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So I ate some questionable Chinese food the other night, and thus had a lot of time to ponder builds and items in the WoC book. It might be the low grade food poisoning talking, but Skull of Katam seems pretty strong for the 50 points. Now, you need like 2-3 other wizards around to make full use of it, and WoC sorcs are hardly cheap, but it seems like there might be a cool war coven sort of build in there somewhere.

Upside:
1: Free pseudo-MoT for everyone within 3" that doesn't limit your lore choice. WoC don't have a lot of choices, but all the book spells are pretty darned cheap, and you could see some really consistent casting with this. Level 2's getting +3 to cast, +4 with MoT as well, and Level 4's getting +5-6 nearly casts most spells by itself, only requiring another die or two (probably two to avoid Not Enough Power).
2: Putting the cost on one Sorc allows the others to get nice magic items to boost their lores.
3: Fixed cost of the bonus gets pretty cheap if you can squeeze in 4-5 casters.

Downside:
1: All your chars have to be sorcs to get all the benefit of 50 points, and have to be in one basket pretty literally. One bad miscast or stone thrower shot and you have some sad wizards.
2: Power dice limit might hit you before you can really make use of it.

Other downsides include needing to dump a lot of points into casting in a rule set than can offer too few power dice in a turn and miscasts that melt your casting team. On the other hand, more sorcs = more channeling and Death can lend some handy dice for kills, while Infernal Puppet can mitigate miscasts somewhat.

I would think that having a level 4 with Death, shadow or Tizz lores with 2-3 level 2s with Death, maybe Fire and Tizz would be pretty mean in raw volume of magic missiles and doomy spells than it can toss. Heavens might even be useful on the Level 4.

What do you guys think? Too much casting in the new random power dice environment?

One lvl4 and two lvl2's is really pushing the boundries of the magic phase and I think taking three lvl2's is goint a bit too far. Points better spent elsewhere.

However, using the Skull is something worth a look regardless. A MoT Sorc Lord would be casting at +6 which could make a difference getting spells off. This is something I think I will experiment with.

I'm thinking a lvl4 sorc, MoT, Disc, Skull, Talisman of Preservation and 3rd Eye. I think that would run around 400pts. A flying sorc with a 3+ armor save (4+ chaos armor +1 for being mounted), 3+ ward, 6+ to cast and knowing all of your enemies spells. Also if you really needed to get something off with the lvl4 or a supporting caster (probably a lvl2) you can fly in range of them so they get the bonus and force out all those DD.

I can't remember, since I really haven't looked at the Skulls entry in a long time, but doesn't it give a +1 to dispel attempts too?

Just casting sadly.
You are probably right that more than 2 level 2s is pushing it points wise.

I was thinking of fielding the sorcs in a small block of say 10 marauders. 50 points of meat shield to provide LOS saves and soak fire.

The third eye is a really good idea too. Being able to cherry pick spells would be really handy.

As a side idea I had, a Tizz sorc makes a really good cruise missile. Put him on a disk with 4+ ward talisman and an enchanted shield/dragon hat, and some manner of killy weapon. 1+/3++ saves, and fairly fighty. Now, take said caster and throw him at the flank of a block, and cast your eyes out. All of Tizz's spells save for flickering fire don't need LoS, so you can rock them all off, and any miscasts can nuke the unit you are in melee with too, and a 3+ ward helps ignore miscasts. Put a level 2 somewhere with an infernal puppet and you can adjust that a bit too. Then in melee enjoy your flank advantage, taking attacks from only 4 models.

10 Marauders might not last a long time if there is a lot of shooting going their way. I'd say 20 Marauders would be the right amount. 10 is a bit too easy to break from magic and shooting. Nevermind that after a turn of magic and shooting they might not be able to rally except on double 1's. Quick and easy points for your opponent.

If you do give that Katam Coven a try, let me know how that goes. It's an interesting idea.

Do you get negatives to Ld checks from shooting casualties? I thought it was just by virtue of losing combat by X. Or do you mean that if they break, they will need snake eyes to rally on account of being <25%?

Either way, having a BSB nearby or giving the Marauders MoS is probably a very smart move, you are right. MoS being so cheap is probably the best bet.

No there aren't negative modifiers to ld from shooting casualties. I mean if they panic from taking 25% casualties from shooting or magic and are less then 25% from their starting number.

I'm pretty sure all units have Will of Chaos and makes this less of an issue. With the sorc in there it'll be a re-rollable test on an 8, so the BSB isn't needed to be near for that. Keep in mind that with a re-roll you are looking at a 1 in 10 chance to fail your panic test. Also, I'm not sure that giving the Marauders MoS would prevent the characters from fleeing if you did fail.

I'm just saying that having a lot of points in a unit that can easily get wiped by shooting and magic isn't a great idea. A single turn could potentially cost you 400+ points with a lvl4 and one or two lvl2's.

MoS makes you immune to Panic, so you don't run from casualties, or other units running/dying around you. Will of Chaos Helps too, you are right.

I think that you are right though, getting a blasted standard or something in there would be a good idea. Some MR could be gotten with the blood god's craziness or something too.

I meant that if you mark the Marauders with MoS and not the sorcs . I'd have to check it out, but the Marauders being immune to panic doesn't necessarily make the sorcs immune to it.

According to the "immune to psychology" USR if the majority of the models in the unit have it, the whole unit benefits.

MoS doesn't grant ItP. It only grants immunity to panic, fear and terror.

Go tzeench.
3 level 1's with flickering fire can do a lot of damage.
Comes in around 365 points total for all 3, not too bad.
It's cheap enough that you can still take some brutal lord options (though daemon prince is the way to go if you want a coven theme).

-Matt

this definitly has some possabilities.


you could take 3 cheap Lvl1 Sorcerors and a Lvl4 deamon prince with MoT. give one sorceror the Skull and another the Infernal puppet, and another a spell familiar.

all the Lvl1s get Flickering Fire, 1 also gets another spell, and the prince gets the other 4.

you can spam flickering fire 3 times and the Prince provides some heavy weight casting with +6 to cast.

Minimum cost is 830 points and is limited to 1850+pt games, but you will dominate the magic phase. and you get to roll 4 dice to channel.

I don't know that the DP is a better choice than a sorc lord in this case (or any case...), as he can't get a LoS roll ever, has no armor, and really isn't using his melee killing ability. I think perhaps just the Lv4 sorc would be a safer choice, and save some points in the process.

As another thought on protecting the little wizards, you don't actually have to put them in the unit of screening marauders, just within 3". You still get a LoS roll, and can actually hide them from certain enemy units by dancing them around the edges and thus out of line of sight. Especially if you are going MoT, as most of the spells in the lore don't require line of sight.