#5: Vampire Lord (Vampire Counts)
If he didn't make onto this list, then I would have to put myself in a straight jacket and lock myself in a padded room with no windows. Like many of the characters on this list, his reputation proceeds him and I shouldn't necessarily have to explain why. It's not often you can field a Level 4 caster that can also remove ten models a turn. Couple this with the fact that the mounts he has access to make him even more dangerous, and you have a combination that will terrify even Chaos Dwarf Gun Lines. However, he has a few major concerns that put him at the bottom (or top if you want to be a smartass) of the list. One, he's very expensive. This is kind of made up with the fact that everything else in your army is pretty cheap, but still a well kitted out Vampire Lord will easily run you over 250 Skaven Slaves in terms of points. Second, he is very hard to replace. In any Undead army once the general goes so does the rest of the army with him. Third, putting him on a mount basically makes the rest of your troops useless, because they can no longer march. There are ways to negate these problems but they are very concerning, so thus I put him at the bottom of the top. Sorry Dracula, I still love you.
#4: Slann Mage-Priest (Lizardmen)
If you have ever played a game against the Lizardmen, you know and fear the power that is the Slann. While easily no longer in his heyday, he's still one of the most competitive Lord choices available out there. He's also able to take some pretty banging abilities in terms of Disciplines of the Ancients. However, what makes the Slann the BMF that he is the fact that he can be a BSB. Besides the special Goblin character Grom, no other Lord can do that. He also has the highest Leadership in the entire army, meaning your Slann will be both your General and your Battle Standard Bearer. Stick him in a unit of Temple Guard and they will be Stubborn on a Leadership 9 re-roll. Plus, he can take a 100 point magical banner as the BSB in addition to up to 4 Disciplines of the Ancient, and 100 points of magical items. Now, this will result in your Slann quite possibly maxing your Lord allotment out on a single unit. However, the power of the Slann is so great that there is practically no downside to doing this. He also comes with a 4+ Ward Save. If you want to spend more points on support gear, then you are perfectly within reason to not spend any points to give him a better save. The amount that your Slann can do for the Lizardmen army is absolutely insane. He is perhaps the quintessential caster out of all the armies available to you in WFB. He can very easily be kitted out to be an Ethereal caster with a 2+ Ward Save, making him all but immune to Magical Attacks. He's both a master of a single trade and a very flexible character. To me, that's really all I could want in a character. Again, he is very expensive and he has absolutely no business being in combat. That's what Temple Guard are for. At the end of the day, this guy still ranks high and deserves a spot on this list.
#3: Tomb King (Tomb Kings)
God that felt weird to type! Not just because of the redundancy of the statement, but also the seemingly profound stupidity with which it was typed. See, the Tomb Kings are considered to be one of the weakest armies in the current meta. So saying anything related to the Tomb Kings are in a Top 5 list is like saying the Pinto belongs in the Top 5 Greatest Muscle Car list. Before you all go out and hang me with torches and pitchforks, let me explain. While the Vampire Lord and the Slann are both very powerful for more of a single reason, the Tomb King is powerful for a number of reasons. See, the King is Leadership 10, meaning the crumble rate for troops within his Leadership bubble is going to decrease quite significantly. He's also rocking a very impressive stat line, and perhaps the most awesome fucking rule in the entire Tomb Kings army book. The rule is called My Will Be Done, and if you've never heard of it then I implore you to read further. In addition to lending the unit he's in his leadership, the King also allows them to use his Weapon Skill value as their own. This rule was really overlooked at the beginning of 8th edition when the book came out, but now it's really starting to shine. This makes any unit the King is in (except for other characters) Weapon Skill 6 across the board. In the era of Elves surviving because of this, it's nice to see something able to do the same. Plus, the King is no pushover in combat either. Pop him in a unit of Tomb Guard with halberds, and watch them go to town on pretty much anything they get into combat with. Hell, he can make Skeleton Warriors into tar pit from hell. At WS6, very little is going to be able to touch you at that point. Wait, there's more! He's also pretty damned affordable too, making him a sweet buy for your TK army. You can mount him, but I think the optimal build is on foot in some Tomb Guard. He does have some weaknesses that almost put him at #5, but I reconsidered when I saw his price tag in comparison to both the Vampire Lords and the Slann. He is Flammable and he is only Initiative 3, meaning most things are going before he is. However, he's a tough as a bag of anvils and hits like jackhammer along with any unit he's in. Thus, for the power he can bring the Tomb Kings up to, I put him at a #3 spot.
