Anyone tried Doomfire Warlocks?

[chord]

Their doombolt spell looks pretty nasty given the casting value of 5 and an 18" range.

 

[Russellbogentoff]

I used them last weekend for the first time. Worked out really well - as long as I kept the unit up to 10, constantly doing 6 mortal wounds each turn was devastating! Once they got into combat though, they lost models fast! So personally I'd use them, but avoid combat unless you have to!

[chord]

With a 14" move and the spell having 18" range avoiding combat should be fairly easy.  What was your opponents thoughts?

[Russellbogentoff]

1 hour ago, chord said:

With a 14" move and the spell having 18" range avoiding combat should be fairly easy.  What was your opponents thoughts?

The aim of the battleplan was to seize objectives, (I can't remember the name of the scenario off the top of my head). But after 3 turns of having his larger units take significant wounds, he dedicated a couple of fast units to eliminating them, which led to mass casualties but gave me enough time to seize the win through my other units.

Having never used them before, I think he assumed they would just be a nuisance along the same lines as my pistoliers,(until recently I've been playing my freeguild). Next time I doubt I'll have as many turns for them to cause havoc! 

[hellalugosi]

They are a pretty good 200pt threat on the board. with a 14" move they're absolutely brilliant. If you're able to put down a more pressing threat, you can keep them alive long enough to fortify objectives that need bodies, or take out large models, nerfing monsters a good bit. Hilarious when caged by other friendly models. I run these in conjunction with my stormcast, effective when behind retributors.

[AlexHarrison]

200 points for 10?? seem well costed for throwing out 6 mortal wounds a turn.

[hellalugosi]

46 minutes ago, AlexHarrison said:

200 points for 10?? seem well costed for throwing out 6 mortal wounds a turn.

unfortunately, that is not the case. 200 for 5. 400 for 10. I was referring to the minimum size. The point value is probably the toughest pill to swallow when using these guys. I wish they could be taken as a battleline!

[AlexHarrison]

Oh wow!!! In which case, I think they are not really worth it =/ Id much rather take a Celestrial Hurricanum. For 320 points you're gaining a d6 mortal wound spell, a buff to your army and a mortal wounding shooting attack.

 

Doomfires are fast but the range of the spell is short and as you cant move and cast. I'd say for those points they are a sub-par option.

[Bowlzee]

I've played against them several times. I'm not scared of them at all. Take 2 wounds off them and they are next to useless. 

They become a very mobile, very expensive, Mystical Shield for a pure Daughters of Khaine army.

[AAL]

2 hours ago, Bowlzee said:

I've played against them several times. I'm not scared of them at all. Take 2 wounds off them and they are next to useless. 

They become a very mobile, very expensive, Mystical Shield for a pure Daughters of Khaine army.

But do they work well in other Dark Aelf based armies. Maybe with a beefier frontline than daughters of Khaine can provide? Something like corsairs, dread spears, or even black guard though they are a bit expensive

[Sarkazim]

I proxied a unit in my army as a way to test getting Mortal wounds inches army for when I'm not using Matched Play. If you want a unit that moves and shoots then you want Dark Riders.  Warlocks do suffer from having to have a unit within spell range before moving, which isn't a drawback, it just changes the tactic.

They combo'd VERY well with my Dark Riders, but applies to any army really.  I could move the Dark Riders into a shooting position and force my opponent to debate whether the Mortal Wounds were worth the risk of charging the Dark Riders.  If he did, then I could get them to where they would be setup to do the same thing on the next turn.

It became a complete tactical mess for my opponent when choosing to go second after winning the Initiative roll.  If he's not in combat, then he is back to square one and deciding if the 6 Mortal wounds are worth it.  If he's already in combat, he'll have to decide between Retreating or taking the wounds in addition to the Dark Riders.  If he decides to be sneaky an win the roll and force me to go first, the movement of both the Riders and the Warlocks is more than enough to extract myself from the situation as a whole.

They can be a HUGE thorn to your opponent, but more so on the possibility of what they can do, vs what they will actually do.

In Matched Play their biggest drawbacks are their points cost, and the Rule of 1.  I could even justify the cost for 20 of them if they could both cast.  While it's still good to be able to threaten an opponent like above, losing out when my opponent then forces me to pick which one is going to deal the wounds will usually mean I have to trade something.  In either case, have Caster Units isn't a bad thing when you look at how squishy single casters can be, they should still be able to Cast Arcane Bolt and Shield unless I read the rule incorrectly.  So I guess you still have two sources of Mortal Wounds in Matched play.

I might have to think about this...

[chord]

If you put 20 in one unit it would take awhile for your opponent to whittle them down. But yeah , the rule of 1 makes it hard to justify that many points.