Beastmen in the World of Legend
Jan 26, 2024 16:27:52 GMT
grandmasterwang, markdienekes, and 1 more like this
Post by lordofskullpass on Jan 26, 2024 16:27:52 GMT
Post 8 - Rulebook Magic Items
MAGIC WEAPONS
Ogre Blade (65 points): +2 Strength, AP -2, Armour Bane (1) and Multiple Wounds (D3). Obviously a very good weapon to have that rivals the Primeval Club, though because the latter is better for use on a Beastlord build, this one is a good choice to give to a Doombull if you have one to make him a real killing machine. Still affordable enough to afford some Magic Armour and a Talisman along with it, though is too pricey to give to a 'Hero' level character like a Wargor or Gorebull, and it's certainly something tailored for a more offensive character build - bear this in mind when picking your Mutations and other Magic Items to try and counterbalance this with something more defensive.
Sword of Battle (60 points): +1 Strength, AP-1, Armour Bane (1) and Extra Attacks (1). I honestly don't think this weapon is worth it - almost as expensive as the Ogre Blade and the same price as the Primeval Club, with a far inferior Strength and AP bonus to either of those, and trading Multiple Wounds (D3) and Poisoned Attacks respectively for just a single additional attack, that still has to roll to Hit and roll to Wound. You're much better off just going with Many-Limbed Fiend, for a third of the price and taken from your Mutations allowance rather than your Magic Items allowance, still at a solid Strength of 5 (or 6 in the case of a Doombull) and with the capability of being AP -2 when you pass your Primal Fury tests anyway.
Duellist's Blades (55 points): Pretty much the same as the Sword of Battle, except you're trading +1 Strength and the ability to take a shield for another additional attack. These have a use on a blender Beastlord AHW and Many-Limbed Fiend build, but taking these instead of standard AHW for just one further extra attack, at the cost of not being able to afford the particularly good Magic Armour and Talisman items you'll need to keep your Beastlord alive means there's still much to be desired.
Dragon Slaying Sword (50 points): Monster Slayer. That's all you're paying for - just the ability to kill monsters and characters riding them on a to Wound roll of a 6, with no Strength or AP boosts at all, for half a 'Lord' character's Magic Items allowance. While this may still sound potent on the surface, and I've heard some expressing concern about it, to be honest I don't think it's all that good. For one thing, this weapon is useless against anything that isn't a monster - Monstrous Infantry and Cavalry buses have nothing to fear from it and can still stomp your character's unit quite happily, and Dwarf players will laugh long and loudly. Secondly, you have to get your character into combat with a monster for it to be any use, and given that there are a lot of flying monsters in this game, that's no easy feat. I'd honestly just take the Ogre Blade for 15 points more, with Multiple Wounds (D3) being equally as dangerous to Monstrous Infantry and Cavalry and characters as it is to Monsters, and the Strength and AP bonus makes it equally terrifying for standard Infantry and Cavalry to face. Of course the Dragon Slaying Sword can be given to a cheap 'Hero' character instead, in particular a BSB, but again it is still situational and will eat up the Hero's entire Magic Items allowance, leaving them without any special armour or Ward Saves. To be honest I think the one use for this in our army is to give it to a Shaggoth to make him equally good against enemy Monsters as he is against everything else, especially as he can be tanked up to a 3+ armour save anyway.
Headsman's Axe (45 points): This one, alongside the Axe of Men to which I compared it earlier, is a lot more useful. 5 points cheaper, gives a +1 bonus to Strength and AP -1, at the simple cost of having to wield it with two hands. Killing Blow allows you to carve your way through not only armoured Infantry and Cavalry (Dwarfs, Bretonnia and Warriors beware) but also their Monstrous counterparts, meaning it is a very good pick against any army liable to spam Monstrous Infantry (Ogres, Greenskins with their Troll-based Army of Infamy, our own Doombull-led Minobus army build, Lizardmen focusing on Kroxigor-Skink synergy, Warriors of Chaos again, Tomb Kings, Vampires). Again of course it eats up most of a 'Hero' character's Magic Items allowance, but is an affordable pick for a 'Lord' with 55 points of Items allowance plus 50 points of Mutations to be able to gear up on armour to keep your character alive.
Spelleater Axe (35 points): Gives you just AP -1 and Magic Resistance (-2). A reasonably cheap weapon useful against Magic-heavy armies, but only protects one character and possibly the one unit he is with from Magic and the actual combat bonus it gives is pretty poor. Not to mention we have the Pelt of the Dark Young which gives the same Magic Resistance bonus and can be combined with other armour as a much more useful item. There are better weapons elsewhere...
Giant Blade (30 points): ...Like this one. +1 Strength, no fixed AP bonus but Armour Bane (2), and Multiple Wounds (2) for a mere 30 points is a nice boost, particularly combined with the natural AP -2 our characters get when passing Primal Fury tests anyway. A great one to give to a foot Beastlord in a Bestigor unit along with tanking him up with a shield, the Blackened Plate and Pelt of the Dark Young to have a 2+ armour save - an all-round nice mix of durability and aggressive punch.