#2: Daemon Prince (Warriors of Chaos)
The first thing I said/thought when I read the new Lord allotment for End Times was; "Fuck me, double Daemon Princes are coming." Thank god my area practically ignores End Times, so I've never had to face that terror. This guy is terrifying. He's Unbreakable. His hits are Magical. He can be marked to one of the four Chaos Gods to give him a perk that will only make him more dangerous. He can be upgraded so that he can Fly. He can very easily get a great armor and ward save without touching his magic item allotment. Unless you have lots of artillery and the person fielding the Prince has no other targets, then he's going to plink the first cannon shot off with his Charm Shield (which every Daemon Prince build should have) and then be in combat by turn two. This thing just magically fucking murders anything he gets into base contact with. He's at a base Strength of 6, meaning nothing that gets hit by him will have any form of decent armor save. The best I've ever managed was my Bretonnian Lord with a 4+ re-rollable armor save and a 5+ Blessing Save. If he's marked to Nurgle then you might as well not even fucking bother trying to hit him, because you're not going to touch him, like fucking at all! To top it off, he's expendable. Yeah, he's a shit ton of points and he's going to be your general. But Warriors of Chaos are rocking such terrific stats than I'm not really sure you even need a general in their army. Just take an Exulted Hero BSB and fucking Rick-Roll your opponent with 4+ Armor, 5+ Parry CORE CHOICES! The ability to on turn one fly up the opponent's flank, 6-dice the Purple Sun or Pit of Shades, and kill over half the opponent's battleline is such a powerful ability that you will almost never see a competitive Warriors list without a Daemon Prince. And my friends, if you play with End Times rules, then I suggest you start playing Chaos Dwarves, cause no other army is going to be able to effectively counter the fucking Daemon Prince duo. I fucking hate this guys so much, but I do respect the power that is the Daemon Prince. Thus, only one question remains, who is the winner of the Top 5 Best Lord choices?
#1: Knight Lord (Bretonnia)
Okay, before the comments starting piling up about how much shit I'm filled with, let me make one thing perfectly clear. There is no other character in the game that can simply stroll up, roll a 6, and delete whatever is in front of him. Daemon Princes, Tomb Kings, Slann Mage-Priests, Vampire Lords, all the big bad and uglies, my Bretonnian Lord has at one point strolled up and just killed it in one shot. The best part, even kitted out with full point allotment and mount, he's cheaper than every other choice on this list. I've had Chaos Champions on Dragons marked to Khorne back off from my Bretonnian Lord. Steam Tanks, Iron Daemons, Kadai Destroyers, Giants, Great Unclean Ones, Plague Furnaces, you name it, it's fallen before Lord Ducaine, the Grail Knight with the Virtue of Heroism. I had my Vampire buddy tell me straight up he'd be terrified to field Nagash against my Lord. Hell, I even managed to kill the sisters special characters from the Wood Elves a while ago in a 1v1v1 match I had with some buddies of mine back in Baltimore, on their Dragon! Bottom line, the Bretonnian Lord is rocking a solid enough stat line and price tag to compete with some of the best, and the Heroic Killing Blow ability just makes most things he hits obsolete. On top of the fact that in an army that everyone really snubs their nose at, this guy can prove a great way to give those smug Dark Elf and Chaos Dwarf players a metaphysical middle finger. Yeah, maybe I'm a bit biased but if you've ever had your 500 point character Heroic Killing Blow'd off the table by a model that clock in at less than half his cost, you know how powerful this guy is.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Top 5 Worst Heroes
#5: Skink Chief (Lizardmen)
Talk about a serious fall from grace between the books! I remember when a Skink Chief on a Stegadon with the Stegadon Helm and Spear ruled the fucking universe in terms of monster/rider combos. Now, he's got basically one purpose. Fly around on a Terradon and/or Ripperdactyl and eliminate lone characters, war machines, and other chaff. The problem with that is that the Lizardmen army is already filled with tons of units specifically designed to do that and do it much better than this little guy does. Chameleon Skinks, Skink Skirmishers, Terradon/Ripperdactyl Riders, etc. Why drop over a hundred points in your Hero section to make a shitty choice somewhat more usable when you could use those points to instead put your Scar-Vet on a Carnosaur? True, there is some potential to give him a javelin and spam Wyssan's, but if you're not spamming Wyssan's on your Saurus, you've done something wrong. The few saving graces this guys has is that he's dirt cheap, has much superior stats when compared to even your average Skink, he has a lot of gear he can take, and his mount options are quite diverse. Other than that, this guy is no longer a viable choice in the Lizardmen army, in my personal opinion.
