8th Ed. Chief Wizard Hunter

[Moniker]

I was looking at experimenting with, as the title suggests, a wizard hunting Skink Chief. I'm welcoming suggestions as to builds. My first thought is thus:

Terradon
Light Armour
Shield
Piranha Blade
Bane Head
139pts

Suppose I could give him a blowpipe as well simply for added usefulness, especially since I occasionally play Ogres and I don't want him eaten prematurely...

Any other magic item recommendations? Thoughts on maybe using a Horned One? Experiences with such a thing?

 

[Qupakoco]

Ha, that's funny. I was messing around with this idea last night. I pretty much came up with the same thing, though you should remember that Heroes only have two wounds. That means Bane Head and Piranha Blade would be overkill in most cases. I'd get him some magical armor to give him some staying power.

The Horned one is pretty much a no go since it eats up 35 points worth of magic items. That means you can get an ok weapon, but that's it. A terradon is 30 points, plus you still have 50 left to spend on whatever. Not to mention that you can fly through forests, drop rocks, and stomp! Terradon wins hands down. If you give him a blowpipe, he can potentially take out a warmachine while he is en route to the wizard. You know, 2x poisoned shots on BS of 5 as well as a rock dropped on the crew.

 

[Lord Tsunami]

to be frank, this doesnt work.

first of all, he will be shot down at once if you do not put him in a unit (making him cost almost 250 points with his entourage, and its not like he becomes sturdy anyway. chances are he will never reach combat even with a unit).

second, wizards are routinely placed in units. you charge the unit and prepare to swing at the wizard, but oh, the measly champion challenges you? you must accept and you cut said champion to ribbons (at best) but it is not unlikely that you will lose combat, and then you may very well run off without ever striking a blow at the wizard.

thirdly, most lvl 4rs tend to have some sort of protection (ward save). you have 3 attacks hitting on 3s (at best) meaning 2 hits on average, and on average one will go through. assuming a 4+ ward, you have a coinflips chance of doing damage. if you do, the wizard dies and everything is good. if you dont... you will most likely lose the combat by 3 and run off.



Yes, you can argue that it could work, and feel free to try it if you wish, but chances are that in 4 matches out of 5 you will do nothing.

Besides, a scar veteran on a cold one will do the same job (pretty much) at the same price (pretty much) but better. he might not even run off.

 

[Moniker]

Yes the survivability on the skink is a major issue. My main target in my small gaming group - despite that I prefer to make all-comers lists - is my VC opponent, who likes to run a Lvl4 Necromancer lord, usually in zombies or behind his line. In other words, the perfect target - no champion, or alone.

I'll probably give it a go for a bit just the same, but I also have a single mounted saurus model I could run as a scar vet... suggestions on a build for him? I tend to plop a scar vet in my saurus to kill lots of rank-n-file for combat res, so it'd be a new thing for me.

 

[erians]

first of all, he will be shot down at once if you do not put him in a unit (making him cost almost 250 points with his entourage, and its not like he becomes sturdy anyway. chances are he will never reach combat even with a unit).

Maybe if you are trying to hunt mages in turn 1, but you can usually use LOS to avoid missile troops and still have LOS to targets if you are patient, unless you play gunlines. Not every army has a ton of shooting.

second, wizards are routinely placed in units. you charge the unit and prepare to swing at the wizard, but oh, the measly champion challenges you? you must accept and you cut said champion to ribbons (at best) but it is not unlikely that you will lose combat, and then you may very well run off without ever striking a blow at the wizard.

Yep, this would be the biggest problem. Can be countered by placing him in a terradon unit with a champ, but thats a VERY expensive mage hunter....

thirdly, most lvl 4rs tend to have some sort of protection (ward save). you have 3 attacks hitting on 3s (at best) meaning 2 hits on average, and on average one will go through. assuming a 4+ ward, you have a coinflips chance of doing damage. if you do, the wizard dies and everything is good. if you dont... you will most likely lose the combat by 3 and run off.

50% chance to kill a lvl 4 wizard and you only risk fleeing with an expendable hero? Yes please. Problem is that a ton of mages has WS4 which kinda screws your odds (unless they are T3, then its back to 1 wound on avarage). There are also tons of wizards with way better protection like LM, DE, WoC, Bretonnia, Ogres and VC.

to be frank, this doesnt work.

Well if you by "doesnt work" mean its not a (or at least not the most) competitive choice then yes, 100%. Its not a useless set up, but like with CoC, Swarms and Razordons its not the power gamers choice, and if you really want a flying chief there are other set ups that are a lot more fun to play with.