How should I start?

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Admiralbob
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How should I start?

Post by Admiralbob »

How would u Dark Elf veterans suggest a new playr start their new DE army? Any suggestions will b appreciated. Thx in advance
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Swedenpack
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Post by Swedenpack »

oh, nice to take part in the training of a new general.

- first thing you should do is read the book, twise, yes I said twise. that way you have compleat knowlage of the army and the fluff. + you can avoid questions "slaves" ofen ask.

- second get yourself a notepad and write fluff. you have some insperation from the stories in the book, Im sure. Just make a draft, do you like the magic part of druchii, or the fast raiding-partys. maybe a corsair sailor army. or a monser-army whit hydras and manticors and stuff like that. GO CRAZY !!

- therd. based on your fluff. start asembel an army that feels good to you. Like Cold one Knights? take em! Dont like them? Dont take them! and so on.

- fourth. Every armylist needs tweeking. so post your armylist in the "Armylist section" of druchii.net (send me a PM when you do this I'll be happy to help out)

---
some advise along the way:

- People will sugest you to use:
Dark riders (ouer Best unit IMO)
Reaper Bolt Trowers, dont leav home whotout them.

- Dont spend TOO much on heros, I know this is temting but it will not work in the long run(I limit them to 25% if not mounted on beast). Expensive heros worked in 5th ed but that was a long time ago, it seams anyways.

PAINT AND PLAY FOR FUN, not just to kick your friends ass. (people do that inforont of the computerscreen to much anyways. take CS for example)

Hope I helped :D
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Alith anar
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Post by Alith anar »

Agree with pack except for the fluff writing part. You don't need to write fluff. Just settle for a theme, like for example an army from Har Ganeth. It would obviously contain many Executioners.

Just keep in mind that even though an army is themed for a specific city, that doesen't mean that the majority of the troops should be the elites that hail from this place. It just means that the majority of the elites should be the elites from that city... follow me?

And I totally agree on not spending more than 25% on characters, especially with elves. More troops will serve you much better.
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Vorchild
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Post by Vorchild »

You might also want to pester someone to get the two annuals that the site put out before all the troubles (possibly Linda or an admin). There were some good ideas in those things.

Remember that the heroes thing is kind of a guidline, so if taking upwards of 50% :shock: fits your fluff and fits your tactics (most important thing of all), then go for it. You need to see the solution (ie how that army is going to crush the enemy) before you can look closer at the problem. :)
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No fake
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Post by No fake »

Yep, and most of Welcome ;) :D !lol!

To start you need the book and a creative mind ;)

I went and bought 2 Warrior boxes, 5 Cold One Knights, A Reaper Bolt Thrower, an assassin (though a sorceress would be better) and Malus Darkblade model

What I did was: make one 20 man spear unit and one 12 man Repeater Crossbow unit. I then went and made a unit of Cold one knights with full command and converted the Malus Darkblade model to look like an "original" general ;) This is not the best or standart list around, but its fairly defensive and packs a punch, with many different types of units to take on all comers ;):D

Hope that helped :D
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Langmann
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Post by Langmann »

Pretty much every unit is worth it now that the revision has been completed, but they all fight in different ways and can be difficult to master. You cannot go wrong buying Dark Riders, however, and a Reaper Bolt Thrower is easy to master for a new player. If you are going to be playing opponents with lots of artillery, the harpies are good buys as well.

I suggest that if possible you borrow someone else's army and try it out for a while because it's a difficult army to master.

Next pick a theme and a way you want to fight. The army can fight defensively, aggressively, stealthy, or rapidly depending on your selection of units. Not one way is better than another, IMHO, but most DE players like to fight aggresively. You an even combine 'philosophies'. I suggest reading all the tactics threads and army list threads on druchii.net.

Then buy your models and have at 'er.
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Malachi
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Post by Malachi »

Welcome to the deadliest place around.

I think the first thing that you should do is buy the army book, two regiment boxes and a sorceress model.

Create two units of ten RXB's and a unit of twelve spearman. Create an army around 500 points with you sorceress as the general.

Doing this will give you a cheap and very broad inro to DE. You will be able to expereince magic, shooting and close combat. One you have this, play about ten games and do not worry whether you win or loose. However after each game think how could you have done better. Then think whether it came down to your tactics or whether you are missing a unit.

After a while start adding units to fill the gaps. Pretty soon you will develop how you play with your DE. After that right a 2000 point list and work towards it.

Then once you are at this stage, refine your tactics further after playing lots of games against varied opponents. Tweak you list if you need it.

Always, read up on the post on this site as the yare a valuable source of info. ASk questions no matter how big or small.

