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Having enamoured myself in the various dragons of WHFB I come here to ask: Is there any feasible way to make a High Elf character on some kind of dragon competetive or are they just a big "shoot me!" sign?

In a competitive environment I'd have to say that Dragons just suck in 8th edition. If you are just looking to include them in a fun list, than that can be fine. Just don't expect them to be worth the points invested in them.

They can be competitive. GT I went to this winter, the High Elf army that did the best had no magic. It did have a prince on star dragon.

Anytime you run into a cannon heavy list, any monster is going to go down in flames. Only a few armies have that option though, so it can still be pretty devestating against most.

although while there is a giant shoot me sign tattooed on their heads your opponents will focus everything to shoot it down leaving the rest of your army relatively unotuched, cheap out on the Lvl 1 on fire dragon and then have your blocks get his points back

A dragon on each flank seems to work well.

in my experiance, the second i hit 3k points i plopped my prince on a star dragon and havnt lost a game since...i have watched this thing get hit in the front side and rear by itself and win cobat every round....

i have yet to watch my dragon die and i cant count how many enemy monsters thought they could hack it just to find they managed one maybe 2 wounds until they were ravaged by my star dragon, moon draogns are meh, and persoanlly if i took a lord i would not be putting him on a sun dragon...

the star dragon is VERY dangerous and unless your oppenents are packing MORE than one cannon they are in trouble, 7 wounds str 7 ws 7 6 attacks with a meen little elf on top is bad news for most people, 7 wounds also meens if that first cannon shot isnt a good one (heaven forbid it miss) there will be issues very very shortly

my exp with the firebreathing lizard anyways!

cheers
mike

In my experience, it's not just Cannons you need to watch out for. Stone Throwers are almost as bad as Cannons. Additionally, there is Magic (initiative test or die spells being the main problem for a Star Dragon) and there are those annoying scout skirmishers with poisoned weapons (Chameleon Skinks / Gutter Runners).

Even if you survive all this, there is a big chance that the enemy will just throw a ranked up unit towards the Dragon. Steadfast will keep him there for a long while. Not to mention Magic (Flesh to Stone, Regrowth, Invocation of Nehek).

Sure if the opponent is stupid enough to throw his War Hydra / Hell Pit Abomination / Treeman or something similar towards your Dragon, then you will probably come out on top.

Cheers for the answers, even if it wasn't exactly the answer I was hoping for.

Regarding magic I wouldn't be too worried, us High Elves have a pretty decent magic defense to say the least, it's cannon and similar that has me worried. Of course, there's always IF dwellers to look out for, but that's what the movement phase and clever deployment is for. That's not as easy versus cannon users like dwarves though...

Well, when fielding a Prince on Dragon you won't have an Archmage (unless you are playing a 3500+ game), so I wouldn't be too sure about the High Elf Magic Defense.

Airmaniac wrote:Well, when fielding a Prince on Dragon you won't have an Archmage (unless you are playing a 3500+ game), so I wouldn't be too sure about the High Elf Magic Defense.

A level 2 with High Magic and Annullian Crystal is pretty decent at shutting down the enemy's magic. Besides, you could go for a Dragon Mage just to get the dragon and have points left over for your Lord.

HE dragons are actually pretty good at killing units and hunting down smaller elite units. Their one weakness is warmachines. Bolt throwers get annoying but cannons/stone throwers can ruin a dragon. Magic isn't really a problem as there is nothing that can really kill a dragon. Dragon armor is immune to flaming (2+ ws), dwellers goes off the dragons str, pit/black sun go off the elf's initiative per the FAQ so you only fail on 6's

On the offensive front a star dragon will put out an average of 10 wounds on the charge and 8-9 after that (the elf might get weaker depending on his gear setup). Care is needed to deal with champions though as a challenge can make your day. When I do run a dragon I run another hero beside him on an eagle for the simple purpose of taking the challenge. The eagle dude has nothing but defensive gear to deal with massed bow fire as he is an easy target. If the champion isnt a threat he can run around on his own adding to combat resolution in various fights.

They are pretty well scary ish haha the lord isnt bad.