High Elves - What's not to Love?

[Robcoulman]

Well the new book is out for you lovers of all things pointy eared and shiny - so what has changed.

Well the first thing is the new rule Speed of the Asuryan - High Elves now Automatically strike first when they charge and when they are charged. This is a neat rule change to reflect the long years of martial training that the Elves put in to maintain the Phoenix Kings Armies. It now means that charge or charged the Elves will usually strike first - which represnts the speed of the warrior and the many years of practice that goes with it. Nice!!

Then there are some shiny new special characters (Or in some cases rehash of the old characters) - So alongside the dear friends Tyrion and Teclis come back Eltharion the grim in his reincarnation with sight (Before the events that turned him into a blind swordmaster!) and the trustyn Griffon, Korhil for the White Lions. Two new characters appear - Alith Anar the Shadow King of Nagarythe and Caradryan hero of the Phoenix Guard. Out goes poor old Imrik the Dragon Prince of Caledor! But in his stead we get three types of Dragon - Star, Moon and Sun. Star Dragons are the oldest of the lot and as fearsome as you'd expect. But there are now new categories - Moon and Sun. Moon are the 'middle level' Dragons - not quite as tough as the big brother, but a handful to anyone out there and lastly the sun dragon - the baby brother of the others. This added to the option to mount the Sun Dragon with a L1 Wizard - results in a Dragon Mage of Caledor. Bring a Dragon in as a hero (Well two as the dragion eats a hero slot) choice - Nice! The only drawback is the Caledor Dragon mage has to take Fire magic only.
Quite a few of the main characters have been reduced in price and Tyrion's mount no longer counts as a monster - he's back in the Cavalry where he should be - no more can he get the horse shot from under him and end up truding round the field. There are a few other tweaks to the previous incarnation - Regnerate rule for the heart of Avelorn being a corker (Alongside the 1+ save and 4+ ward save for his armour!).


And on to Magic - The spell list has been tweaked with two new spells and a rework to Drain magic (Now adds 3 to enemy casting scores and each cast is cumulative in the enemy round (so two L1 wizards casting Drain magic add 6 to the enemy score next turn (Ouch!). New spells include Shield of Saphery (+5 Ward save) and Courage of Aenarion (Makes the Unit Stubborn).

Units have changed - Cavalry (Silver Helms) are no longer core choice - meaning Infantry are a must, but there are less corce choices needed than every other list - which helps to reflect the Elite nature of the Elf Army.
Other goodies are the reduced PV for the basic troops. Dragon Princes and Swordmasters now get 2 Attacks each, reflecting the elite nature of the troops - a 5 man frontage of Swordmasters now unleashes 11 attacks, strikes first, WS 6 and S5 - that has to hurt!
The 'New' discovery in the book is the Lion Chariot of Chrace - No soft and flimsy horse drawn beast, but drawn by two lions and two White Lions occupying the Chariot - that's a lot of S5 and 6 hits without the initial charge Impacts. A real bludgeon of a weapon - it's only drawback is a M8 state (Oh the shame!)

Added to all of the technical stuff is some good background stuff - bringing together the threads from the previous books and as usual a decent set of pictures and artwork - some new, much repeated from old.

Overall what does the new book deliver - well I think so - High Elves are now firmly an elite army with amazing offensive capability - they will hit first and hard and if used correctly will sweep away most opposition. But they remain fragile troops and characters - T3 across the board - Elf commanders can't afford to get engaged in long combats as staying power is the big weakness.

In terms of the range I'm pleased in some ways that this is not a complete rework of all the kits and models - much of the current stuff is pretty good - and the new plastics merge well with the range. Negatives - I'd love some more dynamic swordmaster figures than the one dimensional poses that the current range has, but you can't have it all - Convert a unit possibly?

the other trick that I think is dying to be done is a 'silver helms' of Caledor mounted on Lions - another conversion option and a 'counts as' possibility there - you never know the time may find itself.

