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I spent 10 minutes with it today, so while my rumours are reasonably accurate, memory permitting, they are far from complete. Sore points are iffy so I have added ??? where needed. Hopefully I will get a better look and will get to clear up the report.


The book.

As normal for new codexes there is a lot of background material, you get the same ammount of background as you found in the High Elf release. Some secondary characters are fleshed out, many new to the background. Sorry I didnt get to read the details.

The Miniatures

The new corsairs and cold onne knights are ther only new unit minutures I saw. Alkl the others were the same as current stock. Gw have not gone overboard on new minis for Dark Elves, probably because of new marines around the corner.
There were some new character miniatures though.

The list.

Dark Elves special rule. I checked this rule thoroughly, you can be assured this rumour is accurate. They only have the one special rule, its not especially potent, as High Elves ASF was:

Eternal Hatred. Dark Elves hate anyone and everyone, as per the normal hatred rules. Against High Elves hatred lasts into the second and subsequent turns of a combat. this hatred applies to all Dark Elf models - it is listed on a case by case basis but it includes every actual dark elf miniatures and the war Hydra. The only unit without Eternal Hatred are Harpies. Furtghermore, and this is the nice bit, it effects ridden mounts. So if the rider hates you, his dragon hates you too. However an unridden mount (exception of War Hydra) no longer benefits from Eternal Hatred.

Characters.

Special characters. There were plenty, each got one page. They were:

Malekith
Morathi
Hellebron (?) cant remember the name, byut the other Hag queen from the 5th edition dark elves
Malus Darkblade
A new character (forgotten name) with the Mask of the Kraken, his miniture has a helmet in the sape of a squid head.
Tullaris, leader of the Executioners
Kouran, leader of the black Guard
Shadowblade (complete with Heart of Woe, which now means if he is killed you use the largeblast template to dish out automatic S3 hits - roll for partials are normal).

I dont guarantee that there werre not more, and I didnt get to see what most of them did.


Mounts:
Dark steed
Cold One
ark Pegasus
Manticore (always rolls a 6 on monster reaction table)
Dragon

Khainties

Some units and characters are listed as Khainites. Khainite units can only be led by Khainite characters, Khainite characters can join other types of unit.

Characters

I cannot remember the actual names used

Lord: 140pts
as usual

Supreme Sorceress (Lord):
- Can ride any of the mounts available. so you can take a Manticore or Dragon for your Sorceress Lord. ??220pts??

Sorceress:
-Mounts 'up to' dark Pegasus. 100pts

Hero:
IIRC called a Master, ?80pts?. Can take mounts 'up to' manticore, can take 'beatmaster items'. Does not need to take both together, essentially the new Master is whatever combination of Hero and beastmaster you want.

Hag (Witch Elf hero):
No mount or armour options.

BSB can be either a Hero or witch elf hero.

Core:

Dark Elf Warriors 6pts each. yes dirt cheap cannon fodder

Dark Elf Crossbowmen 10pts each. Repeater crossbows CAN stand and shoot with both attacks.

Dark Elf Corsairs: Cloaks add +1 in melee combat, +2 against all others armour saves, including spells. A little rules box does say you can have two repeater crossbow handbows for 2 normal or 4 multiple shot attacks, you get enough crossbows in the box to give every Corsair two. IIRC 10pts. when persuing opponent reroll highest dice used to determine how far he flees. Nice new models.

Assassins. Yes Assassins are CORE. They cannot be taken as mandatory core choices, you can take one for every infantry unit you have except harpies. So playerscannot guess your assassin content by counting your other characters, and there is little limit of how many you can take.
assassins get ASF and wuith their I9 will strike before High Elves. Cost IIRC 62pts.

Harpies:

Cant remember if Dark Riders are core.

Special:

Black Guard: Get two attacks, stubborn and a special rule to reroll all misses. They cost 13pts

Executioners: S4 cost 16pts

Cold One knights: S4 one attack each for knight and cold one. 27pts

Chariots:

Shades: 16pts

Witch Elves: Only one basic attack.

Rare

War Hydra

RBT

No report on items as yet, but I hace been told some combinations are rather nasty.

Bannner of Nagaroth: 125pts Unbreakable, all units within 12" gain +1CR.


Magic

Only use their own lore, Dark Magic.

Dark Magic has six random ranged attack spells ranging from 5+ to 11+ cast. The first two are magic missiles. There is no real versatility to the magic at all, just different ways to blow up the opponents units.

