8th Edition 2012 book Empire Tactica

[Lord Solar Plexus]

Oh, *that* south. I see. :-)

The chance of losing your STank to such a result is pretty slim though. It's about 1/18 at full wounds, 1/9 at 8-9 wounds, and still only 1/6 at 6-7 wounds. Result number 7 can be dangerous when you're down to 3 wounds or so but won't kill it otherwise, and it looks to me as if it still gets to take its armour save against #7 wounds (explicitly forbidden when suffering wounds from a cannon misfire, not mentioned here).

Did you notice that according to the wording of the rules you need to have a character - any character - in a detachment to benefit from HtL? Your Captain with HtL is in the parent. The parent can now roll break tests on 3d6 etc. A detachment benefits from the rule that "If a character with this rule is in a unit...". It doesn't need a Captain or GotE but a WH or wizard will do since all the accompanying characters benefit from HtL as part of the detachment...

I wouldn't be in the least surprised to find this FAQ'ed.

[Jerry]

Did you notice that according to the wording of the rules you need to have a character - any character - in a detachment to benefit from HtL? Your Captain with HtL is in the parent. The parent can now roll break tests on 3d6 etc. A detachment benefits from the rule that "If a character with this rule is in a unit...". It doesn't need a Captain or GotE but a WH or wizard will do since all the accompanying characters benefit from HtL as part of the detachment...

I wouldn't be in the least surprised to find this FAQ'ed.

No from what I can see the Commander/Captain gives HtL to his regimental unit and its detachment within 3" benefits from HtL if the regimental unit has it. I can't seem to find the part you quoted.

"if a regimental unit has any of the special rules listed below, they confer the same special rule onto all of their detachments... Hold the Line"

[Lord Solar Plexus]

Of course they confer hold the line. The problem is the phrasing of hold the line.

HtL = "If a character with this rule is in a unit, this unit benefits from xyz"

Detachment benefits from HtL.

Detachment benefits from "If a character with this rule is in a unit, this unit benefits from xyz"

Ergo detachment needs a character with this rule. Every character in every detachment has this rule if the parent has it through virtue of being accompanied by a GotE or Captain.

To be frank, that's not how I would play it. I'm sure it'll get FAQ'ed asap, I just thought I'd bring it up for your info.

[Tuttivillus]

Of course they confer hold the line. The problem is the phrasing of hold the line.

HtL = "If a character with this rule is in a unit, this unit benefits from xyz"

Detachment benefits from HtL.

Detachment benefits from "If a character with this rule is in a unit, this unit benefits from xyz"

Ergo detachment needs a character with this rule. Every character in every detachment has this rule if the parent has it through virtue of being accompanied by a GotE or Captain.

To be frank, that's not how I would play it. I'm sure it'll get FAQ'ed asap, I just thought I'd bring it up for your info.

LSP : I think You have just went to far. Detachment rules says that if a parent unit has HtL detachments has it as well. Period. HtL says that unit with captain has HtL. Nothing contradictory here.

[Spiney Norman]

The STank will cause impact hits on the turn it makes contact. Impact hits happen in the combat phase and so contribute to CR.

However, in every round in which it starts in base contact, it does not cause impact hits. It "immediately" causes damage d3/SP distributed like shooting. In the combat phase, it can then use its breath weapon, which will contribute to CR.

Whether you kill models in the movement or combat phases and how much CR you generate in combat is relatively irrelevant for something with only one rank of less than five models (unless you're fighting a monster). As such I would always opt for more S6 hits over a steady number of steam gun hits with an increased but still weaker strength. This becomes even more important the better-armoured your opponent is.

For example:

2d3 S6 (2 SP grind) + 2d6 S4 (3 SP breath) hits vs. T4 = 3,3 + 3,5 wounds.
3d3 S6 (3 SP grind) + 2d6 S3 (2 SP breath) hits vs. T4 = 5 + 2,3 wounds.

Having more hits at -3 ASM is better than having more at -1 or even nothing except against unarmoured foes.

Combat resolution is hardly irrelevant to the situation described, as CR means more casualties for undead, I agree most of the time you would do better with grinding (or a little of both if you have the steam points). On a turn when the stank is in combat I'd probably allocate 3 to the steam gun for a str 4 breath weapon and 2 to grind because str3 is pretty bad against most things.