Sword of Swiftness (25 points): Like the Dragon Slaying Sword you're pretty much just paying for one special rule - Strike First this time - but this weapon is half the cost and gives you a much more useful rule. Though Strike First isn't as OP as it was, it's still very important in this day-and-age of chargers trying to strike first and stepping-up models not being able to strike back. Combine this with the Muscular Monstrosity Mutation for a Strength boost and the natural -2 AP from Foe-Render when you pass your Primal Fury tests, and your character is an excellent counter to charging cavalry (and those enemies who still have just too high an Initiative for their own good... grr, wicked Elf-swine), all while still having 75 points of Magic Armour or Talismans and 15 points of Mutations to play with to give him some durability-boosting items. Another nice choice.
Berserker Blade (20 points): A +1 Strength bonus is fun, +1 attack is fun too... the downsides of Frenzy, not so much. Especially when taking a character with Frenzy also gives the unit around him the worst symptom of it as well. We as an army already dice with death with regards to getting Frenzy on Primal Fury rolls of a double (which of course is fine in the first-turn combat but can still be exploited by the enemy once that combat has been won), we don't need that happening before our unit has even got into combat. I'd pass on this one.
Sword of Might (20 points): Another case study into how overly-expensive the Sword of Battle is, the Sword of Might gives the character the same +1 Strength and AP -1, just without Armour Bane (situational anyway) and that additional attack, for a third of the price. Plus, this item's an Extremely Common one, meaning we can give it to as many characters as we like in our army. Cheap, cheerful and boosts the things we want to boost, not a bad choice at all.
Biting Blade (15 points): Like the Sword of Might, but trades the Strength bonus for an additional -1 to AP and Armour Bane (and not Extremely Common unfortunately). Combine this with Gouge-Tusks, Foe-Render and either the Totem of Rust or the Razor Standard on the character's unit for armoured infantry, Knights and characters to really hate you, or use Muscular Monstrosity to compensate for the lost Strength bonus.
Sword of Striking (15 points): Another Extremely Common item that doesn't give any Strength or AP bonus, but adds 1 to your to Hit rolls in melee. Given that you can now hit things on 2s this is a really nice thing to pick on enemy Core units with, or for evening the odds against those annoying characters with a higher Weapon Skill than you. Being Extremely Common you could give this to each of your Unit Champions to really make their attacks count.
Burning Blade (5 points): Gives your character Flaming Attacks. Take it against Wood Elf Forest Spirits, Undead factions or Troll-heavy armies, otherwise leave it as there are just as many counters to Flaming Attacks as there are units vulnerable to it.
MAGIC ARMOUR
Armour of Destiny (70 points): A suit of Heavy Armour that gives your character a lovely 4+ Ward Save. Magic Items that give out Ward Saves are a lot rarer in this version of the game, but at such a hefty points value taking this one leaves far less to spend on Weapons, Talismans or fun Enchanted Items (though we're not so worried about this as we can take Mutations too). I'd be tempted to actually leave this one and head in the direction of the Talisman of Protection plus standard Heavy Armour, but the Giant Blade is just the right cost to fit in pleasingly to make a full 100-point Magic Item allowance spent, and we can use Mutations to improve the build further.
Bedazzling Helm (60 points): One of those lovely rare items that can be combined with other armour to take saves below 4+, and also incurs a -1 penalty to Hit rolls on enemies attacking your character. Obviously a nice thing that gives a good set of bonuses, but pricey, especially as we have the Pelt of the Dark Young and the Blackened Plate which combined are only 5 points more to give a better armour save without needing a shield. In other armies that don't have such items or Mutations I'd still consider it, but we've got better ways of improving our character's save.
Armour of Silvered Steel (40 points): Gives a character a 3+ armour save that cannot be improved further in any way. Cheaper than the two items above which allows it to be combined with a good weapon and potentially a Ward Save, a good thing to use if we have multiple fighty characters and we've given all the better items for getting a 2+ save to one of them, but it's definitely something left for a second build, not something to be spent on our primary General build.
Glittering Scales (35 points): Now just a suit of light armour that forces an opponent to re-roll a single successful hit roll against the bearer. Not really worth it to be honest, when you can have a straight -1 penalty to Hit rolls from the Bedazzling Helm and it's difficult enough to get a character's armour save down to 2+ when he's wearing heavy armour now, let alone light.
Shield of the Warrior True (30 points): A shield that gives a character a 5+ Ward Save, but only against shooting attacks. Not particularly useful for characters that are going to be sheltering in units, but more appealing for a character who's going to be larking about with the Skin of Man and the Flying Carpet or riding on a Chariot.
Spellshield (25 points): An Extremely Common shield that gives a character a 5+ Ward Save against Magic Missiles, Magic Vortices and Assailment spells. Certainly something you'll need on every character you have if you know your opponent is using Dark Magic, to protect them from Soul Eater, or is a fan of their Magical Vortex spells, but otherwise again most suitable only for a character on their own or in a Chariot.
Armour of Meteoric Iron (20 points): Gives a character a 5+ armour save that cannot be improved further in any way, but also cannot be reduced in any way by AP. Could certainly work with the Talisman of Protection to make for a pretty darn resilient character, and certainly something to consider against armies tailored to counter armour, but that's the only way in which it could really work, and you still need to be good at rolling 5s or 6s for either the armour or the Ward to work. Something to think about, but a little too unconventional for me personally.
