Warhammer Magic

Magic is very important, fluffy and epic part of Warhammer Fantasy (40k now gets to taste some of it, sort of. Psychic powers + sheer epicness = Warhammer Magic).

Fluff-wise, magic is a wind, which flows from great Chaos Rifts on Warhammer World's poles. It flows out as dark and chaotic Dhar wind, but later splits into eight winds, each of which governs a certain aspects. Greatest wizards in the world (namely, High Elves, Wood Elves and Slann) can then weave the winds back into a single force - Sapheri, or High Magic, no longer dark or chaotic, but tremendously powerful. The winds are fickle and their flow may wax and wane multiple times during the same battle. The winds are unpredictable and hard to control, so wizards trying to harness to much power at once tend to invite some unpleasant surprises - the rampant energy can burst outward, incinerating allies, scar mind and soul of the wizard, robbing him of magical power, or just obliterate the wizard outright. A powerful and dangerous force.

Crunch-wise, each magic phase a player rolls 2d6 to determine the strength of the winds, gaining that many dice to cast his spell. His enemy also gains the highest of the two dice to try and "dispel" (i.e. couterspell) the spell. Each wizard also may "channel" for additional dice, rolling a die and adding a die to the pool on a roll of 6. Number of dice in either pool may not exceed 12 at any point. Casting the spell basically involves rolling a deliberate amount of dice from those available to try and beat the casting value of a spell, with wizard's level added to the roll result. Dispelling involves rolling dice to try and beat the caster's result. Rolling two or more 6's on casting attempt results in the wizard drawing upon too much power at once, which goes out of control, causing Irresistible Force and Miscast. The spell goes off no matter what, but the wizard (or those nearby, or every other mage in the army) suffers pretty unpleasant consequences. Almost all lores have a lore attribute - a passive effect or an active component that is added to each successful casting of that lore's spells. In some cases (ahem, Life, ahem) lore attribute is so powerful it makes the actual spells matter not so much.

There are 8 "Lores of Battle Magic", which are common among most races, though most have some limitations (Bretonnian Prophetesses cannot draw upon powers of Death, Vampires, abominations against nature, cannot draw upon Life and so on). Many races have certain racial magics, such as Necromancy of the Vampires, Skaven Lores of Ruin and Plague and the like. Most of them won't be covered here (instead they are covered on their respective race pages). However, certain racial lores are shared by multiple races (notable example being High Magic), so I'll describe them.

All spells are divided into following types:

• Magic Missile - basically, shooting attacks, with all shooting restrictions (need line of sight, no firing into melee, no firing in combat, etc), which hit automatically and distribute hits as per shooting.
• Direct Damage - has no such limitations, but generally has shorter range. Direct damage spells usually target models as opposed to units and make great character killers. Template damage spells are also in this category.
• Hexes and Augments are basically non-damaging spells that either help or hinder their targets (buffs and debuffs or boons and conditions, if you are into vidya). They can deal damage, but it is mostly conditional.
• Magical Vortices - round templates, that move across the battlefield in certain direction, RAPING up things they touch. Are among the costliest and the most powerful spells in the game.

All damage dealt by spells counts as magical (yeah, some people had doubts about it). Armour saves can be taken against spell damage, unless stated otherwise. Magic Resistance (X) improves unit's Ward Save by X when saving against spell damage (even if just one model has it, whole unit has it; it only works against damage and instant death, like any other save - it has no effect on hexes/augments; it only works against spells, and spells alone - it is useless against regular magic attacks; if the model has no ward save, it creates one).

Lastly, each regular wizard generates a number of spells, equal to his level (1-4) from his selected lore. He can swap any spell for the "signature spell" (the first spell after attribute in every lore). Loremaster just knows all spells from his selected lore. No two wizards may have the same spell in a single army, unless it is a signature spell or it is just granted to the wizard (due to a special rule or Loremaster rule).

Magic plays a big role in the Storm of Magic expansion, where you can wield even bigger and deadlier magics. More on the subject can be found on that page.

Classic Lores

Light: Wind of Hysh, Lore of Light

Kinda egyptian/semitic in flavour, with Light Wizards often wielding snake-headed staves and wearing pharaoh-like headdresses. Once was a signature lore of the "good guys", but now Tomb Kings, Dark Elves, Vampires (with certain gimmick) and Wood Elves (whoever calls them "good guys" gets a tainted arrow in the gut) can use it. A great support lore, best used to augment slow (whether in I, WS or M department) units or annihilate "tainted" creatures. It is worth noting, that most augments in this lore can be boosted to affect all allied units in certain radius, so Light mages often stand in the middle of their forces, like shining paragons. Take this lore if you run a lot of slow heavy infantry or play against Undead/Daemons.

