Killing Nagash

[Iain]

Let's get some ideas going as to how we can deal with this 1000pt lord of (un)death!

[Domine Nox]

Cannons are still super effective.

Or do you mean for High Elves specifically? In that case Arcane Unforging is great to take the first couple wounds off him, once you've finally unforged his armor, Bolt Throwers and anything else will do the trick.

[John Rainbow]

Is he still undead and can therefore crumble due to unstable?

[Domine Nox]

Yes he is undead, but static combat res is hard against him cause he gets 6 S8 attacks, and Thunderstomp, and has a 4+/4++ and a higher toughness than a Treeman, so is likely to win most combats even on his lonesome.

[Grenic]

He doesn’t fly, is not ethereal, and has M6, right?

Assuming that this is the case, a standard S7 Light Council in a Banner of the World Dragon White Lion unit plus maximum Eagle Claws should cause some serious damage. However, a Teclis based dual Light Council list would likely be called for. Heck, maybe go all the way with a Teclis-Alarielle dual (plus single triple) S7 Banishment list.

Of course, his ability to summon units would be a real issue as the White Lion unit can’t get into combat as Banishment is a magic missile.

[Sackree]

he isn't going to be crumbling anytime soon, ontop of his insane stats he has a rule which is -2 to crumble, combined with a bsb that is -3.

Our best bet is a BotWD bus with a giantblade prince and a starlance/ots noble. That should dish out enough damage whilst having a 2++ ward and can't be thunderstomped

[Grenic]

I’m not sure any unit without a ranged attack will get to Nagash unless the player wants you to get into combat with the model. With his summon capability, he will keep any cavalry based bus tied up dealing with summoned units all game while his real units take out all of your support.

For flying units like say a dual star dragon list, they would not be able to get through his “cloud” of low cost meat shields (making it so you can't get in a charge the model) that can be deployed with the model and then later summoned.

I really think the only way to drop the model would be through some combination of magic spells.

However, no matter which approach is ultimately used, you need to score enough wounds to drop him in a single round as he will just “heal” himself on his next/subsequent magic phases.

[TheItalian567]

I squared off against Naggy this past weekend... I had the benefit of my opponent not having any undead models to actually summon up, so I didn't have to deal with it. Coupled with low winds of magic, I was able to actually shut down a lot of his casting as well.

I managed to get 3 wounds off in my first turn of casting just from Banishment and that's with 1 archmage knowing light (got.. a bit lucky with dice there).

I chipped another wound off of him through three rounds of shooting S3 longbows. His last 3 wounds I gruelingly scored via close combat and it was ROUGH. I lost an entire unit of LSG, arches, a mage, and a noble on a great eagle. I shut down his healing spells amongst all else.

My advice? RBTs. If I had one or two of them, I could have provided more high strength shots in the shooting phase. Consider how much I struggled with him having NO minions to meat shield for him. My prince bus and DP dual charge sealed the deal for me. I didn't even get my SMs to get engage or that might have gone well as well (BoTWD makes a world of difference with his attacks, trust me.. 2++ is going to be a godsend as all of his attacks are magic).

I will reinforce the static combat res- I won by 2, but his special rule negated those crumble wounds. So you have to win by 3 just to score an initial crumble wound on the damn thing. So, either bring ranks against him, or just charge him out of place. I imagine a block of PGs with a flank charge of something heavy hitting would do the trick.

[mcmulligan]

Another strategy:

Siveljir's Hex Scroll (17% chance to transform into a toad, since he has to roll below his wizard level (5)), followed by really anything you want, but a characteristic test or die spell would definitely do the trick, since he would then also have an 83% chance to fail (as only a roll of 1 would save him).

Or you could just try for the super spell right off the bat, same 17% chance to kill him...

[Iain]

My understanding of Siveljir's Hex Scroll is that the opponent resists the effects by rolling equal to or Below his wizard level (5), and therefore its only a 17% chance of failing.

[mcmulligan]

Ya, I got that backwards, but corrected above...

1/6 games though, you could take him out on turn 1...

[Nicene]

Final Transmutation, Purple Sun, Pit of Shades, and Dwellers are all great, I would think.

What about searing doom? Spirit leech?

[Prince of Spires]

Final Transmutation, Purple Sun, Pit of Shades, and Dwellers are all great, I would think.

What about searing doom? Spirit leech?

Fails all of them on a 6 only.

And he only has a 4+ armour save and a 4+ ward. So searing doom boosted should manage a whole 1.75 wound on average. Which is not terribly impressive for a model who can just heal himself up again next magic phase.

And LD 10 combined with a 4+ ward, making spirit leech not overly impressive.

RBT are not really a reliable option either I think. Hitting on 3+ or 4+, wounding on 5+ and a 4+ ward. At best you are looking at a 1-in-9 chance of doing D3 wounds (so, with 4 RBT D3 wounds every 2 turns). Hardly what I would consider efficient.

Options I see:
- high magic: arcane unforgiving. Removing his armour / ward, removing his spells (either 4 or all 9), removing his magical staff, all go a long way to neutralizing the threat he poses. Walk between worlds helps getting units in position to combo charge him.
- Teclis: having 2 scrolls, one of which potentially removes a spell, can really mess with your opponents plans. Nagash's strength and worth is in being able to summon a load of models in the magic phase. Shutting down 2 of them will really hurt and give you an opportunity to take out his support units.
- mindrazored, horded spearmen: well, they are a solution to pretty much everything of course. But given his size, 40 or so S9 attacks will deal with pretty much anything in the game.
- Combat resolution. A big unit of PG in the front, Something with the BotWD in his flank/rear, BSB in there and you should win combat (you start on +9 or so).
- tricksters shard (the normal one): could give you the edge in a big magic phase.

Rod

[John Rainbow]

Tie him up with BotWD and whittle him down slowly?

[mcmulligan]

The most reliable method we have is actually in combat.

Prince with a enchanted shield, other trickster's shard, and Giant Blade, in unit with BSB with BotWD, with as many silverhelms as you like, but lets say 18.

If you manage to get a frost phoenix in on him too, all the better.

Challenge with the Prince, you'll be doing around 1-2 wound per turn, with 5 static combat res to back you up (6 on the charge in the front, 3 from ranks, 2 banners) and Nagash (barring a lucky HKB) does around 0.2 wounds per turn. You should be crumbling him 3-4 wounds a round, plus any you do in combat. You won't kill him in one turn, but its a solid bet in 2-3 rounds.

Of course the big issue is getting that fight.

Outside of that, a light council is an option, with a minimum of 3 light wizards, preferably 4, for strength 6 or 7 banishment. But your opponent is obviously going to focus on dispelling that one spell, which may leave you with nothing beyond boosted Shem's to try and hurt him (also S6).

Shadow could work if you manage to Miasma his I6 down at least 2 maybe 3 points and follow with a pit of shades. Give you a 33-50% chance to kill him. Lots of ifs in that scenario though. Any of our troops in ranks with mind razor would probably take him down in a turn.

Lastly, boosted spear from beasts, which is basically a cannon, might do something, and if you got your ASF mage into contact and went all Mountain Chimera on Nagash, you'd probably tear him down in a turn.