Enchanted Shield (10 points): A shield that gives a 6+ Ward Save against all non-magical attacks. A very nice, cheap way to give a character a Ward of some sort if you going to leave them grinding through enemy rank-and-file, but won't protect them from any half-decent enemy character build in a challenge, or any unit inbuilt with magical attacks (Skaven and Daemons, I'm looking at you). Extremely Common as well. Can be useful in the right situations, so long as you keep the situation right for your character.
Charmed Shield (5 points): A shield that gives your character a one-use-only 5+ Ward Save against anything. Probably more useful overall than the Enchanted Shield, and unlike the latter can avoid being destroyed by things that destroy Magic Items if you can use the Ward Save beforehand. A particularly bargain item at around 1 or 2 points more than a standard shield upgrade. Certainly worth a try if you have 5 points to spare and can't get a Ward from anywhere else.
TALISMANS
Dawnstone (35 points): Allows the character to re-roll all armour save rolls of 1. Useful with a good armour save build, but most of the time you've already spent too many points on the armour save to be able to afford this as well.
Talisman of Protection (30 points): A nice round 5+ Ward that works every turn against anything, no questions asked. This is easily going to be everyone's favourite way of getting a Ward, and is a must-have even if it means leaving your armour save at 3+ to achieve it.
Paymaster's Coin (25 points): Allows the character to re-roll all failed hit rolls in close combat once per game. Can be very useful in the first round of a challenge or if you want your character's attacks to particularly count, but you need to time its use effectively. Also it's Extremely Common, so lots of characters can take it. It can even be given to a lot of Unit Champions to be able to allow them to benefit from it in a particularly key turn of combat for a unit, or a character could potentially take multiples of them to be able to re-roll hit rolls multiple turns (though this can fast become expensive).
Obsidian Lodestone (20 points): A character can take up to three of these to give them a Magic Resistance score equivalent to the number taken - again useful against anyone who likes to use Soul Eater or any other spell that can hamper your character, but there aren't that many of those, you really need something that can protect entire units.
Luckstone (15 points): Allows a character to re-roll a single failed armour save roll. Call me tight-fisted but I think this is a bit expensive to cater for a single dice roll across the whole game, I'm sure this was only 5 points in 8th. Take it if you have 15 points to spare and have already bought a Magic Weapon and Armour, but again, time your usage of it carefully to make sure it counts (and use it on a character with a good armour save to begin with!).
MAGIC STANDARDS
Banner of Iron Resolve (50 points): Gives the unit Stubborn. As I've probably mentioned before Stubborn is not what it was, and only works once per battle to boot, so this one is certainly pricey for what it can do. It's an absolute waste on Bestigors who can take Stubborn for 1 point per model anyway.
Razor Standard (40 points): Also not what it once was, this banner now gives your unit Armour Bane (2) rather than permanently improving the armour save penalties they inflicted as the 8th version did. Still the best banner from the rulebook I think, it can certainly find a home on a unit of Gors with additional hand weapons to give them some much-needed anti-armour, but you'd better hope to roll a some sixes to Wound the enemy to be able to fully benefit from it. Only take it once you've used up all the great standards in our army list.
Rampaging Banner (30 points): Allows a unit to re-roll failed charge rolls. Again a banner that is wasted on us, as all our important melee units that can take a Magic Standard can do this anyway thanks to the Warband rule. Next!
The Blazing Banner (25 points): As per the Burning Blade, useful against armies that pack a lot of Flammable and Regeneration-oriented units, but beware of the many defences enemies can take against it.
War Banner (25 points): Adds an additional +1 bonus to Combat Resolution, as it did in 8th. A potentially useful banner that can turn the tide of a combat in our favour, but I think a lot of combats in this game are going to lean heavily in the favour of one side, so it will rarely help us when we are losing. It's main use will be maximising the chance of a defeated enemy fleeing rather than Falling Back in Good Order. Again, only give it to a unit once you've run out of the really good banners we have available in our army list.
ENCHANTED ITEMS
Wizarding Hat (45 points): The character becomes a Level 1 Wizard that can generate a spell from any Lore of Magic we like, but has the Stupidity rule. While increasing the number of casters we have, and the range of spells we can access, is always a boon, we certainly don't want a Beastlord, or even a Wargor, with Stupidity in our army, because if they join a unit they give that rule to the entire unit. With our largely average base Leadership and our dependence on things like Warband to make it better, plus our need to get into combat as quickly as we can, we really can do without that. Avoid.
Flying Carpet (40 points): It's back from 8th and just as fun, it gives a character Fly(8) and Swiftstride, at the cost of not being able to join units. Unfortunately it only applies to Regular and Heavy Infantry characters now, so flying Doombulls are a thing of the past, but can work in tandem with the Skin of Man and the Pelt of Midnight to make an annoying flying character for laughs.
Healing Potion (35 points): A solid Extremely Common item that allows a character to regain D3 lost wounds when consuming it once per battle, as per in 8th. However as I've said previously the 2 or 3-Wound result is largely wasted on characters who only start the battle with 2 or 3 Wounds anyway, though it is a good thing to give to our Minotaur characters or even a Shaggoth, all of whom have a good couple more starting Wounds and would make best use of this item.
