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I'm thinking of switching from Dwarfs to High Elves. I mostly play in tournaments only due to my schedule, but even friendly play in my area is pretty competitive.

So, I'm looking for a proven competitive star dragon led HE list (as I really want to paint the model). I'll be facing Khorne and Nurgle daemon armies and VC magic spam lists as my toughest opponents.

Thanks for the help!

Ask and ye shall receive.

Prince-615
-Blade of Leaping Gold, Guardian Phoenix, Heavy Armor, Shield
Star Dragon

Mage-175
-Lvl 2 Upgrade, Ring of Fury

Mage-175
-Lvl 2 Upgrade, Jewel of the Dusk, The Skeinsliver

10 Archers-110

10 Archers-110

7 Swordmaster-111
-Musician

7 Swordmaster-111
-Musician

7 Swordmaster-111
-Musician

7 Swordmaster-111
-Musician

7 Swordmaster-111
-Musician

7 Swordmaster-111
-Musician

Repeater Bolt Thrower-100

Repeater Bolt Thrower-100

Repeater Bolt Thrower-100

Repeater Bolt Thrower-100

So, the two level 2 mages don't need dispel scrolls to be effective?

Nope, you can give it to them if you want, but I prefer this layout. I've never liked taking dispel scrolls though.

Personally for a Star Dragon Lord he's pretty tame, your already getting 6 attacks from the Dragon for extra Str 4 attacks from the Lord arent going to do much.

I would recommend either one of these 2 builds:

Star Dragon, Star Lance, Vambraces of Defence, Dragon Armor, Shield.

or

Star Dragon, Armor of Caledor, Vambraces of Defense, Amulet of Light, Halberd.

Option one is more combat focussed than the second. Obviously the Second still has Str 5 Magical attacks, but perminantly so you can use him for hunting down bothersome spirit hosts and the like.

From what I have read and used both these are far more optimal for a Star Dragon Lord, i've been using option one with great success so far however I did try another interesting combination that had this:

Star Dragon, Armor of Caledor, Talisman of Saphery, Sword of Might: This is a purely character sniper, he negates all magic weapons thrown against him whilst still having the ability to take some damage.

Still YMMV.

I am planning to use the second bulid that 99MDeery listed, and it's the one I've seen the most often. The first one looks good, except that he has has only a 4+ save before the 4+ ward save. That will probably get modified to be a pretty low percentage save most of the time!

I don't like lists that have all of the same units. With a dragon I'd like to see some Dragon Princes to hit hard with him. After that it would depend on whether you're wanting to be mobile / not really have a center, or more static with the rest of your force. People seem to love swordmasters, too!!

I think you'll need the dispel scrolls, especially going against VC / magic spam! I would think most or all of your magic would be defensive (especially since you can't take an archmage with the Prince) and your offensive magic would be focused on drain magic.

I'd also want at least 1 eagle in there, instead of all bolt throwers!

Yeah, choosing specials to compliment the Star Dragon Lord is where I am having the most difficulty in making the list. Dragon Princes are an obvious choice, but I don't necessarily like to spam multiple units (except in the rare slots).

I had been considering a unit of of DPs, a lion chariot, and a group of shadow warriors to go mage and war machine hunting (both figure prominently in my local meta).

Not sure how well swordmasters, white lions or phoenix guard would fit in due to their speed and having a back line of 2 archers plus RBTs....Plus coming from dwarfs it's harder for me to step away from blocks of CR in a list to the HE style of fighting.

Which is why I'm asking for help...

Yea you need some units that will keep up with the dragon.
Dragon princes and chariots

Also, the guys that slowly come up need to be able to handle themselves. I prefer white lions over swordsmen for this role.

A couple scrolls are a must. Dont care what is going on you need a couple. Wait till your opponent rolls a 21 for beast cowers on you and you will understand.

Finally, you need to drop two bolt throwers for two eagles. The amount of tricks they can pull are mind boggling.

Heres one I have had some success with

Prince with armor of caledor, vambrances of defense, amulet of light, greatweapon
Stardragon

2x Lvl 2 mages with x2 dispel scrolls

2x 10 archers

6 dragon princes with full command, war banner, skeinsliver on champ

5 dragon princes with champ and musician

2x Tiranoc chariots

lion chariot

2x bolt throwers

2x eagles

save for the archers and bolt throwers this is a fast list. I tend to use the archers and bolt throwers to take out warmachines in the first few rounds and if they arent up to the task I leave that work to the eagles and tiranoc chariots (chariots that can hunt war machines, gotta love that M9).

Has anyone ever tried using 4 eagles with a star dragon lord? With the extra points you could probably turn one of the archer units into spear elves to march behind the chariots.

