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So I've been told that I'm insane for running straight Shadowblades. That means I only have two Warscrolls which makes things simple. Honestly, I'm having so much fun with the army, and the game in general. I need some advice. After just a few games, I've picked up some basic tactics and I'm going to need to make a decision here soon so any advice would be appreciated. It's making a decision for the sizes of the Dark Rider units.

List building worked out like a charm. It's an even 500 points for 1 Assassin and 15 Dark Riders. So this just gets multiplied based on the points level. Leaving me with 4 Assassins and 60 Dark Riders at the 2k mark. Something that is really appealing to me is the guessing game about where the Assassin(s) are. At 500 points, it's a no brainer. I run 10/5, and it's a 50/50 chance of where the Assassin is hiding. I tried running 5/5/5 and it turned out to be a repeat of 'Monty Pythons Art of not being seen'. However as the points go up, the guessing game scales a bit better as I can spread the units, and can double up on Assassins in the units.

I played a few 1k games running a 15/5/5 and didn't do as well as running 10/10/10. I found that units more than 10, were difficult to get attacks in melee, and most of the time it was just the spears. The smaller 5 man units were only picked off sooner, or ignored when I kept them strictly to Fire Support. I like the idea of having at least one big block in case I choose to have my Herald as my General, then the big block is at least immune to Battleshock for the game.

This got me thinking that maybe my 2k spread should be 20/10/10/10/10. My initial plan was to run 20/15/15/5/5 at the 2k mark. I like the idea of keeping it to 5 units, but I'm not married to the idea. I misunderstood the army building rules and only thought I had to PAY for the units in multiples of 5 and could divide them how I wanted. I found out when I got my GHB that units have to be purchased in multiples. Since I'm going to be crowding the board I just want to keep things manageable. From a modelling perspective I'm only planning on doing 5 Commands at this point. If I wasn't running the Assassins, then the MSU approach would completely work, but the risk of losing a 5 man unit with the Assassin in it is too much of a gamble for me.

Admittedly, the only reason this is bothering me is that playing and modelling are going to meet soon. My plan is to paint the different units in case they get mixed up (which has happened in my games), and unlike more mixed armies I'm running just the one type. I could always build 10 of them Generic and make sure they're the first Casualties. I might still do that, but worry about how OCD I am at that time. Another alternative that has already been suggested is to just buy two more boxes to make the models switch out, which isn't out of the realm of possibility either. If I go that route, I'll just go ahead and get 3, and another Assassin and have an even 2500 points and all of the different setup options at 2k will be available.

I'm still a long way off from painting the actual units, but I wanted to get the discussion rolling now.

Thank You in advance.

 Akar wrote:
So I've been told that I'm insane for running straight Shadowblades. ... , but I wanted to get the discussion rolling now.

Thank You in advance.

Did you ever get a strait answer from an authoritative source (GW rep, FAQ, Facebook post) answering your question about if the special rule for assassins counts as its attack for the round? I may actually use mine if that's the case, pretty over priced garbage currently.

As far as your strategy and list idea... Honestly I don't recommend it. Dark Riders are really expensive for lackluster damage and almost no sustain. The only upside is your extreme mobility, the trick is finding a way to capitalize on it.

In general I would say fast cav is support and cannot fill all roles an army needs.

buffalozap wrote:
As far as your strategy and list idea... Honestly I don't recommend it. Dark Riders are really expensive for lackluster damage and almost no sustain. The only upside is your extreme mobility, the trick is finding a way to capitalize on it.

Aezeal wrote:
In general I would say fast cav is support and cannot fill all roles an army needs.

The time for recommendation has passed. I already own 12 boxes of Dark Riders, the bases are done and the last 15 Horses will be assembled tomorrow so I can finish adding sand and sealing the bases. I'm probably going to paint up the Dreadlord/Dragon that I got to buy myself a little time to at least play a few more games.

The plan after getting the bases sealed is to prime and paint the Horses before starting on the Riders themselves. If you're familiar with the models, there are runes on the hind flank. My idea is to paint up the runes in different colors to represent the different units, so that both myself and my opponent know which models belong in which unit. Then I'll work on the 5 Command Models before moving on to the grunt RnF Riders. I originally planned to model the small 5 man squads with the Crossbows instead of the spears, so I could limit the spread of rune colors needed. With the change, I'm going to need to pick if I'm going to stick with the 5 man units or go to 10 man and still model 2 of them up with Crossbows.

I guess what I'm asking for is any advice on unit sizes with those who have experience with it. I'm hoping to have enough experience to make up my own mind by then. The advice would be to playtest saving me on some trial and error. I understand that it's a niche army, so its possible no advice exists or will apply to a mobile army. I've accepted the high cost, and I believe one of the tricks will lie in the ability to use Retreat effectively. Tricky with how Initiative works, but not as unpredictable as I originally thought. Realmgates have also been suggested a few times as well, so I'm looking into that.

buffalozap wrote:
Did you ever get a strait answer from an authoritative source (GW rep, FAQ, Facebook post) answering your question about if the special rule for assassins counts as its attack for the round? I may actually use mine if that's the case, pretty over priced garbage currently.

I didn't really want to start a rules debate on this yet. Originally I thought it was a stupid idea when I tried to figure out what Assassins were actually good at killing. I put it out of my mind until I saw others were asking the same question, which means I'm not the only one seeing it. The closest answer is from the local Warhammer store Manager saying 'Sounds right to me.' It hasn't gotten to the point where I've needed to get an answer beyond that yet.

For those that want to read on:I've said far more than I wanted to, so I'm not going to say any more here. I have more than enough rules to allow me to play it, and our group is going to let me try it, then make a decision for how we want to play. The best answer that anyone is going to be able to give at this point is 'Ask your group'. I really don't want this to turn into a rules thread. This is about my unit sizes, and how to play/build them.

EDIT: Anyone who wants to discuss it further PLEASE feel free to PM me though. I haven't opened up a thread about it here, since it's all available on another site. I've gotten all the information on both sides of the argument to move into the 'Lets SEE if it's broken'. After a few games in my groups, we're going to see how it goes from there.

For what its worth I hope your interpretation is correct. I will actually use my assassin if that's the case. I own ten dark riders myself, have for years, currently don't use them cause of their high points/limited abilities but I am optimistic that in the yearly rebalance of points they will be more viable. Good luck to you. You're brave and committed. I hope to run across information about your matches here or elsewhere, Id like to know how your idea pans out.

Thank You,

In all honesty, It started as more of a paint project. I chose to get into AoS as something to paint, unlike 40k where I buy an army to play first. I chose the Dark Aelves because I liked them, and almost went with Order Serpentis as well. Didn't like the Cold Ones as much as I liked the Dark riders, despite the limited options. My other choices were Azgorh or Nighthaunt, but both required me to do Forgeworld, and my Nighthaunt list turned out like every other Nighthaunt list already out there.

The biggest issues I'm having with the army right now is it has ZERO way of dealing any Mortal Wounds, and issues with the General. So anything with a 2+/ re-roll is just something I'm hoping I can beat through objectives. I don't have any command abilities besides the default one, and Assassins don't even get to use that until the turn after they arrive. I only recently found out that I CAN use the Order traits/artifacts as a Shadowblade army, so those are options I'm just barely exploring.

I'm just asking, but have you had any success's yet, as shadow blades look cool, so i am thinking of starting a painting project, however I would like to play with them too