Cursed blades of delirium or Litericus Bubonicus

[Plaugelord]

for a plauge priest which would be better the cursed blades of delirium or litericus bubonicus against mainly Dwarfs/Wood Elves ? if its helpful hes also my general

[LordChilipepa]

The Blade is not a good magic item, full stop. At WS5, the Plague Priest hits most troops on 3s; the only situation where he could reliably use WS10 is against enemy characters, in which case his taking the blade has limited his attacks to S4, unlikely to damage enemy characters with any respectable degree of defence.

However, with 7th Ed, the Liber Bubonicus loses much of its charm as well: while Pestilent Breath can be a great spell, the Plague Priest's Frenzy severely limits his ability to deploy it to good effect. Making him a Level 1 Wizard no longer lets him 'charge up' other wizards with his power dice, either, so for 40pts it's got very limited uses.

Myself? Against Wood Elves, my choice would simply be the Sword of Might and the Warpstone Amulet. 45pt combo, gives him S5 (so he'll wound all elves on 2s and cut through what pathetic armour they have), and a 4+ ward save, so he can weather a little arrow fire/counter-attacking from Dryads in the like if they use his Frenzy to draw him into a dangerous situation.

Against Dwarfs, there is only one weapon to take. It is called the Dwarf-Slayer. It is called this for a reason. And it is nastily cheap.

[Limekiller]

Heck, don't even bother with a magic weapon, give him a Plague Censer. Only a 1/12 chance of wounding himself, given the warpstone amulet, it always works, ignores armor saves, etc.


That even leaves a 25pt item slot open, where you could give him, say, Bands of Power. It's 1 more thing the opponent has to dispel, and if not, you'll be at S10 the first round of combat. Stick him in a unit of Plague Monks with the Banner of Burning Hatred, and he will absolutely destroy just about anything he comes into contact with, even much more expensive characters.

[LordChilipepa]

Yeah, but, giving him a plague censer effectively means he can't join a ranked unit. If he does, then when he gets into combat, not only will he have to test for it himself, but every model in base-to-base with him will as well: that's going to be five Skaven and three enemies if you're lucky, five Skaven and two enemies if they have big bases. Even with the Pestilens 'only wounded on a 6' ability, that still works out as a net gain for your opponent.

As for the Bands of Power... I assume from the fact that he's a general that he's in an army smaller than 2000pts, and that he doesn't have a truckload of Warlocks. If so, considering he plays against dwarfs, the chances of it actually being cast are close to zero. In an army where the enemy's dispel power is going to be taken up elsewhere (i.e. with 3 Warlocks or a Grey Seer somewhere in the list), they're worthwhile, but not otherwise.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

How about a Desolate Blade? The +2 strength means that he'll be wounding both stunties and those annoying Dryads on a 2+, and of the two, only the Dwarfs will even be getting a save (6+ for their basic warriors, if they're using shields).

[Swordsalot]

I think the censer looks pretty good. Sure, there's a chance that it'll kill up to 5 allies and three enemies, but clanrats / plague monks are so much cheaper than dwarfs and elves. Half the wardancers in contact will die to the censer (on average), whereas only 1 skaven will succumb. I think that's a pretty even trade, especially as each wardancer has a pretty good chance of hacking a clanrat up anyway. The same odds are there for all wood elves: wild riders, eternal guard, heroes etc.

Dwarves are slightly more resilient, but it is still a pretty good trade. I'd give him the censer, bands of power, warpstone amulet. Even if the bands of power don't go off much, the times it does work will be pretty exciting

[LordChilipepa]

Aye, but Plague Monks aren't so cheap as all that, and the last thing you want as a vital combat commences is for, say, one Plague Monk to drop dead from the Censer and knock off your rank bonus (censers are worked out prior to combats). Rank bonus is vital for Skaven, and in small games you can't afford the hugest units to give you a safety zone, so it's best not to take a weapon that could end up damaging your biggest advantage.

If you want a cheap option, take a flail. You save something like 12 points, and all you lose is the opportunity to kill one of your own blokes in return for one of the enemy (on average).