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Hey I'm a rookie at fantasy but I was wanting to make a semi-competitive high elves list with the units I like so here goes.
lords-335
Mage-335
general, seerstaff of saphery, folariaths robe, lore of shadow, lvl 4

Hero-609
Dragon Mage-435
lvl2, ring of fury, silver wand

Noble-174
bsb, heavy armor, shield, banner of sorcery, great weapon

Core-630
40 spearmen-385
full command

20 Archers-245
full command

Special-825
10 phoenix guard-150

9 sword masters-165
full command

20 white lions-300

5 dragon princes-210
champion, standard bearer with war banner

Rare-100
Repeater Bolt thrower

Going for a ranged heavy army relying heavily on magic, the dragon mage uses reckless to either drain enemy dispel dice or cast a few annoying spells and the mage hits with the heavy magic, tell me what you guys think, thanks.

EDIT: edited for forgotten lvl 4 on arch mage

Grimgar314 wrote:Hey I'm a rookie at fantasy but I was wanting to make a semi-competitive high elves list with the units I like so here goes.
lords-335
Mage-335
general, seerstaff of saphery, folariaths robe, lore of shadow
lv3? Seerstaff is ok, but if you are taking the Robe, you should take the Talisman of Saphery with it.

Hero-609
Dragon Mage-435
lvl2, ring of fury, silver wand
Dragon mages are kinda terrible. They look cool, but cost too much for what they do. This is basically 300 points that are better spent elsewhere.

Noble-174
bsb, heavy armor, shield, banner of sorcery, great weapon
There is no reason for the BSB to take the Banner of Sorcery when any special infantry block can take it. Armor of Caledor and Guardian Phoenix with a GW is the ideal BSB for HE.

Core-630
40 spearmen-385
full command

20 Archers-245
full command
Archers have zero need for a champion, and HE archers have zero need for a banner. Drop those two and give the spearmen a cheap magic banner like Eternal Flame or Discipline.

Special-825
10 phoenix guard-150
What is the point of 10? They are not a kill unit, they are a defensive unit. Take 25 of them with Banner of Sorcery and bunker your archmage in them. They won't die easily.

9 sword masters-165
full command
12-14 is the ideal size for swordmasters. If you want them to survive long enough to hit things, you need to take lore of Life.

20 white lions-300
4 ranks 5 wide? They'd be better off 6 or 7 wide, and give them command.

5 dragon princes-210
champion, standard bearer with war banner
The only command that DP's need in 5 man units are a musician. The others won't do much for the points spent on them. A standard and War Banner add to static CR, which DP's don't really need. They should be flanking large units alongside an infantry block or speed killing small units, in either case they don't need a banner.

Rare-100
Repeater Bolt thrower
Change this for 2 eagles. They are worlds better. Use them to hunt lone characters and warmachines.

Going for a ranged heavy army relying heavily on magic, the dragon mage uses reckless to either drain enemy dispel dice or cast a few annoying spells and the mage hits with the heavy magic, tell me what you guys think, thanks.

Those are my thoughts.

Sorry about the mage level forgot to put the 4 in there, it has been edited.

I know the dragon prince isn't great, but i really like the idea for him. Is there a way to make him more worth it? If not what would you suggest to put in there instead of him?

That's a good build for a bsb, I will probably do that, I forgot normal HE specials could take magic banners up to 50.

Ya the archers only need a musician I will change that and give spears banner of discipline.

Is 10 really to few to bunker a mage or do I need more?

Would a couple lvl 2's with life instead of the dragon be good to make the swordmasters survive, because I know even a small unit of them is devastating.

I meant to give the lions command I need to find points for that, was planning 6 wide so Should I get 4 more for complete ranks.

I figured that the dp's would do better with banner/ warbanner as my rolling even with those attacks is never enough to break an enemy even with a flank charge(I fail avlot of 2+ saves)

I personally like the bolt thrower more then the eagles as it gives more flexibility on a list.

Thanks for your reply, I knew it wasn't a great list as im' very inexperienced but I'm open to change it.

Dragon Mages kind of suffered from the change in Flaming Sword of Rhuin and the new accuracy of cannons.

I don't know you basically end up with a Dragon you want to get into close combat with a Mage you want to avoid close combat with.

If you have the model, why don't you try it out and see what you can do with it? It won't win many tournaments but could be a lot of fun in a friendly game.



If you make a competitive list and then put a Dragon Mage in it you should theoretically end up with a semi-competitive list.

If your going to shoot with HEs here would be my list of must haves.

Level 4 Archmage with Book of Hoath to debuff enemies T so S3 arrows can actaully kill stuff.

Fill all your core with archers mostly 10 man units with just a muso and one 20 man unit with a muso and banner of flame.

