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Prince 258
Dragon Armour
Enchanted Shield
Ogre Blade
Talisman of endurance
Barded steed

Archmage 340
Level 4
Talisman of Saphery
Forliath's robes
Heavens

Noble 184
BSB
Armour of Caledor
Guardian Phoenix
Great Weapon
Barded Steed

Mage 165
Level 2
SeerStaff
Beasts

Mage 125
Dispel Scroll
Fire

30 Spearmen 310
Full Command
Standard of Discipline

10 Archers 116
Musician

10 Archers 116
Musician

10 Archers 116
Musician

13 Silver Helms 339
Full Command
Shields

14 Swordsmasters 278
Standard
Musician
Banner of Sorcery

Eagle 50

Eagle 50

I know HE cavalry aren't that good, but I want to go for a swift list that requires tactical play. I chose heavens on my level 4, to force unplanned movements with comets, to aid my survivability with harmonic convergence. The latter of those two can also boost my damage output. Wind Blast could also help me delay charges, but I doubt it. The Beasts mage is there for Wildform and transformation, the fire mage is there for fireball/flaming sword.

Currently I am debating dropping the swordsmasters to a cheapish unit of dragon princes, which can keep up with my silverhelm bus to charge up and flank. They can also carry the banner of sorcery.

Archers are there to fill points and take out chaff.

The prince is there to add killing power to the silverhelm unit. I am toying with dropping the Ogre Blade for a potion of strength. Or possibly dropping him for a tiranoc chariot or two and an extra silver helm. The chariots would aid the helms in flanking their targets dealing impact hits and ASF attacks. The chariots would also provide chaff drops during deployment,.

If you are relying on windblast to delay charges and what not, you should be combo casting that after Flamecage to force the opponents unit to move and sustain major casualties. Also the other way to do this is to flame cage then charge into CC, and declare a challenge. Since a challenge forces the opponent to reform(counts as a movement) regardless of whether they decline or accept.

I'd also take pheonix guard over swordmasters since you aren't running lore of life, and they will get slaugheted before they get to combat against any opponent that knows how horrible they can be, since swordmasters T3, and 5+ armour save aren't going to survive many hails of arrows. The other thing is since they are carrying your Banner of Sorcery they are going to be a primary target since they suppliment your 3 casters and there is nothing you can do about it.



Lastly because of the way cav works, I'd drop the silver helms down to 8, since you have your characters joining. They won't attract many missle attacks other than warmachines especially with the swordmasters there. So you can count on getting into combat with 10 almost every game. The shooting is a bit heavy IMO, especially since you have 3 casters and the ability to get off a large variety of spells, at different locations of the battlefield.

TBF, I'm not expecting to play many shooty armies other than possibly ogres. and occasionally wood elves. So I will try it with phoenix guard and swordsmasters and then decide, most likely. As for the shooting, the archers are mainly there for drops and to give me a method of dealing with thing like harpies/ungor raiders before it becomes an issue. I will probably drop 5 silver helms for a chariot which can keep up with the bus and provide me with another unit to deal with certain things. If needs be.

I think that will work out a lot better for you. You could always forego the chariot for some more pheonix or SM's, though they wont keep up with the bus, an increase in either or could provide a nother scarey alternative target. Or maybe go with a few shadow warriors, though expensive, I have had a lot of fun with them, despite other things being more suited to competitive play. All and all though I feel you have a pretty solid list there. Just a shame silver helms weren't moved back into core selection yet. Hoping the next update for HE's changes that to make them more commonly selected.

I'm not a huge fan of Heavens with HE. I don't think it synergises as well as other lores (i.e. Life, Shadow, Light) but by all means try it. I do think you have too many points in characters at this points level. I would drop the fire mage and add some more boyz.

 John Rainbow wrote:
I'm not a huge fan of Heavens with HE. I don't think it synergises as well as other lores (i.e. Life, Shadow, Light) but by all means try it. I do think you have too many points in characters at this points level. I would drop the fire mage and add some more boyz.

I never leave home without a fire mage for an elf army. It provides a method of dealing with ethereals in armies that are short on magical attacks. As for heavens, I will likely roll harmonic convergence which will synergise with the silver helms. And comet can force unplanned movement, as well as iceshard being generally useful

A different list, very different indeed. But it's nice to see one every now and again.

