Whelp, I finally faced an ethereal dragon last night, and at 1000 points. I knew my list was outclassed, but my buddy really wanted to try out his dragon in a low-stakes game and I was curious to see what it could do.
I did not re-tool my list at all from my standard 1000 point escalation league army, so my only potentially anti-ethereal dragon unit was my level 4 who was set up as a magic missile artillery base (Pegasus, Ruby Ring, Arcane Familiar, so he had The Summoning, Doombolt, and Fireball)
How did it go? I can't remember all the details, but at some point one of my magic missiles did a single wound to the dragon, which is the same number of wounds he took from miscasts, so, I'm going to say, not super effective.
So what did I do? I actually ended up just ignoring the dragon. With a game full of horrible luck on my part, I barely cast any spells and did not dispel a single one of his spells for the whole game. I managed to pull out a draw. I think three factors helped me get to the draw:
- He did not want to charge my swordsmen (18 Veterans w/Griffon Banner and Shields, lead by a Demigryph BSB with the Warbanner). He was afraid that he would not be able to overcome my static resolution, even if he was ethereal.
- I was able to use my knights and demis to prevent a combo-charge from his dragon and his silverhelms
- One of my two actually helpful spells from the battle: Phantasmagoria. He was too nervous about panic, so he did not move his dragon in a turn where it would have set up a good breath weapon use and a good charge in a future turn.
The game did end after 4 turns, and I think if we had gone the full six turns he would have swung it to a minor victory by picking off my knights and my warhorse captain, whereas I was set up to still pick up an RBT and probably a unit of Shadow Warriors, so it would have been close. Far from being tabled.
So, my takeaways are:
- Dragons are vulnerable to static combat res.
- Dragon players have difficult choices about whether to use magic and breath weapons or charge into combat and lose that and their dispel abilities. They aren't as obvious cookie cutters as I had thought from reading the interwebs.
- Conversely, just holding an Archmage Dragon in combat can be very useful, even if you're not killing it. That makes the following useful for mitigating the dragon, even if you're not going to kill it:
1. Sticky Troops: Whether stubborn, high static combat res, unbreakable, lots of wounds, or just very tough, some combination of these can discourage a dragon charge and movement, even if you're not going to kill it.
2. Steam Tank: For all the reasons as sticky troops above, plus a little more manueverable so maybe it would be easier to get into contact with the dragon.
3. Tanky Griffon General: I'm thinking Full Plate & Shield, The White Cloak, Healing Potion, and Giant Blade. Possibly swap out the Giant Blade for a second healing potion. He doesn't have to win, he just has to use his 323 points to keep a 500+ point dragon out of the game. He's also pretty versatile for games where an ethereal dragon doesn't happen to make an appearance.
4. Finally, and maybe most importantly, just tool up to deal with the rest of his army. Outside of the Dragon, elves are still squishy. Through those soft, wispy frames is a path to victory.
