K'daai Destroyers: how to kill them dead?

[musckrat]

So i've got a few games under my belt now, but what i keep running up against in my local tournaments are Chaos Dwarfs and their thrice damned K'daai destroyers... I run mostly infantry lists, which have just been appetizers to the brutes... but i am gonna try to frenzy bate with an eagle or two to redirect off the board next game... Or just bolt thrower it to death since they ignore armor saves, but don't really help against its 4+ ward. I've heard their weak against magical attacks, but don't really know the specifics of what that entails.... If thats the case than the frostheart I'm painting up might do the trick but would certainly like a little more clarity or other thoughts from everybody.

[Curu Olannon]

The K'daii are unstable + unbreakable. They also have flaming (but not magical!) attacks and hurt everything in b2b. Our infantry will die in droves, but a dragon armoured cavprince with a magic weapon will wipe it easily.

Eaglebaiting also works, assuming your opponent charges it instead of pivoting and moving around.

[Viale]

The Flame Phoenix should be able to keep it engaged for a few turns due to fireborn. Maybe also a unit of Dragon Princes with their dragon armour.

[SpellArcher]

All non-magical attacks on K'Daai have to re-roll successful wounds, per the FAQ. This replaces the old -1 to wound rule from the CD army book. So RBT are not great against the Destroyer. They might do something with Withering. This is also great re the Burning Bright rule they suffer at the start of each of their turns (from turn 2 onwards) because it lowers the Toughness value they have to test against. S3 Archers are a no-go even with Withering as are Sisters because of the 2+ Ward vs Flaming Attacks.

High Strength Banishment from a Coven of Light is also a problem for it because it has to re-roll that 4+ ward and suffers 3d6 hits rather than 2d6. Going back to Shadow, you could try a sneaky Miasma to lower Initiative and then Pit it but you have to get lucky here. If you have lots of dice to cast Withering as well, all the better!

[Curu Olannon]

A flamespyre phoenix is a no-go, it has 2++ vs you as well and way more attacks + better stats, so you'll just lose the poor bird at some point.

SA's suggestions are all good. You just have to acknowledge that it is terribly strong and not bring anything weak up against it.

[Galharen]

I overrun that beast with my cav bus, giant blade prince and star lance noble. Combat resolution helps here too.

[Viale]

My thinking with the flame phoenix was not so much to kill the destroyer but just keep it occupied a turn or two.

I was going to suggest Sisters of Averlorn due to being magical st 4. But they are flaming as well

[musckrat]

So a mounted noble with dragon armor and the star lance and maybe the other trickster's shard, forcing him to reroll his 4+ while i have to reroll the 2+ from dragon armor shouldn't hurt me too much. Put him in a unit of five dragon princes with standard should do the trick... CR 1 for charge, 1 for standard, lets say 2 wounds from the noble when combined with the unstable should either kill it in turn or the next...

I guess i could give the the drakemaster the star lance, and the noble the ogre blade so thats 3 strength 6 from the drakemaster and 3 strength 6 attacks from the noble....

Comes in at a nice even 350 and a dead K'daai!

THanks for the help everybody!!!

[SpellArcher]

It's worth a go, though most play that the Star Lance is characters only.

Ogre Blade looks more reliable than Star Lance here to me because the Destroyer is M9, so getting the charge may not be trivial. The Shard will certainly help damage but then the K'daai is likely to get a wound through. The CD player will likely also have an engineer-guided Hellcannon which the DP's need to watch out for.

As this is a tournament list, how well would this unit fit in the army as a whole? It might not enjoy Waywatchers for example. I guess if you have a Silver Helm bus as well, characters can be switched between the units as required.

[musckrat]

I think i read that he can take 50 pts of magic weapons and armor, and since he is strength 3 it seemed like a good fit to get 3 more strength 6 magical attacks. Even with the other 4 dragon princes at strength five on the charge, i figure it is doubtful that those 8 attacks even at strength five will have much chance of putting a wound on the K'daai, but you're right not getting the charge on him would be pretty terrible...

[Tullarion]

Yeah, the Drakemaster can take 50 points of weapons and armor, but the Star Lance states that it's for "mounted characters only." This has led to some problems.

In my opinion, the statement "mounted characters only," is intended to make sure that models on foot weren't using a lance, but the way it's written ("characters," not "models") does seem to limit champions from being able to use it. As the Drakemaster is the only mounted unit champion with a magic weapon allowance, he's the only one in question.

If people play it that he can't take the Star Lance, then to my knowledge, that is the only scenario in WHFB where a unit champion couldn't take a magic weapon that they could otherwise afford.

And it's the Star Lance. And he's from Caledor.

My friends and I agree he should be able to take it, and the wording is a clear oversight. However, many people disagree on the basis of RAW. I'd ask your TO.

[musckrat]

Thanks for the heads up! If it helps, both the kindle (friend of mine) and ipad (me) editions allow you to click on a link for the "50 points of magic weapons and armour," which has the Star Lance, Reaver Bow, Shadow Armour, and Armour of Caledor in a subtab. But not the Blade of Leaping Gold cause it is too expensive at 70 points. Although i hesitate to use its as my authoritative source during rules questions cause we all know how terribly leaky, regarding upcoming releases ala Blood Angels codex and Necron dex, or badly written the electronic editions tend to be... So i feel like my butt is sufficiently covered should it come to a rules conflict *crosses fingers*

[pk-ng]

Also Star Lance is only used on the 1st turn.

[HugoMac]

So a mounted noble with dragon armor and the star lance and maybe the other trickster's shard, forcing him to reroll his 4+ while i have to reroll the 2+ from dragon armor shouldn't hurt me too much.

A character doesn´t have to re-roll his own wards because the shard, since you are not in contact base to base to yourself

[SteVieBizzLe]

The K'Daai Destroyers have long been found out, and why most lists going into a tournament will (and should) have a characters with a 2+ Ward vs Flaming Attacks and a decent magic weapon, preferably mounted.

Might be tough to kill the thing, but it almost certainly wont kill you in a hurry (unless dice are against you), and usually pinning it in place while you sweep around is all you need.

Take a noble with Dragon Armour, Barded Steed, Enchanted Shield, Ogre Blade. soon as you get the chance, run him solo into the K'daai and leave him there.