Force of the north

Hey out there!

After many pics I want to go on with a bit gaming stuff. This time it’s about the new dark magic lore.

To this day I played 3 battles with the new Dark Elves. I took the dark magic lore in all of them and my experience was positive.

This shall be my first review of the new magic lore based on my experience and spiced with bit of “theory-hammer”:

I. Hekartis Blessing: The ability to get an extra bonus on your casting results can be very helpful. The spells are easier to cast than the pure number of the casting value AND they are more difficult for your enemy to dispell. I like it very much and I think this is a special advantge for using the lore that should not be underestimated.

II. Spiteful Conjuration: I think the lore attribute is at least solid and much better than many people in the forums might think. The probability for a double with 4 dice is about 70%. Especially when I cast Doom Bolt with the relatively high casting value of 12 (with a lvl2 Sorc I usually roll 4 dice). 2 D6/3D6 Strength 1 hits do not seem to be very strong. But  used on the right targets it can be quite helpful. Especially on a Frostheartphoenix, a Khemri Sphinx or a warmachine the effect can be the difference. In my battle against High Elves I caused 3 wounds on a Frostheartphoenix through the Lore attribute (Doombolt and word of pain in a close combat). Every wound counts against those models with a high Toughness but rather poor armour save!

0. Power of Darkness: In my opinion  a solid spell. Generating extra dice is always a good thing. The chance to get damage on the Sorc might be a risk, but provided with a solid ward save and magic resistance you can handle it. The strength bonus is relativized by the fact that the Sorc has to be in that unit. And you do not want to put your Sorcs at risk. But standing in a second row of a unit (behind a character on peg) or in a unit of warlocks the Strengthbuff can be very helpful in close combat.

0. Doombolt: Doombolt is an excellent damage spell. The fact that every caster in your army can have a 2D6 S5 missile is one of the great advantages of the dark magic lore. A disadvantage is the rather short range of 18 inches. It’s the perfect spell for Warlocks who can negate this handicap. The casting value is rather high, but the damage output is quite well. All in all a very effective spell.

1. Chillwind: Chillwind is one of the big “losers”. I liked this spell very much in the old book, but today the effect is too marginal in my eyes. S2 is also rather poor. Combined with the lore attribute the spell can be helpfull to target a frost phoenix and the like because it’s easy to cast. But using just one or two dice on a spell, the possibilty for Spiteful Conjuration to work is rather poor.

2. Word of Pain: This is my favorite spell with the new lore! Especially with the higher version. In combination with al lvl2 Sorc with Tome of Furion you need just one lvl2 Sorc to get a 2D6 S5 missile and an excellent debuff spell that affects the strenght for sure! This is very powerful. Considering a melee between a unit of Executioners and Skull Crushers for example, the word of pain can alter the outgoing of this fight exceedingly. Lowering the Skull Crusher’s ini makes your Exes strike first. Lowering their weapon skill helps them to hit on a roll of 3+ and with a lower strength the Exes will receive less damage.

3. Bladewind: The new effect of Bladewind is quite different from the old one. In the old book I loved this spell to get rid of war machines, now it’s a good spell to deal massive damage on big units with a poor weapon skill like Skaven slaves. All in all I liked the old version much more.

4. Shroud of Despair: Though the range of this spell is rather short, it can be gamebreaking. It’s a spell that gets better the longer the game lasts. Especially in the late rounds when there are multiple close combats (including “bus-” units) every enemy general will want to dispel it. But you have to keep your Sorc near the melee. This can mean taking risks. At this time I didn’t use this spell very often. I will have to play more testgames. First impression: strong debuff.

5. Soul Stealer: In my opinion a rather bad spell. Only useful against certain units like a unit of knights (without banner of the world dragon, or magic resistance). The generation of new wounds maybe nice, but it is not reliable enough.

6. Arnizipals Black Horror: A nice spell. The better the caster (high magic level) the better the spell (more range). Compared with Purple Sun rather weak, because the really strong enemy units often have a high strength (and often a ward save that can be taken against this spell). All in all not a bad spell, but not gamebreaking enough to compete against Purple Sun, Mindrazor or Timewarp.

Conclusion: In my opinion the Dark Magic is a solid lore. I like a lvl2 Sorc equipped with Tome of Furion using Word of Pain and Doombolt. Shroud of Despair can also be nice. For a lvl 3-4 Sorc I would prefer other magic lores with more powerful spells or spells that support certain army concepts (like Lore of Life for a monster-army).