Cobra7:
I have only been here a short time, but it seems that not many people take the lore of metal. This my favorite lore so I thought I would do a break down. This is not intended to say anyone is wrong or this is the best. The idea of this is to have open minded people rethink this lore. Nothing more. Please lets not turn this into a “Ya, but this other lore is better” argument.
Metalshifting (Lore Attribute) - This affects two out of seven spells in the lore. Pretty much it explains that damage spells turn armor into a microwave. The better the armor, the easier it is to cook them. All races but woodelves have armor, and some woodelves have scaly skin or are mounted, so it can kind of hurt them as well. Pretty much it makes the damage spells great vs some armies and not do good against others. I normally don’t like variables like this. I will say that when it works, it’s possibly the best in the attribute in the game next to shadow. Also does flamming attacks. If only we had a spell that made things flammable.
Searing Doom (Signature spell) - Basic damage spell. Works directly off of metalshifting. I think the casting value is a bit high for what it does. This seems to be the spell everyone bases the lore on, but the good thing about it is if your fighting a armor light army, you do not have to take it. I will say that I used it on a stem tank and killed it straight out.
Plague of rust. I use this spell mostly to get some dispel dice out. However the times I try to get it off are on units I’m locked in combat with or units I’m redirecting. Trust me, anything that permanently reduced a characteristic of a unit gets lots of attention. I don’t really use this spell much, but remember, every time you get it off, the target unit saves 16.666% less wounds. Get it off twice and it’s 33%. Bringing Chaos Warriors from 3+ armor to 5+ is no joke.
Enchanted Blades of Aiban - Perhaps my most used spell in the lore. If your unit is WS4, and opponent is WS3, it means your hitting on 2+. Pretty much it lets you hit 16.666% more often. If your fighting something and need 5+ to hit (WS9, failed fear test, hex spells), this and hatred are your best friends. Another fun thing about this spell is it gives armor piercing, which as a banner costs you almost 50 points (A little lower). It means your basic dwarfs are now doing -2 to armor, your GW dwarfs are doing -4 to armor. The last thing it does it makes your attacks magical. Worried about etherials? Not any more. This can also be put on war machines to make them magical as well.
Glittering Robe - 1+ armor on basic dwarfs. Need I say more? Too bad, I will anyway. Remember scaly skin stacks with normal armor. It will not work on Bull Centaurs however. Cast it on a unit of hobgoblins and they suddenly have a 3+/6+ save! Also I want to point out that armies that don’t have high armor, also in general, do not have high strength weapons. So while the damage spells don’t work as well, this one makes up for it.
Gehenna’s Golden Hounds - This is possibly the most under-appreciated spell in the book, and I like it that way. The thing is, when people read it they see it can single out a model, but they get a save on 2+ and some other smuck takes the hit. It doesn’t do very well what it seems to be trying to do. Your opponent will think the same. Go ahead and target a Temple Guard champ, your opponent will reread the spell and likely let it go. Make his Look our Sir! rolls and suddenly have some dead temple guard and not think anything of it. After all the champion you targeted is still alive, even though you killed 32-64 points of his friends. BTW, remember Temple Guard have a 3+ armor save when not in close combat.
Transmutation to Lead - The 3rd armor save modifier in the lore. If you manage to get all of the spells off on a unit in close combat, they have -3 to their armor save plus any str bonuses. Also reduces WS by 1, hopefully making you hit on 3+ or if they are WS5, makes them hit you on 4+ instead of 3+. Also -1 to hit from shooting never hurts either early in the game.
Final Transmutation - When making a list, this normally seals the lore for me. No matter what army I face, I know how this spell will work. Ever roll Purple Sun vs a high elf army? Ever seen a skaven player get 13th vs ogres? This spell always works the same, no matter your opponent. 13th works only on infantry, Infernal gateway is too random, purple sun has a 17% chance to get your own unit, only dwellers is equal to or better than this spell. One of the complaints I heard about it is needing 6+ instead of 5+ vs ogres. However I argue that it’s even better. Think about it like this. If you target 6 ogres with this spell, on average your going to roll a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. On a 6 your going to kill one ogre for 3 wounds vs single wound models units you will kill two models. The other things I want to point out is that it has a very low casting cost for what it does and a very large range.