Regarding generating steam points I would also add that the only way to be completely safe is to only generate 1 pt as 6+2 SP will detonate the stank. It depends how many wounds you have left and what the risk of misfiring actually is, and bear in mind that if you're well into the game a dangerous over pressure result might not be altogether a bad thing.

[GodlessM]

Regarding generating steam points I would also add that the only way to be completely safe is to only generate 1 pt as 6+2 SP will detonate the stank. It depends how many wounds you have left and what the risk of misfiring actually is, and bear in mind that if you're well into the game a dangerous over pressure result might not be altogether a bad thing.

I've come to the conclusion that too many people are commenting on this thread without having the book, because surely this many people can't be reading the Steam Tank rules wrong can they? You can't roll a 6 as you roll a D3. 3 Steam Points or less means you will never lose your tank to a misfire (4 SP is fine as well unless you have only 3 wounds left).

[BigbyWolf]

I've been considering an all-mounted army, backed up by each of the new wizard-mobiles (and a Steamtank in larger games), and am looking for suggestions on to keep a level 4 wizard safe (without taking Gelt), and I'm not too keen on putting him on one of the wagons.

My one thought was just bunkering him in a small unit of pistoliers/ outriders or knights and keeping him out of the way. The benefit of the knights would be better saves against shooting, but the pistoliers/ outriders have the added bonus of being able to shoot any small units that get too close.

For the general, sense dictates a Grand Master, but I love the Marius model too much (but not rules) so that would steer me towards a standard General, although with the right amounts of adornment to his accompanying unit could have him as the GM of a particularly foppish Knightly Order.

One thing that does annoy me is the fact that a Hunter can't be mounted. I would love to use the Mordheim Highwayman as one (and just love the idea of one in the army anyway).

[Von Wibble]

Combat resolution is hardly irrelevant to the situation described, as CR means more casualties for undead, I agree most of the time you would do better with grinding (or a little of both if you have the steam points). On a turn when the stank is in combat I'd probably allocate 3 to the steam gun for a str 4 breath weapon and 2 to grind because str3 is pretty bad against most things.

Regarding generating steam points I would also add that the only way to be completely safe is to only generate 1 pt as 6+2 SP will detonate the stank. It depends how many wounds you have left and what the risk of misfiring actually is, and bear in mind that if you're well into the game a dangerous over pressure result might not be altogether a bad thing.

You roll a D3 for the mishap table not a D6 so you can only lose the tank (assuming you are on more than 3 wounds left of course) if you use 5 steam points. If on full wounds the chances of this happening are 1/18.

[Spiney Norman]

I've come to the conclusion that too many people are commenting on this thread without having the book, because surely this many people can't be reading the Steam Tank rules wrong can they? You can't roll a 6 as you roll a D3. 3 Steam Points or less means you will never lose your tank to a misfire (4 SP is fine as well unless you have only 3 wounds left).

Damn you're right, I'm not sure how I've had the book for a week and not noticed that, no wonder everyone else seemed to think the stank was awesome, you can reliably generate 4 pts and suffer no problems from it. I think I just saw the table and assumed it would be a D6 role, I didn't expect them to make the stank that reliable.

I guess I'll be making room for my stank in my army list then...

[CM2728]

GodlessM: you're right, competely mixed new and old rules together on this one. Thanks for setting me straight. ST makes a lot moresense now, can't wait to try it out.

[dwarfhold13]

guys.. in a 1000 pt. list, would you bring a wizard or warrior priest? I've got some empire stuff lying around here and made a list with what i have and maybe one or two things I should buy:

Wiz or WP

24 Halberdiers
-full command
-detachment of 10 handgunners
-detachment of 6 archers

5 pistoliers w/ musician

25 flagellants

helblaster

hurricanum (just for kicks unless it's pointless in 1000 pts)

edit: I have two stanks, but thought they would be a little much in 1000 point game. I also own knights and a cannon I could use.

[Minsc]

guys.. in a 1000 pt. list, would you bring a wizard or warrior priest? I've got some empire stuff lying around here and made a list with what i have and maybe one or two things I should buy:

A lvl 2 Wizard.
That and the bound spell from the Hurricanum should be enough magic for 1000 pts.