Available to: Empire, Vampires with Forbidden Lore, Tomb Kings, Lizardmen (Slann only), all Elves.

• Lore Attribute: Exorcism: Cleansing power of the Light is especially damaging against Daemons and Undead. (Tomb Kings, Vampire Counts, Daemons of Chaos, and select things from Beastmen and Warriors of Chaos), causing damaging spells to deal 1d6 more hits of damage. Take it if you are playing against those aberrations and troll away =)

• Shem’s Burning Gaze: A holy fireball which can pumped with more casting dice to have a very far range and deal more damage. Not bad especially, for a signature spell. Against Undead or Daemons it's a fast moving middle finger that'll crush what it hits most likely. Has flaming attacks, so is kinda cool against Tomb Kings.

• Pha’s Protection: Summons the image of some kind of diving thing to protect the wizard and the people around it. You are less likely to get hit in fight and even by cannons, and you can spread that in a lovely 12 inch bubble of cannon freedom. This would be really great for Warriors of Chaos Knights, but that's the drawback to eating babies and raping flowers I guess.

• The Speed of Light: You know these Ogres/Saurus which have really nice stats but a shortcoming in WS and I? You know High Elves hitting you on a re-roll 3? If you said yes, you will LOVE this spell. MAX WS and I for one Unit or everything in 12 inches, turning a re-roll 3 into a not re-roll 5, easy one of the best buffs in Warhammer magic. Just hope those pointy-eared bastards didn't take it too.

• Light of Battle: Ethereal-style happy thoughts straight from the Warp and gold colored. Making one unit Unbreakable is not always what you want, but most times what you need. Also it makes the target instantly rally if it's fleeing. Basically a butt-saving spell for dire circumstances.

• Net of Amyntok: Summon a giant sparkly magic net woven by a god. Makes the enemy unit test for S when moving, shooting, casting, going to the toilet, everything except close combat. Failing the test, the unit can't do that AND takes some damage. Neat. Cast this on a unit with Teclis and see how well he can cast with his S2. Or cast on a Necromancer and laugh as his casting attempts incinerate him with Exorcism.

• Banishment: Shem's Burning Gaze, but cranked up to the max. It's a magic missile that deals 2d6 S4 hits with an additional 1S for each spellcaster with Lore of Light nearby (yours or your enemy's). In addition, the target must re-roll ward saves it passes so you are looking at the ultimate daemon killer, which its name of course implies.

• Birona’s Timewarp: The top spell in Light, makes the laws of time stop applying for a short amount of time (it's magic, that isn't supposed to make sense). Makes your Unit or for increased casting value everything in the 12 inch bubble move Matrix-style. The units double in speed, get ASF and one more attack so cast this whenever you feel like it, and whenever you can muster the power dice. Cast this on Saurus Warriors and have a little skirmish with those elves.

Gold: Wind of Chamon, Lore of Metal (and Alchemy)

Yep, alchemy; turning whatnot into gold and stuff, a shame it can't buy you additional points with said gold but never mind. Mainly deals with high-armour target and is pretty much a lore to murder enemy elite units. Take it against Warriors of Chaos, Lizardmen and Dwarfs.

Available to: Empire, Beastmen, Chaos Warriors and Daemons, Vampires with Forbidden Lore, Lizardmen (Slann only), all Elves.

• Lore Attribute: Metalshifting: All your damaging spells are flaming attacks and have no strength - instead they wound the enemy on his armour save roll, with no armour saves allowed. Virtually useless against armourless enemies. And yes, Scaly Skin counts as armor for all purposes. Logic? Bleh.

• Searing Doom: Shoot little white-hot slivers of metal out of your hands. Standard 24 inch range magic missile causing d6 hits, but does 2d6 if you bump up the casting level.

• Plague of Rust: Better than fielding a Rust Monster, disintegrates the enemy's armor reducing a specific model's armor save FOR THE REST OF THE GAME by one point. You can CONTINUE CASTING THIS ON THE SAME MODEL to further reduce their armor. Because there's nothing funnier than a naked Archaon running from a unit of Skaven Clanrats for dear life. Keep in mind, it makes target more resistant to your own spellcasting!

• Enchanted Blades of Aiban: Wizard magically sharpens the weapons of everyone around him. Target unit gets +1 bonus to hitting with shooting or melee attacks for a turn. Makes them magical AND Armor Piercing. Pretty nice spell when you're running big units, or your favorite unit is meeting its equal on the battlefield.

