders (with more characters you can shake a stick at), Reiksguard and Flagellant infantry, and Ogres, possibly accompanied by the War Altar of Sigmar that ensures that there are no problems with the morale. The advantage of this strategy is that the first wave will "soften up" the opposition before the real units get stuck in. Since the first wave is not supposed to survive the combat, you don't have to tool them up with characters and magic items. Just good, cheap, basic troops that can do their worth of damage. The BEST such unit is the Skaven Plague Censer Bearers. At 15 points, you'll get all the killing power you can hope for. Followed by frenzied and character-heavy Plague Monks, you have a classic "Waves" attack!
The basic defensive strategy is to field all possible missile troops and war machines and to wait while your enemy jogs towards you. However, a wise and experienced general will see through this and realize that even though the casualties are going to be immense, once the hand to hand is initiated, a defensive army is history. Since almost all missile troops are very fragile, this calls for some strategic variants.
If you choose to defend, be sure to pick the right tools! If you are facing Orcs, then longbows with their pathetic strength 3 will not suffice. If you are expecting Chaos Knights, even the usually devastating Hellblaster Volley Gun will not bite through their 1+ (or 0+ with the standard of shielding!) save. Better to get some cannons that allow no save.
On a final note, NEVER field an army without any good hand to hand troops. Melee is an essential part of Warhammer, and if any enemy unit with even decent hand to hand capabilities reaches your line, your missile troops are history.
Concentrated Defense
In this strategy almost no enemy units should make it through your hail of missiles. If you know your enemy prefers to advance with faster troops leading the way, followed by slower troops, concentrate all your fire on the nearest unit threatening your line. If you have sufficient firepower, you should be able to destroy the units almost completely once it gets out of the hail of missiles. Then it should be weakened enough for your own hand to hand troops to handle. In this strategy, pick your targets carefully! Don't waste even one arrow on screening units or such unless you have no choice.
Deep Defense
This is rather a variant of any other defensive strategy than a new idea. The main thing is just simply to put more distance between your missile force and the evil enemy who wishes to do much harm to you with their hand to hand monsters. In this strategy, just deploy your troops as near your own table edge as possible. This ought to give you one more turn to shoot at your enemies. The trouble with this strategy is that once your enemies get to you, any and all your troops will certainly flee off the table if broken in hand to hand.
Moving Reserve
This is a very good option for the armies like the Elves who traditionally have missile heavy and fast troops. The trick is to have fast and powerful reserves that move to meet any threat that charging enemies make. While just one or two fast and powerful units do not cost as much as a full hand-to-hand army, they can throw back the enemy offense with bit of luck and a well timed charge.
Flank Attack
Many people wish to field a variable army that has both defensive and offensive troop types. This is as good an idea as any, as long as you know what you are doing. The very classic move is to concentrate all your offensive troops on one flank, and all your missile troops on other. While your melee troops charge and (hopefully) break any opponents on their own flank, the missile troops pound the incoming enemy on their own. The offensive flank then turns to face their enemies that are heading for their missile troops and tries to charge their flank or back. If this works like a textbook example you should be able to "roll" the enemy line, defeating one foe after another, spreading panic as you go. The trouble is that this is a very classic strategy indeed, and a wily experienced General knows how to deal with your flanking force.
Defensive Arch
This is a more defensive version of the Flank Attack. You still divide your troops in half, defensive and offensive. Your missile units should be in the middle of the line, and you should race your offensive units from each flank to make "an arch", or a U-shaped line. Hopefully your enemies will have deployed centrally, and they`ll have to advance inside the U. Then the Iron Jaws close on the hapless enemies, while the center of your line keeps a constant barrage of fire that weakens the advancing enemy. Caught between such a deadly one-two the enemy will hopefully be crushed.
You probably have many "Da Plans" of your own that differ radically from the classic strategies I have explained above. I will introduce one of the odd ball-schemes that do not follow the classic approach of Warhammer.
Guerilla War
Armies that have lots of skirmishing troops and models that can move individually, can try out an interesting variant of Strategy: Guerilla War. I don't suggest this strategy to very inexperienced generals. The gospel of this strategy is not to get stuck in hand-to-hand. Small units of skirmishers, armed with missile weapons, will scuttle to the defensive positions on the field, constantly harassing the enemy with their bows/crossbows/slings/whatever. The trick of defeating the enemy in hand-to-hand lies in powerful models like lone monsters (Manticores are especially well suited for this), chariots, powerful characters on fast/flying mounts and the right combo of magic items. They can move through the battlefield amazingly quickly and put a crushing pressure against their chosen target.
The classic example of this tactic is of course the Wood Elf Army. With it's excellent Chariots, Treemen, Scouts, Wardancers and Beast masters, supported by Elf Heroes on large monsters, they are the right tools for this job. Using every nook and cranny to give them some shelter the missile-armed Wood Elves harass the opposing troops, flee from them if charged, rally with their high leadership, and using their extremely fast troops, gather "striking forces" to defeat the enemy with a local superiority. Almost no unit can survive a combined charge of 2+ Wood Elf chariots supported by Manticore-mounted Elf Heroes. The enemy that does not have a clear opponent in the form of big regiments, charges to and fro, and will be crushed by combined missile attacks and concentrated charges.
A very entertaining variant of this is to field a Chaos army and alter the tactics slightly. The enemies of Chaos often expect a small compact regiments that are relatively few in number. Chaos, however, can field a multitude of very fast troops that can form regiments from single models. Such troops like Chaos Chariots, Dragon Ogres, Greater Daemons and of course Chaos Characters have all the advantages of the maneuverability of a single model with the deadly hand to hand abilities of Chaos. In dense, terrain heavy battlefield they will be able to move very quickly and use any cover available, combining their efforts on one group of foes at a time. The enemy will be hard pressed to find good targets, and some War Machines, like Stone Throwers will be almost useless. Perhaps this is not a best possible tactic for Chaos, but it is an entertaining variant.
Now you should have pretty good idea what troops and characters you'll need to carry out your brilliant plan. When you choose them, try to remember what they are for. Of course Warhammer is a fast-flowing game where situations change all the time, so sometimes your troops will find themselves unable to perform the mission you gave them. If so, improvise! But if you do have a plan, try not to get distracted by trivial things and carry on regardless of any harassment
It is a very good idea to write the equipment and the purpose of every unit and character as a reference sheet, along with notes about magic items, dispels, armor saves and all other possible things you can think of. It may seem that you can easily remember every detail before the battle, but once the fighting starts the excitement of the battle will soon make you forget any details about such trivia things like the Amulet of Obsidian the unit has.
I personally always select the General first. Since he is possibly one of the most powerful hand to hand fighters in your army, consider first do you want him to be in the front line weaving a sword, or do you rather take the advantage of his ability to lead units within 12". This is a very important choice! 90% of Warhammer players prefer a hand-to-hand oriented general, but I'm not sure if this is always a good idea. Most armies have an access to lord level characters via special characters, or failing to do that, allies. These can fight just as well as your general, but only one model in your army has the ability to extend his control range to 12". It might be a good idea to give your general the Amulet of Obsidian, Sword of Fortitude and Crown of Command, and place him in the center of your line. He must then of course be protected from enemy characters, but any unit he is leading is almost guaranteed to stay on the line, especially if accompanied by Battle Standard Bearer!
If you decide to make your general a melee monster, I don't think you need any help on equipping him. Slayer Sword, Black Amulet, Golden Helm atop a big ugly monster. You know this already.
From the lowly goblin bosses, to the mighty Vermin Lords, there is a plenty of choice. The only thing you must do is to decide what is the purpose of each character. Since they lack the leadership qualities of a general, I prefer taking my hand to hand machines from the ranks of the heroes. It is always worth looking through the special characters section of your army.
Just take one for every melee unit you have. With their challenge ability, this is bound to be a wise decision. If you don't have them, Flying Horrors from Hell with demigod-riders will demolish your units. Enough said.
Magic is a powerful tool in the arsenal of every army, except the Dwarfs. Even with Wizards, you should take what you need to carry out your plan: Offensive armies benefit for a friendly Grey Wizard that can transport them around the battlefield, while many defensive players regard their wizards as just another artillery piece and go for offensive Magic like Chaos, Amethyst, Chaos Dwarf and Bright.
My best experiences with such wizards are when I equipped some of them with multiple Power Scrolls (remember that you can take more that one scroll!). An Amethyst Wizard Lord with four Power Scrolls and the Purple Sun of Xereus is awesomely potent on close range.
Some magic items allow you to tailor highly specialized characters. Such items include: The Black Gem of Gnar, The Heart of Woe (a kamikaze character! BANZAI!), Aldred's Casket of Sorcery and Van Horstmann's Speculum (with Hydra Sword). I have recently had much success with 1 level one wizard on pegasus with the Black Gem (A cheapest such choice, really, since the Pegasus allows him to get to those opposing super characters fast) and a hero with Dark Mace of Death and Heart of Woe. You don't have to fight those Chaos Lords in hand to hand, you know.
A last word on characters, remember TO GIVE THEM REGULAR EQUIPMENT, TOO! A Mummy Tomb king with lance and a 2 handed weapon doesn't really need a magic sword.
Almost every army has some unique troops that are very good at what they do. For example, Empire Flagellants are a very good value for their points, while the High Elf Repeater Bolt Throwers are the best the money can buy. Whatever strategy you are using, you should always seriously consider if you wish to include these troops in your army. If your troops have some in-built advantage, it is usually a wise move to use them!
Many Warhammer players put their trust in one superpowerful unit that is accompanied by a legion of Characters, boosted with all possible Magic items like magic standards and Ruby Chalices.
The weakness of such units is that your opponent might just be able to cast Fear of Armar or the Curse of the Years with the Total Power, trashing your unit and your hopes of victory.
The strong point on the other hand, is that they are dead hard! Imagine a 40 strong Black Orc Unit with savage Orc Characters on the front rank, accompanied by Forest Goblin Battle Standard with a Spider Banner, and the Battle Banner as the regimental Standard. There is very little what you can do once this unit starts stomping all over your face!
Building such "Main Blocks" is a good bet for armies like Skaven and Orcs and Goblins that have very cheap troops, so they may be ably to compose two such steamrollers instead of one! One note: try to have some sort of plan against such units! They are often nigh-unstoppable if you are unprepared!
I divide the types of such core units in three broad categories:
The Steel Square
Infantry is the most numerous type of rank and file, and almost all armies have a good options out of which their core units can be made of if they want to field an infantry based army. If you are not worried about enemy missiles and war machines, you might as well wait for your opponent to come to you. Especially if your opponent favors lightning fast troops and you play Dwarfs, it is a worthless dream to hope that you could ever get to charge your hated foes. A better option is to choose a very high armor save troops (preferably with the Standard of Shielding), putting the front rank full of defensive characters (ones with very high toughness, Black Amulets, swords that allow you to strike first and so on) and a Battle Standard Bearer with combat resolution boosting banner for a good measure. Such units can take on even a concentrated enemy charge and punch back so it hurts. Suggested for high toughness/multi-wound/high armor save armies only.
Thundering Hooves
Classic shock elites of any army are heavily-armored knights with lances, magic Standards and hand to hand oriented characters. The main block of cavalry should be heavy cavalry. Charging strength should be 6, armor save should be at least 2+, and the charge range 12" and preferably more. Weapon skill should be higher than average troops. Some units, like Bull Centaurs are still heavy cavalry in my mind because of other redeeming qualities. (Toughness 4 and 2 wounds in this particular case). You may get away with medium cavalry (say strength 3 plus lances, 3+ armor save), but I don`t recommend it. It is sadly true that some armies (like High Elves) can't have true heavy cavalry, so if they want to field this type of units, they must use whatever they can get.
The Steamroller
The infantry can also serve as your main assault force. While it lacks the greater potential to charge, it is much more numerous. It can easily absorb almost any kind of missile casualties and still have full 4+ ranks when it gets to hand-to-hand. Also, your front rank will be narrower, allowing the front-rank hand-to-hand specialists to dish out even more damage! Choose the best hand to hand fighters you can find on your rank and file and give them suitable weapons (spears might be a good idea if their strength is high enough). Lap around if you win battles. And above all, choose magic items and spells that protect units, so your Steamroller will have some punch left even after taking a severe mauling. (And it will. There is nothing that aggravates enemy generals like a gigantic block of steel tramping towards his lines!)
There are plenty of troops that can fight well without many ranks and standard and heavy support from the characters. Trolls, Rat Ogres and especially Chariots are good in this role. Just don`t think that they can take on the entire army of the enemy! Their best place is in the flanks of the main unit, ready to charge the the flanks of the enemy as soon as your main units get stuck in. This will give you additional combat resolution boost from the flank attack, plus from the wounds they will cause in actual hand-to-hand. The downside of these troops are that they attract unhealthy amounts of missile fire and unhealthy spells. While losing them in this way is sad, you should remember that your main fighting units will be saved from this nuisance they are suffering.
You don't have to fight all your enemies. Skeletons created by the various Raise the Dead spells, Goblins or Skavenslaves with the Crown of Command, Swarms, Troll Slayers and all other troops that refuse to break in hand-to-hand are excellent for tying up very powerful enemies. If a unit of Chaos Knights spends the entire battle killing 100 goblins, they wont have much effect in the decisive combats.
Hunters
Some units can be given a specific mission of destruction. You might well be tired of those Goblin Doom Divers pounding your own War Machines. Such a mess calls for drastic measures: a Dwarf General might decide that he puts one or two Gyrocopters with Runes of Disguise and attacks the Doom Divers with the 'Copter ASAP. Or an Undead Lord, faced with Dark Elf Crossbow regiments, might want take a Ghoul unit with a Vampire Count carrying a Ruby Chalice on the fore to take out this nuisance. With their -2 shooting penalty, relatively fast movement and toughness 4, the Ghouls should be able to dispatch any missile unit fairly quickly. Gutter Runners, with their admirable hand-to-hand potential and special deployment rules, are excellent troops for despatching any War Machine crews.
Missile Troops
Don't be blinded: The purpose of the missile troops is to slay their foes from distance. Even if you think that your Savage Orc Arrow Boyz could stand against those Dark Elf Warriors, think again! The lack of ranks and the missing standard already swing the odds heavily in your disfavor.
Devious game designers have given most missile troops an option to buy shields and/or light armor. Why anybody should do this is unknown to me. The only exception I can think of are the Dwarfs: their Crossbowmen can be made formidable hand-to-hand fighters with 2 handed weapons. It is also wasteful trying to charge with them: just stand and shoot, and commence the souls of your brave archers to their ancestors.
Harassers
A good support unit for a defensive army is a unit of "harassers" the classic example of such troops are Kislev horse archers. The role of harassers is to stop powerful opponents from marching by being within 8" of them, shooting the arrows at any convenient target, and staying out the enemy`s charge range.
War Machines
Even when you choose war machines, you should remember your overall strategy: Chariots for offensive armies and Hellblasters for defensive ones.
If you are putting together an offensive army, it is still worth considering to buy some artillery support. A dead enemy is always a good enemy, regardless if it is slain by a war machine of a warrior. If you are planning to close in ASAP, don't take war machines that have scattering templates. It is extremely painful to lose your own troops by friendly fire!
Allies
Many gaming groups make artificial limitations on allies or ban them entirely, but equally many enjoy the chance to field something different. Most generals use the allies to boost their weak points, for example, many Dwarf generals field allied Wizards so they'll get a shot in the magic phase.
As with all other troops, allies should also fit to your overall plan. If you are going to build a defensive line of Chaos Dwarfs, and you are afraid of the knights of the Empire army you are facing, taking some Night Goblin allies with fanatics, and placing them slightly forward to unleash their dervishes on any intruding knights is a good idea.
The last step is to put your troops to the right position in your battle line. When placing your troops, ask yourself: Is this unit going to get to the battle at all if I place it here? If you are putting a unit of Dwarfs to your extreme flank, the answer is usually no. Think in advance about the fields of fire. Put units that support each other next to each other. Deploy fast troops to flanks and slower ones in the middle. Look for advantages in the terrain. Watch out for the places where infiltrators can hide. Once again, pen and a paper are a good friend when deploying your glorious army of conquest.
Sarrion shook his head to rid himself of his dark thoughts. The voice of his young adjutant, Amanthas, called again. "Why is that unit attending the battle, my lord?" He asked again. "I thought we were planning to fight a missile duel with our foes?"
Sarrion did not answer, simply because he could not. Why on earth had he requested the aid of the Cavalry of Caledor. He turned to look at the arriving troops of Prince Tallanrim.
The magnificent Dragon Prince regiment, with their proud banners fluttering in the wind, rode forward. Carried by the hand-picked steeds of Caledor, the noblest sons of Ulthuan were clad in jewel-encrusted armor and armed with diamond-bladed swords and lances. A beautiful sight. But futile. The whole enemy army was entrenched behind barricades, with missile-weapons ready. There were no knights for the Dragon Princes to joust with.
Sarrion remembered the small band of Shadow Warriors that had offered their services to him. He had turned them away with harsh words: "This is the Royal Army of Ulthuan, not a haven for vagabonds and busy-bodies! Begone you wastrels!" he had sneered. The leader of the Shadow Warriors, a pale elf-maid who had lost her husband in a Dark Elf raid, just nodded her head and her group melt into shadows. Now he dearly wished that those keen-eyed archers were here.
Prince Tallanrim bowed lightly on his saddle, and fixing his eyes on the Elf general he asked "What are your orders, Sire?" Uncomfortably, Sarrion's mind raced to find an answer. He found none.
I imagined the above question being asked from my erudite Elf General as he surveyed his forces before a great battle and placed myself in his position. Why do I bring particular troops to the field? Why is the general requesting their presence? Below are my conclusions.
One of the greatest problems that aspiring WFB commander faces is not to make plan, but to stick to it! I've seen many, many carefully constructed armies crumble simply because their General did not actually know what to do with their troops! Their units lack a purpose: while individually strong and well thought out, they were still beaten because their units moved around the battlefield in a confused manner, allowing their enemies to dictate the battle.
This is a sure way to defeat when playing against an experienced opponent. While I and most other WFB fans play for fun, it is frustrating when you cannot see what is wrong with your army. In fact getting around this is relatively simple: be ruthless and single minded. For example, if I have decided that my Heavy Cavalry unit is going to attack the opponent's infantry unit with Wizard Lord, I will not abandon this mission for trivial reasons. Many players are intimidated by massed missile regiments, but if I have decided to attack, I will plan my units carefully and charge in determinately.This is the core of my advice in this article: give a mission to your unit and try to fulfill it! Be sure to adjust your plan if needed, but do not be intimidated!
The efficiency (in my eyes at least) is not dictated by the damage the unit can cause, but rather how many points you spend on achieving some particular goal. For example, my Kislev Horse archers might not cause a single casualty, but if they manage to prevent a unit of Chaos Knights from marching and thus keep them out of battle, I think that the few points spent in them are well worth it! With this in mind I try to anticipate my opponent's choice of troops and find some way of neutralizing his/her plans.
Below is a list how I go about giving orders to my units. First I describe a unit type and how I use it, and then I have included an example of a unit that I have used in some former battle in my past and who I played against, and finally I will describe the actual orders I used and explain why I did so.
The main problem of cavalry is it's very high point cost value (not to mention the actual prize in the shops!) this limits the size of the units and leaves them vulnerable to a concentrated enemy fire, as well as War of Attrition. Try to counter this with speed and by destroying the most threatening War Machines.
Usually heavy cavalry is expensive, but relatively fast and very powerful when it comes to hand to hand combat. This tends to make the heavy cavalry regiments rather small, and consequently easy to deal with if your opponent has any War Machines to speak about. There is little else to say except CHARGE! Due the limited size and the high enemy attention, these units must get to hand to hand as soon as possible, and very preferably by charging.
With heavy cavalry, it is more important than ever to study the strengths and weaknesses of your enemy. Certain units fall like a a scythed grass before the charge of the heavies, but some troops, like Trolls can be very, very bothersome. As your heavy cavalry is almost priceless, you must use it against the right opponent if you want them to be cost effective.
EXAMPLE: 6 Chaos Knights, with Chaos Armor, carrying the Banner of Rage, with a Chaos Champion of Khorne with Strength Potion, led by a Chaos Hero of Khorne with Collar of Khorne and Starblade Lance, Chaos Armor, shield, additional hand weapon, Chaos Steed, barding, lance.
OPPONENT: Skaven.
ORDERS: Skaven are numerous so a plenty of killing power is needed. This unit should have it. High armor save protects you somewhat from the Jezzail fire, and your movement of 7 will get you charging in no time. Collar of Khorne discourages any attempts to target this unit with spells. Steer clear from Poison Wind Globadiers, and be sure that you don't engage the "main Block" of Skaven alone. A Beastmen regiment should do the trick. The Starblade Lance grants the Hero a strength of 8 while charging! This should bother even the mightiest monsters and heroes. Engage smaller, supporting Stormvermin and Plague monk units first and then combine your efforts with other regiments to rout the "main blocks".
Some cavalry units, like the Kislev Horse Archers, can rarely defeat the entire enemy army by themselves. ("Never" might be more appropriate.)
Their role, while not as glorious, is just as important to the overall efficiency of the Army as your Heavy Infantry or Cavalry.
EXAMPLE: 2 * 6 Kislev Horse Archers in Skirmish formation.
OPPONENT: Bretonnia.
ORDERS: Since the Grande Army of Bretonnia relies on their Knightly Orders when it comes to real combat, slowing these excellent Shock troops is a good idea. Kislevites orders are to ride close to the knights using terrain or other troops as cover so that they will not be shot to pieces. Once they reach the Knights, they will stay reasonably close to them to stop their march moves and try to keep out of their Charge range. (High movement and ability to skirmish should take care of that.)
If you are able to field cavalry that is both cheap and numerous, there is a great temptation to build a large, fast-moving and hard hitting unit as your main cavalry regiment. What do I have to say about such a temptation? GIVE IN! If you can build such a unit properly, it is easily one of the most powerful things in the whole game. Savage Orc Boar Boyz are a prime example of this, being both relatively cheap points wise and very powerful in combat.
EXAMPLE: 20 Savage Orc Boar Boyz with Standard of Shielding, spears, led by a Savage Orc Lord with Crown of Command, Black Amulet and the Morgor the Mangler. Also with the unit is Savage Orc Big Boss, with Strength Potion and a Blade of Darting Steel. Also included is a Savage Orc Boss with ring of Volans and a Savage Orc level 2 Shaman with Warrior Familiar.
OPPONENT: Empire.
ORDERS: Wiv' gotta get stuck in `fore dem Big Gunz get uz! Humies arr yellow gitz, and can't stand and fiwt, so weel stomp em for good! Dem pansy `oomies shoot uz wiv Big Gunz, so wee mush get stuk in fast. Wee doo not havta vorry aboot the arrez, and no gurly humie can beat uz in hand-fer-hand! Wee have 1+ save, and dem tattoos, so wee iz unstoppbul. Just get near da right oonits so frenzy not make uz charge wrong bunch!
Medium cavalry is perhaps the trickiest troop type in the whole game. Many such units, like the Dark Elf Dark Riders can be boosted to a higher hand to hand potential with spears or such. This is often a very a tempting option, but it does make them even more expensive. I myself give such units (Reaver Knights, Wood Elf Knights, Kislev Winged Lancers and Dark Riders, for example) all possible equipment and suitable magic standard if allowed to take such. This gives my troops a great deal of flexibility. It is risky, as you can very easily lose the entire regiment in a one unlucky shooting phase, but them again, a unit that can perform as a fast missile/medium hand-to-hand/general annoyance unit is very handy indeed.
When attacking opposing units that are built for hand to hand, try to charge from flanks or from rear. The melee specialists in the first rank are too much for medium cavalry.
EXAMPLE: 10 Reaver Knights with bows and spears and a standard. Led by a Champion with Dragonblade Lance.
OPPONENT: Skaven.
ORDERS: As a Fast Cavalry unit (save 5+ and movement 9) the Reavers are very fast moving and maneuverable and have some small potential in hand to hand with spears. Initially they are set near the Repeater Bolt Throwers and will race towards any unfriendly Gutter Runners that might have some ideas about taking out your prized War Machines. They will either shoot at them if the unit is small, or use their Fast Cavalry rules and change into two ranks and charge them. After this they will get in the way of the enclosing units, shooting and moving away, possibly even getting in the enemy flanks and preventing them from marching, all while shooting with all they are worth.
Infantry is, in my eyes is the backbone of most armies. Numerous, often reasonably powerful, and easily capable of supporting other regiments, I rarely take the field without an infantry regiment or two. The main weakness of infantry in my eyes is that it is very unwieldy and not good at responding to the unexpected, like an enemy unit that is suddenly transported behind the regiment via Bridge of Shadow's spell.
Infantry in General and Dwarf infantry in particular is too slow to really serve as Shock Troops. Thus it might be a good idea to just pick the unit with best defensive capabilities, tailor the characters within these units to a defensive role, guard the flanks of such a unit, and let the enemy come to you! Good armor saves are recommendable, and try to think some good ways to counter your opponent's advantage of the first strike when he/she charges. Sword of Swift Slaying, Black Amulet, Black Gem of Gnar, Master Rune of Spite and Mork's War Banner.
EXAMPLE: 24 Iron Breakers with Standard of Shielding, with a Champion with a Horn engraved with the Master Rune of Dismay, and led by a Dwarf Lord with an amulet inscribed with the Master Rune of Spite and two runes of Luck, carrying an Axe with the following Runes: Skalf Blackhammer's Master Rune and two runes of Cutting. He also carries the Golden Scepter of Norgim. Unit is also accompanied by Burlok Damminson with the Flying Axe(TM): Master Rune of Flight, Rune of Smiting and the Rune of Breaking. Burlok also wears the Black Amulet. Also with the unit is a Battle Standard Bearer with a Runic Banner: Master Rune of Valaya and the Rune of Courage.
OPPONENT: Chaos.
ORDERS: Stand Firm and expect the onslaught of the enemy. Move only very slightly to interpose the unit so that you won't be flanked. Remember not to disrupt the overall battle-line with reckless charges. When the foul spawn of Chaos is near enough, start using the Burlok's flying hammer on toughest possible target while boosting his strength with the Golden Scepter. Rune of Courage will protect you from Fear/Terror Tests, and your potential to survive damage should be spectacular.
When you want to win the game in hand to hand and you don't want to rely on fragile cavalry, the toughest infantry unit you can muster is the answer. Infantry is blessed with great numbers, small base width, and due the greater numbers it has a higher resiliency when it the time comes to take panic checks for fleeing troops and casualties. Characters can also be included in a lower price, as they do not require mounts or monsters, and can spend the extra points on some nice magical toys. Crown of Command is a very good choice for a infantry core unit, as one failed test might otherwise bring your plans to a catastrophical end.