Or do you really need the shooting support of at least 2 RBTs?

Hi Moepho,

I'd say you definitely need at least 2 RBTs at this point level. I haven't really seen any lists without at least 2!

2 eagles should be enough to march block / war marchine hunt, but if not you could use other units as the above poster mentioned. I definitely think 2 of those rare slots need to be RBTs!

The previous two posters had great points . This should have you going in the right direction, at least!

Angron wrote:
Prince-615
-Blade of Leaping Gold, Guardian Phoenix, Heavy Armor, Shield
Star Dragon

Blade of Wasted Points, no thankyou, if you want this get two hand weapons and Amulet of Light.
Also only a total cheapskate wont pay for dragon armour on a dragon prince.

99MDeery wrote:
Star Dragon, Star Lance, Vambraces of Defence, Dragon Armor, Shield.

or

Star Dragon, Armor of Caledor, Vambraces of Defense, Amulet of Light, Halberd.

The first one works, you get a lot of S7. A dragon outfitted this way can front charge into a spearblock and win, the way most monsters have been toned down this is about the only option able to do this.

The second option is rather so-so, its overinsured and wont do anything against a cannonball that the first option doesnt do.

gardeth wrote:Heres one I have had some success with

Prince with armor of caledor, vambrances of defense, amulet of light, greatweapon
Stardragon.

So you had success paying double for +1S on the attack. read the rules about mounted great weapons. Other than that same as above.


MY TAKE.

Why do you take a Star Dragon?
Think about this for a minute, its not for terror etc because a Sun Dragon does all that. A Star Dragon is worth its points if you use it as a unit killer, it can do things other character on mounts cannot generally do, which is win through on an unsupported frontal charge.

What about the survivability?
Yes what about it, your maxed armour save is not too important as you have the reroll and the ward save from the Vambraces. So Dragon Armour and shield are sufficient, remeber this doesnt help the sdragon either and those weapons you fear, bolt throwers and cannon are going to hurt no matter what. Finally you get the charge in and get to hit first so armour for melee combat is less important than it looks. Your dragon needs to ber all attack.

How about going cheap?
You could save some points with the scroll caddy Dragon Prince. Give your Prince the Gem of Hoeth and dispel scrolls downplay your protection to just the mundane armour and a sharp stick. Normally if I was to go beargain basement o0n mage saving I would do this with a Sun Dragon, or take a Dragon mage.

How about shooty?
Star Dragons gert a decent breath weapon, or more accurately dont get their breath downgraded. This plus a magic bow can be a nasty suprise for flanking units that are to9o dangerous to charge or be charged by. Bretonnian knightsd with characters come to mind here. Strictly a minority option but sometimes worthwhile.

Any other considerations?
Yes. While a Star Drafgon can 'go it alone' this doesnt mean you should, overkill is not the same as casualties, the opponent saves men for a future round of combat for a start so beware of charging wuithout a unit of cavaltry with a champion to back you up. It also saves you from trap challenges.

I prefer more economic Sun Dragons, but if you want a Star Dragon play to your strengths and take:

Star Lance, Vambraces, dragon armour and shield. Best for a Star Dragon.
or
Star Lance, Temakadors Gauntlets, dragon armour and shield. A feasible bargain basement option, but at this stage you should be thinking of downgrading your dragon.
or
Lance, Temakadors Gauntlets, dragon armour, shield and Amulet of Light for a real cheap option. Unless you are now going to to out on special items like Loremaster cloak (facing Tzeentch or Dark Elves caster list) or a magic bow (facing stuff you worry about charging) I would not spare points on the magic item allocation.

I have been playing HE for years now over 3 different book changes and this is what i have been
running since the new book got its release and it has won me a few tournements.

Prince
Star dragon
Vambraces of defense
Dragon armour
Halberd
Amulet of light
605

Noble
BSB
Battle banner
Dragon armour
Lance
216

Mage
2 Dispel scrolls
150

10 Sea guard
Shields
130

10 Sea guard
Shields
130

15 White lions
Full comand
Mage goes here.
6x3 formation
255

5 Dragon princes
Full command
Banner of eelyrion
265

7 Swordmasters.
Perfect road block
as no one like 14 str 5 WS6 attacks
105

6 Swordmasters
Road block.
90

2 Great eagles
Warmachine hunters and to slow enemy army
100

2 Repeater bolthrowers
200

Yes i no theres not alot of magic defense but to be honest once you hit home on
2nd turn you usually bust units in one go.
Other things i have done is dropped the bolt throwes for a 2nd mage with
2 more dispell scrolls this also works well too.
This is what i have been using and its done me well.