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Hello, just want to thank you for reading this.

So I'm pretty fresh to fantasy but basically stumbled upon a pretty decent size High Elf army. Basically I was hoping to get some tips and item ideas and such lol.

Currently I have 40 archers, 40 spearmen, 2 chariots, 2 bolt throwers, 1 mage, 10 Swordmasters, 10 Sea guard, 5 Reavers, and 20 Phoenix Guard. I mostly plan on trying to stay back and use magic/range.

Anyway, any help would be awesome for both the high elves and playing fantasy in general =].

High Elves tend to be mediocre with shooting-focused armies, their prime strength is in their nasty, nasty hand-to-hand abilities (Spearmen fight in four ranks as a horde unit, all have Always Strikes First, and with the addition of a casting of Okkam's Mindrazor they become unholy terrors of unstoppable death) and their nasty, nasty mages.

I've got mixed feelings on Sea Guard, they've got the offensive abilities of both a Spearman and an Archer and the armor of a Spearman, but they're more expensive and they are exactly as durable as either of the other two. The general consensus on this forum appears to be that a High Elf army should have one each of Spearmen, Archers, and Sea Guard in Core.

High Elves really shine in the Special category, mostly due to the fact that they fight at normal Initiative order (read: hit before anyone who isn't another elf) while using great weapons. Sword Masters and White Lions are both solid choices, Phoenix Guard are significantly tougher than other elves. Avoid taking large numbers of heavy cavalry, 8e is geared towards infantry blocks.

But you're in a pretty good place to start from right now, you might want to get a combat hero, bulk up the Sword Masters and Sea Guard, and get another mage next.

And welcome to Dakka!

AnomanderRake wrote:High Elves really shine in the Special category, mostly due to the fact that they fight at normal Initiative order (read: hit before anyone who isn't another elf) while using great weapons. Sword Masters and White Lions are both solid choices, Phoenix Guard are significantly tougher than other elves. Avoid taking large numbers of heavy cavalry, 8e is geared towards infantry blocks.

Actually High Elves with Great Weapons still Always Strike First. It was Errata'd on the GW website (1st question in the FAQ bit). Army book takes precedence over the Rulebook.

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1610147a_FAQ_HighElves_V1_4.pdf

Ok heres an example of "shooty HEs" using what you have list with no proxies (you need BSB model ASAP)



Archamage level 4,book of hoath,shadow magic 360

10 archers,muso 115

10 archers,muso 115

20 archers,standard,muso,banner of eternal flame 245

40 spearmen,muso,standard 365

1 bolt thrower

1 bolt thrower

20,Phoniex guard,standard,muso,banner of sorcery 368

10 swordmasters 150

5 reavers no upgrades

All of that comes in at just a little over 2000 points you may need to drop a muso on an archer unit or 1 spearmen.

It use is fairly straight forward sit back debuff the enemy with shadow magic to make your shooting effective. Once the enemy closes is on you by turn 3 move the spearmen up to recieve the charge cast mind razor and go to town.

The phoniex guard are very survivable so try using them to tarpit a unit and then hit the enemy in the flanks with the sword masters.

Dont forget to use your reavers to redirect any units you dont want to fight or need another turn of shooting on.

An alternative to shadow magic (shadow is great though) High Magic, 5+ ward on a low casting value and curse of arrow attraction for when you gotta finish off a unit for those VPs. Plus Flames of the Phoenix isnt bad nor Fury of Khaine