Some opponents have very efficient ways to deal with 1 wound infantry: High and Dark Elves with their Repeater Bolt Throwers and the armies of the Empire, for example, are easily capable tearing your infantry apart unless you have taken suitable precautions. I have a few ways of keeping my main infantry blocks alive if I am expecting to face a virtual Hail of Death.
First is to have more wounds than one for each model in the unit! Ogres, Trolls, Dragon Ogres, Beastmen, Minotaurs and Mummies are very good troops in hand to hand, have astounding resilience, and on the top of it, they usually cause Fear, also!
The second method is effective when facing an enemy that uses War Machines and weapons that rely on Ballistic Skill, like Bolt Throwers and Crossbows/Bows/Hand Guns/Whatever. Quite simply, equip your unit with magic items that give penalties to missile fire! Ruby Chalice is the best such choice but there are others like the Bad Moon Banner of the Orcs and Goblins.
Lastly, you are relatively safe from enemy fire when in hand to hand, so get stuck in! Moving with determination, and getting some help from a wizard with the Bridge of Shadows/Bridge of Ice/Radiance of Ptolos will be extremely useful. Charge in, kill, and immediately go looking for another target. If fight starts to drag on, remember to envelope your opponent if you are winning.
Finally, Standard of Shielding is also a worth of some thought. That 6+ unmodified save is very useful when taking a lot of casualties, as is the way of the large infantry blocks.
EXAMPLE:24 Witch Elves with a Banner of Might. Unit is led by a Witch Elf Champion with Sword of Swift Slaying and Witch Elf Hero with Ruby Chalice, Heavy Armor, and Blade of Enscorcelled Iron (if faced with WS 5 or lower troops, will hit automatically with the Banner of Might!) and Halberd in the case of higher armor saves.
OPPONENT: High Elves.
ORDERS: Engage the opposing foot regiments while our artillery takes care of enemy War Machines and Cavalry with the aid of Harpies and Cold Ones. Avoid Shadow Warriors that will only slow us down. Choose a suitable target RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING, because even with Ruby Chalice, there will be casualties. Head towards the target mercilessly and make sure other troops support the advance. Do not get into frenzy too early and charge some unit that is there deliberately to slow you down, like the Shadow Warriors.
When it comes to missile troops, I personally have a very firm opinion about them: they are to be used for laying a curtain of fire over the enemy, moving as little as possible, and picking targets they can wound. I've seen many, many blood crazed generals who have made vicious charges with their archers against enemy melee-specialists. Believe me, it has been messy! There are exceptions, of course, like when you have an opportunity to charge a low leadership unit on flank or rear with your archers, causing a panic test. But as a thumb rule, you should build and deploy your infantry missile troops with orders of "FIRE!" in your mind. There are two approaches to build these units under the Longsword Military Doctrine: Big blocks and numerous small units.
Large units can placed on a hill where they will have an excellent field of fire, they will take up relatively small part of your deployment zone, and a combined shot from 24 crossbows can be truly devastating as it is easier to pick targets because the wide frontage that gives a good visibility over the field.
Some troops, like Wood Elf and Dark Elf Scouts can Skirmish, and they can forfeit their "Stand and Shoot" option in favor of moving slowly away from the enemy while still firing their arrows, as they can turn freely and thus move 5" away from the enemy and fire at them!
EXAMPLE 1: 20 Crossbowmen of the Empire.
OPPONENT: Orcs and Goblins
ORDERS: Deploy near to your general if possible, as leadership 7 leaves a lot to hope for. Two ranks of 10 archers each on a hill is ideal. This gives you a wide line of fire. The potential of Crossbows is immense. It both Wounds better (a good idea against toughness 4 Orcs) and also reduces an armor save of the opposing troops. Pick a suitable target amongst the advancing units. There is no sense of wasting your massive killing power on five Goblins that were taken by your enemy just to field the Doom diver when you could stop the incoming unit of Big `Uns!
EXAMPLE 2: 3*6 Dark Elf Scouts.
OPPONENT: Empire.
ORDERS: The Empire is notorious for it's ability to field many "Wonder Weapons" that can be very dangerous to the Dark Elves. (Hellblaster is a good example) These things must be dealt with before your own close assault units get stuck in. Therefore Scouts must deploy as close to the Empire War Machines as possible, and shoot 2 bolts each against the crews as soon as possible. After this, they can make a general nuisance of themselves by shooting lightly armored targets.
Some troops have a benefit of the special rule Infiltration, and such troops are almost all missile troops. Their ability has a two fold advantage. First, they have a good chance to choose a suitable place for their mission, and second, they can start executing it almost immediately.
EXAMPLE: 10 Gutter Runners with add. hand weapons and slings.
OPPONENT: Undead.
ORDERS: Silence the Screaming Skull Catapults as soon as possible, either in hand to hand or with the slings. As the Undead rarely have lots of missile troops, Gutter Runners can sometimes operate in a relative peace. After Chukers, use that movement of 6 and get where the fight is. With strength 4 and additional hand weapons, you should get by handsomely. Watch out for Carrion.
Flyers are a very special case, and thus I have separated them from the other units. Their main advantage is (surprise, surprise) their wings! With possibility to move very quickly indeed, they can execute "Blitzkrieg" missions.
All armies have an excellent choice of very powerful monsters, with Manticore taking the pride of place. Such creatures are very fast if they fly, hideously powerful in hand to hand, and on the top of it, they usually cause Terror and have other special rules!
EXAMPLE: 2 Manticores (simple, isn't it?)
OPPONENT: Dark Elves
ORDERS: Take out Repeating Bolt Throwers as soon as possible, starting with the ones that have best fields of fire. Charge enemy regiments from behind as soon as combat gets Close and Personal. Remember to force your opponent to take all the required Terror tests! Manticores are ideal against armies with basic strength of 3 and no high strength War Machines, as their toughness 7 makes them immune to strikes made with strength lower than 4.
Flying creatures have, due their ability to Fly High, an excellent chance to rid you from those pesky enemy War Machines and Missile troops. Some flyers are a bit too expensive for this role, however, and while using your Manticore to eat the opposing Repeater Bolt Throwers and using the Terror to scare away any opponents near by is certainly NOT a bad idea, it is worth noting that it is not easy to take out enough opposing War Machines when your own point cost is 200 and Repeater's is measly 50! This is because once Manticore lands, it becomes a prime attraction to any enemy characters and War Machine fire. Thus, cheaper flyers are sometimes just as good in killing the War Machine Crew, and don't get so much enemy attention.
EXAMPLE: A unit of 8 Harpies in two ranks.
OPPONENT: Chaos Dwarfs.
ORDERS: To fly High immediately and descend upon the inevitable Earthshaker Cannons. After dealing with these, attack either the Death Rockets or Blunderbuss Regiments (from behind) or, if such target are not present, charge units already engaged from behind or from side, causing panic test and increasing Combat resolution.
The distinctive point about War Machines is that, apart from Chariots, War Wagons, Steam Tanks and very few other exceptions, their crews are THE weakest things in hand to hand you can imagine. It is quite difficult to protect them (if you are not a Dwarf with access to the Rune of Disguise) and they are easily frightened away for the most part.
Some War Machines, like the Death Rocket, Bolt Throwers and in some extent, the Stone Throwers, are at their best when taking out rank and file. When they also cause panic test, like the Flame Cannon, they are very good against armies without high leadership.
EXAMPLE: A battery of 6 Skull Chuckers.
OPPONENT: Empire.
ORDERS: As the leadership of humans is not very high, wanted them to take plenty of panic tests. Thus I ordered the Skull Chuckers to concentrate their fire on units without character leaders.
Some War Machines are specialized: Flame Cannons and Warpfire-Throwers are wonderful against flammable targets, while Poison Wind Globadiers specialize taking out very tough and/or well armored troops.
EXAMPLE: A unit of 6 Warp-Fire Throwers.
OPPONENT: Undead.
ORDERS: This was an extremely High Risk test that I pulled through. As I was correctly expecting lots of Mummies, I decided that with Ikit leading my army they could get along as long as they were near him and his leadership 9. They opened fire at the close range and toasted a whole unit of 16 Mummies! A classic act of mass destruction! Later they routed a unit of Ghouls. Not very typical example, but it aptly shows that War Machines CAN cause tremendous damage. Their orders were simple: fry mummies and then turn on anything else on the field!
Some War Machines invoke almost supernatural fear in most opponent's. Try to use this to your advantage as detailed below. As the enemy will rather go around than get in the range of these devices, they are great at dictating the events of the battle.
EXAMPLE: 2 Hellblaster Volley Guns.
OPPONENT: Skaven.
ORDERS: The purpose of the Hellblasters is to herd the Skaven towards the other, less threatening artillery pieces and the main units of the Empire army that are positioned centrally. With this in mind, they are placed on the flanks of the deployment zone, protected by the Horse Archers and ready to shoot! If Skaven Regiments are foolish enough to come towards them, oblige to them and fire away!
Repeater Bolt Throwers are best when used in Large numbers, as this produces the famous "Kebab" effect that can slaughter whole units. These weapons have long range, they are accurate, and against rank and file they are deadly.
EXAMPLE: Battery of 8 Repeater Bolt Throwers.
OPPONENT: Skaven.
ORDERS: Shoot a concentrated volleys on units in the descending order dictated by the threat that each unit represents. Or keeping it simple: Kill all big blocks of Skaven, Starting with the largest, and ignore Skavenslave units.
As a variant, concentrating the fire of all eight Reaping Bolt Throwers on Screaming Bell might very well do the trick and rid you of a Striker and a Grey Seer.
Chariots have always been my favorite, and thus I have spent a considerable time in devising tactics for them. There are two roles for them: Offense with the rest of the army, and aggressive defence (e.g. waiting behind buildings until the enemy comes within Charge range.
EXAMPLE: Unit of Three Wolf Chariots, with Skarsnik in one of them, equipped with Skarsnik's Prodder, Ruby Chalice and his Chariot is equipped with the "`Eadbang Banner." All have Scythed Wheels and extra crew.
OPPONENT: The Undead.
ORDERS: Skarsnik's Red Chariots are one of my main attack units. Skarsnik gives them good enough leadership to take tests and any wizard touching them will instantly die as they are an unit! (Cheesy, I know...). Orders are to find and destroy the main units, while Doom Divers silence the Skull Catapults. Ere We Go, Ere We Go Ere We Go!
Here are some examples of very special cases, where I have constructed units that are almost useless in any other mission than the one I had planned for them.
Many Generals regard some units so dangerous that they will commit enormous amounts of missile fire and close combat units to deal with these "Nemesis" troops. For example, I've been known to be a bit paranoid about any unit of Bull Centaurs rolling towards my lines. Such phobias can be used against your opponent: if you think it is worth the risk to field a relatively small and cheap unit of troops that will make your adversary go pale, then try it out! I've seen people to waste amazing amounts of War Machine fire against small mob of Savage Orc Boar Boyz that had no extras at all! Meanwhile rest of the Greenskin army was busy winning the battle by marching in without any distracting missile fire directed against them.
EXAMPLE: 6 Bull Centaurs, Bull Centaur Champion with Sword of Swift Slaying.
OPPONENT: High Elves
ORDERS: Charge towards some important Elf regiment (preferably one with the Mage Lord) and behave in a threatening manner. This should win you some time while Elves shoot at the Bulls and you can deploy your army better and start your attacks with the flying monsters.
The classic of very specially tailored units, the trap is an old favorite. Get troops that will bog down the enemy that you won't fancy fighting. Wardancers, unbreakable troops and cheap troops with Crown of Command should do the trick.
EXAMPLE: 8 Wardancers with a Champion Carrying the Sword of Fortitude.
OPPONENT: Chaos.
ORDERS: Try to tie up the toughest possible unit with the Shadow's Coil. This will give your other troops a Chance in hand to hand. Sword of Fortitude will take care of any Terror/Panic/Fear tests that might otherwise rout your invaluable Wardancers. No other Orders.
Sometimes a particular Character, Regiment, Monster, War Machine or whatever that your opponent uses is so dangerous that you might want to equip a unit especially tailored to take this threat out. Sadly, the magic items make the Characters the best troops for this.
EXAMPLE: Chaos Hero on Griffon, with Sword of Destruction, supporting my Bloodthirster.
OPPONENT: Wood Elves.
ORDERS: To get rid of the Black-Gem carrier. As the Black Gem of Gnar is almost the only thing in the Wood Elf Army that is dangerous to the Bloodthirster, I decided to make a trap. I landed my Bloodthirster in the middle of the Wood Elf Army, forced the Wood Elfs to take some Terror tests, and sure enough, a lone elf charged my Bloodthirster and used the Black Gem. Unphased, I used Grey Wings in the next magic phase and moved my Hero with the Sword of Destruction on base-to-base with the Gem-carrier. Then the orders were simple: KILL! KILL! KILL!
If your whole plan against Dwarfs is based to take out their War Machines and the wily Dwarf King takes the field supported only by slayers, Iron Breakers and Hammerers, it is easy to lose hope. I have only one piece of advice: Improvise! Continuing with the example above, the flying creatures you took against the Dwarf War Machines can Fly High and then land behind the enemy regiments, ready to engage them from the rear once your other units get into hand to hand with the Dwarf regiments. Any long-range fire that was planned to take out the War Machine crews can now be directed against Slayers who also have a low (read non-existent) armor save. So when your plan is no longer valid and you can't execute your orders, improvise!
There is a trick to learn when giving orders to your troops: if they are not compatible with each other your army will not be able to function properly and will be destroyed piece by piece. A good example of this are very small regiments that are placed as a "Charge Cover" in the front of the main units. As these units will usually be cut to pieces by the enemy charges, their death will leave the attacking regiments exposed to your counter-charge. Especially good in such a role are troops that are immune to psychology and/or unbreakable, as these will NOT run away and spoil your plan. There are other, more obvious ways to support units: Keeping units in a firm battle line prevents attacks to the flanks, shooting advancing enemy formations so they lose extra ranks and so on.
Here you go. I hope this gave you some ideas. Please let me hear about them.
One of the most common complaints I hear when playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle, is the excessive power of characters. People find Chaos and the Undead characters especially troublesome. I stopped using full Character Quota a long time ago, preferring to use other methods to win my battles, and thus far nobody has been able to prove otherwise. I have collected few of my tricks that I use against over the top characters here, and I hope they are useful to you. Mind you, I keep the best ones for myself.
Here are my suggestions how to deal with too powerful characters and daemons.
This is the old fashioned way of dealing with the ultra-powerful characters: Simply finish them of in hand to hand.
The basic tactic is to ensure that all your close combat units are accompanied by a champion. This gives you a chance to challenge too powerful characters in a single combat so they will be able to cause only one wound. Of course it is very probable that your opponent will have a champion of his own to take up the challenge.
Goblin Netters are one good cheap way of hindering characters and other powerful creatures enormously. Since they only need to hit their opponents to stop them from fighting, they can truly affect the match if they net a Great Unclean One or a Vampire Lord. Just make sure that you charge your opponents and not the other way around. Goblins have so low I that they won't be able to strike first otherwise, and they get killed.
Destroyer is a nice weapon for the Dark Elves, since it can steal spells and magical powers of opponent's items. Since it requires only hit, not a wound to be effective, it is very useful in the hands of a Witch Elf Hero.
Undead have the option of using the Skull Wand of Kaloth with the Hell or Doom Banner. Since this weapon kills outright if a leadership check is failed and a hit is scored, the banners that lower leadership make it very deadly indeed. No armor helps you when your soul is sucked from your body!
There are many spells that are good for taking out enemy characters. Without giving complete instructions.
I recommend: Curse of Anraheir, Madness, Traitor of Tarn, Crimson Bands (with the Staff of Volans!), Piercing Bolts of Burning (when Character is alone), Fate of Bjuna, Light of Battle (recommended!), The Amber Trance (against Skaven Characters), The Writhing Worm, Bridge of Shadows (any rivers on the field?), Purple Sun of Xereus, Death Spasm, The Curse of the Years (terrible...), Wind of Death (especially in the beginning of the game), Bridge of Ice, Waaagh! (Especially against Vampires!), Curse of the Horned One, Lava Storm (against lone characters), Dance of Despair, Cloud of Flies, Miasma of Pestilence, Bondage of Slaanesh, Chaos Spawn
Ring of Corin is a fine way of getting rid of that Crown of Command or that troublesome Chaos Runeshield. The only problem is if the character in question is protected by the Amulet of Obsidian. It is a good idea to keep the Ring of Coring near the Skull Staff. This enables you to know what items are within 12" instead of guessing.
Doomfire Ring is also handy against characters, though it can be dispelled and the Strength 3 leaves a lot to be hoped for. At least even a magical armor offers no protection against it's effect.
Cannons should always be aimed towards characters. Sure thing that they get the "Look Out Sir" roll, but they will eventually fail it. Strength 10 and D6/D4/D3 wounds with no save, even for magical armor should put fear in the hearts of your opponent.
If you see far too powerful opponent to charging upon your hapless unit and you have any artillery to speak about, then flee! You can shoot that offensive creature during your next turn. If that Dragon rider charged from Flying High it can`t even catch your troops!
You should use Dwarf Organ Cannons if possible. Just make them invisible, and put them a bit further than your main battle line. When your enemy is upon you, fire away!
Sky Arrow of Naloer is becoming very popular and causing some headaches to people who like to mount an awful-icky character on an awful-icky monster. It is almost guaranteed to hit any flying target, and punches very hard.
Hochland Long Rifles are popular devices. Since you can pick any target from a unit, they can be lethal against characters. Of course this depends whatever your opponents disallow the use of more than one Long Rifle in one War Wagon or not. Also, Strength 4 and ballistic skill 3 are not that great against powerful characters.
Dwarfs have a very good anti-Character option:
The Flying Hammer(tm) is my favorite way of dealing with too powerful characters and Daemons. Against Daemons take Master Rune of Flight, and two runes of Smiting (2D6 Wounds! Each wound must be saved separately!) Against characters take Master Rune of Flight, Rune of Smiting and the Rune of Breaking (D6 Wounds and breaks opponents magic weapons).
This little device allows me to choose one opponent within 12" and hit him automatically. I tend to give this to Burlok Damminson (remember, Dwarf Special Characters, apart from Felix and Gotrek, can be equipped with any magical items you wish, see Dwarf Book p.81). Since Burlok has a strength of 7 (or 8 if affected by the Scepter of Norgim) I can be fairly sure of causing some damage, and the rune of Breaking only needs to hit to be effective.
Because Chaos Runeshield and the Sword of Destruction affect only those magic items whose possessors are in base to base contact with the wieldier of these things, they are of no use against the Flying Hammer. Since this thing is relatively useless against rank and file, (unless they are Dragon Ogres) your opponent will soon learn to put his/her faith in regiments instead of characters.
A giant is an entertaining way of disposing of unwanted characters. Since the usual tactic of hiding inside units isn`t effective against Giant, wizards are in a grave danger. If characters are your trouble, just choose "PICK UP" option from Giant`s attacks and voila! You have 50/50 chance of disposing of the troublesome character, and 1/3 chance of getting rid of the character for good! Sure your opponent can make 1 attack, but this might not hit and there is a good chance it doesn't wound. Especially wizards are vulnerable to this. If your Giant decides to eat or squash the bothersome character, then no armor or Black Amulet is going to help him! I have eaten a Savage Orc Lord (lively breakfast), Lord Skrolk and a Champion of Nurgle (Yech!) In my hay-day.
Van Horstmann's Speculum (the Chaos Special Character's!) Is becoming a real hit. I recommend on taking it against Chaos (and Undead) very strongly. Give the bearer the Hydra Sword in addition and you can score D6 hits with your opponent's strength and Attacks!
Amulet of Ravensdark: Is Bloodthirster or a Vampire Lord on Manticore bearing down on you? Don't worry! Anything that has wings and charges a unit with this item is doomed to die. Especially useful against those Chaos Disc riders.
Black Gem of Gnar: Take the Cheapest Character possible and give him this wonderful device. Since it can be activated at ANY time, you shouldn't be afraid of anything. Just choose the most powerful character you can get into base to base contact, and then "do the Time Warp again!"
War Banner of Mork is a popular with Orc armies. I prefer either giving it to a Battle standard bearer in unit of Goblin Wolf Riders Move 9 or mounting the Battle Standard on a flying monster. Of course your opponent will start to hide his/her wizard inside units to evade this, but at least he can't use those spells that require line of sight.
Great many super-powered characters use some flying mount. There is only one good thing about them: If they ever lose a battle, they are automatically driven off, or if they fail their break test they flee 3D6" just like regular regiments! To achieve this you need a good combat resolution.
A very good option is the Banner of Defiance. You might not be able to pursue, but you`ll either drive flying creature off, or if that superpowerful creature doesn`t make it`s break test, it is a sitting duck for your artillery.
Another is the Battle Banner. And if these two are combined in one unit (via Battle Standard)...
There is a unit of Dragon Ogres, led by a Dragon Ogre Lord and a Chaos Lord, rolling towards you? Your opponent just made a classic mistake of concentrating too much in one unit! There are two ways to deal with this:
Proceed with cannons on offending unit.
One of the oldest tricks in the book is to use the Heart of Woe to hurt your opponent`s characters. I have a few suggestions for variations.
Mummy Tomb Kings. Do you have any idea how big hole Settra leaves when he explodes?
Dwarfs with Runes of Fortitude(s). You can create a Dwarf Rune Lord with 7 wounds and blast whole Chaos army into oblivion. (I call it "a Medieval Tactical Nuke")
A Dwarven war machine with the rune of Immolation is also good against powerful characters who attack your poor defenseless cannon. I once saw an organ gun with three runes of this kind. Fried that Chaos Lord and his Manticore good and proper.
"PRAISE HASHUT!"
"HASHUT! VORGUND! ZHARR-NAGGRUND!"
The war cry of the Chaos Dwarfs.
Chaos Dwarfs, or "Big Hats" as they are also known, are almost identical to the normal Dwarfs with certain important differences. First and most importantly of all, Chaos Dwarfs don't hate greens skins. Second, they do not benefit from being Dwarfs when dispelling enemy magic. They still get the special rule for moving in armor, though. Toughness 4, weapon skill 4, and high leadership 9 are balanced out by their low movement and Initiative. Their average ballistic skill is of no consequence because their main weapon blunderbuss is not affected by range or most other usual ballistic skill penalties. Point cost is a standard 8. All in all they are just a little bit worse deal than normal Dwarfs, but this is compensated elsewhere.
These are one of the best basic races of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. High strength, toughness, attacks, wounds and leadership make Bull Centaurs truly formidable. Their characters are always recommendable, especially their battle standard bearer since this creature has far more resilience than a normal dwarf champion. Bull Centaur lord is your most powerful single model in hand to hand, so if you have points to spare, choose him. The only downsides of the Bull Centaurs I can think of is their high point cost and the limitations of their choice for equipment.
Other races with powerful line of characteristics are limited in numbers, but Chaos Dwarfs get the Hobgoblins, Goblins, Orcs and Black Orcs as an welcome bonus. As the Black Orcs are quite cheap and very powerful I usually try to field few of them. If you include Orcs and Goblins in your army, be sure to take some hobgoblins, too. Getting rid of animosity is quite something!
I usually go for the Chaos Dwarf Lord since I can get the sorcerer lords anyway. I consider sorcerer lord only in smaller battles since it saves points and can shock your opponent (No one expects Level 4 mage in a 1000 point battle!)
Go for the Bull Centaur. Anything that increases your battle standards survivability is a good thing.
Chaos dwarf sorcerers are very good mages because of their toughness of 5. Look for the following spells: Doomroar against low leadership opponents, Eruption against Dwarfs and others with low I, Ash Cloud against Chaos and Lava Storm against everybody.
GENERAL NOTES: Your compulsory unit. They are Dwarfs armed with hand weapons, 2 handed axes, heavy armor and shields.
WEAKNESSES: As all troops armed with 2 handed weapons, Chaos Dwarf warriors strike last. These troops also suffer from a horribly high point cost.
USES: Because they can field a magical standard, Chaos Dwarf warriors are not useless by no means. Their high toughness and armor save should see them through most missile attacks your enemy can throw at you. If you know that your opponent is planning something especially against your warriors, just field a 5 strong regiment. That is all what is needed. Any basic human, Skaven, goblin or elven infantry is quite helpless against these axe men because of their weapon skill 4, toughness 4, effective strength 5 and 5+ save.
GENERAL NOTES: Chaos Dwarfs equipped with the unique missile weapons. In great numbers they are truly devastating devices.
WEAKNESSES: Heavy armors boost up their point value by far too many points. The short range of their weapons combined with slow movement and inability to move and fire means they can be out manoeuvered.
USES: I always try to have so wide line of Blunderbusses that there is simply no room to out manoeuvre them. One rank is usually enough against Skaven, Elves and human infantry, but against heavily armored targets like knights 3 ranks is just what you need. Keep few extra Dwarfs as a reserve. It's extremely annoying to have your strength reduced because your 3rd rank lacks one model!
GENERAL NOTES: The best regiment of the whole army. Strength 4, toughness 4, 2 wounds, 2 attacks, movement 8 and leadership of 9! In addition to this, they qualify as fast cavalry and can carry a magic standard!
WEAKNESSES: Two handed weapons that make you strike last. This is a less of a disaster for Bull Centaurs, since their high toughness and multiple wounds balance this out. All spells that require an initiative check or an armor save are very dangerous against the Bull Centaurs. Also, these guys are not cheap (though usually they are worth it.)
USES: The Bull Centaurs form my major strong arm along with Black Orcs. With right standard and couple of the dreaded Bull Centaur Characters leading them, they beat up almost anybody, especially in a longer hand to hand combats.
GENERAL NOTES: "Middle class" Greenskins. Better than goblins, weaker than Orcs.
WEAKNESSES: Basic leadership of 6 and initiative of 2 means that great many armies outclass them. Also, if they break they somehow manage to cause panic test on their Chaos Dwarf masters!
USES: Because they cost 4.5 points, you get their equipment very cheap. They can be also used to absorb missile casualties, beat up halflings and especially to stop animosity.
GENERAL NOTES: Bit better than the normal goblin wolf riders.
WEAKNESSES: Can't beat any other cavalry.
USES: Giant Wolves are pretty good fighters against any armies with basic weapon skill of 3. I recommend using them as skirmishers with short bows to slow down enemy's efforts to march. You can then pick on war machine crews and lightly armored opponents with the bows.
GENERAL NOTES: Very cheap archers.
WEAKNESSES: No long bows and the usual hobgoblin weaknesses. Never expect them to win any hand to hand combats.
