1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

This forum is for 7th edition WHFB Army lists.

Moderators: The Heralds, The Loremasters

Post Reply
Message
Author
Gildor777
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:04 am

1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#1 Post by Gildor777 »

The next tier of our escalation league is starting. Right now I am in 1st place (woohoo), and will be facing Warriors of Chaos, Wood Elves, and Brett. I know something about the armies based on what they have been taking and convos. Most people are taking the same army for all 3 opp. they play at each tier, so there won't be much change between games, other than maybe some magic items or such.

Warriors- Mage on disk (usually with roar), Hellcannon, 2 units of light cav., and a block of warriors was his basic makeup at 1000
Wood Elves- going for a mostly/all Forest Spirit army, he will prob. have 2 units of dryads, 4 treekin, a treeman, unit of wild riders, general on a great stag, and at most 1 unit of archers (if any at all). HoDA will be there somewhere.
Brett.- at 1000, he had 3 peg. knights, 10 bowmen behind stakes, trebuchet, block of men-at-arms, 2 units of knights realm, and a unit of 5 knights ? (light cav)

Thoughts: Is a Dragon Mage viable here? I probably won't face much magic defense except possibly the puppet with the warriors. Fire is what I want anyways against Wood elves, but metal would be better vs. brett. and warriors. I also don't expect to see much shooting, though the dragon's terror effect will only be really worth it against brett. who probably have the most shooting.

List 1:
DragonMage L2. w/ Ring, Silver Wand
10 Archers
6 Shadow Warriors
2 Tir. Chariots
14 SM w/ Ch, SB, Tal. of Loec
12 WL w/ Ch, SB, Lion St. and Am. Light
2 RBT

With this list, I could also exchange the Tir. Chariots and 1 shadow warrior for a lion ch. and balance banner on the SM

List 2:
Dragon Mage L2 w/ Ring, Wand
Noble w/ Reaver Bow/Star Lance, Ench. Sh., Dragon Armor, Eagle (Lance if going with Reaver bow)

6 Dragon Princes w/SB and Warbanner
14 WL w/ SB, Ch, Gem of Courage, Lion St.
7 SM
Tir. Ch.
10 Spears
RBT

With this list, I would probably weight a flank, leave the spears with the RBT and try to turn the opp. flank

List 3:
L2 Mage w/Ring, Wand
L2 Mage w/Seer on a steed

14 SM w/ ch, sb, Tal. Loec
12 WL w/ FC, Gem and Lion St.
6 PG w/SB, Mus, Sorcery
6 Shadow Warriors
Tir. Ch.
10 archers
2 RBT

Shoot and magic, pretty self-explanatory (mages take fire/metal/high). I can also add a scroll if I lose the horse and a shadow warrior.

Sorry for the long post. Thoughts and suggestions greatly appreciated. I really want to try to stay in first place :) The next tier after this jumps to 2250, and I really don't want to deal with skaven and 2 doomwheels....
Gildor777
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:04 am

Re: 1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#2 Post by Gildor777 »

No? Not even a, "you are crazy for trying the DM" I am really curious if anyone has had success with it against WC or Bret. (especially since I have never played the new Bret. book before)
Who8themoon
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:04 am

Re: 1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#3 Post by Who8themoon »

I like the Dragon Mage at 1500. Sure it's 1/3 of your army but who's going to have something to deal with him?

What about,

Dragon Mage, lvl2, silver wand, ring of fury
Mage, lvl2, Seerstaff, D Scroll (choose your lore wisely.. you get to pick your two spells eh, eh?)
10 Archers
6 DP's w/ BoS
14 WL FC + Gem of Courage, Lion Standard
Tiranoc Chariot (You had one in every list)
RBT
Eagle

Or drop the chariot and the gem and play 7 SM. That's pretty close to what I'd run at 1500 if I took a DM. Plenty of casting, and having your 2 fire spells plus the sword plus the reckless ability with, say, lore of metal on your lvl2 on foot and 7-9 PD and you should have a very productive magic phase against those Brets.

