by Arjan Ackerman
Taken with permission of Skavenblight
This text is divided
in three pieces:
What I think of
the High Elf Soldiers
The advantages and
disadvantages of the High Elves
My Tactics
What I think of the High Elf soldiers
Dragon Princes- These guys
are not worth the points. What do you get for 43 points? A 2+
save, a lance, a horse, an ehh... an Elf. These guys just won't
cut it in a battle with other cavalry. With their Strenght and
Toughness they die very easily without having dealt major blows.
Then you've wasted 215 points (at least, and you should also give
them a magic standard, that's one advantage, the magic standard
for half price) on some pansies who got killed right away.
They do look great though. Maybe if you make a really big unit
with a General and a Battle Standard with battle Banner in it,
then you would be able to win combat. But I still think that
they're not worth it.
Silver Helms- No, then get these guys instead. These guys
can be equipped just as heavily as the Dragon princes, but if you
give them heavy armour you can field 8 of them for the point cost
of 5 Dragon Princes (assuming you gave the Dragon princes a
100-point banner, which in their case costs 50 points) and
they'll still be as fast. Giving them barding costs +8 points and
you lose -1 Movement. The quick movement is their greatest asset.
You can quickly go round an enemy and attack the flank (18"
marching/charging) thus creating havoc. Definitely field at least
6 of them, but don't make their units bigger than 8, because
this'll make them turn in bigger rounds and that'll cost you
movement. The Silver Helms can be used for all purposes.
Ellyrian Reavers- For 25 points you get nothing, you still
have to add the bows which makes them 29 points (that's
definetely one of the High Elves' main disadvantages, the high
point cost). But for those 29 points you have a nice hit-and-run
unit. You can charge potentially dangerous units, shoot your
arows and then move away again. You can divert the
opponents' attention from your main units if you let these guys
harass their defense. However, if you get hit you'll surely die,
so be careful with them. These guys have potential though, but
not if you let them be 'cannon flesh', or get them in combat.
They are like Dark Riders, and I once had a couple of Dark Riders
moving through my complete first defense in skirmishing
formation. Luckily I had some guys left behind to make sure I
wouldn't get charged in the back.
White Lions- Oh yeah!! Together with the Sword Masters
these are the High Elves' best infantry. They are stronger than
the ordinary Elf, they have a good save (4+) against shooting and
an adequate save in hand-to-hand (5+). Their 3 special tricks
make them the best attacking unit in your army. The Lion Rampant
(-1 to hit when charged) is handy when you fail your own charge
and get charged, the Lion Leaping (-1 Attack for enemy when
charging) is great when you charge a weaker opponent. The
opponent will sometimes have no attacks left and you can
slaughter the whole front rank at once, and also not lose men
because your double-handed axes strike last. Attacking big
monsters with your Lion Claw is also not too suicidal, because
you can hurt the enemy with your Strenght 6 and then cause D3
wounds per wound inflicted. I love these guys and you will too.
Put the general in a unit of 15 of these critters with a
good standard (Banner of Might, Battle banner, War Banner) and
see the opponent die in droves or run like hell.
Phoenix Guard- 14 points? 14 points? When you can get
stronger, way better White Lions for 16 points. Let's calculate:
14-2 (halberds)-2 (light armor) = 10. For +2 points you get +1 WS
and an oh so useful +1 Initiative. Thank You Games Workshop, my
Inititaive was so low, I really needed that! I use them as a
suicide unit sometimes,to create a surprise effect on the enemy
because I once bought two blisters of them (hadn't read through
the army book yet) and they are quite effective that
way because your enemy is like "What the
fuck?!" but 14 points? 14 points?
Sword Masters- Just as good as the White Lions, their two
special rules (shooters must deduct -1 from their roll to hit,
and they don't strike last) are very useful. Shame they're only
Strength 5, but these guys are very useful. They are actually
skirmishers (-1 to hit rule) and their Movement 5 while wearing
heavy armour makes them perefct for flank attacks. Not having to
strike last is very useful, you will kill a lot before the
opponent has a chance to strike. They could get to the other side
of the battlefield safely if you give their champion (or even
better, a hero) a Ruby Chalice. And add Alith Anar while you're
at it! -4 shooting modifier!
