Combat Monster Killer Lord

[danny1995]

So with the advent of 50% lords, the end times, etc. I have decided to try and build a lord that can smack some big nasty monsters in the face. So this is a highborn that should hopefully be able to get at a monster quickly, kick it in the teeth, and move on to the next one.

Highborn
-Spirit Sword
-Charmed Shield
-Great Eagle
285

Only has a 4+ armour save, and no ward, so his survivability is a little bit garbage but seeing as he is meant to take on monsters he's basically screwed if he gets smacked by them. The shield should save him from a turn one cannon. In support of this guy would be beastweaver in a big old unit of Sisters of the Thorn to hopefully beef this guys strength up. If there's no monsters in my opponents army I'm still trying to figure out what I could use this guy for. Thoughts?

[Coldpsyker]

So with the advent of 50% lords, the end times, etc. I have decided to try and build a lord that can smack some big nasty monsters in the face. So this is a highborn that should hopefully be able to get at a monster quickly, kick it in the teeth, and move on to the next one.

Highborn
-Spirit Sword
-Charmed Shield
-Great Eagle
285

Only has a 4+ armour save, and no ward, so his survivability is a little bit garbage but seeing as he is meant to take on monsters he's basically screwed if he gets smacked by them. The shield should save him from a turn one cannon. In support of this guy would be beastweaver in a big old unit of Sisters of the Thorn to hopefully beef this guys strength up. If there's no monsters in my opponents army I'm still trying to figure out what I could use this guy for. Thoughts?

Is he supposed to join the Sisters unit? He cannot, since he is on a flying mount.

I would give him the Great Stag- Stag is better in combat, and he can join units if needed.
Also, since you have 10 extra points for magic items, give him a Potion of Foolhardiness and a Dragonbane Gem.
-Potion of Fooldhardiness- extra attack is always nice, especially because Spirit Sword relies on getting an unsaved wound through. Also, Immune to Psych is valuable, because nothing will make your plan fail faster than a failed fear test at exactly the wrong moment
-Dragonbane Gem- because why not?

[Phil Rossiter]

I largely agree with Coldpsyker.

There is something to be said for a general combat lord on eagle. Something like Ogre Blade, Dragonhelm, Talisman of Preservation, Potion of Foolhardiness. But I gather Spirit Sword is the point here. Trouble is that even archery or S4 MM's can shoot this guy off. If sticking with the eagle I'd consider Dragonhelm, Luckstone. Should survive arrows for long enough and ignores Flaming war machines, fireballs etc. Perfect for a K'daai Destroyer!

[danny1995]

I think I'll go for keeping him on the eagle, he's faster and more maneuverable that way. I do like the idea of the portion and dragonbane gem though, I don't want to run ogre blade talisman of preservation because I know full well he's going to get gacked by any monster who gets to swing at him, hence beast to buff strength then the blade to hopefully knock off the rest of the wounds, kill it before it can hit me back. With a normal Lord with ogre blade the chances of getting enough wound are a lit lower I think.

[danny1995]

I think I'll go for keeping him on the eagle, he's faster and more maneuverable that way. I do like the idea of the portion and dragonbane gem though, I don't want to run ogre blade talisman of preservation because I know full well he's going to get gacked by any monster who gets to swing at him, hence beast to buff strength then the blade to hopefully knock off the rest of the wounds, kill it before it can hit me back. With a normal Lord with ogre blade the chances of getting enough wound are a lit lower I think.

[RTGamer]

He can join the sisters for shooting protection then shoot out into the monster.

Not a bad build just a little risky.

[Phil Rossiter]

Monster has to put effectively 6 wounds on Ogre Blade guy because of the Ward and the 3+ armour makes it even harder. He'll grind down S5 monsters because odds are he puts on 4 S6 hits/round while the monster will be lucky to get 3 hits. For example on even dice he beats a Treeman, which is a very resilient monster. S6 it depends on the monster.

Spirit Sword is just more of an all or nothing strategy. T5 monsters are probably his best target because Wildform might be enough to get a wound through.

[Baardah]

Could you for instance go for the sword of bloodshed and rely on S buffs for the punch? Maybe a S potion. He'd dish out an insane amount of attack if you get savage beasts off on him.

[Mollesvinet]

I have also been thinking about the spirit sword lately. I can't see myself taking it without potion of strength or perhaps the other tricksters shard. S4 is just not good enough against many monsters/characters and having the single wound saved by ward save really blows.