I like the DM, a lot of folks I play against get psyched out by the dragon and end up overextending themselves trying to "deal with it". Sure that mage is a glass cannon but he'll cause a lot of damage most of the time. I say do it and have a lot of fun.
Gildor777
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:04 am

Re: 1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#4 Post by Gildor777 »

Who8, I really like that list. If you have played it though, one question. Have you found that the Banner of Sorc. stays around long enough, since the DP are meant to get into combat, and there is always the chance of them losing. I think I would probably drop the chariot and gem for the swordmasters, since I am probably not going to break chaos/bret cav. with impact hits alone.
pk-ng
Posts: 2062
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:39 pm
Location: Cathy

Re: 1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#5 Post by pk-ng »

WoC has no range attacks apart from magic. So what i did for a 1500 games with Dragon Mage was charge him to his FLANK. Thereby causing a terror test. If they failed (which my oppoent did) he would need to flee away from you so prolly into another unit. There by causing a panic test and dominos here i come! u definitely want the 2nd mage for a lore you can pick because WoC has some meat magic such as their sniping spell bubous!
ETC WHFB Team Singapore
2014 - Chaos Dwarfs & Most Favoured Enemy
2015 - High Elves & Top HE

T9A
Highborn Elves - Army Book Committee
Balancing Board
Highborn Elves - ex-Army Support
Who8themoon
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:04 am

Re: 1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#6 Post by Who8themoon »

Gildor777, I haven't played this list specifically. I usually play at 1999 and 2250. The DP's aren't an ideal BoS carrier, true, but you are fast enough to stay out of trouble and pick your battles. Sure you could lose a combat, run and get chased down but that's a risk you take with most units right? At 1500 points you don't have a lot of options and if you want to take a dragon mage you have even less, so sometimes things you want to play can't be played in an ideal position. Remember too that no one says you have to run the knights straight up the middle and charge on turn two unless you want to.

Imho the BoS + Reckless gives you awesome casting ability out of two level 2's and in my 1500pt DM list I'd take it. I usually run the Ellyrion (sp? bah) banner on my DP's and play hide the big nasty knights in the forest. But I'd sacrifice that utility for the chance to pump out some good magic before you get mixed in.

pk-ng has a heckuva point too! Learning to utilize that dragon can be a bit tricky but he's a mean, terror causing, fire breathing, automatic panic test if you wound with that fire breath machine lol.
User avatar
Musashi
Posts: 2024
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 12:56 pm

Re: 1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#7 Post by Musashi »

Without Dispel Scrolls or sufficient Dispel Die, it's all or nothing.

I agree, the DM is potentially awesome at 1500, combined with the Silverwand and BoS; hopefully, your opponents managed to bring equally challenging lists to the table.
[img]http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1317/1015107388_6c67a9c5d3_o.jpg[/img]
[color=red]Surprise is an event that takes place in the mind of the enemy commander[/color]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdU1F54FEOU]Crowbot_Jenny[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_1AfDgZttw]Sunrise[/url]
[url=http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhrhr5JLBY1qc2rnro1_500.jpg]avatar[/url]
[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jrt6b/The_Castle_Series_4_Episode_5/]The_Castle_Series_4_Episode_5[/url]

[i]But this did not surprise them, for as it is written in the Great Elven Book of Knowing:[/i] Isn't life just one bloody thing after another.
Gildor777
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:04 am

Re: 1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#8 Post by Gildor777 »

I am pretty sure nobody in this top tier is going to pull any punches. The only army I am really concerned with are the Bretonnians. I have not played them in this edition, and he probably will bring the most shooting to the field. Between that and the pegasus knights and their damned 360 charge arc, I don't know if I can keep the dragon safe long enough...
User avatar
Musashi
Posts: 2024
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 12:56 pm

Re: 1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#9 Post by Musashi »

Terrain; Bretonnians like to charge, assuming there's a large central piece of that that blocks LoS and they have to pass by there, it will leave them open to a flank attack.
[img]http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1317/1015107388_6c67a9c5d3_o.jpg[/img]
[color=red]Surprise is an event that takes place in the mind of the enemy commander[/color]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdU1F54FEOU]Crowbot_Jenny[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_1AfDgZttw]Sunrise[/url]
[url=http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhrhr5JLBY1qc2rnro1_500.jpg]avatar[/url]
[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jrt6b/The_Castle_Series_4_Episode_5/]The_Castle_Series_4_Episode_5[/url]

[i]But this did not surprise them, for as it is written in the Great Elven Book of Knowing:[/i] Isn't life just one bloody thing after another.
Gildor777
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:04 am

Re: 1500 pts. DragonMage or not?

#10 Post by Gildor777 »

Well, I took the two L2 mage list against Chaos warriors today and pulled a 10-10 tie (I actually won by 2 points). I rolled great at the beginning of the game, and then terrible at the end. Probably would have pulled out a win, but my last 2 white lions broke on my final turn after holding up a big bad block of warriors for 2 turns.
Post Reply