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Okay so I've been playing Total War Warhammer which inspired some nostalgia for WHFB and reignited a peculiar ambition I had to make and field a fantasy tabletop army based around horse archers because I like horse archers.. I know WHFB has at least two factions that have shooter cavalry in their core choices and so can do 100% shooter cavalry lists: High Elves and Orcs & Goblins. I don't currently have the High Elf book but do have the Orcs & Goblins one so I have done up this list using it. The army composition is loosely modeled on the Parthian Army that demolished a larger Roman Army at the battle of Carrhae 53 BC (my favourite historical battle) so it has 10 "horse" archers for every 1 heavy cav and no foot sloggers at all. In this case then 10 goblin wolf riders with bows for every 1 Orc boar rider. I say loosely because it also has a bunch of chariots, wizards and a few magic items which of course did not have a corollary in the Parthian Army.

It is a fast army, M9 is standard with only one unit, the heavy cav, being less than that and even then still being M8. Also the 90 odd wolf riders have the fast cavalry rule and so can vanguard. The General will be Gorbad Ironclaw in with heavy cav who with his special rules acts as a backfield rout catcher keeping the break prone gobbos from fleeing the table.

Gorbad Ironclaw - General
Gorbad's unit - 8 Bigun Boar riders with spears, shields, full command and banner of swiftness. -- The Heavy Cavalry
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Goblin Great Shaman with chariot mount, Talisman of Endurance and dispel scroll.

2 x goblin shamans with chariot mount
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Gitilla's howlers - Gitilla plus 29 wolfriders (bows, spears, shields and full command)

Goblin Bigboss with sword of striking and enchanted shield heading a unit of 19 wolf riders (bows, spears, shields and full command)

Goblin Bigboss with Relic Sword and Charmed Shield heading a unit of 19 wolf riders (bows, spears, shields and full command)

2 other chaff units of 10 wolf riders (bows, spears and shields no command) ----- The "horse" archers

That's it 9 heavy cavalry and 90 "horse archers" with some chariots thrown in.

I haven't played 8th ed yet but I have heard that this edition doesn't favour cavalry or shooting so this list might not be very strong in that edition though I hope it will at least be a fun army.

Given that 8th has been taken and shot I also wonder how well the army could be adapted to work in KOW or 9th age. Another thought I had was to do it on a better scale like warmaster's 10mm. A horse archer army is all about out-manouvering the opposition and that requires space to move in; table tops are a lot more spacious when the armies are 10mm rather the gigantic 28mm of WFB.

I welcome your comments.

Better response when I have time, but have you considered Wood Elves? Glade riders are a core horse archer unit, being movement 9 with long bows (long bows vs goblin short bows is a massive difference) and have magic arrows that make them more effective, such as always hit on 3s or -3 armour pen. The only problem being that they have ambush, meaning they arrive from reserve turn 2 onwards, so your army will be very light on the ground until your forces come in from the board edges to encircle

@Alex - I don't have their book at present so I haven't been able to make an in depth assessment of their ability to carry off a Parthian style army, but ambush looks like a deal breaker actually. I am not sure that long range on the bows is all that great for a horse archer either, it will cost something and being fast cav means getting into weapon range and moving out of harms way if too close is not a huge issue. I have looked at high elves sometime ago and they are totally viable for a Parthian army as they have Ellyrian Reavers in their core that are fast cav and can take bows as an upgrade. How do they compare with goblin wolf riders? Well many relevant stats are significantly better: WS, BS, I and Ld. They can't take shields as an upgrade though and they cost a lot more, so goblin wolf rider point for point have tons more wounds and a better armour save. I'm not saying that makes gobbos better for a Parthian Army but they would be less fragile than High Elves even if they are more unpredictable for reason of lower leadership and the animosity rules. Where this gobbo list has 90 shooter cav I would only get 50 or so Ellyrian Reavers for the same point cost.

I have had a look at the Dark Elf and Tomb Kings books just now to see if they could also pull off a Parthian Army.
Dark Elves can just as well as the High Elves. They have in core their Dark riders which can take a repeater crossbow for an upgrade. Cold one knights make for a decent heavy cav also.

Tomb Kings at first glance look like they can as they have Skeleton Horse Archers in core, but on closer inspection they are no good at all. They are weak in a number of ways for this role but the killer is they can only hold as a charge reaction; horse archers need be able to run from close combat fights that are not advantageous to them. They cost more than goblin wolf riders whilst being poorer at everything, they are marginally worse marksmen (although Arrows of Asaph levels that pretty well), much poorer at close combat and more fragile having no armour save at all. They have the scouts rule but with their slower base move and the inability to make march moves they are actually less mobile as well.

Dark Elves have arguably the best all core horse archer style army in the game.

Dark Riders are the best Core Fast Cav in the game. Period.

HE and WE both are decent. But Dark Elves can have a 4+ save with their shield. Have a repeater xbow which is better than a bow, and cheaper than enchanted arrows and have murderous prowess.

Then you have access to Doomfire Warlocks which are one of the best units in the game for their cost.

Add in the fact that every DE master or sorceress has access to a Dark Steed or Dark Pegasus, you have one fast army.

Wood Elves are also an excellent choice for an all cavalry army as well considering even their shock cavalry Wild Riders are fast cav.

Throw a Captain BSB with the moonstone of hidden ways on a large unit of Sisters of the Thorn and watch them teleport around the board shooting javalins at the enemy and then running off.

It is rather unfortunate about the ambush special rule, it should definitely be optional deployment IMO. You could ask your opponent if you could deploy them on the board.

Yeah I can see that Dark Elves can make a strong showing for this army style. When I look through their book though the themed army that jumps out to me is a bikini amazon chick army; wyches, sisters of slaughter, harpies, medusas, sorceresses.. You have deadly barely clad ladies in every slot. So while a number of factions can pull off a parthian army, I think only Dark Elves can do the bikini thing. If were to do a parthian army using Dark Elves then I'd be blocking myself from doing a bikini army later, I guess.

That army might not do bad in either 6th or 7th Edition, but I have no experience with 8th to form an opinion.