‘Warhammer: The Old World’- The Five Best Magic Standards From ‘Ravening Hordes’
Everyone needs a cool flag! These are the best magic standards the villains of The Old World can wave around!
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’ve started 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 the best magic standards from the ‘Ravening Horde’ armies (and their AJs). Obviously, what is best depends a lot on your build and army, but there are a few that really stand out. Magic Standards is one of the bigger lists with some strong entries here, so let’s take a look.
5. Big Red Raggedy Flag (Orcs and Goblins)
The Big Red Raggedy Flag is a very useful standard with no real downside. It gives you an extra +1 to combat rest like a Warbanner (the standard for standards) but also gives a unit +1WS. This is a solid buff and CAN make a difference. The flip side is that depending on what you put it in, and what they are fighting, it can also not make a difference. With some forethought, it’s quite useful. Just thrown into a list you might be better off with the cheaper Warbanner.
4. Doom Totem (Warriors of Chaos)
The Doom Totem is a pretty interesting Standard that should be better than it is. It give any enemy that can draw LoS to it -1 LD. Especially early on it the game this means it can effect most of the enemy army. That seems really good. However leadership doesn’t always matter a whole ton in ToW. Several armies effectively ignore it and others either have high enough LD that -1 doesn’t matter much or have ways to mitigate LD effects.
On top of that WoC don’t have a lot that can effect the enemy at range when the banner is most effective. By the time you get into close and the banner has more of an effect less enemy units will be able to see it. It’s still good, but not crazy, but in another game it could be bonkers.
3. Banner of the Desert Winds ( Tomb Kings)
I’m a big fan of banners that give you Vanguard. Unlike some others, Banner of the Desert Winds isn’t locked to a sub-faction. It is locked to infantry making it a little less useful. Still the combo of both Vanguard and Reserve Move is nice and can help you get a pretty mobile infantry build. I think it’s one of those items that can really change how a unit works in your army, and that’s always fun.
2. Da Spider Banner (Orcs and Goblins)
Poison can be a really strong rule. Being able to give it to whole unit is a really great option. The Spider Banner not only does this, but can also improve poison if you already have it. Overall it’s super useful and can really buff the damage output of a unit. It’s a banner you really want to build a unit around, with it being great to give to a big units of archers. Solid stuff there that almost any army can get a buff from.
1.Mirage Banner/Icon of Darkness (Tomb Kings/ Warriors of Chaos)
We’ve got a two-for-one here as these banners are identical. Both are 20 pts and give a unit -1 to be shot at. No unit is going to be sad to have this. It’s generically useful, and the banner is cheap enough to find a place in most armies. It’s quite easy to add and will normally have some effect/be nice to have around making it just all-around good. While the banners are the same I think Chaos does get more use out of it. They have better units to protect with it (undead can just heal) and have easy access to another -1 to hit upgrade, giving them an easy -2 to be hit on any unit they really want to protect. Basically, don’t use BS shooting vs that unit!
Let us know which flag you’d like to wave, down in the comments!
