Wanted to start a discussion and see what you all though. If you take a look at my list you’ll see that I run a very magic heavy army. Normally my lord takes Fire, with the lvl 2’s taking Death and Metal.
The lore of fire is probably the most direct approach you can take. With two magic missile spells, an unlimited range magic missile that if you roll well can be increasingly devastating, a panic test inducing cannonball, and wall of fire, and then the Sword of Rhuin (a spell which can make your Sorceror Lord a foe to not be taken lightly hitting on 2+ with a 7 STR.)
I take lore of metal because i find it can be highly effective against armies that have heavily armored troops or annoying war machines. Molten silver cast on an 8 is a nice 2d6 STR 4 flaming magic missile. Commandment of brass is nice for shutting down war machines or chariots and Spirit of the Forge or Rule of Burning Iron are simply two amazing spells if used properly (nothing is quite as much fun as roasting a unit of Empire Knights with a STR 7 hit that doesnt allow saves).
I like Lore of Death for a couple reasons. Number one it has two strong Magic Missile attacks, but it also has some tricky spells that can really cause havoc amongst your enemy. Doom & Darkness is one of my personal favorites dropping one units leadership by -3. When you are taking the fight to a unit with high leadership and beating them on combat res, that extra -3 is usually enough to seal the deal and see them running off. Walking death is nice, making a unit cause fear, but Drain life is possibly my favorite close range high level spell. It casts on a 10 (a real bargain for a 6 slot) and within 12’’ all enemy units take d6 STR 3 hits with no armor saves. Can really help tip the scales in your favor in the following round of combat.
anyway thats my take on the subject, but what do you guys think? Would it be better to just spam one school of magic & has anyone had a lot of success with Lore of Shadow? There are a few spells there I like but I am on the fence about that particular lore… anyway sound off
I havent really had time to try out all of the lores much. Ill try out either Death, Metal or Shadow this weekend. I have only used Fire so far because of its destructive potential.
I tend to use Shadow or Metal on sorcerer lords, with death/fire on small sorcerers. Shadow and Metal are one-spell lores, so it’d be hard for 2lvls to use it and have the best spells (especially with their high casting value), but on big mages they rule - lurker, forge and pit of shades are really uberspells!
I like death more than fire, still, they make a great combo together (doom and darkness+burning head).
I find lore of shadow particullarly fun. Using Steed of shadows, cast with an easy 5+, can really make the difference with a CD’s slow movement. Swing him around ann enemy unit to the back, and you have a rear charge set up. As the unit he was in charges the front, the hero charges the back, gaining a rear charge bonus to Combat Res. Nifty.
I alwyas saw this spell as more of a nightcrawler move then a horse/lizard/mount made out of smoke. One minute, crazy, evil stunty running towards you. bamph! Argh!! hes behind you, dwarfs arn’t supposed to move that fast!
In reference to your list, I’d let one of the Level Two Mages use Fire and the Level Four Mage use Metal. Most of the Fire magic can be cast easily by a low level Mage, where as a Lv Four Mage’s skills can best be put to use with the Lore of Metal, where the high level spells are actually worth casting. If Shadow wasn’t so naff I’d advise this lore for the Level Four guy.
I run my lores depending on who I’m facing. Fire is best against Goblins and Skaven, as it’s good at shaving away ranks of nameless grunts. Metal is better against heavily armoured foes as it has damaging spells that bypass the armour and generally, these armies have lots of war machines and magic items. Also worthwhile targets for certain spells in the Lore of Metal.
Well I might not be the best to give advice as I can’t change the config as I modelled my sorcerers before testing :~
Luckily I have the same set-up as you, part from I dont have death!
I run a Level 4 Fire and two 2nd Level sorcs with shadow and metal. I thought fire looks hardest so therefore he is my general. I have learned since then that this is an ok set up to take on all. I usually use my Fire mage in a combat squad with my shadow mage near by in a supporting blunderbuss regiment.
The main reason for this is that my Fire mage causes the destruction whilst they run fast (well as fast as a stunty can run…) towards the hardest opposing regiment. When combat is met I do two things depending on spells. If I have the flaming sword I use him in combat until a challenge is excepted then I black gem to freeze the combat and use the shadow mage with a cheapo spell, steed of shadows to whip him out of there, this is risky but if it works he can then fly into the best position to help, which is usually behind or to the side of the regiment (or simply to run away to fight another day) All this time the metal sorc does erm, not much unless im versing heavily armoured armies including the goodie two-shoe stunties gah:mad
If I would start again I would check the spell lists and would suggest that on a 2nd level mage, spells of 9+ are a no go. Use the smaller sorcerers to help your level 4 achieve what he wants this is also very fluffy :hat off . Spells like Doom and Darkness are almost impossible to cast when you have a level 4 mage around as the pool dice usually go to him as he has most of my die (greedy but needs more Iron in his diet :mask) The death sorc can forget drain life if you are making a level 4 fire.
I would say for a flexible set up either mine :cheers
Or a level 4 metal, level 2 death and level 2 fire
Beware though as metal has lots of 8+ casting values so if you decide on a level 2 metal roll two high die and your in serious bother and are likely to be left with a useless, stupid, metally, sitting in a regiment, running around, sniping, next to useless, dwarf . (this is from personal experiances and is likely just a certain metal dwarf of mine that needs some talking to due to his inability to roll the spells i need and if I roll another result of 5 and 6 for his spells im making a new one!)