Ruby Ring of Ruin (30 points): Allows the character to cast Fireball, from the Lore of Battle Magic, as a Bound Spell with Power Level 2 - not bad now as Bound Spells are more like normal spells with the Power Level being treated the same as the Wizard Level used in casting a spell - give it to a Level 1 or 2 Shaman and it's as though the Shaman himself was casting the spell anyway. Adds another spell to our arsenal and gives us some much-needed range punch.
Potion of Strength (25 points): Like the Healing Potion, the Potion of Strength gives a character +D3 Strength, and is Extremely Common. Not as good as it used to be now that Strength has been decoupled from armour save penalty, but still not bad by any means, particularly if your character has some monster-fighting to do.
Potion of Toughness (20 points): Same again, an Extremely Common item that gives a character +D3 Toughness for a turn. I'd actually take this one over the Potion of Strength if I had to choose one, as you can boost your Strength, along with your AP value, using Magic Weapons, but you cannot do this for Toughness.
Potion of Speed (10 points): For fearing sounding like a broken record, this one does the same thing but for Initiative, for half the price. This one can be particularly golden when used against a charging enemy. Indeed I'd actually consider taking this and a more damaging weapon over the Sword of Swiftness, as most enemies will only have a high Initiative on the charge now and so you'll only really need an Initiative boost in that one turn to be able to knock that charging unit for six before it can strike your unit.
Potion of Foolhardiness (5 points): Makes your character Immune to Psychology for a turn. Can be useful for making sure your character doesn't fluff their attacks against a Monster when they really need to make them count, but we're able to re-roll our Fear, Terror and Panic tests anyway thanks to the Mark of Chaos Undivided, so there's less use for this item here than in other armies.
ARCANE ITEMS
Feedback Scroll (60 points): A one-use-only item where, instead of rolling to dispel or using a Dispel Scroll, you may let the spell through and roll two dice - on each roll of a 4+ the casting Wizard suffers an automatic Wound. Can potentially be used to kill off Hero-level Wizards outright and damage Lord-level casters, but should only be used when a weaker spell is cast, as stronger or more influential ones, of course, you want to stop completely. Situational and expensive means this one isn't high on the priority list.
Scroll of Transmogrification (50 points): Another one-use-only item that is used instead of dispelling a spell, but this time the owning player has to roll a die and score under the Wizard's Level or be turned into a frog, regaining their normal form on a 4+ in later turns. Obviously better on lower-Level casters and also makes the Wizard even easier to kill in combat, though is still an expensive item for a one-use-only gimmick, and again involves the spell being let through so is best to use on weaker spells. However unlike the Feedback Scroll it is Extremely Common and can be taken in numbers, and 'Lord' level Shamans have a 100 point allowance so can afford two of these if you want to go heavy on the trick.
Wand of Jet (45 points): The Wizard receives a +1 bonus to both casting and dispelling rolls, but as soon as they roll a natural double when either casting or dispelling, the Wand is destroyed and cannot be used again. The bonus is certainly solid and worth the cost of the item, but this one all simply depends on whether you're lucky enough to not get a double for a good portion of the game. A bit of a gambler's item, but at least nothing absolutely negative happens when you do roll a double.
Lore Familiar (30 points): Easily the best item of this list now that Dispel Scrolls are not what they once were. Instead of rolling on your chosen Magic Lore table, you get to choose the spells you want. An absolute must-take given we, and every other army in the game, are dependent principally on the main rulebook Lores which are all mixed bags in their own way. Best used with Elementalism which has the fewest spells that are of use to us but those spells that are of use are still good'uns - Daemonology and Dark Magic have a better spell selection overall and are thus more forgiving when rolling to generate spells on them.
Power Scroll (20 points): A one-use-only, Extremely Common Scroll that allows a Wizard to roll an extra dice when casting and discard the lowest one. A more reliable and less dangerous thing than its 8th Edition counterpart (which increased the chances of the spell being cast with Irresistible Force and thus miscasting), and nice and cheap at 20 points - a lot of Wizard builds I can see will probably have one or two of these plus one or two Dispel Scrolls.
Dispel Scroll (20 points): No longer being automatically able to dispel spells with this hurts, but it still does the same as the Power Scroll - allows you to roll an extra dice when Dispelling and discard the lowest one. Again, cheap as chips and Extremely Common means it's something to stock up on alongside the Power Scroll.
Arcane Familiar (15 points): Less of a must-have than the Lore Familiar, but still highly useful and half the price, this little fellow allows a Wizard to generate spells from two rulebook Lores rather than just one and mix-and-match spells from each. A good one to combine with the Lore Familiar on different casters too (or even the same one - there's no rule that disallows that yet), with one Shaman taking a mix of Daemonology and Dark Magic spells and the other using the Lore Familiar to take the best spells from Elementalism.
Earthing Rod (5 points): Same as 8th Edition and a fifth of the original price, this allows the caster to re-roll the result rolled on the Miscast table once per game. Much more worth it for the price now, take it on that Great Bray-Shaman to make sure he doesn't kill himself with a Miscast.
Overall, an interesting selection of items. A lot of duff Magic Banners (which makes it a good job they gave us a good selection of race-specific ones, plus of course we'll have more coming in our Arcane Journal), a couple of overly-pricey Magic Weapons and Arcane Items, but otherwise there's a lot for us to play with here.
