Topic: WHFB Magic & Spells in various editions

[Warlord]

For me the worst part about 6/7 magic was all the 'magic movement' type spells. Really could kill all the careful maneuvering that this game should be about. In my recollection it wasn't just undead either. There was a shadow magic spells and, the orcs had something similar. Ah, the bad old days.

Correct. There was a shadow magic spell (#5 I believe). And yes, hand of gork i believe it was called. Shadow magic wasn’t great though other than the movement spell snd pit of shades from memory. All orc and goblin magic was decent I think.
Movement spells were string because of the things I listed earlier. It relates to 6th / 7th meta overall to load a combat for CR, deny kills, autobreak and pursue.

The other part was magic didn't scale that well. It got out of control in bigger games so this required some gentlemen's agreement.

8th hardly scales better. 2D6 is still 2D6. A disincentive for playing larger games IMO.

[Naitsabes]

The other part was magic didn't scale that well. It got out of control in bigger games so this required some gentlemen's agreement.

8th hardly scales better. 2D6 is still 2D6. A disincentive for playing larger games IMO.

well, I guess it depends on how much magic you want in your game. I think in vanilla 8th at 2500pts magic often is way too much. If you play bigger games, there is little incentive to bring more wizards outside of getting access to more spells and so relatively to the other phases magic becomes less important. Still can be crucial as it may allow you to delete a key unit or tip the balance in a key combat. ah, opinions...everybody's got one.

[Mike Stockin]

I much prefer the system in 3rd than the later editions.
The later feel more like a mini game and take away from core of what I like about WFB, which is masses of troops slogging across the field and getting stuck in.
However, I do like the fact that the magic from 4th onward seems to have better flavour.
To me each race and indeed cultures within the same race would manipulate the winds of magic differently.
We see that in the fiction.
Why would a Skaven cast a fireball, that seems too human, why not cast something in keeping with the Horned Rat.

I am keen to see what TOW offers in terms of magic, I hope it is a way to influence the battle rather than dominate it, and that wizards are supplements to the army, rather than wizards doing a lot of the heavy lifting and being key.

I guess I like it when an army without a wizard is at no significant disadvantage to an army with one.