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Hi all

I recently finished up some of my first Druchii units and I am experimenting with some army lists. I have no experience playing Fantasy, but I did a lot of research and watched numerous battle reports. I went for what seemed effective and what I like.

I already have the following: 30 Darkshards, 2 Reaper Bolt Throwers and 1 Dreadlord on Cold One.
I am organizing to get my hands on some bits in order to build 30 Dreadspears and 30 Bleakswords. (60 Bodies and 30 shields, the rest of the bits are all included in the Dreadspear/Bleaksword/Darkshard kits).

Please feel free to leave comments, advice and criticism. We all need to start somewhere and I would like to hear what some more experienced players have to say.

--Lords (259pts):

-Dreadlord (259pts)
Cold One (25pts), Hand Weapon, Heavy Armor (6pts), Light Armor, Shield (3pts)
Always Strikes First, Fear, Hatred (High Elves), Murderous Prowess, Stupidity, Thick-Skinned, type: War Beast
Magic Items (85pts)
Magic Weapons (40pts)
Ogre Blade (40pts)
Talismans (45pts)
Talisman of Preservation (45pts)

--Heroes (384pts)

-Master (139pts)
Cold One (12pts), Hand Weapon, Heavy Armor (4pts), Lance (6pts), Light Armor, Shield (2pts)
Always Strikes First, Fear, Hatred (High Elves), Murderous Prowess, Stupidity, Thick-Skinned
Banner or Magic items (45pts)
Magic standard (no limit) (45pts)
Razor Standard (45pts)
Razor Standard

-Sorceress (130pts)
Hand Weapon, Lore of Dark Magic, Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
Always Strikes First, Hatred (High Elves), Hekarti's Blessing, Murderous Prowess
Magic Items (15pts)
Arcane Items (15pts)
Channelling Staff (15pts)
Channeling Staff

-Sorceress (115pts)
Hand Weapon, Lore of Dark Magic, Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
Always Strikes First, Hatred (High Elves), Hekarti's Blessing, Murderous Prowess
Magic Items
Arcane Items

--Core (610pts)

-Dark Riders (110pts)
Light Armor, Musician (10pts), Spear
Always Strikes First (Riders only), Fast Cavalry, Hatred (High Elves) (Riders only), Murderous Prowess
5x Dark Riders (100pts)
5x Repeater Crossbows (15pts), 5x Shield (5pts)

-Dark Riders (110pts)
Light Armor, Musician (10pts), Spear
Always Strikes First (Riders only), Fast Cavalry, Hatred (High Elves) (Riders only), Murderous Prowess
5x Dark Riders (100pts)
5x Repeater Crossbows (15pts), 5x Shield (5pts)

-Darkshards (130pts)
Hand Weapon, Light Armor, Repeater Crossbow
Always Strikes First, Hatred (High Elves), Murderous Prowess
10x Darkshards (130pts)
10x Shield (10pts)

-Darkshards (130pts)
Hand Weapon, Light Armor, Repeater Crossbow
Always Strikes First, Hatred (High Elves), Murderous Prowess
10x Darkshards (130pts)
10x Shield (10pts)

-Darkshards (130pts)
Hand Weapon, Light Armor, Repeater Crossbow
Always Strikes First, Hatred (High Elves), Murderous Prowess
10x Darkshards (130pts)
10x Shield (10pts)

--Special (730pts)

-Black Guard of Naggarond (330pts)
20x Black Guard of Naggarond (300pts), Halberd (+1 Str), Heavy Armor, Musician (10pts), Standard bearer (10pts), Tower Master (10pts)
Always Strikes First, Eternal Hatred, Immune to Psychology, Murderous Prowess, Stubborn

-Cold One Knights (260pts)
8x Cold One Knights (240pts), Dread Knight (10pts), Hand Weapon, Heavy Armor, Lance, Musician (10pts), Shield
Always Strikes First (Riders only), Fear, Hatred (High Elves) (Riders only), Murderous Prowess, Stupidity, Thick-Skinned