• Glittering Robe: Caster makes everyone who's his friend some really gaudy magic cloaks of pure metal. Gives a unit, or all friendlies in a 12 inch bubble if boosted, a serious hard scale armor (Scaly Skin (5+)). Probably useless if you play Lizardmen of course since that's like putting alligator skin clothing on an alligator, but +2 to your armor save is fantastic for literally anything else.

• Gehenna’s Golden Hounds: Caster whips a gold whistle out of nowhere and two giant robot dogs appear and kill the fuck out of whatever the caster points at. Spell deals d6 hits to the chosen model, but it gets a Look Out Sir roll. Basically, it is inferior to Searing Doom, unless the target receives no LOS (e.g. a mounted Chaos Lord in a unit of Chaos Warriors). Against regular characters in units and unitless characters (e.g. Apophas or some dragon-riding Prince) Signature is better.

• Transmutation of Lead: Makes the enemy's weapons much heavier for a short time. 24 inch range hex, target model has a -1 to WS, BS, and armor save for a turn. Powered up version has a 48 inch range. Lets you cripple an enemy by a bit. Unlike Plague of Rust it's a one-turn effect, but also unlike Plague of Rust this spell makes them hit weaker too. Good for a dangerous model already in close combat or firing at your troops. Good deal to make elite things mediocre and normal things weak.

• Final Transmutation: Here you have it, transforming things into gold and living things on top of that. Choose a unit within 18 inches. Roll a d6 for each model in it, for things with 1 wound on a 5+ it instantly dies. More than one wound only a 6 will kill it. Turning 1/3 of an enemy unit into gold without any kind of save is not bad, and you can even kill enemy heroes with luck. Oh, and the next round every enemy unit within 12 inches of the one that was hit has to test for stupidity on the next turn to avoid running for that unit to carry some of their dead friends away to pawn. Not the BEST of the final spells in the lore choices, but there's just something really fun about using it. If you're really an asshole you can buy some models that you know the opponent has, dip them straight into the gold paint well, and bring them along to put on the field as casualties (unless it's a Dwarf player at which point they'll probably already have said models).

Jade: Wind of Ghyran, Lore of Life

The first druid lore. It is a sort of D&D druid, tree-hugging hippie gardener, who calls upon the power of daisies to smite the baddies. This is the most commonly used Lore by lord level mages, and probably most common lore at all. Ideally, you need 4 level or Loremaster at best because you need the third spell, the Throne to really rock with this Lore and of course other spells so that they can grow stronger. This Lore will make your units tough as hell, is easy to cast and is indeed eco-friendly. Incredible defensive lore, but mighty boring.

Available to: Empire, Lizardmen (Slann only), all Elves, Bretonnia.

• Lore Attribute: Lifebloom: Whenever a spell from this lore is successfully cast, a single model within 12 inches of the wizard may regain 1 wound (doesn't raise dead though). Incredibly awesome attribute, often making it worthy to take/keep/cast a useless spell just for some healing. It is often useful to have a level 1 Life wizard stuck in some tarpit, spamming Earth Blood just to heal nearby Dragon/Lord/Monstrous Infantry.

• Earth Blood: 5+ regeneration for the mage's unit makes it kinda weak, but is sometimes useful on Slann (a regenerating horde of Temple Guard is something that will not die under nearly any circumstances), Damsel or Branchwraith. In any case, it is a nice cheap spell to spam for the attribute.

• Awakening of the Wood: Calling out to make the trees move in a way that would wood elves cry. It's crap as long as it's not buffed AND the enemy is hiding in the woods. Still, it's even cheaper than signature and can be used to spam attribute heal.

• Flesh to Stone: Classic "Stone Skin" spell, grants a unit a big bonus to toughness. Cast this on elves so that they are hard as Stone, cast this buffed up on heavy cavalry to make them as hard as diamonds, get an ally cast this on a Necrosphynx to... oh my god...

• Throne of Vines: One spell to buff them all, one spell to ... oh wait wrong universe but hey, this spell gives the whole Lore its meaning by seriously buffing the rest of the spells. Oh and you get a 2+ save against miscasts. Less explosions so less fun but probably safer for your 500+ point Slann or the likes. Incredible spell.

• Shield of Thorns: Looks really bad in this incredible lore, but not so bad on its own. Target unit deals some S3 hits to enemies in base contact. Still, has its uses, easy to cast and can be taken on your level 1 healer if his unit has no use for Regen.

• Regrowth: While your attribute can only heal, not resurrect, this spell does right that. Target unit regains wounds, reviving dead models. Do not forget to wear your biggest trollface when you unleash a buffed version on your nearly-dead elite unit.

