So I’m playing a map campaign. My army is set, my opponent’s army is set but my Slann’s lore can be selected before the battle. The odds are quite good that the enemies I face will be lots of zombies backed by Necromancers with Blood Knights providing the main muscle. I’m thinking of trying Metal to fry the Blood Knights, but I want to make sure Metal will help versus zombies. I have never used Metal before and it appeals to me for novelty as well. Transmuation of Lead says the target suffers a -1 penalty to WS, BS, and armor saves until the start of the caster’s next magic phase. Iceshard Blizzard and Pha’s Protection says -1 to Hit, Transmutation of Lead says WS. I’m pretty sure that it penalizes the trait and not the rolls. Since zombies are normally WS 1, the spell and the spell does not specify “minimum 1” like Melkoth’s Miasma does then the zombies will be reduced to WS 0, and thus be struck automatically and unable to fight back at all versus my Sauri and Skinks. Am I correct in this assessment? Final Transmutation afflicts the target and nearby targets with Stupidity. Undead are immune to Psychology but if I understand Immune to Psychology right, this does not mean immune to Stupidity (otherwise Stupidity wouldn’t come with Immune to Psychology right?). Am I correct in my assessment? If I’m right, this ought to go pretty smoothly. If I’m wrong, I probably better switch lores.
I'm not sure [WS0] means auto hits, since a roll of a [1] is allways a miss. Check the rules for failing a fear test in combat, I believe it makes a unit [WS0] It should be similar to that.
Page 4 BRB covers WS 0. Fear reduces WS to one (page 69). I better check the FAQ though I hadn't thought of that.
I can see your point since page 4 says they cannot defend themselves and states that they have no skill in that area, but I would argue that the Zombies still have an attack on their profile and therefore should still be able to hit on a 6 per the wording of page 50. That would be my argument if someone did that to me anyhow. Still pretty good odds for your Skinks to hit them and survive their assault. As for Immune to Psych, I'm pretty sure the book clarifies that it only applies to Fear, Terror, and Panic. So yes, you can make them stupid.
Immune to Psych also means they cannot choose Flee as a charge reaction. I would think Life would be a good play against the zombies for dwellers and shield of thorns. should deplete chaff like it wasn't there and at a rate faster than he can regrow it.
There was no question about them being able to flee. I won't question that Life is better at killing zombies. The thing is I mostly want to kill his blood knights, and the Black Coach, zombies are a secondary concern. Killing zombies with magic makes winning easier for me. Killing the tougher targets makes winning possible for me since I've basically proven that Blood Knights walk all over my Sauri without magic. Also Metal provides magical attacks which helps me take care of ethereals embedded in infantry blocks (a favored tactic of this vampire player). Basically zombies are the afterthought.
Just read their stats and ouch, blood knights are ridiculous. I think Metal against zombies could work. Final Trans would be a waste on a smaller contingent, but on something crazy like a 50+ horde or something, it'd be good. Assuming there aren't any higher priority targets for the spell. Blades of Aiban and Glittering Robe would help keep a skrox unit from taking wounds if they got into combat with zombies. 4+ armor save skinks is attractive.