Top 5 Worst Lords

#5: General of the Empire (Empire)
I know as a Bretonnian player I shouldn't laugh at Empire troops, but whenever I see this guy across the table from me it just tickles me so fucking much. I really do not get this guy at all. Apart from contributing Hold the Line (which really isn't all the good in the first place) and a high Leadership value, this guy is kind of a conundrum for me. At his base cost, he's very affordable. That is, before you tack on armor, weapons, magic items, mounts, etc. Then you wind up with an expensive as all hell unit that cannot compete with other Lords in his category like, say; Oldbloods, Chaos Champions, Dwarf Lords, etc. While by no means beyond the hope of salvation and I have seen a few builds for him that make him very useful in particular Empire armies, as whole this guy simply isn't wort the time and points it takes to use him. You're better off fully kitting a Battle Wizard Lord up and putting an Arch Lector on a War Altar then fielding this guy in an Empire army. It's also kind of shame, because the models of this guy on various mounts are some of the best that I think GW makes, making this guy a perfect paper weight and a perfect cannon magnet as well.

#4: Warlord (Skaven)
A wise man once said you can't polish a turd. The Skaven competing in the combat phase is a turd, the Warlord is the attempt to polish it. I knew this character existed, but out of the many times I played Skaven I could not once recall actually seeing this guy in any army I had encountered. It makes perfect sense to me, because when Skaven fight it's only to delay your units so they have more chances to shoot it, magic it, and throw annoying as all hell items at it. Now, to be fair, many armies no longer field a Combat Lord, because the meta is not quite going back to the point where they're useful yet. It's coming back slowly, but a Level 4 full kitted out is still more useful than a Combat Lord at this current moment. However, this guy can't even really call himself a Combat Lord. His stats are more comparable to a Hero choice then anything else, and his defensive capabilities are poor to say the least. The only build I actually see being competitive is a Skaven Warlord with the Fellblade, because he's so cheap and because the Fellblade is fucking terrifying to Monster Cav and Daemon Princes. He's cheaper then a well kitted out Empire General, but he's not quite as powerful or useful, so thus I stick him here. Which I think is a fair placement at the end of the day.

#3: Daemon Slayer (Dwarfs)
Now I know this may seem like a bit of copout considering I placed the Hero level of this guy on the Top 5 Worst Heroes list. However, the reason he's two places higher then his counter-part is the following. First, he does make a great character killer, what with his ability to force successful Ward Saves to be re-rolled and his pretty banging stat line he's not going to be as easy to remove off the board as his weaker brother in the Hero section. However, he still does run into a couple of problems. First, he is 2.5 Skaven Slaves more expensive than a Dwarf Lord, who is about a million times more practical than this guy is. Second, he's still a Slayer, which means he's got no defensive capabilities apart from his Weapon Skill and Toughness. Third, he's Movement 3, which means he can't streak down the battlefield and just dickslap whatever his target is. He's going to get chaffed, shot at, magicked, and all other kinds of things that will most likely end up with him dying before he actually gets into combat. Fourth, he can't be your army's general, which in and of itself is a huge problem when you start dumping assloads of points into this guy. I've heard of people giving him the rune that makes him ASF and higher Initiative, but I just don't see it as being all that worth it. Bottom line, he's a lot of points, you can get better for cheaper, and he's just not all that worth it in the end.

#2: Treeman Ancient (Wood Elves)
When I first read the White Dwarf issue that had the sneak peaks of the 8th edition Wood Elves one of the first things that caught my attention was Durthu. My buddies and I all had our issue and we were shooting the shit about some possible builds and making fun of both myself, Art, and Will who play Bretonnians and Beastmen respectively. A Treeman special character was a really neat idea. Hell, the Daemons book was full of them and I can't think of a single army that doesn't have some enormous special character on a ridiculous mount, so a big scary monster sized character really hinted that the Woodies would be moving away from BS based shooting into more of a combat style army. Then their book came out and we saw that in addition to the Gladelord and Spellweaver, there was another generic Lord choice. The Treeman Ancient is an answer looking for a question. He's a monster, but I could take generic Treemen and Treekin for cheaper and in sections that won't compete with my Lords. He can be a Level 1 or 2 caster on Life. First off, that's fucking useless because Life is only really optimized when run on a Level 4. Second, why not just take a Spellweaver who's cheaper, much more defensive, and much better at casting magic? Well he's got a better armor save then any other generic lord in the book. Cool, but if you're playing Woodies I really don't think you're going to be putting much of an emphasis on armor. Ward Saves are better anyway and your characters are pretty damned survivable when you stick in them shit-tons of forests you're going to have. Apart from being just a really cool model I don't see too much of an application for these guys, especially since there are so many cannons and Flaming Attacks all over the fucking place. Also, props to anyone who uses the Ent models from the Lord of the Rings game to proxy as Treemen and Treekin. They look fucking beautiful.

#1: High Beastmaster (Dark Elves)
I almost busted a nut when I read these guys in the 8th edition Dark Elves book. Talk about an absolutely useless model! I mean, everything about it is such a waste. The special chariot it can take makes no fucking sense and is so overcosted it's tragic. The base point cost for this model is so hilarious that I've never actually seen one fielded before, even in our Friday Night WTF games that we have at my apartment. It's easily one of the most unimpressive units if the entire army in terms of model aesthetics. Even it's special rule to make Monsters better is so useless, it makes the Hold the Line special rule from Empire Generals and Captains look like Unbreakable in comparison. I would say 90% of the problem with this model is that the meta is so pro-artillery and pro-magic that monsters simply cannot survive in a Dark Elf army. Especially since they can't really effectively spam the board with monsters. Even if you could, and let's say you put a Dreadlord on a Dragon, and you field it with a Manticore, a Hydra, and a Kharibdyis, your Lord points are all spent up and anyone with a Level 4 (aka everyone else) will just buttrape you in the magic phase and pick your monsters apart. I know I'm being needlessly cruel, but in an army that is widely considered to one of the most competitive on the board this thing just makes you laugh so damned hard. I mean, this thing is in the same book as Witch Elves, Executioners, Warlock Riders, Dark Riders, Cold One Knights, and the Sacrificial Dagger? I mean, I'm all for crazy new Lord and Hero combinations that are basically just an extension of just the fluff and may contribute next to nothing in tems of tactical use. I love Loremasters, I love Death Hags, I love Waystalkers, I love these characters! Hell, I was upset that in the newest Lizardmen book we didn't get a generic Lord or Hero version of a Chameleon Skink or a Kroxigor or something! But this? This thing is just ridiculous. I seriously question what kind of drugs the person at GW who created this thing was on.

So that's the Lords, and I really do like doing these lists so please comment below what next category you'd like me tackle. I've been leaning more towards either an artillery or ballistic skill based shooting unit list. You tell me though loyal subscribers.