Written by Banjulhu

The purpose of this tactica is to give an quick overview to the generic spells on offer in Relics. There are a lot of options for casters to choose from and knowing what each one can and can’t do is key to getting the best out of them.

Instead of going over all of them in depth this Tactica will be focusing more on the top spells that should always be in contention to be chosen by a caster and the ones to be avoided rather than the more middle of the road spells which while not bad take a lot more work to get good returns on.

Closer look at how spells can be utilised and combined will be kept for Tacticas looking at specific casters and armies as both play a major role in how you go about casting during a game.

The Top Dogs

Cripple: An easy but low range way to drop an enemy units defence through use of a pain counter. Obviously this will not do much against a Brit army or an automaton heavy Nuem but for everything else it is a nice cheap de-buff to stack on an enemy unit. Worth taking if you are fighting a living enemy and you intend to get up close with them.

Cleanse: Cleanse removes a lingering effect or permanent spell on a single friendly unit per success. The value of this spell is determined a lot by your opponents army choice, against Ocnar it will not be of much use, however against Nuem or Vaettir it could be invaluable if (more likely when) they pack units that can drop counters with ease.

It’s 2 Knowledge cost also makes it a bit of a hard sell compared to a lot of other spells and can often leave it as a secondary pick on big casters or the only spell chosen by a low knowledge caster in a list with multiple casters.

Exhaustion: Like Cripple but drops an exhausted lingering effect rather than a pain one making it more applicable than Cripple. It comes with a low base range (4″) and a high knowledge cost limiting its attraction but can be a good way to debuff key enemy units. Not a no brainer choice but a contender for someone building a melee force.

Heal: Does what it says on the tin, fixes up independents and squads alike. A good choice for any caster with a point of knowledge spare.

One clever use in a Vaettir army is to cast it on a Vstonin unit that has lost a model and made 2 Elvspon to bring back the dead Vstonin which can be sent out to die to make more ‘spon.

Distraction: Makes a targeted unit count as activated, this is a phenomenally power spell that can stop enemy counter attacks dead and deny them key units, don’t want those Highlanders to charge you or allow the Vealad to cast, then throw a Distraction at them and worry no more. Simply put this spell used properly can change the dynamic of an entire game.

Unfortunately this power comes with a cost, 2 drain minimum going up to 6 drain to use it at full range. To  get the best out of this spell you need to really cast it from a distance as when casters are up close to the enemy they face too many threats. This typically limits it to really only being a viable spell choice for the Vealad, Huntawalu and Poena Domini who can take the 6 drain and still throw the spell out with little worry.

Fireball: The go to spell for offensive casters with destruction in mind. The more successes made whilst casting give a stronger damage roll so this spell is best used by casters with a lot of dice to power it up. If your target unit has a def of 1+ you should always drop extra drain into the spell to ignore it as that potential extra success would just be wiped out from the attack by the unit’s def if not spent to ignore it. Until recently spending drain to drop a fire lingering effect on the target was just not worth it but now that fire has some serious teeth it’s not so cut and dry anymore, now you have to decide if gaining a 3d6 (4d6 if doll) damage roll against the target when they next activate is worth dropping a potential 1d6 off the attack roll of the spell.

Guided Arm/Shot: A simple buff to a unit’s Combat or Range stat. It makes crap units decent and decent units absolute nightmares. The cost to take and to cast are both high but the fact that this out and out gives you more attack dice makes the spells worth it. The only thing to avoid is casting it on single model units as it is unlikely to give any noticeable returns.

Shadow: Obscures a unit until the start of its next activation. A +1 to def is always good especially given that ignore def abilities don’t ignore it in most circumstances. Used with a bit of forethought can make it very hard for the enemy to kill you at range, just remember to  activate the intended target before casting. This spell is particularly useful to the Vaettir and the Brits because they have access to out of activation movement tricks to allow adaptable placement of the obscured units.

Vortex: A much better version Maaj Drain because it can be done at range rather than from within your army’s lines. Spell’s like this will never bother the big casters, they simply have so many dice they will pretty much always be able to do something, but the mid and low level casters will hate having a couple of these dropped near them. Ultimately it may be a little to tricky to pull off to be a first pick spell but if your opponent is packing Puppeteers or Pueri then this can help shut them down.

Spells to Avoid

Most spells in Relics have a workable use even if it is not as good as others or has some drawbacks (March of Stone etc) however some spells available to casters are just naff and should really be avoided.

Blinding Light: Most casters have outstanding defences to begin so don’t really need to worry about reducing the enemies attacking capacity to put them on minimal attack dice but what makes this spell suck is that it buggers output of the caster and whatever friendly unit you have acting as his bodyguard as well as the enemy so makes your life just as hard as the enemy’s.

Horror: A waste of dice to drop a single -1 on an enemy’s Morale. Not exactly the spell’s fault, Morale is so rarely a big thing in the ebb and flow of most games and even when it does crop up the -1 from the Horror lingering effect is just lacklustre.

Lightning: A weaker version of Fireball, that can be given an AoE added effect. Just a shame the spell has a range of 6″ and the added AoE comes out to 4″ meaning the blast is likely going to hit your own lines as well.

Loud Voice: You are playing a game on a 4′x4′ table in which most Commanders have a 10″ or greater Command Range, units don’t move that fast and the mechanics promote keeping an army quite compact. If you do feel the need to have some units move away from the support of the rest of the army take a unit with the Outrider ability.

Maaj Drain: Reducing your opponents power dice is cool, having to do it from up close and gutting your army’s dice in the process is not.