USES: When defending, they give you a ballistic skill 3, strength 3, 24" attack each. Leave them out in offensive armies unless they are the ones you want to stop the animosity.
GENERAL NOTES: Hobgoblins with 2 poisoned daggers, a very handy enveloping special rule and not a shrimp of armor!
WEAKNESSES: Low hobgoblin initiative and no armor save mean they tend to die a lot.
USES: They are often my main candidates for Crown of Command and Battle Standard. This tactic works well against Skaven, human infantry, and cavalry with less than 2+ save. Take a large (30 minimum) regiment of Sneaky Gits, give them Battle Standard (Dread banner if you are feeling especially nasty), Crown of Command and couple of good characters to lead them. You can put this unit against almost anybody, even elven cavalry. They won't break, (Unmodified leadership 10 with rerolls), envelope the opponent (increasing their combat resolution), have 2 attacks, huge rank bonus and great resilience. You lose rounds of combat at first, but slowly and surely you'll envelope your enemy and those 2 attacks and -1 saves soon start to tell.
GENERAL NOTES: The famed regiment of the Orc and Goblin army, Black Orcs are a very good value for their points.
WEAKNESSES: Black Orcs lack the ability to carry a magic standard when fielded under the Chaos Dwarfs. Watch out for their low initiative when attacked with spells like Pit of Tarnus.
USES: With Bull Centaurs, these guys are your Close-combat specialists. If defending, give them spears, otherwise two hand weapons, Halberds and 2 handed weapons. Two hand weapons work bet against Elves with low toughness and armor save.
GENERAL NOTES: Boyz are back! I think everybody knows what Orcs are and how to use them. Remember that they are immune to panic test caused by other goblinoids, except other Orcs.
WEAKNESSES: Low initiative, mediocre leadership and inability to use crossbows. Armor saves also leaves a lot to be hoped for. Large base isn`t a good thing, and neither is the fact that the Dwarfs hate them.
USES: With bows they can bolster your defensive line, or with halberds or extra hand weapons as close combatants. They are very effective in Chaos Dwarfs armies, since even one unit of Hobgoblins stops animosity.
GENERAL NOTES: Cheap, weak, demoralized. Equipment is very cheap for them.
WEAKNESSES: Too numerous to mention. Watch out against the Elves which these guys fear.
USES: Cannon fodder and knight trap (with Crown of Command). You can also annoy your enemy with short bows, or give their leading big boss the Heart of Woe to cause a shock for those opposing heroes.
This machine is one of the many strong points of the Chaos Dwarfs. In particular, you should use it against the Elves and anybody else who relies on their speed. This comes in addition to damage equal to a stone thrower. I think you should field at least three of these things to ensure that misfires don't spoil your strategy. These things are costly in terms of money and points, though.
Good for mowing down infantry if you field enough of them. Their misfires can backfire very badly indeed, though. I prefer the Earthshaker cannon.
Cheap. Go for it against armies that like to employ many knights. Try to place them in to flanks so you could get a chance to shoot enemy cavalry units from the side, causing maximum possible havoc. A plus side is that these devices don`t misfire.
GENERAL NOTES: Even the greatest heroes cower with fear when faced off with Zhatan the Black.
WEAKNESSES: None, unless you consider his inability to ride all monsters a disadvantage. I don't.
USES: I see no reason why you shouldn't include Zhatan in your every army Just remember that he is hand to hand fighter with his high weapon skill and the terrible special rule for hating all enemy. Equip him right and hail him off to battle!
GENERAL NOTES: The only Hobgoblin Lord available. Comes with a handy special rule that allows him to "hang in there."
WEAKNESSES: He is only a Hobgoblin Lord. Cheap but not that powerful.
USES: I very often place him in the charge of the Sneaky Gits. He boosts their hand to hand potential and is able to carry Crown of Command plus two other magic items and he also gets an additional unmodified save against the last wound inflicted.
GENERAL NOTES: A combination tank and Sorcerer Lord.
WEAKNESSES: He is very expensive.
USES: The most enduring Sorcerer Lord you can field. This mage doesn't have to be ashamed in hand to hand. One good trick is to give this guy a Blade of Darting Steel. This gives him 6 automatic hits! Not bad for a sorcerer.
One of my favorite monsters is the Lammasu, since it saves me the trouble of equipping the rider with a dispel magic item. I like the Manticore instead of the Bull Taurus.
Since the Chaos Dwarfs have the access to all magic items that Chaos can get, excluding items limited to the followers of specified Chaos Gods. It is worth dipping into the Chaos Boxed set and fishing out the Chaos Rune shield and the Sword of Change. In the Undead book there are also few interesting items that Chaos Dwarfs can use, including Black Axe of Krell and the Chaos Rune sword. There are many other items, too numerous to mention. Borrow/buy/steal the Chaos Boxed set and see for yourself!
The thing when fighting with Chaos Dwarfs is to strike the right balance between the expensive Dwarfs and cheap Greenskins. The Chaos Dwarfs don't fall into any special category. Chaos and Skaven always attack, High Elves defend and so on, but the army list of the Chaos Dwarfs itself does not hint in which way to go.
There are few basic things, though.
Otherwise, I suggest that you tailor your army to fit your style, since Chaos Dwarf army list certainly allows this. Here are few suggestions:
This is a simple and brutal tactic. Go for full offensive. Bull Centaurs, monsters, Black Orcs, maxed out Sneaky Git and allied Chaos forces should wreck just about anybody. Glorious and risky.
Chaos Dwarfs are very diverse army, so they are well suited for combination tactics. Divide your army in half: On one flank, deploy your bull centaurs and character beefed up wolf riders, and on the other, put your Blunderbusses, hobgoblin and orc archers and all those Earthshakers. While your cavalry (hopefully) mows the enemy down your other troops blast away. It is a rare force indeed that is brave enough to approach Blunderbusses in three ranks. Allies to take are Orcs armed with Crossbows.
As the defensive strategy is my firm favorite with almost any army except Chaos and Dark Elves, I have spent some time trying to compose a defensive Chaos Dwarf army. Here are the results: First I take enough Blunderbusses to lay a curtain of fire in a place where I expect my enemy's main attack will be concentrated. If possible I try to make the field of fire as wide as possible and put the war machines on hills. Sorcerers blast away with spells and the Flames of Hashut burn High.
Woe to anyone who advances on them! I keep fast troops away with at least three Earthshakers and I often take the Orb of Thunder to keep those nasty enemy flyers from messing up my careful position.
This is all I can do for you now. So heed me well and bring back many slaves and sacrifices from your conquests.
The eyes of the Witch King Blazed with white hot flames. The Dark Elf Lords that had gathered before him trembled in fear, for they knew their master well. Few survived his displeasure, and none his wrath.
"I have created massive change in the Cosmic Balance." Hissed Malekith the Lord of North. "We are stronger than ever before. And yet you bring me reports of failures! Defeats! Humiliations!"
"This shall be your reward." Snarled the Witch King. Several Assassins leapt from their hiding places, weapons raised.
"I can explain their errors." Said a calm voice. All eyes turned to the great archway which led to the throne room. A lone figure, hooded and robed, stood there, his hand resting on a hilt of an ancient longsword. For a moment there was a silence. Then the Lord of Gallows, Malekith, said" Speak."
Dark Elves are in many aspects the best Elves you can get. They have frenzied troops, (high weapon skill and many attacks is a good combo) excellent special units and good mixture of equipment and steeds. As your general Dark Elf goes: 8 points, hatred against High Elves and an obedience test when there are High Elves on the field. Remember that the Goblins fear your Elves unless they outnumber you 2:1. Useful for Dark Elves, since their infantry regiments tend to be rather large.
Normally the general of the army is amongst the most fearsome hand to hand fighters the list can offer, but with Witch Elf Heroes and few special characters and an exceedingly powerful monsters, Dark Elf Lord is in my eyes a leader. Leadership 10 and 3 magic items chosen carefully, combined with a thoughtful positioning and the 12" range of leadership give the Dark Elf army the backbone and resilience their low toughness otherwise prohibits. A good combination of items for a defensive Dark Elf General might include: the Crown of Command, Sword of Fortitude and the Horn of Urgok. Then again you can do the regular thing: give him a magic weapon, armor and some kind of protection form magic, and a monster. Very original, isn't it?
I sometimes wonder how any elf will volunteer to carry the Battle Standard. Toughness 3, 1 wound and an unhealthy attention that the enemy show towards this unfortunate individual are a nasty combo. I use him/her to give some unit two magic standards and try to protect him from any missile fire and spells. For inside units only.
Standard elven stuff. Leadership 9 is good for leading units, but 3 attacks is not that much in today's average Warhammer field. I use them to carry items that help my units, like the Ruby Chalice. I must say that I greatly prefer the Witch Elf Heroes.
As with any army, Champions are compulsory characters for each hand to hand unit. The other option is to save few points and use assassins in infantry regiments instead of champions. Free choice of equipment, poisoned weapons, great in hand to hand, and a special method of attacking. And they do cost only 8 points more.
All the advantages of the regular characters, plus frenzy and poisoned weapons. How can you go wrong here? I see Witch Elf Heroes as your main hand to hand fighters. Remember that all their attacks have +1 on their strength. Imagine a hero with a halberd. Give them something that emphasizes their greatest advantage: multiple attacks. Good choices include the Destroyer, anything that raises strength, Dragon Blade, Strength Potion and a multi-wound causing weapon. For an ultimate infantry killer, mount her on War Hydra and buy an allied regiment on 40 mm bases to give some protection from missiles. Just be sure that somebody else fights the challenges. When a part of a Cold One regiment, consider giving them a Dark Steed instead. Higher speed may give your opponent some nasty surprises if you declare independent charges. Let's you get into frenzy bit earlier, also.
Expensive elf sorcerers with a special rule for drawing Dark Magic first. As if somebody wanted it anyway. Dark Magic is not the thing that can win this game for you. The spells are expensive to cast, and while destructive, not especially powerful when compared to other spells of similar cost. I urge you to take Book of Ashur. It will allow you to use far better spells. I personally favor Grey, Tzeentch and (believe it or not) High Magic. Crown of Sorcery is also a good buy for some of your characters, as you really need to broaden your choice of spells somehow. Ring of Volans is also good, if somewhat risky. I always take allied wizards if possible. These guys simply cost too much when compared to their effectiveness.
My alternative to the regular dark elf champions. Only few points more, free choice of equipment, poisoned weapons, disguise and first strike. And they are compulsory in my eyes for each and every infantry regiment that is going to melee. Give them all kinds of equipment, some suitable magic item (like Strength potion) and couple of different weapons (Halberds against high toughness opponents, additional hand weapons against Skaven and the like.) Their ballistic skill 9 means they will hit almost always, so buy repeater crossbows for them. Black Gem of Gnar is also an excellent choice for them, since they can pretty much choose their opponents.
It seems that the Gyms of the Naggarond are closed and thus you have your basic Elven Knights: weapon skill 5 and initiative 7, no more strength 4. Cold Ones, on the other hand, are harder than ever with their increased armor save (No barding to slow these guys down!) Strength 4 and 2 attacks of the Cold Ones put them to the heavy cavalry category in my eyes.
WEAKNESSES: Relatively high point cost, though every point is usually well used. Toughness 3 and 1 wound mean that if they are not getting their (very respectable) armor save, you are going to see some dead Elves. Stupidity. Spells that ignore armor.
USES: I use two kinds of Cold One units: support units and chargers. The support units are used in the same way as trolls: they move fast and increase the combat resolution. A small unit (5-7) Cold Ones with a champion and a standard can support your infantry very well, as long as the foot sloggers provide the rank bonus, these guys will inflict the wounds. These units are relatively cheap and will draw much fire from your main units.
Chargers are entirely different affair: 10+ Cold Ones, with Battle Banner/Blood Banner/Banner of Might, accompanied by a champion and a couple of primed Witch Elf Heroines. Any army with basic toughness of 3 is virtually defenseless against them. Expensive. Against Wood Elves without allies, give them the Standard of Shielding, and watch as they happily trample the Wood Elf infantry into oblivion. 1+ save makes them immune to bow fire. Remember that their effective movement 7 means 3D6" when pursuing (or fleeing!)
The best light cavalry unit by far, Dark Riders can skirmish, get a free march move, are Fast Cavalry, can move and shoot without penalty, and can fire and flee on the top of it!
WEAKNESSES: Spells, very accurate bow fire and tough hand to hand fighters are their doom. But these can be dealt with. Even though they get all their special rules for just 1 point, they are still expensive troops.
USES: As missile screen, you could give their champion the Ruby Chalice, making hitting them with bows and bolt throwers almost impossible. Anything advancing behind them is quite safe from any normal missile fire. They can also be bought spears and used as non skirmishing unit to charge enemy archers as soon as possible.
Their free march move allows them to charge enemy on turn 1! Also, small units can be used to race towards enemy lines, harass lightly armored troops with their repeating crossbows and stop any enemy attempts to make march moves. I do not deploy my Dark Riders on the extreme flanks as the Dark Elf army book suggests. It is far too easy to lose them if they are forced to flee. Unit sizes vary from 5 to 12.
Weapon Skill 5, strength 4, heavy armor, D3 wounds per hit and 2 handed weapons. They hit very, very hard, but they hit last. A difficult choice. If you take them, include Tullaris also.
WEAKNESSES: Very expensive. Highly Specialized. Assault troops will cut them down before they can strike back. Low Toughness.
USES: Almost any other troops with 2 handed weapons are easy prey for them because their high Initiative allows them to strike before other troops with such weapons. Chaos Dwarf armies are usually armed with 2 handed weapons more than anybody else (Chaos Dwarf Axemen and Bull Centaurs) and besides, the Bull Centaurs got 2 wounds, so the Executioners are good troops against them. High strength negates the good toughness and armor saves of the Big Hats. Dragon Ogres with multiple wounds are also a good prey if and only if they have 2 handed weapons.
Heed me well, against troops with fast and good shock troops like the Savage Orc Boar Boyz, they will be cut down before they get a chance to fight back. Think very carefully whatever you really need these very expensive and highly specialized troops. When you take them, give them the Standard of Shielding. This gives them 4+ save (of which 6+ is unmodified). And consider banner of might also. Because their ability to cause multiple wounds monsters and other creatures with multiple wounds should be their opponents. Also, they can be used as guardians for the defended obstacles. Since your enemy can hit you only with 6's, you can strike back with relative impunity.
The clone-warriors of the Phoenix Guard, troops with heavy armor, halberds and weapon skill 5, Initiative 7.
WEAKNESSES: They are not actually bad troops, but pay far too many points when compared to their usefulness. Strength 3 even with Halberds just doesn't cut it today on the Warhammer Fantasy Battle field.
USES: Against foes with weapon skill 2 or lower, as these can hit the Black Guard only with 5+. Against High Elves and medium infantry. I'll be honest with you: I don't use them. You can have Witch Elves for 12 points per model. Why should you buy 15 point Black Guard?
Dark Elves with the much-vaunted Repeater Crossbows and light armor.
WEAKNESSES: The regulations of Naggaroth order every elf with a crossbow to wear light armor. Mighty fine, but that is 2 points wasted for each model. The repeater crossbow has strength of only 3 and range of 24" inches. With their special rules they are not bad weapons, but pure archer units are defensive weapons, and 24" range is not enough for this role. No hand to hand ability. Surprise!
USES: I must say that I personally never field them: I can get City Guard, Black Ark Corsairs, Scouts and Repeater Bolt Throwers, easily more effective and useful missile troops.
Well, every army must have one or two of these regiments. Basic Elves, hand weapons, light armor, option for shields. There is absolutely nothing unique about them.
WEAKNESSES: Toughness 3, strength 3, low armor save, no real options, high point cost.
USES: They enable you to field 2 Repeater Bolt Throwers for each regiment over 10 models strong. May be used as a missile screen if you are not allowed to field allies, as they are your cheapest regiment. My advice: Leave them home.
Mixed ranks, spears, repeater crossbows, option to rise the armor save to 5+. An economical defensive unit: both spears and repeater crossbows (despite their short range) are good when defending against toughness 3 low armor save troops.
WEAKNESSES: Strength 3, Toughness 3 are not good news, and neither is the high point cost.
USES: As basic infantry that can both shoot and fight against weaker regiments. I generally field a unit with four ranks, deployed on a hill, with alternating ranks: first ones with crossbows, second with spears, third with spears and fourth with crossbows. Deployed on a hill, they will get a good field of fire, fight rater well in hand-to-hand and get +1 combat resolution for higher ground. If are planning to play defensively, consider them. Good place for your lower level Wizards.
For 12 points you get frenzied Elves with poisoned weapons, additional hand weapons, and option for magic standards. Compulsory troops.
WEAKNESSES: Toughness 3 and low armor saves mean that missile fire, spells, war machines and fast moving shock troops will be their bane.
USES: This is your main infantry assault unit. With Frenzy, poisoned weapons, additional hand weapons and the option for Cauldron of Blood support make them lethal. Skaven, Humans, other Elves, or indeed anybody with toughness 1-4 and armor save under 3+ will fall like a grass under a blooded scythe.
Always, always take a character with the Ruby Chalice if you are expecting any kind of enemy arrow/crossbow fire. It is very common to see 50+ Witch Elves in my armies, either as a one big block (a la Skaven) or two units with at least 20 ladies. Favored Standards include Banner of Might, Banner of Defiance, and the Standard of Shielding (with Cauldron of Blood, you get 2 6+ Unmodified saves for each Witch Elf.) These ladies come with the "Longsword Seal of Approval". Build the units carefully and they will not let you down. And one more thing: I do not buy them light armor (steel bikinis!). 12 points is just right for me.
Ballistic Skill 5, infiltration, no penalties for rocky terrain, all for 2 point increase to the basic cost of an elf. How can you go wrong?
WEAKNESSES: Toughness 3 and missile weapons with strength of only 3. No real hand to hand ability, except against the High Elves.
USES: Depending on the size of the battle, I field 2-4 units of 5-8 scouts. 1 unit is not enough, and is easily defeated by the enemy flyers and fast cavalry or war machines, while 2 units gives you a chance to deal with the enemy war machines and chariots with a reasonable certainty of success. Remember also that they do not have to skirmish. If you see a big juicy missile unit with only one rank, and you have a reason to believe that you might rout them if you charge. Shoot 2 bolts with their weapons. Their ballistic skill 5 is sufficient.
Basic Elves with few evil twists. Option for additional hand weapons, every regiment may carry a magic standard, 5+ Save that is not modified by strength and on the top of it, every 10+ strong regiment allows you to buy 2 Repeater Bolt Throwers.
WEAKNESSES: Weapons that totally ignore armor saves. Troops with very high armor saves. High toughness troops. Very high point cost. Strength of only 3.
USES: The unlimited number of regiments allow you to guard flanks, advance and shoot, and besides each and every regiment can carry a magic standard. I always, always give them additional hand weapons, and against anybody with toughness 3 and 1 wound I buy the Repeating Crossbows.
I use the Corsairs very much like the Empire detachments. I generally use two 10 strong regiments that flank my main infantry unit, preferably with my general in it, raining missiles upon my foes, engaging skirmishers and allowing me to take 2 Repeater Bolt Throwers for each regiment.
Such regiments often get the Banner of Wrath which increases their hitting ranged attack power even more. If I field them as a regular multi-rank unit, I use them to stop enemy shock troops and hope that their Dragon Cloaks will hold. You can actually keep the standard on the front rank since there is a good chance that the banner bearer will not be cut down. They have hand to hand ability, they have missile power, they have it all!
Elves, Spears, light armor. No wonder the Elves are a diminished people.
WEAKNESSES: Elven spearmen are not good troops, regardless of race. Strength 3 and very high point cost are not a useful combination. Compulsory light armor boosts their point value up even more.
USES: Against low strength, low toughness infantry they will hold their own. Regiments of 10+ models allow you to field Repeater Bolt Throwers. But there are better options on this list, even for defensive armies.
"Flying Beastmen" with weapon skill 4, strength 4, toughness 4, and 2 wounds.
WEAKNESSES: leadership 6 and inability to follow heroes. Taking terror/fear tests. Remember, even if you are allowed only one regiment in your army does not mean that they are a "must take" unit. Dwarf war machine crews for example are quite tough, can be invisible, and besides the Dwarfs often bring the Master Rune of Dismay with them, and with leadership 6 you are bound to lose the check. So consider whatever you really need them.
USES: Good at harassing war machine crews, skirmishers and missile units. With their toughness 4 and 2 Wounds they can also be used as a missile screen. A long line of harpies can be deployed almost anywhere, and stop that Wood Elf Scout regiment shooting at your Witch Elves.
Very cheap war machine (well, a moving altar, really), since it comes with 2 Witch Elves and a Witch Elf Champion, it is actually very cheap. The Cauldron gives any Witch Elves within 18" a unmodified 6+ save against death, and triple attacks for the first combat round. If you can keep it going, virtually nothing can survive an onslaught of a Witch Elf unit with triple attacks. That is 4 attacks for rank and file, 6+ for champions, 9+ for Heroines and 13 for Crone Hellebron!
A word of warning, armies with long ranges attacks will not cease their shooting until your precious Cauldron Guard are history. Cauldron is also very suspectable to attacks of powerful flying creatures and heroes on flying mounts. The guardians have only 3 wounds in total, after all!
It is at it's best against Chaos, Skaven and the Chaos Dwarfs, who often have a hard time eliminating it without suitable long range attacks.
The actual army you are fielding pretty much dictates how many of these excellent devices you should bring to battle. Against most enemies it is worth to bring all the repeaters you can. Aim them at 1 wounds regiments of any description or armor save (these devices allow none.), and watch how your enemies die in troves. Knights are particularly good targets with their high point cost and useless armor.
Can't recommend them enough, even though there are plenty of ways to deal with them.
War Hydra is the main attraction of this list. With 5+ save that is not modified by strength, good statistics (weapon skill 4 and leadership 8!), plus the best breath weapon in the game, War Hydra is a sore temptation for every Dark Elf General for 225 points (other races have to pay same points for a far weaker version!). If you are planning to go head to head against another assault army with lots of infantry, this creature will be an excellent tool. It can easily cause 6-10 casualties in one round, as it is allowed to use it's high strength breath even in hand to hand. But remember: War machines and numerous missile troops will cut it down, and it yields 3 victory points for the enemy once it dies.
Dark Pegasus may be puny, but they are also only 50 points each. In large clusters they are a very good buy for routing enemy war machine crews.
Manticores are another admirable choice against war machines that often cause hard headaches to Dark Elf Lords. While expensive (200 points), they are also exceptionally hard, and cause Terror and thus can scare away multiple war machine crews at once.
A Rat Swarm or two might be a good buy slow down and hold enemy regiments, even though it is expensive.
The things that the Dark Elves lack are good wizards, cheap sacrificial troops and war machines with a strong punch. Undead wizards, goblin wolf riders and such fill the last small gaps in the armor of the Dark Elves.
While all dark elf special characters refuse to change their beloved equipment, they all can serve as the general of your army!
Now let's be fair. Malekith is an Elf with toughness 5, strength 5, 4 attacks, leadership 10, level 4 wizard, immune to psychology and causes fear. But he also has a very poor choice of equipment, he rides a chariot that has nowhere to hide in an average dark elf army, and missile troops, war machines and Greenskins with their `Eadbang banner will cheerfully cut him down. You might buy an allied chariot regiment to follow him, or field him against Chaos that rarely has a lots of missile support, but the are better uses for your points in dark elf army. He is also the only dark elf allowed to ride on a cold one chariot. I can just see him parading the streets of Naggarond. The ego of that Elf.
An elven hero with the ability to subdue monsters. He is, however, prone of dying if confronted by such a beast! Also, he rides a dragon. That's 450 points, and it is not easy to cause enough damage to justify that cost. Rakhart must place his faith in his Whip of Agony. For very large battles only.
She would give you some badly needed magical support since she can use Slaaneshi Spells along with the Dark Deck, but it is not a good idea to be prancing around with a Dark Pegasus if you are level 4 sorceress.
Her compulsory items are also very badly chosen. What is this fixation that the elven wizards have with Swords? I might consider her leading a unit of allied ogres or trolls so she could be safe from missile fire, but otherwise, she is too vulnerable.
There is not much special about Kouran. He can be your general and carries an additional sword with his magic weapon. He and Shadowblade are the second cheapest general you can get. If you want to save points in this aspect, He is the best choice, though you'll have to field a unit of Black Guard to get him.
With Deathsword, Frenzy, Parrying Blade, and enough sense to ride a Manticore, she is very, very powerful in hand to hand, at least as long as her enemies die before they can strike back. She attacks with strength 10 along with her manticore, can have up to 13 attacks if the Cauldron of Blood is near. She does not even cost that many points! But, she has only light armor, and thus missile fire, war machines, heroes with Sword of Swift Slaying and strength potion are deadly against her, and so are spells, Amulet of Fire or no. Yes folks, She can give it, but she can't take it. Again, think very hard before you include her in your army.
Tullaris is, along with Shadowblade, my favorite dark elf special character. He is strength and toughness 5 Elf with Black Amulet and an Axe that kills opponents outright on a roll of 6! He also causes D3 Wounds per hit, making him a virtual mincing machine. If you are buying a unit of Executioners, buy Tullaris also.
Against other Elves and Humans I always, always take Shadowblade. He will have an excellent chance to slay somebody important (preferably the highest level mage) with his strength potion and poisoned weapons (that is 4 weapon skill 10 attacks with strength 7 causing D3 wounds!). He may well be killed, but even then he will bring destruction to your foe with his Heart of Woe. He also can slow some important regiment for a turn or two, and with his hatred and admirable fighting skills, High Elves will soon learn to dread him. Cheap, useful, decisive. Join the Temple of Khaine and find the answer!
Dark Elves are a fantasy "Special Operatives" force. They have staggering amounts of troops with unique abilities, and perhaps the best mixture of fast assault, skirmish, and missile forces. On the down side, they are Elves, which means that they are expensive. My solution is to form the backbone of my army from infantry with very strong support of cavalry and special troops. This gives me enough numbers to survive any war machine/missile hits. Having said this, Dark Elves are not Skaven. They can not survive a prolonged war of attrition. Thus I also have Repeater Bolt Throwers, Scouts and Dark Riders to deal with any long range attacks.
This is perhaps the most important thing when playing with the Dark Elves: you must find the right balance: you have the troops for every situation, but they cost so much that you can not afford to miscalculate what troops you need and how many of them are required. Learning this trick is hard, but once mastered, this army is a positive joy to play with.
