What would the Bretonnian army be without characters?
Awnser: A Lot Of Knights
Characters & Support:
I guess this kind of goes along with what your opponent is playing. Whilest some armies
have few characters, some have an abundance. I try to match (Or exceed if possible) what
you think your opponent is going to spend on characters. Let us be warned, if you rely too
much on characters or do not take any at all, you are missing a vital support factor that
could lead to your defeat. In the earlyer days of warhammer, there was a saying: "A
character is nothing without a unit to back him up." Now, in this day of Magic
Gadgets of death and Magic Spells of Killing Really Good, someone might need to be careful
how they invest in that statement. When I design my army, first I put a hero in every
unit. Even if you cannot afford magic items for them *I usualy give them none anyway)
there is that extra 3 attacks and LD support that will be there when you need it. If for
nothing else than to challenge that Chaos Lord Of Khorne On Emperor Dragon with the Blade
of Leaping Death and the armor of killing everything.
Characters & Virtues:
To not buy a character virtues is to commit sacralige. Not only are you required to buy
one, but for the general, battle standard, and heroes you can have an additional one. I
try to keep my virtues to a minimal amount of variety, unless I have a specific task in
mind where it would require me to do things that I would normaly not do. (Example: The
virtue that makes you immune to magic, the virtue that causes hatred twords troops with
missile weapons, ect.)
I highly reccomend the virtue of purity or the virtue of countercharge for those heroes
who would be in knight units, as this applies to the knights too. I also think the virtue
that adds D6" to your charge is quite good if you need to cover a lot of ground.
(Example: Facing 15 Repeater Bolt Throwers) If you take countercharging, you will always
have your lances at str. 6. Very useful indeed, and against slower races, you might even
get to go first in hand to hand as it is based on Iniative.
Characters By Themselves:
Well, I think the days of lone heroes (other than on monsters) are long gone. But if you
do happen to feild a hero by himself for whatever reason (remember that mages are not
knights and cannot take knightly virtues) there are a few things to put in the back of
your mind. There are several virtues that are extreamly good with lone characters. First,
the virtue of immunity to magic. Very good against those opponents who like to kill your
characters with spells. Second, the virtue of the impetuous knight, which allows you to
gain an extra attack for those that hit the first time. (As my friend Bob Yager pointed
out, very good with the hydra sword.) I also reccomend the Tress of Isolude with the blade
of leaping gold, and the virtue of impetuous knight. For a hero, that gives him 6 attacks
hitting on a 2+, then for every hit he gets he gains another attack, again hitting on
2+.When you have his attacks worked out, (He will have about 9 or 10) he will then roll to
wound his opponent on a 2+ regardless of toughness. The tress offers no armor save and
thus your opponent can only save with wards. Another crowd pleaser.