Lothern Seaguard- Very flexible troops, use them as
archers to shoot as long as you can, then reform and get ready to
receive the charge. Get them longbows (against Dwarfs this means
1 extra round of shooting) and heavy armour if you want. Have
them protect something important but make sure they don't get
flying things on their backs. These guys are like the best of
both worlds.
Elven Spearmen- Use them as one of your defensive units.
Their three-rank fighting makes them useful against tough
opponents, but don't think of starting to attack Nagash or a
Bloodthirster, because to something bigger than them they'll have
a hard time. Toughness 4 things will be in trouble, but cavalry
will kil them. Give 'em heavy armour, so with a 4+ save they have
decent odds of surviving. Quite everyone has a bunch of these
lying around at home, since they come in the same boxed set. Why
not use them?
Elven Archers- Never leave home without these guys!
They're your cheapest unit (10 points) so you'll be able to field
a big regiment of them (to Elven standards). Shooting with two
ranks with longbows always does damage to a standard guy of your
opponent. No armour makes them very easy to kill them, so against
a strong army get some more Lothern Seaguard with a 4+ save.
Ballistic units are not supposed to get into h-t-h so light
armour is a waste of points.
Shadow Warriors- Against Dark Elves always. They skirmish
and with light armour they get a 5+ save. They hate Dark Elves so
field as many as you can against them to even the scores a
little. Against big things they will have a very hard time though
so get Lothern Seaguard when not fighting Dark Elves but an army
with strong units.
Repeater Bolt Thrower - The only War
Machine with shooting capabilities of the High Elves.They can
potentially kill 16 opponents, use them against anything that
threatens your army. Get as many of them as your income will
allow, an army with the full 25% War Machines will surely do a
lot of damage! Focus on the enemy's artillery when starting, then
the rest.
Tiranoc Chariots - Risky, but fun if they
survive the ride towards the enemy. Imagine this, you just spend
132 points on a chariot with scythed wheels, a pair of extra
steeds (who are all barded), and your guys get a shield, longbow,
and heavy armour (4+ save) and this gets wiped out by one or two
cannons, or even worse, an archer unit. Wouldn't you feel fucked.
If you want them, get them as assistants, helping out where
necessary, or letting them attack armies with little or not so
powerful artillery (Undead (both armies), Chaos, Bretonnia). D6+2
S7 hits always hurt, and I've seen Undead chariots grinding their
way through the enemy and I'll probably get two in time.
Great Eagle - Very handy monster. It can
annihilate enemy artillery with its S5 and WS7 and afterwards
start attacking other units, and also aid where necessary. Pain
in the ass for the enemy general, occupy him while you send a
character to him to finish him off. And he's 75 points.
Alith Anar - Use him against Chaos and Dark
Elves. His magic items are helpful, especially his Stone of
Midnight and the Moonbow. Moonbow is fun against Dark Elves and
with the Stone of Midnight he's almost invulnerable in h-t-h.
Getting the unit he's leading to skirmish is great too, imagine
the Sword Masters or White Lions skirmishing! I'm buying him and
Tyrion to use against Chaos and Dark Elf armies, together they
cost 710 points compared to 725 points for Imrik and the simplest
Dragon, whom I won't use in such battles.
Eltharion- He himself is 172 points, it's his
equipment and his griffon take make him so expensive. Get Tyrion
instead, who's better and has better magic items.
Alarielle- Tha Babe. She can carry 7 spells
which makes her tremendous fun in the magic round, firing
of spells for free in one round. Her handmaidens are the
best Elf warriors. With the Horn of Isha they cause a lot of
casualties. Shame the Everqueen only has 4 wounds which makes her
vulnerable to artillery.
Belannear- If you dare to put a 550 points mage
Lord into battle I think he will serve you well. He has fantastic
magic items (-2 Strength, autodispel first spell, no armor save,
D6 extra Attacks once, one free power card extra for each spell,
the Verses) so he'll be a match for warriors and mages. I've used
the Mage with staff model as him once but failed to get him into
combat. I did rule the magic phase though.
Korhil- Hubba Hubba Hubba. Great fighter (WS7
S7), doesn't have to strike last, 3+ and 4+ save, and a great
bodyguard. He also does D3 wounds like all White Lions. This guy
is fun! Combine him with Belannear or another lvl 4/5 mage who
casts Apotheosis when Korhil's dead. Then run away from your
friend at the other side of the table, and watch out for those
long, sharp knives flying towards you!