MAGIC WEAPONS
Ogre Blade (65 points): +2 Strength, AP -2, Armour Bane (1) and Multiple Wounds (D3). Obviously a very good weapon to have that rivals the Primeval Club, though because the latter is better for use on a Beastlord build, this one is a good choice to give to a Doombull if you have one to make him a real killing machine. Still affordable enough to afford some Magic Armour and a Talisman along with it, though is too pricey to give to a 'Hero' level character like a Wargor or Gorebull, and it's certainly something tailored for a more offensive character build - bear this in mind when picking your Mutations and other Magic Items to try and counterbalance this with something more defensive.
Sword of Battle (60 points): +1 Strength, AP-1, Armour Bane (1) and Extra Attacks (1). I honestly don't think this weapon is worth it - almost as expensive as the Ogre Blade and the same price as the Primeval Club, with a far inferior Strength and AP bonus to either of those, and trading Multiple Wounds (D3) and Poisoned Attacks respectively for just a single additional attack, that still has to roll to Hit and roll to Wound. You're much better off just going with Many-Limbed Fiend, for a third of the price and taken from your Mutations allowance rather than your Magic Items allowance, still at a solid Strength of 5 (or 6 in the case of a Doombull) and with the capability of being AP -2 when you pass your Primal Fury tests anyway.
Duellist's Blades (55 points): Pretty much the same as the Sword of Battle, except you're trading +1 Strength and the ability to take a shield for another additional attack. These have a use on a blender Beastlord AHW and Many-Limbed Fiend build, but taking these instead of standard AHW for just one further extra attack, at the cost of not being able to afford the particularly good Magic Armour and Talisman items you'll need to keep your Beastlord alive means there's still much to be desired.
Dragon Slaying Sword (50 points): Monster Slayer. That's all you're paying for - just the ability to kill monsters and characters riding them on a to Wound roll of a 6, with no Strength or AP boosts at all, for half a 'Lord' character's Magic Items allowance. While this may still sound potent on the surface, and I've heard some expressing concern about it, to be honest I don't think it's all that good. For one thing, this weapon is useless against anything that isn't a monster - Monstrous Infantry and Cavalry buses have nothing to fear from it and can still stomp your character's unit quite happily, and Dwarf players will laugh long and loudly. Secondly, you have to get your character into combat with a monster for it to be any use, and given that there are a lot of flying monsters in this game, that's no easy feat. I'd honestly just take the Ogre Blade for 15 points more, with Multiple Wounds (D3) being equally as dangerous to Monstrous Infantry and Cavalry and characters as it is to Monsters, and the Strength and AP bonus makes it equally terrifying for standard Infantry and Cavalry to face. Of course the Dragon Slaying Sword can be given to a cheap 'Hero' character instead, in particular a BSB, but again it is still situational and will eat up the Hero's entire Magic Items allowance, leaving them without any special armour or Ward Saves. To be honest I think the one use for this in our army is to give it to a Shaggoth to make him equally good against enemy Monsters as he is against everything else, especially as he can be tanked up to a 3+ armour save anyway.
Headsman's Axe (45 points): This one, alongside the Axe of Men to which I compared it earlier, is a lot more useful. 5 points cheaper, gives a +1 bonus to Strength and AP -1, at the simple cost of having to wield it with two hands. Killing Blow allows you to carve your way through not only armoured Infantry and Cavalry (Dwarfs, Bretonnia and Warriors beware) but also their Monstrous counterparts, meaning it is a very good pick against any army liable to spam Monstrous Infantry (Ogres, Greenskins with their Troll-based Army of Infamy, our own Doombull-led Minobus army build, Lizardmen focusing on Kroxigor-Skink synergy, Warriors of Chaos again, Tomb Kings, Vampires). Again of course it eats up most of a 'Hero' character's Magic Items allowance, but is an affordable pick for a 'Lord' with 55 points of Items allowance plus 50 points of Mutations to be able to gear up on armour to keep your character alive.
Spelleater Axe (35 points): Gives you just AP -1 and Magic Resistance (-2). A reasonably cheap weapon useful against Magic-heavy armies, but only protects one character and possibly the one unit he is with from Magic and the actual combat bonus it gives is pretty poor. Not to mention we have the Pelt of the Dark Young which gives the same Magic Resistance bonus and can be combined with other armour as a much more useful item. There are better weapons elsewhere...
Giant Blade (30 points): ...Like this one. +1 Strength, no fixed AP bonus but Armour Bane (2), and Multiple Wounds (2) for a mere 30 points is a nice boost, particularly combined with the natural AP -2 our characters get when passing Primal Fury tests anyway. A great one to give to a foot Beastlord in a Bestigor unit along with tanking him up with a shield, the Blackened Plate and Pelt of the Dark Young to have a 2+ armour save - an all-round nice mix of durability and aggressive punch.
