Topic of the Week - Prince

[King Ulrik Flamebeard]

This is the start of a new series, that will hopefully bring new ideas and tactics to the forums. Each week, a new topic will be posted up about a different unit in the army book. This gives you your chance to discuss the unit to its fullest. So, please leave your comment!

This week's topic is - Prince

What options are best for him? Do you use a dragon, Griffon or horse for his mount - which is better and why? What magic items are the best? Can he be tailored for different tasks? Is it wise to do this?

Discuss.

Kuffy

[Allonairre]

I really enjoy using a Prince in 2000pt plus battles. I have used a Star Dragon once and will freely admit that it is extremely good but I think it should be reserved for those special occasions when you are playing particularly competitive opponents.

I like to put Radiant gem on a prince to get me that extra dispel dice just in case my opponent has gone nuts with magic as well. It can make a bit of a difference.

For some reason, aside from dragon (and extremely rarely a griffon) I don't often mount my princes. Their job is normally to bolster an infantry unit providing a few extra attacks and hopefully a couple more kills, while allowing the Leadership 10 to be used by the rest of the army. As such I normally equip the prince with Great Weapon, Armour of Caledor, Radiant Gem of Hoeth sometimes I will add the sacred incense or jewel of dusk for a bit extra but normally don't bother.

Aside from Star Dragon I don't think that the Prince is the most competitive option but I find that he is very enjoyable to play with and can add something extra to the battles.

Finally although the Griffin is pretty much rubbish I suggest that everyone has a go at proxying one and using the Prince, Star Lance, Talisman of Loec, Gaurdian Phoenix, Helm of Fortune, Dragon Armour, Shield. He is vulnerable but powerful and you will not upset anyone by playing with it. It makes for a challenging fun game for both you and your opponent.

[sanity_is_weak]

for my casual games I like to use an archmage as my lord but if I find myself going up against a pretty tough opponent ill use the prince just for the star dragon. A prince mounted on a horse with some dragon princes and a bsb with the battle banner will probably work also, With the battle banner and getting the charge off with your dragon princes you could easily charge a block unit head on and probably win combat by a descent margin, for this setup id probably use either the standard of balance especially against undead or a army with alot of fear causers or banner of ellyrion, Nothing like seeing the opponents face when you have a unit of dragon princes charging your big block of elite infantry head on from the woods. Unfortunately I dont have much experience using a prince outside a star dragon setup though. As far as dragons go I find he works best in 3 different setups and id say it ultimately is going to depend on who your playing.

the first setup is a star lance, guardian phoenix, armor of caledor and talisman of loec, pretty good all around. High strength and damage on the charge (especially with the talisman of loec) and still has some descent protection, not much your prince couldn't do here. Just try to avoid a prolonged combat since your star lance only works on the charge and avoid great cannons and bolt throwers.

The 2nd setup is vambraces of defence, armor of caledor and either talisman of light or loec with a halberd or GW. The second setup is the one I like the most (more fun for me) but the problem is if your opponent is smart and has a big nasty in base to base with you he will just direct all his attacks at the dragon, one reason to take the GW just incase your dragon dies. I'd use the talisman of light against vampire counts but for anything else I would probably use the Talisman of Loec for som extra punch, Again avoid shooting.

The 3rd setup is a prince with the null stone, its my least favorite because your prince is very squishy but would work pretty well against vampire counts since they have no shooting, and it could have a good chance of wrecking their magic phase.

[Allonairre]

I haave used the null-stone Prince before and it is a perfect character hunter, Character's tend to depend on magical ward saves and weapons and a Prince on the charge with a dragon and a lance will crush almost any character in a turn. I would only use this competitively in a closed list though, tonnes of fun but will die if someone throws rocks at him.

[Evertras]

I haave used the null-stone Prince before and it is a perfect character hunter, Character's tend to depend on magical ward saves and weapons and a Prince on the charge with a dragon and a lance will crush almost any character in a turn. I would only use this competitively in a closed list though, tonnes of fun but will die if someone throws rocks at him.

Oh hey, I never even SAW the "nullifies magical items" bit. Wow. I kinda want to try that out now. That's hilarious.

[Hoeth]

I agree the Null Stone is amazing, but only against non shooty armies, Imagine Acheon being charged by your lord on star dragon (yes he still gets his Marks of Chaos). he gets no ward save of +3, no daemon weapon & no +1 save (counts as normal choas armour). and your lord has ASF and a double handed weapon i think he would be toast. The thing with HE Princes is that they really need to be tailor made for you opponent, this means they normaly don't do so well in tourneys.

I normally go for Arch mages myself, but i agree on friendly game dust off the prince and have some fun.

H

[elfwarden]

As a firm user of and believer in HE infantry forces i always use a prince on foot.
He bolsters the units around him and can be dressed up nicely.
As most may know there are two great set ups for this prince:

-Armour of Caledor, White Sword, Guarding Phoenix (plus maybe talisman of Hoec)
This gives greater hitting power with KB and the talisman can improve your chances in a challenge. The wound you suffer is hoewever a big but IMO

-Armour of caledor, vambraces of defence, Great weapon (plus maybe gem of courage)
The walking tank. Great defense, only his elven T is a downside. With a Great weapon he can still put hurt on the enemy and the possible Gem is a nice reasurrence to stay in a fight should thing go wrong

In comp. play the dragon is marvelous although he does need an army desgined to support him IMO.
A griffon or eagle is not really great conidering we have 3 types of dragons to choose from.

The null stone set up is also a nice surprise for your opponent, i guess i will try it out some time.

Hope it helps,

Elfwarden