One way of building the units is "a Shackle". The idea is to support Some big, important unit with a smaller one that serves as a flank guardian/missile screen/missile support. Here are few examples: Cold One Knights and Dark Riders. Against armies with heavy missile support with high armor save modifiers, infantry shielded by the Black Ark Corsairs is an option worth considering. Witch Elves and Harpies. Harpies will act as a moving missile screen with their toughness 4 and 2 wounds.
Here are some overall plans from my twisted mind:
The Dark Elves are the best army in taking the battle to the enemy. Their Scouts and Dark Riders are a frontline problem right from the beginning of the turn 1. Harpies and Dark Pegasi and other cheap flying monsters are an excellent addition to all this. If facing other Elves or Humans, you can add Shadowblade to all of this, and thus there is a very real chance that you can tie up or destroy a substantial part of the enemy force on turn one. If this succeeds, you can use your own Repeater Bolt Throwers and other such attacks to soften the enemy before engaging them with your Cold Ones and Witch Elves. Having crippled the enemy missile forces and wizards with your lightning attack, the foe is at your mercy. This Works wonderfully against the Empire, Bretonnia, High Elves and the Wood Elves.
An army based on the Witch Elves appeals to me greatly, I very often concentrate some 50% of my points on them. On such armies, I generally field 2 Witch Elf Units, and use all the other troops as support. These two great blooded scythes are a terrible opponents. With front ranks full of Witch Elf Characters and followed closely by the Cauldron of Blood, they can take on any enemy and go head to head with even Chaos and Skaven. But even with this army, you should not forget the support troops, or more numerous opponents will still overwhelm you. So Repeaters, Scouts and such are called to war once again. If I want to really emphasize on attacking I will buy a large regiment of Cold One Knights on the top of it all. If this tactic succeeds, it will cause a crushing victory against your foes.
While I do think that a basic offensive strategy with tactical variations is the best choice for Dark Elves, sometimes it pays to defend. On Such armies, my troops include a City Guard Regiment or two, some Black Ark Corsairs, and one good hand-to-hand regiment as the reserve. Also, I have numerous small regiments of Scouts and Dark Riders, along with heavy flying support (Manticore or two, plus Harpy regiment some 16 strong), so I will have the mastery of the skies. Also, I will purchase each and every Repeater Bolt Thrower that my regiments allow. My Scouts and Dark Riders stop enemy from marching, and pour fire upon them. My flying creatures protect the Bolt Throwers from enemy attentions, and they on their turn keep the continuous barrage going. Once the enemy crawls within the range, the Corsairs and the City Guard open fire, and my reserve unit charges in, scattering the pitifully few survivors.
The Witch King rose from his Throne, eyes blazing. "Yes! Now I see it!" He turned his baleful gaze on the assembled Generals. "My armies march within an hour!". Hurriedly the Dark Elf Aristocracy hastened to fulfill his wishes. Accursed Malekith turned again to face the stranger, but he was gone.
"Why did he do it?" Muttered the Dark Lord. But cold silence was the only answer.
BY GRUNGNI!
Bring me more ale, for I am Thungri of the Long Sword, a mighty Lord of the Dwarven Stronghold of Karak Finr, a mighty fortress that lies far, far North from here. What did you say? How we can live so near Chaos Wastes? Listen now laddies, and Old Longsword shall tell you how he deals with any scum that keep attacking our invincible fortress.
High leadership of 9 and weapon skill and toughness of 4, and very useful ability to use dispel cards on 4+ sums up the good sides of the Dwarfs, and as an additional bonus they hate Goblinoids and don't care about carrying a wagon load of armor.
On the down side, you pursue and flee 2D6-1" and have only movement of 3. (With those short legs this is no big surprise.) The lack of cavalry and other fast troops is also disturbing, but by fielding monsters and Gyrocopters, these shortcomings can be overcome.
The two options here is either making the general a High King (by mounting him on the Throne of Power) to give him the access to many great items like the Dragon Crown of Karaz, or fielding him as a "standard" Dwarf General and thus saving him form enemy sniper fire and the agonizingly slow movement rate of the Throne of Power. Frequently the point cost of a Dwarf Lord pushes up to 600 points, but one should remember that with bit of bad luck this can backfire upon the dwarf army itself.
As far as the Battle Standard Bearer is considered, many people find him an essential part of any dwarf army, namely because of the option to field the famous Master Rune of Valaya. Since Dwarfs have no wizards themselves, and many gaming groups take a hostile approach to allied wizards in dwarf armies, anything that limits enemy magic is welcome.
There are few items that do it better than the Master Rune of Valaya: You have 50 percent chance to dispel any enemy spell, whereever it is cast.
The problem with the battle standard bearer is the same as with most other armies: He dies far too easily. There are few solutions for this, but none of them are altogether reliable. You could hide your battle standard bearer in the back ranks of a unit so he could be safe from the cruel world. Of course you could buy him a powerful Rune Armor, but this rather defeats the purpose of having a battle standard since he can carry only one magic item.
Runesmiths enable you to use some of the best items that Dwarfs have available: Runes of Spellbreaking (compensation for those missing dispel scrolls) and of course the Anvil of Doom. Most dwarf players consider the Anvil useless, but there are some benefits to fielding it. First of all, it enables the Runesmith to use the special magic cards like the Rebound and Mental Duel. Also note that the Anvil Guards are individual champions so they can issue a challenge if the anvil is charged by all too powerful characters.
The lightning unleashed by the Anvil is also useful for taking out chariots that are often very troublesome to Dwarfs. When you really must field the ultimate dwarf death machine, you can of course buy a Rune Lord with full quota of three Rune items and making them like a Rune Armor with Master Rune of Gromril and a Runic Talisman with Master Rune of Spite with two Runes of Luck. The downside of such Living Ancestral God is that he will cost enormous amount of points. Most dwarf lords are quite satisfied just by fielding a Runesmith with three Runes of Spellbreaking.
The problems with the Slayer Characters are:
These are your basic dwarf elite infantry. With strength 4, weapon skill 5 and initiative 3, they are very powerful shock elites.
WEAKNESSES: They lack an option to carry any other armament than hand weapons.
USES: As a basic quality infantry instead of dwarf warriors. Of course you could give them the Scepter of Norgim to boost their strength or armor save. Again, think carefully who you are facing: Long Beards will crush Empire Halberd men any day, but the 1+ save of the Chaos Knights is too much for them.
Dwarf elites with the option of taking two handed weapons. When fielding Hammerers, take the 2 handed weapons.
WEAKNESSES: Dwarfs don't come cheap, and when using 2 handed hammers in hand to hand their armor save fall to 5+. And of course, they will always strike last in melee.
USES: Hammerers are truly heavy handed warriors. They strike with strength 6, which is enough to hurt even large monsters. Large regiments are needed so your brave warriors will survive the enemy missile fire and other inevitable casualties. 30+ troops.
As with the other dwarf elites, Iron Breakers have strength of 4, initiative of 3, and weapon skill of 5. What makes them special is their 3+ save due the Rune of Stone.
WEAKNESSES: Rune armor that they got boosts their point cost to 20. Their basic strength is 4, and though no means puny, very heavily armored targets are hard to wound with that.
USES: Most dwarf lords compose their main fighting regiment out of Iron Breakers. If you decide to do this, remember the following: strength 4 isn't too high, especially against Chaos Knights. You'll also require a couple of rune-boosted dwarf heroes to deal with opponent's all too tough Chaos lords and such. Just remember to keep some distance between them! The evil enemies love to field their toughest characters with Sword of Destruction, and losing the power of two sets of Magic Items is simply painful. Remember that Iron Breakers armor is magical, so this affords additional protection from some spells and weapons.
Basic dwarf infantry. Generally they are fielded with spears.
WEAKNESSES: Old races like Dwarfs and the Elves are not too cheap. The only way to improve their ridiculous strength 3 is to take 2 handed weapons, and that means striking last.
USES: If given spears their weapon skill 4 and toughness 4 often see you through the worst of the troubles caused by opponent's basic infantry. dwarf warriors can also be equipped with double handed weapons. If your opponent is in habit of fielding a lots of basic infantry then their toughness of 4 and effective strength of 5 with weapon skill 4 should see you through.
Of course they are allowed to carry magical standard like almost all dwarf regiments, so you might wish to field them just to carry that Banner of Wrath. This is a cheap way to get the banner and have fun during the magic phase.
Basic Dwarfs with crossbows.
WEAKNESSES: If equipped with armor and 2 handed weapons their point cost soars to dizzying heights. Without them, they became prime targets for enemy shock troops. Ballistic skill 3 doesn't allow you to hit anything smaller than an ogre easily.
USES: The two options here are either a full blooded missile troops (perhaps with the Rune of Slowness in their standard) or a combination of close combatants and missile troops when equipped with 2 handed weapons and as much armor as you can get. Remember that your point cost total for a one paltry crossbow dwarf soars upwards very fast.
If you give them the equipment needed to survive hand to hand, try to find points to field at least a champion to challenge the opposing heroes. Also, the ever-popular Rune of Courage should come in handy. Because of their long (30") range, they are my preferred dwarf missile unit. I'd say a regiment of 16-30 strong.
Another typical dwarf missile regiment: Hand guns hit hard, have a reasonable range and are slow to fire.
WEAKNESSES: Hand to hand is without hope to these Dwarfs. They can beat up Skavenslaves and Goblins on a good day, but enemy elites are definitely out. Ballistic skill 3 isn't too high for troops that are strictly a missile regiment.
USES: Because of the "changing ranks" routine, the Thunderers can be placed on flat ground. Enemy doesn't usually expect any missile troops there, so you just might find yourself in very desirable firing position. Like the crossbow dwarfs, the Thunderers benefit from the Rune of Slowness so they might get additional chance to fire their Guns. As with other missile troops with ballistic skill of 3, I recommend at least 16 strong regiment.
Miners are often called "Poor man's Hammerers". With 2 handed weapons and heavy armor, they can do business very nicely.
WEAKNESSES: The never changing problem with the 2 handed weapons: You strike last. Only that there might be nobody left to do it.
USES: With heavy armor and 2 handed picks, Miners are a good choice against some of the more heavily armored targets like Chaos Dwarfs. Humans, Goblins and such are easy prey for them, so when facing a regimental strong army, they are a good choice.
The most colorful of dwarf regiments, these driven dwarfs add a welcome splash of color to otherwise rather grey dwarf army. With their immunity to psychology and break tests, and their Slayer Skill, they are deadly unit indeed. Just remember to give them two hand weapons and hey ho, hey ho, it's off to war you go!
WEAKNESSES: No armor means that many spells and missiles cut down a large number of these troops. Basic strength of 3 means that opponents with high armor save are quite safe from their attentions. Then again, some Slayer Champions equipped with suitable rune weapons can quickly fix this. Slayers are also the only dwarf regiment that can't get a magical standard.
USES: Almost all dwarf generals equip their slayers with two hand weapons instead of 2 handed axes. Slayers are at their best when facing an opponent with high toughness so you can get most out of their Slayer Skill. If you wish to have a really strong hand to hand unit, tool up some slayer champions, and put a hero or two with them. They can also be fielded as (expensive) "trap" unit that ties powerful enemies up by simply refusing to rout. You must remember that with movement of 3 it is a rare day when you get to pick your fights, though. Because of their tendency to die in enemy fire, Ruby Chalice is well worth the points against Elves and such. Try to field a regiment of 20+ Slayers. This is one of the regiments I always try to field when playing Dwarfs.
You have a choice between a cheaper and weaker and more expensive and stronger one. I always go for the small stone thrower. It is cheap, has high enough strength to damage almost anything, and still allows no armor save. Of course large ones are more useful against extra-tough or powerful creatures with lots of wounds, but since I generally target my stone throwers towards rank and file, this is less of a problem. If your opponent has a nasty habit of fielding a 10 strong unit of dragon ogres, then the larger stone throwers might be worth their points. I generally use the Runes of Accuracy and Fortune in my stone throwers, and try to field at least 2 of them. Expensive choice, but sometimes worth it against very numerous opponents like Skaven.
The standard version of the Gyrocopter is Mark III Karak Azul "Stealth Bomber" with Rune of Disguise and 1 or 2 Runes of Penetration. It is one of the things in the whole game that reaps a lion's share of all complaints. In fact it is of limited use against most opponents because of it's high point cost. Against heavy cavalry like the Chaos Knights it will usually work, but if you are facing Skaven or such, their price prohibits their use. I never use the bombing runs because of the severe risks involved and the general ineffectiveness. When faced with army that has very limited amounts of missile troops like Chaos, I've seen even 3 Gyrocopters perform just fine.
Dwarf cannons have shorter range, weaker bite and higher point cost than their Empire counterparts. The bonus sides are the possibility to put runes to the cannon and a lot tougher crew. With luck they might be able to stand against harpies that are far too common sight in the dwarfish skies. The favorite rune is of course the Rune of Forging, and the cannon can be equipped with additional runes like Rune of Burning (if facing wraiths -makes the cannonballs magical) or the rune(s) of Immolation. I once saw a dwarf cannon with three Runes of Immolation, and it was teleported with the Bridge of Shadows in the middle of the opponent's army. BOOM!
Remember always to target your cannons towards characters. They will fail their "Look out sir!" Rolls eventually.
Perhaps the most popular war machine in the whole dwarf army, the organ guns are perfect tools to bring death to powerful opponents. The usual method is to equip it with the Rune of Disguise so the opponent's flyers don't extend their unwanted attentions to it. All in all, very good buys if you consider their low point cost value.
Dwarf anti-aircraft artillery is the most usual option for this device. With the Rune of Seeking and one or two Runes of Penetration, it can give some nasty shocks to your opponent. If you think you won't be facing large flying monsters, leave out the bolt thrower or equip it with three Runes of Penetration. I personally try to field at least two bolt throwers at a time or none at all.
Because of their high point cost value, the dwarf general must choose carefully the time and the place he intends to use his flame cannons. They are (of course) at their best when used against such thing as treemen and mummies, because of the double damage caused by the fire. It's also true that their flames will hit anything at least halfway covered by the dragonfire template, making it one of the deadliest war machines around. This high kill ratio is in addition to panic check your opponent has to take, so I'd include it in most armies, even if it is a bit risky.
I never field a dwarf army without taking the Scepter of Norgim. It is such a wonderfully useful and effective item that I feel it is a must for every dwarf general. Many opponents march within 8" of a dwarf regiment, confident in the knowledge that with the movement of 3 they'll still get to charge first. The Scepter changes all that by increasing the move of the Dwarfs to 4! I've also seen an Iron Breaker unit with armor save of 1+! (the regiment had a Standard of Shielding as a side order.) The regiment was also 50 strong.
If you want to give your regiment a "regular" magic standard like the Banner of Might, and still wish to have a good chance against psychology and break tests, consider the Dragon Crown of Karaz. You'll have to give it to a dwarf king, though.
Both Axe of Grimnir and the Gotrek's Axe are real bargains at mere 125 points. Whenever facing an opponent with lots of troops with multiple wounds (like Chaos and the Undead) they are worth considering.
The Armor of Skaldour is in my opinion the best armor in whole game, and if you are fielding any of the dwarf kings (Kazador, Ungrim, Thorgrim) I say go for it. It is very cheap, and protects you from almost anything.
Here are couple of examples how to best use your Runes. Note that I've avoided the usual 200 plus point items that everybody can design and tried to include some of the more devious combos.
The Dwarfs have a very attracting chance to field completely unbreakable army by giving every single regiment a Runic Standard with the Rune of Courage. Of course your front rank is easily mowed down by rampaging Chaos knights or chariots, so it might be a good idea to put your Standard bearer in the back ranks of the unit.
The Flying Hammer (TM) is a famous invention. Combining the Master Rune of Flight with, say Rune of Smiting and Rune of Breaking, enemy characters will soon dread to come near your units. The main candidate for this weapon is of course Burlok Damminson. Some people prefer giving it to a Slayer champ, though others argue that it can only be placed in a hammer. Mind you, there is an example in the Dwarf Book about slayer with this rune, and I got a slayer figure with a hammer. In the hands of a Slayer or Burlok the Flying Hammer has a chance to wound some of your tougher opponents.
Dwarfs get both extra attacks and extra strength cheaper than other races. Any combinations of the Runes of Cleaving and Runes of Fury are usually very effective.
I like all runes that affect the target when it is hit, without trying to wound. One of the best examples of this was when my general had a Curse Rune and two runes of Fury in his axe. He managed to lower Bloodthirster's strength to 4, and the Chaos player was not amused! Other rune like this is the Rune of Breaking. I've seen few pale faces when my opponent hears his Doomglaive/Axe of Khorne/Fellblade is broken! If used by a character who sees lot's of melee, I recommend combining it with the Master Rune of Swiftness. Rune of Luck is an excellent back up item for Dwarfs with such things because it allows you to re-roll those failed checks for destroying your opponent's weapon/physical health.
If you are fielding an army with lots of monsters, Then the Master Rune of Gorth One-eye might be suitable for replacing the usual Master Rune of Valaya. Just keep your monsters within 12" of the Battle Standard and you'll have no worries about the loyally of these otherwise unreliable troops!
Master Rune of Dismay is essential against armies like Orcs, Chaos and Skaven, since it can really slow down their advance. It can be given to a champion since it is "one use only" item.
Giving a couple of Runes of Fortitude to a character with Black Amulet and Master Rune of Spite will make your dwarf a close combat monster without any weapons at all!
Of course all of us can make a Rune Axe with Master Rune of Death, Rune of Smiting and Rune of Might, but such things cost so many points that often they will be your undoing, and nobody needs help in designing them.
It is worth mentioning that all dwarf special character (with the exception of Gotrek and Felix) can change their usual magic items to something different. See Dwarf Book, page 81).
King Kazador gives you the possibility to field an additional dwarf lord with a bonus strength of 5. When in need of an additional dwarf lord, King Kazador is your dwarf. Rune of Might is often a good buy, since it doubles his strength to an awesome 10 as long as his opponent has a toughness of 6 or more. Nurgle Characters will dread him!
A Daemon Slayer General with the option of taking up to three magic items, including armor. If you want to really enrage your opponent, give Ungrim the Axe of Gotrek. He is, after all, a slayer.
As a dwarf king, Ungrim has the access to many of the best items in the Dwarf Book.
The other outstanding quality of Thorgrim is that he can have four magic items instead of three. He also has a special rule for hating all enemies, and he costs just as much as a regular dwarf lord. He doesn't have to ride the Throne of Power, so I see no reason why he shouldn't be included in every army.
Perhaps the most famous heroes in the whole Warhammer World, Gotrek Gurnisson and Felix Jaegar are a formidable pair, but also quite difficult to use. First of all, their movement rate is paltry 3, and thus your opponents usually find it quite easy to dodge your heroic pair. Second, they can't join any unit, so they often become prime targets to enemy missile fire. While their special rule for 4+ save against any and all of the wounds they receive is very effective, they will eventually die if confronted with massed enemy fire. If you are considering an allied wizard as well as Gotrek, go for the Grey Magic and whisk him around the battlefield. Highly recommended!
The venerable Rune Lord of Karaz-a-Karak is the only special Character whose weapon I wouldn't consider changing. With strength of 10, causing D6 flaming wounds with additional attack, there are very few opponents who can take on "the Old Pop". Other than that, he is just another Rune Lord. Remember that you may only have one Runesmith, so if you choose Kragg, remember to give him those Runes of Spellbreaking.
Statistically, Josef Bugman is just a regular dwarf hero. The real use for Josef Bugman is his option for buying the Bugman's Tankard for only 25 points. If you think the tankard is a must, then consider Josef.
Burlok son of Damian is my favorite special character. He is the wielder of the dreaded "Flying Hammer" (TM), a weapon inscribed with Master Rune of Flight, Rune of Smiting and Rune of Breaking or additional Rune of Smiting. The other option is to give him a suitably awe inspiring Rune Axe and use his great Strength in hand to hand. I'd recommend a Rune of Smiting and two runes of Fury.
Even though Dwarfs are expensive, you should try to field large regiments. Since Dwarfs don't have any mounted troops, the cost of such steel blocks is still affordable. I try to have regimental strength of 20-50, and include a champion in each unit, as well as one Dwarf Hero/Lord/Runesmith/Slayer character. Of course full-blooded missile units don`t need such trappings, and usually I field Thunderers and crossbowmen without anything else but standard rank and file.
Even though it isn't that archetypal, a missile and artillery based dwarf army is one of the most effective choices in Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The regiments should include several units of Dwarf Crossbowmen, this time boosted to their full hand-to-hand potential with 2 handed weapons because they might have to receive what is left of the enemy charge, plus regiments of Thunderers. At least one hand to hand regiment is required, since there usually is still some enemies left when they come out of the hail of fire. But the most important thing is to field all possible Cannons, Organ Guns, Flame Cannons, Stone Throwers and such as you can.
The classic dwarven way of waging war has always been to determinedly march towards your enemies, shrug off any missile casualties, and grind your opponent to dust in melee. Buy one regiment of each elite (Iron Breakers, Long Beards and Hammerers), and couple of units of Slayers, tool them up and go shopping to the nearest rune market by equipping your characters with all possible rune weapons. Try to use as much cover as possible as you advance upon your enemy. Take a character with a Rune of Passage to each unit. Your enemy will shiver with fear when you charge through swamp at full speed!
A word of advice. Skaven and Chaos armies are so powerful in hand to hand that it is very foolish to think you can defeat them without first softening them up with artillery.
Now lads, fill up my tankard, and sharpen your axes. We will meet our enemies in a field of glory tomorrow.
Hail o devotees of Sigmar!
My eyes grow dim and my hand falters. The winter night is cold, and even the heat of the fireplace does not warm my tired body. My loyal knights see for my every need, but what I really desire is the rest of the realm of Morr. I know that I can go before my lord Sigmar with pure heart, for all sixty two years of my life I have devoted to the service of the emperor. But one more thing remains. I'll have to pass my years of experience to those hot blooded young men that shall take over my position as the war master of the Empire. So listen to me and heed me well, for I have not been defeated even once during my thirty six battles and one hundred and eleven skirmishes.
In the year 2514 after the birth of Sigmar, our saviour. Magnus the heavy handed, Hochmarchell of the Empire.
Humans are your basic Warhammer race. 5 points and the most average line of statistics you'll ever see. They cost just enough so they have to pay full points cost value for the equipment. They have no strong or weak points, and no special rules.
This means that you must learn to understand your troops. They will beat Goblins and such in fair fight but they'll die in droves if confronted with dwarf veterans. Numbers are often on your side, so use it to your advantage. The greatest asset of Humans, however, is their variety. There is almost no troop type they cannot field, and they have access to a staggering variety of war machines. Use this variety to catch your opponent off guard almost every time.
If you don't know how to use these, please reread the basic rules. Always, always, take a champion for each unit. He is cheap and can save the unit from that 2000 point necromancer lord on a dragon by challenging him to a single combat. Your ranks and standard should rout the awful thing, and will drive away any character on a flying creature even if it makes it's break test.
Everybody has a personal taste here, but I prefer Amethyst and Grey colleges: Purple Sun of Xereus, Amaranth, Bridge of Shadows, Pit of Tarnus, Traitor of Tarn and Fate of Bjuna are all very good spells indeed.
GENERAL NOTES: Two handed hammers, heavy armor, barding and no shield. They have a move of 7 because they lack shields. This means 3D6 pursuit and flee.
WEAKNESSES: The usual problem with the 2 handed weapons, they strike last.
USES: With the standard of shielding and proper characters leading them, they can take on (and beat) many enemy infantry units that would pose a dire threat to your own foot troops. Good examples are the Witch Elves, Plague Monks and Savage Orcs. These troops are extremely dangerous when faced with lightly armored troops but their strength of 3 just isn't high enough to trouble the knights unduly. Watch out for their characters, though! Frenzied witch elf hero with the Ogre Blade will demolish your knights.
GENERAL NOTES: These are the strong arm of the Empire. Their charge can be devastating, and they fight it out very well even after the charge because of their strength of 4.
WEAKNESSES: The Banner of Wrath is a nightmare of every knight because it allows no save. Movement of 6 means that you flee and pursue only 2D6.
USES: With a good standard, support from the other troops, and enough numbers (even 20 is not too much) they'll usually do magnificently in hand to hand. Just watch out that Goblins or Skavenslaves do not trap them with Crown of Command.
GENERAL NOTES: These troops have two uses:
WEAKNESSES: Don't expect them to win combats against powerful opponents.
USES: I myself use pistoliers as a fast cavalry and harass enemy flanks. If they have enough numbers their stand and shoot is so deadly that the enemy does not dare to charge them. Use the fast cavalry rules for full effect. For example, shoot away against enemy's tough units (strength 4 and -2 save allows this) and then suddenly reform into a deeper formation and break a regiment of Bretonnian peasants.
GENERAL NOTES: Heavily armored engineers with weird wonder weapons.
WEAKNESSES: Hand to hand is usually fatal to Outriders, even ones with repeater pistols. Avoid combat like the plague.
USES: With enough numbers and with repeater hand guns, they are a murderously effective unit. 10 of them should be about right. This gives them a potential of 60 strength 4 -2 armor save hits! OK, it will never happen, but you never know. Giving them a champion might be a good idea because of his ballistic skill of 4.
GENERAL NOTES: As they are cheap in the terms of money, and many generals have a great many of them. Halberds, hand weapons, shields and light armor at the cost of 10 points each is pretty good combination, but many people overestimate them.
WEAKNESSES: Compared to the rank and file of other armies, they often are just too weak and often broken in hand to hand. Save of 5+ or 6+ and toughness of 3 do not help the situation.
USES: Many players form their main block from halberders, and who am I to say it should no? I personally feel that they are useful in smaller regiments and used against Orcs and other tough creatures. I rather form my infantry out of Reiksguard, Flagellants or other elite troops and put the battle standard in their midst to counter the Empire's inability to have magic standards in infantry units.
GENERAL NOTES: Very good and quite inexpensive infantry, the Reiksguard are a common sight on a battlefield. Weapon skill of 4, strength of 4 and initiative of 4 are the obvious reason why they are so popular.
WEAKNESSES: Even Goblins get a magic standard, but not the Reiksguard. Their movement is only 3, and you can only have a one unit of them.
USES: Any low to middle class infantry (and some weak cavalry) are the main prey for the Reiksguard. Remember to place them centrally so they get a chance to fight.
GENERAL NOTES: The spears are a defensive weapons, so if you plan to dig in, shoot it out and receive a charge, spearmen are perhaps useful.
WEAKNESSES: Compared to their point cost value and feeble statistics, I fear the spearmen have seen their day on the battlefields of the old world.
USES: Against other forces with weapon skill of 3 or lower, they have a chance. Dwarfs, Elves, and any other tougher troops will have them for lunch. For defensive armies only.
