Lores of Magic: The Lore of Fire

I remember when we were first looking through the 8^th edition rulebook, and went pretty quickly through each of the Lores of Magic. At the time, I dismissed the Lore of Fire as the least impressive. It was an offensive Lore that somehow still lacked the ability to do serious damage (most other Lores had at least 1 spell that was more menacing). So, looking at the Lore more closely, do I still feel this way?

Lores of Magic: The Lore of Beasts

The Lore of Beasts is favoured by a lot of players for low-level "backup" wizards. This is because of the Signature Spell, Wyssan's Wildform. When you're looking at a level 1 wizard, the wisest choice of Lore is generally the one with the best Signature Spell, as it's the only spell you can guarantee he can select. Other than this though, I have not seen this Lore used heavily; it is not the Lore of choice for lord-level spellcasters.

Lores of Magic: The Lore of Life

 The Lore of Life gets a bit of bad press at the moment. The Lore is extremely popular, to the point where it can seem almost ubiquitous. In just two tournaments, I have already fought at least 5 armies with a level 4 Life mage. Indeed, in the first tournament I was using the Lore of Life myself (had I realised everyone else would be using it too, I would have chosen something else...).

OK, so why is it so popular, and why does this displease opponents?

Lores of Magic: The Lore of Light

Often people are undecided what Lore of Magic they are going to take with their wizards (those of us who have a choice, anyway). This can be a major decision, in particular now that the Lore selection is effectively part of the army selection. In some ways this is appropriate, given your choice of spells will often affect what troops will work most effectively with them, and vice versa. I thought I would run through the different Lores and discuss their uses, and which armies they work best with.

I have decided to start with the Lore of Light, which is what I took most recently to a tournament.

Steadfast and the Horde

A Horde of Black Orcs. Choppiness to spare.

I think the rules for Steadfast and Hordes are two of the most exciting rules to be added in 8^th edition Warhammer. These rules are, in effect, the first time there has ever been a reason to field more than 25-30 models in a single unit. There are exception to this statement – unbreakable models have always benefited from being in as large a unit as you could afford, and the Unit Strength rule did make a small difference (or a big one where Fear was involved) – however for most units, fielding 40 models or more in a single unit was inefficient. The number of models fighting would be much the same as when the unit had only 25 models, and rank bonus would be largely unaffected. Every model dies when the unit breaks and is run down, so why spend the points on the extra 15 models?

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only War(machine)

I think a lot of the Jacks in Warmachine look pretty cool. But things like this are a bit gangly for my taste...

I am going to be honest with you. I had barely even heard of Warmachine or Hordes (Warmahordes) before 8^th edition Warhammer Fantasy was released. I am aware that the game has been around for years, and that there have been people playing it in the past. However, it was not until 8^th edition was released, people tried it, and a lot of them found they didn’t like it, that Warmahordes really leapt into prominence for me.

Battle of the Eerie Hills

A 4000pt 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Report between The Empire and Vampire Counts, by Greg Johnson and Ben Morrison