Lore Attribute: Life Leeching
Whenever a Lore of Death spell is cast roll a D6 for each unsaved wound caused by the spell. Each roll of a 5 or 6 on these dice results in adding another dice to your power pool. This is the most broken ass lore attribute in the entire 8 signature lores of the BRB. Especially when paired with Purple Sun, which can result in throwing all the dice you have at it and then getting another magic phase with potentially 12 dice again. Almost like the Lore of Life, this attribute will almost always be useful. I really like this attribute, because unlike most attributes, this one will actually almost always be useful in every game you take Death to.
Signature Spell: Spirit Leech
A Direct Damage spell with a range of 12" and a casting value of 7+. It targets a single enemy model, even in a unit. Both casters roll a D6 and add their respective Leadership values. For every point the caster wins by the target suffers a wound with no armor saves allowed. The caster can choose to extend the range of the spell to 24" and for an increased casting value of 10+. This spell has gotten kind of a reputation for which I'm not sure it truly deserves. See, a very common tactic with Death is to take a level 1 or 2 caster with this spell and run him in to snipe out some characters in a unit. An ingenious tactic, but somewhat lacking when put into actual use. Unless said caster is an elf, your wizards are going to as a general rule have lower leadership then the rest of your combat characters, putting you at an initial numerical disadvantage. However, unlike most of the spells in this lore it can be boosted to have a decent range. Something that you'll notice is kind of the nerfing factor in this lore. I give it a 3 out of 5, it's decent spell to swap for but I'm not a big fan exactly.
Spell #1: Aspect of the Dreadknight
... That's all I can say really. This spell is pretty bad, now, it's not Flock of Doom bad, but it's still pretty fucking bad. It's an Augment spell with a casting value of 4+ and a range of 24". It gives the targeted unit the Fear special rule, and if you boost the spell it gives the unit Terror for an increased casting value of 9+. The only good thing about this is that it is dirt cheap to cast, even on a level 1, you can chuck one die at it (base) and you're on the better part of math for it going off. My issue with this spell is that there is basically no point to it apart from maybe getting a failed Fear or Terror test from your opponent. However, when you start to think about it, the odds of that happening are very slim. You have three armies that are Undead/Daemonic, and thus ITP and completely disregard this, and another six armies on Leadership 10 with Stubborn thrown in their at odd spots, and the other armies are still on decent Leadership unless they're Greenskins or unsupported Skaven. I give it a 1 out 5, swap for it if you roll it up.
Spell #2: The Caress of Laniph
A Direct Damage spell with a range of 12" that targets a single enemy model with a base casting value of 6+. Once successfully cast, the targeted model suffers 2D6 minus his own Strength value in hits. These hits wound on a 4+ with no armor saves allowed. It can be boosted to have a range of 24" for a casting value of 12+. This spell is why I think Spirit Leech isn't all that and a bag of chips. Now, when there was a lot of 7th edition army books still out, this spell was not all that good. However, with the fall of Daemons and Warriors of Chaos and the rise of High and Dark Elves, this spell has become very nice indeed. Yes, it can be countered very easily with High Magic and the Banner of the World Dragon, but against other characters and especially elven casters, this spell is very nice indeed. Against a Dark Elf Sorceress, this is going to hit about 4 times and cause two wounds. That's enough to kill a Hero-level caster outright and seriously wound a Lord-level caster. Again, against High Elves, this spell is a bit less powerful, but I would still take it as a sniping spell unless I rolled up it's big brother. I give it a 3 out 5, it's pretty nice all in all.
Spell #3: Soulblight
A Hex spell with a range of 24" and a casting value of 9+. The targeted unit has -1 Strength and Toughness until the star of the caster's next magic phase. The spell can be boosted to effect all enemy units within 24" and a casting value of 18+. This spell is awesome, it's like Wyssan's evil twin brother, I absolutely love this spell, especially for Dark Elves. Reducing Strength and Toughness is always a good thing. I cannot think of a game I have ever played where this spell has been wasted or I wished I had this spell. Yeah, I love this spell, I'm all over it. Bubbling this shit out is awesome, especially in multi-unit combats. My woman put this spell on my Saurus and kicked the shit out of them with Corsairs. I have heard a lot of Lizardmen/High Elves/Dark Elves/Wood Elves/ Empire players swear by a Wyssans/Soulblight combination, and I have rolled it up before, and it's awesome. I give it a 5 out of 5, for what this spell is, it's perfect.
Spell #4: Doom and Darkness
Another Hex spell with a range of 24" and a casting value of 10+. It's a remains in play spell that causes the target to suffer -3 to it's Leadership. It can be boosted to have an extended range of 48" for a casting value of 13+. Three words make this spell worth it's salt. Remains in Play. This is the only way to make Aspect of the Dreadknight workable, and it's useful in multiple situations. Unless you run into Daemons or Undead, then -3 to Leadership is a really big deal. It can make Stubborn and Cold-Blooded units a lot easier to deal with. Stubborn on Leadership 10 with a re-roll is the closest thing to Unbreakable that you can get. Stubborn on Leadership 7 with a re-roll is a lot more manageable. It's also a good way to deal with the Skaven Strength in Numbers rule and in most cases can completely negate it. If fooling with Leadership is your thing, then knock yourself out. I give it a base 3 out of 5, because that's about as much as I get out of it, because screwing with Leadership isn't really my thing.
Spell #5: The Fate of Bjuna
This is my favorite sniping spell in the entire lore. It has a base casting value of 13+ and a range of 12". It targets a single enemy model and it suffers 2D6 minus it's own Toughness . These hits wound on a roll of a 2, with no armor saves allowed. In addition, if the target survives, it is subject to Stupidity for the rest of the game. Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you to the Artist Formerly Known as the Teclic-Killer. When High Elves were rocking their broken-ass Teclis character, this spell was the best way to take him out, especially after he had the T1 penalty. It's still a damned fine spell for taking out most casters, with the exception of a select few. However, it has a two big drawbacks in my mind. First, it's not cheap to cast. While it's not boosted up version of Flames of Azgor expensive, it's not two-dice cheap. Second, this spell has no range at all. 12" is very close for a caster to be an enemy unit, and that would make me sweat for the survival of my caster. I like it, I give it a 3 out of 5 for two reasons. One, I don't like Sniping Spells, I think they're a waste of potential. Just my opinion, I know a lot of people who love these spells, but I'm not one of them. Two, the range is just a total killer on this spell.
Spell #6: Purple Sun
I'm not even going to talk about this spell, because if you've played more than three games of Warhammer, you know what the Purple Sun is. For awhile, this spell really reigned supreme above all else, but with the domination of Elves in the current meta. It's taken a backseat to spells like Dwellers Below and Final Transmutation. Still very dangerous against anything that's not Skaven or Elves. I give it a 5 out of 5, because it's wiped out my entire Lizardmen army before.
So the best way to run Death magic is on a single support caster, because to be honest this lore is not very versatile. Unless you manage to get Soulblight, then I wouldn't really bother kicking Death up to a Lord level caster anyway. Everybody shoots for double 6's anyway, so your casting vale for Purple Sun really doesn't matter. Sniping spells make these cheaper support caster very dangerous, especially when they're mounted or flying in the case of a Deamon Prince. In some cases Death can be very helpful for Hexing like there's no tomorrow, but unless you can crank out enough of them and roll exactly a 1, 3, and 4, then it's just not worth it really. Death is very powerful, but it's a bit of a one-trick pony. Stop the little caster from moving around, and you shut down their ability to project magic across the board. Stay tuned for next time when I go over the Lore of High Magic.
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