Caradryan- As if a Ld4 creature would come and
slay him, so the Mark of Asuryan is useless, or do you think the
chances of slaying the Bloodthirster are really high (8.33%
actually).
Tyrion- Get him. I was unlucky to have bought
Imrik before reading the book, else I would have gotten Tyrion.
He is your best fighter (together with Imrik) but his overall
package is cheaper and he gets far better magically equipped.
Sunfang gives him S7 and D3 wounds, against Daemons all hits
wound automatically, and the firebolt is useful when surrounded
by weaker foes. The Dragon Armour is great (1+ save, 4+ special
save, fire...HA HA) and the Heart is useful too (4+ save against
magic, if slain he returns to live with 1 Wound). Malhandir makes
him march as far as dragons can fly, and has 2 WS4 S4 attacks
too. Superkiller.
Teclis- Tyrion's brother may be a fuckin' gay
when it comes to fighting, when the magic phase arrives he is the
Master of the battlefield. His 5 spells, the Scroll of Hoeth are
nice toys. The Moon Staff is highly destructive in the last round
of the game, when you only have to go through the magic phase and
then it's over (get it destroyed and Teclis is bound to die). The
Sword of Teclis is a bit of a waste 'cause you wouldn't send a
WS4 S4 T4 W4 A3 guy over to fight Nagash, now would you? He also
can't ride things so he's kinda slow on his own and is an easy
prey for cavalry.
Imrik- Together with Tyrion the creme de la
creme of High Elf Warriors. He's at least 725 points and his Star
Lance is only useful when charging but for the rest he will
definetely dominate the skies during the battle. All flying
objects are bound to be crushed when coming face-to-face with
Imrik and his Dragon. When really feeling like making these two
undefeatable let Imrik mount an Emperor Dragon, and when using
the Dragonhorn and being lucky you can send 4 WS8 S7 and 15 WS8
S8 towards the enemy. If that doesn't kill the mightiest of foes
nothing will. The Armour of Caledor is good, maximal 2+ and
minimal 5+ save, and also being immune to dragon breath. He and
the two Great Eagles first take out enemy artillery, then the
general and the mage, and then start killing off cavalry and
infantry. That is great fun, believe me!
The advantages and disadvantages of the High Elves
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Example army
18 Lothern Seaguard (with longbows) 270 15 White Lions (with
standard bearer and musician) 240 15 Sword Masters (with standard
bearer and musician) 272 30 Elven Archers (with longbows) 330
Regiments: 1112 points General in White Lions unit 160+ Mage Lord
in Sword Masters unit 328+
Characters: 488 points 2 Repeater Bolt Throwers 200 200 points
left for magic items and banners.
This example army is more focused on normal troops than on war
machines and characters. I don't need a beefed up super general
with Sword of Defiance, Spelleater Shield and Doomfire Ring
roaming around the battle field on his Emperor Dragon (1260
points) killing everything he sees. Things like a Staff of Nurgle
or Hellfire Sword will make your killer combo go bye bye. That's
why I made two equally big, equally strong units. Most opponents
have one unit in whom they depend, that storms up the field
crashing everything in its way (this can also be a character).
Who shall he attack. If you attack one, the other will probably
not be engaged by him for the rest of the battle, since both
units are big and tough. Or that other unit charges him in the
back, crushes him and kills him. Confusion! The opponent will now
spend a longer time on the field, maeuvering his units to attack
in a way which can defeat both units. This is the chance for my
ballistic units to strike. I have 48 archers and 2 bolters, and
together they can do a lot of damage. When something reaches my
side of the battlefield it will be much weaker than how it
started.
Deployment would look like this:
| Repeater Bolt Thrower | ******** ******* Archers |
**** **** **** **** White Lions |
********* ********* Lothern Sea Guard |
**** **** **** **** Sword Masters |
******** ******* Archers |
Repeater Bolt Thrower |
* marks character.
Lothern Sea Guard are conveniently placed between the two power
units, to force the enemy to choose one of the two units.
When you feel like playing an attacking game, swap the bolters
for chariots, replace the Sea Guard with Silver Helms, maybe take
out some Archers to get more cavalry or chariots, and blast away!