Today in Awful Warseer Tactics Part 11: Druchii.net Second Edition

Hola amigos.  Today I wanted to continue the trend of delving into the abyss of stupid that is Druchii.net.  As we all know, army specific forums have their own brand of idiotic groupthink that arises when you have a lot of space to talk about small topics.

The Druchii weirdos take pride in their extensive tacticas that are written to nearly scientific standards of technical writing.  This would be good if the subject matter required it.  We are talking about a relatively simple war game.  We don't need the level of sophistication that says, "please refer to Sec. 1c(1.2)(2)(b) to see how I would equip my Cosairs."  Whereas a normal human would agree that the more simply you say something, the better; the Druchii.net community will ONLY accept tactics if they are presented like a properly cited treatise.  If I were to post a simple article on there, such as my article on how to equip Sorceresses, it would get universally ignored because of the simple, concise manner of presentation.  Compare that article to today's victim.  Here we have the same subject presented by a typical Druchii jerkoff.  You'll note the differences right away. 

My first comment before we get into it, is that the guy does draw some good conclusions but the way he gets there and presents them is completely absurd.  Secondly, he is presenting this information in the least humble manner ever.  He suggests that he is going to build "the uber list" which he believes will be the best/ultimate Dark Elves 8E list ever.  Imagine the hubris he has to not only believe he is even capable of such a thing, but to have the confidence to compose it and present it to the community as fact.  What a fucking asshole.

So here goes.  My comments, as always, in orange.

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Just a brief bit of background to help understand my goal with this article - I am a big tournament player.  

Who gives a shit?  If you're going to brag about your tournament resume, let's see it.  I go to a lot of tournaments too, but you don't see me bragging about it, or using it to justify my opinions.

We both placed top 10 at GT's with it, and had several top 3 or wins at smaller tournaments, using a variety of formats from no-comp to ETC rules. 

Top 10 at Fantasy GTs is like top 32 at 40k GTs.  Finishing top 10 at a Fantasy GT is not impressive when you consider that many times they only have 20 or so players.  But whatever, who knows, maybe you do have a clue.

All that stated, I have yet to hit on "the" build for 8th edition. That "take all comers" tournament style build, designed to compete against every army. So my goal here is to narrow it down one step at time, this being the fist, my view on what magic is necessary and how to use it.

So lets begin!

Part 1: Basic Assumptions

1. Druchii need magic to compete. I'm not saying you can't build an effective no-magic or little magic army, but to win on a large scale I feel you need a strong magic offense and defense.
2. Generating power dice is the best magic offense. This forces your opponent to choose what to dispel and allows you to cast all or most of the spells in your arsenal.
3. Magic defense is hard to come by for the Druchii. You WILL have to eat some spells, but this can be mitigated to an extent with list design, and in fact is complimentary to the magic offense.
4. The caster(s) need to be protected. I will discuss this later, but I have yet to hit on the "ideal" protection, though I am close. Hope we can discuss and work it out! 

And this is why you're such a colossal failure.  A 40k or Fantasy list is not a hodge podge of removable parts that you can swap in and swap out.  The list needs a goal and a strategy BEFORE you start writing it.  You're right that Druchii need magic to compete, but you don't start with magic.  You start with how you plan to win the game, and use magic that compliments your strategy.  Look at my latest 'Ard Boyz list.  It plans how it will win the game, and then adds the necessary magic to support that plan.  That is how you build army lists, not by creating lists of so called objectively best choices.

Part 2: How many casters or maximizing offense and defense

1. I like to field a Dreadlord for his LD and hitting power and survivability with Pendant/point denial. Therefore my Lord choices for casting are limited to a single Level 4, which I believe to be the best option regardless. 

What's the point level you're making this list for?  2k?  2.5k?  3k?  Who the hell knows because you never said it.  Do you realize that things which work at 2k don't work at 3k and vice versa?  That said, I'd love to know what points level you think a Dreadlord works at.  I'm assuming that a tooled out DL is like 250 points, combined with a 350 point L4.  Looks like you aren't playing 2k.  How many Fantasy GTs play higher than 2k?

 Therefore, Rule #1: A Level 4 caster is necessity for both magical offense and defense. 

It didn't require a ridiculous mathematical proof to tell us something everyone knows about 8E Fantasy.      

