Here goes, my pick and analysis.
Army: Chaos Dwarfs
Lore: Lore of Life
I've always considered the Chaos Dwarfs to be somewhere in the vicinity of a
middle tier army. That said, I believe that if they had access to the lore of life, they could easily be considered an upper tier army. While making no sense from a fluff perspective, tactically the Lore of Life does such an amazing amount of work for the Chaos Dwarfs. On its own, the Lore of Life is already one of the best lores in the game, but for the Chaos Dwarfs, I feel it would be an absolute game changer.
The lore of Life (specifically 5 of the 7 spells and the lore attribute) simply offers the Chaos Dwarfs more than it does for any army that actually has access to it. Specifically:
- mitigates some of their weaknesses more than it does for other armies
- it offers the CD synergistic combinations that are not available to other armies (if not kind, then definitely in magnitude)
Taken together, my central premise is simply that while the Lore of Life can obviously benefit any army, it offers the Chaos Dwarfs
more than it offers any other army. With that in mind, here we go...
Lifebloom (Lore Attribute) - every time a spell is cast you can heal a wound on a model within 12". Who doesn't want to heal there models? However, it is one thing to heal a Treeman or a Stegadon, but an entirely different matter to heal something like a K'daai Destroyer. The Chaos Dwarfs have a couple of units that are both extremely expensive points-wise per wound and very difficult to wound in the first place. That means that each wound healed is "worth" more and its restoration is more crippling to the opposition.
Earth Blood (signature spell) - augment cast on the wizard and his unit, provides a 5+ regeneration save (4+ if boosted by Throne of Vines). A regeneration spell is always handy to have, but even more so in many of the Chaos Dwarf units. Regeneration is countered by flaming attacks, but Chaos Dwarfs have built in protection against such attacks. Take a unit like the Infernal Guard for instance, cast the spell and give them a 5+ regeneration, if the opposing army hits them with flaming attacks it activates their 5+ ward. This effect is even more exaggerated if cast on the Bale/Great Taurus who has a 2+ ward save against flaming attacks. Earth Blood is a great way to protect the Bale Taurus, who normally doesn't have a save to begin with and has to solely rely on its re-rolling of successful wounds mechanic to protect it. Earth Blood turns the Bale Taurus into a mini K'daai Destroyer that flies.
Awakening of the Wood - direct damage spell with a range of 18", D6 S4 hits (or 2D6 if target is in a forest). Boosted to S6 by Throne of Vines. This helps the Chaos Dwarfs mitigate one of their weaknesses, namely, the chaff game. Unlike most armies, the CD have no access to fast moving chaff units from their core selections. They have to either use hero points or rare points. Awakening of the Wood helps the CD remove enemy chaff. As such, this spell is more useful to them than for most other armies.
Flesh to Stone - augment, 24" range, +2 toughness (boosted to +4 toughness by Throne of Vines). This is a big one. Sure you can easily boost a Bull Centaur's toughness to 7 even without Throne of Vines, but where this really comes into play is with the three units/models with the Blazing Body special rule, namely the Bale/Great Taurus, K'daai Fireborn and K'daai Destroyer (non-magical wounds inflicted on these units must be re-rolled). As such, the extra toughness is compounded by their ability to force enemies to re-roll successful wounds.
Consider:
View attachment 99822
The key is to look at the
ratio between the "chance of wounding" (which applies to most units in the game) and the "chance of wounding when re-rolling successful wounds" (which applies to the Taurus and K'daai).
When wounding on 2's, the K'daai/Taurus are 1.2 times less likely to be wounded. A small, but nice bonus. However, the key is that as the roll needed to wound gets higher, this ratio increases. With 3's needed to wound, the K'daai/Taurus are 1.5 times less likely to be wounded. On 4's they are 2 times less likely to be wounded. On 5's they are 3 times less likely to be wounded. And finally on 6's they are
6 times less likely to be wounded, which is an astronomical difference.
This is the reason why in our close combat tournament, the K'daai Destroyer (toughness 6) was so much more resilient defensively than the K'daai Fireborn (toughness 4).
Flesh to Stone, even unboosted, turns Fireborn into a Destroyer in terms of defense. As for the Destroyer, it would shrug off just about everything. Imagine it facing Executioners (S6), normally they are wounding the Destroyer with 25% of their successful hits, cast the unboosted version of Flesh to Stone and that number falls to 3%. Essentially this makes the Destroyer immune to nearly every unit in the game (barring poison attacks and such). Additionally, Flesh to Stone protects the Iron Daemon from cannon fire and the boosted version protects the Destroyer from those very same cannons.
This spell is borderline broken for any Chaos Dwarf army focusing on K'daai units. Shifting the toughness on these units has a much larger effect on them than it does for other normal units in the game.
Throne of Vines - On a 2+ a miscast is ignored, and the spell boosts the effects of the other spells in the lore. Every wizard hates a miscast, but Chaos Dwarf sorcerers also suffer from a special rule called "
Sorcerer's Curse". When they miscast, not only do they have to roll on the miscast table as normal, but they also must pass a toughness test or suffer a wound with no saves of any kind allowed. Therefore, the ability to avoid a miscast is more important for a Chaos Dwarf army than it is for another army. The spell protects against an inherent vulnerability in the army. Additionally, the boosted effects of the spells are also more important because they only further increase the extra help they provide the CD (as detailed in the breakdown for the other spells).
Shield of Thorns - RIP spell, augment, range 24". Enemy units in base contact with the the target take 2D6 S3 hits (S4 with Throne of Vines). No additional benefit to the Chaos Dwarfs (as compared to the other armies) but this is the spell you trade away for the Signature spell anyways.
Regrowth - augment, range 24", heal D3+1 wounds (D6+1 if boosted by Throne of Vines). This follows the same principle as I outlined in the Lore Attribute. Imagine having a K'daai Destroyer healed by 2, 3, 4 or even 5 wounds. It's already a huge task to remove it from the field, Regrowth would make it nearly impossible. Picture healing a T8, 3+ armour save, unbreakable Iron Daemon! The Chaos Dwarfs are an elite expensive force, anything that heals them provides them with more value than it would for a less elite force. For instance, each wound of a Destroyer costs 54.2 points, regrowth heals a minimum of 2 wounds!
The Dwellers Below - direct damage, 12"/24" range. Each model in the target unit must pass a strength test or be slain with no saves allowed. No additional benefit to the Chaos Dwarfs (as compared to other armies), but this is an absolutely top tier spell. Decimates units (especially Elves!) and assassinates characters. There isn't an army in the game that wouldn't like to have this spell at their disposal.
And there you have it! That's why I believe that the Chaos Dwarfs would so massively benefit from access to the lore of Life. Tactically, I would never play any of the other lores if I could instead field the Lore of Life. The Chaos Dwarfs would be downright scary with such a lore. It protects the army's inherent weaknesses and synergies with their strengths in a way that would give them a borderline unfair advantage. I have rarely seen a magic lore work so well for an army.
I’d love to hear Killer Angels words of wisdom as an experienced general.
Enchanted Blades of Aiban, although not aiding in TK shooting, is still an awesome spell for its +1 to hit in close combat. And of course, Final Transmutation is just a great spell to have in your back pocket if you are facing any death stars or other large dangerous units. Transmutation of Lead is the spell you trade for Searing Doom.