Remember, the DE is hard to master but it is the deadliest army when it is.
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Karond
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Post by Karond »

Get some DARK RIDERS. They kick arse... it took me a while to get them but once I did I never regretted it. Have at least 2 units of five and use them on the the flanks. One useful tactic in using them is to charge single models. People always forget the incredible charge range of the DR and leave sorcerers and the like out in the open. I managed to pull a charge off on a necromancer killing him and half the undead army!!! GREAT STUFF
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Impure souls
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Post by Impure souls »

it is all down to theme as most have said. my highborn is from the viper mountains and regularly raids tiranoc. therefor i have many chariots and fast units to be able to combat the cretin known as the high elves. so my army is based on stealth and rapidity. i deliever hugely powerful charges when i want and where i wont and leave my opponents agitated. it is the best if you work with a theme, plus it adds extra flavour to an expensive hobby. ;)
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Jargobae
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Post by Jargobae »

some good advice from people here.

IMO the most important thing to do is PLAN.

Buy the army book, read it, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over until you know exactly what your doing.

Plan 1000 pts. Buy it and use that as a building block.

I found my old 1000 pt list from an age ago.

I trimmed it up a bit to suit the errata but i hope it gives you an idea

Heroes
beastmaster on manticore
with lance, armour of
darkness
259
Core
20 spearmen with full command
185
12 RxBowmen
132
5 dark riders with RxBows and
musician
127
Special
chariot with spears
97
Rare
2 bolt throwers
200
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Leithel and odd
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Post by Leithel and odd »

Hi and welcome to the site,

I wish there was a way I could get a hold of the old Druchii.net monthly so that you could look at the first one which had suggestions on starting a new army. So far though the suggestions have been good.
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Admiralbob
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Post by Admiralbob »

Thx for all the help. I do believe Dark Elves is the army im going to start for a few reasons.

1. Best models in the game
2. Best community
3. Requires skill
4. Chaos doesn't appeal to me any moew (the passion is gone)
5. And did I say best models?


thx again for the help an i will be posting my first ps list soon too so look out for that on the army list section
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Winterqueen
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Post by Winterqueen »

Just don't get tempted to choose your army after the models. That's what I did before I knew better and here I am with a nice unit of Black Guards that I'm not using at all :lol:
I'd say plan your army a whole lot before buying the models. It's cheapest that way ;)
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Evilzealot
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Post by Evilzealot »

Definately nail down your playing strategy before you buy your models. I bought a box of warriors, and although I like the regimented look of RXB Warriors, I almost never use them (they are too defensive for me to enjoy playing). I play very aggressively so Witchelves, Corsairs, Dark Riders, Cold One Knights, and executioners are common in my lists, and I consider them well worth the money.

I have played for over two months, and I am just starting to understand how theme can be very enjoyable when creating an army :oops: . A Black Ark theme including corsairs/dark riders/RBTs works great with almost any variety of points. I include a Noble with a unit of elite bodyguards (usually CoK) and the army is basically done already. End result: suits my style, looks good, has a nice theme, and can be competative without powergaming.
The idea of a Beast army for 2K is really a cool idea IMHO. Corsairs, dragon-riding highborn, a hydra, harpies, Cold One knights, and more corsairs would make an appearance in my new beast army. It won't be extreamly competative, but there is alot of fear/terror, and everything has wings or scales ;). It will take a bit of work to put together now that I already have an army.

All of what I wrote was just to give you ideas of how things are working out for me, so you can hopefully avoid mistakes when buying troopers! If you don't like my suggestions or themes, then don't force yourself to use them for competative reasons! :mrgreen:
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Harlequinn
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Post by Harlequinn »

WinterQueen wrote:Just don't get tempted to choose your army after the models. That's what I did before I knew better and here I am with a nice unit of Black Guards that I'm not using at all :lol:
I'd say plan your army a whole lot before buying the models. It's cheapest that way ;)


Yeah, but now the Black Guard never lose their Hatred...you have no idea what that plays out to until you've used them.

I just played a game tonight where my unit of 15 black guard (with the Banner of Dread / unit causes fear) managed to not hit a single time on the first attempt at attacking...not just once, but three combat turns in a row. Fortunately that Hatred thing kicked in and I managed to bloody the field, as it were. The Black Guard ended up surviving an encounter with Zacharrias (with help from some Corsairs).

Anyhow, I digress a whole bunch. Long story short:

Buy enough core to field as many points as you think you'll ever play. This is actually a small number, if you use MSU. Dark Riders are cool, but so are Corsiars.

All of our special units have impressive punching power but come with some heavy weaknesses (no Armor Saves for Witches, Stupid Cold Ones...) Best bet is to build around countering those weaknesses.

The magic phase of the game sucks when you're Dark Elves...but that's just my opinion due to the armies I play against.

Listen to what everyone else said earlier...most of them have been playing longer than I have... ;)
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