Are shades and harpies really a must in a druchii army?

Frankthetank · Post by **Frankthetank** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:46 pm

Are shades and harpies really a must in a druchii army?

I have 6 harpies and 10 shades but have not worked them in to my list yet.
Everyone here seem to use them. Are they worth it can you win with out them ?

Post by **Loki** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:51 pm

Yes, shades and harpies are very useful in an army. They are the best units we have for warmachine/mage hunting. they also are decent harassers, and are quite fast. Another thing they do is free up the DRs to get flank charges. So to answer your question, yes you can win without them, but it is easier to win with them.

PS: There are thousands of topics on this forum and probably at least a good 100 on the use of harpies and shades. If you use the search function, you will be able to find these easily, and not post 8 threads a day about each aspect of your army.

Darkspear · Post by **Darkspear** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:14 am

@Loki: I think we should go easy on frankthetank as i can tell that he is an excited new player who simply wants to get things right. We can't deny that the search function is a little overwhelming and in addition some stuff there may be outdated given new gaming developments and trends.

@frankthetank: shades and harpies are basically warmachine hunters with the latter excelling in the rile at the expense of leadership. the secondary purposes of these units include march blocking and screening. If you are sharp, you will notice that these functions can also be achieved by darkriders. however the horsemen cannot achieve those aims as effectively(there r many many reasons for it). What i feel is that try to get either harpies(i recommend) or shades or both as long as you can afford the special slots(which i seriously believe you could). only use darkriders to achieve those aims when you cannot afford those slots. Note: I did not meant that you do not use dark riders at all. i simply meant you should get darkriders for other purposes and not just for warmachine hunting.

Post by **Dyvim tvar** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:42 am

I think harpies are a must. I'm not such a fan of shades -- they simply cannot compete with the mobility of harpies, yet are more expensive.

Fa'loui · Post by **Fa'loui** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:28 am

I am a huge fan of shades, if they come as core which they do in COS, but as a special slot, i think they would not be my first pick

the harpies are an ecellent unit, M20 is very handy, notice that fliers will probably be the only skirmishers in 7th that will be able to marchblock but wont be marchblocked themself, so i think that they will be even better in 7th,
in 6th they are still better then shades at warmachinehunting and magehunting, but lack a bit in the leadership, so you should protect them from magic and shooting ( panictests are not good with harpies)

Limenix · Post by **Limenix** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:23 am

The answer is definetely a YES.
Depending on your opponent both units can give you a great advantage.
Harpies are more common , because it's our only unit capable of quickly taking out enemy artilery.It's a shame they are 0-1.
Shades do better for march blocking. My regular Bret opponent hates them!

Joey_boy · Post by **Joey_boy** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:18 am

Harpies > Every other druchii unit.

'nuff said

/Johan R

Fr0 · Post by **Fr0** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:27 am

I don't think they are mandatory, though I have a hard time not including one of them if not both.. in most cases I take both when I have the points.

Fr0

Banshee · Post by **Banshee** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 11:26 am

Don't forget the shades' defensive abilities in negating scout placement spots (like woods) to your enemy if you get to deploy your scouts first. This might be a real advantage if you play against armies with lots of scouting units (like Woodelves, for example).

Dark general · Post by **Dark general** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 12:24 pm

ive actually never played with harpies nor shades and i win without them

Child of bodom · Post by **Child of bodom** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 12:45 pm

I at least need harpies to defeat my friend's bret's.
I have never had any use for Shades though.

Ant · Post by **Ant** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:08 pm

I think one or the other of these units really are a must. Harpies are definitely better (talking 7th, I think shades have the upper hand in 6th). They are both extremely useful in a number of ways, and are half the points of a DR unit that is worse at doing the jobs you want the skirmishers for.

if you have enough special choices I wouldn't hesitate in taking both.

Rasputinii · Post by **Rasputinii** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:28 pm

Joey_Boy wrote:Harpies > Every other druchii unit.

'nuff said

/Johan R

.

But your right. 'Nuff said.

Get rid of Dark Riders from our list and give us Core Harpies

.

Joey_boy · Post by **Joey_boy** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:32 pm

mm, I'd settle for removing the 0-1 tag on them. 4 Units of Harpies would rock! Back them up with 2 WarHydras and some randome core stuff

Rasputinii · Post by **Rasputinii** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:15 pm

Aye but then the difference between me and you is stupidity. I like it and you don't, so I would rather have them as Core

Post by **Rork** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:38 pm

Keep it on topic, people. There's only so much off topic-ness before threads get locked.

Very few units are actually a "must" despite what people say. Most armies can manage without units like harpies or dark riders, it just means you have to play differently, and some things will be much easier with those units in your army.

Playing without such units can be fun though - it actually makes you think more and you have to use some units in an unusual fashion. It ultimately depends on how brave you are feeling.

Prince of arnheim · Post by **Prince of arnheim** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:06 pm

Any Dark Elf army should have alteast 3 units of HARASSERS

Dark Riders, Shades, Harpies.

Every army should have atleast 2 units of Dark Riders.

Then a unit of either Shades or Harpies is good enough.

I use all 3!! Speed is our friend!!!

Use Shades to get the jump on your opponent and screw up his plan. Just be careful in 7th Edition as if they are charged they will be overrun if pursued. This might take your opponent into your battle line at an early point.

Harpies are great for screening your troops. Just make sure to be careful as if the HP are shot an panicked this can cause panic in your battle line. Harpies are alos very good at confsuing your opponent, they never know where you are going to fly them.

Post by **Dyvim tvar** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:34 pm

I agree with PoA's general idea -- you want to include a certain number of harrassing units in an army.

I tend to use more than 3 harrassing units in a 2000 point+ army -- I use 4 or 5. But the general idea is sound.

In that role, I think both harpies and dark riders are better than shades. I only use shades: (1) when I am out of dark rider and harpy models; or (2) in a tournament with compositon scoring that penalizes too many units of cavalry and/or flyers.

Deathwish · Post by **Deathwish** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 6:15 pm

I would get harpies first, then shades with an assasin if you have any more slots