Post by flamingkillamajig on Nov 12, 2011 3:23:23 GMT -5
So i was just thinking in my head some different things which helps me through magic phases and such. I feel i should share them with you guys.
Currently i'm going to focus on the magic phase.
In your magic phase it is often good to roll at least 2 dice as if you roll less than 3 on your dice you can't cast anymore magic with a wizard. Also be sure you roll enough dice for bigger spells as if you fail the spell your wizard also can't cast anymore spells. If you only want to cast one spell with a wizard (usually a low level wizard) rather than several on a high level wizard then you don't have to take this advice because should the spell not go off you haven't wasted an entire wizard's spells. People often don't know the importance of this and roll a few dice and lose all their magic. To be fair we all get bad rolls but you can limit how many you get by taking this advice. You also might want to keep your better spells for last. However remember the opportunity for failure is that much higher if you are using weaker spells first on a wizard with the powerful spell you really want to use. Also when casting spells if you only get 6 dice or so and your opponent only has 3. If you know they'll get rid of your powerful spell just roll all your dice with it so no matter what it'll be really hard for them to dispell your spell without a scroll. It's a bit of an 'all in' move and some people don't like it but it has a high rate of success. The only problem with rolling so many dice is you may roll irresistable force but if you have an expendable army like skaven with wizards in expendable units it usually doesn't matter. If you fear for your wizard enough take an earthing rod or something which should allow you to re-roll a miscast at least once in a game. Try saving it for something that's critical that'll kill your wizard or similar.
For dispelling magic you may want to find out what spells your opponent has and what they all do and how devastating they can be in combination or seperately. If your opponent make all your 6's need to be re-rolled for hits, wounds, etc then remember this effects poisoned and wounding high toughness models greatly. If an enemy has re-rolls all of their 1's remember this is huge if they have a high strength to your toughness or need to take armor saves and have really good armor saves. If an enemy uses a 'remains in play' spell remember you can usually dispell it any turn you choose to and in many cases you should dispell it in your own turn as you can do it with impunity (unless they have the comet of cassandora or something) and you will usually have more casting dice than they have dispell dice. This is a big thing to remember with ogres or it used to be in their old army book. Remains in play buff spells are usually good to get rid of in your turn. Just remember what's going after what and think of what spells will do the most damage to you. As i said before you have less dispell dice than your opponent has casting dice and i'm pretty sure you can choose to dispell something once it goes off so if it doesn't go off you can decide to hold on for a minute. Basically you want to see what'll do the most damage of the spells they can keep doing and stick to getting rid of those spells. Do watch out for spells that effect one or more units with some type of hex spell as they're probably getting ready to do some nasty attack like the vortex in combination on you. Usually these hexes don't last too long and some are for probably till the next turn or 'remains in play'. I leave the judgment to you for if you want to get rid of the hex or the spell they use after. It's really hard to say what'll do more damage and it's usually up in the air. If the enemy uses some spell that boosts their spells like 'throne of vines' you can get rid of it in your turn but it'll make all their spells that much more powerful. If they want to throw enough dice at it just let them and take out the remaining spells they try to throw out and finally dispell the 'throne of vines' in their own turn. Remember which spells can be used again (in most cases signature spells). However with certain army books like vampire counts they will have spells like 'necromancy' spells which can be used multiple times anyway. Sometimes you may also want to not dispell a spell if it's a good roll and can be done again with a much crappier roll as the amount of dice you will save will start to show.
Really some of this is use your best judgment that sometimes takes practice to see what'll do the most damage but the enemy will have to tell you what spells they can use. My friend thinks taking a lot of wizards is a good idea but being skaven my total of 13 spells and not much more even with rulebook equipment means i probably want to keep my number of wizards low anyway. Also remember both casting and dispelling count on random rolls for winds of magic and they can be good or bad. You may have equipment to boost your power dice but usually it comes at a price (like doing wounds to you) that may come back to bite you in the ass later. Personally i think unless you can generate more power dice having too many wizards is a waste of points that are better expended elsewhere. Magic is random in 8th not like 7th where it was dependent on the numbers of wizards you had. Even if you have a ton of spells to choose from you can't cast them all and without boosts to your power dice pool if you roll few dice that's a big waste. Also the limit to how many dice you can throw per spell is 6 supposedly and 12 dice is the limit to your pool at any one time. I suppose you can use items to boost your magic pool later in the magic phase but like i said it comes at a price and usually you can only have so many of each of these power dice boosters per character. It's really an expensive endeavor and if you don't have a way to increase your power dice pool during the phase with items (usually certain factions only) or the final death magic spell then all these wizards will be a waste.
As for cheap spell combos i'd have to say for skaven using wither (which stays on all game but is not 'remains in play') can be used and then combined with plague to weaken an enemy's toughness and then damage them with a spell that makes you take toughness tests with no armor saves and die if you fail. Their is one death magic spell (the final one) which can kill lots of models and you may want to dispell it because death magic has the power to give power dice (on a +5 i think) for every successful kill it does. Their is one spell where somebody lowers your stats and then throws something at you that makes you take an initiative test or die (i think it's in lore of shadows). You want to watch out for this as it's very nasty. Those are the main rulebook spells to watch out for.