• The Dwellers Below: Here is your one-spell-solves-all-problems-spell. Cast it on a unit and see everything taking strength test, and when they fail they are dead without any save, because little Dwarves crawl out of a hole in the ground and take them with them. Yes those badass mages, and those funny Commanders (which get +3S while attacking) are all for naught and their unit with them. Easily one of the most devastating spells.

Celestial: Wind of Azyr, Lore of the Heavens

A mixed bag lore, it contains some pretty good buffs/debuffs, some nice damage and good utility, but excels at nothing. A good lore, but often outshone by other lores. Can be good if you want a monster/lone character-hunting mage, but don't want to go Death.

Available to: Empire, Ogres, Vampires with Forbidden Lore, Lizardmen, all Elves, Bretonnia.

• Lore Attribute: Roiling Skies: Spells targeting enemy flying units deal bonus damage to them, not super-useful, but not bad, especially with the rumors of new flier rules in the next edition and most races getting some sort of fliers.

• Iceshard Blizzard: Blinding your enemies with snowflakes, making him fail more often, because he can't see. Oh and he can't see his pals so his LD is taking a little dump. Not the most devastating spell, but for a cheap price and a signature spell really working well.

• Harmonic Convergence: You know how you have these super-awesome-heavy-cavalry-rapetrain-unit? You attack and only roll 1s and you need only 2s? That is no problem. This spell let you re roll every 1 your unit rolls for a turn, so give it to your elite units and don't fear the ones.

• Wind Blast: A magic missile which pushes enemy units around. Ultimate when you have a Mage on flying mount to mess up the enemy movement phase, but worth it every time, though not terribly competitive. Use against Goblin Fanatics, commence trollface.

• Curse of the Midnight Wind: You read the Harmonic convergence? This is the other way around. The enemy unit has to re-roll all 6s it rolls, so no poison or killing blow, or even wounding your monster with T6 while having S4. Everything is fine with this and it comes with a bubble version.

• Urannon’s Thunderbolt: Calls down a bolt of lightning dealing a few high-strength hits. Use it on enemy monsters, lone characters or very small, very elite units (e.g. Blood Knights).

• Comet of Casandora: Perhaps the most damaging spell out there, it calls a comet at target spot, dealing somewhat random damage in somewhat random radius after somewhat random number of turns. Very unreliable and easy to dodge, but with right planning it can be utterly devastating. Also, one of the few means to deal S10 damage in the game. Can be boosted to obscene levels.

• Chain Lightning: THIS is how you play Palpatine or Thor or any other kind of crazy thunderbolt thrower, potentially shooting a thunderbolt at every freaking enemy unit on the field. Perhaps you should say something like "come to the dark side or perish" while you do this, even if you play high elves. Basically, it is Thunderbolt which makes you roll a d6 after it hits - on 3+ it hits another unit, rinse-repeat until you roll less than 3. Due to a low number of hits and high cost, it is not as powerful as it may seem, but still awesome. Can wipe whole armies' worth of MSU in a few casts, it does.

Grey: Wind of Ulgu, Lore of Shadows

Shadow Magic is superb support lore, rivaling even Life. Where life is defensive and reactive, Shadow is versatile and proactive, afflicting an enemy with a variety of hexes and debuffs, softening an enemy up and making him weaker all round. Damage spell are just a little bonus and aren't why you are taking this lore, but they are powerful in their own right. They are basically templates with Initiative tests, making them extremely powerful against slow units (wiping out hordes of ghouls or entire units of temple guard) and they scale really well with signature spell.

Available to: Empire, Beastmen, Chaos Warriors and Daemons, Vampires, Lizardmen (Slann only), all Elves.

• Lore Attribute: Smoke and Mirrors: When a Shadow spell is successfully cast, the wizard may swap places with another friendly character in range. Useless most of the time, but can be useful to escape close combat, while bringing a melee powerhouse into the fray.

• Melkoth’s Mystifying Miasma: Signature Spells are bound to be good most of the times and this one truly is. It reduces one or all (if boosted) of the following: M,WS,BS,I of a enemy unit for d3. Incredibly useful and versatile. Even better when used in conjunction with the damage spells in this Lore. It is often worth it to take a level 1-2 Shadow wizard just for the sake of spamming this spell.

• Steed of Shadows: Casting your own shadow Horse, probably feeling like the Ghostrider or something like this. Sadly its not as useful as it was so no thank you, but points up for invisible shadow horses.

• The Enfeebling Foe: Making your enemy weak. Really, really weak, with a bit of luck. This spell is so nice to reduce the danger to your units and it even stays in the game, so your enemy has to waste power dice dispelling this or decide to never make a kill with this unit.