Sword of Swiftness (25 points): Like the Dragon Slaying Sword you're pretty much just paying for one special rule - Strike First this time - but this weapon is half the cost and gives you a much more useful rule. Though Strike First isn't as OP as it was, it's still very important in this day-and-age of chargers trying to strike first and stepping-up models not being able to strike back. Combine this with the Muscular Monstrosity Mutation for a Strength boost and the natural -2 AP from Foe-Render when you pass your Primal Fury tests, and your character is an excellent counter to charging cavalry (and those enemies who still have just too high an Initiative for their own good... grr, wicked Elf-swine), all while still having 75 points of Magic Armour or Talismans and 15 points of Mutations to play with to give him some durability-boosting items. Another nice choice.
Berserker Blade (20 points): A +1 Strength bonus is fun, +1 attack is fun too... the downsides of Frenzy, not so much. Especially when taking a character with Frenzy also gives the unit around him the worst symptom of it as well. We as an army already dice with death with regards to getting Frenzy on Primal Fury rolls of a double (which of course is fine in the first-turn combat but can still be exploited by the enemy once that combat has been won), we don't need that happening before our unit has even got into combat. I'd pass on this one.
Sword of Might (20 points): Another case study into how overly-expensive the Sword of Battle is, the Sword of Might gives the character the same +1 Strength and AP -1, just without Armour Bane (situational anyway) and that additional attack, for a third of the price. Plus, this item's an Extremely Common one, meaning we can give it to as many characters as we like in our army. Cheap, cheerful and boosts the things we want to boost, not a bad choice at all.
Biting Blade (15 points): Like the Sword of Might, but trades the Strength bonus for an additional -1 to AP and Armour Bane (and not Extremely Common unfortunately). Combine this with Gouge-Tusks, Foe-Render and either the Totem of Rust or the Razor Standard on the character's unit for armoured infantry, Knights and characters to really hate you, or use Muscular Monstrosity to compensate for the lost Strength bonus.
Sword of Striking (15 points): Another Extremely Common item that doesn't give any Strength or AP bonus, but adds 1 to your to Hit rolls in melee. Given that you can now hit things on 2s this is a really nice thing to pick on enemy Core units with, or for evening the odds against those annoying characters with a higher Weapon Skill than you. Being Extremely Common you could give this to each of your Unit Champions to really make their attacks count.
Burning Blade (5 points): Gives your character Flaming Attacks. Take it against Wood Elf Forest Spirits, Undead factions or Troll-heavy armies, otherwise leave it as there are just as many counters to Flaming Attacks as there are units vulnerable to it.
MAGIC ARMOUR
Armour of Destiny (70 points): A suit of Heavy Armour that gives your character a lovely 4+ Ward Save. Magic Items that give out Ward Saves are a lot rarer in this version of the game, but at such a hefty points value taking this one leaves far less to spend on Weapons, Talismans or fun Enchanted Items (though we're not so worried about this as we can take Mutations too). I'd be tempted to actually leave this one and head in the direction of the Talisman of Protection plus standard Heavy Armour, but the Giant Blade is just the right cost to fit in pleasingly to make a full 100-point Magic Item allowance spent, and we can use Mutations to improve the build further.
Bedazzling Helm (60 points): One of those lovely rare items that can be combined with other armour to take saves below 4+, and also incurs a -1 penalty to Hit rolls on enemies attacking your character. Obviously a nice thing that gives a good set of bonuses, but pricey, especially as we have the Pelt of the Dark Young and the Blackened Plate which combined are only 5 points more to give a better armour save without needing a shield. In other armies that don't have such items or Mutations I'd still consider it, but we've got better ways of improving our character's save.
Armour of Silvered Steel (40 points): Gives a character a 3+ armour save that cannot be improved further in any way. Cheaper than the two items above which allows it to be combined with a good weapon and potentially a Ward Save, a good thing to use if we have multiple fighty characters and we've given all the better items for getting a 2+ save to one of them, but it's definitely something left for a second build, not something to be spent on our primary General build.
Glittering Scales (35 points): Now just a suit of light armour that forces an opponent to re-roll a single successful hit roll against the bearer. Not really worth it to be honest, when you can have a straight -1 penalty to Hit rolls from the Bedazzling Helm and it's difficult enough to get a character's armour save down to 2+ when he's wearing heavy armour now, let alone light.
Shield of the Warrior True (30 points): A shield that gives a character a 5+ Ward Save, but only against shooting attacks. Not particularly useful for characters that are going to be sheltering in units, but more appealing for a character who's going to be larking about with the Skin of Man and the Flying Carpet or riding on a Chariot.
Spellshield (25 points): An Extremely Common shield that gives a character a 5+ Ward Save against Magic Missiles, Magic Vortices and Assailment spells. Certainly something you'll need on every character you have if you know your opponent is using Dark Magic, to protect them from Soul Eater, or is a fan of their Magical Vortex spells, but otherwise again most suitable only for a character on their own or in a Chariot.
Armour of Meteoric Iron (20 points): Gives a character a 5+ armour save that cannot be improved further in any way, but also cannot be reduced in any way by AP. Could certainly work with the Talisman of Protection to make for a pretty darn resilient character, and certainly something to consider against armies tailored to counter armour, but that's the only way in which it could really work, and you still need to be good at rolling 5s or 6s for either the armour or the Ward to work. Something to think about, but a little too unconventional for me personally.
