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Just a general question. The more I play, the more pointless it seems to even try to get parry when I could just have an extra attack. I can honestly say that I have never once had it do much of anything useful, and that's with goblin blocks to boot. Anyone ever had outstanding results? When was the last time it seemed worthwhile to you, Dakka?

I suppose it depends on wether or not the unit in question is trying to be an anvil or a hammer.

A shield offers a +6 Ward save basically which for a unit trying to slow things down so you can get into flanking angle is huge. That could be the difference in getting it or not.

It's also +1 armor. An extra attack only works in the very front rank in B2B contact for the most part.

It can be occasionally useful. Still wish that it followed 7th ed rules.

with my tzeentch marauders who had GW and LA they had a 6+ ward save for being tzeentch. in a game it stopped a cannonball on the first rank twice. with a parry save its better then nothing.

I managed to roll a surprising number of them when using a friends Chaos Warriors army the other day. That one little extra chance to bring down the enemies combat resolution can make all the difference. Not something to rely on though.

On infantry its surprisingly effective, especially when combined with an armor save.

Tzeentch sword n board warriors are very durable against both ranged and melee attacks.


Against melee attacks that negate 1 point of armor their save is just the same as if they had a flat 3+. Against shooting its less but stil formidible.

A gambler's armor terradon chief blocked a cannonball for me thus probably saving my engine of the gods.

Allowed my Ogre horde to destroy an Ushabti horde with very few casualties due to some insanely lucky rolling. (old Ushabti not weaksauce new ones)

When you have 80 skeletons, everything counts in large amounts.

12 dark elf Xbows vs. 20 saurus; Xbows managed to pass a ridiculous number of parry saves over the course of the fight and went on to route the saurus.

only ever happened the one time, but it was enough to convince me to always take shields on the xbows.

My terrorghiest made 3 6+ regens against incoming cannon balls.


Also 3000th post!

Thanks for the stories folks. So, stopping the rare cannonball completely and a few inappropriate combats. When you think of it as on a 6+ denying a point of combat resolution, it seems more shiny to me. I'll give it another shot or two one of the gobbo blocks before i give up on it.

Note that I'm not looking for "these guys are good" kind of comments in the OP, as I've heard all that garbage before. I want ACTUAL experiences to back that up!

As for stopping cannonballs, that's what my fanatics are for. I've had multiple cannons with nothing better to shoot at try and target a nearby fanatic and explode I'm getting a bit of a napolean complex about it when running my gobbos, really.

If you're expecting miracles from a 0-1 point upgrade you might want to look elsewhere.

It beats 5 extra WS2 S3 I2 attacks though.

Meh, it's saved 3-4 guys who should have been dead in the dirt.

I too wish it was the way it was during 7th, but this is alright too, to a degree.

I've found the 6+ save works roughly one time in six.

Which means when my two wound characters suffer a pair of wounding hits, they will make at least one save 11 times out of 36, or 31% of the time. This isn't great, but keeping a character like a Warrior Priest alive for another turn can be all the difference, so that isn't bad for a cheap bit of equipment.

And it means the enemy has to deliver 20% more wounding hits on my troops than he would otherwise have had to do. Which frequently means my anvil units remain steadfast for a turn longer than they would have, giving me time to bring other units into the fight.

I have an all Tzeentch WoC so I have 6+ wards nearly across the board, and I love them. Its not something you rely on 100% but its amazing when they pull through, especially on expensive models like Chaos knights. I tend to be pretty crazy rolling 6+ wards, and it enrages my opponents

I play Bretonnians, and I cannot say enough how much I love 6+ ward saves. It has saved so many of my KOTR and Grail Knights

It works 1/6th of the time :p Really depends on how much the model is worth vs the cost of shields

If the model is worth less than 6 times the cost of the shield upgrade then its generally not worth it (Such as skaven slaves!)

Beer_&_Bolters wrote:12 dark elf Xbows vs. 20 saurus; Xbows managed to pass a ridiculous number of parry saves over the course of the fight and went on to route the saurus.

only ever happened the one time, but it was enough to convince me to always take shields on the xbows.

Parry saves only work in close combat though, not against crossbows?

Vermillion wrote:Parry saves only work in close combat though, not against crossbows?

In Beer & Bolters story it was his Dark Elf Crossbowmen that were passing their parry saves a lot, as they were armed with hand weapon and shield in close combat.

Ah misread it then

For my Saurus, yes, it is completely worth it. An additional save chance is ALWAYS worth it for them.

And since I don't really have other options, I'll take that parry save every time.

Just this week it came in useful both for me and for my opponent. I had charged a unit of High Elf Spearmen, then flubbed the netting die with a 1 (along with my Charmed Shield die in the challenge). Spearmen rolled out seven hits, start my HW&S save... get three armor saves, roll four more dice, get three Parry saves. Single wound of seven with 6/6's.

Another game, was playing another HElf player. Their Dragon Princes took four wounds from Fanatics, after regular saves. They were about to remove them until they remembered a Grail Shrine (6+ Regen for Forces of Order) was within 6". Pick up the die, roll... three sixes and a two.

It doesn't happen often, but when the dice gods look out for you that 6++ can be all the difference. It bought me another round with the Spearmen the first game, and saved him the majority of his Dragon Princes in the second.

Sorry if this seems foolish, but I only have 3-4 fantasy games under my belt at this moment. But if you can get a 6+ ward save with a shield, what is the point of praying to the lady of the lake with bretonnians other than a 5+ against S5?

dajobe wrote:Sorry if this seems foolish, but I only have 3-4 fantasy games under my belt at this moment. But if you can get a 6+ ward save with a shield, what is the point of praying to the lady of the lake with bretonnians other than a 5+ against S5?

Only models on foot (and Mournfang Cavalry) can use the HW/S parry save.

oh good, that makes me feel better about it then, i was afraid i was praying to the lady for almost nothing. thx

Other than the fact 5+ is far better than 6+

dajobe wrote:oh good, that makes me feel better about it then, i was afraid i was praying to the lady for almost nothing. thx

true, but only against S5, but there is alot of that out there, i still would have been sad though

m00ndragon wrote: with my tzeentch marauders who had GW and LA they had a 6+ ward save for being tzeentch. in a game it stopped a cannonball on the first rank twice. with a parry save its better then nothing.

Single wound models dont stop cannonballs...