-Reaper Bolt Thrower (70pts)
Reaper Bolt Thrower
Dark Elf
Hand Weapon, Light Armor
Always Strikes First, Hatred (High Elves), Murderous Prowess
Dark Elf
Hand Weapon, Light Armor
Always Strikes First, Hatred (High Elves), Murderous Prowess

-Reaper Bolt Thrower (70pts)
Reaper Bolt Thrower
Dark Elf
Hand Weapon, Light Armor
Always Strikes First, Hatred (High Elves), Murderous Prowess
Dark Elf
Hand Weapon, Light Armor
Always Strikes First, Hatred (High Elves), Murderous Prowess

The Dreadlord and Master go into the large unit of Cold One Knights which will act as a rather large flanking hammer. Each Sorceress will be assigned to an individual Darkshard unit. I assigned Dark Magic to them in the roster since it is their signature magic type, but I am open to suggestions of any other type. They will be used to pick off units from a distance, and if necessary, used as a small support unit if thinks start to go South during late game phases. They are technically glorified Bleakswords, so with the shields they will be more survivable if stuck into a close combat situation. The twin Reaper Bolt Throwers will be used to deal with monsters/heavily armoured units and will be stationed between the three units of Darkshards, making it harder for any warmachine hunters to flank and destroy them. The two units of Dark Riders will act as vanguarding warmachine hunters and because of their fast cavalry roles they can be used to deny charges if the situation demands it (example: a unit is attempting to flank Cold One Knights, which could be devastating). The Black Guard will be used as an Anvil. They have better armour and survivability than most other units and thanks to their Stubborn/Immune to Psychology rules they will be usefull in tying up other dangerous units.

1) Remove individual points from your list. GW gets cranky when you post them online. Point TOTAL for a unit or character are acceptable. Giving the point cost for each option is not.

2) See if you can't give the combat characters Sea Dragon Cloaks. The extra armor makes a difference.

3) Give the BSB a more defensive magic item set (Amor of Destiny, Dawnstone and Charmed Shield, something like that). The COK Standard Bearer can carry the Razor Standard instead.

4) Which means putting a standard bearer in the COK.

5) Give the other sorceress a Dispel Scroll or the Ring of Hotek. Without a L4, you're behind the 8-ball when it come to defending against enemy magic and you need something to make up the difference.

6) Dark Riders like having a musician along for the +1 to rally after fleeing.

7) Darkshards NEED a musician so they can do swift reforms, and shoot stuff coming in on their flanks.

8) 10 Darkshards won't do much in close combat, shields or not. You need 20 in a unit to be a backup close combat unit. But then you lose some flexibility in your shooting...

9) You might be better off with the Razor Standard on the Black Guard, allowing them to take on armored units better. Then the COK can take either the +1 move banner, the flaming banner, or something else of value.

10) Which is all mostly nitpicking. Overall it's a pretty solid list.

So I took some of Vulcan's advice and made a few adjustments to the list.

Total points is 1998.

--Lords (267pts):

-Dreadlord (267pts)
Cold One, Heavy Armor, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield
Magic Items:
Ogre Blade
Talisman of Preservation

--Heroes (396pts):

-Master (126pts)
Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy Armor, Shield
Magic Items
Dawnstone

-Sorceress (140pts)
Lore of Dark Magic, Wizard Level 2
Dispel Scroll

-Sorceress (130pts)
Lore of Dark Magic, Wizard Level 2
Channelling Staff

--Core (630pts):

-Dark Riders (110pts)
Musician
5x Dark Riders
5x Repeater Crossbows, 5x Shield

-Dark Riders (110pts)
Musician
5x Dark Riders
5x Repeater Crossbows, 5x Shield

-Darkshards (140pts)
Musician
10x Darkshards
10x Shield

-Darkshards (140pts)
Musician
10x Darkshards
10x Shield
Darkshards (130pts)
10x Darkshards, Musician

