‘Warhammer: The Old World’- The Five Best Monstrous Cavalry Units
Sometimes in Warhammer: The Old World, bigger is better. If you are talking about Cavalry, these are biggest and best Monstrous Cavalry Units around.
We’ve all had our hands on The Old World for a bit. The game has really shaken out over the last two years. It’s also changed with several FAQs. Today, we are continuing our series, looking at the best units form various categories. We’ve at a lot of infantry such as basic core infantry, elite heavy infantry monstrous infantry and ranged infantry. That’s covered most of the infantry and we’ve gotten into cavalry and chariots.
Today lets take a look at one of the more powerful, and often dominant units types, Monstrous Cavalry. Not ever army gets these, and not all of them are good, but those that are good tend to be really good, and become a dominant force in games. Today we are looking at both core and legacy armies. We have looked at these before but things have changed as more books and FAQs come out.
5. Necropolis Knights (Tomb Kings)
We are starting off with a strong Tomb King unit. Now they don’t hit as hard as some other monstruous cav unit, but this is a unit that puts out a lot of attacks. With impact hit they get six a model (7 for champ) and are a decently tank-y unit themselves. Poison for the serpents is a small buff and being undead they’ve got some nice tricks, like getting healed, which just makes them a lot better. Necro Knights excel in smaller units and are great for running down lightly armored enemies. However their lack of AP makes has them struggle a bit with heavy armored enemies.
4. Dragon Ogres (Beastmen and Warriors of Chaos)
A rare unit that is the star of two factions, Beastmen and Warriors of Chaos! Dragon Ogres are a solid and powerful monstrous cavalry unit. While a lot of the other units on this list get stuck with S5 attacks, Dragon Ogres can get up to S7 with Great Weapons, but also have access to some other good choices. Yeah they only have 3 attacks, but two stomps really helps even out their damage with good output. a 3+ save and solid rules and support makes them just a strong overall unit.
Despite solid stats and a strong reputation, Dragon Ogres just aren’t quite as good as they seem. Despite being cavalry, they don’t have either swiftstride or counter charge which makes them just a lot slower and less flexible then other cav units. The unit also can’t take a banner barer, which puts its at a disadvantage. Changes from the Match Play Guide also prevented people from spamming a bunch of long champions, an early tactic. While they are still strong, they tend to come out the worse for wear in a lot of fights.
3. Mournfang Cavalry (Ogre Kingdoms)
If we are talking about sheer hard hitting power, then honestly Mournfangs are number one. You’ve got three attacks each from rider and mount, plus d3 Impact hits. No other monstrous cav unit gets up to 9 attacks a model! You really don’t want to be on the receiving end of these guys charging. While they can’t get lances, the riders can take Great Weapons giving them a nice AP -2. Outside of that option however the AP of the unit is on the lower end. But it’s a flexible unit, being able to get up to a 3+ save and have 4 wounds. They have some good combo options. The units is also pretty fast.
They are held back a bit by not having Countercharge, or any of the other great special rules, like Stubborn or Veteran. Indeed at LD 7 they are kind of in trouble if not supported somehow. WS 3 is also a huge draw back given their cost. They also can’t take a magic banner. Overall it’s a really solid unit, that while lacking some of the cooler special rules, hits like an absolute train.
2. Demigryph Knights (Empire)
Demigryph Knights are one of the few things the Empire has going for it, and probably the second best unit the faction gets. They are a nice combination of hard hitting and tough. Getting up to a 2+ save gives them the best save in the class and makes them a pain to take down. Though the rider only has a single attack, it does get a lance. The mount with 3 S5 ap-2 attacks is the real star here. Overall they are great at taking down heavier units with a good amount of good AP attacks. Counter-charge is a nice buff, but outside of that they lack any interesting special rules base.
This is in large part fixed by having access to the knightly orders. These upgrades, which not free, give you access to a lot of flexibility and rules. Depending on what you want you can get extra attacks on the charge, or a save or some other tricks. These help punch up the unit, with some nice extra options. Also unlike some of the units on this list (Mournfangs and Dragon Ogres) they get access to a 50 pt magic banner, which is another great way of giving you extra buffs.
1. Pegasus Knights (Bretonnia)
I don’t think there is any surprise here. Pegasus Knights aren’t just the best monstrous cavalry unit in the game, they are one of the best units. Indeed for a time they were the best unit period in Warhammer: The Old World. This is a super fast and flexible unit. It’s not the hardest hitting, but it does hit pretty hard, especially when comb’ed with characters. Flying, skirmish and Counter-charge mean it pretty goes where it wants and charges all the time. While there are a few other flying skirmishing monstrous cavalry units out there none of their hit as hard or are as tough as Pegasus Knights. Thanks to Bretonnian rules they are a lot harder to kill then they might seem and have some crazy combos. I doubt I really need to say more at this point we all know how good they are.
Let us know what you think about the list, down in the comments!
