I got married in the meanwhile and ... well i got lazy a bit!
I have painted a little bit in the process and I will update the blog to catch up with the progress.
But for today I 'd like to talk about Storm of magic and Monstruous Arcanum. I just dead love it. I have heard all the points about being less strategic and bigger swings between turn and so on... But I love putting models on the table I don't get to use in standard 8th ed., and 8th is already way more flexible than 6th and 7th. Along the year I enjoy the Hobby I acquired a wide collection: part of it is "organized" and can fit in one or two armies, but part of it is random well that is model I wanted to paint badly. Additionally I Love teh plastic towers GW make and they do awesome fulcra....
A friend of mine and I were thinking about ways to include more monsters in 8th without going for teh scroll of bindings a snot all monster has to be accessible to all army. WFB is a game of monster and Giants for him, while it was more Dragons for me. So we build up a comp/campaign around that concept to make big beasty more survivable. From then on I was wondering what was the best Dragon so to speak, given certain context: standard game, SoM and scenario.
I compiled Monstruous Arcanum with SoM Book in the file I sent you. And few interesting observation came along. I initially started with a huge crush on the Shard Dragon, I think it ability to generate 4D6 +D3 attack on a charge (and potentially 5D6 if you wait the first wound to use the BW in combat) is gnarly. Plus it is teh only Dragon that can have access to a 5+ WS and 3+ WS against most magic spell.... and with the back ground it fits my Dwarf army and Hell I need an insantive to field them nowadays. Uber castled play style don't give for much funny game. He has the highest As with the Carmine Dragons but he has a funny trick if he passes a save. HE is one of teh toughtest of teh standar category, best protection and higher toughness. The down side is that he has only 6 Wds, so pretty much cannon ballable (5% chance on teh first turn per canon to be clear, well 4.8%)and he is not a Flyer!
Going through the file I quickly realized it is not that one sided and other Dragons can be useful. Here are few key observations:
1. Warpfire Dragons are the only one that have access to magic below Emperor lvl. So in Som context a Young Lvl 1 Warpfire Dragon is ace to hold fulcrum for slightly over 300 pts, plus the reptile is basically a small stone thrower. Bargain!
2. The generic Dragon are somewhat a let down. They are cheaper but the most interesting based on their BW are over classed by more specialized dragons. Carmine over rule Black, Magama Overrule Fire. That being said teh Forest is a of slight interest if you field WE and fight brets, that may be the only Emperor I would consider for fun in that context. The Strom Dragons are a joke, and a bad one. they have no Strentgh on their BW but do not deny AS. Ice Dragon are trickier and I feel their may use for them but I cannot yet figure out what. Over all I feel that teh specialized Dragon are worth more even if you pay extra.
3. Magma Dragon are absolute beast and truth be said it may the only Emperor Dragon I would consider in a game. Their extra T combined to the aura of Fire and teh fact it is largest monster (2D6 thunder stomp) makes me dreamy! and BW str10, well it just speaks for itself. When they say that a Dragon is an army onto himself: they talk about him.
4. Carmine are the swiftest and best basic protection (with the Shard D) at the expense of -1 WS/S and is very afordable. His BW is great but clearly not thought through for combat and that is my general problem with Monst. Arcan.; teh designer did not think much of BW use in combat.
5. Magic i not that useful for dragon besides the warpfire dragon lvl 1 in SoM. Otherwise Life is good for its attribute and a dwellers below is good agaonst the biggest threat of the canon. The ice dragon with Light can be funny but you need more than one lvl to get the ASF or I boost. To be fiar I dont know Dark Magic much. But overall I am not impressed by this option, for 20 pts mmmh maybe. I was also wondering: does being speel caster make then characters, hence challengeable? I know it does not for pink horrors.
6.The Toad Dragon is also a nice choice. I classified it as Standard size Dragon for comparison sakes. It comes on highest coast , but it is Collosal so it thinder stomp everything! High T and W 10. BW good.
7. I can see secnario of an emperor dragon vs. a small army! 700 pts each side or so!
In ccl: I would consider fielding the Shard Dragon in most games, The std Warpfire lvl 1 in storm of magic and the emperor magma in the biggest game. I can see use for the Carmine as well. And if you think about it you can see that they are teh toughest to kill or the chepest for what they give.
Thinking point investment, my top for each category are teh follow:
Young (~300 pts): well warfire lvl1
Standard (300-400): Shard no brainer
Great Dragon (~400): Magma (least interesting category to me! I'd prefer a tolled up Shard to be fair as it is much more survivable)
Emperor Dragon (~700): MAGMAAAAA!
Ok here are just fruits for thoughts. Let me know what s your side of the story.
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