• The Withering: Other way around, making your enemy not weak but less though until even an elf can club him down. Like his counterpart staying in the game so your enemy will have to dispel this and don't have the dice to do the same to you in his magic phase. A must-have spell for S3 units, ESPECIALLY archers with S3 bows, ESPECIALLY Wood Elf archery lists.

• The Penumbral Pendulum: Swinging a big, albeit almost invisible, pendulum into the enemy lines. First damaging spell, it hits all models in a line. Line is of random length, so consider exploiting lore attribute to quickly get in range, fire it off and blink away. BTW, it is a use for the Steed of Shadows!

• Pit of Shades: Second damaging spells. Small (or large, boosted) template of DOOM!. It scatters and stuff, but against hordes of Saurus or Undead it is just brilliant.

• Okkam’s Mindrazor: The greatest buff (if not the greatest spell) in the game. Basically, target unit uses LD for wounding instead of Strength. See even Dragons and Chaos Knights falling like flies before you. Does not stack with S bonus so no great weapons, but hey, if you are in general's bubble, you likely have Ld 9-10 anyway! Tip: cast it on swarms. Their S2 becomes S10!!!

Amethyst: Wind of Shysh, Lore of Death

"Assassin" lore, it focuses mainly on character or monster slaying, although it has some nice support spells. Death is always a good name for spells, and its true, there are many deadly spells among this Lore, albeit they are mostly to kill enemy heroes and not so much entire units.

Available to: Empire, Beastmen, Ogres, Chaos Warriors and Daemons, Vampires, Tomb Kings, Lizardmen (Slann only), all Elves.

• Lore Attribute: Life Leeching: Basically, you get power from killing. For every wound caused by your spells, you have 33% chance to gain a power dice. Not bad, but pretty useless with so few unit-killing spells.

• Spirit Leech: The fantasy version of Eldar mindbattle, this spell will not work against Vampires but against Grey Seer or so it's a strike of genius.

• Aspect of the Dreadknight: Grants the target Fear, or Terror (when boosted). Not the most useful spell, but incredibly cheap and can be used to make a unit ignore enemy's Fear/Terror.

• The Caress of Laniph: Summoning a ghost which, which want to know the enemy hero a bit better, and while she's at it she steals his life force ... yeah we all know women like that. Well long story short sniping an enemy character without armor saves (duh if the witch is in your trousers you have no armor), only if the enemy is really strong he can go through it unharmed. Hits just have 50% chance to wound, no matter the toughness, but the number of hits is reduced by target's strength.

• Soulblight: Your mage sucks a bit on the soul of the enemy making him less strong and though. Works in a freaking 24 inch bubble so it can hit the whole enemy army and making even Chaos Knights to mere humans (at least on S and T). Very good, but often loses to more specialized Shadow hexes. Still, not a bad substitute to Withering when dealing with high-toughness foes.

• Doom and Darkness: DOOM! again, a nice word and realy fitting, since the enemy unit which this is casted on has as heroic as a lone skaven in the Chaos Wastes. So cast this on the enemy general to take the LD bubble away, or make sure that stupid units get stupid, or cast on enemy with Okkam's Mindrazor and have them flip a table.

• The Fate of Bjuna: Yeah the last sniping spell and it's the strongest as long as the enemy character has no high toughness. Because the enemy is gonna laugh until he explodes (and if it doesn't hit, the enemy player may laugh until he explodes...) So cast this on humanoid characters and see them explode in laughter. Cegorach's Loec's favourite spell, I bet.

• The Purple Sun of Xereus: Also known as the Purple Sun of Prepare your Anus, the Purple Sun of Xereus is a big purple ball of FUCK YOU that floats around on the battlefield semi-randomly, and anything that touches it takes an Initiative Test or DIES. Just like that. Very difficult to cast, but when you pull it off correctly it can murder entire armies of Lizardmen or Orcs. Cast with your last dice and laugh maniacally as it refills your dice pool with lore attribute >:D

Bright: Wind of Aqshy, Lore of Fire

You know these D&D mages always throwing fireballs at everything? You wanna be one of them? Good this is your choice. Pure damage lore, inflicting tons and tons of not-too-strong flaming hits on pretty much anything.

Available to: Empire, Chaos Warriors, Vampires with Forbidden Lore, Lizardmen (Slann only), all Elves, Ogres.

• Lore Attribute: Kindleflame: Each subsequent damaging Fire spell cast sets your Amazon Kindle on fire at the same unit in the same phase is easier to cast. Not great, but if you plan on destroying a big fat horde per turn - can be nice.

