Go easy on me...it's my first time. 2250 Army

Saragos · Post by **Saragos** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:48 pm

Hello everyone. Long time reader of the forums, first time poster. I'm in the process of putting together my dark elf army, and I wanted to get some feedback on this setup. I ran a very similar setup against a skink heavy lizardman army two weeks ago, and it completely tore them up. However, I'm wanting some opinions on how it might do against other armies, and any tweaks that I should make...or if I should just scrap it and try something else. The idea is that I have pretty decent shooting, magic, and movement phases. The hydra are there for heavy hitting, although the units of shades with great weapons and assassins can do pretty decently if they get the charge, as well. I screen with Dark Riders, use the harpies for warmachine hunting, while the blackguard slowly advance, serving as another threat to worry about.

Unnamed2250 Pts - Dark Elves Army

6 Dark Riders @ 139 Pts
Spear; Rptr Crossbow; Light Armour; Musician

6 Dark Riders @ 139 Pts
Spear; Rptr Crossbow; Light Armour; Musician

10 Shades @ 190 Pts
Great Weapon; Rptr Crossbow; Light Armour

1 Dark Elf Assassin @ [161] Pts
2ndWeapon
Rending Star
Manbane
Cry of War

10 Shades @ 190 Pts
Great Weapon; Rptr Crossbow; Light Armour

1 Dark Elf Assassin @ [171] Pts
2ndWeapon
Rending Star
Rune of Khaine
Black Lotus

1 War Hydra @ 175 Pts

1 War Hydra @ 175 Pts

1 Supreme Sorceress @ 363 Pts
General; Magic Level 4
Pendant of Khaeleth
Darkstar Cloak
Dispel Scroll

Dark Steed

1 Sorceress @ 162 Pts
Magic Level 1
Focus Familiar
Dispel Scroll
1 Dark Steed

6 Harpies @ 66 Pts

6 Dark Riders @ 139 Pts
Spear; Rptr Crossbow; Light Armour; Musician

10 Black Guard @ 179 Pts
Halberd; Heavy Armour; Standard
Standard of Hag Graef

Casting Pool: 8

Dispel Pool: 5

Models in Army: 64

Total Army Cost: 2249

Edited for individual points costs. Please do not post individual points costs. It is a copyright violation. Check out this thread on army posting guidelines: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=14183. --Druchii77

Camaris · Post by **Camaris** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:47 pm

The general idea behind the list seems effective, but I would make a few tweaks.

-First, I would drop the DR units down to 5, and use the added points to upgrade your sorc to a level 2. You almost want the added pd and spell, since your low level mages are so potent anyway. Secondly, focus familiar is a really effective item, but it would be a good idea to experiment with some of the other ones in your next few games such as the Tome or the darkstar cloak just to see which one works the best against your gaming group.

-When it comes to your lv. 4, I'd give her the pd adding bound spell item(black staff?) instead of the darkstar cloak just because it will make her so much more potent. You could find the points for this by taking the pendant off, since mages aren't supposed to get into combat anyway.(maybe put her in your 2nd DR or on a peggy)

-thirdly your shade units seem rather large, so I would split them into two units of 7 and one unit of 6. You could also take the light armor off them if you need points somewhere else, since it won't help you all that much cause everyone and his brother seems to hit at S4 these days. This would make them more effective, since you're not sacrificing any firepower, and you can do combo charges for CC. i.e. have one hit the flank and the other one hit the rear.

-Lastly, I would suggest dropping one assassin for an unkillable BSB( pendant of khaeleth, dark steed, enchanted shield, halberd, with heavy armor and sdc.) This guy will be a lot more effective then the assassin, since he pretty is like an assassin on a horse that annihilates all the annoying units in other peoples armies, such as cannons, flamers, etc....

Anyway, welcome to druchii.net, and congrats on your annihilation of those pesky lizzies.

Saragos · Post by **Saragos** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:52 pm

Camaris, thanks for your input. I'm taking most of your advice, including dropping the dark riders to 5, adding level 2 to the sorceress, taking the black staff with the supreme sorceress, and splitting the shades into smaller groups while removing their armor. I had enough points to add an extra assassin with manbane, then, so I have 3 assassins, one in each group of shades. I'm going to experiment with that, see how it does, then try your suggestion of the unkillable BSB as well. I look forward to running this list, and thanks again!

Saragos · Post by **Saragos** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:08 pm

And here's the new list.