[Jerry]

After doing some math on witch hunters with brace of pistols I'm suddenly not very convinced about their effectiveness...
For shooting you will be hitting on 6s - Long range, sniper, multiple shots unless you're within 6" but really if your witch hunter is in a unit they will never be that close unless the failed a charge which you probably don't want to be doing.
So anyway, hitting on 6s with 2 shots, re-rolling to hit against your selected target you have a 22/36 roughly 61% chance of scoring 1 hit and a 71/1296 roughly 5.5% chance of scoring 2 hits.
Altogether you have a 142/7776 + 22/216 = 467/3888 12% chance of scoring a single KB and a 71/46656 = 0.15% chance of scoring 2 KBs... Pretty dismal chances if you ask me.

The only way I can see Witch hunters really being somewhat of a threat is in combat against I4 or lower enemies. Anything higher than that and you'll just see your naked WH struck down before he can attack. In terms of wizard hunting you can only really get him into B2B contact with the enemy wizard if either you line it up perfectly or you make sure your WH isn't in combat so that you make way into B2B with their wizard. You can't count on your opponent being silly enough to accept a challenge from your WH with his wizard. Against anything else in combat and you're still just a WS4 S4 with 3 KB attacks re-rolling to hit.

If you're counting on your WH character slaying in challenges I suggest you have a close look at this chances.
You'll be hitting on 4s against characters and with re-rolls you will on average score 2.25 hits (3 attacks hitting on 4s with a re-roll), wounding on fours you can score on average 1.125 wounds or 1.6875 (against undead/daemons/wizards). But really what everyone's after is the mighty KB and your chance of getting that from 3 attacks hitting on 4s (re-rolling) is 3/8 or 37.5% altogether so you will on average score 0.375 KBs per round of combat. For the other 62.5% of the time your WH won't score a KB and will probably die after the enemy hero strikes back handing your opponent 55 easy VPs.

I'm rather unimpressed by the new WH now because of a number of reasons, mainly because of the fact that the supposed most effective way of using him is as a character killer but really you'll be hard fought trying to kill anything above a champion with 2 base attacks (3 if you have a brace of pistols) at WS4 S4. Sure you have a re-roll to hit and KB but really if the enemy character survives to strike back, you're dead unless you make him more expensive with magic armour but then you're just investing points into another hero choice and since you've probably got the captain BSB + 2 warrior priests with some defensive items you'll be taking away even more points from your block choices.
I really think the WH needs a higher WS if it's supposed to character hunt like an assassin but that's just wishlisting...

Anyway, that's just my opinion on the new Witch Hunter and as you've probably noticed I'm pretty unimpressed with them and I'll be promptly removing them from my army list.

[Spiney Norman]

guys.. in a 1000 pt. list, would you bring a wizard or warrior priest? I've got some empire stuff lying around here and made a list with what i have and maybe one or two things I should buy:

Wiz or WP

24 Halberdiers
-full command
-detachment of 10 handgunners
-detachment of 6 archers

5 pistoliers w/ musician

25 flagellants

helblaster

hurricanum (just for kicks unless it's pointless in 1000 pts)

edit: I have two stanks, but thought they would be a little much in 1000 point game. I also own knights and a cannon I could use.

I would bring a wizard and a warrior priest, tool your WP up for defence and use him as your general, if you're really afraid of Ld tests make him an arch lector. Hatred is a very powerful advantage, and the prayers will still be useful when you get a high PD roll (although depending on the situation prayers will be more useful than the Storm of Shemtek, which is a little random)

I would also drop the flaggellants and use the points to get something useful, like greatswords or more halberdiers, or maybe some knights, flags are pretty bad as small units, you either need to go big with them (only really viable for large games) or not bother.

Bear in mind that you can't take a stank and a hurricanum in your rare section until at least 1520 or above.

[jtrowell]

Tried the new book yesterday, 1600 points against a O&G army.

Opponent was trying a goblin army, with an arachnarok, spider riders, 2 hordes of night goblins, a few snotlings to use as redirector/pests, a doom diver, and 10 boar riders (normal ones, not savages, with spears and shields, the only orcs of the army)

I had myself:
- Archlector (general) with Armor or meteroric Iron and additionnal hand weapon (I wanted to use the new finecast model)
- Warrior priest with shield, heavy armor, dragonhelm (my avatar-of-war model that I wanted to use)
- Captain BSB, with full plate and magic shield
- level 2 sorcer (heaven, got the comet and the spell allowing to reroll 1s)
- one naked engineer
- 19 Greatswords with full command, deployed 7x3 with General and BSB
- 27 halberds with full command, deployed 7x4 with the WP
- 5 archers detachment
- 14 swordmend detachment
- 8 crossbow detachment
- hellblaster and hellstorm (I wanted to test the new versions)
- 8 knights with heavy weapons and full command (converted from greatswrods bits)

One thing I realised soon was that my opponent had an heavy advantage in number of drops, as my many detachments where required to deploy at the same time as their parent unit. Despirte this, I got lucky that my opponent chose to deploy the arachnarok in the same side as my knights, the unit more suited to survive it.

