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hello! i have gone and bought myself a dark elf battalion and a supreme sorceress. i made a scratch build dread lord and am buying a high elf dragon from a friend yo convert. any ideas on what i should buy next? I'm not really up for competitive gaming yet, just casual games with friends. thanks guys

Lots of corsairs and black guard. I run two units of black guard and 30 corsairs.

Oh and a cauldron.

Depends on if you want to focus on Wytch Elves, Warriors, or Corsairs as your main combat units.

Units to try out while you get a feel for the army:
30 corsairs with xhw and frenzy banner
20 black guard w/ banner of murder
8 Witches, so cheap, so deadly
5 and 10 man cold one knights


Mandatory units:
10-40 crossbowmen. If taken in units of 20 or more, take musician, standard and shields. They are the single most survivable unit in the army barring magic items or cauldrons.
10-20 shades. Soooo worth every penny. Take xhw on them
1 Hydra. Some people take 2 if the enemy runs a bunch of cannons or such.
Cauldron of Blood. The blessings are too valuable to certain units to not take it. Making it a BSB is even better as it saves points and will not die easily.
5 Harpies. 55 points of flying fun that will destroy war machine crew or block marches/charges. Very versatile, very cheap.

Things to never take:
Bolt throwers. Perhaps if you take 3 you might see some decent results, but they under perform more than not.
Less than 40 Executioners. To make them worth taking you need a horde of them with the ASF banner and the 5+ ward from the cauldron. Otherwise they die way too fast for what they cost.
Assassins. Perhaps the mandrake/rending stars combo is worth playing around with, but melee assassins are terrible. If they don't kill the enemy in the first turn of combat they are dead at T3 with no armor. Generally not worth the points.

That is my opinion, some may disagree.

I find that black guard work best when kept cheap. 20 with a musician racks up 267 points and can put the hurt on most things.

I find that executioners are underwhelming. And hydras work best in tandem with a big block of cold one knights, a cauldron and a manticore/dragon.

As for assassins, I have been playing around with the venom sword/withering thing. It is a gimmick and relies on them being in a challenge but bring an opponents toughness down and make them take a toughness test or 2d6 or lose all their remaining wounds.

assassins are meh, but alot of fun. if i use mine, its just to help out the damage if my xbow block sees combat. i have a dreadlord to deal with enemy lords.

umm....i love the bolt throwers personally, i field two, but i would have more if i was still building the army up.

the army can go a bunch of different ways so you should think about what you want before you buy it. Personally i go with shooting and counter attack style where i load up on xbows and bolt throwers and magic/shoot the crap out of the enemy (this will lose to pure gunlines though) and then i have a block of corsairs and black guard to counter attack with a cauldron buffing them and some cold ones to help out with flank attacks.

Its not a great army, i never built it up into something monstrous but you are collecting what i think is the best army in fansasy, both in play and in power. there are very, very few units you can go totally wrong with. I would steer away from harpies and executioners, and i dont like witches or dark riders. not saying they arn't good, but they just dont tend to work for me. ive never used hydras cause everyone complained about them.

I can see this as well. Just sayin'

The ASF banner in an Executioner block is not something I would recommend. The only way to get it into the block is to have a BSB Death Hag with it in there. A 2 wound model with no save unless you spend points for a 5+ ward and who can be pulled out of the unit thanks to Frenzy.

From my experience you're better off with a BSB cauldron sitting behind them putting an Extra Attack or Ward Save blessing on them as well as giving them Stubborn on LD8 as they're Khainite with a re-roll from being near to the BSB.

Having a COB BSB near a smaller unit (about 20) of Executioners and giving them the Ward Save blessing can also make them into a reasonably tough anvil which can also cut a large chunk out of an enemy which goes into them. I held up a Tomb King Chariot unit complete with their General with a unit of 20 Executioners whilst I manoeuvred a Hydra into a Flank charge using this tactic.

If your goal is casual play, buy the units you like either the look of or fluff wise and have fun.