Weather Warning - The Ethereal Cloud

With the release of the new Vampire Counts book there has been the inevitable discussion of how the meta game will change. Certainly the previous release, Ogres, changed the meta by significantly improving the viability of a Monstrous Infantry build. Up until then infantry had been the dominant troop type and the tools for dealing with infantry, didn’t necessarily work on Monstrous Infantry.


Along lurches the Vampire Counts and suddenly the new hotness is the “Ethereal Cloud”, an army of Core backed up by as many ethereal models you can fit in. Of course you get the “Sky is Falling Crowd” led by the Warhammer Henny Pennys who populate the internet and tell you how overpowered the build is.

And of course like the story of Henny Penny, it isn’t.

The easiest way to deal with Ethereal units is to have a ready supply of magic attacks. Daemons, Wood Elves and parts of the Warriors of Chaos and Skaven army have this in spades. Remember also that Page 7 of the BRB FAQ tells you that all attacks made by magical items are considered to be magical attacks. This includes attacks made by weapons, armour and banners unless it specifically is excluded in its description.

There are five magic weapons in the Common Magic Items that are 10 points or less so there is considerable opportunity to cheaply outfit a character for the role.

Magic missiles are a great way to deal with an ethereal unit and virtually every army has access to one in its arsenal. The most obvious is the signature Fireball spell that gives you the opportunity to generate up to 3D6 hits. For the points conscious the common Ruby Ring with its bound fireball is also an option.

“Aah, but what if they put 5 ethereal characters in a block of zombies so they can’t be targeted”. Well besides it being a pretty expensive way of generating a limited number of attacks, the unit is very susceptible to warmachines/impact hits. It also provides a very large drag on your Hero allowance reducing the number of casters you can include.

Of all the armies out there, Orcs & Goblins are probably the least suited to dealing with ethereal units. However they still have access to the tools. It probably means they just need to spend less on the toys and commit a part of their points allowance to dealing with ethereals. It doesn’t need to be large but it probably needs to be included in the mix.

So is the sky falling? I personally don’t think it’s even cloudy.