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A couple of days ago I mentioned my Lessons Learn't List. I found that my Butcher was completely wasted in games due to poor deployment and movement causing him to be out of range. Therefore I needed a plan to overcome these problems.
Because the Butcher does not roll for his spells at the start of the game and knows all the Gut Magic spells, I can draw up a plan and stick to it.
My Butchers Magic Phase is going to be about causing Panic. With a ranged Magic Missile Bound Spell, and two other ranged spells I have three attacking spells to force a Panic Test on the target unit or hopefully units.Coupled with the Skullmantle which causes the target unit to suffer a -1 penalty to their Leadership this could be a lethal combination.
For deployment my Butcher will always be deployed in a unit of 3 Ironguts with a Standard Bearer along with a Lookout Gnoblar. This unit will be deployed centrally in my battle line.
First the long range spells....
Bang Stick; Range 24". Bound Spell. Causes D6 Strength 4 Hits.
Bonecrusher; Range 18". Causes 2D6 Strength 2 Hits no armour save. Butcher takes a Strength 4 Hit.
Braingobbler; Range 18". Unit must take a Panic Test.
Next a defensive spell to regain a wound...
Bloodgruel; Butcher Regains a Wound on a 2+.
Finally we have the short range spells, which are all range 6" and all remain in play. Because of the short range I have found that these are very much reliant upon the movement phase.
Toothcracker; +1 Toughness and Stubborn. Butcher takes a Strength 4 Hit.
Bullgorger; Butcher must pass a Strength Test. +1 Strength.
Trollguts; Magic Resistance(2) and Rengeneration. Automatically takes a wound.
So there we have a plan for how I am going to play my Butcher. I know that the "internet" optimal Ogre Kingdoms army contains two or three Butchers, but I like my Hunters miniatures and am not going to drop them just yet!
Next how to keep my Hunter alive?
2 comments:
Good to see you thinking more about which spell you really want to get off but it just isn't that easy! Everything is situational.
In general I do start with the Bangstick. Most people will either let it go off or dispel it with 2 dice. Either way I am happy. Go for the T3 or fast moving targets (skirmisher are nice to blast too) first. Wraiths are a good target if you are facing them.
Bonecruncher is awesome against heavily armored Knights/etc. Many generals who are less familiar with Gut Magic will let something like this go off - but after seeing 2 or more of their 45+ point models vanish they will think twice in the future.
Braingobbler + Skullmantle is nice but with the big uptake in ItP/Frenzy/Unbreakable/Cold blooded/MoS units out there I rarely find a good target for it. Best used on fast cav or skirmishers on the board flanks and far away from the General.
I would not build my magic phase around this one spell. It just isn't reliable enough. It is telling that most generals will let this spell go through and save their dice for other spells. Knowing that I usually start with this spell after using my Bangstick.
Don't underestimate the defensive buffs! Toothcracker is great (T6 characters and T5 troops with Stubborn!?) and Trollguts can be really useful on expensive troops/characters to help keep them alive. Even better is the MR2 which help balance out the lack of magic defense.
In general you have two ways you can go with Gut Magic.
1. Throw one dice at all your spells and hope for a 3+. When rolling well this can really be frustrating to your opponents. One rolling bad you will just feel bad.
2. Roll two dice at two spells and hope for the best. This is really dangerous, especially with Butchers as their miscast table is brutal.
Keep in mind that your Butcher may continue attempting to cast any Gut Magic spell until it is -
A) Successfully cast (meaning your dice totaled enough to cast it and it wasn't dispelled).
or
B) You fail to cast (meaning your dice total was not high enough to cast that particular spell).
I think it is time I wrote a Gut Magic tactica for my blog!
Wow... Excellent comments Randroid.
During the Squiggle tournament I rarely threw 2 dice at a spell, and mostly got them off.
I also used the Toothcracker and Trollguts spelss to good affect when I was in range, which wasn't often.
I would look forward to reading your thoughts on Gut Magic, go for it!
Thanks again for the comments.
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