8th Ed. Hand of Glory vs Speed of Light

[aidanlynch]

With the new book we now have access to High Magic and the option to take a High Magic Loremaster. A lot of peiple have been talking about how great Hand of Glory is going to be for us.

I cant really decide if this is going to be better than Lore of Light though. WS and I are problems for saurus. Cast speed of light and instant WS10 I10 killing machines. Plus it can be boosted to affect all units within 12". I just don't see how hand of glory can compete with this. Maybe I'm missing some super obvious benefit but that's my opinion. On the other hand we can't take a Light Loremaster anymore so there's no guarantee of having speed of light to cast

So what does the rest of Lustria think? Which is better?

 

[Razzat]

For me the main concern is the Loremaster issue. With high magic you are guaranteed to get Hand of Glory if youre Loremaster (which IMO is the only way to go). If go with light you can only roll for your spells and you may not get Speed of light. Speed or light is the better spell buts its no guarantee. Thats my concern. Also, light on the whole has 2/3 good spells for LM, the rest are only ok. You could end up getting utter crap for your 4 spells. In high magic I think every spell is great for LM.

Thats my 2 cents worth anyways.

SO to answer your question, hand of glory is the way to go as its guaranteed (as much as it can be with the fickle winds of magic).

 

[Lizardmatt]

I really like the 5+ to cast of the hand of glory.
Boosting WS and Init is a big deal. WS6 Init 4 temple guard are awesome.
Boosting BS with razordons is huge.
Always having the spell and not rolling for it takes the risk away.

 

[Tecuani]

As an easy to cast, cheap spell, it might be useful as part of a combination in a lore which also had more powerful augments, but as the *only single augment* in the entire high magic lore, it's simply weak. No hexes in the lore either, so you can't support your units like that. It's even very short ranged, at only 18". From the lore of light alone, speed of light and birona's timewarp both have it hopelessly outclassed, and it's a very bad roll which won't have at least one of them. Similarly, Life and shadow both have *multiple* hexes or augments, which will provide much stronger combat support than the single mediocre augment represented by hand of glory. Beasts or heavens have a decent variety as well, and even metal has enchanted blades of Amn which is the equal of hand of glory. Also, the loremaster doesn't come free-it's significantly more points on a character that's already excessively expensive.

 

[Spiney Norman]

Firstly HoG is NOT the only buff in high magic, if you don't regard walk between worlds as one of the most powerful buffs in the game you're not reading it right, it is massive!

Hand of glory is huge for us, much more useful than it is for elves that typically have high WS/BS/Int already, if you didn't know we are universally lousy at ALL of those stats. Are telling me you wouldn't go for a BS6 great bow or a unit of WS7, I5 unit of temple guard?

I think the point about the loremaster (high) discipline is that you're not bound by the spells in that lore, its very easy to cast a couple of spells that aren't going to help you so much (like soul quench and tempest) and swap them out for Wyssans wildform and miasma if you feel the need for some more buffs and hexes.

The thing that I love about the lore of high magic is that ALL the spells are actually useful, there are no duds at all, (which is something you cannot say for any of the battle magic lores) and at least three of them are must-stop for your opponent (arcane unforging, Walk between worlds, and the mass damage spell - can't recall the name)

 

[Pofadder]

Fiery convocation...

Agreed with Spiney and remember the movement boost too of HoG... But yes swap out for other spells with attribute, I am not gonna hate on Slann or HM lore till my army book finally arrives and I can play a couple of games.

Really peeved with hobby shops that place orders a week late

 

[Mr Phat]

Firstly HoG is NOT the only buff in high magic, if you don't regard walk between worlds as one of the most powerful buffs in the game you're not reading it right, it is massive!

Just to be sure I dont miss any use of one of my new favorite spells:
It basicly says
1. "Set up a charge from whereever in 10 or 20 inches"
2. "Save a unit from a bad position"
...what else could it do?..pretty sure you cant "walk" a unit out of combat?

 

[themek0n]

thats interesting its an augment so you can cast it into combat, cant remember its duration but it might mean at least that units cant be hit in the combat phase

 

[themek0n]

scratch that 'targets a single unengaged unit.....gains ethereal until the end of the phase', bugger.

 

[The Hunted]

Also, my favorite part of Hand of Glory is that it's so simple.

Cast on 5+, means 1 dice it. +D3 to WS has a great effect on our saurus warriors.
There are loads of WS4 troops out there, who hit us on 3's. With HoG, we are guaranteed that we get WS4 too, maybe even WS5 so we hit thém on a 3+.
Increasing ballistic skill on your skinks/Stegadon for a single die is solid, your skinks suddenly hit a lot more!

Increasing movement a tad is also good, but harder to set up properly.
And initiative...I personally don't see this as huge. But still, it's very solid. Even if it was only to protect ourselves from Initiative-tests from big enemy spells.

The most important thing: 1-die casting. I love that!

With a beast-priest in support, you can have 2 awesome buffs on your unit. IIRC the slann can swap spells with friendly wizards. So you can also 1-dice Wyssans wildform. Not bad. Not bad at all.
For a sexy combo: up the BS of your javelin-throwing skinks, then up their Strenght with Wyssans wildform. Sweet.

And yes, ofcourse speed of light is better. But since we can't be guaranteed to have it...
Light also has some blasting spells, which high magic also has (soul quench, fiery convocation, tempest)
Light has the movement spell Birona's timewarp, High magic has walk between worlds.

Pha's protection and Net of amyntok are spells that we will miss. But we get arcane unforging, apotheosis and drain magic in return.
Which is a fair deal, I think.
Healing up stegadons/cowboy scar-vets is awesome. Destroying scary banners or weapons and dealing a free wound is solid. And free your unit of all the enemies hexes (all the multiple ones from shadow!) or debuff the enemies flesh to stone..I like it!

The Hunted

 

[datalink7]

You have to be careful with the 1 dice casting though, as a 1 or 2 is auto failure and then you can't cast the rest of the phase. Tetto'Eko can help with rerolling 1's, but I'd probably save a 1 dice cast until the end of the phase just in case.

 

[The Hunted]

You have to be careful with the 1 dice casting though, as a 1 or 2 is auto failure and then you can't cast the rest of the phase. Tetto'Eko can help with rerolling 1's, but I'd probably save a 1 dice cast until the end of the phase just in case.

Forgot about that for a moment. But still, if you're left with 1 PD left..no risk at all.

Doesn't really change my love for Hand of Glory. The 'guaranteed' boost to WS4 is amazing.

The Hunted

 

[Mr Phat]

With a beast-priest in support, you can have 2 awesome buffs on your unit. IIRC the slann can swap spells with friendly wizards. So you can also 1-dice Wyssans wildform. Not bad. Not bad at all.
For a sexy combo: up the BS of your javelin-throwing skinks, then up their Strenght with Wyssans wildform. Sweet.

Hate to bust your bubble further mate -.- you cant swap spells with Skink Priests..the two wizards have to have "this special rule" which is Telepathic ConFABulation ...skinks dont have that...only Slanns do.

 

[n810]

Curious:

Do any of our special characters get Telepathic ConFABulation ???

 

[Mr Phat]

Do any of our special characters get Telepathic ConFABulation ???

Mazdamundi.......................................................................................