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Edited by suggestions! Dark red is removed, green is added I'm trying to keep this within the bounds of figures I own however, so I had to reduce my points value a skoosh. Now it's a 1750 point army

Hello! I'm working on a high elves army and the primary source of my figures are 2 boxes of the Island of blood. I don't have much experience with High elves and any feedback is appreciated!

As a note, I WISH I owned some Giant Eagles, and will someday, but currently do not.


Lord (Anyone else find it frustrating that the starter set lord can only really be used in a 2k point game?)

Prince
- Griffon, Lance, Dragon Armor, Dispel Scroll

Archmage
- Level 4, Jewel of the Dusk, Talisman of Preservation

Heroes

Noble
- Battle standard, Light Armor, Shield, Banner of Sorcery

Dragon Mage (purchased because the dragons look freaking cool)
- Level 2

Mage
- Level 2, Dispel Scroll

Core
Spearmen
- x25
- Full command

Spearmen
- x25
- Full command

Archers
- x10

Special
Sword Masters of Hoerth
- x20
- Full command

Ellyrian Reavers
- x5

Ellyrian Reavers
- x5

Total: 1749


My primary concerns are a lack of magic Items and magic power. I'd probably put the BSB with the Sword Masters and hold the Reavers back to counter charge anyone that tries to hit my flanks, or have them ride up to kill warmachines if my Dragon mage is otherwise occupied.

Also, does anyone have recommendations for using the Sword Masters in 2 groups of 10 instead of 1 group of 20?

Now the Army is pretty magic heavy, which I'm cool with, I like magic. In terms of ownership I have a distinct lack of war machines and fliers. Eagles are en route, but how vital are the Bolt throwers?

So, heres my two cents.

The lord choice be illegal. He is not a mage, and therefor cannot take arcane items (dispell scroll). Figure out what you want to do with him, and ill get back to you on some possible loadouts.

The BSB needs better protection. I recommend a tried and dependable combination of armor of caledor, gaurdian phoenix, and great weapon.

The dragon mage...hmm, ok. I dont recommend taking him. Its a huge point sink, and dragons are not as tough as they used to be. Play a game vs someone with a cannon or equivalent, and let me know if you still like them.

Spearmen look good.

Archers wont do anything for you at this point level with only 10.

Sword masters can do well gaurding flanks and counter charging in 5x2 formations, but not without magic backup.

Reavers are great at harassmemt, eagles are better and cheaper.

My overall opinion is that your hero and lord choices need revision.

First your lord cannot have a dispel scroll, only magic users can have arcane items. Also you should get better armour for your BSB if hes not taking a magical standard. Way too many victory points surrendered if you lose him.

Banners, high elves have access to the banner of sorcery a free 1d3 bonus power dice every friendly magic phase. Its cheap definately always worth getting.

Ellyrian Reavers though kind of cool I wouldnt recommend taking 10 of them. They are pretty expensive for what they are and what they do. They are very fragile too just like swordmasters. You may want to look into taking 20 or so Pheonix Guard and taking the Swordmasters down to 10-15. Reason is swordmasters are the glass cannons of warhammer. s5 ASF reroll misses, 5+ armour save. They are going to attract all the ranged attacks and or magic from an opponent. I like the dual 25 Spearmen blocks.

I personally use Lotheran Sea guards and take advantage of swift reforms. As in 30 or so in a block and line them 15x2 for full shots, then when they are in charge range reform to the 5x6. Since spears do not attack in an extra rank if they charge. So taking the charge is the best thing to do. You are capable of doing this with spearmen but since they do not present a ranged threat depending on the match up your opponent can easily justify waiting for you to charge them.

