WFB: Combat Heroes Tactica #3

2 Minute Read

Jul 29 2010

WHFB 8^th Tactica #3 Combat Heroes

Revenant

Gone are the days of old when a mere hero could turn the tide of combat. Most combats in 8^th edition are massive casualties to one or both sides. Does a hero with 3 attacks really change the odds? I would encourage you to re-evaluate the purpose of some of these characters.<

There really isn’t a role for the middle of the road hero anymore. A high elf noble with a great weapon comes in just under 100 points. Does he really bring 100 points of utility to your force though? Today, I would like to bring up 3 general ideas on list building for 8^th edition when it concerns fighty heroes.

The cheaper the more you can have!

One new exciting way to field characters is by supplying massive amounts of them. A night goblin big boss with a great weapon clocks in at 34 points. One of these guys is a joke. However, when there are 10 of them in the front rank, things can get interesting. They all have multiple wounds; all of them need to have attacks specifically allocated toward them to kill them; and, they all have 3 WS4 S6 attacks. If you just go for the unit they are babysitting, you’re going to eat all 30 S6 attacks back if you’re in horde formation. Empire captains come in at 62 points with great weapon and full plate armor. Dwarf thanes are also a great deal and they have T5! So consider spamming some cheap heroes to make your stale unit of spearmen a hero sheltering unit of pain!

I make the boyz shine!

Another role that is even more important than ever is unit buffs. Now that ranked units are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in combat, anything that can improve them is powerful. If your heroes are not of the cheap nature, or your wizards are eating up all the points, consider taking just one guy to help his unit out. A few examples of unit buffs would be:

-Empire warrior priest and Khorne heralds provide hatred to the units they join which makes the units hit more reliably in combat.

-Drakenholf banner BSB for vampires and nurgle heralds give regeneration to their unit giving that unit more survivability vs everything that isn’t flaming.

-A chieftain with the skavenbrew can increase the combat effectiveness of any ranked rat unit by almost two fold.

There are a plethora of magic items that affect units and can be given to a hero that might transforming a plain unit into a powerful one.

You have to have a BSB!

Well, the battle standard bearer is pretty much a 1-1 choice these days. The ability to reroll LD test is almost too good to pass up. This hero should be the first thing you write down when making an army list. Unless, you’re taking a slann of course!

What do you think BOLS? Are you still going to take a 100 point hero in a unit of 20 grunts? Tell us your comments.

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Author: Revenant

Revenant is a veteran tabletop wargamer with over 10 years of experience. His specialty is Privateer Press' Warmachine & Hordes gamesystem. He began writing for BoLS in 2009.

Tactics Warhammer Fantasy