GENERAL NOTES: The dreaded Tswei-handers of the Prussian Empire are unfortunately a pretty weak unit in Warhammer Fantasy Battle. If you need strength of 5 to hurt your opponent, then they are useful.
WEAKNESSES: The usual swing last penalty for 2 handed weapons.
USES: With enough numbers, they are pretty effective against beastmen who otherwise are very difficult for imperial infantry because their high toughness and 2 wounds. Watch out for beastmen units with more than 1 attack, or there is no hope in the battle. The best thing to do with the Greatswords is to place them behind defended obstacle. Since their opponents only hit with a roll of 6 and you in the other hand get to strike back with strength 5. This of course works only in defensive overall strategy where you wait for the enemy. Also watch out for the enemy flyers that ignore the obstacles.
GENERAL NOTES: weapon skill of 4 isn't that special, but it has it's uses.
WEAKNESSES: Well, they are only Humans.
USES: Against armies that have a basic weapon skill of 4, they can be frustrating. Since your enemy will hit you only with 4+, you can bog down a dark elf regiment for a turn or two.
GENERAL NOTES: Humans with the dreaded hand gun and the nifty Empire routine of changing ranks while firing.
WEAKNESSES: Well, at least their "Stand and Shoot" is deadly. Otherwise charging units chop them up.
USES: Either as a very large regiment on a hill deployed like the archers, or using their "creeping and shooting" tactic in the places where you would never place other archers. They can surprise foe on a flat ground where he does not expect any kind of ballistics. Their strength of 4 and -2 save can fell even a mighty knight.
GENERAL NOTES: Human archers. Only notable thing is their ability to skirmish.
WEAKNESSES: Usual human weaknesses prevail.
USES: I personally prefer the crossbows over the long bows, and the human archers have ballistic skill of only 3. You can make them skirmish so that every archer has a chance to shoot, and this can be useful when the battlefield does not include many hills.
GENERAL NOTES: Humans with crossbows. What else is there to say?
WEAKNESSES: What did you expect from a missile unit? No close combat ability.
USES: I personally think that every army that has an access to crossbows should always field them. Either as a one large unit (even dragon fears charging a 30+ strong crossbow unit) or several small ones. With crossbows I heartily recommend a very large unit. They will not move anyway, and thus they have a shimmer of hope against a enemy hand to hand unit. I'd say 30 crossbowmen, in three ranks, on a hill, perhaps with standard. (Combat resolution of 3+1+1 for higher ground.)
Think about what I said because it has merit. Strength 4 can wound a creature with toughness of 7, and is deadly against normal toughness 3 opponent. -1 on armor save also helps enormously. As a final word, never take any armor for them! That is too darn expensive!
GENERAL NOTES: As one of the few Empire regiments permitted to buy a magic standard, the Winged Lancer can come in quite handy. Just don't expect them to defeat Trolls.
WEAKNESSES: Strength of 3 and quite low armor save sets them back a bit.
USES: Against foes with toughness of 3, their charge is devastating, and they can carry that Banner of Wrath that wouldn't fit anywhere else. I don't use them against Orcs and other troops with toughness of 4 or good hand to hand troops.
GENERAL NOTES: Cheap and fast, the most famous usage for these troops is to lure out the goblin fanatics. There is, however, far more than meets the eye. Skirmishing is surprisingly useful thing.
WEAKNESSES: Well, toughness of 3, strength of 3 and no horse attacks means that the brave Kislevites are not match for any close-combat troops.
USES: These brave kislevites can skirmish, so take an advantage of this. They also enable you to field Tzarina Katarina. If you think you need her desperately, a unit of 5 horse archer costs only 80 points. One of the best uses for them is to put them in snaking formation so they require only a minimal amount of space, deploy them in the flank, and race towards a dangerous enemy unit. Simply by being within 8" they can stop the enemy from marching. If you can do this by being in the flank of the enemy unit, then so much better: They cannot charge you then. Think about the frustration of those Chaos Knights! Try to move to the enemy's rear so you get the chance to charge in the rear once your main troops get to grips with the enemy. Sure they won't cause many casualties, but +2 on combat resolution sure helps!
GENERAL NOTES: Toughness of 4, 2 attacks, immunity to psychology and break test plus strength of 4 and flails (gasp!) Makes the flagellants the best hand to hand unit when compared to their ridiculously low point cost value.
WEAKNESSES: No armor save, weapon skill of 3 and only 1 unit per army limits their effectiveness. Spells like Blade Wind that ignore toughness and require armor save are deadly.
USES: Either get the strong arm of your infantry here and get a big unit, or take only a small one to tie up an important enemy unit. A good trick to counter their low weapon skill is to put your battle-standard bearer with flagellants and giving him the banner of might! My recommendation: Always take flagellants, and always take lots of them.
GENERAL NOTES: Many options. In my opinion the best is to give them spears and shields.
WEAKNESSES: Move of 3 forces you to deploy your Dwarfs in a place where they are sure to see some action.
USES: With spears, shields and light armor, they are your best option for spearmen. With toughness of 4, weapon skill of 4 and the fact that they are slow (and thus are often charged and can bring the extra rank to play) they are an excellent choice instead of human spearmen. Very high leadership helps against panic and break tests. For the defensive player.
GENERAL NOTES: With weapon skill 2, strength 2, and toughness of 2, but ballistic skill of 4 I think their role is pretty obvious: archers. High leadership is helpful feature.
WEAKNESSES: Well, if you are looking for a puny hand to hand unit, look no further. These little guys are very bad in hand to hand.
USES: Armed with bows(!) And with the ability to scuttle through forests they are very good value for points. You can easily field 30+ of them. Just avoid too tough or well armored targets.
GENERAL NOTES: Strong, very tough and 3 wounds. Two attacks are a welcome bonus.
WEAKNESSES: As could be expected, their massive statistics give them a very high point cost value. Weapon skill of only 3 makes them dubious choice against armies like Chaos who have plenty of characters with weapon skill of 7+. Their large size makes them easy targets for missiles.
USES: You can usually surprise your opponent with the ogres. It is a good idea to give their leader the Crown of Command, so they don't have to care about break test and can concentrate on bashing opponents instead. Their high toughness and massive wound total makes them very resilient. Halberds are a very good choice, especially against (Chaos) Dwarfs, for their initiative of 3 allows them to strike before Dwarfs. In most battles their resilience combined with the Crown of Command usually means victory. Skaven players get furious when you challenge his "invincible" Rat Ogres (and win) with your own Ogres.
As a rule of thumb, use your war machines against enemy characters. The Humans are generally too weak to tackle the opposing Lords (and Ladies) in hand to hand, but a strength 10 D6 wound hit will demolish even a Vampire. Even when shooting units, always aim for the characters. You might get lucky with the "Look out sir!" Roll. As a final warning, never try to fight with the crew. Always flee, shoot the attacker with other war machines, rally and return to the gun.
GENERAL NOTES: Very much like Stone Throwers except their misfires are a bit less self destructive.
WEAKNESSES: Many players feel that they cost too much and are weaker than the Stone Throwers.
USES: If you decide to take them, try to field at least three of them. This gives you an average of 1 "HIT" per turn. It also gives a chance to use the mortars as a mass destruction weapon like they are described to be. Their accuracy and reliability leaves a lot to be desired. Best against Skaven, Orcs and such that have so many units that you're bound to hit something.
GENERAL NOTES: With range of 60", and causing D6 wounds, they are the most inexpensive cannons in the game.
WEAKNESSES: Well, the misfires happen all too often, and the crew are just too puny to fight against anybody.
USES: Shoot characters on the top of big monsters. It is a very good idea to place one cannon a bit further than your battle line. This way, when enemy flyer lands to attack your unit, you can shoot at him straight away without the fear of hitting your own troops.
GENERAL NOTES: A moving cannon with toughness of 10 and 5 wounds!
WEAKNESSES: Not very useful against troops with high initiative like the Elves. The malfunctions are often catastrophical.
USES: Against Orcs, Dwarfs of any kind and Bretonnians, The Steam Tank usually does its business very well. I myself always use as many steam points as possible, since when the boiler fails it is bound to stop the tank anyway.
GENERAL NOTES: A chariot with six crew and two horses. Shouldn't this be the other way around? Great many experimental weapons make the wagon a nice thing to dabble with. Very powerful at charge. D6 strength 7 hits is nothing to laugh about. Great hoard of wounds is also an asset.
WEAKNESSES: Only two horses make the War Wagon very easy to stop with missiles.
USES: Either as a part of a massed charge or (if our gaming group allows same weapons in one Wagon) as a defended base for hochland long rifle attacks. I've seen some players use 4 War Wagons in "Hussite" style, making a defensive obstacle in the middle of the field. The cavalry advanced behind this wall and were hidden from the enemy war machines.
GENERAL NOTES: A much talked about device. It is potentially one of the most devastating things in the whole game.
WEAKNESSES: The effective range is too short. Try to keep the crew within 12" of the general if at all possible. Panic spreads so easily.
USES: A powerful psychological weapon, any army will cringe in terror when they see this device. You can dictate the enemy's route by placing Hellblasters on strategically important places. Many people use transportation spells to move the Hellblaster for better firing position, but equally many gaming groups disallow this. I myself used a bridge of shadows to transport an enemy unit within the range, much to dismay of my opponent! Do not fire unless your foe is within 12" inches. The effect is too weak.
GENERAL NOTES: If you have a halfling unit, then you should consider this 50 point war machine. At least the crew don't panic that easily.
WEAKNESSES: Do not expect miracles from the crew.
USES: I have destroyed great many knights with this thing as it allows no armor saves. It is useful against rank and file only because it's feeble strength and disability to cause multiple wounds.
GENERAL NOTES: Some people have (the wrong) idea that poor Karl is a hand to hand fighter. His main feature is his leadership of 10, which is a very rare thing with Humans.
WEAKNESSES: He is a human lord, plus that his first two items are always the Hammer of Sigmar and the Silver seal. I personally prefer giving them to somebody else, like Kurt Helborg.
USES: As a focal point of your army: he should be safe inside a unit, with his battle standard bearer next to him. This gives Humans around him a leadership 10 for the break tests with re-rolls. If you really have to give him a very good armor and mount him on a manticore. He still won't beat that Chaos Lord, though.
GENERAL NOTES: A very interesting case, with loads of special rules and no option for magic items.
WEAKNESSES: Your opponent will know exactly just how tough Magnus is. The obvious disadvantage is of course the inability to use any magic weapons.
USES: Leadership 10 is a good thing, and the immunity to psychology is useful. I personally mount magnus on a barded war horse and put him in a unit with standard of shielding and banner of Might. This gives him a 1+ armor save with re-roll, and gives +1 to hit for his mighty strike.
GENERAL NOTES: A much envied Battle Standard Bearer with massive 3 wounds. Comes with one of the most point cost effective magic swords ever. Especially good against cavalry because it allows no save.
WEAKNESSES: The only real weakness is his inability to use any magic standard. Sure he can't ride a monster, but that's not the purpose of the battle-standard bearer.
USES: With 3 wounds, Ludwig is always a good choice for battle-standard unless you really need that extra magic standard.
GENERAL NOTES: Almost immortal High Priest mounted on an impressive War Altar.
WEAKNESSES: Easy prey for the enemy War Machines. You cannot afford to lose the War Altar, or the powers of the theogonist are history.
USES: Many people use Volkmar as an assault weapon and get shot up very badly. Mighty though he is, he cannot take on the whole enemy army. Armies with many and/or effective War Machines are the High Priest's bane.
A better idea is to gather your best troops around him, making them immune to psychology and break test! I very often play defensively, setting War Altar in the middle of my troops. This gives me an army of unbreakable troops who are immune to psychology. When trying to win the supremacy in the magic phase, the Theogonist is a useful tool. Make sure that you use a college that has cheap spells. The Theogonist's magic is easy to dispel and he has limited amounts of power card available.
GENERAL NOTES: The most hated of all Empire characters, Thyrus Gormann comes equipped with the dreaded Staff of Volans. Has a cosmetic weapon skill of 4.
WEAKNESSES: Your opponent will do anything within his power to kill poor old Thyrus. Black amulet is almost essential.
USES: When you need to get some spell through, Thyrus is your man. I personally prefer the Crimson bands in defensive strategy to tie up that pesky Chaos Knight unit. You can try to dip other college decks with the book of Ashur, but this is risky (since you draw last and are not allowed to change the spells you are dealt, and you may wander off into the wastes).
GENERAL NOTES: Perhaps the best candidate for a general. Weapon skill 7 is very useful. He can also serve as a sidekick for your an assault force as he can fly on the back of a ferocious monster.
WEAKNESSES: Kurt must love his Runefang very dearly. It would be nice to give him a Deathsword.
USES: A useful man everywhere: High leadership allows him to lead foot troops and especially to help with the detachment rule. His good hand to hand statistics allow him to great many enemy characters. I once gave him a Strength potion and a pegasus, and charged Nagash. He caused 6 wounds and routed the unlucky Necromancer off the field! Rare, but possible.
I very often field all electors when fighting Undead. Runefangs are just too good bargains to pass by. Wights and the dreaded Wraiths die in droves when pitted against the nobles of the Empire. High Leadership, low points cost value and 3 wounds makes them vastly superior when compared to heroes.
Editor's Note: This section was written before Arcane Magic came out. Arcane Magic changed the rules so that the magic items such as the Dragon Bow, Talisman of Ulric are available to all the Elector Counts. This may make you reconsider how you want to use your Elector Counts, for example you may want to give Marius the Talisman of Ulric to enhance his survivability.
GENERAL NOTES: The Talisman of Ulric is one of the most useful items around.
WEAKNESSES: None. Just remember that he is only human, not a Vampire Lord.
USES: Because of the Talisman Boris is able to fight in hand to hand quite effectively. The Runefang is powerful against heavily armored foes and undead alike.
GENERAL NOTES: Runefang and that about it. The model is very beautiful, though.
WEAKNESSES: No additional magical toys.
USES: As a leader of a unit. Not as good in hand to hand as some other counts.
GENERAL NOTES: Runefang and the Dragonbow.
WEAKNESSES: Nothing special.
USES: A defensive player's choice. Dragon bow is very useful thing especially against expensive enemies like Elves with their low armor save and toughness. Dragonbow is easily equal to most of the Empire War Machines.
GENERAL NOTES: The famous frenzied count. 6+1+1 attacks make Marius one of the best hand to hand characters of the Empire.
WEAKNESSES: Sometimes his Frenzy makes Marius charge the wrong unit.
USES: A slayer of cavalry without peer, and a bane of all Undead armies since his frenzy makes him immune to psychology and his Runefang chops up even mummies.
GENERAL NOTES: A warrior sorcerer from Kislev. Her strength is bit too low to use her deadly weapon.
WEAKNESSES: Low toughness and magic level of only 3. She has to take that 100 point sword. Once you field a Kislev unit, its most cost effective to buy a level 4 Ice Mage instead of the Tzarina.
USES: As an additional mage. Ice Magic is very powerful, and Bridge of Shadows/Bridge of Ice combination can dispirit any opponent. Giving Tzarina a Strength potion gives her a chance to use his weapon effectively for one turn.
In general, your greatest advantage over virtually any enemy is your flexibility. You can choose any tactic while some armies are restricted to attacking (Chaos and Skaven) or defending. (Elves). I personally feel that the most important thing is to have a plan and stick to it!.
Don't design units just for the hell of it, give each and every one of them a definite mission! Draw your plan on a paper so you remember what everybody is doing. It is far too easy to forget one regiment in the army of the Empire where you usually have a plenty of units.
As a last word, beware enemy characters! Your opponents usually have vastly superior characters, especially in hand to hand. Shoot them, cast spells at them, challenge them with champions and equip your own characters with Deathswords, Frostblades and Slayer Swords.
Here are few overall tactics for you to consider:
You can mass your close-combat troops together and attack the enemy regardless of casualties. Your numbers are probably high enough to take on almost any army and absorbing the missile casualties along the way. Don't try this against Skaven, (Even greater numbers), Chaos (they'll beat you up) or Orcs. (Just too many of them!) Units to use in this tactic are the fast moving and hard hitting ones: Winged Lancers, Knightly orders, Ogres, War Wagons, Steam Tanks and allies.
I am a defensive player and the army of the Empire gives any general a very good chance to field a magnificent defensive army. Just don't try to out shoot the High Elves! Those 50 point repeater bolt throwers will be the end of you. Get as many crossbows, cannons, Hellblaster Volley Guns, Hand gunners and missile armed allies you can. Compose a few hard hitting units as your aggressive reserve. Shoot the enemy while he advances, and then charge him after you have weakened him enough. Get the balance right! Use War Wagons, Steam Tanks and Flagellants as the close combat troops. They are hardy enough against any troops.
Put your hard and fast units on one flank, and your slower units on the other. Hang back with the slow units, break the enemy on the other flank, and race to help the slower troops. Caught between the Hammer and the Anvil, your local superiority and greater numbers will win the day. The trick is to make the fast troops tough enough. Lots of heroes, magic items, Battle Banners and so on will break those enemy units if you are determined enough. Even Chaos Knights can be killed, so shy away from nobody!
The other half of your army should look ferocious and numerically strong, but their main purpose is to have maximum ranks and standard, and the advantage of the higher ground as well. This does not mean that they should be shoddy: give them all possible advantages. Regiments of halberders with a Crown of Command can trap even a unit of Cold One riders until your hard-hitters arrive, provided you have enough numbers.
HAIL THE EMPEROR!
SIGMAR IS RELYING ON YOU! DO NOT LET HIM AND MANKIND DOWN!
The Elves have several weak and strong points. They have high weapon skill, ballistic skill, and a monstrous initiative 6. They have a good move of 5 and this can be further improved with Elven Steeds, which are a real steal at 3 points. They have a good leadership of 8 and they cause fear on Goblins that don't outnumber them 2:1. But all this is balanced with mediocre strength of 3, toughness of 3 and a very high point cost of 8. This really starts to tell against opponents like Skaven and Greenskins, who field huge regiment after huge regiment to your dismay. They have no special rules, and Dark Elves hate them.
Well, Skaven get plaque priests and Vermin Lords, Dwarfs get Slayer Champions and Runesmiths, and the High Elves get <scratching head> Errmmmm, <frown on face> Hmmmmm.
These are your standard characters. You know what they are and what to do with them. High Elf General has a pretty decent line of statistics if you boost his weak points with, say Deathsword and the Armor of Protection.
Toughness of 3 and 1 wound means that your battle standard will die if the enemy just glances evilly at his general direction. Be very careful with this costly character. I suggest that you hide him inside a unit so his (compulsory) magical standard helps the warriors and he stays alive long enough to be useful with the break tests.
Well, here lies much of the power of the Elves. With high magic, War Crown of Saphery, and broad choice of Color spells, these guys are your best bet against enemy wizardy. Learn the High Magic by heart. Coruscation of Finreir gives your Wizard an immunity from attacks made by ground troops. This is very effective against Dwarfs who you can chop at freely, especially if mounted on a Manticore.
Remember that the Fiery Convocation causes fire damage.
Most dispel items won't work against the Assault of Stone, which affects the hill, not the opponent's unit. If you do not want to use any magic at all, go for the Drain Magic. Very frustrating for undead generals. Never take your wizards into a hand to hand combat unless you are 100% sure you can win. Best place for them is inside a unit, for most High Magic spells do not require line of sight.
GENERAL NOTES: Like all Elven knights, the Silver helms suffer from a lousy strength score of 3. Though expensive and weak, they have couple of strong points. First of all, flexibility. They can be made light cavalry if you don't give them any more armor, thus getting unlimited number of turns and changes of ranks free. Also, Silver Helms are very fast, and you can field an unlimited number of regiments. They can carry a magic standard, thus increasing their flexibility even more.
WEAKNESSES: Strength of 3 and toughness 3 don't give much protection against spells, especially if those that allows no save. The Banner of Wrath is a particularly effective in destroying your 41 point per model cavalry unit in an instant. If a protracted fight ensues, (like when you charge a unit with Crown of Command and thus can't break them) Silver helms will probably lose because of their low strength and lack of ranks.
USES: Against Skaven, Humans and everybody else with toughness of 3, Silver helms truly excel. Steer clear from units that do not break when you charge them. Without their lance strength bonus, the Silver Helms are in trouble. Note also that you can make Silver Helms a fast cavalry unit by keeping their armor save 5+ This gives you unlimited number of turns and one re-form per movement phase. This makes Silver Helms an excellent "reserve unit". Since they are very fast (Movement 9/18) hit reasonably hard with lances and can change their formation while moving, they can easily sift the pressure from one part of the battlefield to another.
GENERAL NOTES: Dragon Princes are heartbreakingly beautiful models, but not very powerful in combat. It would have been nice to have at least one unit with strength of 4 and Lances.
WEAKNESSES: Toughness of 3 and strength of 3. YYYYUUUURGHH! Move of "only" 7. The Banner of Wrath is the nightmare of every Dragon Prince.
USES: If you want a unit with 1+ save (using standard of shielding, then go ahead. Otherwise, I prefer Silver Helms. Against Skaven Jezzails, and anybody with low strength (Are there those nowadays, except the High Elves?) They will do fine because of the good armor save value.
GENERAL NOTES: Very light cavalry. Elven steeds and spears do quite a lot to boost their hand to hand potential, however. Their speed is a great asset.
WEAKNESSES: If you compare their point cost value to their armor save, you'll probably pale. Good hand to hand troops will chop the knights into a mincemeat. Don't try it at home, believe my words.
USES: Either with spears and shields to charge and break Skavenslaves, peasants, and giant rats, or leave out the shields and buy bows. This way, you get fast cavalry with bows. Gallop towards enemy, and shoot until he gets too close. Then turn around, move 9" away, turn around and shoot again! This really wears most enemies down, since, like all Elves, Reaver Knights are good shots. You need quite a lot of Reavers for this, though.
GENERAL NOTES: The nice thing about the Lothern Sea Guard is that they can be equipped with many different ways.
WEAKNESSES: High cost is the only thing that worries me about the Sea Guard, plus that they can not have a magical standard. (Common, even Goblins get that!) Also, fielding them asks a quite lot of strategy.
USES: There is plenty of choice: They can be archers, a substitute for Phoenix Guard because of their lower point cost value and the option of taking halberds, or a combination of these two. You can also field them as archer-spearmen if you really have to, but I don't recommend it. Against Orcs and others with toughness of 4, strength 4 is the lowest value you can field and expect to do any good. I usually take them with bows and halberds, give them a musician, and deploy them in thin lines like other archers. When the enemy gets close enough, I perform the reform manoeuvre and get ready for opponent's charge by increasing the number of my ranks to maximum.
GENERAL NOTES: Again, one of the more flexible Elven units. They have regular elven statistics, but at least you don't have to pay for that useless light armor.
WEAKNESSES: The usual elven weaknesses prevail.
USES: My usage of Elven warriors is quite straightforward. Give them spears and additional hand weapons, and fight it out with low toughness, low save unit. With weapon skill of 4 and 2 attacks when charging and 3 otherwise, they usually can hold their own against the likes of Skaven, Goblins and Humans. They are relatively cheap, so you can field quite a lot of them.
GENERAL NOTES: The scouts and skirmishers of the High Elves. They can be made decent fighters and equal to best High Elf archers.
WEAKNESSES: Shadow warriors cost quite a bit, though this is usually points well spent. They are not at their best against armies that do not employ Dark Elves, but all your evil opponents are very likely to do just that, so be on guard.
USES: They are simply a must against Dark Elves so you can at least fight in equal terms. With long bows and skirmishing formation they can all draw a bead to their foe, even without the deployment in a hill. Of course you can use them as missile screen or as a flanking unit to protect your main units from charges. They are a bit expensive for these sacrificial roles, though.
GENERAL NOTES: Strong as a hell and skilled beyond the dreams of most opponent's worst nightmares. This magnificent unit suffers from their double handed weapons very badly. Because they always strike last, they have to be used carefully. Other units with double handed weapons are their speciality because of the high initiative.
WEAKNESSES: Two handed weapons that cause them to strike last. Toughness of 3. No armor to speak about. Quite expensive.
USES: Hate to say this, but with toughness of 3, armor save of 6+, and two handed weapons, these superb warriors are very specialized. Use them against goblins, skeletons, Skavenslaves and especially the Chaos Dwarf Axemen. Goblins and such have so low weapon skill that they will hit only with 5+, thus giving you a chance to fight back. They are a must against Chaos Dwarfs who have to field a unit of their axemen. Giving that you got higher weapon skill, higher initiative, and higher strength, you will chop them to pieces every time. If the Chaos Dwarfs fall back to Their hand weapons to strike before you, so what? They still hit you only with 4+ and wound you on 4+. You, on the other hand hit them with 3+ and wound them with 2+, and still they get no save! Also against the Chaos Dwarfs, you can use them to attack the Bull Centaurs, but you will probably lose because of their multiple attacks, high strength and 2 wounds. If you field them as a gamble make tracks towards nearest unit with double handed weapons, like greatswords. If you know that your game table will have lots of defensive obstacles, then race to take shelter behind them. Your opponent will hit you only with natural 6's and thus you can strike back, lethally.
GENERAL NOTES: This unit is the cream of the elven elites, and a one ray of light in otherwise very depressing list of regiments. Effective strength 5, weapon skill 5 and initiative 7 are something to stir the heart of any true High Elf general. Equipped with the right magic standard like the battle banner, joined by a hero with Crown of Command and Sword of Fortitude who fights from the second rank with a spear, and perhaps supported with the Battle Standard Bearer (with Banner of Might) plus a mage (to give the unit a chance for rebounds and destroy spell).
WEAKNESSES: Toughness of 3, strength of 3 and armor save of 6+ means that missile fire, spells, and mounted shock troops will kill Sword Masters in droves. They cost an arm and leg in points, so you can't field a 100 strong regiment. You need one, though.
USES: I usually compose the backbone of my army from the Sword Masters. They fight like blazes, can be supported by other troops very effectively, and have all the usual advantages of the Elves. Use them a lot. Protect them from magic as well as you can. Elven cavalry is nice, but to have enough numbers and ranks is to win battles. Their strength 5 is enough to bother even a fully armored knights.
GENERAL NOTES: The SuperHalberdiers (TM). With weapon skill of 5 and initiative of whopping 7, they also have an option to carry magic standard or don heavy armor. Halberds give a nice strength bonus.
WEAKNESSES: Very high point cost (I don't want that extra point of initiative! Give me my points back or increase the strength!) And low toughness plus average strength.
USES: When facing opponents with weapon skill of 4 or lower, and not that many troops, they are very solid infantry, especially with heavy armor and Standard of Shielding. Personally I prefer Sea Guard.
