The latest 6th edition of Warhammer has made many major changes and revisions in the Magic Phase of the game. Overall, the Bretonnians are not known for their magical prowess. In fact, aside from the Fay Enchantress, the "wizard" models of Bretonnia have very limited access to the magical lores. The Damsel of the Lady can cast spells only from the Lore of Life or the Lore of Beasts. The Prophetess can cast spells from the above as well as the more significant Lore of the Heavens.
Realistically, a player using the Bretonnians should not expect to dominate the field during the Magic Phase since that is not a particular strong point. That does not mean, however, that the Magic phase or the Wizard models should be completely overlooked. In addition to the number of "Arcane" magic items from the Bretonnian arsenal, wizards can play some role in order to benefit their allied units while undermining the units of their enemies, particularly that of the enemy spellcaster.
Following you will find the Spell Lists that are readily available to the Prophetess or Damsel models as well as a brief comment by "yours truly" for each of the spells.
| D6 | Spell Name | Casting Value |
|
| 1 | Buccos the Oxen Stands | 5+ | Instantly rallies any friendly unit on table top. |
| 2 | Ardlos the Eagle's Cry | 6+ | Cast on enemy cavalry, swarm, chariot or monster within 24" of caster and not engaged in close combat. Causes victim to become wild and uncontrollable suffering a penalty on Leadership checks or a Movement penalty. |
| 3 | Ursos the Bear's Anger | 6+ | Cast upon self while in close combat. Add +3 Attacks, +2 Strength and +1 Toughness. Remains in play. |
| 4 | Corvos the Crow's Feast | 7+ | Magic missile with a range up to 24." Summons a flock of crows that cause 2d6 Strength 3 hits. |
| 5 | Kinos the Beast Cowers | 8+ | Cast on enemy cavalry, swarm, chariot or monster that is engages in close combat anywhere on table top. If successful, any creatures (but not their riders) will cower and require 6's to hit on that turns Close Combat. If 6's are already required, creature may not attack that turn. |
| 6 | Lupens the Wolf Hunts | 9+ | Cast on friendly cavalry, chariot, swarm or monster within 24" of caster and not engaged in close combat. If successful, unit moves 2d6" towards the nearest enemy unit. If friendly unit reaches an enemy, it is considered to have "charged" with the enemy unit only able to respond by standing their ground. |
| D6 | Spell Name | Casting Value |
|
| 1 | Mistress of the Marsh | 6+ | Cast on enemy unit within 12" of a river, stream or other water feature or within 6" of caster if there are no water features. Cannot be used against a unit engaged in close combat. If successful, unit becomes bogged down and moves at half movement rate. Effect lasts until end of opposing player's Magic Phase. (Does not effect flying creatures or ethereal creatures.) |
| 2 | Father of the Thorn | 7+ | Cast on any enemy unit within 24" of caster not engaged in close combat and must be visible to the caster. If successful, causes briars to spring forth causing 2d6 Strength 3 hits. Thorns disappear at end of Magic phase. |
| 3 | The Howler Wind | 7+ | Cast upon Wizard himself. If successful, summons a great wind that prevents missile weapons of Strength 4 or less from entering field within 12" of the Wizard. Also, all enemy units within 12" of Wizard move at half speed. Remains in play. |
| 4 | Master of the Wood | 7+ | Cast upon any enemy unit within 12" of a wood or within 6" of caster if no such features exist on table top. Can only effect enemy units not engaged in close combat. If successful, unit is battered by branches and roots causing d6 Strength 4 hits plus a further d6 Strength 4 hits it it is partially or wholly in the wood. Spell does not effect Dryads or Treemen. Effect ends at end of Magic phase. |
| 5 | Master of Stone | 8+ | Cast upon enemy unit within 12" of hill, rocky outcrop or ruins or within 6" of caster if no such feature exists on table top. Can only effect enemy units not engaged in close combat. If successful, causes shards of stone to hurl at enemy causing d6 Strength 5 hits plus a further d6 Strength 5 hits if unit is partially or wholly within the feature. |
