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So I've heard and seen Mordheim before, but never played it.

I'm reading up on it now, and assembling some Warbands.

I love Fantasy models. I like the game a lot too (8th). I played it some, but couldn't paint that many models. High Elves are exactly my taste modelwise. (small army of mostly 15-Ish man units. Not their best strategy, but it's how I liked the models, and preferred to play). So I have mostly HE models and bits. I also have some Handguners (nearly started Empire before HE. Their strategy is more what I like, but regiments of their units didn't excited me like HE).

So Mordheim looks fun. With my HE proxied as Humans, I put together two good-looking 350pt Warbands. But I'd like to do more. Obviously, a box of State Troops will let me flesh out a Human warband. But I like Elves. A lot.

The rules I have seem to have some homebrew factions. This includes DE and WE. But the only HE are Shadow Warriors. The problems I have with this are:
(1) I hear SW are OP. That wouldn't be fun.
(3) Lack of options - why can't a SW be armed with a hatchet?
(2) Most of my HE don't fit into a SW band.

Any thoughts/suggestions?
What would be the best counts-as for my HE Spearman and such?
Would allowing some lesser a la carte cause serious problems (such as pricing a unit as modelled even if the rules don't allow something small in the warband)?

I've played a disgusting amount of Mordheim. In my experience the Shadow Warriors were really powerful, possibly second only to Lizardmen. They can just shoot everything off the table. I'm sad to say but elves in general just don't seem to fit well in The City of the Damned. They're too high quality. This game is about the desperate and the insane - people who have nowhere else to go.
As for the lack of options, it seems that most of the really oddball warbands have very few equipment options. I think it's supposed to be a way of bringing some balance into them.

Thanks!

I'll probably still make the Warband, but play other models.

Having played SW in a campaign, they were brutal to my opponents. That being said, they only became really brutal when I geared them for shooting - trick shot, double shot, hunting arrows, increased BS, etc.

When I played them as a balanced band, without bows on everyone, and had some elves kitted for close combat, they were less powerful. So the list can be mitigated a little by being kind to your opponent.

Another potential option would be getting a hold of the 5th, I think, edition of warhammer fantasy. They had a section at the back called 'Warhammer Skirmish' which was the core of the Mordheim engine, but could be used with any of the army books and any models. You could easily blend two.

Last suggestion is using the Empire in Flames expansion to Mordheim, which moves the game out of the city of the damned, and might be more amenable to elves, etc.

The rules I've been looking at seem to include Empire at War.

It seems best to start with two "basic" (went with Averland) Warbands, but one with a couple bows, and the other with Handguns and such. One looks a more Renaissance, the other more middle ages.

Once we've tried a game or two, then I can expand.

Which would be better, assuming I wanted to use a box of Shadow Warriors (WHFB plastic): SW with few bows, or using them as counts-as something else?

I should probably pick up a box of Empire Troops, or possibly a BretonIan equivelent, if I get the wife into it.