7th Ed. Need Advice- 2000 Tournament, No Magic Items Allowed

[Gor-rok]

The guy that runs our tournaments had the novel idea that in the next one we won't be able to take magic items whatsoever (this rules out special characters as well, since every one I can think of has at least one magic item). Slann disciplines should be ok, as is upgrading wizards' levels, etc. No dispel scrolls!

I'm expecting opponents to pack heavy offensive magic, since combat characters will lose too much of their effectiveness without magical gear. A Slann will be a HUGE advantage I think, especially with Becalming Cogitation, Focus of Mystery, and Focused Rumination.

Beyond that, however, I'm at a loss for how to proceed. I'm anticipating the following armies, if history serves:

Empire gun line with wizards

WoC with Tzeentch magicians

Vampires, probably with blood knights

Rival Slann in temple guard with EotG

Wood Elves with some lady riding a unicorn, and a treeman

Possibly High Elves and O&G

With all the spell slinging probably going on, I think slow, heavy infantry might be a disadvantage. Then again, temple guard might be good with everyone likely going after the Slann right away. EotG would work great against heavy armor, but it's a massive points sink. Chronic indecision is definitely setting in...

The other thing to consider is that we typically declare what lore/s we're taking at the start of the first game and roll up our spells, and then must use those for the rest of the games in the series. The Slann needs an "all comers" lore; Fire, Metal, and Shadow come to mind, but I'm definitely open to suggestions.

So, how would you all handle this?

 

[the-graven]

Ok for the lore I guess shadow will do fine.

For the army, go magic-heavy, no magic items is suckish for cc characters, but it also sucks for mages(no cupped hands of the old ones on Slann is bye-bye Slann). Take a Slann, an EotG maybe 2 if you like but then you'll barely have points left for the rest of your army. Take a unit of Terradons as usual, a salamander, and of course some Saurus, and if you like some Kroxigors. I can't really help you since there isn't much to say about normal units and can't say what magic items you've got to take since there are no magic items!

 

[Walgis]

i would take lore of metal becouse its good for char hunting, for high armour, and for regenaration.
defenetly i would take atleast one eotg. if you take lots of saurus dont take terradons becouse you dont need to march block, take sinks for rederecting theyre cheaper.

 

[walach]

man, i wish i could play in a tournament like that.

cant help but laugh if a guy shows up with blood knights, without the usual mini-army of banners in the unit

certainly magic seems like an excellent idea, as dispel scrolls, ring of hotek etc are usually a real pain, without them a slann should really be able to dish it out.


for lore, i'd go for fire. if you have to stick with the same lore throughout. though metal is very tempting when there's blood knights and chaos warriors in the mix.

 

[Caneghem]

Metal or Shadow sound good if there will be no scrolls. Also if Disciplines are allowed, Soul of Stone might be worth it to keep your Slann from imploding.

Metal seems like it would be really good... Spirit of the Forge on anything with armor should ruin peoples' days. Plus I can see people maxing out on mundane armor since they won't have magic protection.

 

[Gor-rok]

Mmmm, all good suggestions. Starting the list now; I'll do a heavy infantry version and a fast attack version.

I've never read the Vampire army book. Does the regeneration the Blood Knights always seem to have come from a banner, or do they do that naturally? If it's a banner (that they won't have this time), Creeping Death from Shadows will eat them up for half the casting cost of Spirit of the Forge.

As far as magic lores go, here's the pros and cons I've thought of:

Fire:
+ Tons of shooting and damage spells to lay waste to lighter units
+ Flaming Sword would be good on a solo ethereal Slann if something gets into combat with him
- Everything hits at S4; bad for heavy armor and big tough monsters

Metal:
+ Character sniping
+ SotF lays waste to heavy armor and monsters
+ Good for Temple Guard Slann, as most spells can be cast into combat
- Got to throw a lot of dice at the "money" spell
- Not so great for low armor enemies

Shadow:
+ Unseen Lurker helps the rest of the army get into combat
+ Cheap Creeping Death shreds armored cavalry
+ Pit makes big scary things go away
- Pit and Unseen Lurker cost a lot to cast
- Useless against units in combat; better for solo Slann

I'll post lists when I have them. Until then, thanks for the advice.

 

[lazylizard]

i don't know about how specific your tourny is but at our tourneys we can switch lores in every game. but don't forget!!! we do have (at least i believe it) the best hero in our scar-vet head to head.

 

[Gor-rok]

It varies at our tournaments, but house rules are usually that lores and rolled spells are fixed so that magicians don't have such an advantage in versatility over combat based lists.

Speaking of Scar Veterans, I think mine will have a great weapon rather than a cold one. If I take Shadows I'll be able to fire him out of his unit and cause trouble, and if I don't he'll still be a threat to heavy armor.