Currently i'm going to focus on the magic phase.
In your magic phase it is often good to roll at least 2 dice as if you roll less than 3 on your dice you can't cast anymore magic with a wizard. Also be sure you roll enough dice for bigger spells as if you fail the spell your wizard also can't cast anymore spells. If you only want to cast one spell with a wizard (usually a low level wizard) rather than several on a high level wizard then you don't have to take this advice because should the spell not go off you haven't wasted an entire wizard's spells. People often don't know the importance of this and roll a few dice and lose all their magic. To be fair we all get bad rolls but you can limit how many you get by taking this advice. You also might want to keep your better spells for last. However remember the opportunity for failure is that much higher if you are using weaker spells first on a wizard with the powerful spell you really want to use. Also when casting spells if you only get 6 dice or so and your opponent only has 3. If you know they'll get rid of your powerful spell just roll all your dice with it so no matter what it'll be really hard for them to dispell your spell without a scroll. It's a bit of an 'all in' move and some people don't like it but it has a high rate of success. The only problem with rolling so many dice is you may roll irresistable force but if you have an expendable army like skaven with wizards in expendable units it usually doesn't matter. If you fear for your wizard enough take an earthing rod or something which should allow you to re-roll a miscast at least once in a game. Try saving it for something that's critical that'll kill your wizard or similar.
For dispelling magic you may want to find out what spells your opponent has and what they all do and how devastating they can be in combination or seperately. If your opponent make all your 6's need to be re-rolled for hits, wounds, etc then remember this effects poisoned and wounding high toughness models greatly. If an enemy has re-rolls all of their 1's remember this is huge if they have a high strength to your toughness or need to take armor saves and have really good armor saves. If an enemy uses a 'remains in play' spell remember you can usually dispell it any turn you choose to and in many cases you should dispell it in your own turn as you can do it with impunity (unless they have the comet of cassandora or something) and you will usually have more casting dice than they have dispell dice. This is a big thing to remember with ogres or it used to be in their old army book. Remains in play buff spells are usually good to get rid of in your turn. Just remember what's going after what and think of what spells will do the most damage to you. As i said before you have less dispell dice than your opponent has casting dice and i'm pretty sure you can choose to dispell something once it goes off so if it doesn't go off you can decide to hold on for a minute. Basically you want to see what'll do the most damage of the spells they can keep doing and stick to getting rid of those spells. Do watch out for spells that effect one or more units with some type of hex spell as they're probably getting ready to do some nasty attack like the vortex in combination on you. Usually these hexes don't last too long and some are for probably till the next turn or 'remains in play'. I leave the judgment to you for if you want to get rid of the hex or the spell they use after. It's really hard to say what'll do more damage and it's usually up in the air. If the enemy uses some spell that boosts their spells like 'throne of vines' you can get rid of it in your turn but it'll make all their spells that much more powerful. If they want to throw enough dice at it just let them and take out the remaining spells they try to throw out and finally dispell the 'throne of vines' in their own turn. Remember which spells can be used again (in most cases signature spells). However with certain army books like vampire counts they will have spells like 'necromancy' spells which can be used multiple times anyway. Sometimes you may also want to not dispell a spell if it's a good roll and can be done again with a much crappier roll as the amount of dice you will save will start to show.
Really some of this is use your best judgment that sometimes takes practice to see what'll do the most damage but the enemy will have to tell you what spells they can use. My friend thinks taking a lot of wizards is a good idea but being skaven my total of 13 spells and not much more even with rulebook equipment means i probably want to keep my number of wizards low anyway. Also remember both casting and dispelling count on random rolls for winds of magic and they can be good or bad. You may have equipment to boost your power dice but usually it comes at a price (like doing wounds to you) that may come back to bite you in the ass later. Personally i think unless you can generate more power dice having too many wizards is a waste of points that are better expended elsewhere. Magic is random in 8th not like 7th where it was dependent on the numbers of wizards you had. Even if you have a ton of spells to choose from you can't cast them all and without boosts to your power dice pool if you roll few dice that's a big waste. Also the limit to how many dice you can throw per spell is 6 supposedly and 12 dice is the limit to your pool at any one time. I suppose you can use items to boost your magic pool later in the magic phase but like i said it comes at a price and usually you can only have so many of each of these power dice boosters per character. It's really an expensive endeavor and if you don't have a way to increase your power dice pool during the phase with items (usually certain factions only) or the final death magic spell then all these wizards will be a waste.
As for cheap spell combos i'd have to say for skaven using wither (which stays on all game but is not 'remains in play') can be used and then combined with plague to weaken an enemy's toughness and then damage them with a spell that makes you take toughness tests with no armor saves and die if you fail. Their is one death magic spell (the final one) which can kill lots of models and you may want to dispell it because death magic has the power to give power dice (on a +5 i think) for every successful kill it does. Their is one spell where somebody lowers your stats and then throws something at you that makes you take an initiative test or die (i think it's in lore of shadows). You want to watch out for this as it's very nasty. Those are the main rulebook spells to watch out for.
