Rune Maw Standard

What are peoples thoughts on this item. After coming back from a tourney coming third and not 1st due to one big spell constantly cast on the unit with irresistable force, i kind of wish id had it with me then.

Ive put it in my list and it seems to fit quiet nicely. in my ogre bull star with bsb general and butcher, its going to come in handy i imagine, got the iron curse icon in there too, but magic is the main worry.

This item i never see mentioned anywhere and im just wondering why?

well my friend because it is a item that behooves you to take a crazy gutstar. While this is effective for most things it is generally boring to play with and against. This list is still also vulnerable to vortexes which can ruin your day, and in big tournaments people dont like putting all your eggs in one basket.

If you want to use it to its full effectiveness go big or go home...

I'd agree with Tryptic. Rune Maw tactics aren't anything new. High Elf players have been busting out similar tactics with their item the "Banner of the World Dragon" for a fairly long time now. The problem with these items is that they almost force you into making a deathstar bunker unit to house them. In doing this it also encourages other chars to join the same unit to make use of the banner's effect and if/when that unit goes down it's basically game over because more often than not you have to put roughly 30-50% of your points into that one unit. It's pretty much exactly like Tryptic says...

If you want to use it to its full effectiveness go big or go home...

I think that the risks involved are often too high for a lot of players, especially those going to a tournament looking for a good result. There tend to be more reliable builds for our armies that are less risky.

If playing in a competitive environment or I know I'm going to be facing hvy magic, my Gutbus never leaves home without it. People say that you only need it when running a horde and it's not worth it on a unit of 12 Guts. I tend to disagree.

If playing in a competitive environment or I know I'm going to be facing hvy magic, my Gutbus never leaves home without it. People say that you only need it when running a horde and it's not worth it on a unit of 12 Guts. I tend to disagree.

Personally I'm inclined to agree with you here. Rune Maw isn't one of those items you need to be aware of when just writing up your list, you also need to bear it in mind when deploying and moving your force. Let's face it, you REALLY don't want the spell aimed at your Guts bouncing over onto your unit of bulls. It's a tricky one to use but it can be used to great effect. I must admit I've never ran it but then again I prefer to spend my BSB's points on other items. I think 12 IG's + a few chars could happily benefit from Rune Maw it's just better if your using it with a horde. At the end of the day though denying my opponent his spells feels cheap, low and below the belt, I don't even use dispell scrolls in our friendly games so this isn't an item I'd use often, unless I have beef that needs resolving lol.

To be honest it sounds like you were hurt by the fact you took a gut star rather than the effectiveness of the big spells! When you take a big unit your opponent will happily risk killing his wizards to damage the unit as the points are there! A level 4 tends to be around 300 points or 400 if it's the general so I try to keep my units around that cost with characters spread out across several units.

That tends to make those spells a lot less effective straight away! If your opponent is rocking death then the Runemaw won't help you at all against purple sun.

TBH even if they was split up wouldnt have done much good seens as he had it go off 3 turns in a row, just would have been three units wolloped. And i disagree about the magic killing being below the belt. I think magic can  be very below the belt. No matter how well you play your game and out manouver your opponent, he just casts one big spell, kills half the army and says "ha now i win"

dont get me wrong i like magic, just hate the big spells that can just destroy units unreasonably. if anybody gets chance, read the chaos dwarf spell...the big one. cant remember the name.

and yeah i take a big unit with bsb general and wizrd in. but without that i still have a good army including mournfang, man eaters, guts, blaster etc. i take a big unit of bulls as they are cheaper and survive more.

I like the standard so it will make things bit more fair when it comes to magic in my eyes. all my stuff tends to advance so there will still be eligible targets so they can still have there spells 9 times out of 10 but it just means that they wont get the big unit.

and i dont mind my unit being wiped out every now and then, so it isnt the fact i took a bull star, it is just the speel is ridiculous, toughness test at minus 2 or be slain out right no saves allowed then strength 6 hit for evrything thing else under the template, and im sure it did d3 or d6 wounds as in one spell going off took out 6 ogres i think it was...surely im right in thinking ouch with the spell. oh and im sure it is pickable anywehere on the table with no maximum range, just needs line of sight

@ thenick: That's pretty much how I feel about the magic phase. I moved over from 40k for the magic phase but those BIG spells (Purple Sun, Dwellers, Pit of shades etc) are overkill. On one occasion I was getting beaten into the ground with my TK's so in a mild fit of anger I threw 6 dice a purple sun and took out WELL over 50% of my opponent gunline. That one spell alone turned what should have been a crushing defeat for me into a draw.

In my opinion such spells can (not always) totally cheapen the game, especially if you spend 5 turns carefully planning and manouvering etc then BANG one spell and game over. What a waste of time and effort, in one game Dwellers killed 32/40 Skeleton Archers, Khalida, Flaming banner BSB AND a Lich Priest on one spell..... in one word : LAME. Where's the fun in spells like that?

exactly my point, now with the standard i can combat the one spell wins a little bit...knowing my luck i will roll a 1 and the spell will still affect the unit anyways