hello everyone.

I just started playing with the 2.0 rules adn there is a 3 round tournament that I want to play in. I tried to make it so that when dakr riders come out, it is legal. I built a book of lightening army because it is really powerful and some guy handed me my arse with a boL army. So here is mine...

Annunub-77
with book of lightening (60)
Rage Paladin ***-51
Crusader priest ***-44
Feasting raptor */***-51
Chrystal protector ***-17

total-300

I keep Annunub, the Rage paladin and the protector together. The crusader priest stays near them too. the raptors run off and attack, then get summoned back. the protector heals, and annunub shoots everyturn with bol thanks to command on rage paladin (or is it leAdership?)

how does it look?

I highly suggest taking out the Rage Paladin and the Feasting Raptor. For 102 pts... you can put in much better Mage Spawn to take better advantage of Crusader Priest's Summon ability.

If you insist on using the Leadership/BoL... try getting Khurga. Hes got 4 slots of Leadership for only 38pts.

sotrm_golem, BOL is a fun combo to play, but it chews up lots of points for the engine and support. For this reason I think you are overloading things playing both a BOL/Leadership engine PLUS Summon. I would suggest that you swap out Summon for Revenant in order to save some points. This of course is a personal choice, but with Revenant you still can bring back a figure for one turn for an attack.

I've played variants of your army and find it to work fairly well. I am convinced that BOL is best played when you have a Leadership figure as you suggest. Without Leadership the BOL 3 damage is not sufficient for the points. The value is the opportunity to deal it every turn. Therefore I would keep your engine intact. Here are some suggestions on slight modifications to the army:

Casual and non sanctioned games after the ban is in place:

Anunub + BOL
Crystal Protector ***
Rage Paladin ***
Deathsinger **
Werewolf * x 3
Build total = 300

Competitive sanctioned tourneys after the ban is in place:

Anunub + BOL
Crystal Protector ***
Rage Paladin ***
Deathsinger **
Zombie Centaur *** x 2
Build total = 298

The 1st army is a bit stronger, but it's tough to replicate the Werewolves point value.

Anyway, either of these armies gives you the BOL engine which is the core to your army (and consistent with what you recommended). Keep the Rage Paladin behind the Anunub so you can use Leadership. Keep your CP in b2b contact with your Anunub so you can heal any push damage due to a missed attack. Put this 3 figure engine behind a piece of blocking terrain positioned near the corner of the battlefield 3 " from the side and your starting area (butte is best). The butte should be angled in such a way so you get maximum protection.

Anunub is your main threat. It is immune to BOL in case your opponent fields one as well. That's also what's nice about the Rage Paladin. It can not be shot at range. It is also nice for defensive surging if it's on it's 2nd click. Surging from there gives you 10 attack with Vamparism ... taking you back to Leadership. It's a much better secondary attacker than Khurga, so I would spend the points.

Use a piece of hindering (I prefer to concealing) and plant your Deathspeaker in it. It is now immune to non-Magic Blast ranged attack. Most of the secondary attacking, and also close quarters protection for the BOL engine come from your Wolves or Zombies. I would use them selectively and try to avoid having them mix it up too early. Be opportunistic and rely on your BOL engine to do most of the damage.

I would only start worrying about the objective tokens half way through the game.

I'm sure you know this, but the domains that can really hurt you is Storm Gale and to a slightly lesser extent Magestone Strip Mine. It seems that Storm Gale is played more often (at least at my venue) so I would recommend that you use counter domains to this domain. I guessing you have 4 match tourneys, so I would recommend you bring the following:

Smoke & Fog
Clear Skies
Downpour
Blank

S&F & Clear Skies have no negative effect on your army, but they both cancel Storm Gale. I would also use Downpour in case someone brings Varatrix to the game. This allows you to put Varatrix, or other soaring monstrosities on the ground where they are easier to deal with. If you don't see soaring uniques much at your venue bring Open Terrain which cancels Magestone Strip Mine, and has no negative impact on either of your armies.

Remember, allow your BOL engine to do all the heavy lifting. You will have fun.

Steve

I still suggest trading off Rage Paladin for Khurga. It allows for some more support or allows you to upgrade your support to more.... supportful units

The 2 both offer Leadership which is the goal of the unit, however, Khurga is really not much when it comes to defense or providing secondary attack. It has a moderate ranged attack, but with it's 90 degree arch it can be easily outflanked. It's not much for surging, and it's defensive values at 15 is minimum.

