Placement Of A Wizard
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Interesting question. But ofcause it depends on the lore you've chosen and the enemy you're facing.
-If you're facing an army with the capability to single out characters and fry them, hide your wizard out of line of sight behind a friendly regiment or hide him/her inside a large regiment.
-If he has long range damage spells, then keep him at the back (handgunners isnt a bad choice)
-If he has area of effect spells, then keep him in a large melee regiment or behind it (to keep him out of line of sight)
Generally i'd keep him away from a horseback (unless you need him to travel fast around on the battlefield, say if he has aldreds casket of sorcery). Wizards wont do much harm with a unit of knights (unless you've been lucky and rolled a nice meleebuffing spell), and putting him in a unit of pistoliers/outriders is abit risky imo, as these units already are really really squishy.
Anyway i've got a anecdote i wanna share.
I was playing WoC vs O/G, and was completely outnumbered and even outflanked. I ganged up my units of warriors and steeds in a tight formation, hiding my chaossorcerer from line of sight between the units, then steadedly marches towards the center of enemy formations, while deflecting wave after wave of greenskin units with my Hellshriek (i think thats what it is called. Its a 18" area feartest) until my units could finally clash into his general, killing him in a bloody duel - and victory was certain!
the morale of the story being: 1) chaosmagic is awesome 2) positioning your wizards is very important :sinister:
- Tash
-If you're facing an army with the capability to single out characters and fry them, hide your wizard out of line of sight behind a friendly regiment or hide him/her inside a large regiment.
-If he has long range damage spells, then keep him at the back (handgunners isnt a bad choice)
-If he has area of effect spells, then keep him in a large melee regiment or behind it (to keep him out of line of sight)
Generally i'd keep him away from a horseback (unless you need him to travel fast around on the battlefield, say if he has aldreds casket of sorcery). Wizards wont do much harm with a unit of knights (unless you've been lucky and rolled a nice meleebuffing spell), and putting him in a unit of pistoliers/outriders is abit risky imo, as these units already are really really squishy.
Anyway i've got a anecdote i wanna share.
I was playing WoC vs O/G, and was completely outnumbered and even outflanked. I ganged up my units of warriors and steeds in a tight formation, hiding my chaossorcerer from line of sight between the units, then steadedly marches towards the center of enemy formations, while deflecting wave after wave of greenskin units with my Hellshriek (i think thats what it is called. Its a 18" area feartest) until my units could finally clash into his general, killing him in a bloody duel - and victory was certain!
the morale of the story being: 1) chaosmagic is awesome 2) positioning your wizards is very important :sinister:
- Tash
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449 Posts
I was thinking about using a Grey Wizard, so it might be an idea for him to be somewhat mobile.
My second choice is an Amethyst Wizard which is pretty much all missile-based stuff - so I figure putting him in a unit of Handgunners should be okay.
My second choice is an Amethyst Wizard which is pretty much all missile-based stuff - so I figure putting him in a unit of Handgunners should be okay.
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530 Posts
First of all. It would be nice if you'd explain what items you were thinking of equiping your wizards with, and if you could give us some info on what you've planned for your wizards to do? Do you want them to put as much damage on enemy regiments as possible? Do you want them to take out warmachines/characters? What is their purpose in your army?
For an Amethyst wizard Handgunners wouldnt be a bad choice. However quite a few of the spells (33%) only has a range of 12" to target enemies. This could be a problem, since it is possible, that no enemy units will ever reach within 12" of your handgunners. If you have enough blocks of meleeunits, perhaps consider putting your Amethystwizard in one of those, for him to get within that 12" range. (go Steal Soul on those single enemy characters!)
However, if you're expecting your opponent to get his units very close to your handgunners in a matter of a few turns, i dont suspect that it'll be a problem having the Amethyst wizard among the Handgunners.
Considering that Grey Wizard of yours. It really depends on what your planning for him. What level is he? The lore of shadow is an odd one imo. It consists of 50% damagetyped spells and 50% tactical oriented spells. The worst of those being the Steed of Shadows. That is unless you have build your army around the specific idea to have a single unmounted character flying arround delivering punches to enemy flanks. Anyway, abit info on your thoughts on that Grey Wizard would be appreciated.
