Raze and Ruin - Comp Preview Part 6

I'm back!

I had a great time on holiday, but all the time I was receiving feedback to the comp I had presented in the previous posts. Lots of people got in touch, and I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone who did. It's a real help to be able to hear from people who play these armies on the comp I'd written. In particular, I'd like to thank Jake Corteen, Terry Pike, Shahrul Azmi, Graeme Nicholls and everyone on the TWF thread for their input!

Going over this, I've made a few changes to what was presented in those earlier posts. The plan here is to go through them to explain why they were added/removed/changed, and to give everyone a little more time to test them for me! The final pack will be released next Friday, and I'll put the final version of the comp on here so it is available for all who have been following this to see.

Generic Comp

The changes here were to streamline some things that appeared in multiple armies. A lot of the time it seemed like Death and Life were being hit, and also in two cases Light spam was targeted for comp. As these spells are universal, it made more sense to put them in the generic comp rather than waste lines repeating myself. So, the following two lines were added:

-1 per character who knows 3 or more spells from the Lore of Death or the Lore of Life.  Special Characters are exempt from this.

-1 per spellcaster who knows spells from the Lore of Light after the second.

I also made a change to the race-specific magic item line. The bit about Runic Weapons in the clarifications got me wondering about the Dwarven Heirlooms, as I thought they should count for this. When I looked at them though, there was only the Standard that was over 75 points. I then started looking in other books, and a lot of the more expensive items wouldn't count for this bonus. I was going to bring it down to any item over 50 points, but then I saw that the Book of Hoeth would get a bonus at that level. I have compromised though, and the line now reads:

+2 if your army includes a race-specific magic item that costs 60 points or more (note that Exalted Gifts from the Daemons of Chaos army book and Runic Items from the Dwarfs army book do not count, though Dwarf Ancestral Heirlooms do count)

That's it for the Generic Comp changes, now onto the Army Specific changes. I'm going to just do a list of these for each race under the following headings - Added, Removed, Changed. Then I may add some commentary for some, but may not for others. Here we go!

Beastmen

Added: +1 per unit of 8+ Razorgor

Bretonnia

Changed: +2 per Grail Reliquae

Chaos Dwarfs

No change

Daemons of Chaos

Added: +1 per Keeper of Secrets

Removed: -1 per Level 3 or 4 Wizard

Changed: +3 if your army consists solely of units/characters of 1 Chaos God (note that this means you may not have any unmarked units)

Dark Elves

Added: +1 per Manticore

Removed: -1 per Supreme Sorceress on Death

-1 per character mounted on a Dark Steed after the 1st

Changed: -1 per character mounted on a Cold One, Dark Steed or Pegasus after the 2nd (includes Morathi)

-1 per unit of 9+ Cold One Knights

Dwarfs

No change

The Empire

Added: +1 per unit of Outriders

+1 per Hellstorm Rocket Battery

Removed: -1 per Wizard/Wizard Lord with Lore of Light after the 2nd

Changed: +2 per Wizard Lord on a Griffin
+2 per Wizard Lord on a Luminark of Hysh
+2 per Wizard Lord on a Celestial Hurricanum 

High Elves

Added: -1 for each character mounted on an Elven Steed after the 2nd

-1 if you have no Core Infantry in your army

-1 for each 9+ Dragon Prince unit

-1 for each Ellyrian Reaver unit after the 3rd

Changed: -1 for the first Frostheart Phoenix, -2 for each additional Frostheart Phoenix

-1 for Book of Hoeth

Lizardmen

Added: -1 per unit of Chameleon Skinks after the 1st

+1 per unit of 4+ Jungle Swarms

Removed: -1 per Slann on Lore of Death or Life

Changed: +1 per 9 Cold One Rider unit

+1 per Slann with Lore of Fire, Lore of Beasts or Lore of High Magic (including Focus of Mystery)

Ogre Kingdoms

Changed: -1 per Ironblaster, -4 if you have 2 Ironblasters

Orcs & Goblins

Added: +1 per unit of 20+ Black Orcs

Skaven

Added: -1 per 30+ Skaven Slaves unit after the first

-1 per Warlock Engineer after the 3rd

Removed: -1 if the number of Slave units in your army is higher than the total number of Clanrat, Stormvermin or Plague Monk units in your army. (For example, an army containing 2 Slave units, 1 Clanrat unit, 1 Stormvermin unit and 1 Plague Monk unit would not incur a penalty)

