Druchii.net

Hell all,

After Age of Sigmar came out, I quit playing all GW games. I felt that AoS was both a bad game and a punch in the face to old games (I've been playing over 20 years myself). However, I got hooked into the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy 2 kickstarter's Dark Elves, and looking at 9th Age, I'm diving back in.

Here is my first list in a few years. Thanks for any help

2500 Pts - Dread Elves Roster

Lords

Dread Prince Beast Master, 303 pts
. . Flaming Lance
. . Hardened Shield
. . Talisman of Greater Shielding
. . Ring of Shadows
. . Raptor

Heroes

Cult Priest of Yema, 370 pts (Battle Standard Bearer)
. . Hero's Sword
. . Lucky Shield
. . Banner of Speed
. . Divine Altar of Yema

Oracle, 130 pts (Level 2)
. . Dispel Scroll
. . Path of Dark Magic

Core

19 Repeater Auxiliaries, 259 pts (Musician; Standard Bearer; Shield)
. . Flaming Standard

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

Special

11 Dread Knights, 361 pts (Full Command)
. . Rending Banner

5 Harpies, 65 pts

30 Tower Guard, 475 pts (Full Command)
. . 1 Banner of Blood

Rare

Dread Reaper, 80 pts (Repeating Shots)

Dread Reaper, 80 pts (Repeating Shots)

Total Roster Cost: 2498

The idea is that I have a couple of nasty units to smack things around while the rest plays avoid/harass. I have enough shooting to be annoying though not devastating. I felt that the Raptor unit was important enough to protect with the Shadow Ring, but am wondering if maybe the +3 strength sword might be better?

Thanks for any replies.

Datalink7 wrote:I got hooked into the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy 2 kickstarter's Dark Elves

We want pictures!

The raptor bus is said to work fine in most meta, so you should be well off.

This said, the results of ETC confirmed that DE has a sub-par army book.
I would expect an immediate, post-ETC quick fix to all armies and rulebook,
then, for DE specifically (DL, too), an improved AB in the coming months.

So hold your breath, you might find yourself soon with some extra points!

AFAIK Ring of Shadows won't affect other models in Dread Knights unit:

Ring of Shadows ​ (40 pts)
The bearer's model and all Infantry models in its unit
count as being in Soft Cover. If one of the models affected
by this item is already in Soft Cover, it counts as if in
Hard Cover instead. Close Combat Attacks made against
the bearer’s model or any Infantry models in its unit are
made at ­1 Weapon Skill (to a minimum of 1).

Calisson wrote:

Datalink7 wrote:I got hooked into the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy 2 kickstarter's Dark Elves

We want pictures!

The raptor bus is said to work fine in most meta, so you should be well off.

This said, the results of ETC confirmed that DE has a sub-par army book.
I would expect an immediate, post-ETC quick fix to all armies and rulebook,
then, for DE specifically (DL, too), an improved AB in the coming months.

So hold your breath, you might find yourself soon with some extra points!

Good deal. I always loved Raptors/Cold One Knights, so glad to hear they work.

Nice to hear that DE might be getting a boost, before I even play. Hopefully Blades of Nabh get a boost as they are my favorite unit (witch elves being my favorite Dark Elf unit). I would like to run them but from what I read they aren't competitive since they lost frenzy.

I will show some pics once I get it them. They just shipped the kickstarter freebies (I haven't gotten mine yet) but the army itself hasn't shipped. A lot of the models are still renders so I don't really expect the army before next year, but I can start practicing with my Games Workshop Dark Elves.

Dracopl wrote:AFAIK Ring of Shadows won't affect other models in Dread Knights unit:

Ring of Shadows ​ (40 pts)
The bearer's model and all Infantry models in its unit
count as being in Soft Cover. If one of the models affected
by this item is already in Soft Cover, it counts as if in
Hard Cover instead. Close Combat Attacks made against
the bearer’s model or any Infantry models in its unit are
made at ­1 Weapon Skill (to a minimum of 1).