As I expected, the hellblaster was able to cripple the boar riders (one volley at long range killed 7 of them), but was not able to fire all rounds (no target in range first turn, and most targets where not in view or in close combat some other turns). This is good, as it means that a good player will be able to use terrain and other cover to help manage the hellblaster, preventing it from being overpowered while still being very useful.

However the star of the game were both the hellstorm and the celestial wizard:
- first turn, with no target in range for the hellblaster, I used my engineer on the hellstorm, lucky me because instead of a misfire I rerolled and got a 2 on the artillery die, the d3 got me 2 templates, and then I got a hit on each one, managing something like 20+ kills on the goblin horde with the general (rerolling 1s to wound thanks to my wizard helped too), and despite a reroll the unit panicked.
- my opponent was unlucky with its doom diver, rolling 10 for deviation, and a misfire preventing from firing the folowing round.
- on my second turn, the goblin general had rallied, but I managed to panic the other horde with the shaman and BSB !
- The arachnarock charged my knights, but only killed one thanks to my lucky armor saves (rerolling 1s helped me again, as I had casted the spell in a bubble with the boosted version), and I managed 2 wounds on it. The arachnarok held, but next turn I charged in the flank with my greatsword unit, and despite losing 5 of them (mainly due to the thunderstomp) I managed 5 more wounds, it broke and my knights pursued andkilled it.
- next turn the 3 surviving boar riders charged the knights in the flanks, they could have routed the unit with some luck, but we both flunked our attacks or wounds and nobody was killed this round, and muy knights were able to reform
- the goblin shaman having the loremaster ability thanks to a nearby wizard tower manager to cast the vortex going to the flank of my greatswords unit, reducing the unit to one last rank.
- my wizard got a miscast, reducing him to level 0.
- the spider riders routed my archer detachment, but where charged in the flank next turn by my swordmen and killed.

At this time, I was damaged but was clearly leading the fight, but we had to stop because it was getting late.
The greenskin player was not in good shape, but he still had to release the fanatics, and a lucky round could still reverse the situation, especially if he managed to kill the surviving greatswords and my general and BSB, so a fun game on the whole.

[GodlessM]

I've been considering an all-mounted army, backed up by each of the new wizard-mobiles (and a Steamtank in larger games), and am looking for suggestions on to keep a level 4 wizard safe (without taking Gelt), and I'm not too keen on putting him on one of the wagons.

My one thought was just bunkering him in a small unit of pistoliers/ outriders or knights and keeping him out of the way. The benefit of the knights would be better saves against shooting, but the pistoliers/ outriders have the added bonus of being able to shoot any small units that get too close.

For the general, sense dictates a Grand Master, but I love the Marius model too much (but not rules) so that would steer me towards a standard General, although with the right amounts of adornment to his accompanying unit could have him as the GM of a particularly foppish Knightly Order.

One thing that does annoy me is the fact that a Hunter can't be mounted. I would love to use the Mordheim Highwayman as one (and just love the idea of one in the army anyway).

Mount your wizard and put him in a 5 man unit of Knights deployed 3 wide and 2 deep with full command so he goes into the second rank.

[Morax]

guys.. in a 1000 pt. list, would you bring a wizard or warrior priest? I've got some empire stuff lying around here and made a list with what i have and maybe one or two things I should buy:

Wiz or WP

24 Halberdiers
-full command
-detachment of 10 handgunners
-detachment of 6 archers

5 pistoliers w/ musician

25 flagellants

helblaster

hurricanum (just for kicks unless it's pointless in 1000 pts)

edit: I have two stanks, but thought they would be a little much in 1000 point game. I also own knights and a cannon I could use.