Changed: -1 per unit of Giant Rats with less than 10 models after the first
-1 per unit of Rat Swarms with less than 3 swarms after the first

-1 per unit of Gutter Runners after the first

-1 for 1 Warp Lightning Cannon, -4 for 2 Warp Lightning Cannons
-1 for 1 Hell Pit Abomination, -4 for 2 Hell Pit Abominations

Tomb Kings

Added: +1 for a character mounted on a War Sphynx
Removed: -1 per Liche High Priest/Priest with Lore of Light after the first

Vampire Counts

Added: -1 per Ethereal character
Removed: -1 per Banshee Character
-1 Ogre Blade
Changed: +2 per Abyssal Terror
+2 per Coven Throne

Warriors of Chaos

 Added: -1 per Disc of Tzeentch in the army
-1 per Hellcannon

Changed: -1 per unit with the Mark of Nurgle, excluding Marauders
+1 if your entire army consists of units/characters with the same Mark (not including Undivided)
Note that anything that does not have a Mark of Chaos, or an option for one, can all be included in such an army without costing it this bonus.

Wood Elves

 Added: -1 Spellweaver on the Lore of Shadow
-1 for each Glade Rider unit after the 3rd

+1 per Unicorn

+1 per Great Stag

Removed: -1 Spellweaver on the Lore of Death

-1 Acorn of the Ages

Changed: -1 for each character mounted on an Elven Steed after the 2nd
-1 for more than 40 models with an arrow from the following list:
      Trueflight arrows, Hagbane tips
This is increased to -2 for more than 60 models, -3 for more than 80 models, -4 for more than 100 models etc...

-1 for each unit of 9+ Sisters of the Thorn

+1 per Branchwraith (up to +2)

OK, hopefully that all made sense! :-)

In general it was the Elf armies that had the most changes made to them. A few people that got in touch suggested that the High and Dark varieties were undercomped, and that the Wood ones were overcomped. I sort of expected the second, as I've not played against them yet and was hoping to hear feedback on this before setting it in stone. I also looked at the three Elven armies together, and tried to put them on as even a footing as I could. Hence they are all hit for their Fast Cav, they are all hit for their Cavalry used to form a bus and they are all hit for excessive numbers of mounted characters. I know that they all play differently, but there are so many similarities between the Elf armies that it made a kind of sense to keep the comp similar too.

For the others, it was mostly adding more positives and tweaking the odd bit of language to comp what i wanted to hit rather than something else. There were some negatives added to some armies, Skaven particularly, and I think this is a case of me trying to do too much in too short a space of time as there were some obvious things that had been missed off before.

I'll leave this by reitterating that the comp will not be finalized before the pack is released next week, so if you feel that anything here is wrong, or that I've missed something out of this second draft, please let me know. My contact details are all in the previous post.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Raze and Ruin - Comp Preview Part 5

Here we are then, the last part of this saga. Delayed slightly by packing for holiday (and a trip to watch Guardians of the Galaxy - time well spent I feel!) but I'm finally ready for the Undead, Monsters and Pansies of the Warhammer World...


Tomb Kings

As with Beastmen at the beginning of this trek, Tomb Kings are considered really terrible for a tournament army. Which is sad, as they are very characterful and have some great figures. So, in order to make them slightly appealing they have the same option to start with either more points or a positive score. The only thing that really needs a hit that hasn't already got one is another of the Special Characters. Looking at this comp, I see no reason not to take Arkhan the Black. He is a fantastic caster, combines a Lvl5 of Death with being the General and Heirophant and having a higher Leadership than a regular High Priest to boot. No brainer choices deserve a negative in my opinion! Some of the other Special Characters though deserve bonuses, as do some of the other rarely seen choices. I'm not sure why the Heirotitan and not the catapult are hit with comp, as the latter are seen a lot more than the former. That may well be changed. The Light spam comp that has appeared here and in the Empire section is something I'm thinking about moving to the Generic Comp, as i don't see why only they are punished for it when High Elves (for example) can also do it and are not. But that's for the next draft...