They also have a seventh spell available to all Dark Elf sorceresses. cast on a 4+ this spell gives the Sorceress D3+1 power dice to use this magic phase, and unused dice at the end of the magic phase results in a(IIRC) S4 hit on the caster. There is also a 40pt bound item power level 4 which can cast this spell again for you.

All sorceresses have the special ability of being able to use any number of power dice to cast a spell.

Generally what this means is that Sorceresses have the nasty ability to cast plenty of spells each turn, each high powered, this also means they kill each other off with miscasts. Miscast results that immediately end the magic phase can also be problematical.

I can see Sorceresses having the power to burn through drain magic, but at the cost of their lives. I like the Dark elf magic system, it is very brutal and characterful.


Sorry this is so sketchy. I will try and find out more next time I get a look.

As I've perused the book more thoroughly, here's some clarifications:

Regarding special chars, the piratey elf is named Lokhir Fellheart and Shadowblade has the nasty ability to pop out from enemy units on 2nd turn and forwards (pretty much like his previous rules dictated). Vampires and hierophants in particular beware, as he has 4 str7 kb+poison attacks with hatred. Tullaris and Kouran are unit upgrades to bg and exes like the changeling and the flesh hound character in daemons army book.

Regarding monstorous mounts it's good to notice that they benefit from hatred too which boosts the dragon in particular. Also manticore has kb now. The Hag has the option to take cauldron of blood for 100ish points which gives khainite units (execs and witch elves) within 12" stubborn. At the start of your turn you can also give one delf unit within 24" of the cauldron one of the following +1a, kb or 5+ ward (doesn't affect mounts, though) which last until the start of your next turn. The cauldron is mobile now, altough as it's war machine it can only move 5" I suppose.

About the troops, it's good to notice that repeater x-bow has ap now, and yes, dark riders are core. Execs cost 12 pts actually. Also the shades have option for gws which makes the very hitty (for a elf skirmisher anyways) in cc with ws5, hatred and especially with cauldron. War Hydra is a neat beast as it has 7 str 5 attacks and regenerate + hatred now. It has a breath weapon too which str is equal of it's remaining wounds (5 for starters).

Regarding magic items, the most broken/weirdest thing in the book is probably the Pendant of Khaeleth which is basically a 2+ ward for 35 pts. Combined with good armor, that thing makes even dwarf kings cry about durability. Skipping the pendant, the rest of the item selection is pretty neat as there's all kind of useful stuff to be had (good banners, armors etc).

About the magic, the delfs can actually choose to use fire, death, shadow or metal instead of the dark magic if they want. All sorceresses know the Power of Darkness-spell which gives the d3+1 extra pd for 4+ (and as was said, they can use any number of dice to cast a spell).

Overall I have to say I like the general look of the new delf list alot as there seems to be a lot of good/decent options for armybuilds.

Shadowblade is impressing me for sure. What're his points like, <200 or >200? And is he Lord or Hero? (I don't recall the old rules from Chronicles, you'll have to forgive my ignorance)

- Salvage

2+ ward save for 35 points?

whoa!

*cries*

does anything else in the game even have a 2+ ward save like that?

Chaoslord wrote:As I've perused the book more thoroughly, here's some clarifications:
Regarding magic items, the most broken/weirdest thing in the book is probably the Pendant of Khaeleth which is basically a 2+ ward for 35 pts. Combined with good armor, that thing makes even dwarf kings cry about durability. Skipping the pendant, the rest of the item selection is pretty neat as there's all kind of useful stuff to be had (good banners, armors etc).

I'm hoping that there is some form of exception or caveat tied to that item. I.e. it only works until the wearer fails a save or some such.

That item is at the points cost listed, but is not a straight 2+ Ward. It is based on the strength of the attack and the way it works is: If you can roll under the attack's strength on a d6 then you ignore the wound. So it is great vs. high strength attacks, but not so great vs. low strength attacks.

thatdave wrote:That item is at the points cost listed, but is not a straight 2+ Ward. It is based on the strength of the attack and the way it works is: If you can roll under the attack's strength on a d6 then you ignore the wound. So it is great vs. high strength attacks, but not so great vs. low strength attacks.

Yup, that's the way it works. Altough the ward gets worse vs lower strength attacks it's good to notice that at least dreadlord and master have good/decent armor to compensate. About the only thing that may seriously worry a hero wearing the pendant is low strength killing blow attacks (wardancers and gg/black knights come to mind).

The Shadowblade costs 300 and is a hero.

