# Acceptable points on characters



## matty570 (Jun 14, 2007)

I've wondered about this for a while and wondered what is generally considered the right balance in terms of characters and their points

The armies I play are OnG, Vampires and Empire and we usually play 2000pt games.

I appreciate that the answer is likely to be "try them out and see what works" but I was just wondering what other people usually do.

From memory my VC army is usually about 800/900 points

OnG about 500pts

Empire about 600/700pts

Thanks :so_happy:


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

For 2k my ogres tend to have about 800pts worth on characters. My HE are new so Im not really settled down on characters yet but its looking that they'll come in at about 800pts too.

The balance of characters/total changes for me depending on the points size of the game, probably maxing out at 2k. At 1.5k there really isnt the points to spend on characters and you cant take any lords, 2.5k has no extra slots on 2k so I normally fill uot on special and rare choices and by the time you hit 3k I dont normally max out the character slots (which I often do at <3K- 100pts on a high elf noble will get you a decent character with no magical equipment- 3 S6 WS6 ASF attacks are nothing to sneer at).


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

My last 2k for my Bretonnians was just under 700. Most armies come in somewhere between 500-700 I think, but some have expensive characters, and need a bit more than that (Vampire counts especially).


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## Muffinman (Aug 31, 2009)

I normally play 2250 with my Lizardmen and I use annywhere from 750 with combat Saurus or 1250 with magic slaan/engine/priest.


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## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

As a general rule of thumbs Id say that Wizards are more worth their points then normal heroes since they contribute more to the army.

Many normal heroes are good with just mundane armour and weapons, cheap and dangerous


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

On my 2250
I take about 700 points but with vampires you want to take more cos your magic is awesome and zombies are rubbish. So you have to be able to raise them up.
So you want as many characters as possible 900ish


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I think it depends a lot on the local meta, the army in question, and player preference. 

By local meta, I mean, if everyone you usually play with maxes out on characters at the expense of units, then you're not at a disadvantage if you do that as well. Generally speaking, you want a General, a caster or two, and maybe a backup fighter character at the most at the 2000 point level, and that's provided you're not cutting into the strength of your units in order to bring them. 

As far as the armies in question... Orcs and Goblins NEED to max out their characters, because Orc Boyz and Goblin units are seriously lacking in actual fighting ability. They lean heavily on static combat resolution. The real difference between an Orc and a Goblin is the fact that the Orc is T4, so you're likely to survive with more of them, and they have choppas, which make the Boyz S4 in the first round of combat. While that's all well and good, it's not great, and you're not going to win any combats with Orcs from killing things unless you're beating up Goblins or Skaven Slaves or something along those lines. Characters in the units, however, make it possible to just flat fight somebody, and make it possible to tip the balance with the static combat resolution to where even if you do lose a rank of Boyz, it doesn't matter too much. With Vampire Counts, the army runs on them-- if you don't have properly kitted out characters, the army doesn't function from a mechanical standpoint. So in that case, you kind of need to bring a good mix of necromancers and vampires. Empire, on the other hand, has characters that are largely just unit buff types, and none of them really shine as utterly necessary to the army for its success-- wizards are a vital part of the army for the obvious magic phase reasons, and a Captain or Warrior Priest is important to keep the strictly average State Troopers in a fight-- but much like O&G, the Empire thrives on static resolution and outmaneuvering the opponent with detachments. You can probably run light on characters with Empire, I think.

Anyway, as a Warriors of Chaos player, I try to bring characters that are able to significantly buff a unit's ability to win combat through wounds inflicted. At 2000, I bring a 370-point Lord, a 180-point Battle Standard Bearer, and a scroll caddy. The caddy is just sort of obligate, but the other two exist as living battering rams-- the Lord is capable of clearing almost two ranks on his own between his attacks and his Juggernaut's; the Battle Standard Bearer similarly is capable of clearing a rank on his own. They're with units, as well, so the units inflict even more casualties, and make it impossible for the other side to win the combat unless there's some horrendous dice on my end when the armor saves (if there even are any) come up. 

All in all, I'd estimate 25-30% of your army's points should be spent on characters, with maybe the exception of a couple armies, since they do seem to make the components of the army work significantly better.


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## NagashKhemmler (Apr 28, 2009)

For two of my main armies, I find that I'm forced to max out characters.

For tomb kings I NEED to two lich priests and HLP in order to have a decent forces that uses its strengths, without the extra magic the TK lose very, very often. With undead the extra characters can translate to extra units as a result of ressurection spells, it's a similar story with vampire counts so if I were playing either faction I would ensure to have the maximum allowed...

Daemons of chaos, often cited as very cheesy are actually quite average lacking their heralds which grant them many great abilities (assuming you don't go for one of the few cheesy builds, but rather a 'normal' daemon army). So I tend to max out characters as a Daemon player also, just to gain access to many of the abilities.

WOC are definately an army which benefits from less characters (a lot of the time) due to high unit costs and high character costs. I run with a barebones character setup of two lich priests, a hlp and tomb prince for only 661 points.


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

Really it depends on what I'm expecting from the characters, Some armies need alot more help than others and the number of magic users I need in the army build also changes the costs alot.
My Empire justs has a fairly survivable bsb and 3 warrior priests kept fairly basic as their benefits are to boost units rather than character assassination.

My shooty ogres have a completely different role and are needed as much to close down magic as they are for fighting so cost a fair amount

My combat Ogres are troop killing machines that cost quite a bit but without their combat output I'd never break SCR although they also need to be able to survive a fair amount of damage directed their way which costs a lot.

My last army the Chaos Dwarves have so little access to magic items that its not really relevant just a few picks from the cheap shelf to help them achieve whatever I need them to do. (And my CD lord has killed a Bloodthirster in a challenge admittedly due to being immune to fire based attacks and having a big unit cheering him on but a kills a kill)


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