Armies in 8th: Magic Part 5: Lore of Metal

Metal (as Chumby pointed out) is an anagram for melta. This must mean it rocks. All Metal attacks ignore armour and are flaming and have the unique ability to wound an opponent based on their armour save. This means, the better an opponent’s armour save, the more likely Metal magic is to wound the model. Coupled with ignoring armour saves, this makes Metal magic amazingly potent against high armour save armies and units such as Cavalry and Dwarves. Metal is a bit more expensive for their basic spells compared to Fire and Beasts and has a good mix of augment, hexes and damage spells. Do the spells live up to its Lore Attribute though?

Signature Spell - Searing Doom: Much more expensive than Fireball (costs the same as a level 2) and does D6 less damage and only 24” range but against heavily armoured units, well they don’t want to see this cast successfully. Although not as spammable as Fireball, Searing Doom being a signature spell can be taken on multiple spell-casters to get a lot of these out there.

1 - Plague of Rust: Permanent reduction in armour save? Sounds good. Easy to cast (especially for metal) and the range is doubled at level 2. It doesn’t work very well with damaging metal spells (who want higher armour saves) but if high armour is a problem issue for your army to deal with, plague of rust can help out a little bit, especially since it’s cumulative.

2 - Enchanted Blades of Aiban: +1 to hit bonus in both shooting and combat is nice and so is gaining magical and armour piercing (especially against pesky ethereal units). Another decently easy to cast spell which doesn’t really need the level 2 casting as the range should be enough for the spell-caster to get the unit they want. Ultimately it’s a nice little buff spell which can ensure you get those shots or combat hits off but nothing spectacular.

3 - Glittering Robe: The reverse of Metal magic, this makes you stronger by providing a 5+ scaly skin to a unit with 12” and has a level 2 which targets all friendly units within range but for a hefty casting cost. This can make weaker armies a lot more resilient to incoming firepower but can be hard to get off at the level 2 casting and there are perhaps better Lores for defensive minded buffs. Still a nice spell to have though.

4 - Gehenna’s Golden Hounds: The other spell which takes advantage of the Lore’s attribute, Hounds is all about hero sniping. Pretty easy to cast even at level 2 for Metal, range is an issue and only provides D6 hits. Ultimately this spell wants to be targeted at a unit with heavy armour and a character in it so the plebs take Look Out Sir! hits and are easily wounded/killed. Not too great against spell-casters who usually don’t have good armour saves though due to the Lore attribute. Also a nice way to drop banners/champions/musicians or monsters.

5 - Transmutation of Lead: Casting costs are a bit high now, especially for level 2 spells. This is an upgrade spell from Plague of Rust which lowers armour saves as well as WS/BS so is excellent to cast on a unit already hit with plague of Rust (-2 to armour) and anything which is particularly shooty or engaged in combat.

6 - Final Transmutation: A very nice spell to damage large and expensive models which can also disrupt your opponent’s battle lines thanks to stupidity. The range isn’t spectacular but can be doubled with the level 2 casting but is very expensive to cast. Combined with Searing Doom and Hounds, these three spells can really play havoc wit heavily armoured and expensive armies whilst also messing around low Ld armies.

Again, a good mix of spells and whilst they can get expensive to cast, they will cover your needs more often than not. Metal’s primary focus is damaging heavily armoured units so specialising in this Lore can pose problems against Hordes but if you’ve got that covered elsewhere, this can be the answer to those tougher units. Whilst Searing Doom is a great sig spell, it’s certainly not as spammable as Fireball because of the reduced damage it does against low T/Sv units comparatively.

Verdict: good. If you take this Lore, you’re looking to buff your ability against tough as nails squads, not hordes. Whilst Final Transmutation can still whack hordes around a bit (especially low Ld ones. Did you forget your BSB? Oh? It got Hounded? Ouch), the primary focus of Metal is stripping away armour and laughing as expensive models drop like cheap models. Although the Lore works around the three damage spells, the hexes and augments are not throw aways and can help your units out in a pinch.