‘Warhammer: The Old World’- The Five Best Magic Weapons From ‘Ravening Hordes’
Are you evil and like hitting things? These are the best Warhammer: The Old World weapons for you – straight out of the Ravening Hordes book.
We’ve spent a fair bit of time looking at the best units in the game lately. However, units aren’t the only things that make up an army. Weapons, upgrades and especially magic items are a huge part of the game. Picking the best things to take can make or break your army. We’ve looked at the best common magic items before, but now I want to drill down a little deeper into what is good and worth taking. However, there are a lot of items out there so we are going to have to break things down a lot.
Today, I want to take a look at just the best magic weapons from the Ravening Hordes armies (and their AJs). To be honest, I think they are the weakest group, but let’s dig in and see what is worth taking. (There will probably be a lot of debate on this list, as what items you like best can change a lot depending on the army, combos and who is taking it, but these are my picks based on generic usefulness.)
5. Battleaxe of The Last Big Waaagh! – Orcs & Goblins
Off the bat we’ve got Orcs coming in the what The Battleaxe of the Last Big Waagh! If you want to do just a ton of attacks there really isn’t a better option than this baby. With extra attacks (d6) it can really up the amount of models you can kill. Unlike a lot of other weapons with extra attacks, it still hits hard, effectively being a great weapon. Thrown on a chariot-mounted Lord you can put out an insane amount of hits from the model. It does, however, come with some big downsides. It is a great weapon, so it strikes last, boo. You’ve also got the issue that if you roll a 6 for the extra attacks you lose that rule afterwards. Overall, this along with the d6 makes it pretty random. But the biggest downside is the cost, at 75 pts its one of the more expensive in the game and isn’t great at taking down multi-wound targets. Still used right, the Battleaxe of The Last Big Waaagh can win a game.
4.Flail of Skulls – Tomb Kings
Over in Tomb King lands, we’ve got the Flail of Skulls. This is a pretty hard-hitting weapon that, unlike the Battleaxe, is decent at multi-wound targets. +3 S and 2 wounds means you wound most things in the game on 3s or 2s; and if you get through, they are taking some pain. On top of that, it’s only 35 pts, meaning you can either put it on a hero, or still have room for some other items. On the flip side, the S bonus only works on the first round of combat, which is a bummer. It’s also only AP -1, so heavy armored stuff will still be an issue. But for killing lightly armored multi-wound models the Flail of Skulls is a steal.
3.Porko’s Pigstikka – Orcs & Goblins
Alright, now we are starting to get into some good stuff. We are back to Orcs with Porko’s Pigstikka. Like the Battleaxe of the Last Big Waaagh, this is a great weapon for getting extra attacks, and its a lot more reliable. This is basically a cavalry spear, with +1 S and Ap -1 and Armorbane 1. On top of that on a turn that you charge you get +1 Attack for each rank the enemy has. Note this isn’t +1 for each rank beyond the first. Technically this could give you unlimited attacks, but more likely, you are getting 1-4 extra attacks. Vs the right targets, this is a lot more reliable at getting more attacks than pretty much any other weapon out there.
At 40 pts it’s also cheap enough to let you get good combos on the wielder. Porko’s Pigstikka’s main downsides are that it’s only Ap -1 and that the S and AP buff only apply on the first round of combat, and not on any turn in which it charges. It’s still a really solid option to just chew through enemy units, even if it’s not a good vs a character.
2.Mangelder – Beastmen
With Mangelder we are rocking up with the only Chaos weapon to make this list (sorry WoC, I just don’t think your options are great). Now as a weapon, Mangelder isn’t great, with a mere +1 S and Ap -1. You can get non-magical weapons that hit harder. It’s the other things it gives you that make it good, however. First off, the wielder causes Terror. While this isn’t all that hard to get in Beastmen, it’s still a solid rule. On top of that an enemy unit that suffers any wounds from Mangelder is at -1 LD for the rest of the turn. This combos with the -1 LD the enemy takes from fighting an enemy with terror, which puts them at a -2. This makes it a really great weapon for actually breaking enemy units. Since these are LD de-buffs and not combat res, it makes it a lot more likely the enemy will straight up break after losing combat.
1. The Conqueror’s Blade – Tomb Kings
Lastly, we turn to the Tomb Kings Arcane Journal for the Conqueror’s Blade. This is basically a great weapon that gives you Killing Blow. That’s pretty nice, but there are other, cheaper, ways to get killing blow. What kicks this up a notch is that in a challenge you do Killing Blows on a 5+, not just a 6+. Also, if you kill the enemy’s general with this model in a challenge you get an extra 100 VP. Tomb Kings are pretty tough, especially on a dragon, and they don’t have great I, so going last isn’t the biggest deal to them. But getting KB on a 5+ is pretty crazy and means they are a real threat to anything that can be challenged and Killing Blowed. Even outside of a challenge. Conqueror’s Blade a real threat. While it’s not cheap at 55 pts, it still leaves you pts for some magic item combos. Overall a scary and good weapon.
Let us know what you think the best weapons are, down the comments!