[Phil Rossiter]

Potion of Strength + Spirit Sword is 105pts

Regen is also an issue.

[Aezeal]

Nice discussion this... what is a highborn though (RTFM, RAW etc )

[Mollesvinet]

Potion of Strength + Spirit Sword is 105pts

That´s what i get for submitting without checking the books, tought the potion was 5 less that it actually is.

I still like the idea to run him together with a high magic weaver for protection, a stag and a unicorn tag team. For strength a beast singer could be used.

Alternatively he could be placed in a group of sisters of the thorn along with a beast weaver.

If used as a single character i would probably go with the eagle build that was mentioned, but with strength 4 he really needs magical support in any case.

EDIT: By the way, a highborn is what a glade lord was called in the previous army book.

[OfTheThorn]

I think the key to maximising the Spirit Sword build's output is the Other Trickster's Shard. However he also has to survive.

My current approach to solving both of these is to have a Unicorn Highweaver totting the Other Trickster's Shard and the Glade Lord bolted on to her side. This way, he gets to share her tokens, the OTS doesn't affect your mage's ward save, and you have 15 points on the glade lord for either the charmed shield and potion of foolhardiness or some other goodies.

Of course you have to pick your battles, so your weaver doesn't end up in a prolonged fight where the tokens will fold. But the weaver benefits from good protection against fast(ish) combat lords. An Oldblood, for example, /should/ die before he even gets to strike.

[CauCaSus]

That sounds like a lot of pts, effort and important characters to kill a monster that just as easily can be killed by shooting or wild riders. What kind of monsters are you having so much trouble with?

[Aezeal]

Yeah and with the Eternity list you could probably just get Malekith or Imrik. Will do more damage and have better survivability.

[Arwen]

I think it is easier to put your BSB in some Wild Riders and give him a GW and maybe potion of Foolhardiness for ITP and +1 attack, so 4x Strength 6 attacks + Wild Riders strength 5 attacks.

[Aezeal]

I think it is easier to put your BSB in some Wild Riders and give him a GW and maybe potion of Foolhardiness for ITP and +1 attack, so 4x Strength 6 attacks + Wild Riders strength 5 attacks.

If they kill him (and ranked troops might hit back) it would be a lot of points for the opponent though.

[Arwen]

I think it is easier to put your BSB in some Wild Riders and give him a GW and maybe potion of Foolhardiness for ITP and +1 attack, so 4x Strength 6 attacks + Wild Riders strength 5 attacks.

If they kill him (and ranked troops might hit back) it would be a lot of points for the opponent though.

True if the WR's kill the monster being frenzied have to overrun and subject to a counter charge unless you have set up eagle re-directors to protect the WR's flanks after the overrun.

Not sure the points cost compared to a tooled up Lord.

[CauCaSus]

Thats the problem with WE combat characters. 4 S6 attacks isn't THAT much better than 3 S5 attacks.

Not when the lord is 265 pts including magic items and a single WR is 28 pts with shield.

[Aezeal]

Thats the problem with WE combat characters. 4 S6 attacks isn't THAT much better than 3 S5 attacks.

Not when the lord is 265 pts including magic items and a single WR is 28 pts with shield.

There is no problem if you just don't use them.
So avoid characters in pure WE lists except for mages.
In Eternity King lists you might have some nice HE/DE options but probably the new Eternity characters would be best bang for buck. I mean Malekith has so few weaknesses and
1. Combat: strong stats and does multiple wounds, ow and a breath weapon, and eternal hatred
2. support: GREAT mobility (WE thing right, make WR close even faster to combat= less getting shot at) special rule. AND better attacks (extra rank AND reroll all failed to wound in 12 'special rule, HUGE inspiring personality (24"I think at Ld 10?)
3. magic: level 5 mage, reroll miscasts and his rerolls from the circlet
4. survivor/keeps points: he's hard to kill if you avoid specialized malekith killers (not sure what that would be but.. I guess you could think up something).

[CauCaSus]

That was my point. WE combat lords aren't worth their pts.

[Phil Rossiter]

There's very little difference offensively between a WE combat lord and those of other elves and they are very popular.

The problem is lack of mundane armour, which is why builds like Astorre's bus with Protection Counters is interesting.