Topic: Anti magic empire

[Footpatrol2]

If you were to build a anti empire magic list to counter say double lvl 4 enemy mages how would you kit/lore the empire level 4 wizard. The idea would be to shut down enemy magic. Multiple dispel scrolls?

Would you take a war altar to assist?

[commandant]

The Book of Ashur is quite qood, though expensive.

Also feedback scrolls are interesting, if again expensive.   You have a 25% chance to hang 2 wounds on a wizard which could be a really big deal

[Edwin von Dufflecoat]

I just don't think magic is that dangerous.

My last game I took my Dark elves against orcs, with just my level 2 against 4 wizards! 3 l2 and a l4.  Only one l2 was still standing at games end. And I can't think of a single useful thing any of them did.

My only rule for dealing with magic  is to always take a level 1, just so you're not relying on a single nat dispel.

I did try the war altar for a bit but I don't think he ever actually stopped a spell with his -2. Tanked a lot of shooting attacks tho.

[sedobren]

honestly the wizard familiar is great. +1 to dispel is not that common in other armies and you can use it on every wizard you want. I often use it alongside the wizard staff also. If you want to stick to dispelling, either the boom of ashur (way too expensive imho, it should have been around 60 pt i think) or you can use the familiar with the common +1 to cast/didpell item for 80 pts total and +6 to dispel, which i think it's the highest dispel.bonus a non-named character can achieve in the hold world (with pts to spare for a wizard staff so you can play the wizard as a magic missileer as well!).

all in all the empire as some bang on arcane items!

[sedobren]

also a lector on chariot for the -2 bubble if you really want to shut down casting!

[Rodman49]

boom of ashur

I will exclusively call it this from now on.

[OMoran]

I would try to overwhelm the opponent's magic with our own.

The empire can field a lot of level 4s, and all of them can have a total +5 dispel bonus. I don't think any other army can do that (but yeah, they can field immortal dragons so...).

Maybe you can go with 3 lvl 4, to have a good board coverage (given 24" dispel range), every one of them with the wizard familiar, one may also have a lore familiar, so he chooses spells. I'd also take battle magic so you can cast offensively too, casting fireballs and pillars with 3 mages might be actually strong.

I wouldn't invest in an altar, tho. It's too damn expensive for the little it does and really has no role since its leadership 8 doesn't make it a good general. If it had Ld 9, maybe.

[Rodman49]

FWIW a fast character or unit who can engage the enemy in Wizards in combat will slow them down - you don't have to simply go head to head on dispel attempts and should use maneuver to mitigate enemy magic impact also.

[Footpatrol2]

Good point. Cheap Pegasus captain could pressure back a enemy wizard.

[commandant]

Wizards are also not that cheap and poorly armed and armoured so a peggy captain that slams into the wizard/unit with the wizard in it to snipe the wizard is also a sensible thing.   

A witch hunter that hates wizards with the berserker blade and a peggy is only 105 points.  Your standard wizard is more that 105 points and often armies only seem to have one.

A witch hunter with the giant blade and a peggy is 115 points.   Given that the giant blade does 2 wounds and would be Str 5 there is a reasonable chance that you could one shot a wizard lord.   This would also be quite good against things like demon princes which are also wizards.   Only 2 attacks but hated helps.

You could also have a witch hunter with the sword of justice which is multi wounds 2 and re-roll failed to wound.   So you have 2 attacks hitting on 3+/4+ (re-rolling to hit and) wounding on 4+ (re-rolling to wound) with multi wound 2 and 2 attacks hitting on 3+/4+ and wounding on 4+.   Out of this you need to hang 3 wounds on the wizard.

There is also the option of a general of the empire on a peggy with the ogre blade. 3 attacks at Str 6 with d3 wounds.   That should reliably wipe a wizard. Depending on what the wizard is bunkered in the general might even survive.   Maybe a potion of healing.

I think the idea would be to bring 2-3 wizard lords of your own and dominate the magic phase of the game.  A dark wizard and an illusion wizard combined could make your troops really hard to destroy.

[Footpatrol2]

I think what I was aiming for was a cheap way to reliably shut down enemy wizards. Multiple wizard lords is not that cheap. It works and is a viable way to play.

A wizard lord with dispel familiar + maybe dispel scrolls
Then maybe cheap witchhunter Pegasus to further pressure lone wizards or wizards in bunkers.

I guess that's a lot of points as well.

[commandant]

It depends on how much magical offense you want. If the answer to that is little to none then witch hunters and the war altar as your general are good. You can get -2/-4 to casters

[Jörgen Andreasson]

I designed a priest heavy themed army with double Witch Hunters on Pegasus... I did not play with it but it seemed fun and a nice theme. The issue is actually dispelling, especially vortexes can become a huge problem. Unless those Witch Hunters can do their thing it will become diffficult for you.

If you bring your own wizards it should not be much of a problem. A single level 4 with book of Ashur is really good for shuting down enemy magic. Keep the wizard centrally and protected in a good unit, you want this character to project his dispel aura on as much of the battlespace as possible.

If I go with the level 4 wizard then I generally have a big powerful infantry block with a few charachters in it. From there this wizard can dominate the battlefield. The opponent are quite reluctant to engage this unit. Another way is to move the wizard with a larger contingent of knight up along the flank but keep the wizard as close to the center as possible. I would mount the wizard on a Pegasus rather than a horse most of the time. The wizard can't really join kniight units becaause that will make the loose counter charge ability and that can be devastating. Having the wizard on a Pegasus also give them great mobility and an extra wound. Giving the pegasus wizard Armour of Taurus, Wizard Familiar and a Wizard Staff might be a good option.