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Ok so no real plushy, but just finished assembling the IoB set. I bought it thinking I would play Skaven, but I've really falls in love with the High Elf side.

Thanks to ET rules I can make a really derpy 1000point list, but I wanted to know where to expand. Not just specific units, but the general direction of the army. I hear very mixed things about our core units, great things about our special ones. I'd really appreciate a sort of high elf primer with a few thoughts on what to buy next. I have been googling this topic but cannot find much since the last army book was released :/

Ps: I have the army book, and don't want to buy another IoB.

Thanks for any help you can all offer!

Depends where you want to go. GHenerally spearmen are considered the worst of the core & Seaguard are a bit pricy. If you want a cav list go silver helms, if you want more shooting go archers.

White lions are one of the better special choices. Dragon princes are good for a deathstar or just a cav list. Phoenix guard make a great anvil / mage bunker.

In rare you want 4 bolt throwers & a frostheart phoenix.

Lords & Heroes you want at least 1 lord lvl mage, you can get away with a loremaster if you play khaine magic for a LOT of versatility. You'll probably also want at least 1 combat character and a BSB.

Mage dude gets book of hoeth. BSB gets magic items for defense. Banner of the World dragon goes in whatever unit you want it in (usually lions) as the unit bearer can take it then it can't be sniped out.

Thank you!

I suppose there are a lot of ways to go...

I'd like to build an army based around magic buffing my infantry and going for the attrition. I'm not really into cavalry, but those Phoenix kits look great.

Also, what is the goal of the bolt thrower? Character sniping? Numbers thinning?

Bolt throwers pull double duty, either multiple lower strength shots, or a single high strength shot that does multiple wounds (for taking out monsters or multi wound things)

 More Dakka wrote:
Bolt throwers pull double duty, either multiple lower strength shots, or a single high strength shot that does multiple wounds (for taking out monsters or multi wound things)

Yep. 8th ed book makes them 30% cheaper too, which makes fitting a pair into a list much easier than it was with the 7th ed book.

You can't really snipe with bolt throwers as they aren't template weapons and most characters go into units.

Also attrition is not the elves strength. Even buffed most other armies do it better as they simply have more bodies. Butfs are great but elves are too expensive to fight a grinding attrition compared to most anyone else.

 Shas'O Dorian wrote:
You can't really snipe with bolt throwers as they aren't template weapons and most characters go into units.

Unless there are 5 or less RnF. Then you can.

Bolt Thrower, Phoenix Guard and Flamespyre/ Frostheart Phoenix. All good units and all good models. Hope this helps

So I get that HE will generally be outnumbered, and that attrition is not third strong point, but what do they excel at?

Surgical strikes of overwhelming firepower.