Good catch. I didn't see the Infantry part. With that in mind, changed list:

2500 Pts - Dread Elves Roster

Lords

Dread Prince Beast Master, 313 pts
. . Giant Sword
. . Hardened Shield
. . Talisman of Greater Shielding
. . Raptor

Heroes

Cult Priest of Yema, 360 pts (Battle Standard Bearer)
. . Flaming Lance
. . Lucky Shield
. . Banner of Speed
. . Divine Altar of Yema

Oracle, 130 pts (Level 2)
. . Dispel Scroll
. . Path of Dark Magic

Core

19 Repeater Auxiliaries, 259 pts (Musician; Standard Bearer; Shield)
. . Flaming Standard

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

Special

11 Dread Knights, 361 pts (Full Command)
. . Rending Banner

5 Harpies, 65 pts

30 Tower Guard, 475 pts (Full Command)
. . 1 Banner of Blood

Rare

Dread Reaper, 80 pts (Repeating Shots)

Dread Reaper, 80 pts (Repeating Shots)

Total Roster Cost: 2498

Basically, dropped Ring of Shadow and put Giant Blade on Lord. Now he can insert S7 attacks somewhere critical (nice if I run into T8 monsters like Sphinx), plus allows for more sustained combat as it is S7 every turn or if I get charged.

Dropped down to Flaming Lance on Cult Priest as I needed to find 10 extra points.

I would strongly recommend taking the Cult Priest off of the Altar, and running a separate BSB on foot instead. My reasoning for this is:

1. The BSB now on foot can join the Tower Guard, making them Stubborn. This hugely increases their staying power even if they get into a poor combat (which being T3 5+ infantry, they probably will), and can further anchor your line for the Knights.
   
2. Impact hits are resolved after challenges are declared; meaning that the Altar's lovely D6+1 S5 impact hits will often be wasted against a champion (as will the rest of the chariot's crew attacks).
   
3. I am not wholly certain that a Cult Priest is worth the points over a regular Captain, and this seems to be the view over on the T9A forum. The Yema Altar already has +1M and Swiftstride; all the character is bringing is some gear and Aura of Despair, which is pretty situational. Meanwhile, the humble old Captain BSB on foot with Mithril Mail, Talisman of Supreme Shielding* and a Halberd is pretty cheap, has a 2+/5++ for defence, and Killer Instinct combined with Banner of Blood on S5 attacks really helps give the Tower Guard some bite. Alternatively, the BSB on foot also lets you do something fun like giving him the Wizards Hood for a second wizard, and you can still get his AS up to 3+ (or 1+ with the Fleet Commander upgrade, but this is pricey); or a Ring of Shadows

*I realise you have already given ToSS to your Dreadlord. You might want to consider swapping this out for Luckstone and Divine Icon on the grounds that if he's ever in a situation where he needs a 5++, you are probably buffing the unit from the Shrine anyway, and the Divine Icon can help kill scary things before your character needs a ward.

I do also feel that you are running very light on magic, and an opponent won't struggle to know what to dispel at any given time. Other than this, I really like your list as it combines my two favourite things (Dread Knights and Tower Guard) in numbers.

Clockwork wrote:I would strongly recommend taking the Cult Priest off of the Altar, and running a separate BSB on foot instead. My reasoning for this is:

1. The BSB now on foot can join the Tower Guard, making them Stubborn. This hugely increases their staying power even if they get into a poor combat (which being T3 5+ infantry, they probably will), and can further anchor your line for the Knights.
   
2. Impact hits are resolved after challenges are declared; meaning that the Altar's lovely D6+1 S5 impact hits will often be wasted against a champion (as will the rest of the chariot's crew attacks).
   
3. I am not wholly certain that a Cult Priest is worth the points over a regular Captain, and this seems to be the view over on the T9A forum. The Yema Altar already has +1M and Swiftstride; all the character is bringing is some gear and Aura of Despair, which is pretty situational. Meanwhile, the humble old Captain BSB on foot with Mithril Mail, Talisman of Supreme Shielding* and a Halberd is pretty cheap, has a 2+/5++ for defence, and Killer Instinct combined with Banner of Blood on S5 attacks really helps give the Tower Guard some bite. Alternatively, the BSB on foot also lets you do something fun like giving him the Wizards Hood for a second wizard, and you can still get his AS up to 3+ (or 1+ with the Fleet Commander upgrade, but this is pricey); or a Ring of Shadows

*I realise you have already given ToSS to your Dreadlord. You might want to consider swapping this out for Luckstone and Divine Icon on the grounds that if he's ever in a situation where he needs a 5++, you are probably buffing the unit from the Shrine anyway, and the Divine Icon can help kill scary things before your character needs a ward.

