Post: #1

hey all,
me and my mate are having a 5k game Friday and he is planning to take a massive unit of (i think) 36 knights, a priest with extra hand weapon, helborg and maybe Franz. i might have a problem killing this off.
any tips on how to budge this?

Post: #2

Lead them on a wild zombie chase with cleverly placed raised sombies.

Scream at them with banshies.

Anything that ignores armor saves.

Wind of death spell.

Killing blow.

Hex Wraiths.

Blood Knights.

Bat swarms.

Post: #3

You could fight fire with fire. A massive unit of 25 black knights with lord w/ogreblade, red fury and whatever protective gear (I prefer nightshroud to limit strength and get +1 armor).

Or a unit of 9 crypt horrors would be hard to shift. Front charge with them, flank with something appropriate as they should have a wide flank.

Then there is magic. Winds of undeath would also be good, he'll probably be at least 3 ranks, so 3d6 s3 hits ignoring armor would do some damage, as would curse of years on a unit that size.

Cursed book is also useful, albeit random. I've found the debuffs it gives to be worth their weight in gold

Post: #4

Avoid fighting it, it's hard to move so run away from it try to get it stuck on Zombies, throw a good old Wind of Death at them and kill off the rest of his army first. The thing about Deathstars is they're only worth what they can kill so try to control that.

Post: #5

i have an idea,
its more of a fun idea than effective and thats have a massive 200man unit of skelles, make sure they get into combat and he will not move them! end. then get a big unit of 35 hex wraiths and march through thm over and over again. each time it will kill about 15-20 (they are auto hits right?)

Post: #6

(02-07-2012 02:43 PM)sabastionz Wrote:  i have an idea,
its more of a fun idea than effective and thats have a massive 200man unit of skelles, make sure they get into combat and he will not move them! end. then get a big unit of 35 hex wraiths and march through thm over and over again. each time it will kill about 15-20 (they are auto hits right?)

I thought hex wraith units max at 10?

Curse of Years could be nice as well!

Post: #7

I'm pretty sure Grave Guard would be pretty solid against this setup too. With their S6 great weapons, they'll reduce the Knights' 1+ saves down to 4+. They also have the added benefit of Killing Blow, which will straight-up kill a Knight on a roll of 6 to wound. You'll have to weather the charge, but with the new IoN's potential for raising massive amounts of guys in one magic phase, you should be able to survive their assault, then inflict untold amounts of damage in return.

Post: #8

The Characters in that unit are the pain in the ass, with 2 Runefangs and them being Immune to Psychology with Hatred. A big block of Grave Guard will maybe do some damage and you might be able to Heroic Killing Blow Kral Franz or Helborg which would be a great start (Helborg has no Ward save so a good target), after they kill 6 or 7 of your Grave Guard straight away. The Knights can be pretty punchy with hatred as well, expect to get catastohumped in the first round of combat, I would expect that Knight unit (with characters) to kill 15-16 Grave Guard round one, counting Laurels of Victory that's around 20 Wounds for Combat Res, You should probably kill 7-8 back if you're a horde then after CR you'll have lost 20-25 Grave Guard. In short you'll need a chunky unit of Grave Guard to hold them up till round two where you can really start to take control of the combat.

Post: #9

so far i have got 2 chars to deal with the unit
a. a base vampire-l that takes there AS to a 6+(or not at all if my bsb is still alive) and i am hitting on 3s wounding on 2s and with red fury i should kill a fair chunk. oooooor i can direct him against the battle-p to get rid of that hatred.
b. and one for dealing with Kurt, and i will need some bad rolls to leave him alive, as i go 1st with a reroll, he gets no Armour, i'm hitting and wounding on 3s and red fury,

Post: #10

When you say Base vampires are you talking Heroes or Lords, either is quite a high risk strategy against Ghal Maraz. Out of interest how are you denying Helborg his armour save, he's 2+ base, but if you're wounding on 3+ it's not because you've chugged a Potion of Strength, Obsidian Blade? You really have to hope it works or they will do bad thing to your Vampires.

Just make sure you dispel Armour of Contempt and don't get your blob caught by a Steam Tank.

Post: #11

ahhh i shouldn't really have put base infornt of it .

(02-07-2012 06:19 PM)Aramoro Wrote:  Out of interest how are you denying Helborg his armour save, he's 2+ base, but if you're wounding on 3+ it's not because you've chugged a Potion of Strength, Obsidian Blade?

yeah its obsidian blade

(02-07-2012 06:19 PM)Aramoro Wrote:  Just make sure you dispel Armour of Contempt and don't get your blob caught by a Steam Tank.

i don't think he takes steam tanks and whats Armour of contempt again?

Post: #12

Armour of Contempt is the Warrior Priest ability that gives a model a 4± Ward save. Letting that through increases your chances of whiffing your attacks and getting a Runefang enema.

No steam tanks is a good thing though.

Post: #13

okay so far i have got big unit of GG (for some fun i made it 200) it has banner of barrows and a WK bsb with razor making him men a 5+, i have a vampire lord to deal with kurt and a vampire lord with lore of metal so i can reduce him AS (to a 6+ vs gg) and kill a few off.

that seem okay?

Post: #14

personally id take a crap ton of hexwraiths cus imo they are th best cavalry killers in the game.

also, should he decide to field a tank, take wraiths, chill grasp : auto hit auto wound no AS?

Post: #15

Curse Of Years and Rod Of Flaming Death. If you can get both of them off you should take out a very solid chunk of that unit. Roughly 3 from the Rod and another 6 or so from the Curse and he will 100% have to dispel the Curse or the unit will pop when it gets to killing on a 5+. Also, don't forget that the Curse Of Years kills and gets better in each magic phase, not just the Vampire's. Generally, I'd say to try and whittle it down (same with any Death Star - I have disliked their use for 20 odd years now) as much as you can and then smash it when it gets to you. Karl Franz is tough, as is Helborg, but both should be meat and drink for a tooled up Vampire Lord in combat; just make sure to challenge each round until they are dead.

Post: #16

There can only be one challenge per combat. Usually it is a very dead champion.

Post: #17

(02-09-2012 03:44 AM)Dead Rat Wrote:  There can only be one challenge per combat. Usually it is a very dead champion.

I know. Challenge to limit the attacks back, kill whoever that is, and then repeat in the next phase. Franz only has a Ward Save to keep him alive and 7 ST8 attacks will take care of him before he raises his hammer. Units like this are very dangerous, but as has been pointed out, there are options to take them out (whittling them down) as it is really only the characters that are killy and the knights are just there for ranks. One successful casting of Curse Of Years + Rod Of Flaming Death will, on average, blow away almost a 3rd of the unit in one fell swoop.

Post: #18

(02-09-2012 03:44 AM)Dead Rat Wrote:  There can only be one challenge per combat. Usually it is a very dead champion.

It's one challenge per round of combat, not in the whole combat.

Post: #19

The best (most effective) solution to a deathstar unit like this is to stop it from doing anything while you mop up the rest of the army. Using cheap units like Fellbats and raised units you should be able to stop it doing anything during the game. Hit it with spells that are effective against that kind of unit: Winds & Curse for example. Once you've got rid of his other stuff consider if you can get an effective combo charge and charge or not depending on the situation.

Post: #20

3 terror gheist