GENERAL NOTES: Every Elf general owns lot of them and barely ever uses them. They chop up human and goblin light infantry, but the days of really tough guys are here, so you rarely have any use for them.
WEAKNESSES: Horribly high point cost value and low strength.
USES: This one is tricky. If your opponent likes to field many numerous but relatively weak regiments, you can fight back with spearmen because their weapon skill 4 and two attacking ranks. Expensive as they are, they are still cheaper than most of the elven troops. I personally prefer the Elf Warriors, though.
GENERAL NOTES: They are just what it reads. They are just about worth their points if you don't give them light armor. Long bows are essential, as you might imagine.
WEAKNESSES: Too few ranks to give any hand to hand ability at all. Bows have strength of only 3, so anything with toughness of 7 or more (like manticore) is totally immune to their fire and can charge them without any worries. Opponents with high armor save value are also quite immune to their arrows.
USES: I usually field either couple of small units, so I don't have to care if I lose one. My firepower stays high, and a small units don't spread the panic. If I face opponents with relatively few high toughness opponents, I wield a quite large unit of them. This discourages charging them, as their "stand and shoot" response can be deadly. You need about 30 of them at least to make this effective, though.
GENERAL NOTES: I have put this last because it is essentially a War Machine rather than a regiment. These things sum up the Elven strategy. Weaken your opponent and then crush him with your troops. It is the latter part where the Charioteers enter the picture. With charge range of 18", and ability to cause D6+2 strength 7 hits plus the attacks of the crew and the steeds, this little thing is what you really need to boost up your combat resolution.
Many people dismiss them as useless and I heartily disagree. True, if they are hit by determined archers or powerful spells, they will be wiped out every time. The trick is to hide them behind hills and buildings, and bring them forth when the time is right and your enemy is upon you. Most players sent them forth in the beginning of the game in a glorious charge, and get shot up. Conserve them, bid your time, and when the true melee begins, charge with them to swing the balance in your favor. Relatively low point cost enable you to field quite a lot of them.
WEAKNESSES: Very vulnerable to missile fire, have only 1 crew and two steeds.
USES: These thing can break even the hardiest of regiments with ease. Even if your opponents consist of unbreakable troops, a charge of 3+ chariots causes immensive damage. I usually field 4-5 of them, and I think I will get even more of them. Deploy them very carefully. If the crewman is killed, the chariot may cause immense havoc in your own units. It is also a good idea to cover chariots with each other. E.G. when your chariot is charged by a hero on flying monster, your other chariots are able to charge him in the following movement phase.
Countless words have been written about repeater bolt throwers, and most of it is true. This little device is the bane of the Skaven, Goblin, Dark Elf and Human regiments. Against knights it is particular effective, since it allows no save, ignoring even the thickest plate. It can potentially slay 16 models in a one shot! (My own record is 12) But alas, it can be easily countered. Ruby Chalice, Harpies, and terror causing creatures usually ruin your carefully laid calculations for their effectiveness. Still, they cost only 50 points, so I always field at least 8 of them. Do likewise. One of my most successful armies had 15 Repeater Bolt Throwers in a one continual line, and the rest of my army was massed behind them, ready to charge anybody foolish enough to harass my Bolt Throwers. The damage they caused was so immense that only one unit ever made it to my deployment zone.
GENERAL NOTES: weapon skill of 8, initiative of 10 and couple of nice items (and a beautiful model) makes Tyrion stand out form the crowd of High Elf lords.
WEAKNESSES: Tough opponents with the sword of destruction.
USES: A very good general, unless you want to have a elf lord riding a huge monster. Remember Malhandir's attacks, strength 4,weapon skill 4 2 attacks is not bad. Tyrion is about the best choice for Apotheosis spell. Remember that Tyrion's sword is a flaming weapon (mummy killer!), and that his amulet allows him to try and avoid any spell except those cast with the Total Power.
GENERAL NOTES: The greatest mage in the world, Hmmm. Leadership is 10, but otherwise he is equal to any high elf wizard lord in statistics. Comes equipped with three items so you can choose only one freely.
WEAKNESSES: Why Teclis has to carry his sword every battle is quite beyond me. This boosts his point value by 100 points and since he is not liable to see much hand to hand anyway, it is a complete waste. Even worse it gulps up one out of his magic item total. Cannot ride anything. (Except on the picture in the cover!) If your opponent has the Ring of Corin, he will probably try to destroy the Moon Staff of Lileath. This will spell doom to Teclis.
USES: In a conventional game where you calculate point cost total at the end of the battle, he can unleash the power of his staff in the very last magic phase, and blast away with increased power. If you need a mage with leadership of 10, or want him to lead an infantry unit, he is naturally the best choice. Otherwise, take a normal mage lord.
GENERAL NOTES: Yet another Elven Lord. Has pretty useless items, but luckily these can be changed. Hates Goblins. A good sidekick for your general.
WEAKNESSES: Usual elven soft spots. Easily countered.
USES: War Machine eater, combat resolution booster, Goblin slayer. He is essential against Goblins, and especially if your opponent is going to field Grom.
GENERAL NOTES: Stunningly beautiful model and an Elf Lord with weapon skill 8 and initiative 10. Where did I see this before? An extra point of strength would have been nice. Equipped with the Star Lance. Good for a charge, but after that the lance is a waste.
WEAKNESSES: Cannot ride anything else but a Dragon. (Well, good gaming groups can bang up house rules.) If he rides a dragon, he has to take Star Lance. GRRRRR! Otherwise. A good and a reasonably cheap (points wise) character.
USES: With dragon and suitably powerful magic items, Imrik is a good hand to hand fighter. My main trick, however, is to place him amongst infantry and equip him with nice magical things. Also, when not mounted on dragon, he does not have to take the Starblade Lance.
It seems that the High Elf Mages have destroyed every single swarm in Ulthuan, which is a real pity, since these critters could hold the enemy up for a round or two while you shoot at your foes. On the other hand, you get the excellent unicorns so you do not need Amulets of Fire and such to gulp up your magic item total, and still you get 4+ dispel. Unicorn is also a powerful and enduring fighter, and 90 points is not unreasonable. Great Eagle is also nice, for it is cheap and with weapon skill 7 and strength 5 it can fight pretty well. Manticores are always commendable, as are the dragons. The Dragonrage special rule has won me a battle now and then. Dragons are very expensive.
I feel very sorry, but 25% is the only way to go. Take Empire knights instead of the Dragon Princes, and Dwarfs to field endurable infantry. Empire and Dwarf War Machines are some things you'll need, and a Runesmith with 3 Runes of Spellbreaking is an absolute must, so you can field much nicer magic items with your wizard. If you want to fight it out in hand to hand, you need flagellants, troll slayers, beast masters and such.
Please take note that our gaming group allows only a single war machine and one character per rank and file unit when choosing allies. This was suggested in WD#147, and we have found it an excellent rule. Who wants to fight with or against 75% character/50% War Machines army?
If your gaming group has decided that the shadow armor affects the chariots, this gives you a character mounted on chariot with ability to move through woods, over hills and so on. Highly recommendable. War Crown of Saphery is almost essential. Dragonblade Lance is one of most point cost effective magic items around. I usually give it to a mounted hero and equip him with strength potion in addition to the lance. Then I go looking for enemy Battle Standard Bearer who usually hides in the back ranks of a unit, gulp down the Strength potion and use my lance as a Bolt Thrower. With descending strength of 9, I usually can kill the 1 wound Battle Standard Bearer. Dwarf Generals fall to pieces when they lose the Master Rune of Valaya!
More than any other general, a Commander of the Glorious Host of Ulthuan has to rely on his tactical cunning and a careful deployment. My own firm favorite is the Defensive Arch. Let me explain this strategy.
I deploy my toughest and largest infantry units in the middle of the field, supported by fast and hard hitting things like chariots and allied treemen on their left and right. My war machines and archers are on the hills, towers, and deployed between the units. My supporting cavalry and lighter infantry units are deployed in the extreme flanks. When the game starts, I use every possible trick to slow my opponents down. Wardancers, a horn with Master Rune of Dismay, wind blast spell, anything that will do.
I usually have couple of invisible organ guns waiting if a Vampire Lord, Chaos General or a dragon flies to attack my ranks in hopes of snatching an easy victory. Barrels 1-5 ready! Target: Arkhan the Black! Commence Fire!
My bolt throwers, war machines, archers and mages keep a relentless screen of missiles going, causing as much havoc as possible. My mage is usually safely hidden in unit, so flying things can't eat him up. There is, of course, a possibility to negate magic totally with Drain Magic and appropriate items, namely Wand of Jet, Chalice of Sorcery, power scrolls, and so on. These things enable you to have enough power to cast Drain Magic.
When the enemy realizes that he has to charge those main infantry blocks, he will throw everything against them. This could be fatal as the bad guys have such high close combat troops nowadays, but my units are protected against break tests with runes of courage, crown of command and so on. When they refuse to break both my flanks start to bend inwards, engulfing the enemy. Cavalry charges, monsters, chariots and cannon fire are all concentrated against the cream of enemy forces. Hopefully the enemy regiments have been weakened enough so it is possible to break them, or if they are, say Slaaneshi Knights, to simply cut them down.
This tactic is for those hot blooded young Elf Generals who prefer aggressive approach.
The trouble with the offensive High Elf Army is that the Elves are not really suited for offensive warfare. If, however, you wish to field all those magnificent Elf cavalry units, this is what I suggest you should do.
First of all, you must choose who you fight. If Elves ever wish to win a melee combat, you'll need overwhelming advantage. I compose my offensive armies from the fastest moving and hardest hitting units I can, put them all in one flank, and go looking for suitable targets. I always give Ring of Corin to one of the characters, so if I charge a unit with the Crown of Command, I'll have a chance to destroy it and get along with the battle.
The units I use are usually one regiment of eight to twelve Dragon Princes. They usually get the lion's share of missile fire and spells, so I rarely put too many points in them. My real hitting power consists of Silver Helms. At least one large regiment with all possible equipment and one to two fast cavalry regiments to support their advance. If I have points to spare, I buy couple of Chariots to follow my initial charge. Since they can`t make a march move, they usually arrive too late, though.
The cavalry units need all the possible help they can get. I put as many characters in these units as I can, and I always include Banner of Might, Standard of Shielding and the Battle Banner. The characters who lead the units all get magical weapons. Since I have already spent considerable amount of points in buying the actual characters, I give them items such as Dragonblade Lance, Blade of Ensorcelled Iron (to a Hero in a unit with Banner of Might, if he is faced with an enemy with lower weapon skill than his own, he will hit automatically!) And the Ogre Blade. All these items are relatively cheap and effective.
These land bound troops will need some aerial support. Elf Lord mounted on Manticore is my favorite aerial assault unit. He must be equipped with all the best items possible: Black Amulet, Slayer Sword and such. Also, a couple of independent Griffons and Manticores should be a good idea.
Now, you must always concentrate your attacks against one unit at a time. A frontal charge with the cavalry, supported by aerial charges of your flyers, while your fast-cavalry Silver Helms race to the flanks to get ready to charge in the next round. Wounds caused by the charges, the boost given by the War Banner/Battle Banner and Terror and panic tests and your flyers cause should break almost any unit. The trick is to destroy the enemy units as fast as possible, using concentrated attack and a local superiority of arms and numbers.
A word to a wise: Some armies like the Skaven and Chaos are simply so powerful in hand to hand that this tactic is without hope against them. Also, any spare points should still be spent on Repeater Bolt Throwers. There is always some enemy units you'll want to weaken before you engage them in melee.
-A war song of the Swordmasters.
A lone Goblin came down the hill, running as fast as his green legs would allow him to. The Orc camp was abnormally silent, for all ladz had fallen asleep after a night of drinking Fungus Beer and eating Jellied Squigs. Only Thurgash, the War Boss, was awake, staring silently to fire. He was leaning on his longsword that he had taken from a fallen Estalian Knight. It was this weapon that had given him his nickname "Long Knife", or "Longsword" as Humans would have it. The little goblin threw himself at War Bosses feet, and began to squeak in a high pitched voice: "Boss! Boss! Dere are lotz an lotz an lotz of humies, pansies an stunties uvver dese roks! Dey are getting ready to do da charge thingy!"
The great Orc turned away from the fire, annoyed by the intrusion. He had just been about to discover how to count to four. "Ledz go." He grumbled. The little goblin led the way, and upon reaching the hilltop, he pointed at the massed armies with a trembling claw. "See Boss! We iz doomed!" Thurgash looked at the allied armies, and began to laugh.
With Orcs, these are the best characters you can get. Black Orc Big Bosses will give immunity to animosity for any unit they are leading, not to mention their truly formidable fighting abilities. While I think that the General of any army should always have leadership of 10, I usually don't buy a Black Orc War Boss, preferring some special character or Crown of Command. On the other hand, I almost always buy at least three Black Orc Big Bosses. Against Dwarfs and Elves or Humans who like to rely on characters boosted with Magic Items, my answer is a Black or War Boss with Sword of Destruction, mounted on War Boar or Monster (risky!). With weapon skill of 7, strength and toughness of 5, he can beat up almost anybody when deprived of their beloved magical toys.
Because of their frenzy, Savage Orcs are very powerful in hand to hand if you boost their mediocre strength somehow. Note that the Savage Orc characters have only one goal in their life: Attack! So equip them accordingly, and put them in an assault unit. Their Frenzy sometimes makes them charge before their time, so watch out those sacrificial units that might force you on offence too early. I always give my Savage Orc Characters a weapon of some kind. There is no sense not to take advantage of their multiple attacks. I very often buy a Savage Orc War Boss. His potential in hand-to-hand is awesome, especially if armed with a Deathsword.
Grunt! Orcs are very average race. Usually I don't bother with them, buying only champions to my Boar Boyz and Big `Uns.
The greatest failing of the Goblins is their abysmal leadership. Even a Goblin War Boss is only as good leader as your average human! You must be pretty desperate to field a Goblin Lord. On the other hand, one of my favorite characters is a Goblin Big Boss with the Heart of Woe. Very economical since he costs only 33 points.
In fact I prefer Goblin Battle Standards because there are many special banners that can be given only to some specific group of Goblins. One of my favorite tricks is to take a Forest Goblin Battle Standard, mount him on a Spider, give him the Spider Banner, and put him into a unit of Sage Orc/Orc Boar Boyz that have a front rank loaded with characters and presto! Double attacks all around! Imagine a Savage Orc War Boss with 16 attacks.
The other infamous trick is to Mork's War Banner. Mount the Bearer on Giant Wolf/War Boar/ Flying Monster and use it to `Eadbang your opponent`s wizards. This is of course Green Cheese!
Cheaper than the Savage Orc Shamans and more reliable than Goblins, Orc shamans are good if you really can't afford Savage Orc Shamans.
Purchase your Shaman Lords here. These Boyz are the best mages you can get, and just by giving them halberd or a double handed weapon makes them lethal close combatants without taking up any of their magic item slots. With double attack for their frenzy, they are fully capable of slaying even opposing heroes. In addition to all this, their presence increases the effectiveness of magical tattoos in a Savage Orc unit they accompany. They also get a free additional Magic Card as a bonus when attached to a unit of Savage Ladz. Don't forget that you can take many Savage Orc Shamans! Everything counts in large amounts!
If you are one of those Generals who have always fail virtually any dice roll they are called to make, then Forest Goblin Shamans are a good choice since they won`t die because of a failed WAAAGH test.
I often take couple of low level Night Goblin Shamans, munch up mushrooms and don't give a damn for the consequences. Their heads may explode, but if you succeed, you may well be able to force your opponent to use up all of his dispel scrolls. Reserve your power cards to your high level Orc Shamans, their spells are more difficult to dispel.
In my eyes, these boyz are your best cavalry unit. Frenzy and magical tattoos more than make up for their lack of weapon skill.
WEAKNESSES: The opponent`s knights will sneer at their weapon skill of 3. Their leadership suffers -1 penalty because of their Boars.
USES: I put the front rank full of characters with powerful magical weapons, field a large regiment, and go charging against any comers. Mounting a Savage Orc Shaman of any level and putting it with Savage Orc Boar Boyz is a wise because their already formidable armor save increases by one point. As a Magical Standard, I prefer Banner of Might, Gork's War Banner or Standard of Shielding.
This is your other "heavy cavalry" unit alongside the Savage Orc Boar Boyz. Weapon skill 4, spears and a War Boar equal a good shock elite.
WEAKNESSES: They have a decent armor save and toughness, but they could be better. War boars lower the overall leadership of the unit, so watch out for those psychology tests!
USES: They are your assault troops. Their effectiveness is greatest when faced with opponents with basic weapon skill of 3, since this allows you to hit your enemies on 3+
Giant Wolves are fast and pretty good fighters. Goblins riding them are just the opposite!
WEAKNESSES: Basic leadership of 5 and low armor save.
USES: Against Skaven and Humans or others with weapon skill of 3, Giant Wolf Riders are a good buy because their weapon skill 4 allows them to hit their enemies on 3+. One option is to treat them as a full blooded melee unit and give them characters, magical items and so on and to take a large unit of at least 20 Wolf Riders.
Sometimes I take two regiments of Wolf Riders in skirmish formation and race them towards enemy War Machines as fast as possible. Of course, you might take them just for a chance to field a Doom Diver or two, since they are plain normal gobbo mob. With their charge range of 18", they are excellent at chasing any broken enemies off the field, or completely destroying them!
Spiders are strong, and able to move through terrain unhindered.
WEAKNESSES: Initiative of 2 and 1, leadership of 5 and movement of "only" 7.
USES: I quite often use them as one of my main cavalry regiments. You must always remember that they are Fast Cavalry! Free number of turns and one reform for each movement phase is a useful thing. They excel in siege games because of their ability to scale walls. Remember to give spears to riders!
Weapon skill 4, strength 4, Initiative 3! These boyz are real elites, especially if you consider the fact that their ridiculously low cost of 6.5 points.
WEAKNESSES: They have a rather limited choice of weapons. I'd like to give them hallberds and additional hand weapons, but alas, this is not to be. Basic leadership 7 and animosity sometimes cause trouble.
USES: They are good at skirmishing, so put them where the action is. I give my Big `Uns spears and then fight it out with opposing foot troops. Usually they can best anything else except Chaos Warriors.
Basic Orcs if there ever were any. They have great many options for equipment. But backbone of the Waaagh? No way! I'll take Big `Uns any day.
WEAKNESSES: strength 3 is pretty low in the cruel world of the Warhammer. Initiative 2 means you should watch out for spells that are avoided testing against this statistic.
USES: Remember that da boyz can carry a Magic Standard! I have often fielded a unit just to get that Banner of Wrath.
Orcs with bows. There is the usual temptation to buy armor for them. Don't fall for it.
WEAKNESSES: Missile troops are not intended for hand to hand. Don't try it unless you are facing truly feeble enemies.
USES: Longsword always equips these boyz crossbows to give some badly needed long range missile cover to other troops, and because crossbows hit very hard. I generally take 20 boyz with crossbows, because this size guarantees results.
A warning: don't rely on them too much! Animosity always strikes at the worst moment, and you are playing an offensive army, not a missile force! Remember also that many Special characters can only be fielded if you have a mob of Orcs. Arrow Boyz fill the description.
Weapon skill 4, strength 4 and leadership 8 with excellent choice of weapons makes these boyz dead hard! They are immune to animosity, and if you take a unit of them, you'll be able to field those Black Orc Bosses and put some discipline to your rowdy crew.
WEAKNESSES: They are expensive for Greenskins. Initiative of 2 leaves them vulnerable to many spells like the Pit of Tarnus. Their low armor save is balanced by the toughness of 4, but spells that ignore toughness and require armor save are troublesome.
USES: As one of your main close combat units. I give them additional hand weapons against toughness 3 opponents, and halberds against Dwarfs and Knights.
Frenzy and Magic Tattoos make these wild boyz a reasonably good bargain.
WEAKNESSES: Those double attacks don't mean a thing if you have strength of 3. Slow movement often hinders their ability to get frenzied. Initiative 2 is pretty bad.
USES: Somebody might be surprised to hear that I prefer to give Savage Orcs double-handed weapons. While it is true that they will strike last, it is also true that they will hit very hard! By giving them a Savage Orc Shaman and the Standard of Shielding, they will have 4+ unmodified save, and this tends to give them enough resilience so there will be somebody in the first rank left to swing their clubs.
The lowest of the low: Goblins.
WEAKNESSES: Initiative 2, leadership 5, weapon skill 2. Enough said.
USES: Obviously these little pointy headed chaps have pilfered their magical standard from some more deserving unit. In any case, this makes them pretty useful unit if you don't have room for that Banner of Wrath in any other place. Remember that a unit of 5 Goblins costs just 12.5 points, and it enables you to field all the Doom Divers you want.
One more Goblin unit. Where do they get those Magic Standards?
WEAKNESSES: They are and remain just Goblins, colored feathers and war paint aside.
USES: As with other Goblins, you can use them in sacrificial role as a missile screen, as a trap for opponent's best troops with Crown of Command, or with enough ranks and standard, you could try to break your opponent's missile troops. Taking them gives you an access to Forest Goblin characters, and I almost always want that Spider Banner.
These Goblins are most useful ones in my eyes: They hate Dwarfs, can have fanatics hidden in their midst and get few pretty good Magical Standards.
WEAKNESSES: Goblins are Goblins, That's enough of a weakness.
USES: They are used almost exclusively as mobile bases for Fanatics. This is all well and good, though more often than not the Fanatics are drawn out before their time. Against Dwarfs, these are the Goblins you should take because they hate Dwarfs, making the otherwise fragile gobbos almost "break proof". One of my favorite tricks is to take 4+ units of Night Goblins and put them as far apart as possible. Your opponent will go crazy trying to guess in which unit the fanatics are! It is of course your choice do all of them have fanatics, or only some, or none at all.
WEAKNESSES: These units are very fragile when it comes to absorbing missile casualties. If you lose too many herders while you are near your own troops, then the squigs will go wild and probably attack your own troops. Leadership 5 and their tendency to operate outside of the Warlords leadership are makes them suspectable to any psychology tests.
USES: Squigs have a good weapon skill and strength of 5, plus 2 Attacks. Now this will hurt almost anybody, and because of that the opponents usually try to evade the charge of the Squigs. If you manage to make the squigs go wild in the middle of the opponent`s army (by placing the Goblins on a fighting rank), they usually manage to seriously hinder your opponent's advance. Just remember that the Squigs are not suitable for a core unit. Bosses in the back ranks are not a good idea.
Goblins with either nets that stop enemy attacking or clubs that grant +1 to user's Strength.
WEAKNESSES: Goblins are infamous for their low Initiative value, so their nets are useless against many opponents unless they are charging.
USES: I have two tasks for the Netters:
These are perhaps the most famous members of the Orc and Goblin army. They cause D6 Strength 5 hits on enemy if they make a contact and no armor save is allowed against their hits.
WEAKNESSES: Missile fire cuts them down like so much grass, but there is nothing you can do about it.
USES: Elf and Human Knights fear these green dervishes, and with a good reason! Against cavalry heavy army they are at their best, since armor offers almost no protection against them. When I take Fanatics, I take full three of them. No sense to chicken out when you play Greenskins! Even with Fanatics, try to consider the overall tactics. If you wish to stop enemy's flanking move on your right side, put some Night Goblins with Fanatics there. Nobody wishes to move thought them.
Boing! Boing! Many people like to field Squig Hoppers just that they could paint these very entertaining figures.
WEAKNESSES: Truly random nature. Missile fire will stop them in their tracks.
USES: How can you use troops that rely so heavily on your luck with the dice? For entertainment purposes only. It is true that my Squig Hoppers have munched a unit or two in their time, but I really can`t rely on this.
Big, dumb creatures. Read their special rules thoroughly! There is more than meets the eye.
WEAKNESSES: Artillery can be easily concentrated on Giants, and lone heroes with right equipment will cut them down. They have a nasty tendency to fall over just when you don't need it. If your opponent has terror causing monsters, Giants are in trouble. I generally don't field them against the Undead. Leadership 6 isn't much.
USES: I often go for the "pick up" option, and try to eat any wizards within the reach. Of course, the "Jump up and Down" option is good if you want to cause lots of casualties, and Chaos will hate Giant's "Yell and Bawl" attack that allows you to win a combat by two points regardless of casualties!
One of my most successful strategies was based around four Giants. While one of them went down because of the enemy missile fire, the other three reached the enemy and dealt with the opposition by combining their efforts against one regiment at time. Two of them Jumped Up and Down on unit, and one either Yelled and Bawled or Picked Up enemy characters. They are an excellent choice against opponents who do not favor War Machines.
These guys have some real muscle: Toughness 5, 3 wounds and 2 attacks.
WEAKNESSES: High point cost value and low weapon skill. Mediocre leadership and large size.
USES: They are useful for giving some muscle and resilience against opponents who tend to dish out lots of wounds when attacking. They also form a good bodyguard for any character mounted on a Large Monster, since the characters will benefit from the "Look out, Boss!" Rule.
With 3 Attacks, movement 6 and strength of 5, Trolls are powerful shock troops. Their regeneration gives them great resilience. Unfortunately, they are dumb as doornails.
WEAKNESSES: Being simple is all well and good if you are a soldier, but if you are plain stupid... Trolls don`t come cheap at 65 points per model, and if you are fired upon with Dwarf Cannons that have flaming ammunition or charged by Tyrion with his flaming sword, their regeneration won't save you.
USES: As an additional close combat unit. River Trolls are especially good at this role because they are -1 to hit. Trolls are actually a very good at what they do if the stupidity does not get you.
Against magic heavy opponents like the Elves, I prefer the Stone Trolls, and when fighting offensive enemies I always take River Trolls. When I fight against wide frontage of Knights who have high armor save value that even the strength of 5 doesn't help much (read: Chaos Knights), I use their vomit attack since it hits automatically and allows no save. If I'm using a land bound general, I try to keep my Trolls within 12" of him so I can use my general's leadership for their stupidity tests. Saves the points of that Orc Big Boss.
Crummy Snotling Slaves.
WEAKNESSES: What do you mean? Strength and toughness of 1!
USES: Four or so bases are wonderful for tying up Dwarfs if they are fielded alongside Night Goblins. Since Night Goblins usually refuse to break when fighting Dwarfs, then neither will Snotlings! They will even get a rerolls on their "to hit" rolls on first turn of hand to hand! (A fat lot of good will that do to you.) You could also put them near Savage Orcs so you can make the snotties frenzied.
I tend to put full quarter of my points on War Machines. If I am attacking, I take Chariots and Pump Wagons, and if I am advancing more slowly, I take lots of Rock Lobbers and Doom Divers.
