‘Warhammer: The Old World’- The Five Best Light Cavalry Units
In Warhammer: The Old World sometimes you want a scalpel, not a hammer, that’s where light cavalry comes in, and these are the best units.
We’ve all had our hands on The Old World for a bit. The game is starting to shake out. We’ve gotten a decent look at what is good and bad and how people like to play. Today, we are continuing our series, looking at the best units form various categories. We’ve looked at basic core infantry, elite heavy infantry monstrous infantry and ranged infantry. That’s covered most of the infantry and we’ve gotten into cavalry. Today, it’s time to take a look at a lighter subject. Light cavalry!
These light cavalry aren’t always the heaviest hitters in the game, but they often come with some neat tricks. Useful for running rings around the enemy and hitting key targets they can still win you games. They just might take a little more skill to use. Today we are going to be including Legacy armies, and trying to get a bit of variety in the armies we look at.
5. Goblin Spider Riders – Orcs & Goblins
Spider Riders are one of the more common light cavalry you may run into, if for no other reason than their models are really common. Stats-wise, they aren’t much to talk about. With a lot of 3s, they are pretty common in this area, but they have slower movement than most, which is a knock. They are on the cheaper end, though not the cheapest, of the unit range, but what they really have going for them is Poisoned attacks.
This is something that both they and the mounts, as well as their ranged attacks get, and is really nice. As a cheap unit they can put out a decent number of attacks and Poison can be pretty deadly. Especially combined with the Da Spider Banner, letting poison trigger on a 5+. This can allow them to take down much larger, but poorly armored targets and hurt even the toughest of foes. It’s not a broken unit, but it can really come in clutch.
Centigor Herds – Beastmen
At S and T4 Centigors have a very strong stat line for light cav. Add in that they can take great weapons and they have the strongest single attack of any light cav unit, as S6 ap -2. They are one of the few units in this class that can plow through a heavy armored enemy unit. Combined with the option to Ambush and a bunch of other solid special rules and they have some nice tricks and flexibility. On the flip side they are very limited by only having one attack and no mount- they do get a stomp attack, which is in some ways better than a mount. However, they have to survive to make it. They are a little pricy for a unit that basically doesn’t have an armor save, but a well-timed charge can still turn a game with them.
Hexwraiths – Vampire Counts
Hexwraiths are where we really start to get into specialized light cav. The stats here are pretty piss poor, 3s or less and no amor, just a 6+ regen. And they run 31 pts, as much as a lot of heavy cav. The saving grace here is that they are Ethereal, meaning most things in the game simply can’t touch them. Add to that Fly, great weapons and the ability to do wounds to units they move over they are quite deadly.
As an expensive unit you do have to be careful how you use them. Even though they are Ethereal you can’t just throw them into any enemy unit, high combat res can still do they in. They also have to be pretty careful of enemy magical attacks. A single magic missile could cost you hundreds of points. However, other armies just won’t have any real way of dealing with them. Running them around messing with the enemy and hunting small valuable units can win you games.
Wild Riders – Wood Elfs
Wild Riders, I will admit, are a very difficult unit to use. As such, no doubt, some won’t think they belong on this list, or should be ranked highly on it. However used well, they are super deadly. With a move of 9 they’ve got one of the longest charges in the game. They’ve also got the great combination of Frenzied and Furious Charge. On the charge, they are putting out a whopping three attacks each, plust their mount, for a total of 4 attacks. That’s a ton.
High I, means they are likely going first, and they hit (on the charge) at S5 ap -2 Armor bane 1, as good as a lot of heavy cav. In a lot of ways that is what they really are, since they hit a lot more like heavy cav than light. No other light cav hits as hard with as many attacks (Centigors have better S, but far fewer attacks). If Wild Riders can get the charge off they have a great chance of blowing through most enemies. The weaknesses here are Frenzy and almost no defenses. You’ve got to protect and screen them properly, or they will get wasted. If they don’t get the charge off, or get hit before they can attack… good bye. But if they can keep charging – Wild Riders are a true threat.
Sisters of the Thorn/Doomfire Warlocks – Wood Elfs /Dark Elfs
These two I’ve combined as they are a mirror of each other. These are both Elfs, one Wood, the other Dark, light cavalry units that count as casters. Doomfire Warlocks have access to a spell from Dark Magic or Deamonology and Sisters have one from either Battle Magic or Elementalism. Both depending on unit make up can cast their known spell (which they chose) as a bound spell at power level up to 2. Now I think the Warlocks have access to better spells, but aside from that Sisters are a fair superior unit.
For instance Warlocks get a 5+ ward save vs non-magical attacks, while Sisters just get a 4+ ward save. This makes them one of the hardest light cav units around. They also get a pretty decent poisoned ranged attack, giving them more to do then just try to cast one spell. They can also get a to bound lvl 2 with less models, letting them cast better, for longer. However, both units add amazing versatility to your army, giving you the option of tailoring some spell picks and putting them in unusual places.
Let us know what you think are the best Light Cavalry units, down in the comments!
