The Wizard Inducement

[Runejack]

I was hoping to hear thoughts for and against taking a wizard in a tournament on a non-stunty team. I'm specifically thinking about it on Dark Elves for an upcoming tourney with the following rules for lists.

1200 point rosters with 6 free starting skills (1 per player max and only standard skills, no doubles or stats.)

A max of 1 star player

A min of 1 fan factor

Half way through the tourney there is a lottery for 2 more skills. If you are in the top ten, you would be lucky to get an "any double roll" skill at best and the second would be on par with thick skull.

The organizers are hoping to get some varied and non-standard lists with this format. I for one love trying to think outside the box, but also am less than fond of stabbing myself in the foot from the start. To me, the 6 free skills adds a lot of flexibility to a Dark Elf list. I then asked myself what tends to be my hardest matchup. For me it's the good cage running games with 2+ guards. What's the best way to deal with this? Hahaha I thought, a Wizard of course! Then I started really thinking about my usual starting lineups in leagues and how good they'd be with an extra 50k, a Wiz, and 6 skills. This seemed quite reasonable, but maybe I'm looking at it wrong and should instead ask what am I giving up for the 150k? An extra runner and a linelf? A witchelf and almost a Reroll?

Anyway, thoughts? Anyone taken a wiz In a tourney before on a non stunty team?

Thanks!

Joel

[Iranian Spy]

I took a wizard once on a Skaven lineup for a 1200 but I think I would've been better off with a Rat Ogre or more fodder. Most opponents play around it and although it does generally help you get more touchdowns, from the Skaven perspective I would prefer a more resilient/reliable method of cage-breaking.

With 6 skills on Delves I guess you could have 6 Blodgers but it might not produce the variety/unusualness you mentioned that you are looking for. Rakarth could be an interesting all rounder but I'm not a fan personally. Slann might get a lot of mileage out of 6 regular skills and a 1200 roster with some added strangeness. Helves also have some interesting star players for roster uniqueness. How about a silly goblin or halfling attrition roster with a bunch of sneaky gits and foul every turn? I dunno, just throwing ideas out there now

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Hubris Rakarth is totally amazing. Tough call between him and wiz tbh 1200 is mega amounts to spend.

[Runejack]

Judging by only one response from someone who's taken a wizard before, I'm guessing most don't consider it.

[Don__Vito]

I've taken one. Wood Elves at 1.2m with skills upfront. Had to take eleven players with 2 rerolls and no apo.

Thought that I would have done far better without the wiz and with an apo and extra reroll at the end of the day.

It was good to stop a TD or force a turnover, but:
- I 1'ed on a lightning bolt 2 of 6 games (Complete waste)
- One fireball hit 1/5 targets and neither I needed to hit. Made the leap half dice strip that turn that the fireball would have avoided the need for. Another complete waste.
- One game it was immense and guaranteed the win. Would I have won anyway? Probably...?
- The other two games I was either men down so couldn't capitalise on a turnover, or the game result was all but decided before I used it due to me being 2 TD's up or my opponent taking my team off the field.

As I said, in summary a complete waste of time and failed experiment. League inducement only for me from now on.

[spubbbba]

Well a standard build for 1050 with 6 normal skills would be
1 Witch (block or wrestle)
4 Blitzers (dodge, maybe tackle or strip ball in there too)
1 Runner (leader)
5 Linemen
2 Re-rolls

You could then add a wizard to that and make it 1200.

I’d rather spend that on upgrading a line elf to a witch and either take another lineman or even add an assassin. You could try to add a normal re-roll in there too.

Wizards are just too unreliable to pass up 150K spent on players or re-rolls. Elves with full positionals, some skills, a sub or 2 and enough re-rolls are very nasty.

[Da_Great_MC]

2x Witch Elf w/ Wrestle
4x Blitzer w/ Dodge
6x Lineman
2x RR
Apothecary
1 Fan

Good luck

[Hitonagashi]

Same tournament as Don_Vito, I took a wizard on Lizardmen.

It was...okay.

I had the first game where I fired it at a 6 man cage with a fireball and got a 100% miss rate, a couple I won without needing it, and one where it sealed a victory I was probably going to have anyway (used it to stun the only guy that could reach my ball carrier for a 1d after stealing the ball).

Also like the Don, I took no reserves in order to use it, (11 men, no reserves, no apo), and I really felt the bite. Against Khemri and Nurgle especially, I ran out of players relatively quickly. I think I'd have been a lot better off with a reserve skink and an apo.

Also notable at that tournament(IronManji), out of the top 4 players, 3 had not taken wizards.

[Elyoukey]

I think the best roster to have the wizard with is pro elves. You have enough cheap players to play with 12 players and the wizard, enough speed and agility to get away with the ball once down.
Basic strategy is to defend first, try not to take to much cas, and throw the fireball to open the cage and blitz the carrier and/or enter your blitzers in it. Once ball is on the ground run away with the MV8 catchers.

on secund half you may just have to keep the score which is easy with the catchers and blodge blitzers.

[Runejack]

Excellent feedback folks! I'm very appreciative of the helpful commentary. It highlights my hesitation to experiment with one on my Dark Elves. I still think I'll be hurting against a strong Dwarf list with 3 guards, 2 Might Blows, and a Blocky Runner / Sure hands Blitzer. That's a tale for a different post though.

Thank you!

Joel