Great Eagle mounted Spellweavers/singers?

[Archaeoman]

Hi there! So I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about the potential uses of Spellweavers/singers mounted on Great Eagles. I'm working on a conversion I'm really excited about but don't exactly know what to do with it tactically!

What lore would be best? Magic items?

Is it even worth it? Or should eagles be more of a combat character mount if used at all? Thanks!

[nXken]

Does the AB allow us to field magicians on eagles?

If allowed I'ld say, take a devastating lore which you always found lacked in range.
Dart in and out of range with this guy.

[OfTheThorn]

It is one of the features in our new book that I found odd was so under-discussed!

Dark Magic in particular (Shroud of Despair) would be devestating on an eagle weaver. I've yet to try it though.
As I write this, I'm thinking it also seems a good place to field our shadow singer in a list with the sisters of twilight. They can't match into position and shoot, but they CAN be teleported there by Shadows lore attribute!

[Mollesvinet]

As mentioned, very useful for short range spells. Death magic is very good for a mobile caster, as it lets you get into position.

The eagle is not a very safe place though, as it can barely get look-out-sir. Spells and warmachines will be a problem. High magic counters can save it, but then the magic res of the unicorn becomes really handy to save points on magic items.

The unicorn have the same range with M10, only difference is that it cannot go "over" enemy units.

[Cihrai]

I have used the spellweaver-on-great eagle with good results, it works very similarly to the Druchii Dark Pegasus-mounted sorceresses for example. Just make sure you have a good ward save and use terrain to your advantage to hide from shooting and magic (though the latter is harder) as needed, you can easily be behind enemy lines on turn 2 (except maybe in Battle for the pass). So a Talisman of Preservation and really whatever lore you want, but given how close you can get without being in real danger of getting charged (pending proper placement) you could put Lore of Death to good use.

Last night my shadow weaver was in the flank of my dwarf opponent with enough line of sight to throw a Pendulum through a unit and into his Grudge Thrower, killing the war machine and a couple of dwarves on the way in turn 1. So add "war machine hunter" to the list of things you can do with your caster given the right spells and a great eagle, though to be fair we have so many things to deal with war machines already that this should not be necessary - I was just lucky with my rolls, I had other plans lined up to get rid of that war machine but now I was able to turn those to other targets. Lately I have also favored a kit where my mobile spell weaver has a bow and the Hail of Doom Arrow that she can shoot from short range (albeit with the negative from moving), however if you have a character with better ballistic skill to do this with that's of course still preferable (I run very character-light in the lists mentioned is all).

It of course gives you toughness 4 and 3 wounds (though with a -weaver you already had the wounds) and flying is just awesome for placement. Now, this said, I have also used a unicorn very similarly - the lack of flying can be a problem when trying to get in behind enemy lines but usually being in the flank is enough. It does also have the same benefits of T and W, and the MR means you have less to worry about in terms of being sniped off. If I had to choose I'd probably go for the great eagle most times, but sometimes (particularly in magic-heavy games) I'd certainly go for the unicorn.

So tl;dr: Yes, a caster on a great eagle is certainly worthwhile if equipped and used correctly. What lore to use depends on your army (and your opponent if you are tailoring a list), any lore can benefit from having a mobile caster whether it's to hop around to where a particular buff can be cast on the right unit or to get behind enemy lines to get that devastating close-range spell off on an enemy unit. You will still be more vulnerable to shooting and magic than if you were sitting in a unit, so placement and terrain become very important tools. And if you run High Magic you'll probably be more or less immune to harm after a couple of turns :P

[Phil Rossiter]

Two dangers:

Falcon Horn and Storm Banner. How to manage these?

[NiteOwl]

Two dangers:

Falcon Horn and Storm Banner. How to manage these?

Waystalker to snipe them out (at least the Storm Banner since Skaven are so squishy) or Arcane Unforging (High Magic).

[Phil Rossiter]

Fair play, though if Waystalkers are around a competent player will screen his characters. Can Stormvermin take the Banner?

Unforging is a great spell. Might be difficult to work out where the Horn actually is though, with Brets usually having multiple characters.

[youngseward]

Ive had good experiences with a lv 4 highweaver on great eagle. Im not game to try out any other lore because I feel she really needs the protection tokens. Mainly Ive used her to augment the fact that I play mostly MSU with wood elves, so I dont tie down my big spellcaster points sink into a unit to make them the clear target. However, in the six or so games that Ive used her in, she has only died once (and that was because a comet of cassandora rolled really highly for its spread). Its probably not the most competitive build, but it works well enough and can be a lot of fun, especially because it means you have to convert your own model[

[nXken]

I'ld use that build for spamming vortexes