Therefore, Rule #2: A level 2 caster compliments our level 4 caster, cascading the results of the magic phase, and provides a fallback dispel option. 

I have no idea what you're talking about.  What is 'cascading?'  It must be nice to make up your own terms to describe something that doesn't actually exist in the game.  The correct answer is, "a level 2 gives you two more spells."

1. There are a variety of options to increase to dice on a level 4, however I feel that Sacrificial Dagger is the best option. While Black Staff can generate up to 4 dice, it also requires 2 dice to reliably cast, and may not pay off, and is also easy to dispel since the +4 does not apply. Sacrificial Dagger can be used on every spell, giving us a maximum of +5 PD per phase! You will rarely reach that level, but the option is there, and your opponent knows it. Combine with PoD and you have the potential to add an additional 9 PD per phase, just on the level 4!!  

You're right.  If you're simply talking about maximizing dice, the Sac Dagger is the best potentially.  I make use of it in a lot of my lists.  But it's not for every list.  Here is where you fail again.  You assume that since the Sac Dagger is the best on paper, its the best always.  Not so.  Show me, in my 'Ard Boyz list, where and how the Sac Dagger would be useful.  It wouldn't be.  You take the magic items that help you win based on your list strategy, not the one that gets rated higher objectively.

2. The level 2 needs the proper spells to compliment the level 4, therefore Tome of Furion is a must. 

Why is that a must?  It's nice to know you can have every spell of a Lore between the two mages, and knowing which one will get which spells.  But it's hard a must.

Therefore, Rule #3: Sac Dagger is a must on the level 4, and Tome of Furion on the level 2.

This is not a true statement.

4. Choosing your lores

1. Druchii are a "soft" army, soft as in we have T3 and low armor and therefore die easily. I have found that using magical damage to hurt the opponent is not very effective in 8th edition. We already excel at eliminating support units and magic rarely does enough kills to hurt the large blocks. No, I have found that disrupting the opponent's plan and bringing them down to our level is by far the best way to win the day. 

While I agree that debuffs generally work better than direct damage for fast armies, like DE are, your thought process is baffling.  Magical damage is not very effective?  Do you use Purple Sun?  Pit of Shades?  Snipe spells?  These are all effective.

2. This in mind, Shadow and Dark are our two best lores. Both lores have debuff spells that can be cast into combat which can cause a major disruption to the enemies plan, as well as large template spells that can kill whole units/models at a clip. Combining these two lores is the key to magical success. 

Year Darkness is great.  Note my sarcasm.  Two worthless magic missiles and some spells that sorta hurt hordes, kinda maybe.  And then one or two good spells.  Why is Dark good?  Compare it to Death which has useful debuffs and useful snipe spells.  Death's one bad spell is the spell that causes Fear, which is still better than the two magic missiles from Darkness.

6. Protection

1. Here is where I am lacking as I have not yet hit on the best options. Usually placing the Level 4 into a large spearman unit is enough to protect her form shooting and magic.

What a retard.  Putting a caster in a magic bunker doesn't protect her from shooting or magic.  If anything, it increases the firepower thrown at her.  A big block of Spearmen will attract artillery and template spells like crazy, especially if your L4 is inside.  When using a magic bunker like that you need to have a plan, because it's a lot of points to invest in a unit that doesn't do much other than power a Sac Dagger and take hits.

1a. The downside of course is that the spearmen become a bunker and don't fight very often. Haven't figured a way around this yet, and I do not think there is one.

More hubris from this clown.  Just because YOU haven't solved the puzzle, you don't think ANYONE can.  You must be the greatest genius ever.  It might surprise you to know, I already solved it.  BSB + Crown of Command.  What do I get for solving your unsolvable puzzle?

2. I have yet to hit on where to place the level 2. I like to giver her lifetaker and place her in a 20 strong xbow unit, but this often leaves her out of range for her power spells until late game.
2a. I have toyed with putting her on a pegasus, but then she is vulnerable to shooting and magic and at best can get a 5+ ward save. Stuck on this one and looking for advice! 

More fail.  What is your plan for her?  Do you understand basic list building?  I'm going to bold this so people get it: you bring the right tools for the job.  If you don't know what the right tools are, you don't know what the job is.  Figure out what her job is in the list and equip her for that.  If you conclude that she doesn't have a role in the list, why is she in the list?