-2 High Queen Khalida
-1 Arkhan the Black
-1 per Liche High Priest/Priest with Lore of Light after the first
-1 per unit of Necropolis Knights of 5 or more models
-1 per Casket of Souls
-1 for the 2nd Screaming Skull Catapult

+2 for a character mounted on a Chariot
+1 for a Tomb Herald Battle Standard Bearer
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Skeleton Warriors (not Archers)
+1 for the first unit of Skeleton Horsemen (not Archers)
+1 per unit of Tomb Swarms
+1 per unit of Ushabti
+1 per unit of Sepulchral Stalkers
+1 per Necrolith Colossus
+1 per unit of 20+ Tomb Guard
+1 Prince Apophas
+1 The Herald Nekaph


Vampire Counts

More undead! These ones though are pretty good. People say that this is one of the most balanced books GW has released this edition, and I tend to agree. There are a lot of decent options, and none that stand out as obviously overpowered. The main thing to comp is some of the character combinations. Whilst Vampire Lords should be good, having them be this good without some comp would be a bad idea! The only things I can think to add to the comp are the Blood Knights and some of the Special Characters. To be fair to the Tomb Kings (who got their SC Death Mage comped) I'm going to lump a negative onto Count Mannfred. Loremaster Death and Vampires is a bit too good to escape notice completely, even without a Ward save. The others though are going in the bonus section though, as long as you are being characterful!

-1 per Red Fury
-1 per Quickblood
-1 Ogre Blade
-1 per Banshee character
-1 per unit of Dire Wolves after the first 3 units
-1 per unit of Crypt Horrors
-1 per unit of 9+ Black Knights
-1 per unit of Hexwraiths
-1 per unit of 1 Spirit Host
-1 per Terrorgheist
-1 Count Mannfred

+2 per Zombie Dragon
+1 per Abyssal Terror
+1 per Coven Throne
+1 per Bat Swarm
+1 per Corpse Cart
+1 per unit of 15+ Grave Guard
+1 per Varghulf
+1 per Black Coach
+1 per unit of Blood Knights
+1 for Vlad and Isabella Von Carstein in the same army
+1 for Heinrich Kemmler and Krell in the same army


Warriors of Chaos

Monsters of Chaos next (seriously, when was the last time anyone saw any actual Warriors in a Warriors army?). The powerful things in this book are smash you over the head obvious, which is just what they want to do to you. The biggest hole here is Throgg. He's a pretty good choice anyway, and being able to take him with no penalty as well as a unit of Core Trolls for no penalty either is too much. That's going to change. The rest is tough, as Warriors are good almost no matter what you take. I'm going to leave the rest pretty much alone, with the exception of Special Characters as before. I'm half tempted though to make an exception to the "No Core Duplicates" rule for Chaos Warriors themselves - they're an iconic unit in Warhammer and if someone wants to bring lots of them then we should let them! I'll see how it goes for now allowing it, and if it proves comp breaking then I'll change it for the final release.

-1 per character with a 3+ ward save, with an additional -1 should that character have 3rd Eye of
Tzeentch or a 1+ armour save
-1 per Daemonic Mount in the army
-1 per Gorebeast/Chaos Chariot after the first 3
-1 per unit with the Mark of Nurgle
-1 per Chimera with Regeneration special rule
-1 per unit of Skullcrushers of Khorne
-1 Throgg the Troll King
-1 per unit of Chaos Trolls taken as a Core choice
-1 per Daemon Prince, with additional penalties for the following options taken;
     -1 for Level 3 or Level 4 magic user
     -1 for Daemonic Flight
     -1 for a 2+ Armour Save or better

+1 for the first unit of 20+ Marauders
+1 per unit of 15+ Chaos Warriors
+1 per unit of Dragon Ogres
+1 per unit of 6+ Chaos Ogres
+1 per Manticore
+1 per Giant
+1 per Shaggoth
+2 per Slaughterbrute
+2 per Mutalith Vortex Beast
+1 Archaon
+1 Kholek Suneater
+1 Sigvald the Magnificent
+1 Valkia the Bloody
+1 if your entire army consists of units/characters with the same Mark (not including Undivided)
Note that the following can all be included in such an army without costing it this bonus;
Dragon Ogres                      Shaggoths
Wulfrik the Wanderer           Warhounds
Slaughterbrutes                    Mutalith Vortex Beasts