Enchanted Shield (10 points): A shield that gives a 6+ Ward Save against all non-magical attacks. A very nice, cheap way to give a character a Ward of some sort if you going to leave them grinding through enemy rank-and-file, but won't protect them from any half-decent enemy character build in a challenge, or any unit inbuilt with magical attacks (Skaven and Daemons, I'm looking at you). Extremely Common as well. Can be useful in the right situations, so long as you keep the situation right for your character.
Charmed Shield (5 points): A shield that gives your character a one-use-only 5+ Ward Save against anything. Probably more useful overall than the Enchanted Shield, and unlike the latter can avoid being destroyed by things that destroy Magic Items if you can use the Ward Save beforehand. A particularly bargain item at around 1 or 2 points more than a standard shield upgrade. Certainly worth a try if you have 5 points to spare and can't get a Ward from anywhere else.
TALISMANS
Dawnstone (35 points): Allows the character to re-roll all armour save rolls of 1. Useful with a good armour save build, but most of the time you've already spent too many points on the armour save to be able to afford this as well.
Talisman of Protection (30 points): A nice round 5+ Ward that works every turn against anything, no questions asked. This is easily going to be everyone's favourite way of getting a Ward, and is a must-have even if it means leaving your armour save at 3+ to achieve it.
Paymaster's Coin (25 points): Allows the character to re-roll all failed hit rolls in close combat once per game. Can be very useful in the first round of a challenge or if you want your character's attacks to particularly count, but you need to time its use effectively. Also it's Extremely Common, so lots of characters can take it. It can even be given to a lot of Unit Champions to be able to allow them to benefit from it in a particularly key turn of combat for a unit, or a character could potentially take multiples of them to be able to re-roll hit rolls multiple turns (though this can fast become expensive).
Obsidian Lodestone (20 points): A character can take up to three of these to give them a Magic Resistance score equivalent to the number taken - again useful against anyone who likes to use Soul Eater or any other spell that can hamper your character, but there aren't that many of those, you really need something that can protect entire units.
Luckstone (15 points): Allows a character to re-roll a single failed armour save roll. Call me tight-fisted but I think this is a bit expensive to cater for a single dice roll across the whole game, I'm sure this was only 5 points in 8th. Take it if you have 15 points to spare and have already bought a Magic Weapon and Armour, but again, time your usage of it carefully to make sure it counts (and use it on a character with a good armour save to begin with!).
MAGIC STANDARDS
Banner of Iron Resolve (50 points): Gives the unit Stubborn. As I've probably mentioned before Stubborn is not what it was, and only works once per battle to boot, so this one is certainly pricey for what it can do. It's an absolute waste on Bestigors who can take Stubborn for 1 point per model anyway.
Razor Standard (40 points): Also not what it once was, this banner now gives your unit Armour Bane (2) rather than permanently improving the armour save penalties they inflicted as the 8th version did. Still the best banner from the rulebook I think, it can certainly find a home on a unit of Gors with additional hand weapons to give them some much-needed anti-armour, but you'd better hope to roll a some sixes to Wound the enemy to be able to fully benefit from it. Only take it once you've used up all the great standards in our army list.
Rampaging Banner (30 points): Allows a unit to re-roll failed charge rolls. Again a banner that is wasted on us, as all our important melee units that can take a Magic Standard can do this anyway thanks to the Warband rule. Next!
The Blazing Banner (25 points): As per the Burning Blade, useful against armies that pack a lot of Flammable and Regeneration-oriented units, but beware of the many defences enemies can take against it.
War Banner (25 points): Adds an additional +1 bonus to Combat Resolution, as it did in 8th. A potentially useful banner that can turn the tide of a combat in our favour, but I think a lot of combats in this game are going to lean heavily in the favour of one side, so it will rarely help us when we are losing. It's main use will be maximising the chance of a defeated enemy fleeing rather than Falling Back in Good Order. Again, only give it to a unit once you've run out of the really good banners we have available in our army list.
ENCHANTED ITEMS
Wizarding Hat (45 points): The character becomes a Level 1 Wizard that can generate a spell from any Lore of Magic we like, but has the Stupidity rule. While increasing the number of casters we have, and the range of spells we can access, is always a boon, we certainly don't want a Beastlord, or even a Wargor, with Stupidity in our army, because if they join a unit they give that rule to the entire unit. With our largely average base Leadership and our dependence on things like Warband to make it better, plus our need to get into combat as quickly as we can, we really can do without that. Avoid.
Flying Carpet (40 points): It's back from 8th and just as fun, it gives a character Fly(8) and Swiftstride, at the cost of not being able to join units. Unfortunately it only applies to Regular and Heavy Infantry characters now, so flying Doombulls are a thing of the past, but can work in tandem with the Skin of Man and the Pelt of Midnight to make an annoying flying character for laughs.
Healing Potion (35 points): A solid Extremely Common item that allows a character to regain D3 lost wounds when consuming it once per battle, as per in 8th. However as I've said previously the 2 or 3-Wound result is largely wasted on characters who only start the battle with 2 or 3 Wounds anyway, though it is a good thing to give to our Minotaur characters or even a Shaggoth, all of whom have a good couple more starting Wounds and would make best use of this item.