I do also feel that you are running very light on magic, and an opponent won't struggle to know what to dispel at any given time. Other than this, I really like your list as it combines my two favourite things (Dread Knights and Tower Guard) in numbers.

You make a compelling argument. Taking that advice into consideration, I've come up with the following. Some disadvantages here compared to the other, which I'll discuss afterwards.

2500 Pts - Dread Elves Roster

Lords

Dread Prince Beast Master, 317 pts
. . Ogre Sword
. . Hardened Shield
. . Dusk Stone
. . Divine Icon
. . Repeater Crossbow; Heavy Armor
. . Raptor

Heroes

Captain, 158 pts (Battle Standard Bearer)
. . Mithril Mail
. . Talisman of Greater Shielding
. . Halberd

Oracle, 130 pts (Level 2)
. . Dispel Scroll
. . Path of Dark Magic

Core

19 Repeater Auxiliaries, 259 pts (Musician; Standard Bearer; Shield)
. . Flaming Standard

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

Special

11 Dread Knights, 361 pts (Full Command)
. . Rending Banner

5 Harpies, 65 pts

Divine Altar of Yema, 215 pts

29 Tower Guard, 460 pts (Full Command)
. . Banner of Blood

Rare

Dread Reaper, 80 pts (Repeating Shots)

Dread Reaper, 80 pts (Repeating Shots)

Total Roster Cost: 2500

Captain plus Divine Alter separate was more points, so I had to scrounge up some from elsewhere. I dropped 1 tower guard, but it's being joined by captain so its efficiency actually goes up. Then I was still 1 point over, so I dropped Giant Sword for Ogre Sword and Divine Icon (also dropped talisman for Dusk Stone). Now my Lord won't hit quite as hard, but does have divine attacks.

The only alternatives I could think of would be to instead drop Beastmaster (but it seems like ultra reliable Raptor unit would be very useful, plus hatred on raptors themselves isn't bad), 1 level from mage (making him just a scroll caddy) or Rending Banner from Raptor unit (but I think this this is very useful particularly with all those raptor attacks).

Also had 4 points left over so just stuck Repeater Crossbow on Lord.

Thoughts?

Here are some of the renders. I think they finally finished all the renders so hopefully we move to printing soon.

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This first one is going to be the general.





















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Datalink7 wrote:

Clockwork wrote:I would strongly recommend taking the Cult Priest off of the Altar, and running a separate BSB on foot instead. My reasoning for this is:

1. The BSB now on foot can join the Tower Guard, making them Stubborn. This hugely increases their staying power even if they get into a poor combat (which being T3 5+ infantry, they probably will), and can further anchor your line for the Knights.
   
2. Impact hits are resolved after challenges are declared; meaning that the Altar's lovely D6+1 S5 impact hits will often be wasted against a champion (as will the rest of the chariot's crew attacks).
   
3. I am not wholly certain that a Cult Priest is worth the points over a regular Captain, and this seems to be the view over on the T9A forum. The Yema Altar already has +1M and Swiftstride; all the character is bringing is some gear and Aura of Despair, which is pretty situational. Meanwhile, the humble old Captain BSB on foot with Mithril Mail, Talisman of Supreme Shielding* and a Halberd is pretty cheap, has a 2+/5++ for defence, and Killer Instinct combined with Banner of Blood on S5 attacks really helps give the Tower Guard some bite. Alternatively, the BSB on foot also lets you do something fun like giving him the Wizards Hood for a second wizard, and you can still get his AS up to 3+ (or 1+ with the Fleet Commander upgrade, but this is pricey); or a Ring of Shadows

*I realise you have already given ToSS to your Dreadlord. You might want to consider swapping this out for Luckstone and Divine Icon on the grounds that if he's ever in a situation where he needs a 5++, you are probably buffing the unit from the Shrine anyway, and the Divine Icon can help kill scary things before your character needs a ward.

I do also feel that you are running very light on magic, and an opponent won't struggle to know what to dispel at any given time. Other than this, I really like your list as it combines my two favourite things (Dread Knights and Tower Guard) in numbers.