#4: Shadowdancer (Wood Elves)
I'll admit, I like it when GW puts out a new book and gives a unit in an army their own unique Hero and/or Lord choice. It's fun, it's fluffy, and the models almost always look badass. The Shadowdancer, I struggle to comprehend him really. The #1 things that all Wood Elf players have told me when they build a list is to kit your characters as defensively as possible and stick them in a forest if you can. The Shadowdancer cannot do either of those things. If you've never heard of him, and there's probably a reason why, then let me exaplin what he is. He is a hero level choice that represents that War Dancer unit, a unit that has really stood the test of time for the Woodies. He's basically a Glade Captain, but with no armor and I believe an additional attack, but don't quote me on that. He also acts as a Level 1 to Shadow, and has all the same abilities that a War Dancer has. I know when the book first came out a lot of people were talking about using him to spam Okkam's on War Dancers, which actually is a terrifying thought. Except, let's look at the math here. The chances of rolling up Okkam's on a Level 1 caster is 1/6. The best strategy I've seen is a buddy of mine pointed out that you can take Melkoth's and dump the average soldiers' Weapon Skill so that you're hitting on 2's and being hit back on 6's. Which paired with the sheer number of attacks the War Dancers and Shadowdancer have and their ASF/high Initiative/high Weapon Skill, will result in quite the meat grinder against the average rank-and-file troop. He's not terribly expensive, but he does cost enough that you feel it when he goes. Besides, why would you take this asshole when you can take a Waystalker and just snipe characters out of units and have a blast of it? Bottom line, this guy is very good in the realm of theory but in practice he just doesn't hold water.
#3: Firebelly (Ogre Kingdoms)
If I could pick a character from WFB I wanted to go to a bar with an have him protect me from rowdy bikers, it would be the Firebelly. I am absolutely in love with this guy, and if I played Ogres I would have one in every army I made. However that's just because I'm a sucker for this model's fluff. In reality, he's a complete waste of points especially for an army that has god awfully expensive prices for their "baseline" troops. Of the three things that make the Firebelly an interesting and powerful, two of them are eliminated by a fifteen combination of two items. His Ward Save against Flaming Attacks can be replicated by taking a Dragonbane Gem or a Dragonhelm, and his Flaming Attacks can be instead given to the entire unit by simply taking a Flaming Banner in your unit. He does have a really cool Breath Weapon and he is still an Ogre, so he's rocking a stat line that is by far impressive, especially when compared to other casters. However, there is one irrefutable fact that the Firebelly cannot escape. He is a special Hero level caster, devoted to taking Fire magic. Fire magic just isn't all that impressive, and you'll be starting to wonder why you didn't just take another Iron Gut or two instead of this dude.
#2: Witch Hunter (Empire)
Again, I feel horrible talking about perhaps one of the coolest character units in the entire game, but this guy. I mean, this fucking guy. What makes the Assassin so good is that there's no real defense from him. It's the theory that you can't defend from a threat that you can't see. Even in an open list, there's still the ability to put him in any unit, making your opponent constantly guess where he's going to put his characters for fear of the Assassin coming out and shanking him. The Witch Hunter doesn't even really have that going for him. Yes, he can pick characters out of unit like a sniper and he can re-roll failed to-hits in a challenge with said character, but he's just so damned exposed that he's going to get killed right out. Also, at the end of the day he's a human with no armor. Also as a side note, MR is not a replacement for a Ward Save. His effect of being immune to Fear and letting a unit he's in treat Terror as Fear is nice, but again it's almost never going to change to outcome of a battle. His one saving grace, in my mind, is that he's not expensive even when fully kitted out. What puts him above the more expensive Firebelly is the fact that the Firebelly is still an ass-kicker and can cock-block a unit with the Flaming Banner. The Witch Hunter is a cheap assassin in plain sight. If I played Empire, I would take one, but only because I am such a sucker for the model and their fluff. Under no circumstance would I suggest taking this guy in a purely competitive Empire list.