• Fireball: Your one-for-all damage spell goes from "easy to cast and not so hard to hit" to "hard as hell to cast and roasting a mammut ... herd". You always want this spell, because you can use it against nearly everything. From flaming a little flanking unit or flaming away this regeneration from this Hydra to turning entire Swordmaster units to dust or softening up this big big horde of core units. When you want Fire magic you want it because of this spell. Also, keep a level 1 Fire wizard. If your Wizard Lord somehow dies, pump all your useless dice into super-fireball each turn.

• Cascading Fire-Cloak: A defensive spell only working on the mage and his unit. Not really worth it, since you don't want your mage in combat, except perhaps for Firebelly or Dragon Mage.

• Flaming Sword of Rhuin: The second best spell in this Lore, because it helps your little, weak elves/humans/anything to wound better and by the way ignore the regeneration of the enemy, especially good for all elves, but generally not a bad spell. One of the few spell to help archers overcome their S3 bow weakness.

• The Burning Head: Your Mage throws a burning and screaming head on the enemy. Mediocre damage in line and causes Panic... which is kinda weak in the current edition.

• Piercing Bolts of Burning: Fancy fireball, with number of hits scaling off target unit's ranks. Basically a spell to annihilate Goblins, Skeletons, Skavenslaves and Zombies. Nice.

• Fulminating Flame Cage: So now you imprison your enemy in flames and if he moves, he is toast. Again against really big units its great against heavy cavalry its lame. But it's always funny to see a light flanking unit destroy itself in the charge because of this spell, or not flanking, so that you can win against the enemy in front. Note, this is a hex, so doesn't work with lore attribute.

• Flame Storm: Yeah big plates to throw, but only S4 and not really with sniper precision, so no thanks. Still, the name is cool.

Amber: Wind of Ghur, Lore of Beasts

The second druid lore. This is a kind of druid/shaman with sacrificial knife, covered in pelts, horns and skulls of sacrificial victims. The Lore for everyone who wants to buff his units, especially the heroes. The Lore Attribute will mostly affect you if you play Beastmen or Bretonnia, but even then it's not so much of an effect.

Available to: Empire, Beastmen, Ogres, Vampires with Forbidden Lore, Lizardmen, all Elves, Bretonnia.

• Lore Attribute: Wildheart: Basically, your spells are easier to cast at cavalry, warbeasts or Beastmen. Can be nice if you are playing Beastmen (duh), Bretonnia or run a cavalry High or Wood Elf list. But still sub-par.

• Wyssan's Wildform: The signature spell and WHAT a spell this is! It will make your measly humans go and win against other units and it will make your Bestigors or Minotaurs go rapetrain against nearly everything for one round. Another spell it is worth taking level 1 wizards for.

• The Flock of Doom: Yeah doom sounds nice, but it's only doom if your enemy is afraid of birds. It is like a new episode of hitchcocks "the birds" with a few crows pecking on the enemy unit, good enough to make this stupid harpies go away but there are better options. Useless spell.

• Pann's Impenetrable Pelt: Make one or more heroes harder to wound, it won't save your unit, because the enemy can hit something else most times, but if your hero is currently challenging a dragon or so this spell will make his chance to survive go over the 0%.

• The Amber Spear: Magic bolt thrower with pretty good damage. Can be boosted to start with S10. Awesome?

• The Curse of Anraheir: Making your enemy stumble over roots and die, is one funny thing to do, especially against these tree-loving wood elves. Also it makes your people harder to hit, what more do you want? Awesome spell.

• The Savage Beast of Horrors: Yeah now we're talking. Giving one or more heroes way more strength and attacks and he will rip entire units in two. Really if you have a lot of cheap heroes and can make this spell hit them all at once its good-bye for your enemy

• Transformation of Kadon: What was that about more strength and attacks? Forget it, this will turn your mage into a fricking MONSTER, what do you want? A Hydra? A Dragon? A Chimaera? Everything is possible. Ok it prevents your mage from casting, but you will only ever cast this in cc so who cares?

Just remember - it can be dispelled, possibly leaving your mage in close combat, and all wounds are carried over - two wounds may not seem a lot for Chimaera, but will kill a hero-level mage.

Uncommon Lores of Magic

Saphery: all eight winds woven together, Lore of High Magic

Previously a High Elf-only lore, it is now available to Wood Elves and Lizarmen also. It is a nice, balanced lore, with enough support, defense and damage spells. Notably, it has separate attributes for each race and it has two signature spells (you can choose either or both).

