8th Ed. What are your favourite "Main Rulebook" Magic Items?

I typically only take a small handful of the Magic Items allotted in the Main Rulebook, unless I'm playing with Orcs & Goblins and have a dozen characters with which to give the random odd item. But I'm wondering if I'm missing out big-time on some great stuff.

Typically, my favourites include:
Weapons:
Strength & Attack-enhancing Blades- Extra attacks for Elves & Undead (easier to kill Bunker troops than Vampires...), more Strength for Knights & stuff.
Obsidian Blade- taking out armour saves can be great against the high-defense armies (suck it, Dwarfs!).
Sword of Striking- Having played low W.S. armies for years, I LOVE the idea of hitting on a 3+.
Sword of Anti-Heroes- My local "meta" includes few Deathstars for this, but includes one Dwarf player who this works very well on .

Armour:
HA/Ward Save Armours- classic stuff to make you harder to kill. One of the best ways to boost your lower Armour Saves.
Enchanted Shield- SO CHEAP, and very useful boost.

Talismans:
The Ward Save Talismans- similarly, the best way to stay alive.

Standards:
War Banner- Easy way to help out. Also the easiest magic item in the world to forget you have and add to your CR .

Arcane Items:
Dispel Scroll- Is there any player who doesn't take one?
Channelling Staff- SO CHEAP, and nearly always nets you an extra dice once or twice a game.

I like some of the "nasty trick" ones, but the cheapie Weapons (Tormentor & Warrior Bane) are worse because they usually won't go on your elites (who need to do more damage), and the lesser Heroes are less likely to do a wound to the characters where this matters. The Magic Resistance & Wards against Flaming seem okay, but very army-specific, and my games are usually 3,000-4,000, so individual Magic Phases mean a whole lot less.

On closer inspection, I CAN'T BELIEVE I always skipped over the Trickster's Helm, which seems great, and the Dawnstone- I think I skipped them because they looked too esoteric or something, but they appear to be cool weapons. The Crown of Command, too- it's basically one of the best rules in the game to be Stubborn, and it can be REALLY nasty on a solo Flier or small unit.

Similarly, I like the Banner of Switftness, since I REALLY notice the difference even M5 makes. Might be nasty for slower guys, or even to boost our Cavalry. Unfortunately, there's always a meaner, nastier Banner out there for combat purposes. Does anyone use the more-expensive ones like the Rampager's (I tend not to miss charges because I end up closer- is this at all common for others?) or Wailing Standard- Terror is nasty as all get-out at times, but 50 points is a lot. Flaming Attacks seems to be a default on every forum I've gone to- is it that necessary?

Has anyone ever used one of those 50-point Hex Scrolls, or even the Forbidden Rod? I failed to turn a guy into a Toad once, but the rest are uncharted territory for me. Or the Wizard Hat or Carpet or anything like that? Those seem like ludicrously-expensive, dangerous choices compared to just... buying a Wizard or Flying Mount. I guess armies with limited access to magic (Orcs) could use them.

The Forbidden Rod is a great item to turn a terrible magic phase into a dominant one. Use it when you roll pooly for the winds of magic - you'll suddenly have an abundance of power dice and your opponent will be stuck with only a few dispel dice. A life Slann can recover the wounds in the same phase, but it can also be worth it on a sacrificial skink if your Slann has an different lore.

I like the Fencer's Blades because Saurus are lacking in WS relative to other races.

I like all the magic heavy armors because LM don't have access to non-magical heavy armor

I tend to include the Forbidden Rod as insurance against poor Winds of Magic rolls

I try to get an Ironcurse Icon on whatever my most expensive unit is each battle.

Standard of Discipline is great for our BSB generals. War Banners are cheaper for us so I like to squeeze those in frequently. I usually give my Temple Guard the Banner of Eternal Flame because it's cheap.

Armor of Destiny and dawnstone are totally for the win. The potion of foolhardiness can get our old blood up to I7 for a turn and potentially ace out another hero. not a bad buy for 5 points if you can't think of anything.

I honestly never take enough time to sit down and write my lists and include BRB items.

What I DO do is make up some "character sheets" using various magical items to make a character out of an Oldblood/Scarvet/Chief, then just consult that for "preset" tooled up heroes.

The Other Trickster's Shard - I can't think of any other items that help our characters actually cut through ward saves. For only 15 points, it can be combined with other items (like sword of anti-heroes) to make a great character killer.

MI_Tiger said:

The Forbidden Rod is a great item to turn a terrible magic phase into a dominant one. Use it when you roll pooly for the winds of magic - you'll suddenly have an abundance of power dice and your opponent will be stuck with only a few dispel dice. A life Slann can recover the wounds in the same phase, but it can also be worth it on a sacrificial skink if your Slann has an different lore.

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I second this. Also from what i understand the Slann still gets his ward save vs any damage it causes.

It is an insane item on a life slann with rumination. At the last tournament I was at I rolled a 3 on winds of magic and then popped the rod for an additional 5 dice. This gave me 8 dice + rumination vs my opponents 2 dispel dice. I got almost every spell i wanted off that turn including a dwellers on an 80 man unit.