# Festus the Leechlord



## Lord Sven Kittyclaw

ok so ive recently played a 2k game where i featured...you guessed it...Festus!!

so i won the game, but didnt really think Festus did outstandingly good. though his unit buffs are good they weren't a game winner. and for his price i can get a better sorcerer. so im not sure if i should continue running him.

so basicly what i would like to know is: what do you guys think of festus.. and do you use him/what strategies you us with him.


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## squeek

Well I think he is good but he needs to be taken only if you have a plan in mind for him. In combat he is a wuss, so don't expect him to last the whole game if you don't protect him. His regen and gifted 5+ regen to his unit make him a nice addition to marauders with cheap gear. The 5+ save is more useful than an armour save and poisoned attacks with flails is nasty.

Magic-wise I think Curse of the Leper is good, but on 3 dice is not really good odds for me. It is far better odds on 4, which is a shame since the spells is rather good. That said it is still castable and if he has that and buboes then it gives him plenty of options generally.

On balance I think he is worse than a level 2 caster in both the magic phase and the combat phase (since he has no palanquin option), what makes his points is the 5+ward save and poison. If you play about with the unit he is in you can have some really brutal options, particularly if you throw fluff out of the window. MoK Lord with Beserker Glaive and poison? Chaos Warriors with AHW and the Banner of Rage with Festus is pretty evil. Saves by the bucket and 4 WS5 S4 poison attacks.


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## karlhunt

Give those Waariors the MoT and now the enemy has to contend will all three saves.


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## MaidenManiac

I would bet my money on a mounted Nurgle Sorcerer every day over Festus tbh. Sure he hands out minireg to his unit but he screws the units pursue over totally and thats how you kill things propperly in WHFB. But thats not the main beef I have with him...
Curse is a neat spell and statistically you should get it of fairly often with 3 dice but Im not too convinced there either, this has nothing to do with casting numbers though. That spell only "improves" at the start of friendly magicphases so to kill a unit with either S/T3 this must RIP 2 whole turns after its cast(start of the second magicphase after you cast the spell). Good luck there. The opponent has 3 magicphases of dispelling a RIP10 spell(2 of his and one of your where you cast 3PD worth of spells less thanks to keeping the RIP going) which honestly wont work. This spell might be good vs skinks/gnoblars/whatnots with S/T2 since it forces them to use PD to dispell in their own magicphase but thats it. It just dont cut it against S/T3 units, or even worse S/T4 units

Go for a normal Sorcerer and use the first 4 spells instead....


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## Lord Sven Kittyclaw

i agree maiden but i find curse of the leper is good against anyone. while it will not kill t3 or t4 opponents quickly or at all. casting it on a good enemy unit after you've charged them is deadly. Swordmasters my be deadly but with only s4 and t2 they are a hell of a lot easier for my chaos warriors or even marauders. Same goes for everything.


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## MaidenManiac

Lord Sven Kittyclaw said:


> i agree maiden but i find curse of the leper is good against anyone. while it will not kill t3 or t4 opponents quickly or at all. casting it on a good enemy unit after you've charged them is deadly. Swordmasters my be deadly but with only s4 and t2 they are a hell of a lot easier for my chaos warriors or even marauders. Same goes for everything.


Valid point! Though I equip Chaos Warriors with GWs and against that T3 or 4 is irrelevant and there aint no striking back when they are done hacking:wink:
Marauders gain shitloads from this though. A marauderswarm would very likely gain lots and lots from this tactic, good advice!

Then there are ofc the ASF HEs and BG unit. Some of them can be handled by Chariots, others with using shields, but the Curse is a huge boon in this scenario too ofc


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## Ascendant Valor

Don't forget, though, that the Elves are very Magically inclined... you'll hopefully have a tough time getting that spell off on them (unless the Elf general has something tricky up his sleeve...).

Still, dropping any unit's Strength and Toughness is a cruel joke to say the least. Even for one turn, it could essentially make your lackluster units into combat monsters if they become harder to wound (from their opponents' lowered Strength) and can wound their opponents easier (due to their opponents' lowered Toughness).

Combine that with some other nasty Chaos spells, like even basic magic missiles, and you have one easy target to chew through.

In order to counter it effectively, you'd first have to hope for no Irresistible Force roles. Then, you'd better have a scroll or plenty of dice handy. Otherwise, you'd better keep that unit well protected. Any unit effected by this spell should be considered a severe weak point in your army and must be supported appropriately in such a way that it becomes less of an "easy target," so becoming more of a risk for the Chaos player. Easy, no?


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