• High Elf Lore Attribute: Shield of Saphery: Successful High Magic spellcasts grant the wizars and his unit +1 to ward save. Stacking. Stick a mage into a phoenix guard unit and they will never die.
• Wood Elf Lore Attribute: Ancients' Protection: Successful High Magic spellcasts grant the wizard's units a protection token. When an unsaved wound is taken by the unit (or wizard), discard the token to prevent that wound. It's like proactive Life attribute!
• Lizardmen Lore Attribute: Contemplation: Successful High Magic spellcasts allow the wizard to forget the spell he just cast and roll for a new spell from any allowed lore (including High Magic; yeah, he can just pick a signature instead). Very interesting and versatile option. You can start with High Magic Loremaster and quickly learn all the cool signature spells you want!

• Drain Magic: The first signature spell. An interesting spell. It dispels all active spell effects from the target unit (friend or foe) and can be boosted into a bubble. Pretty nice against high-cost spells, which are hard to dispel conventionally or to clear away the mess that Shadow wizard dumped upon your elite unit.

• Soul Quench: The second signature spell. A most basic magic missile, 2d6 S4 hit.

• Apotheosis: Now we're talking. Restores 1 wound to the target (d3 wounds if boosted) and is extremely cheap (even when boosted). Also grants the target Fear, but who cares about that?

• Hand of Glory: Basically, reversed Melkoth's Mistifying Miasma. Boosts WS/BS/M/I or all four by d3. Nice, cheap, etc.

• Walk Between Worlds: The target gains Ethereal and may immediately move 10 (20, boosted) inches. Not the worst spell ever, but overshadowed by almost everything here.

• Tempest: Large round template, S3 hit, S4 against fliers, scatters d6 inches. Also, the target gains -1 to hit with all attacks and template weapons need a 4+ roll. Not bad, though nothing special.

• Arcane Unforging: Wounds like Lore of Metal spells (roll on armor save), hits a single model, causing single wound. What is best, if it hits, one of target's magic items is randomly destroyed on a roll of 2+!!! Ghal'maraz, Banner of the World Dragon (if the initial hit gets through the ward save, that is), Armour of Destiny, any of Archaon's or Teclis's gimmicks - anything!

• Fiery Convocation: If you thinks you've seen horde-killing spells already, think agains. This beauty (or horror, depending on your perspective) causes a S4 flaming hit on every. single. fcking. model. in the target unit. And it will hit again at the end of every. single. fcking. magic phase, until dispelled. Cast it at the unit of Skavenslaves or Goblins and make sure that person will never ever play against you again.

Dhar, the pure Wind of Magic, Lore of Dark Magic

Technically, it is the same magic Vampires use in their lore, but different spells. Despite the fact it has two hexes and even an augment, this lore has just one purpose - to blast the almighty freaking crap out of anything and everything. Once it was only available to Dark Elves, but now Wood Elves learned it too. Like Hi Magic, it too has separate lore attributes and two signature spells.

• Dark Elf Lore Attribute: Spiteful Conjuration: Successful Dark Magic spellcasts cause 2d6 or 3d6 bonus S1 hits to the enemy target if the casting roll contained any doubles or trebles. Not bad. More damage is always nice.
• Wood Elf Lore Attribute: Wrath of the Wood: Successful Dark Magic spellcasts put a vengeance token on the target. Damaging Dark Magic spells cast at the target consume these tokens to increase number of hits inflicted by d3. Not only does it simply boost damage, it also acts a sort of deterrent - the enemy may think twice before moving his precious elite unit with vengeance counter into your wizard's range.

• Power of Darkness: The first signature spell. Awesome name, awesome effect. First of all, it grants the mage and his unit +1S, which is just a fluffy bonus - what the hell is your mage doing in melee? (although it may be nice with Sisters of the Thorn and their javelins). Secondly, it generates d3 dice. If 3 dice are generated, the wizard takes a wound with no armor save. Now, on levels 1-3 it ain't easy to castit with 1 dice (casting value 8), but on level 4 it is always worth a try. It is always nice to get more dice and get your sorceress killed. Always take it on level 4 wizard.

• Doombolt: The second signature spell. Every magic missile's big brother. It deal 2d5-4d6 S5 (!) hits and is capable of wiping entire units outs. Pure DOOM! Though it ain't cheap for a signature.

• Chillwind: A weak (S2), cheap magic missile. Nice part is - it gives the target -1 to BS. Cast it with your last dice at those Waywatchers or Maiden Guard and laugh.

• Word of Pain: By Sigmar's balls, oh the horror! First of all, this cheap monstrosity gives the target -d3 to both BS and WS for 1 turn. Secondly, it can be boosted (for a minimal increase) to give -3 to S and I! It basically turns absolutely any killing machine into a hamster for 1 turn. And now imagine dropping elite unit's WS to 1 and then slapping them with Bladewind...

• Bladewind: Every model in the target unit must make a WS test or take S4 AP hit. Don't bother casting it at elves - use it on gobbos, slaves or undead and watch them get ripped to bloody shreds by a storm of flying swords.

