Alright, so I got my Gargantuan Black Dragon (henceforth referred to as GBD), now what? I'd really like to see some genuine suggestions for a 500-point dragonslayer warband. I'm leaning a bit toward an Aspect of Moradin all-dwarf team, but they might be too slow to engage. If you're so inspired, post your warband from whatever faction and include a battle report. I'd like to sample everyone's tactics and hear how they worked. Don't feel that you have to be a tactical genius to post, just tell us what you used, what happened, and how it went. Thanks!
OK, OK! Quiet, now, everyone. I can't hear if you're all talking at once...
If you have access to the Book of Exalted Deeds then I suggest you have a Vassel of Bahamut in the group. You can support him with a skylord,stalker of Kharash, and a Sentinel of Bharrai. I put such a group together to challenge a green dragon but they would work well against a black as well. Throw in a risen martyr they are immune to acid at 4th level.
OK, so here's a quick off-the-cuff 500 point warband...
Epic Mounted Paladin x2 (226 pts each, stats at WotC website)
Half-Orc Paladin (48 pts)
Total = 500 points
The good: The warband is fearless, the Mounted Paladin's attack bonus is plenty good enough to penetrate the GBD's AC, smiting evil is fun, the Mounted Paladins are fast enough to minimize the impact if the GBD decides to use the dragon pools to hop around the board.
The bad: A sucessful charge attack, coupled with Smite evil, does 60 damage, only 10% of the GBD's HP. The GBD doesn't need to move around, it can absorb the first charge and just clean up in rounds 3-5. The Half-orc paladin doesn't offer much to the mix, as it won't be able to hit the GBD, and it's commander effect is nigh-worthless. None of the miniatures have any acid resistance, and it only gives 2(!) activations.
I haven't used this in combat yet. It's a flavorful and cool warband, but I predict that the GBD would just tear it apart in short order. The GBD just has too many HP and too many activations.
Amal,
This might not be the best forum to post skirmish warbands and strategy as most posts are aimed toward RPG players.
Try the skirmish boards at Hordelings.com or Maxminis.com.
Got my GBD yesterday and well impressed. Need to go and design some anti GBD bands that will have a chance.
Hope CRD is as good as it looks.
Steve.