You make a compelling argument. Taking that advice into consideration, I've come up with the following. Some disadvantages here compared to the other, which I'll discuss afterwards.

2500 Pts - Dread Elves Roster

Lords

Dread Prince Beast Master, 317 pts
. . Ogre Sword
. . Hardened Shield
. . Dusk Stone
. . Divine Icon
. . Repeater Crossbow; Heavy Armor
. . Raptor

Heroes

Captain, 158 pts (Battle Standard Bearer)
. . Mithril Mail
. . Talisman of Greater Shielding
. . Halberd

Oracle, 130 pts (Level 2)
. . Dispel Scroll
. . Path of Dark Magic

Core

19 Repeater Auxiliaries, 259 pts (Musician; Standard Bearer; Shield)
. . Flaming Standard

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

5 Dark Raiders, 125 pts (Musician; Repeater Crossbow; Shield)

Special

11 Dread Knights, 361 pts (Full Command)
. . Rending Banner

5 Harpies, 65 pts

Divine Altar of Yema, 215 pts

29 Tower Guard, 460 pts (Full Command)
. . Banner of Blood

Rare

Dread Reaper, 80 pts (Repeating Shots)

Dread Reaper, 80 pts (Repeating Shots)

Total Roster Cost: 2500

Captain plus Divine Alter separate was more points, so I had to scrounge up some from elsewhere. I dropped 1 tower guard, but it's being joined by captain so its efficiency actually goes up. Then I was still 1 point over, so I dropped Giant Sword for Ogre Sword and Divine Icon (also dropped talisman for Dusk Stone). Now my Lord won't hit quite as hard, but does have divine attacks.

The only alternatives I could think of would be to instead drop Beastmaster (but it seems like ultra reliable Raptor unit would be very useful, plus hatred on raptors themselves isn't bad), 1 level from mage (making him just a scroll caddy) or Rending Banner from Raptor unit (but I think this this is very useful particularly with all those raptor attacks).

Also had 4 points left over so just stuck Repeater Crossbow on Lord.

Thoughts?

I like it, and would be very interested to see how this list plays out!

Re: Beastmaster. It's a question of cost-efficiency. You've got a unit of 12 that I assume is going 6 wide, for 12 Raptor attacks. They'll almost always be hitting on 4s due to their WS, for an average of 6 hits. Hatred increases this up to 9 attacks.

Vs T3 you increase wounds from 4 to 6 (and probably kills too - most T3 has 5+ AS and your Raptors will have AP).
Vs T4 you increase wounds from 3 to 4.5. So half the time, you'll be getting just one more wound (on average) , and this may not translate into a kill due to better AS on this Toughness in general.
Vs T5 you increase wounds from 2 to 3, again getting just one more.

On the other hand, hatred is insurance: part of the reason everybody hated ASF (and 8th DE in particular) was that their re-rolls carried them when their dice fluffed. There will be times you roll a fistfull of 1s, where Hatred can bail you out.

Also consider the number of times you expect it to actually come into play. You probably won't be in a new combat every single turn, or overrunning into a fresh combat 6 times a game, so it's probably only going to be used 2-3 times at most. Is it worth 40 points for a handful of additional S4 wounds per game?

The question is whether you feel this is a worthwhile investment for the points. Personally, I haven't included it in my list, but that's for a couple of reasons: 1) I expect the Knights and characters to do most of the killing, and view the Raptors as a bonus. 2) I can't find a way to shave 40 points off my list without compromising something or significantly restructuring it. Your list looks pretty complete, where those points would only be spent increasing model counts or on upgrades that aren't critical. The only area where I would make a recommendation is to give the Tower Guard champion the Beast-bane Halberd instead. I found this to be really threatening to multi-wound models of all kinds, but it's a huge risk on a 1W T3 model.

Another advantage is also that the knights get to take their stupidity on 3d6 dropping highest, making them super reliable. I have failed LD10 rerolled stupidity before (only once ever, but it still sticks in my mind because it lost me the game ).

It also more easily allows them to operate away from the BSB.

But it is something to consider. I'll take a look to see if some more magic items would look better for 40 points.

Thanks for the comments. Once I get the army painted/etc. I'll certainly post it on the forums.