• Shroud of Despair: Target of this hex cannot benefit from general's or BSB's bubble, and any leadership check it fails causes a -1 penalty Ld for 1 turn. Not brilliant, but cast it on greenskins or beastmen and watch the fun! (And no, Skaven don't care for their general so much, they

• Soulstealer: A small plate of S2 hits with no armor saves. Seems useless? Wait for the nice part. For every unsaved wound inflicted, this spell grants the wizard a wound on a roll of 4+, up to a maximum of 10. Now you can spam Power of Darkness all you want. In melee, if you want. Against enemies with multiple wound weapons, if you want. Vampires wish they were so immortal.

• Arnzipal's Black Horror: To quote another member here "Oh baby. This thing is crazy. Like warpstone-laced cocaine." It is basically the Purple Sun from Lore of Death, with all the gimmicks - remains in play, moves randomly, etc. Starts with small template, can be boosted to large. There is one major difference with the Purple Sun. PSoX tests I, which has most variable values among different units. ABH tests Str, which has low variance (though few units have S lower than 3). Generally, ABH is more reliable.

Lore of Tzeentch

would be nice to have it here, since 2 races can use it, but imma too lazy to do it. anyone?

Lore of Slaanesh

would be nice to have it here, since 2 races can use it, but imma too lazy to do it. anyone?

Lore of Nurgle

would be nice to have it here, since 2 races can use it, but imma too lazy to do it. anyone?

Lore of Khorne

There is just one spell in the lore of Khorne - whack that enemy with anything sharp or heavy. Very effective.

Unqiue Lores of Magic

While the main flavours of Warhammer magic comes as those above and you will most likely face an average wizard using one of them, many races have their own unique lores as well.

• Lore of Tzeentch: The magic of the chaos god of change, the spells of Tzeentch focus on control, mutation and chaos itself. You can rarely expect to remain the same if you get hit by the mutli-coloured flames of change.
• Lore of Slannesh: The magic of the chaos god of lust, Slannesh's lore focuses on pain and pleasure, distracting the foe with illusions and even controlling them. A bit of a toss up if it will give you an orgasm or make you wish you were dead or both at the same time.
• Lore of Nurgle: the magic of the chaos god of plague, no surprises what Nurgle's magic does here. It is all about wearing down the foe with status effects and wounds. However, they can also regenerate their own troops, if they don't mind rotting a bit too.
• Gut Magic: Not really traditional magic, Gut Magic is the magic of the shaman/religious figures the Butchers of Ogre society. They channel the power of their god the Great Maw into acts which produce effects just like magic.
• Lore of Necromancy: A corrupt version of the wind of death used by necromancers and vampires, this lore is all about raising hordes of minions to fight for you and stealing the soul of your enemies.
• Spells of Da WAAAGH! Used exclusively by the orcs and goblins. Orc spells are loud, brutal and unsubtle (just like the caster) and get stronger the more orcs are stuck in da fightin'. Goblin spells are much sneakier and spiteful, focusing on bringing the enemy down to the goblins' level for a good backstab.
• Spells of Plague and Ruin: Used exclusively by the Skaven to inflict disease, crumble buildings and topple empires.
• Lore of the Wild: Used exclusively by the Beastmen, essentially a corrupted version of the Lore of Beasts. Summons various monsters and tides of venomous insects.
• Lore of Nehekara: Used exclusively by the Tomb Kings, raises dead, buffs for your units, debuffs for the enemy, and a generic vortex.
• Lore of Hashut: Used exclusively by rich kinds cheesemongers Forgeworld Smurfs Chaos Dwarfs. Dunno anything about it, may anyone leave a short comment?

A few spells are not given any lore. Lord Kroak's only spell is descrbied in detail in the Lizardmen army book, but is not given a specific flavour. If it had, it would probably be High Magic or some unknown Lore of Ancient Doom and Cheese.

Historical Lores

These lores were squatted, either alone or with their respective army books.

• Lore of Athel Loren: The magic of the Wood Elves, using the power of the forest of athel loren itself. The spells were about creating advantages for the wood elves, often in forest conditions (make sure to have some tree scenery then wood elf players!). Got replaced with High and Dark magic, and the signature Tree Singing was turned into a most useless magic item ever.
• Lore of Ice: Used exclusively by the people of Kislev, it is described as the magic of their land. Had some interesting spells, but got cut along with Kislev army book. A shame, really.

Notes

I'm not sure about which race has which lores, so I've probably made some mistakes. A short comment on Lore of Hashut needed. Someone should probably describe chaos lores. My work here is done.