Ruby Ring of Ruin (30 points): Allows the character to cast Fireball, from the Lore of Battle Magic, as a Bound Spell with Power Level 2 - not bad now as Bound Spells are more like normal spells with the Power Level being treated the same as the Wizard Level used in casting a spell - give it to a Level 1 or 2 Shaman and it's as though the Shaman himself was casting the spell anyway. Adds another spell to our arsenal and gives us some much-needed range punch.
Potion of Strength (25 points): Like the Healing Potion, the Potion of Strength gives a character +D3 Strength, and is Extremely Common. Not as good as it used to be now that Strength has been decoupled from armour save penalty, but still not bad by any means, particularly if your character has some monster-fighting to do.
Potion of Toughness (20 points): Same again, an Extremely Common item that gives a character +D3 Toughness for a turn. I'd actually take this one over the Potion of Strength if I had to choose one, as you can boost your Strength, along with your AP value, using Magic Weapons, but you cannot do this for Toughness.
Potion of Speed (10 points): For fearing sounding like a broken record, this one does the same thing but for Initiative, for half the price. This one can be particularly golden when used against a charging enemy. Indeed I'd actually consider taking this and a more damaging weapon over the Sword of Swiftness, as most enemies will only have a high Initiative on the charge now and so you'll only really need an Initiative boost in that one turn to be able to knock that charging unit for six before it can strike your unit.
Potion of Foolhardiness (5 points): Makes your character Immune to Psychology for a turn. Can be useful for making sure your character doesn't fluff their attacks against a Monster when they really need to make them count, but we're able to re-roll our Fear, Terror and Panic tests anyway thanks to the Mark of Chaos Undivided, so there's less use for this item here than in other armies.
ARCANE ITEMS
Feedback Scroll (60 points): A one-use-only item where, instead of rolling to dispel or using a Dispel Scroll, you may let the spell through and roll two dice - on each roll of a 4+ the casting Wizard suffers an automatic Wound. Can potentially be used to kill off Hero-level Wizards outright and damage Lord-level casters, but should only be used when a weaker spell is cast, as stronger or more influential ones, of course, you want to stop completely. Situational and expensive means this one isn't high on the priority list.
Scroll of Transmogrification (50 points): Another one-use-only item that is used instead of dispelling a spell, but this time the owning player has to roll a die and score under the Wizard's Level or be turned into a frog, regaining their normal form on a 4+ in later turns. Obviously better on lower-Level casters and also makes the Wizard even easier to kill in combat, though is still an expensive item for a one-use-only gimmick, and again involves the spell being let through so is best to use on weaker spells. However unlike the Feedback Scroll it is Extremely Common and can be taken in numbers, and 'Lord' level Shamans have a 100 point allowance so can afford two of these if you want to go heavy on the trick.
Wand of Jet (45 points): The Wizard receives a +1 bonus to both casting and dispelling rolls, but as soon as they roll a natural double when either casting or dispelling, the Wand is destroyed and cannot be used again. The bonus is certainly solid and worth the cost of the item, but this one all simply depends on whether you're lucky enough to not get a double for a good portion of the game. A bit of a gambler's item, but at least nothing absolutely negative happens when you do roll a double.
Lore Familiar (30 points): Easily the best item of this list now that Dispel Scrolls are not what they once were. Instead of rolling on your chosen Magic Lore table, you get to choose the spells you want. An absolute must-take given we, and every other army in the game, are dependent principally on the main rulebook Lores which are all mixed bags in their own way. Best used with Elementalism which has the fewest spells that are of use to us but those spells that are of use are still good'uns - Daemonology and Dark Magic have a better spell selection overall and are thus more forgiving when rolling to generate spells on them.
Power Scroll (20 points): A one-use-only, Extremely Common Scroll that allows a Wizard to roll an extra dice when casting and discard the lowest one. A more reliable and less dangerous thing than its 8th Edition counterpart (which increased the chances of the spell being cast with Irresistible Force and thus miscasting), and nice and cheap at 20 points - a lot of Wizard builds I can see will probably have one or two of these plus one or two Dispel Scrolls.
Dispel Scroll (20 points): No longer being automatically able to dispel spells with this hurts, but it still does the same as the Power Scroll - allows you to roll an extra dice when Dispelling and discard the lowest one. Again, cheap as chips and Extremely Common means it's something to stock up on alongside the Power Scroll.
Arcane Familiar (15 points): Less of a must-have than the Lore Familiar, but still highly useful and half the price, this little fellow allows a Wizard to generate spells from two rulebook Lores rather than just one and mix-and-match spells from each. A good one to combine with the Lore Familiar on different casters too (or even the same one - there's no rule that disallows that yet), with one Shaman taking a mix of Daemonology and Dark Magic spells and the other using the Lore Familiar to take the best spells from Elementalism.
Earthing Rod (5 points): Same as 8th Edition and a fifth of the original price, this allows the caster to re-roll the result rolled on the Miscast table once per game. Much more worth it for the price now, take it on that Great Bray-Shaman to make sure he doesn't kill himself with a Miscast.
Overall, an interesting selection of items. A lot of duff Magic Banners (which makes it a good job they gave us a good selection of race-specific ones, plus of course we'll have more coming in our Arcane Journal), a couple of overly-pricey Magic Weapons and Arcane Items, but otherwise there's a lot for us to play with here.