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Hi all,

Starting with fantasy, and looking for a painting challenge, so have decided to look at a high elf army. Set myself the challenge to build a 3000 point force and have it painted within 12 months (I have kids so might be fishful thinking...). Comments, critique, etc. much appreciated.


LORDS
Prince, General
The White Sword, Dragon Armour, Shield, mounted on Griffin
402 points

Archmage
Lore of High Magic, Level 4, Loremaster’s Cloak, Forlariath’s Robe
345 points

HEROES
Noble
Battle Standard Bearer, Armour of Caledor, Great Weapon
143 points

Mage
Lore of Shadow, Level 2, Seerstaff of Saphery
165 points

CORE
60 Lothern Sea Guard (in either 2x30 or 3x20) (Archmage goes here)
Shields
780 points

SPECIAL
14 Swordmasters of Hoeth (Noble BSB goes here)
Full Command, Standard of Balance
285 points

20 Phoenix Guard (Mage goes here)
Full Command, Banner of Sorcery
380 points

5 Dragon Princes
150 points

5 Dragon Princes
150 points

RARE
Great Eagle
50 points

Great Eagle
50 points

Great Eagle
50 points

Great Eagle
50 points



Please help! Thank you!

Personally I never used a griffin, I like my dragons personal preference, The White Sword is 'model on foot only". The Archmage is a good build, as long as someone doesn't have an item like The Amulet of Light, or other ranged magical weapons. Personally I use the Book of Hoeth, but most of my opponents are dwarves or heavy on the anti magic. Would recomment standards and maybe musicians for your Lothern Seaguard. The specials are spot on, may consider banners for the DP and or combine into one squad of 10? Around here the guys taking great eagles normally only take a pair, I still don't believe in them myself but the other guys swear by them. I know they are great war machine hunters and you will need that if you plan on running a monstrous mount. The only other thing I could see is too many points tied up in characters and not enough troops. Curious what spells you pick with the level 2 shadow is it Mindrazor and POS?

I don't see any reason why you would give any fighty HE characters anything but a great weapon personally, 14 swordmasters won't do a lot, you also have no real combat unit.

You have two units of 5 dragon princes who can't even break ranks with a flank charge and you have 20 phoenix guard who won't last as long as people think. i'd advise you to bunch your special units and take two fully kitted out units, drop the griffin and put him on a horsey and with a 10 man FC dragon prince unit, without wasteing any of your 100 points your S6 with a 1+ armour save, dive him dawnstone and the other tricksters shard and your flying (although not literally anymore as you lost your griffin)

Thanks for the replies! I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too, using models I like the look / fluff of and four characters might be a big ask if I want a list which can actually win.
Core is non negotiable at this stage, I am convinced on using LSG. Could drop an eagle for RBT but thought about using two eagles to rush in turn 1 and tie up their charging units, give my DP's time to get into range. It's supposed to be a very aggressive list, even if it's only 100ish models at 3k.
Didn't realise that about the White Sword, thanks you! So yeah, he gets a great weapon. I went with the Griffin because I have the model (IoB yay) and I like the look, and it's my surname (lol). Only 30 more points for a sun dragon though and I like the look of those too. I do want a monstrous mount for him, because I think they look awesome and I want to paint one.
The Archmage is to buff things, Shadow mage to walk forward with Mindrazor and Enfeeble (or yes, Pit of Shades if I get a horde heavy opponent).

How about swapping the PG for some White Lions (stubbon vs ward save), give them the banner of sorcery and give the SM's eternal flame? Would they hold up better? And I though SM's to protect a flank, 2x7 I have been hearing is good for frontage, do I need more of them?

Always open to some more help! Thank you.

This list is quite similar to the 2000 point one I posted at this link: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/425118.page The posts are kind of long but some great info was offered on tactics and what works well for High Elves. Feel free to check it out. On a separate note I think without a ward save of some kind your griffon will die and your general will end up walking. Too many people I play have perfected the art of hero-sniping for me to not try to give all of them ward saves.

Also the IoB Griffon model is quite fantastic.

I like this army and its nice to see someone take the Griffin.

Games like this deserve return in kind, dropping the molded lists in favour of more monsters and fielding wierd units normally not seen. Its so clearly not competitive so any opponent ought to match your style with their own. Consequently list advice is of less value.

I would instead like to see what its facing, and make sure it is suitably filled with non standard junk.


However archer unit twenty of thirty models wide is just nonsense, crud like that causes game issues, not least when it comes to establishing ranges. The gods gave us Horde for a reason, it sets a practical maximum unit width.

Drop the griffon, the fighty lord and about 7-10 seaguard.
Then you've got a really solid 2500 point list.

-Matt

On the griffon my brother uses one all the time in his empire armies (he painted it above average too ), and it works very well for him. IMO the RBT are just not as useful as they once were, maybe drop 2x great eagles to up your SM to 21 models? The seaguard models do look awesome but having just painted my own unit I will tell you they suck to paint , useful model being fighty and shooty. Lastly, last month I won the local tournament at the FLGS (2250) using Tyrion a Dragon Mage and Lore of Metal mage 60 spears in 3x20 and 2 units of 10 DP with standards. You just will eventually learn (if you don't already ) on how to use monstrous mounts, using cover or another unit to take the cannonball to the face. And sometimes you use the big beasty to pull or be cannon fodder for the DP and SM to get there.

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated!
I have some food for though so I'll post a revised list after the wifey gets home and takes the screaming kids away for five minutes...

Keep the swordmasters small, they are a threat that your opponent will have to deal with and they aren't that many points. I would personally lose the griffon because I think combat lords are. Better supporting combats in a unit, rather than being a big target themselves, but that's personal preference. Overall I really like the build and style of play this army requires, good luck on the painting and get some games in to see what you like to play.