Topic: Scroll of Shielding - 15pts well spent?

[Siberius]

I was going through the arcane items today and I just suddenly realised how potentially great this item is.

How many times do you find a huge unit getting one of the big killers (dwellers, pit etc etc) cast on it? Unless you are lucky, pretty often! Maybe as much as once or twice a game. This thing costs 15pts which is much less than a dispel and can half the damage from it. Infact it is almost better than a dispel because so often those big spells are hit with IF as you need or want 6 dice to cast them.

I might have to start taking this more often. I mean, thinking about it, you only need a spell to be killing more than 30pts worth of something to on average make it's points back! Could also save a character from a surprise attack spell. Great stuff.

Added bonus, much like with the dispel scroll, you don't waste any of your dice pool so you can concentrate on dispelling all their other stuff.

I think I may have to start using this thing regularly...

[Freman Bloodglaive]

It won't save you against the big spells because they kill you without a save.

Combined with the Obsidian Lodestone it'll give you a 2+ ward save against damage spells like fireball or searing doom though.

[Siberius]

Hmm, good point.

Still, I stand by the general gist. Still an awful lot of spells that do allow saves, even the high power ones. Even a fireball can be rather devastating at full power. And as far as I remember, though I am not 100% sure, most of the race based lore spells allow some kind of save.

Doesn't the witch hunter give off MR also? Could make for a nice save if they were silly enough to target his unit...

[Siberius]

Just had a quick look through. So Final Transmutation, Dwellers, Pit and Purple Sun are out in terms of this being used.

Sadly of course those are the ones you'd want to use it on most.

Still, that leaves every single other spell and there are some doosies! Plus a nifty emergency save against those nasty death spells. I don't have all the books, but I guess this might also help against stuff like plague, curse of years, orc magic, dark elf magic and such too right?

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

Doesn't the witch hunter give off MR also? Could make for a nice save if they were silly enough to target his unit...

The Witch Hunter does have MR 2, which combined with the scroll would make give the unit a 2+ ward against wounds caused by spells. You still would need a wizard in the unit, though, as the scroll is an arcane item. While it does help against any spell causing wounds (and allowing ward saves), note that it does not work against hexes etc., and is of limited use against spells that RiP (like Curse of Years), that still would need to be dispelled during a subsequent magic phase.

[Roka]

The Witch Hunter does have MR 2, which combined with the scroll would make give the unit a 2+ ward against wounds caused by spells.

i thought MR didnt pass from characters to units... can someone clear this up for me? because if so im gonna have some very pissed off'ed buddies who will call bs on that. i just want to get my facts  straight before i say anything...
(i dont have my BRB at the moment...)

[Johan Willhelm]

The Witch Hunter does have MR 2, which combined with the scroll would make give the unit a 2+ ward against wounds caused by spells.

i thought MR didnt pass from characters to units... can someone clear this up for me? because if so im gonna have some very pissed off'ed buddies who will call bs on that. i just want to get my facts  straight before i say anything...
(i dont have my BRB at the moment...)

Page 72:

If a Character with Magic Resistance joins a unit all models in the unit benefit from the Magic Resistance . If a model has two sets of Magic Resistance, the two do not combine, use the highest.

So yeah, all good! 

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

And to clarify even more: MR is a bonus to a ward saves against spells; two sets of MR do not combine, but MR and a ward save obviously do (ibidem).

[Roka]

The Witch Hunter does have MR 2, which combined with the scroll would make give the unit a 2+ ward against wounds caused by spells.

i thought MR didnt pass from characters to units... can someone clear this up for me? because if so im gonna have some very pissed off'ed buddies who will call bs on that. i just want to get my facts  straight before i say anything...
(i dont have my BRB at the moment...)

well now i just feel silly. witch hunters are amazing in my eyes now... i play agesnt alot of magic heavy armies. its nice to know that my troops wont die as fast anymore. thanks
Page 72:

If a Character with Magic Resistance joins a unit all models in the unit benefit from the Magic Resistance . If a model has two sets of Magic Resistance, the two do not combine, use the highest.

So yeah, all good! 

[wardenmunger]

It's best use is against Seering Doom when combined with magic res to save your knight bunker or DGK's.

[Muppet]

The Witch Hunter does have MR 2, which combined with the scroll would make give the unit a 2+ ward against wounds caused by spells. You still would need a wizard in the unit, though, as the scroll is an arcane item. While it does help against any spell causing wounds (and allowing ward saves), note that it does not work against hexes etc., and is of limited use against spells that RiP (like Curse of Years), that still would need to be dispelled during a subsequent magic phase.

The item description says that the target of the spell gets a 4+ ward, so a wizard is not needed in the unit targeted by the spell. But while writing this I guess you mean that the WH cannot have the scroll.

Anyway, scroll of shielding is great to save your Stank from that large Amber spear.

[Lord Solar Plexus]

Ah, those were the times when people still threw big 6's around! Fond memories of times long gone... 

[Sajek]

I actually carry that item on my lvl 4 if I have a lvl 2 scroll carrier. It has worked wonders against bigger spells aimed at that big block of halberdiers or that 30 man greatsword unit I've kept it my little secret too. It has been useful and if you have 15 points to spare and just don't know what to spend it on cause lets face it 4+ward on a unit or another great sword or 2 halberdiers... When I use it I have always had to pull out the rule book and prove its an actual item, most people are very surprised. Anywho yes it is 15 points very well spent

[Lord Solar Plexus]

This thread is still two years old...

[Muppet]

This thread is still two years old...

But it is still a valid arcane item to use in the current edition of WHFB. Is it so that if you did not play this game two years ago, you are not allowed to bring up discussions "already handled"? Why start a new thread if there already is one with a lot of useful answers?

[psychichobo]

Well, new army books and different metas and whatnot. Nowadays we're staring down much nastier things, and I'd still much rather go for the Hex scroll these days - you can pretty much deactivate a level 1-2 wizard, and sometimes that can really wreck future magic phases.

Usually it's easier to create new threads since people don't always want to dig through lots of potentially out of date advice. I don't think it's a bad idea that you've revived an older thread, but it's best to state that you've revived the thread and would like to add to the discussion to avoid potential confusion.

[Siberius]

I think most stuff still stands in this thread. Though I was surprised to see it pop back up!

I still use the scroll. Infact, it helped save my butt against some metal magic the other day!

I face a lot of high magic now too and it has proven very helpful against being blasted by that. And no reason (assuming you have more than one wizard) not to take both it and a dispel scroll. Dark magic has a few spells that blast you too so if anything, it's usefulness has increased.

[Fandir Nightshade]

A Vampire player used it last game to save the bony ass of his wraiths one turn.

[kwest]

I don't believe this scroll can be used against spells cast with IF.

The scroll is used instead of a dispel attempt, which can't be done when a spell is IFd.

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

That is, of course, entirely correct.