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Im about to play my mate and his damn high elves for the 6th time or so, I have yet to win a game :(

Changing my list about a bit so I am goign to use the following

Tomb Prince, Collar of Shapesh, Great weapon, light armour
Liche Priest, Jar, Cloak of Dunes
Liche Priest, Dispel Scroll

16 Bowmen, Standard, Musician
16 Bowmen, Standard, Musician

Scorpion
Scorpion

Screaming Skull Catapult, Skulls of foe


We dont use victory points really just who kicks eachothers ass the most, hence the standards. its usually pretty close combat wise so I think they are necessary

I usually just run with a TP and LP but seeing as I can never cast my spells need to try a 3rd

Shall report back on how it goes...

Hard to come up with any strategy without the HE list.

Im guessing just lots of silver helm and some RBT?

he mixes and matches it every game unfortunately but he usually uses MSU with that annoying banner that gives him power dice every turn- I can never manage to cast any spells ususally and I struggle to dispel his, lore of the heavens rips me apart :(

A few army list suggestions first.

Why are you fielding your archers in such big units? Only the front rank can fire, units of 16 seems like a waste to me. Maybe take 3 units of 10 archers instead of the 2 units of 16 to maximize your fire power. Also these are skeletal bowmen, why do you need standard bearer and musician these guys should never be in HTH its an unnecessary expenditure of points. Also I'm personally a great fan of light chariots, 2 units of 3 could turn the tide in your favor. Even though high elves go first impact hits get resolved before they can strike. Elven infantry doesn't have great armor saves so you may be able to kill a bunch before they can attack and win in the first round of combat. Especially considering that you said your friend plays with lots of small units of HE. I mean, I wouldn't a charge them into a hedgehog of spears, but a 10 man unit of swordmasters or white lions sure. Toss your TP in the chariot with the item that increases impacts hits and you are golden. Also if his casting spells is a problem for you, you could take a staff of the ravening to get a free magic missile and hope your opponent uses dispel dice to get rid of it. As for the banner of sorcery its a great banner and I love it but in a 1000 point game I'm wondering if it he has it on a BSB or if its a unit upgrade. If its a unit upgrade and he uses small units then just target them down fast. If its on a BSB wel lthen deal with it as it comes up. Hope I've been helpful and good luck

He fielded 2 units of 15 spearmen, 10 swordmasters, 10 phoenix guard, a repeater bolt thrower, a hero and a mage

He was across the table in 2 or 3 turns (4*4) hence why I have the standards and musicians- and without them I would have lost very badly as opposed to the tight loss that it was

I would have won if i had reformed my skeletons and taken a charge from him instead of charging in my scorpions and the skeletons hoping to take out a unit of 15 spearmen in one turn- really stupid tactical error I know. I didnt break them (the lack of ranks and my scorpions were both rubbish)

Man of the match was the SSC, wiped out half a unit of spearmen and forced the Phoenix guard off the board.

By the end it was 6/7 spearmen and 6 swordsmen vs the ssc and 2 liche priests- way we saw it was that if we went on another turn I would have lost so we called it at turn 7

TBH I wouldnt change anything- all I need to do is learn from my mistakes

Great fun was had by both of us and thats what matters

One thing that was irritating was that 2 of his units cause fear so werent affected by mine...still it reminds me of why i got into warhammer in the first place

need to buy an army i can play at 1k points....

well to each their own. And the most important thing IS to have fun.

I'm gonna agree with the comment about splitting up the archers into ten men units - a lot more mobile, less wasted shots, and tactically more flexible.

How did two of his units cause fear? I'm only seeing the Phoenix Guard as fear-causers, and possible immunity to fear with the Lion Banner.

The main problem, as I see it, is that you really don't have anything that can really handle close combat, asides from the Scorpions, and even they won't really be able to stand up to the more elite units of High Elves.

Try to find points for some chariots - those impact hits really make a difference, and especially with the movement incantations, you should almost always get the charge.

