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little help for the beginner here! This is my first tournament ever so I would prefer not to suck out loud.

1500 points dark elf assault legion

core

x10 rxb 100

x24 dark elf warriors 183
-full cmd
-shields

special

x14 black guard of naggarond 277
-full cmd
-ring of hotek (tower master)
banner of ASF

x5 cold one knights 210
-full cmd
-stnd slaughter


rare

war hydra 175


heroes

sorceress 185
-dispel scroll
-sac dagger
-lv 2

master 149
-hvy armor
-sheild
-pendant of khaleth
-cold one
-lance

master (general) 130
-crimson death
-armor of darkness

total 1409

I have 90 points left to spend. (the sorceress goes with the warriors, the master on cold one goes with the cold one knights and the general goes with the black guard) im also trying to keep a theme by not using any khanite units. Im also worried im going to heavy on magic items. so any suggestions on how to spend the last 90 points or any other changes you would make would be appreciated.

I am building a DE army and HAVEN'T played yet.

I suggest some march-blocking or harrassing Dark Riders, Harpies, or Shades.

I will second that you might be a little heavy on magic items; maybe limit yourself to 2 items (including banners) per unit (including character in unit)?

- Blackbone

Actually I was considering shades as an option, would it be better to give them xbows or great weapons if I am fielding them in a squad of 5?

Don't shades come standard with bows? I don't thing GW replace them if you pay for them either. That being said, a unit of 5 probably shouldn't be in combat too often.

A word of advise. Don't use the ring of hotek when you want to cast spells in a list. Also, 1 wizard at 1500 is going to do nothing. Either add a second, or drop that one you have down to scroll caddy status. When it comes to magic, go big or don't use it.

so shades can really go around with cross bows and great weapons and still be scouts? man they have to make laws against stuff like this. what does scroll caddy mean? Is that just maxing out my sorceresses magic item options with dispel scrolls?

a scroll caddy is a lvl 1 with max dispel scrolls. Really all it can do is give 1 dispel dice and dispel 2 spells. It is a pretty common practice since most magic isn't anything more than expensive shooting, you can ignore larges parts of it. (hence the go big or dont' bother statement) The big spells on the other hand are usually so big that it is hard to win if they resolve. That is what the scrolls are for.

Yes shades can do all of that. They also don't have a units size cap. Did I mention that the FAQ actually allows a shades unit with an assassin to charge first turn? It is hard to pull off, but the rules loophole is there, and GW endorses it. BS 5 crossbows starting within half range, and possible first turn great weapon attacks means that shades are potentially one of the more abusive units one could take. I personally just use them to deliver mobile bolt throwers (rending star manbane assassin) to within range. A character that hits on 2s and wounds on 2s with 3 shots is pretty good I hear.

I don't think you will need a Scroll Caddy in a 1500 points game. There aren't many armies that can field Hero level Wizards that can actually cast the most devastating Spells, so you won't need Dispel Scrolls.

DE scroll caddy is a no, no! I mean DE are the best mages in the game, no army even comes close (except maybe HE). I would mount you general on the Cold one and scrap the other one. With the points saved i would add some harpies for march blocking/annoying war machines (always good to show off fancy tactics in a tourney!) and some more spear men (should be able to fit in 15 or so).

Actually, Daemons of Chaos have the best Wizards in the game. Kairos Fateweaver is quite simply the best Lord level Wizard, while the Heralds of Tzeentch with Master of Sorcery are almost as good as the Hero level Wizards of the Dark Elves.

I agree a wasting a dark elf sorceress as a scroll caddy is silly. I recommend that you field 2 sorceress's , that will provide you enough power dice to bypass even a mono tzentch daemon list.

You really think that 2 wizards will get past mono tzentch even at 1500? Even going with just 2 heralds (one bsb, one general), and ONLY 2 units of pink horrors, which doesn't even come to 700 points, you have 6 dispel dice, and a potentially the banner of sundering. Do you really honestly think that 2 normal lvl 2s will get anything through that when your spells if you chose the same lore for both are at -2? Also even if the daemon player maxes out his specials and rares on tzeentch (which he won't realistically buy that many screamers, much more likely to go for flesh hounds breaking the mono god) he still probably needs to get more pink horrors in there to fill out his points, and he will be taking min sized units and not bulking them up at this points level. With each min sized horror units being a lvl 1 wizard, and the first spell being really good and relatively easy to cast (4+), you often see horrors played like a shooting line.

Each herald can also know all spells of any lore they chose (with master of sorcery), either lore of tzeentch or the basic 8, and lore of tzeetch has a D3+1 exra PD that casts on a 3. Daemon heralds like this ARE better than DE sorceresses. (well they are restricted on how many dice they can throw, but that is it.)

If you are going to post advice about actual numbers, at least calculate what you could be facing. 2 dark elf sorceresses is normally enough to get past most armies magic defense at 1500, but it is NOT good enough to get past a tzeentch player, or a even a khorne player. (not to mention the typical almost mono with flesh hounds you see).

A DE scroll caddy is not a waste, sometimes it is not needed, but on its own merits it isn't a waste. When you get to lord level magic, DE usually don't need a caddy, unless they go with a dreadlord. But at 1500, you CAN run into players trying to bring good hero level casters. At 1k I would say a caddy isn't needed, but at 1500 you can still have an army and have points for quite a bit of magic power. Just run the numbers on how many points are spent on non heroes/lord at 2k, and then how many points it would be to bring 2-3 hero level wizards. I see people spend 700+ on lord + hero magic, leaving 1300 for the rest of the army. With lower special and rare slots at 1500, 1k on the army and 500 on heroes level magic isn't unreasonable.

As for not facing hero level spells that need to be scrolled, is the 2d6 S 4 spells not worth dispelling? They are all 8+ to cast, and it isn't unreasonable to expect people to throw 3 dice at it. When you are looking at lower value games, you can't afford to take losses like you can at higher levels.

I personally think that 1500-1999 needs a caddy more than 2000-2500. 1k gets you your basic units, and a good selection of specials and potentially rares, since points are tight, spending on characters is minimal. But at 1500, you can start to splurge on characters, and magic is much more likely. Since elfs are generally t3 with 5+ armor, some sort of magic defense is a good idea. 150 points gets you an extra dispel dice and the peace of mind a pair of scrolls brings. A bit pricey for a caddy compared to other armies, but since you need it more, the insurance premium is likely to be higher lol.

It is good advice to run a pair or even a trio of DE sorceresses, but barring that, a scroll caddy is highly recommended if you don't run masters with ring of hotek and seal of ghrond.

notabot187 wrote:You really think that 2 wizards will get past mono tzentch even at 1500? Even going with just 2 heralds (one bsb, one general), and ONLY 2 units of pink horrors, which doesn't even come to 700 points, you have 6 dispel dice, and a potentially the banner of sundering. Do you really honestly think that 2 normal lvl 2s will get anything through that when your spells if you chose the same lore for both are at -2? Also even if the daemon player maxes out his specials and rares on tzeentch (which he won't realistically buy that many screamers, much more likely to go for flesh hounds breaking the mono god) he still probably needs to get more pink horrors in there to fill out his points, and he will be taking min sized units and not bulking them up at this points level. With each min sized horror units being a lvl 1 wizard, and the first spell being really good and relatively easy to cast (4+), you often see horrors played like a shooting line.

sorry I forgot that horrors generate dispel dice. I still do think that 2 lv. 2 sorceresses are perfect for a 1500 point game though.