Unicorn Lone Weaver

[Syphilis]

So I have a thing for lone mounted wizards...even though its never a good idea. I figured with a 4+ Ward Talisman and the unicorns MR 2. She should be quite the zippy/ hard to kill wizard. Anyone used one? And what Lore and configuration do you use?

[Atrophus]

If your going lone weaver I'd say death is a pretty good choice, you can get nice and close then

[Drstrangelove]

Yep. Death on a Unicorn.
Scary stuff.
But if I was going to do this I'd stick to a Lv2.

If I was going to use a Weaver I'd take Dark. Bubbled Shroud of Despair 6 dice FTW!!

[OfTheThorn]

I've so far used one with both High and Dark magic. She's worked out brilliantly - never ended up lower than her starting wounds; once she ended with 10 from soul stealing skaven slaves, the other time she ended up with five protection counters.

High Magic - I loved the protection counters. They make your lone general a non-target. A 4+ ward is worth risking a cannonball shot; but 4+ with the ability to fail and 'still pass' is not. However, I am finding the lore lacking in game-changing impact. Perhaps this is because I am playing in alliances where the dice are split, and therefore never have enough to try arcane unforging, or fiery convocation. I love the lore on my lizard men, but that's possibly because I instantly swap out to Spirit Leech or Searing Doom where I need it.
I'll test more.

TL;DR: If you want to protect your lvl 4 dispeller and don't mind your magic phases not consisting of 6-dicers, High Magic is good. Great for points denial on your general, great for mobility, and most of all, she becomes a (fast) walking cannon-shield the second she has a counter. Treemen, form up your conga line!

Dark Magic - Dark Magic has yet to make it into our group. So this is their first experience of the tasty goodness that is Shroud of Despair. Doombolt and Bladewind threaten some of the major targets I face, and the tokens have turned out to be real psychological tools.
The unicorn is pretty much perfect for a Dark Weaver. The mobility allows you to get Shroud of Despair to hit the units you want, while the 2+ Ward vs magic means you can ALWAYS drop power of darkness and hope for 3 more dice.
I may have been spoiled in having a big pit of skaven slaves to Soul Steal from, but any block of T3 troops seems to boost you to around 7 wounds. That's a good level of survivability.
Finally, the unicorn's nifty 'Impale' only benefits from Power of Darkness. I finished off a Hell Pit Abomination with its S7 hits.

TL;DR: A bit more of an offensive spin. Trades some level of survivability compared to High, but after a few spells has been singled out as a big threat (typically once counters start mounting up), which the High Magic never seems to do. She will have more of an impact on your game, but is very much a 'lone ranger' type.

Other Lores
I don't know if I've settled on a lore for her yet. She definitely needs some mechanic to protect her just that little bit more, to run her alone. As I said, a 50-50 chance to one-shot her with a cannon is a chance many will take.

Shadow could be fun. I intend to try this soon with the Sisters of Twilight swooping about within 18". They can't march and fire, but swapping them into a favourable position is a nice trick. As we already know, Shadow is a very good lore for us too.

Heavens I struggle to take. It's very good, and it can offer us protection from cannons, gyrocopters, eagles etc. However, my other army is Lizardmen, and being used to Tetto'Eko, I always find Heavens disappointing in anybody else's hands. A boosted comet frequently needs that re-rolling 1s to be cast, and reroll to arrive in order to do what you want it to. Nevertheless I may try her some day soon.

[Fitz]

Like this - just threw together a couple of potential builds:

Spellweaver - 325 points
Lvl 4, Unicorn, Talisman of Preservation

OR you could accept she's gonna die and bring the Acorn along for giggles.

Spellweaver - 380 points
Lvl 4, Unicorn, Acorn of the Ages

Spellsinger - 175 points
Lvl 2, Unicorn

I guess you could put the talisman on the lvl 2 just to make her more annoying. That would essentially force your opponent to charge her or divert a decent amount of BS Shooting in her general direction. Not sure that either of these builds is particularly cost effective though.

