A list of games to comment on.

• Warhammer
  
• Samurai
  
• Risk
  
• Diplomacy
  
• more to come...

Warhammer is a game with many aspects -- terrain, psychology, special characters, magic, weather, monsters, war machines, turn based sequences of play, tremendous carnage, and probability.

Magic

For combat purposes the Skaven army has probably the best spell selection for combat attack spells. The Skaven also have some great ways of getting extra power to casts spells thanks to their disgusting habit of munching on warpstone. So if you are fighting Skaven you have to watch out for the grey seers (they can turn your unit into a skaven unit, or take over a special character of yours).

For overall magic prowess the Lizardmen are the most versatile and can employ both high and battle magic. Also the Lizardmen army have some great ways of dealing with wizards (such as Blade of Cocacila).

The Empire can take advantage of the Staff of Volans (lobs spells for free and with total power)

Just about every army has some kind of edge with magic. The dwarves have magic runes, the bretonnians have the Fay Enchantress, the dark elves have dark magic, etc.

After glancing at the magic book here is what I have gathered (this is only an observation) Most armies have some way of protecting their elite unit from a hostile magic attack. Most hostile magic spells will fail if a player prepares for it. However, you can use magic to strengthen your own troops. Battle Magic seems the best choice for the job.

Battle Magic

• Amaranth (Amethyst) power 1 - doubles a characters toughness up to 10 max
• Vengeful Hood (Amber) power 1 - special save 4+ if in hand to hand, every wound saved automatically causes a wound to the foe that dealt it.
• Net of Amyntok (light) power 2 - 12" unit is stuck and spell remains in play
• Abulla's Snare (light) power 2 - 3d6" snares a model and makes it helpless until the wizard killed. The spell can be cast repeatedly. If dispelled, only one model is freed.
• Light of battle (light) power 2 - 3" take a model and turn it into a s10 attack that moves 2d6" in a direction of your choice. This continues until dispelled, or on d6 roll you get a 1 or a 6 (on a 1 the target is dead, on a 6 the model is free).
• shimmering cloak (light) power 1 - need a 6 to hit the wizard in close combat, immune to range attacks.
• Cerulean Shield (celestial) power 1 - immune to attacks that cause only 1 wound, otherwise save on d6 if the roll is higher than the wounds inflicted. In addition the shield can save on a 4+ against automatic death or spells that cause wounds (but a spell attack destroys the shield).
• Portent (celestial) power 1 - can reroll one dice roll even after it is rolled (lasts one turn)
• Fortune (celestial) power 3 - a unit can reroll any failed armor save, to hit, damage, or leadership test.
• The Spiral Stair (jade) power 1 - automatically dispells enemy spells! wizard has an armor save of 2+! only flying troops can attack the wizard! The wizard can cast spells without reduction to range or line of sight restrictions!
• Flesh of stone (jade) power 2 - and character model within 6" has their movement chopped in half and their armor save removed. But!!! double Strength and toughness. Also a special save of 4+ takes the place of the original armor save.
• Mist of Duthandor (jade) power 2 - affects a unit within 24" no missiles can be fired in or out. Unit has no line of sight, moves randomly at half rate. If the affected unit engages in hand to hand combat the mist covers its opponents. Number of hits inflicted on both sides are halved. A unit broken while in the mist is destroyed!
• Traitor of Tarn power (grey) 3 - a unit within 24" caster chooses a model and rolls 3d6, if it is greater than the models leadership the model is under the players control. this continues until a model passess the leadership test or the entire unit is taken over (spell remains in play).
• Dance of dispair (grey) power 2 - 24" moves a unit d6" regardless of terrain until dispelled or the unit leaves the battlefield (unit can do nothing while affected).
• Bridge of shadows (grey) power 2 - moves a unit 18" including elevations such as a magical spiral stair!