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Hello Dakka Dakka, my name is Fabreezio and I am quite new here and I could use some help!

I am a newcomer to WHFB and a decent 40k player, but after some bad experiences in the 41st Millennium I sold off both my Necron and Eldar army to start a WHFB army. Looking through all of the choices I decided to go for Brettonians but then quickly changed my mind (no offense Brett players!) and got hooked on Dark Elves, more specifically the Dark Elf Assassins.

I've heard good things about the cloaked killers and after some chatting with some friends at my local gaming store I decided to buy the book...along with a few boxes of Dark Elves. One box of Corsairs, one Assassin, two boxes of Cold One Knights, a box of Witch Elves and a box of Executioners. I had no idea what army I was going to play, I just bought them all because I thought they were A+ models! After that I grabbed the army book and ran home to read it and over the past week I've had a cool little idea brewing in my head.

The basic idea is an entire Dark Elf Assassin's Guild being called on by Malekith or Crone Hellebron to quite literally deal with an entire army.

I still think that might not make any sense, but I think the idea is legit anyway.

Shades would be groups initiate assassins still needing to prove themselves before they are able to work alone for contractors or to be called on by the Guild Master.

I went through several ideas about the Guild Master, going from being perched up on a Black Dragon or being kept back in a large group of warriors or something.

To make sense out of bringing large groups of Warriors in this army list is the fact that they are the actual Guardians of the Guild Hall/Tower, probably being called Shadow Guardians or something in the fluff of the army.

Crossbowmen could easily be made into snipers that could sit back in the army to practice they're art of killing at range.

Sorceresses could be the Guild Master's personal bodyguards or his love interests.

Reaper Bolt Throwers are kind of iffy in my eyes, but I had one idea that since they are worshipers of Kaine, one bolt thrower could be named 'The Right Hand of Kaine' and the other 'The Left Hand of Kaine', considering you can reach out and touch somebody from across the table with them!

A War Hydra could be fitted in as the Guild Master's pet or something.

And last but not least would be the Assassins themselves to hide in units and do their thing.

I would really like to have some veteran tips on how to make a list that is a entire Assassin's Guild called into service, since I'd probably be making some mistakes if I did not ask for a helping hand.

I would extremely appreciate anyone who gave me their take on this idea, or perhaps even show me what I good list would look like for this kind of idea, like I said I've never even read the rule book...but I plan to soon.

I'd like to make a list at 2250 since a friend told me it was the average amount that people played.

Thanks so much in advance for all those who can help me out and make a fun list!

Thanks a lot guys,

Fabreezio

Its perfectly fine, as long as you stick to the rules you can do it, theres nothing agaisnt having a theme in an army.

I am not really asking about the legitimacy of the fluff.

I posted all that to give everyone an idea for the army I'd like to have, so that people could comment on possible lists/tactics accordingly.

as long as you have a decent well balacnced army you can win

That is absurdly untrue, stupid generalizations like that aren't helping me, Lord Bingo.

Please don't post anymore unless you intend on doing what I asked of you, which is help me make a list.

cool it dude. Ive played for a long time, and the stuff he said is right, if vauge. plus this is a tactics section not a army list section so just calm down. the proposed units you have are decent. to keep with theme, use handbow armed corsairs. Assassins in my experence arent great, but they do their job. as for the master, grab the named assassin, and his girlfriend or double (sorcerous and dreadlord respectively) can "lead". get heavies however you have to because they are awsome. btw shame for getting rid of eldar.

edit spelling

The best way to go about doing this type of list is to do a Black Ark style list. To do this you just need the following:

Dreadlord
Sorceress
Shadowblade
Master

2 Assassins (could be more but I don't recomend it)

3 units of Corsairs 20 strong

2 units of Dark Riders with Musician and Crossbows.

2-3 Units of Shades

4 Repeater Bolt Throwers.

I think you really want to focus the list around ability to deal wounds (in HtH and shooting, though magic isn’t bad either) and maneuver; slow ranked units are contrary to theme. I wouldn’t feel good including war machines if it were me, as they’re just too big, slow, and bulky. The Hydra is a bit of a stretch too, though if you want to take one and call it the master’s pet, I doubt people will mind much.

If it were me I think I’d use more Shades. I don’t have the book though, so I can’t recall whether assassins can join them. If so, I would definitely take 3-4 units of them with attached assassins and, as Xtapl on TWF put it, “go out to make friends- and by ‘friends’, I mean ‘bodies’”.

A couple of units of rxb elves will provide very nice fire support, even though ranked units are a bit counter to the concept of an all-assassin force. Still, with the “sniper” image you’ve got for them, I think they’re not an unreasonable stretch.

Dark Riders should probably be the only other core; mobility + hatred attacks + (optionally) more rxb shots is a good fit for this theme. Unless maybe you want one unit of Spears to represent temple cultists or something (and naturally to accompany a sorceress with the sacrificial dagger).

You can put assassins in shades.

Sweet.