[RedPanda]

I say ditch the unicorn if it is a lv2, being in a way you kinda want the enemy to target the lone mage which then your other units can move into position.
If they don't target the weaver make them suffer with a maxed out spell being if you roll a Miscast/IF you wont hit your other units

[bjoernuhlig]

if u consider loosing the spellweaver LVL2 in casting shroud of despair or get in snipe distance with death, just put him on a great eagle. in most of the cases you can still cover your 20'' to be just where u want to be, and die after. no need of a ward save. just hide him in Deployment behind something big, in case your opponent gets to go first. GE saves you 10 points, though its less fluffy, I agree. Unicorns are simply awesome. I would rather make use of 60P with the MR2 for more then 1 or 2 turns thus putting a LVL 4 with 4++ on the white horsey. 325 is a lot, but it is always a lot, isnt it?

[CauCaSus]

Lvl 2 can't take high or dark magic though. I want to try the uniweaver on high magic, but I am considering 5++ and Book of Ashur instead of 4++. What do you think? Too risky? With high I at least get the tokens for protection and with +6 to cast in a forest, I can almost one-die every spell in the lore. Will probably go for 4++ with Dark though.

[RonRJW]

I played a game last week and had a lvl 4 in a forest and as going to one dice a spell and my opponent reminded me that a natural dice roll of 1 or 2 is considered "broken concentration" and that would end that mage's spell casting for that turn, of course he reminded me of this after I rolled a 2, been a little scared to try it since then.
@ OfTheThorn. Great idea with the lone mage and the protection counters, keep in the backfield a turn or two, get a couple counters on ya and off to cause trouble.

[Syphilis]

I've been thinking about this unicorn weaver again. Possibly as my general if I don't have points for a lvl 2 ancient. I am thinking a level 4 dark or death with 4++ ward. What do you think? What sort of army will go well with this?

[Phil Rossiter]

For a start, Warhawks.

Without Protection Counters the cannon-screening option is important.

[Coran GladeSwann]

High Magic for me. The invincible weaver is a staple of my lists.

I will also agree with Phil Rossiter's comment on warhawks for non-high magic users as they are invaluable.

[sunstrider]

I've so far used one with both High and Dark magic. She's worked out brilliantly - never ended up lower than her starting wounds; once she ended with 10 from soul stealing skaven slaves, the other time she ended up with five protection counters.

High Magic - I loved the protection counters. They make your lone general a non-target. A 4+ ward is worth risking a cannonball shot; but 4+ with the ability to fail and 'still pass' is not. However, I am finding the lore lacking in game-changing impact. Perhaps this is because I am playing in alliances where the dice are split, and therefore never have enough to try arcane unforging, or fiery convocation. I love the lore on my lizard men, but that's possibly because I instantly swap out to Spirit Leech or Searing Doom where I need it.
I'll test more.

TL;DR: If you want to protect your lvl 4 dispeller and don't mind your magic phases not consisting of 6-dicers, High Magic is good. Great for points denial on your general, great for mobility, and most of all, she becomes a (fast) walking cannon-shield the second she has a counter. Treemen, form up your conga line!

Dark Magic - Dark Magic has yet to make it into our group. So this is their first experience of the tasty goodness that is Shroud of Despair. Doombolt and Bladewind threaten some of the major targets I face, and the tokens have turned out to be real psychological tools.
The unicorn is pretty much perfect for a Dark Weaver. The mobility allows you to get Shroud of Despair to hit the units you want, while the 2+ Ward vs magic means you can ALWAYS drop power of darkness and hope for 3 more dice.
I may have been spoiled in having a big pit of skaven slaves to Soul Steal from, but any block of T3 troops seems to boost you to around 7 wounds. That's a good level of survivability.
Finally, the unicorn's nifty 'Impale' only benefits from Power of Darkness. I finished off a Hell Pit Abomination with its S7 hits.

TL;DR: A bit more of an offensive spin. Trades some level of survivability compared to High, but after a few spells has been singled out as a big threat (typically once counters start mounting up), which the High Magic never seems to do. She will have more of an impact on your game, but is very much a 'lone ranger' type.

Other Lores
I don't know if I've settled on a lore for her yet. She definitely needs some mechanic to protect her just that little bit more, to run her alone. As I said, a 50-50 chance to one-shot her with a cannon is a chance many will take.