--Special (705pts):

-Black Guard of Naggarond (375pts)
20x Black Guard of Naggarond, Musician, Tower Master
Standard bearer
Razor Standard

-Cold One Knights (190pts)
5x Cold One Knights, Musician
Dread Knight
Sword of Might

-Reaper Bolt Thrower (70pts)

-Reaper Bolt Thrower (70pts)

The following changes were made:

1) Individual points removed. I did not realize that adding the points is a problem, but it is simplified now.

2) I gave the Dreadlord a Sea Dragon cloak, but I could not allocate the points to the Master/BSB to give him a cloak as well

3) I gave the Master/BSB a Dawnstone to allow him to reroll failed armour saves. I feel this cancels out not having the cloak and still makes him more survivable.

4) I did not add a magic standard/standard bearer to the Cold One Knights for the following reasons: The BSB is placed within the unit of Cold One Knights so they will have that failed Leadership Test reroll available to them. The second reason is that losing a 30 point model because of a Break result seems expensive.

5) I gave the one Sorceress a Dispel Scroll. If possible are there any suggestions on what magic type to give to the Sorceress other than Dark Magic?

6) I added musicians to the units of Dark Riders.

7) I added musicians to the units of Darkshards.

8) The main focus of the Darkshards is shooting. The small 10 man units means that They can be deployed in 5x2 blocks making them flexible while still allowing all units to shoot. A unit of 20 can either be arranged 5x4 (Still flexible, but looses shooting) or 10x2 (full shooting, but is not as flexible, will need to reform to maximize on the flanks on smaller units).

9) I gave the Razor Standard to the unit of Black Guard. Since the Black Guard will be charging the fronts of units it makes sense to have them murder what is infront of them faster. The +1 Strength of their halberds + Armour Piercing will make them more effective against armoured or tough units. I did not give the Cold One Knights a magical banner since only one Razor Standard is allowed per army. Adding the Flaming Banner is too situational since it only affects Flammable units or those with Regeneration Special Rules/spells cast on them.

10) Thanks for the tips and suggestions Vulcan. They are much appreciated. Please feel free to correct me if I have any rules or facts wrong.

The great thing about Dark Elves is that...everything is good. Some of the book is better than other parts, but none of it's awful.

Most people in Fantasy like a lvl4 Wizard; magic is so boom-and-bust, they want every edge they can get. Even if it's just to stop your opponent from nuking you.
If you're really sold on the Dreadlord, though, just think of him as a linchpin that holds the army together. He's hard to kill and a lot of points, but he won't actively earn you many points himself.

Pretty much every army ever takes a Dispel Scroll when possible.

Blackguard are awesome. They're not as specialized as other units, which means that they'll never excel like Executioners or Witch Elves will, when they get into a fight that they want, but it also means that there just aren't a lot of fights that the Blackguard don't want.

Beyond that...Doomfire Warlocks. They are stupidly good. Just bananas.

This is probably a strange thing, but I am not that into the magic element of Warhammer. I am planning on later expanding to a 2500 points list where I would most likely add a Supreme Sorceress and and a Dreadlord on a Dragon (yes big target, but also a terrifying target). Doomfire Warlocks is the first thing I am adding to a bigger list when the day comes. I enjoy having both static and very mobile elements in my army. I have seen most players ignore Fast Cav only to have them bite them in the back late game since they focused more on eliminating the rank and file infantry units.

Overall I am having fun putting this army together. I am getting great support from the community and the minis are beautiful. I am putting much effort into making them pretty little killing machines.

a lvl2 with a dispel scroll is fine for magic defense at 2000 points. Warlocks will help with offensive magic.

You going to Nats in August?

If I can get a army painted up by then the chances are pretty good. Otherwise I'll visit Pretoria during the year and just play some club games.