MorGrendel wrote:My experience in general with shooting is that the enemy is in combat with you no later than second turn, limiting any effectiveness of shooting, as they can't shoot into combat. That said I do fight a lot of ogres.
Your experience is pretty rare in this edition. Some circles call 8th edition the "gunline" edition because of just how nasty shooting is. Your Warp Lightning Cannons are kind of case in point. Shooting is absolutely devastating this edition. That's part of the reason I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate some kind of shooting. The Repeater Bolt Thrower is pretty crappy now and most opinions are that LSG are not worthwhile, so that leaves Archers.
In case you haven't figured it out, I have bad news for everyone reading: I'm bored and I miss Warhammer, so you get to deal with me posting an army list. Deal with it. Read on if you dare.
Archmage
-Level 4, Lore of Shadow, Annulian Crystal
Mage
-Level 1, High Magic, Sigil of Asuryan
Noble
-BSB, Great Weapon, Armor of Caledor, Guardian Phoenix
40 Spearmen
-Standard, Musician
11 Archers
12 Archers
22 Phoenix Guard
-Standard, Musician, Banner of Sorcery
24 White Lions
-Standard, Musician, Banner of Eternal Flame
24 White Lions
-Standard, Musician
2 Eagles
2500 points on the dot.
I'll probably use some of the Wood Elf Archers I have laying around since 1) they're cooler models than the crappy High Elf ones, 2) I wouldn't have to spend more money, and 3) I'm going for a Chracian theme here, which means woodland huntsmen, so Wood Elf tones go fairly well. The Phoenix Guard have been converted ever so slightly to fit with the theme (simply replaced the Phoenix Guard heads with White Lion heads). I have another full unit of Spearmen and a couple Lion Chariots I can throw in there as well. The Lion Chariots pain me not to include. They're such fantastic models, but for 140 points, being only toughness 4, and taking up valuable special points (I swear the ENTIRE High Elf book is made of Special selections) I just can't bring myself to do it. Maybe in next the High Elf book. Of course, if GW goes and makes something ridiculously awesome like White Lion monstrous cavalry (hey, I can dream), I'd probably use those =)
Any way, on to strategy. The Noble is pretty straight forward. Mandatory-ish BSB, big freakin axe, 2+ armor save, 5+ ward. He goes in the Phoenix Guard unit. The mages require a little more explaining. I've given up my hatred of magic. It's so hilariously unpredictable this edition that I've started to appreciate it. Plus, High Elves are supposed to be all about this magic crap, so ignoring magic would go against a major part of the army. This list is meant to absolutely dominate both sides of the magic phase in a way that only High Elves really can. Dwarves may be able to shut you down, and Skaven and Dark Elves might light you up like a Christmas tree, but High Elves are really the only race out there that can do both.
The level 1 mage has five jobs (damned bastard is takin' er jerbs!). First and foremost, stand there and look pretty. Second, be a nice little caddy for the Sigil of Asuryan. Jeff has been on the opposing side of this nasty little item, but for those of you that don't know what it is, I'll explain. It is a dispel scroll with a little twist: the spell you just attempted to cast is destroyed on a 4+. Poof. Gone. Kaput. In an edition where only one caster in an entire army is allowed to know a given spell (except the lore's base spell), this is a pretty damned nasty item. Mr. level 1's third job is to look devilishly handsome after having eaten your ridiculous "I Win" spell (I'm looking at you Dreaded Thirteenth). Fourth, cast Shield of Saphrey on some unit with as few dice as possible to give them a 5+ Ward Save. Shield of Saphrey is the lore's basic spell, so I probably won't even bother rolling for his single spell. Fifth, and finally, should I not have enough dice to do anything meaningful, Mr. level 1 will attempt to cast Drain Magic (gotta love a level 1 mage that comes with 2 spells). This raises the casting value of all spells by 3 until the beginning of my next magic phase. Minor, but annoying nonetheless. As you can tell, the level 1 mage is mainly there to be as annoying to my opponent's magic phase as possible.
While, the Archmage is obviously the primary offensive caster, he also has a little bit of magic defense as well. That little crystal he's caring? Yeah, that steals of your power dice and adds it to my dispel pool. Sorry. Give up on the magic phase yet? No? Damn. Well you can't say I didn't try. Armed with the +D3 power dice from the Banner of Sorcery, the Archmage's one and only job is to debuff the ever living crap out of the opponent's army. I've finally caved to the fact that the Lore of Shadow is hands down the best lore for an aggressive High Elf general. It does everything you could possibly want for a fragile, elite army. Need to kill a war machine? Well since they auto-fail initiative checks, Pit of Shades should do nicely. Is all that strength 3 having a hard time killing something? Say hello to Withering (-D3 toughness) and Mindrazor (Strength=Leadership; yeah that's right, strength 8+ Elves). Need to limit casualties in close combat? Enfeeble Foe it is (-D3 Strength)! The only spell I really don't care for is Pendulum, but that's what the level 0 spell is there for! The only real downside is the casting value of the spells: they aren't cheap.
Now on to the rest of the army. Eagles are awesome awesome things to have around. For only 50 points a pop, they can do so much for such little investment. High Elf players have literally created tacticas concerning ONLY how to use Eagles. The Archers and the White Lions are more or less designed to operate on the flanks without much aid. The Archers keep the fast, light units, such as fast cav, from getting around the edges. Thanks to everything being able to be wounded on a 6, the archers could conceivably target war machines as well should the need arise. The White Lions keep those big scary units from doing the same. The unit with the Banner of Eternal Flame is especially designed to hunt regenerating monsters (FIRE BAD!). The punch units are the giant unit of Spearmen and the Phoenix Guard (with the BSB). Normally, you wouldn't really consider these units punch units. After all, Spearmen are only strength 3 and Phoenix Guard are only strength 4 with their halberds. What they can do, however, is absorb more damage than most other Elf units. This is thanks to the (relative) cheapness of the Spearmen and the 4+ Ward save of the Phoenix Guard. This is where the Archmage comes in. One unit gets Mindrazor (the Phoenix Guard become strength 9!!!), the other gets Withering and/or Enfeeble Foe. If I don't get a spell off in a given turn, these units can stick around for more.
So there you have it, my madness in a nut shell. For all my trash talk and enthusiasm there are some pretty glaring weaknesses. First of all, monsters really hurt, especially flying ones. High Elves just don't have the high strength shooting or super tough units (everything is T3 after all) to be capable of reliably dealing with a flying monster. Second, it is fairly dependent on magic. It's set up to be able to survive a bad winds of magic roll, but you really have to get SOMETHING out of the magic phase every turn or things just won't work. Oh well. this should be fun to play with at the very least. That is until I play Jeff and his two Warp Lightning Cannons. I think I'd actually prefer Skaven get a new army book before High Elves did just so I wouldn't have to deal with those ridiculous things anymore.
Alright, I'm done hijacking this thread. You can sound the all clear. The danger has passed.