Looks pretty solid for 1k. A few things though, the hurricanum isn't there just for kicks. At low points buffs have bigger effects as there you are affecting a greater percentage of your army with it. In your list above, the +1 to hit if place well would affect 80% of your total points, that is a huge advantage. Your opponent will likely be gunning for it. The same goes for a Warrior priest. I would go with a warrior priest and a level 1 wizard by the way. Warrior priest kit could look like, Armor of Meteoric Iron and greatweapon, or, Heavy Armor with enchanted shield and talisman of preservation. Once again the warrior priest is going to be affecting a large portion of the army and needs adequate protection. With the wizard I'd go with lore of fire as at that point value a 3d6 fireball can wipe whole units off the table.

[Von Wibble]

After doing some math on witch hunters with brace of pistols I'm suddenly not very convinced about their effectiveness...
For shooting you will be hitting on 6s - Long range, sniper, multiple shots unless you're within 6" but really if your witch hunter is in a unit they will never be that close unless the failed a charge which you probably don't want to be doing.
So anyway, hitting on 6s with 2 shots, re-rolling to hit against your selected target you have a 22/36 roughly 61% chance of scoring 1 hit and a 71/1296 roughly 5.5% chance of scoring 2 hits.
Altogether you have a 142/7776 + 22/216 = 467/3888 12% chance of scoring a single KB and a 71/46656 = 0.15% chance of scoring 2 KBs... Pretty dismal chances if you ask me.

The only way I can see Witch hunters really being somewhat of a threat is in combat against I4 or lower enemies. Anything higher than that and you'll just see your naked WH struck down before he can attack. In terms of wizard hunting you can only really get him into B2B contact with the enemy wizard if either you line it up perfectly or you make sure your WH isn't in combat so that you make way into B2B with their wizard. You can't count on your opponent being silly enough to accept a challenge from your WH with his wizard. Against anything else in combat and you're still just a WS4 S4 with 3 KB attacks re-rolling to hit.

If you're counting on your WH character slaying in challenges I suggest you have a close look at this chances.
You'll be hitting on 4s against characters and with re-rolls you will on average score 2.25 hits (3 attacks hitting on 4s with a re-roll), wounding on fours you can score on average 1.125 wounds or 1.6875 (against undead/daemons/wizards). But really what everyone's after is the mighty KB and your chance of getting that from 3 attacks hitting on 4s (re-rolling) is 3/8 or 37.5% altogether so you will on average score 0.375 KBs per round of combat. For the other 62.5% of the time your WH won't score a KB and will probably die after the enemy hero strikes back handing your opponent 55 easy VPs.

I'm rather unimpressed by the new WH now because of a number of reasons, mainly because of the fact that the supposed most effective way of using him is as a character killer but really you'll be hard fought trying to kill anything above a champion with 2 base attacks (3 if you have a brace of pistols) at WS4 S4. Sure you have a re-roll to hit and KB but really if the enemy character survives to strike back, you're dead unless you make him more expensive with magic armour but then you're just investing points into another hero choice and since you've probably got the captain BSB + 2 warrior priests with some defensive items you'll be taking away even more points from your block choices.
I really think the WH needs a higher WS if it's supposed to character hunt like an assassin but that's just wishlisting...

Anyway, that's just my opinion on the new Witch Hunter and as you've probably noticed I'm pretty unimpressed with them and I'll be promptly removing them from my army list.

Try putting the witch hunter with archers instead. That way you can march and fire so will be in short range for 5s to hit rather than 6s. Now you can say that he'll promptly get charged but you can now stand and shoot for another go, plus you've only actually lost 90 points (and get to redirect the enemy too).

Or give him Van Horstman's. In challenges he now goes before most enemies and has their attacks (plus even if he does go last due to swapping all stats, you face just 2 attacks, which makes losing him in 1 ruond unlikely).

Then there's the fact that actually a 12% chance may look flimsy, but in the enemy's position would you really take that chance if your character is that expensive? Even a fairly standard level 2 is more tha double the cost of the witch hunter. Sure, you might have a 4+ ward to reduce the chances further, but then the cost of losing the model becomes that much greater. Theres a fair chance teh enemy will be more cautious

You can also buff the witch hunter withuot inconveniencing your army. If you use heavens then Portent of far (a pretty useful spell in any setup) increases odds of hits, and rerooling 1s to wound means more chance of KB. Flaming Sword of Rhuin means you get around any regeneration the characters may have. Or Shadows to lower the I of the target if that's your worry (and you don't want to use a lore that is considered to be weak). Or beasts for the extra 3 attacks. Loads of options, a lot of which are things that benefit others too or that you would often be casting anyway.