TL:DR - Lore of Metal is a highly viable lore choice.
Cobra7:
I have only been here a short time, but it seems that not many people take the lore of metal. This my favorite lore so I thought I would do a break down. This is not intended to say anyone is wrong or this is the best. The idea of this is to have open minded people rethink this lore. Nothing more. Please lets not turn this into a “Ya, but this other lore is better” argument.
Metalshifting (Lore Attribute) - This affects two out of seven spells in the lore. Pretty much it explains that damage spells turn armor into a microwave. The better the armor, the easier it is to cook them. All races but woodelves have armor, and some woodelves have scaly skin or are mounted, so it can kind of hurt them as well. Pretty much it makes the damage spells great vs some armies and not do good against others. I normally don’t like variables like this. I will say that when it works, it’s possibly the best in the attribute in the game next to shadow. Also does flamming attacks. If only we had a spell that made things flammable.
Searing Doom (Signature spell) - Basic damage spell. Works directly off of metalshifting. I think the casting value is a bit high for what it does. This seems to be the spell everyone bases the lore on, but the good thing about it is if your fighting a armor light army, you do not have to take it. I will say that I used it on a stem tank and killed it straight out.
Plague of rust. I use this spell mostly to get some dispel dice out. However the times I try to get it off are on units I’m locked in combat with or units I’m redirecting. Trust me, anything that permanently reduced a characteristic of a unit gets lots of attention. I don’t really use this spell much, but remember, every time you get it off, the target unit saves 16.666% less wounds. Get it off twice and it’s 33%. Bringing Chaos Warriors from 3+ armor to 5+ is no joke.
Enchanted Blades of Aiban - Perhaps my most used spell in the lore. If your unit is WS4, and opponent is WS3, it means your hitting on 2+. Pretty much it lets you hit 16.666% more often. If your fighting something and need 5+ to hit (WS9, failed fear test, hex spells), this and hatred are your best friends. Another fun thing about this spell is it gives armor piercing, which as a banner costs you almost 50 points (A little lower). It means your basic dwarfs are now doing -2 to armor, your GW dwarfs are doing -4 to armor. The last thing it does it makes your attacks magical. Worried about etherials? Not any more. This can also be put on war machines to make them magical as well.
Glittering Robe - 1+ armor on basic dwarfs. Need I say more? Too bad, I will anyway. Remember scaly skin stacks with normal armor. It will not work on Bull Centaurs however. Cast it on a unit of hobgoblins and they suddenly have a 3+/6+ save! Also I want to point out that armies that don’t have high armor, also in general, do not have high strength weapons. So while the damage spells don’t work as well, this one makes up for it.
Gehenna’s Golden Hounds - This is possibly the most under-appreciated spell in the book, and I like it that way. The thing is, when people read it they see it can single out a model, but they get a save on 2+ and some other smuck takes the hit. It doesn’t do very well what it seems to be trying to do. Your opponent will think the same. Go ahead and target a Temple Guard champ, your opponent will reread the spell and likely let it go. Make his Look our Sir! rolls and suddenly have some dead temple guard and not think anything of it. After all the champion you targeted is still alive, even though you killed 32-64 points of his friends. BTW, remember Temple Guard have a 3+ armor save when not in close combat.
Transmutation to Lead - The 3rd armor save modifier in the lore. If you manage to get all of the spells off on a unit in close combat, they have -3 to their armor save plus any str bonuses. Also reduces WS by 1, hopefully making you hit on 3+ or if they are WS5, makes them hit you on 4+ instead of 3+. Also -1 to hit from shooting never hurts either early in the game.