What kind of shooting priority were you using?

he said his swordmasters did, might have been an honest mistake we are still learning

I would have lost even faster with smaller units, he gets into combat so fast I needed outnumbering- and if i had had them ranked up i probably would have won, in fact if ih ad taken them with hand weapons and shields with light armour the ability to get saves would have been better

shooting priority was simply to knock off rank bonuses which i did on all units that entered combat

the list is just so tight i cant get any more points out of it unless i drop a scorp and some skeletons to squeeze in the chariots (i have used 1 scorp and 3 chariots in all other games)

Here's the thing: unless you get some dedicated CC units with decent Unit Strength, you're gonna have to rely on luck to fight off your friend's list. Even as a bigger unit those skeleton archers shouldn't be surviving in CC with High Elf infantry.

Seriously consider dropping points somewhere for more numbers in your list - basically, if High Elves are outnumbering you, something is amiss.

Looking at the TK Army book now, I can see some things that you can probably dispense with:
Collar of Shapesh and Cloak of Dunes - Given the size of board you're playing, and the low numbers that you're running, neither of these are useful or beneficial, consider dropping these two. A mount and second dispel scroll for the that Liche Priest would probably work out better - especially if you're saying you're having trouble shutting down his magic (he probably has that banner on his Phoenix Guard, correct?). Unless the Tomb Prince has a big unit of something to shuffle his wounds to, the Collar is pointless - your current list can't afford to take any casualties. Finding a way to get him the Golden Ankhra would probably be much more useful and make him much more survivable - could get the points by getting rid of "skull of enemies" from the SSC.

As for tips on dealing with his units:
Consider trying to wipe out (NOT just reduce ranks) the Sword Masters first and foremost - they're likely to cause the most amount of havoc with their S5 attacks. But with a 5+ save, relentless shooting can wipe them out pretty quickly.

Your right on the magic items, shall drop both. Im not sure on the banner Im not sure if he used it last game. Having 2 liche priests helped so much- having 4 dispel dice meant he didnt get any spells off with just one mage

I shall build up another box of archers and drop one of the scorpions and try and use massed missile fire to drop him

Also if I cast the incantation that makes the SSC fire in magic phase and it gets dispelled I can cast it again with the other priest right?

Velsharoon wrote:Your right on the magic items, shall drop both. Im not sure on the banner Im not sure if he used it last game. Having 2 liche priests helped so much- having 4 dispel dice meant he didnt get any spells off with just one mage

I shall build up another box of archers and drop one of the scorpions and try and use massed missile fire to drop him

Also if I cast the incantation that makes the SSC fire in magic phase and it gets dispelled I can cast it again with the other priest right?

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe so long as it hasn't actually been successfully cast on a unit, I think you're free to cast it again on the unit with another priest.

Wait, you're tomb kings. Where are the Chariots? Ram him with the chariots so you can hit him first. only way around ASF, IMPACT HITS.

Yeh thats the way I read it as

And the chariots were dropped so I could have the other LP!

Not removing any of the characters so will drop a scorpion for the next battle and have chariots- although the chariots usually do sweet fa to him tbh but it probably says more about my tactics than them...

Velsharoon wrote:Also if I cast the incantation that makes the SSC fire in magic phase and it gets dispelled I can cast it again with the other priest right?

Yes, that's the way it works. The TK relentless magic is just that cast the same spell until it goes through as enemy has no more dispelling available.

Awesome thanks for confirming it. Busy painting up a regiment at the moment, every time I play him decided I will have another one of my units painted. Really need to buy some more stuff so we can play at 2k.

Play some games at 1.5k - the number of spells/incantations a TK army can pump out vs. the number of dispel dice your opponent can nominally produce at that level makes TKs pretty brutal at that points level (spoken from the receiving end of that experience).

I agreee with HFjor, keep the standard bearers, but drop the musicians.