Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Greetings,
I work odd hours so I don't get many games in, if any at all, but I'm liking the look of these new wood elves. I'm big into the hobby aspect, so I still do a lot of painting, but I also like to keep my modeling hobby in line with potential gaming. That being said, I try to come up with viable army lists to use as my buying guide. Unfortunately, all I can really do is theory craft, so I'm hoping to get some opinions based on actual scenarios.

Do auxiliary units really need command? The musician seems to make sense, and the champions have their uses, I suppose, but it seems like they could very easily lose their standard if caught.

I'm mainly wondering about Sisters of the thorn. I'm planning on running 6 just as a support unit that may or may not harass a little with the javelines. Either way, I want them primarily behind the lines. I assume this means they wont need their banner. Would they still benefit much from a musician if their main purpose will be spell casting from the sidelines, or from behind my glade/eternal guard units?

From a modeling angle, I'd like to steal their banner for my eternal guard to use as their standard. I want to convert the EG's standard bearer into the BSB since it's big enough to be flown over a used car lot.

I'm also asking for the sake of my goblin spider cav. I'm painting up a fluff night goblin/spider riders themed army and I opted to not give any of the spider cav units banners since there are a lot of them (MSUish), and it seems like I'd just be giving up a lot of bonus 25pts if/when my redirectors get squished. I also nixed their champions since a goblin champion isn't much to behold. I did, however, keep the musician as they seems invaluable for their intended purpose of feigning and redirecting.

Is it kind of a unit by unit situation? How do you all run your light cavs/archers/etc.

In my experience (around a year or so of playing High Elves), I never take anything but a musician on fast cavalry or archer units. The extra BS on the champ for ranged units isn't worth 10 pts IMO, and the banner only matters in melee where archers and fast cav generally don't want to be (unless they're fighting war machines, and even there a banner isn't needed).

Basically banners and champs should only show up on main combat blocks/anvils. I use my Reavers to be annoying and force my opponents make a choice: either shoot at my Phoenix/monster with the cannon and lose the cannon, or shoot at the expendable Reavers with the cannon and let my monster into combat. They are meant to be throw away units to help draw some attention away from your heavy hitters... in my experience, the more choices you force your opponent to make the better, as it makes it more likely that they will make a mistake.