Hope im of some use to you.
- Tash
For an Amethyst wizard Handgunners wouldnt be a bad choice. However quite a few of the spells (33%) only has a range of 12" to target enemies. This could be a problem, since it is possible, that no enemy units will ever reach within 12" of your handgunners. If you have enough blocks of meleeunits, perhaps consider putting your Amethystwizard in one of those, for him to get within that 12" range. (go Steal Soul on those single enemy characters!)
However, if you're expecting your opponent to get his units very close to your handgunners in a matter of a few turns, i dont suspect that it'll be a problem having the Amethyst wizard among the Handgunners.
Considering that Grey Wizard of yours. It really depends on what your planning for him. What level is he? The lore of shadow is an odd one imo. It consists of 50% damagetyped spells and 50% tactical oriented spells. The worst of those being the Steed of Shadows. That is unless you have build your army around the specific idea to have a single unmounted character flying arround delivering punches to enemy flanks. Anyway, abit info on your thoughts on that Grey Wizard would be appreciated.
Hope im of some use to you.
- Tash
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179 Posts
Are you running warmachines? If so, put it with them. Best place I've ever heard. Put him with the Greatswords? Limit your CC killing ability, easy target to kill in and you can't cast. Handgunners? Easy to have them get shot up, panic and break. Mounted? Have to place him with Knights or run risk of being lone target to get shot up. With warmachines, has a really low chance of hitting him instead of the gun and then there is still the crewmen to act as ablative wounds. Only issue is range but then you just have to place your stuff a bit closer and you're good.
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I like putting a wizard lord on a pegasus with magic armor...extremely mobile AND extremely survivable. A Wizard....in the artillery park. If you have a melee unit guarding the cannons (I always take 20 halberdiers with 2 10 man shooty detachments for my backfield), that's where he goes.
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I love the US5 idea! In my case, I have 40 state troops (20 melee with 2x10 shooter detachments) in my artillery park, so I probably don't need another scoring unit, but it is a fantastic thought in principle...
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In my opinion, all characters should always be on mounts. There is no rule in the BRB letting them get singled out from units (only large targets have that) , in fact they can even benifit from 'look out sir' (unless the character has US5). It is perfectly safe to put a mounted wizard in a unit of handgunners, and when the enemy threatens the handgunners, run 16" into some other unit.
Empire get some of the cheapest mount in the game. They give mobility and amour they give far ourweighs their points cost. Mobility is very important on single expensive models, having points that are wasted because the enemy can move around it (or points that the enemy can easily gobble up, with you have no means to flee with) is not good (dwarf players know...). With a mount, a BSB can get within 12" of that combat and a wizard can nip away from trouble easily.
Empire get some of the cheapest mount in the game. They give mobility and amour they give far ourweighs their points cost. Mobility is very important on single expensive models, having points that are wasted because the enemy can move around it (or points that the enemy can easily gobble up, with you have no means to flee with) is not good (dwarf players know...). With a mount, a BSB can get within 12" of that combat and a wizard can nip away from trouble easily.
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In my opinion, I try and avoid placing my wizard in a unit liable to see combat; Greatswords and Knights are very poor spots for wizards. The best spots to place them are in War Machines or near gun lines. As long as they are within 5" of a unit with Unit Strength 5 or more, and are NOT the closest model, they cannot be shot at, but they get 360 line of sight. Of course with a War Machine, even if they are the closest you still have a cannon or a crew member to take most of the hits for you.
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Had a problem with this a while back. The local rules lawyer worked out that a mounted character could attach to the warmachine as the unit wasnt skirmishing. However, if the crew left the warmachine (fleeing etc.), the character would have to leave them as they would then count as skirmishing.
Edit: nvm you edited your post
Edit: nvm you edited your post
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Indeed. Orginally I posted as you observed; however, I was only taking this on faith on what my housemate and fellow gamer said about, which immediately made me suspicious (I don't trust him for all his claims of rules knowledge as far as I can throw him), and went and checked it out, and discovered it was wrong.
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