| 6 | The Rain Lord | 9+ | Cast upon enemy unit within 24" and visible to caster. If successful, causes rain to pour down upon enemy unit soaking them. Enemy unit must roll a 4, 5 or 6 when attempting to shoot a bow. A unit using gunpowder, cannons, flame cannons, steam engines, blackpowder or flame must roll a 6. If roll fails, affected unit can not shoot during that Shooting phase. Once affected, unit stays soaked for the rest of the game. This is not a magical effect- you are wet! |
| D6 | Spell Name | Casting Value |
|
| 1 | Second Sign of Amul | 5+ | Gives the wizard's controlling player chance to re-roll dice during the remainder of his own turn. If successfully cast, roll a d3 to determine the number of re-rolls allowed. Player can not choose to re-roll an already re-rolled dice. Any re-rolls not used by end of turn are wasted. |
| 2 | Portent of War | 6+ | Cast on any friendly unit within 12" and engaged in close combat. If successful, all subsequent dice rolls of a 1 made either to hit or to wound by that uynit can be re-rolled that turn. Re-rolled scores of 1 stand. |
| 3 | Forked Lightning | 7+ | Cast on any enemy unit on the table top. If successful, unit is struck by lightning causing d6 Strength 4 hits. These hits are distributed exactly like hits from shooting. |
| 4 | Thunder Bolt | 9+ | Cast on any enemy unit on the table top. If successful, unit is struck by lightning causing d6 Strength 4 hits with no armour save possible. These hits are distributed exactly like hits from shooting. |
| 5 | Storm of Chronos | 9+ | Cast on all enemy units which are visible and within 12" of the caster. If successful, all enemy units affected take d6 Strength 4 hits, distributed exactly like shooting. |
| 6 | Comet of Casandora | 10+ | Cast upon any fixed point on the table top. If successful, place a token or marker on site and roll d6 at the start of each player's turn. On a roll of 1-3, nothing happens but place another marker or token on same spot. On a roll of 4-6, the spot is struck by a comet. All units (both friendly and enemy) within d6" multiplied by the number of markers are struck by 2d6 Strength 5 hits. If spell is dispelled while in play, all markers are removed. |
Magic Strategy
There are several things to keep in mind with the use of Magic. Certainly, you should always be aware that no matter what spells you end up with at the start of the game, the enemy can dispel them if playing wizards of his own.
Second, I find it helpful to convert the Casting Value into a percentage chance to determine the probability of success. A Casting Value of 5+ has just over a 58% chance of success which is pretty good. Casting Values of 6+ drop to only 50% (all things being equal, you will be successful half the time and fail the other half). It goes downhill from there. Casting Value of 7+ has a just under 42%. A Value of 8+ has about a 33% chance while 9+ spells have only 25% chance of success. Spells with a Casting Value of 10+ have only a measly 16.7% chance of success which isn't very good.
Of course, all of this assumes you use only 2d6 of your Power Dice to cast the spell. Therefore, using more dice from your dice pool to cast more powerful spells increase your chance of success but also increase the chance for a Miscast. Adding 1 more dice will add about 14.3% to chance of a success. Adding 2 more dice will add over 21% to the chance of success.
With this in mind, which spells are the best? Well, that is one reason why I like the rule to randomly determine which spells from the chosen Lore(s) the Wizard in question can use for that game session. That way, you can end up with any spell based on the luck of the dice. In any case, all spells have potential and can have some effect on the game depending on their use. My personal preference of Lores, in order from favorite to least favorite however, are Heavens, Life and then Beasts. I also generally prefer spells with lower Casting Values. They may not be as powerful but you chances of getting one off during your Magic phase are greater while still leaving you some leftover dice with which you can use to try and dispel any of your enemy spells currently in play.