Shadow could be fun. I intend to try this soon with the Sisters of Twilight swooping about within 18". They can't march and fire, but swapping them into a favourable position is a nice trick. As we already know, Shadow is a very good lore for us too.

Heavens I struggle to take. It's very good, and it can offer us protection from cannons, gyrocopters, eagles etc. However, my other army is Lizardmen, and being used to Tetto'Eko, I always find Heavens disappointing in anybody else's hands. A boosted comet frequently needs that re-rolling 1s to be cast, and reroll to arrive in order to do what you want it to. Nevertheless I may try her some day soon.

You make the idea of taking a lone, unicorn darkweaver VERY tempting :P

[Takkie]

Death weaver on a unicorn. Yeah!

[Syphilis]

There is definitely something really cool about a mobile magic platform zapppping and getting close to units and then bubbling leadership away or sending a vortex down the flanks. But I get the feeling anyone who knows about Dark magic (my entire group thanks to a Dark Elf user) will destroy the unicorn first. Is death magic a bit more subtle? I'm still probably going to be a Dark unicorn wielder for a while....but death is tempting too...so very tempting.

[Tanglewood]

There is a thread about unicorn high weaver in the tactical section.

Conclusion: Competitive enough for high level tourney play. Weaver practically never die. Item: 4++ a must. Then choice of scroll, forbidden rod, earthing rod, fencers blade, crown, potion of str, etc.

High isn't directly as devastating as some of the other lores. Fiery convo is no dweller but it is still pretty good. Boosted SQ is such a useful spell that I cast it every phase I can. It's a HODA basically.Arcane unforging turns HE matchups from bad to very good for bowlines (bye bye 2++ BotWD saves) or even to just snipe 1+ 2W bsb. If you build your list around her, you'll get good mileage form the lore.

Personally, I tested this build when the book came out and it's basically getting more and more play. It's in my current tournament set up. I favoured the sister bus when the book first came out but this is actually much better as you aren't locking so many points into a unit that doesn't output very much and the lvl 4 is actually safer. My opponents generally leave her to do whatever she wants to from T2, leaving you with less stuff to worry about

[Phil Rossiter]

From experience of using the old Flames, the RIP was always a problem for the enemy magic phase. More so with Convocation because it's 19+ to dispel. Especially with infantry blocks starting to make a comeback.

[chickenbane]

I have got great results with a UniHighweaver (just coined the word €2 for anyone that uses it from now on ), just doesn't do enough damage. I'm leaning towards a Darkweaver on a Unicorn as a 2+ save vs Power of Darkness is very tempting. Plus the damage output is considerable greater.

[Phil Rossiter]

I feel there's a very strong case for combining the High Unicorn with a second level 4, Shadow for example. In the current meta 2xlvl4 is usually a good idea anyway.

[chickenbane]

I really fancy a Jedi/Sith mix. high and Dark waever and then in turn 6 an 'I am your father!' situation.

[sunstrider]

In that same thread there was also talk of using the unicorn highweaver as a screening element to absorb cannonball shots for monsters with protection counters. The unicorn can keep pace with everything including a dragon, so this is another viable way to employ the highweaver

[Phazael]

I have run her at three major GTs so far with good success. Once I am done decompressing from my Wisconsin trip, I will post my Pa a bat reps. My Alamo bat reps are already around here. She is way more viable than people think, but you need to be solid with movement and decision making in the magic phase to get the most out of her. Everyone is obsessed with the Sister bus, but she is more effective solo and comps way better.

[Mollesvinet]

That would be great. I am running high magic (on a steed, but still) at an upcoming tournament, and it would be nice to see how you play your magic phase. Looking forward to read your reports.

[FriedTaterExplosion]

I'd love to see someone model a set of twins. One wielding High Magic on a Unicorn and one wielding Dark Magic on a currupted Unicorn.

[Syphilis]

Not sure how this would look but I am planning to use the Starmane reaper unicorn on 50mm base and leave a 20mm cutout in the base for a high weaver, McVey Ar Fienel (I know she's got a bow but it's a lovely model) which can be swapped for avatars of War Shadow with 2 Weapons. (Converted to be a weaver) as the Dark or evil weaver. So they can also be on foot in some games if needed. Not sure if this would look nice. I don't really want to cut up miniatures.