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I was pondering the ideas that my friends, as I am a Fantasy newb, were trying to explain to me about lords and heros. I've been spending lots of my time on these forums reading up on anything I can. Now here is my question(s):

-What is the best use for a Lord/Hero?
-Should you kit him out to kill lots of weak stuff or some strong stuff?
-Is it better to give him more attacks or better armor and ward saves?
-Is it better to have one lord or multiple heros?

I know its alot but I just needed to get it out there...thanks guys!

What army are you using?

I'll echo Mekboy here - the choice of army is probably the most significant factor in determining the role of your characters.

double agreed with above

Hmm, this could turn into a good general instruction thread as well.

That is of course if you would all be willing to actually discuss the better aspects of the heros and lords of all the armies...

For Woodelves, I've relied on asrai.org.

http://www.asrai.org/leaf/combat_chars.html

Tactica Lords:
Generic Uses for lords:

1: Killer
2: Magic
3: Leadership/Support
4: All purpose

1: Killer.
This is the character decked out to smash the enemy.

Offensive weapons either increasing strength, increasing attacks or causing multiple wounds.
Enchanted items to increase speed (i.e. jag charm) or improve combat ability/ reduce ability of enemy.
Talismans and armour used to keep this guy alive.

Ideally you need alot of attacks- 4 would be a starting point, ideally 5+. Then to back up the attacks you need high strength for 2 reasons, firstly to get through the toughness of your enemy and secondly to smash their armour save to a non saveable level.
Whilst this can be done cheaply with a great weapon you will be striking last after the first round of combat- and liable to be hammered yourself. However if you have high T and high W and a great armour save yourself,you are less likely to die before getting your attacks back.

2 main uses for this guy:
Kill characters- Go after enemy general, mages, BSB. Even champs in a challenge (Bretonnians have superb combos in challenges).
Aim is to reduce the ability of the enemy characters to play a role in the game.

Kill troops: Mass attacks and knock down combat res to win combat.
For this guy its attacks that hit that matters, A saurus oldblood can be decked out with 9 attacks on the charge (charm jag warrior giving 18 inch charge) at strength 5. Rolling average you should at least hold a full ranked unit with +5 combat res. Terror helps here if can be bought on items as you cause the enemy to auto break.

Mounts:
DRAGONS!
Wyverns, other large flying monsters.
Essentially 20 inch move large targets that have numerous attacks and high strength to added 2-3 wounds to your lords' death toll.

Moving down smaller flyers such a pegasi, daemon mounts. Still strong, reduced mvt (except steed of slaanesh and pegasi). But alot cheaper and can hide out in units (not sure of the pegasi)

Chariots- watch out for St 7 enemy and cannons but otherwise great mounts. Especially for O&G as you get a free chariot (i.e. not from special selection).

Polished up this could be a great dakka article....


More to come.

2: Magic.

Level 4 mage lord.
Spend the extra points on level 4. Just do it.

Firstly do you want him to be offensive or defensive.
I like to play offensively (Lizardmen ATM) so go with fire magic as it has alot of damage causing spells. Items should either enhance his ability to cast or deny the enemy's casting. i.e. items that add power/dispel dice or +1 to dispel rolls.

Next where do you hide hime.
Beware running him by himself if the enemy has flyers or lots of shooting/magic that doesn't need LOS. He will die horibly.
But you need him in a position to cast so in the front of a unit of infantry seems a good place in most cases, near the general so he won't run away.

Also mount him on a barded warhorse whenever able- 5+ armour save and 7 inch move.

You will get 4 spells so how to use them.
You can either grind the enemy down with multiple spells per turn or throw caution to the wind and blow the enemy's dispel scrolls away early by throwing 5 dice at your biggest, nastiest spell and forcing the enemy to try and stop it. Note though that you have a higher chance of miscasting in this tactic (but also irrisistable force).

Usually the level 4 mage has the option of not being your general as most race's heroes will have equal leadership. If you play him in a support role and safe I'd look at going with him as general, if more aggressively and likely to die- probably not.

More to come....

3: Leadership/Support

This is best exemplified by skaven warlords, empire general, gobbo warbosses.

Hardly the best fighters in the old world and will get smashed by any halfway competent combat lord or hero.
But they are not there to give you combat kills (though they may add a couple of wounds).
They are there to give leadership and not die.

So invariably they are heavily armoured and will have some sort of regenerate or ward save.

Best place for them is in the middle of the battle line, even hiding in a unit following the main advance so they can't be drawn ito combat and killed.

Remember the whole idea with this character (ideally the general) is to give leadership bonuses.

4: All Purpose.

This is the lord who does at least 2 roles...

4th gen slaan mage priest (No one except GW studio staff are dumb enough to take a 5th gen). Magic/leadership
Vampire lords: Magic/Combat/Leadership/Support
Beastlords: Combat/ Leadership/Support
Plus others.

The beauty of this character is that whilst a master of none he can comfortably take on heroes and survive.
he will also offer more opportunities for threats to your enemy due to his multiple roles.

For example Slaan Mage priest in the middle of the battle line- Magics the enemy to death then when the line is in combat he is offering his Ld 9 and BSB rerolls to units within 12 inches, a huge bonus.
Vampire lord with helm of commandment- Increasing the WS of a nearby unit, casting magic, allowing marching withing 12 inches, offering his leadership.

This is my favorite character and takes awhile to learn to use. Sure the combat generals are fun for awhile but soon your opponent knows how to take them out/divert them. The multiprupose character will increase the threat rating/improve abilities of nearby troops.

You going to write these up into an article, mayhap?

I'm doing chaos just to answer the first three posts

Go a death kill combat monster chaos lord- its what they are best at.

Stick him on something fast (steed slaanesh or dragon), deck him out with a killy weapon and some armour/talisman and watch your enemy die.

2 favorite combos:
Lord of chaos, flail, chaos armour, MOCU, Gaze of the gods, Book of secrets, dispel scroll (more all round, allows you to skimp on magic in the rest of the army)

Lord of chaos, MOS, Steed slaanesh, Blade of blood, Pendant of slaanesh, bane shield.. Get the charge off, every wound you do do a strength test, if passed get an extra wound (up to twice your starting wounds), you don't want a great armour save as every wound you have done on you gives you an extra attack (remember the 20 inch charge you have from the steed of slaanesh allowed you to get the charge and strike first to up your wounds), and whenever you do make an armour save you do a strength 4 hit on the model who struck you.
Brilliant.

i like the blade of blood combo. this is the one i recently tried:

Lord w/ MOCU, Armour of Damnation, Gaze of the Gods, Helm of Many Eyes, and a GW.

I liked him but he just didn't kill as much as I had hoped he would. He survived a while but wasn't quite the punch I guess i needed. I may just end up having a EC on a steed with a Great Fang and then a Slaanesh Exalt Sorc to screw with my opponent.

Unless you toss your combat char on a dragon he will rarely ever break a unit by himself.
Killy chars need to go in units for support and a few more kills.

For chaos chars stick him in a knight unit (not the chosen unit, they do fine on their own) and run rampant with the chosen unit for support and hounds to prevent flanking.

What would be best to kit out a lord on mount?

What about a Hero?

An exalted champ with on foot with GW and Helm of Many Eyes is a great cheap killer. Slap armor of reroll hits on him if you want him more survivable. EC with rending sword is also great fun for maximizing overkill for CR. Not a bad character killer either.

A fun mounted choice is the berserker blade for characters on daemon steeds. Never take a GW on a mounted character- halberds are superior.