#1: Dragon Slayer (Dwarfs)
Yes ladies and gents, we have reached the King of Crap, the Emperor of the Unusable, the Lord of Losers. Here he is, the Dragon Slayer. There was time when Slayers fucking ruled the universe in terms of chaff. In an army that struggled (and still kind of does even today) with chaff, the Slayer was the ultimate tool to keep your artillery pieces and flanks well protected. Now, they have fallen, and they have fallen hard. The problem with the Hero version of the Slayer, is many. First, he is 2.5 Skaven Slaves more expensive then a Thane. He has no armor and is sitting at only an Initiative of 3. He has a few nifty tricks up his sleeve, like the Slayer Axes, the Deathblow, and of course D3 wounds, but he's just so susceptible to be killed that he's a complete waste of points. BS based shooting will take this guy out. And he can't hide in a unit (unless the unit is all Slayers), so he's just going to have the shit blown out of him. Top this off with the fact that this guy is competing with two of the most viable character choices in the entire Dwarven book. The Runesmith and the Thane. Both of these choices are fucking phenomenal in practically any list you can build. The Dragon Slayer is so damned situational that he's just not really worth the points and time to stick him in the list, even if you're playing with End Times rules. What makes the Dragon Slayer the worst in this list is that unlike the other characters, he has no real purpose in the army. One can make the argument that the Skink Chief is a phenomenal war machine hunter and excellent chaff. You can argue that Shadowdancer can turn a small unit into a gore machine. You can prove that the Firebelly saves you the trouble of having to take Flaming Banner and Dragonbane Gem. You could kit out a Witch Hunter to be wizard killer and help anchor your battleline from Fear and Terror causers. The Dragon Slayer though has none of that. He doesn't improve the army, he doesn't do anything that you can't tactically go without, he's too expensive to be throwing away in a chaff role, and he's competing with two of your best characters. Bottom line, this guy is shit. Pure and simple shit. Unless you have a hard-on for the All Slayer Dwarf Army, then leave this guy at home.
Talk about a serious fall from grace between the books! I remember when a Skink Chief on a Stegadon with the Stegadon Helm and Spear ruled the fucking universe in terms of monster/rider combos. Now, he's got basically one purpose. Fly around on a Terradon and/or Ripperdactyl and eliminate lone characters, war machines, and other chaff. The problem with that is that the Lizardmen army is already filled with tons of units specifically designed to do that and do it much better than this little guy does. Chameleon Skinks, Skink Skirmishers, Terradon/Ripperdactyl Riders, etc. Why drop over a hundred points in your Hero section to make a shitty choice somewhat more usable when you could use those points to instead put your Scar-Vet on a Carnosaur? True, there is some potential to give him a javelin and spam Wyssan's, but if you're not spamming Wyssan's on your Saurus, you've done something wrong. The few saving graces this guys has is that he's dirt cheap, has much superior stats when compared to even your average Skink, he has a lot of gear he can take, and his mount options are quite diverse. Other than that, this guy is no longer a viable choice in the Lizardmen army, in my personal opinion.
#4: Shadowdancer (Wood Elves)
I'll admit, I like it when GW puts out a new book and gives a unit in an army their own unique Hero and/or Lord choice. It's fun, it's fluffy, and the models almost always look badass. The Shadowdancer, I struggle to comprehend him really. The #1 things that all Wood Elf players have told me when they build a list is to kit your characters as defensively as possible and stick them in a forest if you can. The Shadowdancer cannot do either of those things. If you've never heard of him, and there's probably a reason why, then let me exaplin what he is. He is a hero level choice that represents that War Dancer unit, a unit that has really stood the test of time for the Woodies. He's basically a Glade Captain, but with no armor and I believe an additional attack, but don't quote me on that. He also acts as a Level 1 to Shadow, and has all the same abilities that a War Dancer has. I know when the book first came out a lot of people were talking about using him to spam Okkam's on War Dancers, which actually is a terrifying thought. Except, let's look at the math here. The chances of rolling up Okkam's on a Level 1 caster is 1/6. The best strategy I've seen is a buddy of mine pointed out that you can take Melkoth's and dump the average soldiers' Weapon Skill so that you're hitting on 2's and being hit back on 6's. Which paired with the sheer number of attacks the War Dancers and Shadowdancer have and their ASF/high Initiative/high Weapon Skill, will result in quite the meat grinder against the average rank-and-file troop. He's not terribly expensive, but he does cost enough that you feel it when he goes. Besides, why would you take this asshole when you can take a Waystalker and just snipe characters out of units and have a blast of it? Bottom line, this guy is very good in the realm of theory but in practice he just doesn't hold water.