The Ward sounds like a good choice for a supreme sorceress if we take Therions old trick of the level 3 scroll caddy general as sole character. Ld 9 general, two plus scrolls, enough magic to dominate other scroll caddy lists.

Now give her a monsterous mount too, for a further increase in role with a decent ward save she can survive sitting on the monster. Though a cold one is still the better choice IMHO.

In terms of survivability the CO is certainly better. But it is awfully hard to turn down a hatred inspired dragon for flank charges.

whas in the lokal gw when they reseved there pre copie and they litterly read it have out loud waroirs = cheapist troop chose of all army's

the ward save gets worse at lower strengths? At its worst its usually a 4+ ward save. S3 is the lowest 90% of the time you're playing. Most of the time he's going to go against characters with a normal minimum of S4. At which case its a 3+ ward. Anything S5 or more, its a 2+ ward. Thats terrifyingly amazing for 35 little ole points you're putting down. It also doesn't care if its a magical attack or mundane, so its a better ward save than Malekith even gets. Believe me, a Lord on cold one tricked out will have something like a 2+/2+/4+. Which is terrifyingly hard to kill.

I'm not saying its the end of the world or anything. I will say that its the best ward save in the entire Warhammer Fantasy game. point for point, with no real drawback.


Remember the only good thing about the entire army which will balance it out, much like their High Elf kindred, is that they're all toughness 3. (minus 2 special characters) They'll die in the droves. Especially when charged.

strange_eric wrote: Believe me, a Lord on cold one tricked out will have something like a 2+/2+/4+. Which is terrifyingly hard to kill.

What is the save reroll item?

You can match that with barded Elf steed, heavy armour, shield and Vambraces which gets 2+/2+/4+Ward. The Vambraces cost 55pts though.

The Pendant of Khaeleth is a roll equal to or under the strenght of the attack. So a strenght 3 hit is 1-3, not a 3+. A roll of 6 is alway a failure. A good item against high strenght but not so good against normal troops. Still the best they have since the Crown of Black Iron (5+ ward save) is gone. The talisman I like is the Ring of Darkness (40 pts). All attacks against the wearer are half WS/BS. It used to be you needed 6's to hit the user but it was a bound item with a power level of 3 (I think). Not worth it. This one seems to be worth it for a WS 7 lord. Or the Shield of Ghrond, acts as a shield but all hits are -1 strenght. Combine that with Hvy armour, Sea Dragon cloak, and Cold One (1+ asv) and maybe the Pendant of Khaeleth or Ring of Darkness and you have one very hard to kill elf. -K

Orlanth wrote:

strange_eric wrote: Believe me, a Lord on cold one tricked out will have something like a 2+/2+/4+. Which is terrifyingly hard to kill.

What is the save reroll item?

You can match that with barded Elf steed, heavy armour, shield and Vambraces which gets 2+/2+/4+Ward. The Vambraces cost 55pts though.

I think you're counting the armor save twice. the stat line i was giving was 2+ Armor, 2+ Ward, 4+ Regen. The High Elves version is slightly weaker, because say against a S7 opponent your armor save becomes a 6+, meanwhile the Dark Elf might have his Armor negated but he'll have a 2+ Ward and 4+ regen to back it up. The high elf character slightly outperforms against S3 Opponents as the Dark Elf General drops to a 2+ Armor, 4+ Ward, 4+ Regen.

This is only 70 points of gear. You still have 30 points to put a good weapon in his hands. Mainly the whip.

I got the Spearhead and FWIW the new DE plastics are among the sickest GW has ever produced. They are just astounding. The Corsairs are great and the Cold Ones are just jaw-dropping. You know how some newer plastics are a little chunky and less detailed? Not a problem with these. They are brilliant.

I think you'll see a lot of Corsairs over Spearmen just for the looks of it.

Yeah I love the new plastics, I was helping the lads at my local GW paint a few up for the store army.

Really liking the piratical look.

Also, isn't the Hydra a new model??

Yeah, the new hydra is stellar.

And what about that Fellheart fella?
I'm absolutly fielding this chthulu lookin fool.


I did notice that there are no pictures of the old Malekith model on dragon, has anyone heard if they are making a new model for him, since he can be fielded a variety of ways now it would make sense. Also, the DE's need a new dragon....the effete cousins got one.

Is it just me, that the dark elves weren't given as much love as the high elves? The new army book sound nice, but I really prefer the changes they made with the high elf army book. Even though I like the style of the dark elves a lot more... I'm a bit disappointed.

Greets
Schepp himself

They are playing very, very tough so far. I think they got plenty of loving.