Next, throw in the other bonuses. MR2 is not brilliant I agree, yet it paid the cost of my witch hunter off in my first game when I made 6 saves against a curse of years cast on greatswords. 72 points made back and the guy took out a fair few models as well. Ignore fear may not be great either but it can be a lifesaver against LD bomb armies and it does prevent bad luck results. His profile is not amazing but still better than 3 halberdiers. I think overall if you expect the witch hunter to have more for the low cost investment he would be too good.

It looks like he is paying about 20 points if that for his KB and sniper abilities. Given that targets range in points cost from about 150 to 350 points, from a purely making points back POV (ignoring psychological effects, of which there are many) you are looking good even with low odds of actually pulling it off.

[Lord Solar Plexus]

Try putting the witch hunter with archers instead. That way you can march and fire so will be in short range for 5s to hit rather than 6s. Now you can say that he'll promptly get charged but you can now stand and shoot for another go, plus you've only actually lost 90 points (and get to redirect the enemy too).

You cannot snipe a character in a stand and shoot reaction, von Wibble.

Or give him Van Horstman's. In challenges he now goes before most enemies

Why would anyone except Chaos accept a challenge from a Witchhunter? More to the point, why would a wizard do that? Perhaps that High Elf Mage that can only be wounded by magic weapons and neutralizes them...I think VHS is rather useless on this guy.

Then there's the fact that actually a 12% chance may look flimsy, but in the enemy's position would you really take that chance if your character is that expensive?

The chance with a ward save is 6-9 percent. That must be about the chance to get killed by a cannon ball in a unit. Yes, I think people will take that chance.

If you use heavens then Portent of far (a pretty useful spell in any setup) increases odds of hits, and rerooling 1s to wound means more chance of KB.

Well, if your target is a wizard, daemon or undead, you can already re-roll failed wounds, so Heaven doesn't help much. And to be honest, that Lore would inconvenience my army quite a bit. You have a point about Miasma but in any case you're relying on everything to fall into place: Not enough dice, dead wizard, failed to cast, dispelled, lowering Ini only to find out your target still hits first or has ASF...and in combat, you need to line up perfectly with your target, which in itself can be difficult.

Lastly, doesn't the BRB say that a sniper can decide to fire one shot instead of shoting normally? That would make a brace relatively useless and lower the chances even more.

[Von Wibble]

You cannot snipe a character in a stand and shoot reaction, von Wibble.

I didn't know that.

Why would anyone except Chaos accept a challenge from a Witchhunter? More to the point, why would a wizard do that? Perhaps that High Elf Mage that can only be wounded by magic weapons and neutralizes them...I think VHS is rather useless on this guy.

Its not for killing wizards, its for dealing with fighters who try to take him out (given that Jerry complained that he gets killed by characters in fights). Who says you have to make the target a wizard anyway?
Plus Chaos is my most common foe.

The chance with a ward save is 6-9 percent. That must be about the chance to get killed by a cannon ball in a unit. Yes, I think people will take that chance.

OK, fair point but opponents don't really have a choice with a cannon (other than just hide behind a hill all battle). They do have a choice with a witch hunter.

Well, if your target is a wizard, daemon or undead, you can already re-roll failed wounds, so Heaven doesn't help much. And to be honest, that Lore would inconvenience my army quite a bit. You have a point about Miasma but in any case you're relying on everything to fall into place: Not enough dice, dead wizard, failed to cast, dispelled, lowering Ini only to find out your target still hits first or has ASF...and in combat, you need to line up perfectly with your target, which in itself can be difficult.

Again, what if my target isn't any of those things?
Heavens is actually a very good lore, its just the signature spell and lore attribute aren't brilliant. Portent of Far, Wind Blast and Curse of the Midnight Wind are all cheap spells and alll very good at what they do. Portent of Far also buffs the witch hunters unit, plus potentially everything within 12" making it easily as good as withering (especially on greatswords buffed by hurricanum, where you are against many things 2 to hit and wound so its effectively a reroll of both). As to Miasma, given its a signature spell you might have more than 1 casting attempt (and would he really dispel it if theres a threat of Okkam's mindrazor inthe background?).

Lining up with the target is difficult - one possibility is to pick a target in a horde so you can place him next to his mark when charging and still maximise contact. But that doesn't help if he charges you or moves to a corner (though you at least can control which corner it is and that could affect his spell ranges). Another is to use lore of shadow.

Responses in turquoise. I still think that for all the problems he's very cheap for his potential damage.