#3: Firebelly (Ogre Kingdoms)
If I could pick a character from WFB I wanted to go to a bar with an have him protect me from rowdy bikers, it would be the Firebelly. I am absolutely in love with this guy, and if I played Ogres I would have one in every army I made. However that's just because I'm a sucker for this model's fluff. In reality, he's a complete waste of points especially for an army that has god awfully expensive prices for their "baseline" troops. Of the three things that make the Firebelly an interesting and powerful, two of them are eliminated by a fifteen combination of two items. His Ward Save against Flaming Attacks can be replicated by taking a Dragonbane Gem or a Dragonhelm, and his Flaming Attacks can be instead given to the entire unit by simply taking a Flaming Banner in your unit. He does have a really cool Breath Weapon and he is still an Ogre, so he's rocking a stat line that is by far impressive, especially when compared to other casters. However, there is one irrefutable fact that the Firebelly cannot escape. He is a special Hero level caster, devoted to taking Fire magic. Fire magic just isn't all that impressive, and you'll be starting to wonder why you didn't just take another Iron Gut or two instead of this dude.
#2: Witch Hunter (Empire)
Again, I feel horrible talking about perhaps one of the coolest character units in the entire game, but this guy. I mean, this fucking guy. What makes the Assassin so good is that there's no real defense from him. It's the theory that you can't defend from a threat that you can't see. Even in an open list, there's still the ability to put him in any unit, making your opponent constantly guess where he's going to put his characters for fear of the Assassin coming out and shanking him. The Witch Hunter doesn't even really have that going for him. Yes, he can pick characters out of unit like a sniper and he can re-roll failed to-hits in a challenge with said character, but he's just so damned exposed that he's going to get killed right out. Also, at the end of the day he's a human with no armor. Also as a side note, MR is not a replacement for a Ward Save. His effect of being immune to Fear and letting a unit he's in treat Terror as Fear is nice, but again it's almost never going to change to outcome of a battle. His one saving grace, in my mind, is that he's not expensive even when fully kitted out. What puts him above the more expensive Firebelly is the fact that the Firebelly is still an ass-kicker and can cock-block a unit with the Flaming Banner. The Witch Hunter is a cheap assassin in plain sight. If I played Empire, I would take one, but only because I am such a sucker for the model and their fluff. Under no circumstance would I suggest taking this guy in a purely competitive Empire list.
#1: Dragon Slayer (Dwarfs)
Yes ladies and gents, we have reached the King of Crap, the Emperor of the Unusable, the Lord of Losers. Here he is, the Dragon Slayer. There was time when Slayers fucking ruled the universe in terms of chaff. In an army that struggled (and still kind of does even today) with chaff, the Slayer was the ultimate tool to keep your artillery pieces and flanks well protected. Now, they have fallen, and they have fallen hard. The problem with the Hero version of the Slayer, is many. First, he is 2.5 Skaven Slaves more expensive then a Thane. He has no armor and is sitting at only an Initiative of 3. He has a few nifty tricks up his sleeve, like the Slayer Axes, the Deathblow, and of course D3 wounds, but he's just so susceptible to be killed that he's a complete waste of points. BS based shooting will take this guy out. And he can't hide in a unit (unless the unit is all Slayers), so he's just going to have the shit blown out of him. Top this off with the fact that this guy is competing with two of the most viable character choices in the entire Dwarven book. The Runesmith and the Thane. Both of these choices are fucking phenomenal in practically any list you can build. The Dragon Slayer is so damned situational that he's just not really worth the points and time to stick him in the list, even if you're playing with End Times rules. What makes the Dragon Slayer the worst in this list is that unlike the other characters, he has no real purpose in the army. One can make the argument that the Skink Chief is a phenomenal war machine hunter and excellent chaff. You can argue that Shadowdancer can turn a small unit into a gore machine. You can prove that the Firebelly saves you the trouble of having to take Flaming Banner and Dragonbane Gem. You could kit out a Witch Hunter to be wizard killer and help anchor your battleline from Fear and Terror causers. The Dragon Slayer though has none of that. He doesn't improve the army, he doesn't do anything that you can't tactically go without, he's too expensive to be throwing away in a chaff role, and he's competing with two of your best characters. Bottom line, this guy is shit. Pure and simple shit. Unless you have a hard-on for the All Slayer Dwarf Army, then leave this guy at home.
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