This being very different to all builds I've ever used, I can't really comment much on how well it will work. You seem to know what you're doing and you're no newbie to HE as well.

I will say this though: Dragon Princes > Silver Helms. Yeah, Dragon Princes are more expensive, but you get a lot more bang for your buck as it were. That slightly buffed-up profile is really worth it, especially that extra attack. And don't underestimate the usefulness of Dragon Armour either. And, like you say, they can use the Banner of Sorcery. So, I'd look for somewhere to fit a unit of these guys in, by dropping the silver helms and perhaps downgrading the Prince to a Noble, since you won't be needing that extra CC kick as much.

 The Shadow wrote:
A different list, very different indeed. But it's nice to see one every now and again.

This being very different to all builds I've ever used, I can't really comment much on how well it will work. You seem to know what you're doing and you're no newbie to HE as well.

I will say this though: Dragon Princes > Silver Helms. Yeah, Dragon Princes are more expensive, but you get a lot more bang for your buck as it were. That slightly buffed-up profile is really worth it, especially that extra attack. And don't underestimate the usefulness of Dragon Armour either. And, like you say, they can use the Banner of Sorcery. So, I'd look for somewhere to fit a unit of these guys in, by dropping the silver helms and perhaps downgrading the Prince to a Noble, since you won't be needing that extra CC kick as much.

The reason they are silver helms is that the second rank of dragon princes are effectively silverhelms. So I give up on 3 attacks and save a tonne of points. I tried the same trick with DPs in the past, and I couldn't get it nailed to a point like this. I will probably try again at some point though. As for the lesser Combat res, I think the fighty character will help counteract that. Sure he isn't on par with a Peg Lord, but he should work. Which reminds me, I need to fit a stubborn hat into the bus.

thedarkavenger wrote:

 The Shadow wrote:
A different list, very different indeed. But it's nice to see one every now and again.

This being very different to all builds I've ever used, I can't really comment much on how well it will work. You seem to know what you're doing and you're no newbie to HE as well.

I will say this though: Dragon Princes > Silver Helms. Yeah, Dragon Princes are more expensive, but you get a lot more bang for your buck as it were. That slightly buffed-up profile is really worth it, especially that extra attack. And don't underestimate the usefulness of Dragon Armour either. And, like you say, they can use the Banner of Sorcery. So, I'd look for somewhere to fit a unit of these guys in, by dropping the silver helms and perhaps downgrading the Prince to a Noble, since you won't be needing that extra CC kick as much.

The reason they are silver helms is that the second rank of dragon princes are effectively silverhelms. So I give up on 3 attacks and save a tonne of points. I tried the same trick with DPs in the past, and I couldn't get it nailed to a point like this. I will probably try again at some point though. As for the lesser Combat res, I think the fighty character will help counteract that. Sure he isn't on par with a Peg Lord, but he should work. Which reminds me, I need to fit a stubborn hat into the bus.

It's not just the attack though, you get an Initative, Weapon Skill and LD Boost. The former two I find really useful, especially against stuff like Daemons and other Elves. I've had plenty of situations where DPs hit on a 3, with re-rolls, where Silver Helms only hit on 4s, possibly without a re-roll. The extra LD is also really useful, especially if, like you say, you plan to field a Stubborn Hat. I also tend to run DPs 7 wide, to maximise their extra attack. But you do make a point, so I guess whatever floats your cavalry bus

I agree with the use of SHs as a character bus. As for damaging ethereals, why not take Am.Light or Ruby Ring - cheaper than another mage! Put it on the SM champ or something.

 John Rainbow wrote:
I agree with the use of SHs as a character bus. As for damaging ethereals, why not take Am.Light or Ruby Ring - cheaper than another mage! Put it on the SM champ or something.

Because neither of those allows for the rolling of flaming sword.

Why dont you just get sac dagger and just stab your whole unit?

 cheapbuster wrote:
Why dont you just get sac dagger and just stab your whole unit?

A) Wrong elf army

B) Sac dagger allows you to kill 1 elf per spell.

But you have little in the way of hitting power outside you SH bus here. The 150 odd points from the mage minus the am.light could get you a unit of 10 WLs or something which you could get some more mileage from.