Unnamed2250 Pts - Dark Elves Army

5 Dark Riders @ 117 Pts

5 Dark Riders @ 117 Pts

5 Dark Riders @ 117 Pts

7 Shades @ 257 Pts
Great Weapon; Rptr Crossbow

1 Dark Elf Assassin @ [131] Pts
2ndWeapon; Rptr Handbow
Manbane

7 Shades @ 257 Pts
Great Weapon; Rptr Crossbow

1 Dark Elf Assassin @ [131] Pts
2ndWeapon; Rptr Handbow
Manbane

6 Shades @ 239 Pts
Great Weapon; Rptr Crossbow

1 Dark Elf Assassin @ [131] Pts
2ndWeapon; Rptr Handbow
Manbane

1 War Hydra @ 175 Pts

1 War Hydra @ 175 Pts

1 Supreme Sorceress @ 358 Pts
General; Magic Level 4
Dispel Scroll
Black Staff
1 Dark Steed

1 Sorceress @ 187 Pts
Magic Level 2
Dispel Scroll
Tome of Furion
1 Dark Steed

6 Harpies @ 66 Pts

10 Black Guard @ 179 Pts
Halberd; Heavy Armour; Standard
Standard of Hag Graef

Casting Pool: 8

Dispel Pool: 5

Models in Army: 62

Total Army Cost: 2244

Edited for individual points costs.--Druchii77

Cadeyrn · Post by **Cadeyrn** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:17 pm

Hello,

Welcome!

Two quick ideas for your info. First, unless your cutting and pasting from something, you can save yourself a lot of time (and us some too) by not listing all the stuff that automatically comes with a unit. for instance "5 x Dark riders w/x-bows & musician" tells us everything we need to know.

Second, your entire army seems incredibly mobile with the exception of the black guard. I can't help but wonder if when you play they end up all by themselves, or if you just keep the hydra's back a bit to stay with them. (racing hydras through forests is a huge advantage)

Otherwise it's a good list, and between mobiliy and magic gives you many options to react to your opponents. I think you'll have fun with it. Do you usually have enough terrain to deploy that many units of shades as scouts?

Saragos · Post by **Saragos** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:42 pm

Sorry about the extra stuff in the list. I'll fix that for next time. To answer your question, I'm not exactly sure. The last game I played, which was my first game ever, the Blackguard got into combat pretty quickly. However, my opponent played his army pretty aggressively, moving the skinks in close to shoot, and attempting to screen his Kroxigors with them. I'm not sure how the Blackguard will do in other battles, and I think you make a good point. I just hate to not use them, because a) they're such great looking models and b) they're such a great unit in general. I also like having an anvil unit in an otherwise very offensively oriented list.
As for terrain, usually we have either 2 or 3 pieces of terrain each to place, which will give me plenty of forests.

Rugi · Post by **Rugi** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:22 pm

WoW! Now this is the best "first list" I´ve ever seen!

But it has a weakness! No Ring of hotek means that your shades can easily get toasted by a magic missile possibly also killing the assassin inside.

This army is also actually not so easy to play with against a skilled player since a single mistake can take half of your troops down! A mounted characters can also kill your shades and assassins quite easily so watch them out! And put Rune of Khaine on your assassins! It is the second best option for them!

Otherwise I can this list to work very good in a tournament environment!

Saragos · Post by **Saragos** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:29 pm

Thank you very much for the compliment, Rugi.

Like I said in the initial post, I've been lurking about the forums for a long time, reading strategies and whatnot. I've also been to my game store several times just to watch people play, so I've gotten a lot of ideas there as well...although, I'm excited to be the only person at my store that plays dark elves right now. I do plan to enter into the next tournament that comes around, probably a few months from now. Hopefully by then I'll have had some time to play with and tweak this army, and figure out how it works.

Rugi · Post by **Rugi** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:56 pm

Like I said in the initial post, I've been lurking about the forums for a long time, reading strategies and whatnot. I've also been to my game store several times just to watch people play, so I've gotten a lot of ideas there as well

Seems it paid of

And just one more thing. If you see a organ gun or salamanders anywhere just make sure you kill them first!

Good luck!

Coeur de lion · Post by **Coeur de lion** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:28 am

Welcome and good luck with the list!

However, please remove the point costs of individual items from the lists. Stating the entire cost of a unit is fine (like you have done with DR and Shades).

Enfant terrible · Post by **Enfant terrible** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:17 pm

Your unit of BG's looks pretty small - I always prefer BG units of 14+ models; I guess you run yours 5*2, whereas most people I know run them 7*2 ...

Otherwise your force looks pretty solid! I've never fancied magic-heavy DE, but that might just be me!