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Hi , i was wondering if anyone can tell me the pros and cons of mounting mages / casters ontop of the
heavier mounts.

Its normally a bad idea to get them into combat right? as most spells doesnt work in HtH o_o

*Extra question , if a chariot confers a 5+ save for example , can that be added to what the rider is currently wearing?

And hits no longer hits the crew or steeds anymore? they go directly to the chariot body?

And why does 2000pts + allow High Elves to have 6 special slot and 4 rare slots? when others get 4 and 2?

Well, it makes them a lot tougher, but I prefer having ablative wounds over a mount, so I stick my Sorcerers in blocks of Chaos Warriors. A wizard on a dragon might be good, but dragons are for fighting and wizards are for casting spells.

The only time I've ever put a wizard on a mount was with my Tzeentch WoC; my Sorcerer Lord rides a Disc of Tzeentch, which lets him fly.

Lunahound wrote:
And why does 2000pts + allow High Elves to have 6 special slot and 4 rare slots? when others get 4 and 2?

Presumably because HE have good elite units to compensate for their crappy core infantry.

When I was playing lizardmen at a tourney a year and a half ago my opponent had 2 goblin mages, each in a chariot.

Turn 1- move forward stegadon 6 inched.
Shoot giant bow at one of the mages.
Hit
5 roll so hit mage.
2 to wound
3 wounds
Dead mage.

I've never tried it.


And yes the save is added to whatever armour you have (think of it as a mtd and barding bonus)

Putting a Wizard in a Chariot is almost always a bad idea. Here's why:
-It usually reduces your Movement speed (as Chariots can't March).
-When your Chariot hits combat, your Wizard will have no Line of Sight, because the unit you are in combat with will be blocking it. This means your Wizard will only be able to cast Spells that don't require Line of Sight.
-Your Wizard is very vulnerable in combat, since anything in base contact with the Chariot can now elect to strike your Wizard.

A Character riding a Chariot can select either the Chariot's Armour Save, or boost his own Armour Save by +2 for riding the Chariot (Characters & Chariots, page 64 of the BRB).

@ Waaagh_Gonads
That same section says randomisation of ranged attacks goes like this:
1-5: Chariot
6: Character

Mounting a Wizard on a Dragon is usually not a very good idea either. It doesn't have all the downsides the Chariot has though.
-A Dragon adds to the maneauverability of your Wizard (Flying).
-It is also a Large Target, so being in a combat won't block your Line of Sight (unless you are in a combat with another Large Target). You still won't be able to cast any Magic Missiles while engaged in combat, but any other Spells can be cast.
-Your Wizard is still very vulnerable in close combat, as anything in base contact with your Dragon will be able to strike blows against your Wizard.

You could mount a Wizard on a Dragon, but only if:
-The Wizard has some good Saves (to reduce his vulnerability to close combat attacks).
-The Wizard's most important Spells are not Magic Missiles (as they won't be able to cast them in close combat).

Woo... k no go then :x

If say , there is 3 Tiranoc Chariot , and 3 Lion Chariot in a High Elf army , how would you guys distribute them among the FOC ? Would you take them all in special choices? or perhaps mount some Characters in them? ( asking this because i want to leave some room for future HE release if they choose to update sword master and white lions.

LunaHound wrote:Woo... k no go then :x

If say , there is 3 Tiranoc Chariot , and 3 Lion Chariot in a High Elf army , how would you guys distribute them among the FOC ? Would you take them all in special choices? or perhaps mount some Characters in them? ( asking this because i want to leave some room for future HE release if they choose to update sword master and white lions.

If you're going with a Chariot Heavy list, I'd have Korhil mounted on one of the chariots, and possibly a second Chariot with a fighty-noble, giving you space for some infantry (White Lions, perhaps, to bypass woods).

The big advantage of putting Characters in a Chariot is that the Chariot becomes US5. This means the Chariot will be able to break ranks on a flank charge and will be able to capture table quarters.

Putting a Character in a Chariot also helps the Chariot when the enemy unit doesn't break after the charge, as the Character will be able to do some decent damage in later combat rounds (as opposed to most Chariots, which will accomplish nothing after the first round).

The downside to putting Characters in a Chariot is obviously that they can be attacked a lot easier (any shooting attack has 1/6 chance to hit your Character and more enemy models will be able to strike your Character in combat due to the bigger base size).

Usually mounting the mage on chariot is a bad idea especially if he's supposed to cast spells as being in combat limits using magic. I can see some use mounting scroll caddies on chariots, though, as they are oftentimes not casting. In the case of orc & chaos hero-level mages for example, you get a us5 chariot that doesn't take special slot which can be pushed forward to charge when the scrolls are burned. You could do worse, I suppose.

In the case of mounting mage on a dragon, it's imho only sensible if the mage in question isn't total pushover in combat. So that leaves chaos magelords, which can work ok with dragons as they relatively have good stats, good armor (with enchanted shield in particular) and lores that have nice spells that can be cast in combat too.

I find that the HE Dragon Mage is amazing in games even at 2000 points. in fact I've never even casted any other spell than the Flaming sword of rHuin.