Wood Elves

Copout. :P
On a serious note, that was exactly the right thing for Rollcall to do. The book was release a week before the deadline for lists, so there wasn't time for an informed decision to be reached. Now however, the obvious filth has emerged, so there will be comp!
With that in mind, this is the first set I'm effectively writing rather than modifying, so I will explain my thoughts a little more than before. As with the other Elves, a Lvl3 or 4 on Death is going to be hit, but for the Wood Elves they have the extra tricksiness of the Moonstone and Acorn of the Ages to comp too. The real strength in the Wood Elf book is it's ability to shoot and avoid combat - this does not make for a fun game. Despite the many arguments, I am of the opinion that the special arrows can be duplicated amongst units, but lots of the same type can be over the top so comp will be applied to the most likely offenders here. Waywatchers and Waystalkers also will feel the comp stick. The final thing to comp is the Wood Elf equivalent of Warlocks. Not because they are broken, but because the can make a very effective character-protection avoidance bus. This is tough to get points from, and therefore should cost you TPs if you choose it.
As far as bonus units go, I think that all the Forest Spirits need some help. They used to be such a characterful part of the army but are just not seen anymore. Any unit of Elves that doesn't have a bow is also a pretty good option for a bonus! Add in some of the Special Characters, and I think we have a first draft for them.

-1 Spellweaver on the Lore of Death
-1 Moonstone of the Hidden Ways
-1 Acorn of the Ages
-1 for each mounted character after the 2nd
-1 for more than 20 models with an arrow from the following list:
      Trueflight arrows, Hagbane tips, Arcane Bodkins
This is increased to -2 for more than 30 models, -3 for more than 40 models, -4 for more than 50 models etc...
-1 for more than 15 Waywatcher models, increased to -3 for more than 25 Waywatcher models
-1 for each Waystalker after the 2nd
-1 for each unit of 7+ Sisters of the Thorn

+1 for the first unit of 20+ Eternal Guard
+1 for the first unit of Dryads
+1 per unit of 15+ Wildwood Rangers
+1 per unit of 10+ Wardancers
+1 per unit of 6+ Treekin
+1 for each Treeman (including Durthu and Treeman Ancients) after the first
+1 per Branchwraith (up to +3)
+1 Orion
+1 Araloth
+1 Drycha



And that's it! If you feel I've been overly harsh, please let me know. I don't have time to play a lot of games with this comp to test it, I'm relying on you lot to do that for me. I'd be happy to hear the results of any games you played and any suggestions you have for improving this pack. I've already had some great feedback so far, and once I'm back from my holiday I'll collate it all together on here and we can see where we are.

You can reach me on Twitter (@sandals_ajw - DM is best if I follow you, if not just ask and I will!), through the comments section here or via my email address - mrajwilson @ gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

Raze and Ruin - Comp Preview Part 4

Right, a little later than I was hoping, but here is today's set of four armies.

Lizardmen

One of the armies with the most holes in the comp I think. They are obviously good, they came 1st and 3rd at Rollcall! From what I can see, there are a few things that need to be modified from this list. Life is a very powerful Lore with Lizards - buffing the Temple Guard to scary levels and getting massive range for Dwellers due to the Vassal rule, so this gets added to the negative list along with Death. This is something that I am considering for all armies, so this may get extended to all later on. There are some things on the bonus list that are no where near as bad as the other things that are getting bonuses, so they will be removed. These include Wandering Deliberations, what some people think is the most powerful options for a Slann, so there is no way it needs a bonus too. The Carnosaur line can also go, as it is included in the generic comp now. I also think that the Saurus character comp can be simplified - there's not much difference between a Scar-Vet and an Oldblood in the roles they are used in when mounted. I don't want to completely rule out the Cav bus that is a real alternative to the standard Skink swarm or Temple Guard lists though, so trying to fit this  in at a reasonable comp level is difficult. I also think that the Lizards deserve some sort of bonus troop in Core, and whilst Skink Cohorts on their own are one of the best units in the game, once you add a Kroxigor in there they are seen a lot less often. I'm not at a point yet where I feel a bonus for Saurus is needed though! More than any other race, this is definitely a WIP list, so it may change as a result of feedback. If you think it's too harsh or too lenient, please let me know. Let's see where this gets us:

-1 per Slann with both Harmonic Convergence and the Channelling Staff
-1 per Slann on Lore of Death or Life
-1 per Saurus character on Cold One up to the 2nd
-2 per Saurus character on Cold One over the 2nd
-1 per unit of Skink Skirmishers after the 3rd
-1 per unit of Skink Cohorts costing under 100 points, after the 2nd
-1 Tetto'Eko

+2 per Troglodon
+1 for the first Skink Cohort containing at least 1 Kroxigor
+1 per unit of Ripperdactyl Riders
+1 per Bastilodon with Ark of Sotek
+1 per 6+ Kroxigor unit
+1 per 8+ Cold One Rider unit
+1 per 2+ Razordon unit
+1 per Slann with Lore of Fire, Lore of Beasts or Focus of Mystery
+1 for a Saurus Scar-Veteran upgrade to a Battle Standard Bearer
+1 Chakax
+1 Gor'rok
+1 Tiktaq'To
+1 Oxyotl
+2 Tehenhauin. If Tehenhauin is your General and your army does not include any Saurus
characters, the penalties for Skink units do not apply.
(This line was in the Rollcall comp too, I just missed it off the picture!)

