One of the armies which I have collected for about 10 years is The Empire. Ever since the seventh edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, I had been using the Arch-Lector as the leader of my men. Here's an article of why the arch-lector has been the number one choice as the overall general of my army.
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| Arch-Lector |
The army general would always be the arch-lector. The arch-lector provides a solid leadership to the units nearby, magic defense, support abilities and potential character killer. Here is a clearer explanation of what I've just said:
- Leadership - I usually would field him in the center among all the other units. This would enable him to provide his leadership of nine to all the troops nearby and the range is improved if he's mounted on the war-altar.
- Magic defense - When is dispel dice ever enough? The more dispel dice you can get, the better it is. The arch-lector provides two dispel dice on top of the dispel pool that you receive. He's not a wizard that provide any wizard level for dispelling but that's a job for Battle Wizards to handle. He did his part by just providing the two dice.
- Support abilities - Join the arch-lector into a unit and he'll cause the unit to have Hatred to all enemies. Empire troops don't have very good combat abilities. With Hatred rule, re-rolls are a big big help. The arch-lector could also "pray" during the magic phase which could buff the abilities of characters, make the unit that he joins unbreakable, heal or does direct damage to units in base contact. He could also pray for himself to have a 4+ ward!
- Character killer - Some inexperienced players might laugh when I say this but the Empire have one of the finest magic items available for their characters. Equip him with Van Horstman's Speculum(VHS) and your opponent's fighty character would avoid him. Ever heard of the cannon ball on a stick? That's one of the most scariest magic item the Empire could bring. The arch-lector relies on magic items to put him on par with other combat characters. I'll explain later on what sort of gear that I usually equip him with. He have only two attacks, average strength and toughness and pretty low weapon skill for a lord class character. So he have to choose his opponents wisely or he won't be able to be the character killer that he should be.
Sounds like he's an invincible character which wipes out all opponents in his path! Well, I wish that were true but almost every character have their weaknesses. The arch-lector have a few thorns at his sides which will be described as:
- Challenge Only- The arch-lector could only perform well when he's facing a one-on-one duel. If you get into a challenge, you would have a better chance (if you're equipped for it) but if the opponent could decline your challenge and still hit you well with their unit, the arch-lector would face a difficult time.
- Shooting Magnet - Your opponent may know that your arch-lector have only a toughness of four and would probably launch all manners of shooting at him. Of course you would have "look out sir!" protection from the unit you join him with but what if you field him on a war-altar? The 4+ ward save is nice but it's only fifty percent chance of saving your character.
- Power of Four - Sounds like something interesting right? Well, it's not. Though the prayers of Sigmar are easily cast, at four plus, is also easily dispelled. The remains in play prayers can be easily dispelled during your opponents phase. This means that the prayers won't last long unless your opponent or yourself have forgotten about it!
Okay, now that I've explained his benefits and weaknesses, you're now going to field him with your army but wait! What do we equip him? I would normally equip him based on the role which I would want him to do. If he was suppose to be the leader which won't require him to excel at close combat, I wouldn't need to spend so many points into his equipment. Sometimes just a great weapon and heavy armour would be enough. But but but... he's the general! You might say. I would reply that he's a cheap general that only need his leadership of nine. Okay, so if you want more protection for him, Armour of Meteoric Iron would be the best choice. So how would I equip him?
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| Arch-lector Mounts |
- Mounted on barded warhorse. Dawn armour. VHS. Sword of Might. Shield. This setup is used when I field him in a unit of knights (inner circle or vanilla). Charge your opponent and issue challenge. The Dawn armor is to give you much needed reroll on armor saves (1+ in this setup). Sword of Might is just to give additional strength (moar is always bettar!) and VHS speaks for itself.
- Mounted on war-altar. Armour of Meteoric Iron. VHS. Sword of Sigismund. This is the most common setup which I field. I like having my general on the war-altar which is considered a large target and extends his leadership bubble to eighteen inches. Sword of Sigismund is to make sure he hits first and hopefully take out the opponent in the first round of combat. His task is to provide leadership in the early turns and then go character hunting. Greater Daemon's would hate to face him.
- Mounted on war-altar. Dawn Armour. Mace of Maelstrum. Shield. Cannonball on a stick. This is more of a risky setup but fun when you opponent knows that you deal a strength 10 D6 wound weapon. The Dawn Armour is there to help you survive longer although only with 2+ armour saves with this setup.
- Mounted on war-alter. VHS. Shield of the Gorgon. You exchange the number of attacks and reduce the number of attacks by 1. Imagine swapping your Arch-lector attacks with a Chaos Exalted Hero. Reduce further by 1 attack. See your opponent's face. Smile. You still have 45 points for choosing the right magic weapon in this setup.
- On foot. Armour of Meteoric Iron. Great Weapon. Simple setup. He's there to provide leadership and Hatred to the infantry that he joins and not to kill your opponent's general or character. Notice how cheap this general is.
So there you have it. A general worth fielding and depending on the army size, probably enables you to probably field another lord class character. The arch-lector is not the super killing machine (go Chaos if you want that) but like a mortal man, he's dependable and could give the support that the entire army needs.