Final Transmutation - When making a list, this normally seals the lore for me. No matter what army I face, I know how this spell will work. Ever roll Purple Sun vs a high elf army? Ever seen a skaven player get 13th vs ogres? This spell always works the same, no matter your opponent. 13th works only on infantry, Infernal gateway is too random, purple sun has a 17% chance to get your own unit, only dwellers is equal to or better than this spell. One of the complaints I heard about it is needing 6+ instead of 5+ vs ogres. However I argue that it’s even better. Think about it like this. If you target 6 ogres with this spell, on average your going to roll a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. On a 6 your going to kill one ogre for 3 wounds vs single wound models units you will kill two models. The other things I want to point out is that it has a very low casting cost for what it does and a very large range.
TL:DR - Lore of Metal is a highly viable lore choice.
Baggronor:
I like Metal too, much underrated. My Lv2 Daemonsmith always takes it.
I do have issues with the Lore though:
A Lore attribute that only affects 2 of the spells - that bugs me.
I appreciate what you say about Golden Hounds, but for a 9+/12+ to cast its still pretty poor really. I generally see it as a back-up Searing Doom against large single models, though it can be handy to single out characters like Skaven Warlords on Bonebreakers who don’t get a Look out Sir.
Glittering Robe - 1+ armor on basic dwarfs.
+2, its 5+ scaly skin. Awesome spell.
Its a nice Lore but it definitely has issues in an all-round environment as it can be awesome vs some armies and very underwhelming vs others; that and the lack of a consistently useful Lore attribute mean it’s a rare sight on a Lv4.
I use it with my LoA CDs because:
a) My IG struggle with knights etc as they are Str 4. Nerfing enemy armour is nice.
b) It kills STanks, Hydras and 1+ save knights better than anything else in the army except the Destroyer. And he can’t be everywhere at once (he still gives it a good try though).
c) IG with Glittering Robe are hilarious.
MLP:
Great breakdown! I don’t often consider this except on a demonsmith occasionally but I may try it out on a Level 4, I think it does have some very complementing spells for the LoA.
One question with the lore attribute though: If an enemy unit in combat has heavy armour, great weapons and a shield what do you wound them on? In combat they’re not using their shields so would it be 5+? If they were out of combat it would be 4+ as you include the shield?
Cherry Soda Man:
One question with the lore attribute though: If an enemy unit in combat has heavy armour, great weapons and a shield what do you wound them on? In combat they're not using their shields so would it be 5+? If they were out of combat it would be 4+ as you include the shield?
MLP
That's precisely how it works! At range the dwarfs are free to use their shield for their modified, however once in combat shields are always deferred in favor of more specialized weapons (Halberds, GWs, etc.).
delivern:
I have run my Lord Lvl 3 w. Metal and Daemonsmith Lvl1 w. fire in my last 5 games.
Lore of Metal is sick, plus it scares the hell out of most armies that are difficult in CC. Peopke are very worried about magic missle, ignore augment/hex spells.
MLP:
One question with the lore attribute though: If an enemy unit in combat has heavy armour, great weapons and a shield what do you wound them on? In combat they're not using their shields so would it be 5+? If they were out of combat it would be 4+ as you include the shield?
MLP
That's precisely how it works! At range the dwarfs are free to use their shield for their modified, however once in combat shields are always deferred in favor of more specialized weapons (Halberds, GWs, etc.).
Cherry Soda Man
It just seems a bit odd the spell woudn't effect them because they still have the shield on their person. But hey, it's only a minor niggle!
brotsorrow:
Cobra7 this is a great summary of the lore. Makes me a believer. I definitely like the idea of lord with Metal and DS with fire. not many people run WE’s in my experience, especially since it was the last army released in 6th…
The Odor:
I never run metal of the same reason I don’t run my WoC with shadow. It aint spectacular enough. Not that it ain’t awesome in game but I want my mages summoning waves of magma, turning the enemies of my lord to unmoving statues and enshrouding the battlefield in howling storms of ash and smog. Metal just always seemed so… subtle… Sure the final spell felt kinda cool but Hashut always offered up better effects in my mind…
Blackspine:
great breakdown.
Most armies now have a very solid unit w/ High AS (mournfang, Knights, demi-chickens…etc) and the sig spell can scare some dice out early on in the magic phase