There is the usual choice between Big `Uns and Little `Uns. Just for the economical reasons, I prefer small ones against most armies. Then again, some opponents rely heavily on such troops as mummies and Dragon Ogres, and against these the Big Rock Lobbers are better. One Stone Thrower is never enough. If you field any at all, try taking a battery of at least three machines. This guarantees at least few "hits".
Since your crews have a ballistic skill of 3, you can't really expect them to hit anything. When I do take them, I take a very large cluster. At least five is needed, and I'd prefer more. They are good against heavily armored targets since they allow no save.
Cheap in points and wonderfully destructive, if somewhat random, Snotling Pump Wagons are very good value for their points. If you have cash to spare, then a large group of them is very effective, especially against armies without heavy missile support, like Chaos. The low leadership value of the crew makes them fragile, however, and if your opponent cast Traitor of Tarn on a large block of Pump Wagons you can kiss your army for good-bye. One of the most terrible sights in Warhammer Fantasy Battle is a large frontage of Snotling Pump Wagons. One of the most successful Orc and Goblin armies I`ve fielded had a "Skirmish Screen" of 12 Pump Wagons! Those Bretonnians didn't know what hit them.
These green loonies are your most accurate artillery. I use them to pick on Chariots, Cannons, Stone Throwers and so on. One of the best target of a flying loonie is the War Altar of Sigmar and the Grand Theogonist. Since Volkmar can't hide inside units and because he loses his powers when his War Altar is destroyed, the Empire will soon learn to fear Doom Divers! They are not as good against large enemy regiments because their smaller template (you won`t cover many Cavalry bases with that) and weaker hit. Warning though: Doom Divers are at their best only if you are very adept at guessing ranges. Their ability to modify the crash-site is useless if your original estimation is wide by a mile!
These are very resilient chariots because the Crew and the Boars both have toughness of 4 and you can buy extra crew. Their weakness is that you can have only two boars to pull each chariot. As with everything else when playing Greenskins, the more, the better. Since you`ll probably be advancing towards your foes at full speed, hiding Chariots behind hills and buildings will do you no good. One or two Chariots are easily destroyed by enemy missile fire. Five gives you a chance! When they do hit their enemies, the results are usually very impressive, and even the thickest armor is rather useless against D6+2 strength 7 hits.
I usually buy my Wolf Chariots in regiments because they need somebody`s leadership to take those panic tests. They are far too useful to be running away from the field. An Orc Boss, or even better, Skarsnik with Gobbla should provide the Leadership you need. These Chariots are very much to my liking: with Movement of 9 they rumble across the battlefield at admirable speed, hit enemies very hard and are relatively cheap. And remember to paint the chariots red `cos red ones go faster!
First piece of Advice I can give is to leave War Wyverns home! At 180 points, they are one of the worst deal imaginable: strength 5, 4 Wounds, 3 A and leadership of 5 make Wyvern a puny creature indeed! Believe me: it has simply painted itself green to fool honest Orcs. Manticore, on the other hand is an excellent creature, and worth considering even as a individual monster because it has leadership of 8. Gigantic Spiders are good when you are playing a Siege Game, and if your opponent has a unit you don`t fancy fighting with, take a White Dragon, freeze the Scum and laugh! I suggest that you don`t mount your Characters on Monsters. This is of course a matter of taste, but I feel that Ladz need their Bosses in the units.
One notable thing about Green skin Special Characters is their ego: almost everybody wishes to lead the army alone!
Azhag is a good choice for the Generals who want to get rid of animosity without Black Orcs or cheesy Hobgoblin allies. Just keep the bulk of your fighting force within 12" of him, and make sure that he stays alive. The fact that he always has to wear Crown of Sorcery limits his usefulness in hand-to-hand.
Never forget that Azhag has leadership of 10 as opposed to the standard Orc Lord`s 9, and this guarantees a good leadership to your army. Like the stubborn Orc he is, Azhag insists on riding a Wyvern. Not only is this creature one of the worst deals in whole Warhammer Fantasy Battle, but it also makes Azhag very susceptible to enemy fire. My answer is to attach Azhag to a large Regiment of Trolls or Ogres, so your enemy can`t pick on him with missile fire. Because Trolls and Ogres both have a good Movement score of 6, you`ll probably make it across the battlefield before you accumulate too many missile casualties. Such a unit is also a terrible Close Combat Crusher! If you decide to use this unit, put some additional Characters with it (mounted on other monsters) to take up any challenges, and if you want to follow this course, I recommend Trolls: Since they regenerate, they will have an immensive missile causality resilience, and the Stupidity is not such a problem since Azhag has leadership of 10.
An Orc Big Boss with a massive strength of 5. I usually try to bring the best out of Gorfang by mounting him on a War Boar and giving him a Star Lance. 3 attacks are too few for my testes, however, so sometimes I give him a Blade of Leaping Bronze. If you are considering an Orc Big Boss, take Gorfang. Against Dwarfs, he is of course essential.
Grom gets his regeneration ability for 30 points, and this is a good deal indeed. He comes in a Chariot along with his trusty Goblin Standard Bearer. Grom always rides a Chariot, so he is not a good buy against Elves or anybody else who relies on missile Troops or War Machines. Against Chaos He is pretty good, however, though he rely needs that Crown of Command then. The axe of Grom is a decent weapon.
Gorbad is a leadership 10 Orc General who has to take Morgor the Mangler. If you need that leadership 10 and don`t want Black Orc General, be my guest and use Gorbad. Of course that extra point of leadership is for free (Gorbad rides a War Boar, +8 points and has light armor, +2 points), so he is superior to a normal Orc General. The trouble with Gorbad is that he has to be the Army`s General, so I usually leave him to the Orc history where he belongs and rather field a Savage Orc or Black Orc General.
Perhaps the most popular of the Special Characters, Morglum is a Black Orc Lord that is immune to psychology. I tend to field him when playing against Chaos or Undead. It is no use to be immune to psychology if you don`t need to take the test in the first place!
Oglok is a good Big Boss with weapon skill 6, leadership 9 and four attacks. Go get them! He is perfect for leading any supporting assault regiments because he has a respectable leadership and good hand-to-hand potential with the right equipment. All in all, he is not a game winner, but definitely worth considering.
With leadership of 9, Skarsnik is an excellent leader. Gobbla gives him a lot of additional hand-to-hand power. If you decide to take a large unit of Goblin Chariots, Skarsnik is an excellent leader for them. It is good to remember that Skarsnik is a Night Goblin, so he Hates Dwarfs. This means you should always consider him when facing the stunties.
When you start building your army, simply purchase Crown of Command first and wonder to whom you will give it afterwards. Morgor the Mangler is expensive, but in the hands of a Black Orc War boss, it is also wonderfully deadly. The Sword of Fortitude is a very good choice if you field lotz and lotz of Goblins, because you definitely don`t want to take those panic tests. To give your Savage Orc Big Boss/War Boss some real bite in combat, I prefer Blade of Darting Steel combined with Strength potion. 8 (or 16 with Spider Banner) automatic his with strength 7 can mow down almost anything! When taking magic items, I prefer things that affect units, since you`ll have lotz of them, and they tend to be large: Ruby Chalice against Elves, Magic Standards of any type, Sword of Bork and so on. If your army has great number of Goblins, buy Horn of Urgok. Items that allow you to cast spells are worth considering: since your own choice of spells is sadly limited, That Ring of Volans might just have a suitable spell for you. Book of Ashur is useful, allowing you to get access to some other spells than WAAAGGHH!
An extremely dirty trick is to field some Hobgoblin allies to get rid of animosity once and for all. This is cheesy to extreme, and your opponent will despise you, people will point at you on streets and children will spit at you. Wizards of any type are a good place to spend your allied quota, since your own shamans are a "bit" unreliable. Dark Elves (with crossbows) are good allies in general and (with Cold Ones) against High Elves in particular. Chaos allies give you even more bite in hand-to-hand.
While your troops tend to be between dull and downright stupid when it comes to the brains, you, as a player must actually be VERY, VERY cleaver if you wish to field a successful Green skin army.
Animosity is, and remains one of the biggest problems of the Orc and Goblin Army. There are plenty of items like the Sword of Bork or The Evil Sun Banner that are effective against it, Black Orc Big Bosses cancel it and Hobgoblins stop it entirely, but any of these methods is not 100 percent sure. I think it is better to have your Main Units as well protected from the animosity as possible, with a Backup-system in case your original plan fails. For example, Big `Uns with TWO Black Orc Big Bosses.
Dwarfs are perhaps the most difficult army for you to beat: They are very good in hand-to-hand, have a wide array of very dangerous War Machines and worst of all, they Hate almost all your troop types. I have several ways to deal with the Dwarfs: First of all, your army list includes a lot of troops that are NOT Greenskins. Ogres, Trolls, Giants and Squigs are all good options and a large number of Giants can throw your opponent off-balance. Night Goblins are good with their Fanatics and because they hate Dwarfs right back! Taking a full quota of Allies is a good idea: Fast Chaos Troops like the Daemonettes mounted on Steeds of Slaanesh are a good match to Dwarfs.
All Elves are troublesome against Goblins because the little `uns will fear any Elf regiment they don`t outnumber at least 2:1. Keep your Mobs large!
Most armies field only one or two units that are meant for real hand-to-hand battles. Since your troops are cheap and generally effective in melee, try always to have at least three real core units, and more of them if you can manage.
Keep your Mobs large. First of all, it naturally gives them more resilience, and secondly, you must have reasonably-sized units near your Shamans if you want to cast any spells. I`d say a minimum of 30 Goblins and 20 Orcs for Foot Mobs, and 20 Goblins and 10 Orcs for Cavalry. Take more if possible at all.
When you are picking your hand-to-hand units, spare no expenses: for example, I might take a Unit of 20 Savage Orc Boar Boyz, armed with Spears, Led by a Black Orc General with Crown of Command, Black Amulet and Sword of Fortitude. The unit shall also be accompanied by (fully armored) two Savage Orc Big Bosses, One with Strength Potion and Blade of Darting Steel, other with Morgor the Mangler. A Forest Goblin Battle Standard Bearer (on a Giant Spider) with a Spider Banner is also with them, as well as a Savage Orc shaman of any level. The regiment will carry either Banner of Might or Standard of Shielding. This unit should fight against anybody reasonably well.
The above comments does not apply to support units: If you just want to chase away some Kislev Horse Archers, then six Goblin Wolf Riders armed with spears is a good bet and very cheap. Trolls and Squigs are good for their fear value, and Arrer Boy units do not need to be that large, either.
Last, but not least, GIVE ALL YOUR UNITS SOME MISSION!!! It is fun to paint and field stupidly grinning figures, but if you take some units just for the hell of it, don`t expect to win.
When faced with a defensive army like the High Elves, go for full offensive: Take Boar Boyz, Spider Riders, Wolf Riders and some Pump Wagons, and perhaps a LARGE foot regiment or two. Since you can`t hope to out-shoot your opponent, don`t try to: Simple!
If your opponent relies heavily on War Machines, don`t charge headlong: Take those Hellblasters and Organ Guns out first. Field Doom Divers, Flying Monsters and arrerz to pick out these nuisances first, while still advancing with your real units. Chariots are good at this approach, since normally they tend to lag behind because they can`t make march moves.
Some armies, namely Chaos, Dark Elves and Skaven are also very Close Combat orientated: Here you must rely on your superior numbers to deal with the opposition. I once again recommend Chariots: because these armies are normally not as numerous (excluding Skaven) and do not possess the sheer firepower of the Empire, your Chariots usually can get through and hit your opponents hard. Since their troops are expensive, they often can`t take this punishment. Rock Lobbers are also good to cut down those 80 point Chaos Knights.
The battle was over. Thurgash stood upon the corpses of the leaders of his opponent`s: Here was a Dwarf King, with his head missing from his shoulders: there lay an Elf Lord, whose magical armor had availed him not. Next to him lay a human General, his face a mask of pain and horror. "Well." Grumbled Thurgash "What have you learned?" He enquired from the little Goblin.
Goblin thought for a moment and then it`s features brightened. "Wee should drink da beer more often?" It explained enthusiastically. Thurgash grabbed his sword once again and started to run after the fleeing Goblin.
(With thanks to the sadly deceased Shannon. I paid a vast fortune to the Clan Pestilence to infect his Clanhold with the Black Plague. -Can't have competitors you know... Neek-neek!)
Young warlord Kreekish stepped inside the dark cell. Old, one-eyed Skaven, dressed in rags rose slowly to his feet, blinking his only eye in the light of the visitors torch. Once this prisoner had been a mighty, dark-furred Warrior, but now his arms had withered away almost to nothing, and his skin was bald and blotched. Still, he was tall, and his eye glared vengefully from it's socket. "Sraqual." Said Kreekish. "Your accursed son defeated yet another army I sent against him. My allies, warriors of Clan Kritus complain that he is too good strategist for the likes of me. Still, I know that it was YOU who taught him everything he knows about the Arts of War." The Warlord bent over his enfeebled prisoner, brandishing a serrated knife. "Now you'll share your knowledge with ME or I shall cut you up and feed your carcass to my breeders!"
For a while Sraqual smiled the Dark Smile. Finally he answered. "Yes-yes. I will tell. This was how I won those victories, all those years ago..."
Skaven are a very interesting case. In straight hand to hand, they have advantage over the closest thing, the Humans, since their I and M are better, allowing them to charge and strike first. But LD 5, inability to use cavalry and the lack of missile troops swing the balance in the favor of Humans. Then again, Skaven cost just 4,5 points... just cheap enough to get the special WH discount of 50 per cent on equipment! The one thing that always holds true about the Skaven is that you've got to have lots of them. The bigger their units are, the better. This way you can increase their LD to a more acceptable level.
If leading a big unit the low LD of the Skaven isn't so much of a problem, and since they are good value for points in hand to hand. Your characters are cheap, so you should be able to give them good deal of magical toys.
Close-combat monster! Get them while they are frenzied! Only 73 points! Plaque priests are very good value for the points, and it is a rare day that I leave my Clanhold without one. I often give him a Blade of Darting Steel (automatic hits) against the Elves and the like who have low toughness and armor save, or Ogre Blade (+2 S) against Chaos or such. For extra magical power, equip him with the Liber Bubonicus and grab those Nurgle spells.
One of the most powerful characters in WH, Vermin Lords are truly powerful but also a bit problematic. They are pretty cheap compared to most Greater Daemons, but that 600 points comes out of your Character allowance...
One good trick is to put Vermin Lord in to a unit of Rat Ogres. This gives him a protection against missiles and War Machines, and he can't be picked out as target for missile fire. The merits of the Vermin Lord also include it's magical powers. It has an access to the Dark Magic deck, and in larger games this is a Good Thing since Skaven have only one deck available to them without Crown of Sorcery or such. Against Chaos he is almost essential since he can beat up practically anybody except the Bloodthirster, and Chaos lacks the War Machines that are very dangerous to this rat.
These wizards are cheap, but unlike many other sorcerers they are very weak in combat. Also, they can't use many of the best spells in the Skaven deck. They are good of keeping the winds of magic rolling 2D6, carrying dispel scrolls and (in the case of the Warlock Master) leading units.
These are your best wizards, and your rats can be served with a Screaming Bell side order. Grey Seers are as powerful warriors as your General, just as good leaders, have greater resilience and the ability to use some of the best Skaven spells. Thus it is no wonder that I always include one in my army. Very often I don't buy anything combat-orientated to my wizards, but Grey Seers are an exception and quite often get at least Warpstone Armor or Black Amulet for protection. Their only negative side is that they are truly expensive.
As far as the magic is concerned, try to get the Death Frenzy, Plague, Curse of the Horned Rat and the Madness from the Skaven deck.
Cream of the Clanrats, these Skaven warriors are very un-Skavenlike. They are expensive! They are your best basic infantry unit, and they are one of the three chances Skaven get to field a magical standard without allies.
WEAKNESSES: High point cost plus low toughness and armor save. Your enemy will shoot at them with the fury of an ape.
USES: Stormvermin are a problematical unit. On the other hand, they are much better warriors than almost any other unit of rats, but their high point cost is un-Skavenish. Since IMHO there is no sense cutting the corners with a Skaven unit, a small unit is out of the question. I have two answers.
Basic Skaven: The only real fault is their low leadership, but as long as you have your extra three ranks, you should be OK.
WEAKNESSES: Leadership 5 and average statistics.
USES: For their core unit, many people use the clanrats with spears since A) they are cheap B) with spears your rats might even get a chance to fight back! Since they are very cheap, you often find that you have points for an additional unit that might be worth it just to draw missile fire and transport assassins, globadiers and a Warpfire thrower. Unit sizes should start at 30-40, and can go up to infinity.
Fast, strong, well equipped, expensive. Their special deployment is very useful since they don't have to suffer from the hail of missiles as your other units.
WEAKNESSES: Can't field a magic standard. Expensive. Low toughness.
USES: The usual method is equip them with everything imaginable, use their special deployment rule, and harass War Machines, marching units and such. Unit sizes from 6 to 12 should be enough.
The other method I use is sneaky and frighteningly risky. Since Gutter Runners are great fighters, (weapon skill 4, strength 4, and 2 attacks with additional hand weapons) they can be formed into a standard regiment instead of skirmishing and deployed near the enemy. You should be able to charge your opponents on a first or second turn. With assassins, good leaders and wise choice of magic equipment, there are not many regiments that can stand their charge. Of course this option is very costly and can cause you your worst defeat, but it is an entertaining variation.
Poisoned blades, weapon skill 5, 2 attacks and a handy disguise rule make Adepts of Clan Eshin very useful rats to have.
WEAKNESSES: Elven and Dwarven elites have as high weapon skill as they and thus are hard to hit. strength 4 isn't that hot against a Nurgle Character with toughness 6.
USES: I almost always take as many assassins as I can. Good fighters, dangerous against characters and they don't eat up my character allowance. Though it must be said that when I need more points, the assassins are the ones that go.
Weak, weaker, Skavenslave, but don't ignore them! They are cannon fodder par excellence!
WEAKNESSES: Leadership 4, weapon skill and ballistic skill 2. Need I say more?
USES: If you are playing on a battlefield with relatively few hills, you'll do well by using slaves as living shields against the enemy missile fire. If your opponent has a nasty habit of using frenzied troops, you can use slaves to take the charges of these very dangerous things. With a Crown of Command and 40+ slaves you can lock that Khornate knight unit in a futile and endless combat.
If there ever was a good troop type, it's plague censer bearers. 2 attacks, re-rolls on the first turn, hard to hit, weapon skill 4, leadership 10 for break tests, and the poison wind effect, all at 15 points!
WEAKNESSES: Sometimes an unlucky row of dice rolls can thwart your plans and the globadiers kill themselves with the poisonous fumes, or break regardless of their unmodified leadership of 10. You can't have a really big regiment since their formation. Other than that, no weaknesses.
USES: Try to find toughest possible target for them. On the first round of their charge the Cencer Bearers always cause immense damage, and even after that they tie the enemy up because of their hatred, and the fact that they are toughness 4 troops and thus very hard to hurt. They are very useful for their brother Plague Monk's also, since they can act as a missile shield as they are -2 to hit. The one problem is to get the unit size right since otherwise they get in each others way an possibly poison themselves. 12 should serve you well. As a final word, don't ever forget these troops! They are IMHO an essential part of any Skaven army.
The initiates of infection and the disciples of disease have toughness 4, ability to carry a magical standard and they are affected by the rules for frenzy.
WEAKNESSES: Low strength. Spells which require armor save are dangerous.
USES: As they give access to Plaque Priests, Censer Bearers and additional magic standard, I always field at least one unit. With toughness of 4, they can take quite a lot of punishment from missile fire, and it partially offsets their low armor save. I always give them additional hand weapons, and if facing somebody with regular bows, like Wood Elves, I consider giving them light armor.
Rat Ogres are your heavy hitters.
WEAKNESSES: If you lose all your packmasters, the Rat Ogres are history. Stupidity and leadership 4 are a deadly combination.
USES: As shock troops since you lack heavy cavalry. I've seen many different units, ranging from a single handler and Rat Ogre to a monster unit of 24 Rat Ogres! I would say that a large unit is better than smaller one, since spells like Death Frenzy are of much more use. But remember that if your unit of 12+ Rat Ogres breaks and is destroyed, it could well mean the end of you. Crown of Command is a good buy to the character leading such an expensive unit. It is sometimes worth to move a Skaven Character from a regular units to the Rat Ogre unit if all their packmasters get killed. Characters can act as packmasters.
Since they are so cheap, they are a good place to invest some extra points.
WEAKNESSES: Of course they can't beat heavy cavalry, don't even try.
USES: There are couple of pitfalls to avoid. Don't fight opponents with weapon skill of 5 or more, since you'll hit them only with 5+. Also, don't take too many packmasters, since the cost of the unit will be too high then. Giant Rats can fight against Skeletons, Goblins and such, act as a knight trap with Crown of Command, and draw out charges of the frenzied troops. Remember that they can always lap around their enemies.
At 30 points, they are expensive and must be always used for the best effect.
WEAKNESSES: You really can't use them in their own regiments. They can't stand any hand to hand combat, and their "Stand and Shoot" reaches only 6 inches.
USES: Since they can hurt anybody, they are a valuable part of any Skaven force. You should always include them in every regiment allowed, for even though the often let you down, their psychological effect is so great that your opponent often uses too much time trying to kill them, neglecting your real units. Always target your worst nightmares with these things since they can hurt even a Dwarf Lord with Toughness of 10.
When these thing work they are deadly to extreme. remember that the crew have heavy armor! That 5+ armor save has helped me time and again. If used as their own units (You must be very brave or stupid to do this since they have leadership of 5) keep them away from the rest of your troops! They have the worst misfires in the whole game! I recommend using them attached to units.
Against Chaos and other armies with little or no missile power and dangerous hand to hand troops, Doomwheel is almost essential. It is one of the few things in Skaven army that can operate alone, for the Warlock Engineer driving it has a leadership of 10! Obviously too much warpstone snuff.
It is a good idea to keep the Doomwheel on a hill in the beginning of the game since it gains extra impetus when it rolls down the slopes. Don't forget that the Engineer wears heavy armor! This has saved my hide now and then.
These are one of the few long-ranged Skaven weapons. The trouble is that their leadership 5 causes them to run away practically every time there is a panic test to take. They are also uncommonly expensive rats. They have ballistic skill of only 3 so you generally hit with 5+ on D6. Because of this, choose your targets! Go for knights, ogres, chariots and such. Because of their strength of 5 and D3 wounds you can hurt almost anything badly. I recommend targeting anything larger than 10' since you gain +1 to hit bonus. Don't over rely on them! They are too expensive to compensate for your lack of bowmen.
As a package, Screaming Bell is cheap. It charges as a chariot, has 4+ dispel, makes the Grey Seer and the Bell Slave immune to psychology and gives them hatred, grants you one extra magic card, plus gives you the random powers of the Bell itself! On the other hand, it slows down the regiment pushing it, can be targeted with missile weapons, may explode if strung with too high note and becomes a prime target for the enemy. I wouldn't field it against Elves or such since it is far too easy to lose your invaluable Grey Seer, and even the loss of the Striker is a sad blow. It might be a good idea to give the Grey Seer a Warpstone armor when he is riding Screaming Bell. Recommended against assault armies like Chaos.
I avoid mounting Skaven characters on monsters since they often become the prime targets for enemy missile fire. The problems are even greater if you send your Warlord or Grey Seer to face the enemy alone. The low leadership of the Skaven Characters will probably be the death of you.
A powerful monster might be able to swing the balance to your favor in hand to hand, and without rider it doesn't eat up your character allowance.
Rat Swarms are the best buy on this list. They are cheap, but above all, they are immune to psychology and break tests. There is a unit you don't want to fight? Send couple of swarms to bug it down!
If you want good value for points, choose Thanquol. He is accompanied by extra-strong rat-ogre, is able to re-roll warpstone tests, and costs only little more than normal Grey Seer. Since he replaces the general you can save couple of points in smaller battles. In bigger ones, you must use Special characters to field Skaven Lords with Thanquol. He is pretty good if you feel you must take risks since his Special Blessing from the Horned Rat that shifts wounds suffered by him to other Skaven. Just remember to keep him with units or near them!
Need to kill somebody? Lord Skrolk is your rat. With 8 attacks while frenzied and one of the deadliest weapons in the game, Lord Skrolk really send shivers up your opponent's spine. He is actually pretty good against big monsters since they don't wear magical armor, and they will die on a roll of 6 on D6 regardless of their toughness. While he is expensive, I consider him every time when my Stormvermin start pressing Clanrats into service.
I like Ikit very much since he can take his spells from any spell deck, overcoming the normal Skaven problem of limited choice of magic. He is actually pretty tough in hand to hand and is immune to psychology and rout tests. He also can act as an extra poison wind globadier from the middle of the unit if you don't fancy your chances in hand to hand, and besides he is not even that expensive.
On the down side, he has to take the Storm-Daemon, which is a good weapon but the wizards really need those power scrolls and such. He also replaces your general and forces you to field 25 per cent of your points as war machines. I've seen him defeat the Undead and the Chaos very handily with High Magic Spells.
As he always acts as a general, try to keep him alive. He is actually extremely good at leading army because of his unheard of leadership of 9! He really puts some backbone to your army's morale.
He can act as a extra-strong packmaster that your opponents fear since he tends to snap their necks with his Man-Catcher. Typically dirty trick is to give him a Sword of swift slaying that can really shock your opponents. A good place for extra points, but not essential.
One of my answers for too powerful characters, the Deathmaster will put fear of the Horned Rat into the hearts of your opponents. Give him the Black Amulet and put him on the orders of terminating everything non-Skaven. All in all, I can't recommend him highly enough. There is almost no easy way to take the Deathmaster on.
Against the Dwarfs and Orcs and Goblins, I try to always include this very colorful creature. Mind you, a Chaos Lord will usually have him for lunch in challenge match, and you might need that Warpstone Armor somewhere else. Remember that in a challenge match against Dwarfs he wounds automatically since he gets +1 to wound rolls and the Dwarf-Gouger wounds Dwarfs on 2+!
Skaven have access some of the best magic items in whole game, so read the Skaven book thoroughly. Crown of Command is compulsory, don't even think of not taking it. The only problem is where to put it. Weeping Blade is one of the most point cost effective things you can get and should always be a high priority. Warpstone Armor is good, since it can give an unmodified save even to the wizards of your army. Since your army generally includes large units, a things like Skavenbrew work very well.
Because it is very, very hard to rally fleeing Skaven, the Horn of Urgok is a good buy. Also, since you don't want to roll against that lousy leadership of yours, you should consider Sword of Fortitude.
Take many jezzails and warpfire-thrower units with poison wind globadiers, NOT!