Ogre Kingdoms

My old flame. I wanted to run Ogres at Rollcall myself, but I couldn't make a list I liked the look of. The main problem I had was that there is a significant hole in the comp for units of 3 Mournfang. You can have 3 units of 3 for no negative choices at all. That and two Ironblasters is the start of a very powerful list for only a -3. I don't think all Mournfang need to be penalised, they are not as good as they used to be due to the change in the meta. But I can't in good faith allow that list to slip through. The other major pain was the line about characters. Speaking to the Rollcall TO, this was supposed to be a dis-incentive to Deathstaring, but I think it is much more complicated than it needs to be. I aim to simplify it. Aside from that, there are very few things that need to be done to this set - the change in the general comp from 400 to 450 point units helps them a lot.

-1 should both the Standard of Discipline and Crown of Command be present in the army (additional
penalty on top of the Generic Magic Items -1)
-1 for the Hellheart
-1 for the Runemaw if you only have a single unit of Monstrous Infantry of 8+ models
-0.5 for every Ogre character (except Hunters) you have if you only have a single unit of Monstrous Infantry of 8+ models
-1 per unit of 1 Sabretusk
-1 per unit of Mournfang with 3 or more models
-1 if you have 1 Ironblaster, -3 if you have 2 Ironblasters

+1 per Hunter
+1 for the first unit of 25+ Gnoblars
+1 per unit of 5+ Sabretusks
+1 per unit of Yhetees
+1 per Scraplauncher
+1 per Slave Giant
+1 per Thundertusk
+1 if your army does not include any Ironblasters
+1 Skrag the Slaughterer
+2 Bragg the Gutsman
+2 Greasus Goldtooth


Orcs and Goblins

Ah, the Green Dwarfs. What should be one of the most fun and random combat forces out there have been turned into one of the more effective gunlines out there. The negatives hit most of the problems in this sort of gunline, but once you remove them what is left? The bonuses should be able to compensate, even a little, for this reduced effectiveness. The bonuses at the end of the list promote very characterful armies, but there should also be some sort of bonus for not running the standard gunline, beyond just not taking the negatives. There are some packs that reward players for not taking any war machines at all, and I'm tempted to add that in to the pack here too. Aside from that, the main problem with Orc armies at Rollcall was the sheer number of bonus units they could get for very few points. The new generic limits should stop that, but the odd other change to bonus units should help to compensate for that. As ever, if I've got this wrong please let me know!

-1 for every Black Orc character you have more of than units of Black Orcs
-1 if you have more than 6 Fanatics
-1 per unit of Savage Orc Big’Uns of 30+ models. This is increased to -2 if the Lucky Shrunken Head
is also present in the army
-1 per Doom Diver Catapult
-1 for 2 Rock Lobbers (no penalty for 1 Rock Lobber)
-1 per Mangler Squig

+1 for the first unit of Orc Arrer Boyz
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Orc Boyz
+1 for the first unit of Forest Goblin Spider Riders
+1 if you have 1 or more Nasty Skulkers
+1 per unit of Snotlings
+1 per unit of Orc Boar Boyz
+1 per unit of Savage Orc Boar Boyz
+1 per Arachnarok, +2 per Arachnarok with Catchweb Shrine
+1 per Giant
+1 per unit of Squig Hoppers
+1 if your army contains 1 or more characters on Giant Cave Squigs
+1 per unit of 6+ River Trolls or Stone Trolls
+1 Azhag the Slaughterer
+1 Wurrzag
+1 Grom the Paunch
+1 Skarsnik
+1 Gitilla Da Hunter
+1 Snagla Gronspit
+2 if your army contains no war machines
+3 if your army contains only Goblins*
+5 if your army contains only Orcs*
*Mangler Squigs, Trolls and Giants count as both Orcs and Goblins. War machines without Orc Bullies count as Goblins. War machines with Orc Bullies count as Orcs. Arachnarok Spiders, Squig Herds and Squig Hoppers count as Goblins.