For the Rage Paladin's extra 12 points (Khurga is 39 points) you get a very efficient support figure with Ghostform early on. It is therefore immune to ranged attacks which mean it has to be tangled with in melee. Once it's at it's 2nd click (which still offers ghostform and leadership) you now have a very surgeable defender. It offers up a 10 attack with a reasonable 3 damage and a 17 defense with dodge. A successful attack takes it back to it's Leadership click due to Vampirism. Also, if needed it can breakaway on a roll of 2-6 if it's in Ghostform which can come in handy. I think it would be difficult to replicate these abilities if you spend the 12 points in a single unit or stack to points onto another unit.

Steve

Using a figure for its Leadership makes it less likely to be able to act on its own... which is why Khurga is the smarter choice.

Anunub - 77
w/ BoL - 60

Khurga - 39

Crusader Priest*** - 44

Werewolf*** - 30
Werewolf** - 28
Werewolf* - 22

Total - 300

You could even replace Khurga in this build with Zeph Wyndfenner. You would lose 2 slots of Leadership, but gain a potentially more stable defender.

thanks for the help stormrider, Nolbewarrior. it is obvious that both of you are experienced wth the book of lightening. i have got a few questions though...

'Put this 3 figure engine behind a piece of blocking terrain positioned near the corner of the battlefield 3 " from the side and your starting area (butte is best). The butte should be angled in such a way so you get maximum protection."

when i played against another bol army, the guy didn't even move the enhancer guy (nim, i think), and just started blasting my healers and stuff. is it more of a benifit to start attcking right away, or wait until you are better positioned?

noble warrior, you suggested a Deathsinger **. i don't have one, but i do have a ***dark crudsader is that ok?

Ok, thanks agan for the help

-sotrm_golem

sotrm_golem, the *** Dark Crusader works just as well. You get 4 clicks of venom & stealth in exchange of pathfinder and a slightly higher attack & damage with the Deathsinger. Either figure does it's job well which is providing Revenant.

Yes, it is very possible to simply start blasting away with the BOL, and this may be the best tactics depending upon the army your opponent plays. The reason for the butte is to provide frontal protection for the BOL wielder from straight ranged attacks (non magical/wand) or getting swarmed easily by fast movers.

What I do is either take a shot right away at the highest value target, and the next action move. I position Anunub in a way so it has a small opening to take a normal ranged attack shot if needed on one flank (the open ended flank). Position the CP in b2b contact with the Anunub (to heal any pushing due to a miss) on the closed end flank and put the Rage Paladin on the other flank (leaving an opening that Anunub can take normal ranged shot through if needed). The Anunub is in b2b contact with the blocking terrain, and the other 2 figures on each flank positioned in a way that no figure can get into b2b contact with the Anunub. This prevents ram attack or being surged. If an enemy figure gets into range to surge then your Rage Paladin can act as a defender (if at it's second click ... which I normally put the Paladin in). If your opponent does not have a ranged attack army you can simply do the same thing with a piece of deep water. Either way, the objective is to keep Anunub clear of ALL opposing warriors.

Remember, because it is taking a ranged combat attack if your opponent gets b2b contact with the Anunub it can not initiate a BOL strike (just like any other ranged attack if an opponent goes into b2b contact).

A couple of times that I've played against the BOL my goal has always been to sacrifice a figure or two simply to tie up the BOL wielder until I can bring my full army into the mix. And because the BOL combo uses up so many points your opponent will potentially have more figures to tie it up than you have to defend it.

Thats why I like to plant it behind blocking. The problem in leaving your Anunub out in the open is that it will the center of attention and you opponent SHOULD go after it first.

Either way this comes down to a personal preference.

Enjoy your match.

Steve

Well its pretty rare I sa this, but Kudos to NobleWarrior as he really speaks wisdom. Playing both Summon and BoL/Ledership is a tad too expensive for 300 pts. With BoL, the ideal support would be plenty of solid but cheap melee fighters to simply prevent your opponent from basing your BoL fig. (Revenant is also a big plus, but not necessary IMO)

Just a little note on the whole Khurga vs *** Rage Paladin argument, Personally, I would tend to favor the *** Rage Paladin over Khurga simply because of it's Ghostform.

The main reason for this is that it effectively makes your whole BoL/Leadership engin immune to an opposing BoL, whereas Khurga has no such protection. it might not make a huge difference in most matchups, but say I was playing BoL/*** Rage Paladin against Khurga/BoL, I would win 90% of the times, simply because I could shock your Leadership fig any time, leaving it totally useless, while you cna't shoot mine.

Speaking of damage absorption, the Rage Paladin has also 2 highly distinctive arguments in it's favor against Khurga in this departement. First of all, built-in Vapirism means it will be much more durable then Khurga, and the Rage paladin also gets his good attack clicks right AFTER taking soem damage. this means it will be much easier for a *** Rage Paladin to remain useful, while Khurga just utterly sucks after taking a licking.

Well, coming from a strategist's point-of-view, and from experience.... the army I posted has had very good success.

