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Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 1:28 pm
by Shearov
Drawing up the blueprints for my new list, I had an idea, one that seems to spell disaster but maybe could work.

I will have 20 BG FC (I still have really good success with them) with the Razor Standard.

I am also going to have a lvl 4 SS on Dark magic, and heres where my brain over thinks things.

If I put the SS in the BG, then I can get PoD which would be a lovely +1 strength, but this would no doubt leave her with close combat to deal with. On the march towards close combat hopefully I could get one or two soul stealers off (maybe take ToF instead of Dispel Scroll to make sure spell is got), and gain a wound or two.

Then when in combat, challenge with the SS who has the Black Amulet (it's only a bit more than ToP), she should have a st 4 attack, but also a 50% chance of bouncing a wound back, against a unit champ this could be deadly, against a character, she could weaken it, but would hopefully still be alive. This would also mean that no character is attacking the unit, so more chance to win combat and win well. If in 7X3 formation (with champ), that's 20 st 5 AP hits, rerolling to hit and Muderous Prowess. Also adding a bit of surprise maybe throwing your opponent a bit.

After typing the above is doesn't seem as great as I thought, but I don't think it needs rediculous dice, and if Soul Stealer isn't rolled / not looking like a good idea in the deployment, she doesn't have to get deployed in BG, and you've only wasted 15 points on the 4++.

Everything seems to be yelling don't do it, but I just can't help the feeling that this might just somehow work.

What's everyones feelings on this?

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 1:39 pm
by Dilapidated
It is usually not worth it, sacrificing your SS to kill one of the opponents characters, but it can be fun and if you use the Talisman of Preservation on another of your characters, The Black amulet is the only way to give the SS a 4++.

Last time I used it on a SS though, I killed A Great Unclean One over 2 rounds of combat. Or I should say the Daemon killed it self on the Black amulet :) My SS died to of course.

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 1:40 pm
by Calisson
That seems a good idea.
Soul Stealer isn't that hard to get for a SS, and PoD is granted.
An alternative idea that I've seen in D.net is to have several Lvl2, all of them getting the two sig spells.
Lose one or two, who cares? And together, they would make a deadly shooting unit before melee, and a deadly +2S unit in melee.

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:09 pm
by Daeron
Yup. My main concern with this idea is the cost of a Supreme Sorceress, only to have her end up in close combat. Luckily Dark Magic has some (very good) spells that can still work in close combat, so it can work. But as a strategy... hmm...

I'd rather rely on a level 1 or level 2 to employ them as a cheap magical upgrade. A level 2 offers just about enough magic points for a 4+ ward, should that be needed. Or you could go nuts on Tome of Furion and go for a Word of Pain or Shroud of Despair. Combined with S5, AP Black Guards you're probably going to eat through most units. Because of ASF, you can wonder which enemies will be able to kill your Sorceress first.
Keep in mind you can keep a Sorceress relatively safe on the side of a unit. "Relative" as you'll need the initiative of the charge to ensure it works.
But suppose you face a Horde, then there's no reason not to match their formation with 12 wide models. You're stubborn at it benefits from the BG's two attacks. You could produce 31 BG attacks at S5 with AP. I don't think many units will confidently fight that. Even Skullcrushers will suffer 5 to 9 wounds before they get to attack... and if they lose 2 models, it's unlikely they'll still be able to target the Sorceress.

It's all a gamble, but a cheap one for a level1 or level2, and an expensive one for a level 4 :)

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 3:45 pm
by Gerner
Soulstealer looks good on paper, but found in game it was pretty bad. :(

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 4:09 pm
by Dalamar
The one time this trick worked for me is having my unit of spears flank charged by a lord of change.
Supreme sorceress challenges and the demon together with her die to the demon's thunderstomp.

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 6:51 pm
by Falstaff
This idea has been around, I think Dalamar came up with it, didn't he?


I adopted it for my fluffy Chubby Bertha list. The idea is to have a 'chubby' sorceress on a donkey ( dark steed) as a model. Chubby, because she ate all the souls from soulstealer. Then, add the OTS and sowrd of might. Another Sorceress wit Beasts to get wild beast on her :)

Unfortunatelly I have not yet had the gits tor try it out.

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 6:59 pm
by Dalamar
My present list (not tested yet) has a level 4 on foot in a unit of execs armed with black amulet and sword of anti-heroes. Plus mandatory power of darkness signature.

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 7:07 pm
by Amboadine
Dalamar wrote:My present list (not tested yet) has a level 4 on foot in a unit of execs armed with black amulet and sword of anti-heroes. Plus mandatory power of darkness signature.


Interesting load out of SS. Hadn't considered using her that offensively on foot, interested to hear how the list does when you get to test it.

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:28 pm
by Dalamar
Plan is not to take challenges from champions, but against characters it will be at least 2S4 attacks, more likely S5 so not too terrible. With cauldron buff that's 3 attacks. At S5 that equals most hero level fighters. And black amulet on top.

Re: Black Amulet : An idea so daft it has to work.

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:50 am
by Rasputinii
Lot of loving for PoD here. But you could just go beasts and then cast wild form. Means you can keep the sorceress out of the unit. But if you wanted to leave her in the unit with the BA then she'd benefit from the other beasts spells too. Savage beasts, transformation, pelt. All would work better than banking on SS or dark in general. Plus wyssans and makes the unit T4 and isn't gonna do wounds to your caster