Skaven

Like Orcs and Goblins, Skaven suffer from being a rather random army. They have lots of toys that if they work provide very little in the way of fun for their opponent, but if you take all those toys away they will fall over in a soft breeze. The main issue is with the Skavenslaves, as they can continue blasting you whilst you're stuck in combat with these endless blocks of cheap, Steadfast troops that can easily be Ld10 with a re-roll. The comp above tries to limit that, as well as limiting their abusively cheap chaff units. This seems fair, but again I think that a few more positive choices wouldn't hurt!

-1 if you take 3 of the following items, -2 if you take 4 of the following items, -3 if you take all 5:
   • Brass Orb
   • Power Scroll,
   • Banner of Discipline (additional penalty)
   • Storm Banner
   • Doom Rocket
-1 per Screaming Bell
-1 per Assassin with Weeping Blades
-1 per unit of Giant Rats with less than 10 models
-1 per unit of Rat Swarms with less than 3 swarms
-1 if the number of Slave units in your army is higher than the total number of Clanrat, Stormvermin
or Plague Monk units in your army. (For example, an army containing 2 Slave units, 1 Clanrat unit, 1
Stormvermin unit and 1 Plague Monk unit would not incur a penalty)
-1 per unit of Gutter Runners
-1 per Doomwheel
-2 per Warp Lightning Cannon
-2 per Hell Pit Abomination

+1 for the first unit of Night Runners
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Giant Rats
+1 per Warp Grinder
+1 per Doom Flayer
+1 per unit of Rat Ogres
+1 per unit of Plague Censer Bearers
+1 per unit of Poison Wind Globadiers
+2 for the Vermin Lord
+1 Thanquol
+1 Ikit Claw
+1 Throt the Unclean
+1 Tretch Craventail
+1 Skweel Gnawtooth


That's these four done, I'm still hoping to get the last four armies done before I leave for my holiday. As I've been saying throughout, I would love to hear some feedback on these changes, and also if you have any suggestions for ways to improve the comp overall. I've had a few things sent to me, and I'll perhaps do a blog post when I get back compiling everything I have been sent and whether the ideas will be incorporated or not.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!

Raze and Ruin - Comp Preview Part 3

Well, it's time to carry on with the look at each army for Raze and Ruin. The first 4 were done yesterday, today it's the turn of the Dark Elves, Dwarfs, Empire and High Elves to get a preview of their comp. As I have said in previous posts, I would love to hear any feedback about these changes to the comp pack. Is there anything blatantly obvious that I've missed? Or is there something that I've put in that is too harsh? In either case, please let me know.

Dark Elves

One of the strongest armies out there at the moment, Dark Elves are another one that are difficult to comp correctly. There is some obvious stuff in the book that needs to be hit (Warlocks being a prime example) but even the rest of it is still pretty good. You can never write off troops with high stats, ASF and access to Mindrazor. From what I saw, the comp on them was actually pretty good. I think that they could do with a few more positives though, as there are a few things that I still doubt we will see without a bonus. I'm not sure that there is anything else that needs a negative though - the only thing I'm tempted to add in is the Cloak of Twilight. It's a very powerful item, certainly on par with some of the other things that have been hit, and it seems to crop up in the vast majority of lists. I'm going to put it in for the trial, and if it is too harsh then let me know.

-1 per Supreme Sorceress on Death
-1 for Morathi
-1 per character mounted on a Dark Steed after the 1st
-1 per character mounted on a Pegasus after the 2nd (includes Morathi)
-1 Cloak of Twilight
-1 per Repeater Bolt Thrower after the 2nd
-1 per Shade Unit after the 1st
-1 per unit of 25+ Witch Elves
-1 per unit of 25+ Executioners
-1 per unit of Warlocks. If there is no Supreme Sorceress included in your army, this becomes -1 per
unit of Warlocks after the 1st
-1 if your army includes more than 10 Warlocks (additional to above penalty)
-1 per Dark Rider unit after the 3rd
-1 per unit of 10+ Cold One Knights

+1 per High Beastmaster
+1 per Fleetmaster
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Dreadspears
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Bleakswords
+1 per Hydra
+1 per Kharibdyss
+1 per Chariot (Scourgerunner or Cold One)
+1 per Bloodwrack Medusa
+1 per Bloodwrack Shrine
+1 Lokhir Fellheart
+1 Kouran Darkhand
+1 Tullaris Dreadbringer


Dwarfs

There isn't a lot needed for Dwarfs. The problem with them is that the best build is the gunline, so that needs comping. However, once you hit that you are left with a lot of very slow infantry. This is fundamentally a weak build. From talking to a couple of Dwarf players though, they think that the comp 'as is' is pretty good. There are a couple of things that need to be changed from the bonus list though, as there is the potential to spam the cheap Slayer heroes for extra points.

