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I've been playing Warriors of Chaos for several months now and I must say that I like the army. I am a Warhammer 40k player that switched to Fantasy and I so expected to lose a lot before I had a good grasp on the rules. That said, I still haven't won a single game as of yet (and although some games have ended in a draw, most were losses). I have several friends that play Warhammer but I play with one in particular most often, and he plays Dark Elves. I have played against him almost a dozen times and have yet to win and I am looking for advice on what to do. I've looked through all of the WoC tactica I can find and read through many posts here on dakka but I need some specific advice. His list typically looks like this:

Supreme Sorceress - Level 4, Steed, Focus Familiar, at least 1 dispel scroll
Sorceress - Level 2, Steed, at least 1 dispel scroll
Sorceress - Level 2, at least 1 dispel scroll
Master - BSB, Greatsword, ASF banner

10 Crossbowmen with musician
10 Crossbowmen with musician

20-30 man Corsair unit with frenzy (this is where he puts the BSB also)

5 Cold One Knights

10 (or 2 units of 5) Shades

2 Reaper Bolt Throwers

Hydra

Although last time we played, he split up his corsair units and exchanged the BSB for another level 2 sorceress. I've tried so many lists including an Infernal Gateway list and I discovered that I can't out-magic him, especially since he takes 4 to 5 dispel scrolls each game. I don't know what to do. The models I have are:

10 Chaos Warhounds
20 Chaos Marauders
10 Marauder Horsemen
24 Chaos Warriors
5 Chaos Knights
2 Mounted Sorcerers
1 Chaos Lord with a Daemonic mount (which he said I can proxy for any kind of Chaos or Sorcerer Lord)
1 Dragon Ogre Shaggoth

The only thing I can think of to do is to get more knights and hope they can weather the onslaught of spells from the Lore of Metal.

Please reply back with possible list ideas and / or strategies.

One of the problems with your list of minis is that you have a rainbow selection of troops from the WoC book. In WHFB you have to have more focused list to be another focused list.

Against the DE list above you could go cav heavy so you would limit the time the DE have to inflict damage to you with magic. That could be done by dropping the foot slogging marauders and chaos warriors off the army and replacing them with mounted marauders in units of 6 together with couple of units of chaos knights. These screened by warhound units 5 strong, you probably need another 10, and supported with chaos magic would give you a fighting chance. This would give you superior movement and several units capable of tearing through his units with combined charges.

Howdy, I'm the Dark Elf player that he's talking about and my generic list usually consists of something like this:
(I ocassionally use CoK in place of shades and/or a block of 20 frenzy corsairs with ASF BsB instead of the 2 handbow squads)

Supreme Sorceress - Level 4, Dark Pegasus, Pendant of Khaeleth, Deathmask
Sorceress1 - Level 2, Dread Steed, Dispell Scroll
Sorceress2 - Level 2, Dread Steed, Dispell Scroll
Sorceress3 - Level 2, Focus Familiar

RxB(10) - Muso, Shields
RxB(10) - Muso, Shields
RxB(10) - Muso, Shields

Corsairs(10) - Champ(Pair of Handbows), Muso, Handbows
Corsairs(10) - Champ(Pair of Handbows), Muso, Handbows

Shades(7) - GW, Light Armor

Bolt Thrower(2)

Warhydra

Really I just use the RxB and corsair units to redirect charges away from my casters when he gets close
and pepper things like the shagoth, mauraders, and horsemen before they can do real damage.
In general i think that he does alright but has horrible luck with the dice. =/

I agree that your army isn't quick enough. All his eggs are in his sorceress basket. Kill them and the others will follow. Don't bother trying to keep up with his magic. Keeping someone just to dispel his most devastating stuff would be enough.

Race to his sorceresses with marauder horsemen unless you bring something that flies (daemon prince )

I guess I have to save up some cash and get more knights then. How does this list sound against the aforementioned Dark Elves list?

Chaos Lord - Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut, Shield, Chaos Runesword, Crown of Everlasting Conquest

Chaos Sorcerer - Dispel Scroll(x2), Mark of Nurgle, Barded Chaos Steed
Chaos Sorcerer - Dispel Scroll(x2), Mark of Nurgle, Barded Chaos Steed

5 Chaos Warhounds
5 Chaos Warhounds
5 Marauder Horsemen - Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Spears, Mark of Slaanesh, Musician
5 Marauder Horsemen - Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Axes, Mark of Slaanesh, Musician
5 Marauder Horsemen - Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Axes, Mark of Slaanesh, Musician

6 Chaos Knights - Musician, Standard Bearer, Mark of Khorne
6 Chaos Knights - Musician, Standard Bearer, Mark of Khorne
6 Chaos Knights - Musician, Standard Bearer, Mark of Khorne

This comes out to 2000 points exactly. The horsemen have Throwing Axes (or spears) so they can hunt the sorceresses on horseback if they try to run the horsemen around. The Chaos sorcerers are there to dispel all of the nasty stuff and maybe get a wound on a sorceress with buboes (if it ever doesn't get dispelled). Hounds are there to bait stuff, screen shooting, or take on things that would bait my knights. I was thinking that each sorcerer would go with a horsemen unit and I think the Chaos Lord has enough killing / staying power to be able to take on things by himself without being in a unit of knights.

This was the kind of list I was hoping to avoid using (with the exception of the Chaos Lord) because it seems cheesy to me. But hey, if it is competitive and going to win me games, then maybe I should try. What do you all think?

Also, is it possible to make a strong list consisting of Chaos Warriors units as the main theme?

Toast wrote:I guess I have to save up some cash and get more knights then. How does this list sound against the aforementioned Dark Elves list?

Chaos Lord - Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut, Shield, Chaos Runesword, Crown of Everlasting Conquest

Chaos Sorcerer - Dispel Scroll(x2), Mark of Nurgle, Barded Chaos Steed
Chaos Sorcerer - Dispel Scroll(x2), Mark of Nurgle, Barded Chaos Steed

If those sorcerer are all magic you are bringing, dont bother with marks. You will not get any spells through with opponent running 10 levels of mages against your 2. Those points are better spent in more warhounds to screen your other parts against the magic/ shooting. I would also loose the bling from the chaos lord, the mark of khorne is a liability and juggernaut costs too much, even though it brings some needed MR to the table. You can get the MR from other items for cheaper though.

Toast wrote:
5 Chaos Warhounds
5 Chaos Warhounds
5 Marauder Horsemen - Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Spears, Mark of Slaanesh, Musician
5 Marauder Horsemen - Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Axes, Mark of Slaanesh, Musician
5 Marauder Horsemen - Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Axes, Mark of Slaanesh, Musician

Too few hounds and the marauders are carrying too much equipment. You don't need the flails against elves, spears are enough and the throwing weapons have such a short range I'm doubting the benefit you have from them. More marauders are needed.

Toast wrote:6 Chaos Knights - Musician, Standard Bearer, Mark of Khorne
6 Chaos Knights - Musician, Standard Bearer, Mark of Khorne
6 Chaos Knights - Musician, Standard Bearer, Mark of Khorne

I would drop one unit of knights and the mark of khorne is a liability, I wouldn't use it on all of my units especially now that you have so few screening units against opponent who can fry several of those within on turn of shooting/ magic. Also warbanner is so cheap that it should be on one knight unit in every army.

Toast wrote:
Also, is it possible to make a strong list consisting of Chaos Warriors units as the main theme?

They are so slow that the list has severe handicap against most enemies. The movement phase is where most of the battles are won and if you have serious problem in moving it is difficult to win.