Finally the high elf dragon mage. Very cool model however, you still only have a 2 wound guy on top of it. Meaning in close combat the dragon will do some damage but the wizard is going to die immediately. Its a cool concept since you can fly around and do what you need, but its better off to put him in a chariot if you want manueverability, still just as protected, almost as manueverable, but a lot less points, and you dont lose 25% of your army if it dies. The other thing is, you dont have the points to put into getting the uber dragon so youll be using a low point dragon which really can get beaten down by any s4 unit. Making any experienced player trying to get into melee with it. A semi small unit alone that can withstand 6 kills a turn (25men+) will remain steadfast long enough to get a lord/hero in the flank of the dragon or a better unit in to dominate it. I generally only take dragons in games over 3000 points so i can stick a level 4 on it and really trick it out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Aipoch is right take the eagles for harassment, cheap, way fasters, little fragile but so are the reavers. Thers a combo for magic items that makes your hero / lord magic user or what not nearly immune to damage, Gossimer Robe / Amulet of Saphery? cant remember the exact names i just know its a Robe and a Saphery item the make your guy only damagable by magical attacks and then any magic item in base to base contact with him is treated as mundane. Doesn't work against daemons, grail knights, forest spirits, ect., who do not have magical weapons but all their attacks are treated as magical. But it does help against most armies.

Thank you for the responses!

Alright, maybe I'll toss the Prince altogether. I had not known about the arcane items on mages only (though I really should have) thank you for telling me. As well as the dragon mage in order to free up some pointage all around. Someday I'll use that dragon with a prince in a 3500 point game or something. And it will be cool.

I had read previously how Giant Eagles are the High Elves best friends, so I have a few on order, it will just be a while before they can get here. In the meanwhile I have use the Reavers to do that job.

I'll use an Archmage as my Lord then, and because of that I REALLY like the Banner of Sorcery. Am I better off putting that on my BSB or in my Sword Master?

Edited original list incoming as well.

Honestly since Swordmasters are such a high priority target the banner of sorcery will only make them need to die faster in the eyes of any opponent, so put it with your BSB or another special unit. The reavers will do the job for the mean time, and then when your eagles arrive, you will be shocked with the upgrade you have given your army and then the points you now have to spend else where.

The Dragon Mages and what not are cool to play around with if say you have a friendly in house match. But I wouldn't call it a respectable army choice to take it to a local gaming store with strangers, some people can be real a***oles about "fun" troop selections.

Lastly make sure you list what lore your wizard will be using. Its something that lists should always include.

I'm glad i could be of some help to you. All and all I'm confident the list will do pretty well with the minimal changes. Highelves are SLIGHTLY out of date, but are still very tough to beat, in closing Aipoch is 100% correct, 10 archers won't do anything replace them or get more =D.

There are a couple of ways to convert over the griffon into an eagle. Some of the people I know have docked the rider, then green stuffed in some feathers and called it an eagle of charce. I myself have docked and chopped the griffon rider up and will be finishing him into a really great looking eagle in a month or two.. As far as your list goes, the griffon can still be used to learn the game. I would not get to itsy about having him just yet as your starting to learn how to play the game.

Prince, AoC, Vamb of Def, sword of might,,, amulet of light or what ever you want to fill in the last few points. I think most of your players would care less if your proxy the griffon as your eagle for the time being..

Archmage,, I myself just run the standard arcane item with the folariath robe. The 4 plus ward is just a 50 percent chance at life.. you would be better served with the lore masters cloak.

My bsb has been running my banner for a long time now. I personally see the bsb as the guy that holds the army together instead of placing him on the line. Then again im a core player and there are not that many people that say, or invest in our core, or utilize it. You loose your bsb,, you lose the option of keeping your army together. As a side note..

foraliath robe mage can hold a unit up via the bsb.. Rerolls ld on the charge vs the minus to ranks.. Its just a tactical options imop.

Dragon mage, run him and build your army around fire so that you can really crank up the heat with your army.. get it,, fire fire fire.. mahahaha

ok back to your list.\

You last mage, I would drop him as you have arleady invested into your army as much as you really need to with casters at this total.

You need to up your archer count. 10 guys are going to get ganked and then your looking at ld test and if anything is around it an ld test for that unit too.. It does not take much to force an ld test with such a small unit.

20 sword masters,,, well you need to find a way to protect them. You could look into light lore to pick up phas to portect this unit. IE dble cast of phas will give this unit a -2 to hit. There still made of glass,,

Reavers will work for now, just figure out how to use them so that your not taking ld test. load heavy one side and then turn and move them to the other side. There movement alone will get them across the board for tactical deployment..