Strategist's point of view? Come on man, there is absolutely no way you can convince me that using a non-LI/GF/MI leadership fig is better then having one with any of these abilities, despite the higher point cost.

Let me put it this way, from a strategic point of view, against another BoL army, your army has severe weaknesses as there are 2 easy targets which, if hurt, will easily end up screwing up your army big time : Khurga, and the *** Crusader Priest. against another BoL army, you end up with a strategic disadvantage, since all I have to do against it is to make base contact with your Crystal Protector to pu you in big trouble. Therefore, your best bet is to keep both the *** Crusader Priest and Khurga in base contact with the CP.

Even then, if i shoot one every turn, your CP won't be able to keep up with my BoL, and you won't be able to do squat about it, since 1) my BoL engine is immune to yours, and 2) your Werewolves only move 8 inches fast (and if you double-time, you're wasting your best stats just to get to me faster, which brings me to my next point), and got absolutely no easy breakaway capabilities, therefore, it becomes easy to tie you up, and keep sniping your engine till there is only Anunub left. Sure, you shot down my support, but then, I can come at you with my *** Rage Paladin, and there's not much Anunub can do about that.

Sure, your army might be doing fine, but trust me with a Rage Paladin, it would be BETTER.

And the other army has even more weaknesses because it lacks general support. I wouldn't let you base me to begin with. And what army doesn't have problems vs other? Whos to say that my army wouldn't take out the Deathsinger early and swarm the Rage Paladin?

Using the non-GF/LI/MI figure would allow for more support vs more types of armies. Using the many MANY pts in the Rage Paladin might help vs a couple types of armies.... but the army I posted has more back doors vs the other types. If someone was playing them in a larger scale MP game and another player played Storm Gale.... my build would eat it up without any trouble..... or if I decided to play Grasslands ;)

Lack of Support? Here's an exemple of what you can do, even if you spend the many MANY pts in the Rage Paladin...

Anunub
Book of Lightning
*** Rage Paladin
*** Faith Healer
** Shade
** Deathsigner
*** Fell Reaper
298 pts total.

See, overall, your army spends 100 pts on Support (Healer + Leadership + Summon/Revenant), while mine spends 102 points on it (Healer + Leadership + Revenant), and overall, mine is much more efficient then yours.

Wanna see why? All right, let's check it out :

*** CP VS *** Faith Healer

your healer's got LI, Mine is MI, so we're both immune to BoL. CP has an attack of 8, Faith Healer 9, Mine has better chances of Healing, then yours, and can also fight in close combat. I deal damage, you fly...
Personally, I'd give the advantage to the Faith Healer, simply because it can do so much more then heal and run away...

Khurga VS *** Rage Paladin

Mine has GF, Khurga has no defense SA's whatsoever. Khurga has a bow, *** Rage Paladin has a Sword. Rage Paladin has Vampirism, Khurga has range. Rage Paladin gets 10 attack with 3 damage after 2 damages, Khurga just sucks... Really, is there a contest here?

*** Crusader Priest VS ** Deathsigner :

Summon/Revenant VS Revenant... yeah, summon/REvenant is way better, but look at the price tag associated with it, AND the big bullseye it's got painted on! Besides, it just means that the Priest is yet another essential part of your army, it take too much damage, adn you're gonna have to do some creative thinking... I lose the Deathsigner, I could care less. Deathsigner can fight in close combat, Crusader Priest just sucks at it. Did I mention the Deathsigner has a sword? Meanwhile, the Crusader Priest has a wand, which only ends up reinforcing your weakness to anything nerfing wand-attacks. Deathsigner can do 3 damages, let's jsut pass on Crusader Priest...

So yeah you might argue that the rest of your army is better, but lets put it this way, I've got more figures capable of fighting in close combat then you do, and they're all pretty decent at it I might add. You got 3 Werewolves while I have *** Faith Healer, ** Deathsigner, *** Rage Paladin AND the *** Fell Reaper which can all do the job quite efficiently. Also note that the Reaper is much more efficient when it comes to harassement compared to Werewolves (14 speed FLight VS 8 speed), heck, it even got First strike against your Wolves... Oh, and I got a Shade in as well...

Overall it jsut looks like your army has too many figures it simply cannot afford to lose.

Looking at the arguments for and against so far I would have to say that the single most convincing has been for the Rage Paladin.

Olan: you make your arguments specific and clear, an example for all to follow.

I would rather spend 12 on a figure which can serve as Leadership / Secondary attacker and is impossible to shoot than risk losing an important part of my force in the first few moves, which is really what this boils down to.
If the figure is not important, why is it in the army ?
Especially as an intergral part of what I'd call the "Engine Room" of such a build.