Using death lore for attribute rather than priority targets

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Eirik
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Using death lore for attribute rather than priority targets

#1 Post by Eirik »

I was playing vs some vamps today and noticed that one of his units, a bat swarm, had high wounds (5) but low ld (3). I was rocking a L4 death wizard, so this immediately piqued my interest. I hit that unit with spirit leech twice that game. Both time I devoted 3 dice to the cast, the opponent didn't want to waste dispel dice on a weak unit, and I killed off one base of 5w. The death lore attribute got me 2 dice back each time (about average).

Now this won't work in ETC unfortunately, but I think its a great way to deal with a few units in a few armies. Terrorgheists and bat swarms from vampires (both of which give us a LOT of trouble) are just one example.

It also works very well on: scraplaunchers, rat swarms (fate and caress only), rat swarms (fate and caress only), hellcannons

And decently on: trebuchets, salamanders, stegadons, razordons, doom divers, pump wagons, arachnaroks, mangler squigs

The idea here is that rather than using 2-3 dice to land a wound or two on a priority target, maybe we can take out or damage a lower priority target for a net cost of 0-2 dice. This is only a good strategy if you have other highly dangerous spells to use in the phase, but with High Elves that's rarely an issue. I was playing L4 high L4 death at the time and my opponent wasn't even thinking about dispelling my spirit leech on his bats. They didn't make it into melee by the way.
Ah, Floorhammer. A time honored tradition. Sadly, I no longer play since my brother tripped and right-angled the spears of a 15-man regiment.
-Original Dragon Prince, July 2011
dabber
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Re: Using death lore for attribute rather than priority targets

#2 Post by dabber »

Interesting. Nice to hear about creative thinking. I'm guessing that really won't work without dual level 4s though, or maybe a bunch of level 2s (but why take that?).
Baeronvonbleat
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Re: Using death lore for attribute rather than priority targets

#3 Post by Baeronvonbleat »

I did this with my RGoH lord on dragon (Death magic). It takes out some of the beefy targets really nicely, and gets you some dice back.
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Prince of Spires
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Re: Using death lore for attribute rather than priority targets

#4 Post by Prince of Spires »

I agree that it's a great way to get rid of anoying targets. It's nothing compared to a big #6 spell. But that does make it more likely to go through.

Another nice use for it is sniping unit champions when running a dragon lord (or other high mobility, high damage output lord). You don't want the dragon stuck in a challenge. And sniping a unit champion is something that your opponent will probably let go. Especially if you have bigger things he has to worry about.

Small things like this can have a big impact on the game if used right. Great thinking there :)

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theviking
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Re: Using death lore for attribute rather than priority targets

#5 Post by theviking »

Speaking of non standard tactics, I heard of an ogre player who purposely flung a psun through 20 gnobs to generate dice.
Eirik
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Re: Using death lore for attribute rather than priority targets

#6 Post by Eirik »

theviking wrote:Speaking of non standard tactics, I heard of an ogre player who purposely flung a psun through 20 gnobs to generate dice.
That's actually brilliant. It even makes sense fluff wise, as eating gnoblars is second only to eating ogres as an ogre pastime.
Ah, Floorhammer. A time honored tradition. Sadly, I no longer play since my brother tripped and right-angled the spears of a 15-man regiment.
-Original Dragon Prince, July 2011
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