 - Dwarf players start at a +3 comp score.
*This has been considered when evaluating other comp scores for Dwarfs, and the relative difficulty
of obtaining a positive score. 

-1 per Cannon, Grudge Thrower, Organ Gun and/or Flame Cannon. Every choice from this list after
the 4th incurs -2
-1 for every second item that automatically dispels a spell. 1 item incurs no penalty. 2 to 3 items
incur a -1 penalty, 4 to 5 items incur a -2 penalty and so on

+1 per unit of Slayers over 100 points. This bonus does not apply if there is more than 1 Giant Slayer
per 5 Slayers
+1 per unit of Miners
+1 per unit of Ironbreakers
+1 per Runelord (includes with Anvil of Doom)
+1 per Daemon Slayer (Max +3)
+1 per Dragon Slayer (Max +3)
+1 Thorgrim Grudgebearer
+1 Ungrim Ironfist
+1 Belegar Ironhammer
+3 if the army includes no war machines


The Empire

There are many complaints on the Interwebs that Empire are consistently undercomped. I think in a lot of cases that is true, as they can get away with some really horrible builds. However, as with Dwarfs, trying to comp them is a tricky proposition. If you take away all of their war machines as well as their cavalry, they are left with State Troops. In this case, I think the negatives are just about right (with a couple of tweaks) and as with other armies I'm going to add some more positives. I'm also going to reduce the number of State Troops needed to qualify for the bonus as they will each be limited to a single point.

-1 Crown of Command (additional penalty on top of the Generic penalty)
-1 per Wizard/Wizard Lord with Lore of Light after the 2nd
-1 per Master Engineer after the 1st
-1 if you have no other Core than Knightly Orders
-1 per Great Cannon
-1 per unit of Demigryph Knights
-1 per Helblaster Volley Gun
-2 per Steam Tank
-1 per war machine after the 4th (note that the Steam Tank counts for this, and it is on top of the
individual scores per war machine)

+1 per Wizard Lord on a Griffin
+1 per Wizard Lord on a Luminark of Hysh
+1 per Wizard Lord on a Celestial Hurricanum
+1 Markus Wulfhart
+1 Marius Leitdorf
+1 per Mechanical Steed
+1 per Witch Hunter after the first
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Swordsmen (not detachments)
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Free Company (not detachments)
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Spearmen (not detachments)
+1 per unit of Flagellants
+1 per Mortar


High Elves

So, the last one for today is one of the more popular armies out there on the tournament scene. High Elves have some really good stuff in their book - most notable THAT Banner and their icy birds. The Banner is the toughest one. I feel it deserves the -3 (the biggest penalty in the pack at the moment I think!), but I'm not sure if reducing it by one if it is on the BSB is enough of an incentive not to take it on a unit. As for the rest, they are very tricky to get right. I'm erring on the side of caution, and leaving most of the other parts of the comp alone - aside from adding in some of the Special Characters as I have been doing with the other armies. After that, it will just be the same alterations for the Core ruling I've been making before. If any High Elf players want to make a case for other units to be given bonuses (or think they should have penalties!) then please get in touch below.

-1 per Frostheart Phoenix
-3 for Banner of the World Dragon, reduced to -1 if the banner is taken by a Battle Standard Bearer
-1 for Book of Hoeth if taken by an Archmage
-1 for each Repeater Bolt Thrower after the second
-1 Teclis
-2 Alarielle

+1 per Flamespyre Phoenix
+1 per Skycutter Chariot
+1 per Archmage on Dragon
+1 per Dragonmage
+1 per Lion Chariot
+1 per unit of 2+ Tiranoc Chariots
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Lothern Sea Guard
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Spearmen


That puts us half way through the 16 armies for Raze and Ruin. Tomorrow will see the next 4 done, and hopefully the last 4 will be done on Monday. As I have been saying, please get in touch if you have any opinion on what I have written at all. I look forward to receiving some feedback!