No, even I can't make a defensive Skaven army. Offense is the way to go. But the problem is that very few rats can gnaw, say a large unit of Dragon Ogres, to death. because of this you have to resort to very low tricks. Then again, you're a Skaven Lord, so dirty tricks are your life's blood!
Remember, keep your units large. Missiles will cut your numbers, but if
you have enough rats, you can afford the losses. Take magic items that
protect whole units; they are the most cost efficient.
According to GWUK all weapons that include warpstone are classified as magical.
Here then are some of my suggestions for the overall tactic.
This is the famed "all or nothing" tactic. Concentrate everything you've got on 1 big unit. If you want to make an impression on your enemy with sheer numbers, then take Clanrats. I've seen a unit of 200 Clanrats once! Other troops should be there only to support your main unit. The magical items you need are Crown of Command, Amulet of Obsidian, the Talisman of Ravensdark, Skavenbrew and perhaps the Battle Banner. Give your characters the best possible weapons like Slayer Swords, Frostblade, Fellblade and so on. Just watch out for those goblin units with Crown of Command and Warbosses with the Heart of Woe. The Ring of Corin should serve you well.
Skaven army has some very powerful characters and special troops, and sometimes I like to go for the quality and not the quantity. With a Vermin Lord leading the attack of the Gutter Runners, Rat Ogres, Stromvermin and Plaque Monks with Cencer Bearers, you have every possibility to defeat anybody in hand to hand. This works best against opponents who dislike missile troops and war machines. Losing many of these valuable troops before actual combat spells D-E-F-E-A-T.
This is my favorite tactic: Since Skaven get many cheap and effective sacrificial troops, I use them to the best effect: Rat swarms and Skavenslaves plus Giant Rats will tie up the most dangerous parts of the enemy. Meanwhile, using their local superiority, the actual regiments defeat the weaker parts of the enemy force. Imagine your opponent's heavy cavalry struggling with 100+ Slaves who have the Crown of Command.
This is definitely a thinking man's tactic, since a mindless and destructive charge is much easier to master. Then again, it is very difficult to defeat a Chaos or competently led Dark Elf army without any tricks.
This is not a tactic on it's own, it is rather a compliment to any other Skaven Tactical approach. Many opponents are quite happy to stay in cover and shoot at your rats. This might be problematic, especially if your opponent is skulking behind a defended obstacle, making hand to hand a risky business. The answer to this problem is to field as many Warp-Fire throwers as possible, perhaps even in their own units, and fire away against your opponents. The immense destruction these devices cause, combined with the panic tests they cause, soon make your opponent to re-consider his tactics.
The eyes of Kreekish glittered. "Fool-fool!" he cried. "Now I shall vanquish your Clan and bring the head of your son for my breeders to gnaw! You have recreated your own Doom!"
Triumphant young Warlord left his prisoner and hurried off to muster his army. "Yes-yes." Whispered Sraqal. "I have told you everything. Everything but that your allies, Clan Kritus have secretly pledged alliance to my son. It's your fate that is sealed." Skral fell silent in his unholy joy.
The combined armies huddled around their campfires in silent misery. They had fought Chaos Hordes three times, and three times they had failed. Wurtbad had been taken, and Karak-Harz was reduced to ruins. After some of the most bitter fighting in the history of the Old World, the walls of Stavrosgrad in Kislev were brought down. The coming day would bring their final chance to stop the tide of Chaos. If they failed, the route to the Free Lands would be open, and the World would end in baptism of Chaos and Blood. And they knew they could not stand the terrible onslaught that awaited them.
Dimitri's weary eyes scanned the campfires, looking for some consolidation, but finding only bitter men who knew that they would face death tomorrow. Then he noticed a hooded man, who carried a round shield with a symbol of a broken eight-pointed arrow, the rune that was made to be the bane of Chaos. He suddenly became aware that men around him had stood up, and a glimmer of hope was evident in their eyes. "Who is that?" He asked from Erich who was standing next to him. "He is known as Longsword, a sworn enemy of Chaos. Our generals had sent outriders to look for him. It seems that they have found him."
Suddenly Dimitri felt that the tide had turned.
The danger of Chaos lies first and foremost in their astounding ability to dish out wounds in melee. Both their characters and their rank and file are dangerous to the extreme, far surpassing any opposing army. The only thing that can stand in their way are Undead Characters, Dwarf Lords with wagon loads of Runes and very few Special Characters like the Deathmaster Snikch. Many troops Chaos fields also cause fear, and far too often they are unbreakable, frenzied, or similarly boosted. So are they undefeatable? No! Read on.
The thing that rings true to most Chaos troops is that they are very, very costly in the terms of points. A single Bloodthirster demands a Chaos General to dish out 800 points! The points of the Chaos troops are usually well spent, but even so the numbers will probably be on your side, and you must use this to your advantage. Your units should always have at the full 3 extra ranks, and champions and standards. If you think that you can not afford them, think again! If your Chaos opponent can afford a Chaos Lord, surely you can afford a champion?
The other weakness of Chaos is of course their predictability. They will charge headlong towards you screaming "Blood for the Blood God!", so blame yourself if you did not come prepared.
Thirdly, there are the characters. I hear you screaming "WHAT?!", but think about the point concentration they represent. Chaos can rarely bring more than 1 wizard to field. Deal with him, and the superiority in the Magic Phase is yours. If your opponent likes to bring a Chaos Lord mounted on a Chaos Dragon to the field, his army will be mortally crippled if you kill him/trap him with the Black Gem of Gnar. This advice may sound strange, but I see Chaos Characters as the main pray for my army, not as a thing I should excessively fear.
See where the danger lies and deal with it.
I have listed here some of the most common tricks Chaos players use, and my solutions to counter them.
One of the most typical tricks for a Chaos Player is to use their Greater Daemons to attack your units. As these things are not Characters, your opponent does not have to worry about challenges form champions. Since these things can cause immensive damage, they are quite capable of routing whole units. Expensive units that lack enough rank bonus, like knights, are especially vulnerable to this.
Dragon Ogres are one of the most powerful units around when compared to their relatively low point cost value, and should never be taken lightly.
Dragon Ogres, as well as many other Chaos Creatures have multiple wounds, so Rendering Sword, Slayer Sword and any other weapon that causes multiple wounds is usually a good buy against Chaos. Cannons and Large Stone Throwers are also ideal, having strength 10 and causing D4-D6 wounds per hit.
Chaos has some real armor save monsters, especially the Chaos Knights. They may have "only" Toughness 4 and 1 wound but can easily have an armor save of 1+! Even very powerful heroes will struggle to penetrate their armor. The answer is to cause wounds with no armor save! Some magic weapons (like the Runefang) will do the job, and so do most War Machines. A Deathsword combines two admirable qualities that are necessary when fighting Chaos: (1) It grants high strength to wound the Chaos Troops (2) Gives a -7 armor save modifier!
As the main strength of the Chaos armies is hand to hand, a very usual tactic for a Chaos General is to equip his Chaos Sorcerer with a Chaos Familiar, Warpstone Charm and the Chalice of Chaos that will end the magic phase 1 time out of 3, thus saving Chaos Troops from a lot of magical bombardment.
Chaos Battle Standard bearers are especially dangerous foes, as they benefit both from a magical standard and the advantages of a Hero of Chaos. Normally such Characters should be challenged with champions, but as Chaos Battle Standard Bearers can carry a battle-resolution boosting banner and a potent magic weapon, your unit might be embarrassingly routed. A better way is to put your hand to hand character against him (are you sure he has a Black Amulet), and try to slay this very costly character. Hardy as he is, the Battle Standard is still easier to deal with than a fully boosted Chaos Lord.
Chaos armies often rely very heavily on flyers. If the Chaos army opposing you seems to have more than half of it's troops with the ability to fly, it is a wise idea to move your troops further afield. This enables you to flee from combats that seem hopeless, and allows you to open fire on the landed flyers (with slightly surprised expressions on their faces), and since you are not near to the edges of the field, you'll have a chance to rally your troops.
Don't let the Chaos steamroller get to you! Run away from a fight you are sure to lose, keep your distance. You'll win if you do not have to enter melee.
There are several options to slow down the Chaos armies. White Dragons have a breath that freezes units altogether. It is great when you compare the cost of a normal Dragon (450) to that of a fully -flexed unit of Chaos Knights. (800+!)
War Dancers with their Shadow's Coil dance are also excellent for holding up units that are too powerful in hand to hand, but not altogether reliable since they can still be shot at or frightened with Terror Tests.
I feel that all good armies should include a Dwarf with the Master Rune of Dismay when fighting Against Chaos. Leadership checks all around or else you are frozen on the spot for one turn!
There are also many suitable spells to hold the Chaos Horde while you pound it with every long range attack you've got. Wind Blast, Crimson Bands, Writhing Worm and Manacle of Caloe can seriously hinder the advance of Chaos. I recommend them heartily.
Fleeing is however all too rarely an option since a Chaos Army includes great many options for taking flying creatures, and far too many lightning-fast ground troops. Daemonettes on Steeds of Slaanesh, Centaurs, Harpies, Disk Riders, Juggernaut Cavalry (gasp!), Chariots pulled by Disks of Tzeentch or Slaaneshi Steeds etc. generally means that you will not outrun the forces of Chaos.
But most importantly, remember that the attackers who charge from Flying High WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PURSUIT! The classic Chaos Tactic is to mount a Khornate Lord on Manticore or equivalent give him sword of Destruction or Slayer Sword, Regeneration, and Black amulet and get this monstrosity to accompany a Bloodthirster as it charges a hapless unit. If they are coming from Flying High? You have two options.
Well, actually there are variants:
Carrying the Amulet of Ravensdark is perhaps the best one: Challenge the Chaos Lord with your Champion, and you shall win the combat by many, many points as the Bloodthirster can't hit you, and even the Chaos Lord will score with natural 6's only! If they break, pursue them and cut them down. Even if they make the test, they will still be driven off!
Scarecrow banner is another option, though it is less secure. It does, however, make your troops immune to the Terror tests caused by all flying Monsters, and this includes Bloodthirsters and Lords of Change!
When shooting at the Dread Hordes of Chaos, it is easy to panic: All troops seem equally intimidating, and one easily just looses his arrows towards nearest target to increase the chance of hitting something. This is often disastrous. Chaos Knights will not bow down to Crossbow fire, and Repeater Bolt Throwers will not penetrate the ranks of Beastmen because of their 2 wounds. Pick your targets and concentrate your fire, both with the War Machines and the regular missile troops. Even Chaos troops fail their panic tests sometimes, and every missing rank in their formation means difference of 1 point in Combat Resolution. It might save you.
Be prepared to take on a lots of Fear/Terror causing creatures. In this respect the Chaos Army is almost as dangerous as an Undead force, so prepare accordingly. Try to make all your leadership test on 10, and if possible, try not to take them at all. The Sword of Fortitude is feeble in hand to hand, but almost essential in your main unit.
The actual strategy that I have found to be the most effective one is to divide my power between several units, disrupt the advancing columns of Chaos, shoot them with high-powered missile/War Machine fire, and concentrate my hand to hand units on one unit at a time.
I often take a risk and field very small (5) regiments in the front of my best hand to hand units. As these will die to a last man as the Chaos troops charge them, your enemy will not be able to pursue, and thus will be a sitting duck to your countercharge! Thus far this tactic has worked almost every time, though there is a risk as a wiped-out unit causes a panic test.
As you will probably be doing lots of fleeing (via charge reactions if you are wise or via break tests if you are headstrong), so try to deploy all your troops so that on a average roll they will not be able to leave the field if they flee. (8 for infantry/7 for Dwarfs and 11 for cavalry).
Since generally you simply can not make as powerful hand to hand units as Chaos, it is worth considering an army that has it's power base laid out evenly between units. Think of this: If you put your Mage Lord, General, Battle Standard Bearer and 20+ of your most expensive troops in same unit, you'll lose the game when this block of points is charged by a Chaos Lord, Dragon Ogres and a Bloodthirster. On the other hand, if you decide very carefully how you spread your characters, any (inevitable) defeats in hand to hand will not cripple you.
Unbreakable troops like Slayers, Dwarfs with Rune of Courage, units with the Crown of Command and Flagellants and Skeletons are all good against Chaos armies that can not afford to have their units tied in futile combats. Chaos must win in hand to hand, and win fast, or the fight will turn against them.
Chaos Troops generally have good to excellent toughness and plenty of wounds or high armor save, so bows, crossbows and such are not as effective as against most other armies. If you do take them, I recommend crossbows and hand guns, and picking targets with reasonably low toughness (4 or under) and low armor save. Repeater Hand Guns are also good, provided you'll have enough of them. The most important thing to remember is to concentrate your fire! This is important in Warhammer Fantasy Battle in general, but against Chaos, there is no excuse of not doing this.
This is one of the best ways to take out the Chaos threat. Dwarfs and the Empire especially excel in this category, being able to field numerous and effective War Machines. Organ Gun with the Rune of Disguise is perhaps the best anti-Chaos weapon: Chaos troops can attack it before it has fired, it has High Strength, and causes multiple hits that cause multiple wounds, and it allows no armor save, just for 90 points!
I don't always recommend taking Hellblaster Volley Gun against Chaos: you might find yourself facing an army with too high toughness or armor save that your precious toy is next to useless!
As a rule of thumb, a war machine that allows no save is a good war machine against Chaos.
My motto when fighting against Chaos is: the more war machines I've got, the better!
Chariots are something I almost always take when facing Chaos. Since Chaos Armies are not heavy on missile troops, these rumbling things capable of causing D6+2 Strength 7 hits can actually reach the enemy intact.
Against Chaos I must urge the maxim "everything counts by large amounts". Some chariots will fail the inevitable Terror tests. Some will fall prey to the Harpies or those dreaded Chaos spells. But if you got enough of them, some will get through, and believe me, you will be rewarded for your patience!
An essential when fighting against Chaos. There is hardly a model in their army that is not worth locking out of the time with your champion. As a variant, take Level 1 Mage, mount him on a Flying Monster, and go looking for the most inviting target, like a Bloodthirster, Sorcerer Lord or a Greater Daemon. Just hope you make those terror tests.
This is a perfect tool against Chaos, turning their own advantage (hand to hand) against them. Highly recommended for anybody who is liable to see lots of hand to hand combat.
Have you ever wished you could have the same statistics as Chaos Characters? With this item you can! A Hydra Sword is a good addition to this weapon, as it allows you to cause multiple hits with your opponent's strength. Sword of Swift Slaying isn't bad, either, as your suddenly boosted combat statistics would allow you to slay your opponent before he can even attack.
Chaos armies fly a lot, so taking this item is heartily recommended by old Longsword. Especially Bloodthirsters and Lords of Change will hate this thing, as it stops their hand to hand attacks altogether!
Same commentary that applies to the Black amulet, holds true in the case of the Master Rune of Spite. An excellent Rune against Chaos, especially if the Amulet also has 1 or 2 Runes of Luck so you can re-roll the rebounding saves.
Even though Chaos troops have usually high Leadership, I still feel that it is always wise to include a horn with this Rune in your army if you can. If you can stop even one Chaos regiment with it, it has been a good buy.
As Chaos has an access to some of the nastiest items in the game (Chaos Runeshield, Sword of Change), this little item can come in handy.
This item is essential against Chaos for many reasons:
Chaos likes to send creatures Flying High a lot, so oblige them. This thing is almost guaranteed to hit in the hands of anybody with ballistic skill of 5+ if you are aiming at a large target, and no other modifiers. D6 strength 10 hits. Enough Said.
Since there are lots and lots of troops in Chaos army that have toughness 5+, this sword has thus far proven an excellent buy. +3 to strength, D3 wounds against troops with toughness 5+? Sold.
As a final word about armor. When picking a suit of armor for your Characters, go for the unmodified saves. Chaos troops are simply so strong that anything modifiable will be modified to oblivion.
When fighting against a Chaos army, throw any notions about fairness to the trash can. Here are some magic item combos I use against Chaos armies:
For Dwarfs, this is a great way of battling Chaos: the re-bounder rune turns the strength of Chaos against itself. Especially nasty if the Master Rune of Spite is backed up with 2 Runes of Luck so you can re-roll the rebounding dice. On the average, the enemy will beat itself to death.
If you are not a Dwarf, this is the second best combo: Always remember to roll for the effect of the Black Amulet first! It is much nicer to rebound the wound instead of nullifying it.
While my favorite combination with the Master Rune of Flight is Burlok Damminson carrying a Hammer with Master Rune of Flight and Rune of Smiting, you might wish to get a good effect for a little less point cost. This hammer will hit automatically, and has a very good chance of breaking those Axe's of Khorne and Swords of Destruction. You might even want to try 2 Runes of Breaking.
A unit that can be equipped with a magical standard can be accompanied by a Battle Standard Bearer. When these are equipped with the Banners mentioned above, your Combat resolution for 4 ranks deed unit is 6 (+2 if the banners are in the first rank) +D6 without causing a single wound! This will equalize the odds in hand to hand fights!
Here are some characters/units I have composed to be the bane of the Four Powers.
This is one of the characters I regularly try to field when fighting Chaos: a hero or a level 2 Wizard riding cheapest possible flying/fast moving mount and carrying the Dark Mace of Death and the Heart of Woe. When he charges a suitable target (a unit of Dragon Ogres led by a Chaos Lord, for example), make sure his base touches as many enemies as possible. Activate the Dark mace. Boom, D3 automatic wounds all around! When the enemy lashes back and maims your poor hero, Boom! 6+ Strength hit causing D6 wounds all around. With this you can usually get your points back very easily.
Dwarf Special Character Burlok Damminson is the foremost foe of Chaos: Just give him a Hammer with the Master Rune of Flight and 2 Runes of Smiting/1 Rune of Smiting and the Rune of Breaking. Deploy him in a unit with a Runic Standard that has the Rune of Courage in it, and the Scepter of Norgim (increasing his strength to 8) and put him in the middle of your troops so his 12" killing range will benefit as many targets as possible. Dragon Ogre Lords, Chaos Dragons, anything will bow before his Flying Hammer (TM).
These little monsters are quite expensive, but it should be noted that each one of them has 1 chance of 6 at least to slay one target permanently with no saves for armor once per magic phase. They are of particular use against Dragon Ogres that have low initiative levels, and thus are quite vulnerable to the gaze of Cockatrice.
Give your Wraith unit a Crown of Command, and watch as the Chaos General gets furious. As only magic weapons can hurt the Wraiths and their reasonable hand to hand ability combined with the special rule that forces enemies take a break test in the end of each hand to hand round, means that most enemies can't even hurt them, are forced to take a break test in the end of each hand to hand round and their ranks and standard will avail them not as the Wraiths refuse to break! This tactic works even better if the Wraiths a led by a Vampire Lord who challenges the Chaos Characters with Magic Weapons and just happens to have the Sword of Destruction.
A Vampire Lord with the Sword of Destruction is a sweet way of putting Chaos characters out of their misery. His strength, toughness and wounds are so good that without magic items, even a Chaos Lords will struggle to even wound him, while his strength of 7 will chop down Chaos characters as so much grass. The worst trick is to Take Vlad von Carstein with Isabella, get Isabella killed (with the Cloak of Shadows, transporting her to an unwinnable combat) and then hacking away with Vlad and Sword of Destruction with 8 attacks!
This is a dirty tactic: fight fire with fire. Just buy as much Manticores as your monster allowance will give in (Note that 50 spare points and 1 Manticore can be traded for a Chimera), and them let this flock of destruction wipe out Chaos regiment after Chaos regiment in hand to hand. It is a costly tactic as you must buy a hell lot of miniatures, but as Manticores are the best buy in this game in many ways (200 points for Terror, strength 7, toughness 7, 4 attacks, weapon skill 6 and flight), they are well a match for about any unit if used in large enough numbers. As with anything else when fighting against Chaos, concentrate your attacks! Doing things halfway never profit you in the end.
I have briefly gone through all the regiments of Chaos, their strong points and weaknesses, and suggested some ways of dealing with them.
Take plenty of artillery, and put them in to places where they can draw a good field of fire. Dragon Ogres must die before they reach your battle line. As the things rarely go the way one wants, here is another hint against the Dragon Ogres. Buy the Frostblade to one of your best hand to hand characters (Savage Orc Big Boss or a Plague Priest are good because of their frenzy), plus the strength potion. Gulp the potion when it is time to attack the Dragon Ogres so you can wound them, and voila! Each strike leaves 87+ monstrosity lying on the field, stark dead! If you can kill just 2 of these things, the items you bought will have paid themselves back!
Dragon Ogres have quite low initiative, so cast spells that are evaded with I test, run over them with the Steam tank and set your Cockatrices upon them.
Natural answer against these horrors are the flaming weapons. Especially Dwarf War Machines with Runes of Burning are deadly against them, causing great many wounds and allowing no regeneration. Picking out their leader with Hochland Long Rifles or Black Gem is a good idea, since the stupidity will cripple them without a good leader to herd them.
Artillery is the answer here. Centaurs are often underestimated, but experienced Chaos Generals regard them as one of the best Chaos Regiment. Equipped with Lances and bows, and combined with their amazing speed and 2 Wounds, they are perhaps the most flexible Chaos unit. Normal Bow fire is a good option also, since they generally don't have impossibly high armor save values.
Always target them with weapons that give NO SAVE! Repeater Bolt Thrower was made to take out these 80 point monstrosities! In hand to hand, your chances against them are very slim, especially if they manage to charge you.
Just remember, "NO SAVE will win the day."
In many ways the same commentary applies to these as to the Chaos Knights. They have very high armor save for foot troops, and almost no infantry can beat them. If you want to kill them, take a big block of Ogres/ Rat Ogres with the Crown of Command. On the average, you'll lose the combat rounds, but Chaos Warriors will run out of wounds before you.
Missile units of any type will stop these quickly. As they are large targets (+1 to hit) they are also very inviting choice for your missile troops. As they can cause huge amount of damage, and are vulnerable to hard hits, War Machines are also good weapons to pick them on with. They have such a large bases that a Mortar shell or a Stone thrower rock can even deviate a bit and still hit the Chariot if your aim is true.
One of the most point-cost effective units (for 10 points you get weapon skill 4, toughness 4, 2 Wounds), they are easily ignored by most people. This is not the case! The problem is that they take a lot of killing. A unit of 20 beastmen costs around 250 points and has 40 Wounds! But these things are not as hardy as other Chaos Regiments: Strength 3 is not good enough against troops with high armor saves, so use your heavy cavalry against these guys.
Their low leadership and relatively puny hand to hand statistics are the key for their defeat. A suitable Hero, mounted on a flying monster, can intercept the Harpies and slay them without the need of putting too many points in his Magical equipment.
Master Rune of Dismay, and especially the Horn of Urgok are the most effective things against them, as they force tests on leadership.
Most Chaos players feel that their base size and relatively high point cost make them an unwieldy unit. I agree that they are not so hard to deal with as many other regiments. Despite their outlook, you can regard them as cavalry unit without an armor save. Missile fire and well-built units are easily their match.
With Lesser Daemons, 1 Wounds and quite low Toughness is the norm. This means that Crossbow/Hand Gun fire is pretty effective against them, and if you can lay your hands on Hail of Doom arrow, lesser Daemons are the chosen target for it! As a Magic Weapon, it negates the Daemonic save, has reasonable strength of 4, and each arrow will slay one very expensive model. Also, remember that Daemonettes, Plaguebearers, Pink Horrors and all Greater Daemons apart from Bloodthirster are Wizards, so any cheap tricks against them will work. The classic is of course the "'Eadbang" Banner of the Orcs, which will make the heads of the Daemons explode if they as much as touch a unit carrying this standard. Amulet of Obsidian will negate their spell-casting abilities, and The Destroyer will steal their spells.
Using transportation spells to move Daemons of different Gods near each other will give you a good chance of seeing these fight each other.
Good hand to hand troops, but not that good. If you have a unit with 2+ save or better, you can fight them with a reasonable confidence of victory. The trouble starts when the Chaos Player mounts them on Juggernauts. Against these, artillery is about the only answer.
The Collars of Khorne and the great speed of these Hounds make them popular amongst the hosts of Chaos. But 1 attack limits their effectiveness in combat.
There probably is not a one Chaos General who does not own a Bloodthirster. Hellishly dangerous if used correctly, my usual advice against Chaos does not hold true to this monstrosity. I say go for it and attack it with everything you've got.
The Chaos Generals usually mount these Ladies of Death on Steeds of Slaanesh to create the ultimately fast cavalry unit. Troops with high armor save can handle them, but they are so fast that they usually pick who they will fight. As they can very easily wipe out all but the most heavily armored target, this could be very bad news.
They have your arm's length of Special Rules, but they are not very strong. Troops with good armor save will be their bane.
Land-bound as they are, Keepers are very fast and quite dangerous in combat. Their weaknesses include rather poor spells and vulnerability to land-troops powerful enough to hurt them. I prefer Chariots -no need for the leadership check as the scythed wheels don't care a thing about the beauty of the Keeper of Secrets.
Very dangerous if you have troops with multiple wounds or lots of Characters. The best opponents for them are the troops that have only 1 Wound, so the special rules for their swords will not gain them additional advantages. They do have an option to mount the beasts of Nurgle, but as this slows their mediocre Movement to 3, it is a rarely used.
Too slow that they could usually bother you, so simply don't fight them! Chaos army can't afford to wait for their Beasts to slumber to the melee. They are very dangerous in hand to hand, however, so don't let your opponent transport them in to melee via spells or such.
Not so dangerous, unless you have medium infantry in your army, which I doubt. They do cause Fear (HOW?), have 4+ save, and against light infantry, they can be deadly. On the other hand, they are a strange creatures of Chaos: they are easy to wound! Troops with multiple attacks will be able to break them.
Now this Greater Daemon is a very rare sight, because it has a relatively slow Movement and lacks wings. It does, however have a Monstrous toughness of 8 and 10 Wounds! To kill it, you'll need 4 Great Cannon hits or something similar. Don't go to hand to hand with it! Just wait as it slumbers towards your lines and shoot! Black Gem of Gnar and the `Eadbang Banner are also good options to take him out.
Astoundingly fast foot troops, with both great missile potential as well as a vicious hand to hand ability. Very, very dangerous, but also very expensive. Heavy missile fire is good, since their number of wounds is low when compared to their high point cost.
It is a good idea to concentrate a heavy barrage of missiles upon Horrors early on, as this will turn them to Blue Horrors, which are much easier to handle in hand to hand.
A popular Greater Daemon due it's lower price, and the ability to fly. I normally take great pains to try and take this creature down early on in hand to hand. True, it has fearsome statistics, but it is quite possible for a powerful hero to take him on. Of course the Black Gem is even better option!
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