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Having got over some of my disgust for WoC, I've found quite a bit of energy to reinvest into getting my Tizz boys back on their feet (read: finally painted). As such I'd really like to run my "lord on demonic mount" model, and since running him as a lord is out (DP has absorbed all his points ) I'm looking for a solid exalted build, but having problems balancing survivability with smashy-ness ... He must have MoT and a demonic mount, which leaves 55 points free for gear. He also must have a shield of some kind, and will have access to a unit with ironcurse in it to shelter in from enemy artillery if he must. The other restriction is that talisman of endurance is already on the BSB.

Here are my two totally opposite builds:

1) Exalted - MoT, sword of swift slaying, charmed shield, potion of strength, demonic mount = 220
Rerolls make me happy, and S5 across the model is fine for killing T3 infantry. C. shield is there to lend a hand against a cannon or catapult early in the game (before the DP eats them or the exalted makes combat), and the potion of strength is for blitzing out big things or pounding enemy characters into atoms. Even if one shot items rub me the wrong way sometimes, I dig the potential. The downside is that with just a 2/6+ save he's actually pretty poorly armored, for a model that I do want to be able to solo with some security.

Steam of corruption in place of the potion is a clear alternative, and adds a totally different boost to the dude: potion = 1 dead big / armored thing; stream = several dead small things. And both are one shot.

2) Exalted - MoT, biting blade, talisman of preservation, shield, demonic mount = 225
Honestly this build is most attractive if the exalted is my general, instead of the cannon-bait prince. The combat output is not so different from #1, but lack of rerolls is sad and no PoS means his threat potential is a low, if steady, handful of S5. The 2/3+ save is totally ace though, and against low CR units he's still quite nasty even with just that AP blade.

Thoughts on other nifty builds? Something middle of the road occurred to me - ASF sword + c.shield + talisman of protection, or ASF sword + collar + shield, or ASF sword + dawnstone + shield (taking a page from jugger riders, who do it better) - and I wonder at other weapons I'm missing by locking in on the rerolled S5. Time was I'd take sword of might whenever I could, and indeed my skaven warlord with ogre blade does pretty ok with his 4 S6 attaks. I could finagle the talisman o' endurance off of the BSB to give the mounted exalted his 2/4+ ... but SoM is rather meh, and I've quite a bit of S6 in the rest of the army. Also, if it matters I'm running tizz magic (or whatever my DP can third eye), so there's no buff / hex that I'll reliably have.

EDIT

Really liking the sword of swift slaying + dawnstone + shield set up, will pencil that into the list barring shenanigans from you lot

- Salvage

The FLGS campaign started at 1000 points, and for a cheap general I used an Exalted on mount, with Sword of Striking, Charmed shield, and Potion of strength. Cheap as chips and can pop the potion when he needs the extra hitting power. Hitting almost everything on 2s with the sword caught the rest of the guys completely by surprise and actually made him a good fighter considering his statline. As long as you have something else to take on the enemy superstars, he can do a fair bit of damage.

Your option 2 is illegal by 5 points :(

What about this:

Flail, Blasphemous Amulet, shield, dragonhelm. 214 points
With MOT and mount you are looking at 2+/6+ (demon mounts are not barded, right?) anything in base with you (4 25mm bases) takes a T test at the beginning of every friendly magic phase (so after you charge, then skip a round of CC, then next round, etc.) or takes a Wound with no AS, Str 7 in the first round of melee. You have points to add a potion of Str if you want. Now, you don't get rerolls, but you do get auto hit toughness checks which is nice.

Alternate:

Halberd, Collar of K,other tricksters, Stream. 229 pts.
Str 6, 3+/5+ saves, makes enemies reroll ward. A little more character killy, with -3 on AS, and reroll wards. So long as he doesn't fluff completely (ahem) he should be able to splatter characters. You also can do lots of hits on little guys with stream. If you have points you can add the Charmed shield, or pull the collar and put on ToEndurance or Brass Armor. If you add the Charmed Shield you might as well swap the Halberd for the Flail for 7Str first round of combat and 2+ AS.

Wehrkind wrote:Your option 2 is illegal by 5 points :(

That's a shield shield, not a charmed shield.

On the builds, I should have said I want to avoid two-handed weapons, as the model has a hammer and I also would like the armor save from the shield if possible. Also, the army has 0 magic weapons besides this dude, and I think it's still important to have at least one around. The trickster's shard is a thought, though a bit sad when I decide to keep him in a unit of tizz warriors. (Also, TOTS is a fairly complex rules problem to get into, though I think my ultra-conservative approach to it wouldn't bug anybody.)

But as to survivability, you think he's cool with just high armor or a 5+ (MR2) ward? I like the collar myself, particularly since he can join a unit and jack up their anti-magic wards, but I wonder if it compares with the dawnstone for staying alive.

Part of this comes down to what I want the dude to do. Assassinating the hell out of enemy characters (read: wizards) comes to mind, but with the auto-challenge rule it'll only work in turn 2 (so a shaky break test later) after the champ is toast (and if the wizard accepts ), or against opponents who have foolishly not taken champions to save points. Note: I love manipulating the auto-challenge rule whenever I fight against WoC The vision at the moment is to either solo and hold up enemy light- or med-units by bashing their brains in and taking no wounds (for X turns, until support arrives), solo and take down monsters or light CR units (1-2 turns until they die, barring T6 or high armor/regen), solo and go for war machines (i.e. cauldron, anvil) or hang in a warrior unit to provide a load of pain in combat.

- Salvage

The blade is 10 points, the T of Preservation is 45. You can only have 50 points of magic kit on Exalteds :(

Good call on the magic weapon business; I hadn't considered that everyone else was rocking basic iron. If it makes you feel any better about the hammer vs 2hw, most GW weapons are so slowed big that you would need 2 hands anyway

What about Flail & shield, Crown of command (stubborn) and Talisman of Protection for 2+/5+ and stubborn? Still pretty cheap, but avoids those scary Break tests by rolling on base Ld, can boost units who might have to take such tests, and mashes face on the first round of combat if you do catch baddies.

Dude, warrior rending blades are 5 points. And to Dogstar, warrior swords of striking are 30 points IIRC, not whatever the BRB says they are, so no charmed shield for your man. Also, are you remembering that flails are two-handed, Wehr? I know in 7th flails on mounted exalteds were the sex (because you could splatter all strikers back), but I see them less now. Probably more to do with the changes to LOS! for mounted guys in infantry units.

I like the crown of stubborn and back when 8th began I wanted to do a 3+ ward lord with it, to hold up units indefinitely. The urge died down when my plastic prince was born

- Salvage

Touche (at -1 armor, no less )

Oh hell, I didn't remember they were 2 handed. Drat. On a jugger it is worth while then, but not really a pony :( Unless you get a dragon hat.

I don't have my books near me at the moment so I am going to wing it.

exalted - MoT, demon pony, shield, hammer of submission (whip of subversion?), talisman of protection, and the death charm thing (necro something )

He seems like he could be fun and decent in potential damage and defense.

or

exalted - MoT, demon pony, shield, biting blade, talisman of protection, stream, and favor.

He probably has a little more stability. Either way, they are just some thoughts.