Eagles to redirect and keep big combat blocks of you for a turn.

Couple of decent sized units of elites WLs,PG or SMs (dragon princes have always proven to be useless for me)

Maybe a few bolt throwers I use them and they have always done well for me but ymmv.

I know there are a lot of really competitive high elf lists if you want to make them, but do you have any ideas on making this still a good list keeping the dragon mage? As I like the idea of it and I know it is not very common so, does dakka have any ideas?

It seems to me like he'd be best employed kept as cheap as possible. Take full advantage of his free power dice to cast flaming sword of rhuin on one dice (which becomes two) on one of your combat blocks or failing that a big unit of archers each turn. Fly the dragon up the flank, fire the breath weapon at something toughness 3 and smash into something without great weapons in support of your other blocks. Or use him to murder things in the back your great eagles would hesitate to take on. Maybe give him a guardian phoenix for a 5+ ward if no one else has it so he doesn't die instantly.

That's just in theory mind you. I've never taken a Dragon Mage.

Grimgar314 wrote:I know there are a lot of really competitive high elf lists if you want to make them, but do you have any ideas on making this still a good list keeping the dragon mage? As I like the idea of it and I know it is not very common so, does dakka have any ideas?

No real way to make a dragon mage work that ive found If you simply must include him try to run him as cheap as possible to minimise the impact he has on your list.

Well, its a bumber that dragon mages are bad, but anyways here is a new list.


lords-350
Mage-350
general, silver wand, folariaths robe, lore of shadow, lvl 4, talisman of saphery

Hero-160

Noble-168
bsb, armor of caledor, guardian phoenix, great weapon

Core-700
50 spearmen-475
full command

20 Archers-225
muso

Special-1082
12 phoenix guard-242
banner of sorcery

14 sword masters-240
full command

28 white lions-450
full command

5 dragon princes-150


Rare-200
Repeater Bolt thrower

great eagle

great eagle

If you really like Dragon Mages, then, by all means take one. We, on this forum, can educate you about the effectiveness of a Dragon Mage (i.e. not that good) but we can't change your opinion of the model/idea of the model. If you're set on fielding a Dragon Mage, then do so. Certainly if you've already bought one, don't let it go to waste. They're not great, sure, and won't do you much good in tournaments, but in friendly games they'll probably operate just fine.

What will your main opponents be, if anything in particular? Some armies often make use of stuff with Regeneration, so it'll be handy to have a bit of Fire Magic to sort that out.

The Shadow wrote:If you really like Dragon Mages, then, by all means take one.

I completely agree. I run a manticore in my dark elves a peg lord being the more competitive choice. In a competitive environment, I.E. half of my opponents, it will likely die horribly. But against the other half it will make its points back.

The dragon mage can be quite useful(guarantee'd flaming sword.), but against some people it will fail miserably. I.E. dwarves, empire and maybe ogres(depending on the list).

My main opponents tend to be skaven brets dwarves and ogres. With vc very now and then. I like dragon mages and yes I have the model, I am just not going to field him in this list. I want to do a caledor themed list at some point that he will be in , but with this list I wanted something more on the competitive side as There are some waac players at my local gw particularly the skaven player so I want to have a semi competitive list to field in some cases and I want to avoid getting steamrolled until I can get my general tactics down better. In more themed lists I will have my dragon mage in there.

Ok, well if you'll be planning two lists, that would work. Include the Dragon Mage in friendly lists (you don't want to waste that purchase) and leave it out in (semi-)competitive ones

Why wouldn't you take teclis instead of a dragon mage? Almost the same cost. Plus he is a level four with the scroll of hoeth which acts as a dispell scroll and cause your opponent to forgeta spell for the entire game. Plus he get plus d3 power/dispell dice because of his sword. He is a mean character. Drop in a unit of thirty lothern sea guards and you just gave him a five plus ward save.

 Death via bristles wrote:
Why wouldn't you take teclis instead of a dragon mage? Almost the same cost. Plus he is a level four with the scroll of hoeth which acts as a dispell scroll and cause your opponent to forgeta spell for the entire game. Plus he get plus d3 power/dispell dice because of his sword. He is a mean character. Drop in a unit of thirty lothern sea guards and you just gave him a five plus ward save.

1. This thread is almost 3 months old, therefore we can assume no input is still needed on it.

2. Taking Teclis is considered taboo by many players as he is severely over powered and under priced. Like bringing a gun to a knife fight. It's one thing if your friends don't mind playing against it, but if you are playing strangers or people you've just met then don't expect them to play you again if you bring Teclis.

3. If you take Teclis, you bury him in 25-30 Phoenix Guard, not flimsy Sea Guard.

That's is a very good point thanks for adding that. I didn't even think about giving him a two plus ward save with the phoenix guard hero in the same unit.