Defenders of Ulthuan the choices are yours - remember that every Elf life is a precious life and no commander throws away his troops for short term gains. For the Elven commander manoeuvre and precision strikes are the tools of the trade, coupled with awesome mage support and don't leave home without the trusty Repeater Bolt Throwers!

Rob

[Pils]

Rob one slight thing, Silver helms of Caledor exist, they're called Dragon princes, i think you mean Silver Helms of Chrace ;)

[Robcoulman]

Pils - Yeah - good point. I meant Chrace!! Must have been late when posting. The delta between the Silver Helms and the Dragon Princes is significant. The Dragon Princes are the most Arrogant bunch of High Elves around - the only troops in the army not to dip their banner in salute to the Phoenix King. As far as Stats go the Dragon Princes are +1WS, +1I, +1A and +1 Ld and a 2+ save for 30Pts per model. Compare that to a full tooled up Silver helm at 23 Points. 7 points for 2 WS 5, S5 attacks on the charge has to be worth the points. Compare a unit of 5 of each with command

Helms - 155 points for 6 WS 4 A S5 with Lance plus 5 Mount Attacks
Dragon Prince - 200 Points for 11Ws 5A S5 on charge plus 5 Mount Attacks and immunity from Breath and fire based attacks.

I think my money is safe betting on the latter - especially with the options to add a Magic item for the Drakemaster and a magic banner (Foe Bane is a great choice Wounds on a 2+ with enemy models with 2 or more wounds on the starting profile - perfect for taking out Heros and Wizards!!

Still - would be nice to see a Silver Helms of Chrace on Lions!!

Rob

[Jadawi]

Ouch! the swordmasters are now gonna be a major pain in the behind! looks like magic and ranged combat is gonna be used against the elfs of ulthuan a little more just to reduce the sting when they hit, either that or massive 25man units to absorb it. Im confident i could do both with my lizardmen, salamanders are the ideal choice for thinning ranks as they can score upto 30 automatic S3 hits with a -2 armour save which is perfect to take out T3 elves. Add to that that lizardmen have perhaps the toughtest basic foot infantry in the game (Saurus: W3 S4 T4 A2 Ld8) i think the elves would really have to hit hard to overcome such obstacles.

But saying that i was really looking forward to a game with my dark elves against a high elf player....suddenly had a change of heart :p . Speaking of which does anyone know if there are plans to re-do the dark elf book? and if so when?

[Robcoulman]

No idea when the Dark Elf book is due, but it's a certainty that it will get a new release - it's seriously overdue and the range needs some work - especially around the heroes front.

Would be good to face down the vile traitors from the north and show them where the quality really lies.

[Analytical Engine]

I find Speed of Asuryan frustrating. I don't understand why better WS and I couldn't have just been used to reflect training (after all that's what it's supposed to represent!). I'm better off just fielding massed spear formations now, since it makes no difference now if I charge or not.

My Khornate Chaos horsemen are completely screwed as well. High Elves can field ridiculous numbers of bolt throwers with their army construction rules, can overpower my dispel dice and I get no real benefit from charging.

[Robcoulman]

The high WS is the natural ability - the idea around speed of Asuryan is to reflect the constant training.

Have a look at the GW website - Some tips around taking on the Elves. But it's all a matter of how you handle things. Your Khornate nasties are still just that - with a +1 armour save the odds remains heavily stacked in the Chaos Knights favour once they get there. What is the benefit of charging - well generally the benefit of the Cavalry weaponry they carry. Now your tactics need to be more subtle - Frontal charges are more suicidal (Which is ACTUALLY A GOOD THING IMHO - Horses nor matter how well trained will not charge a solid block of Infantry).

If you take the Bolt Thrower - there is a subtle change - it's no longer a 1 or 2 models = 1 rare choice. So in the old book 1 rare choice could mean 2 Bolt Throwers - now it's 2 rare choices = 2 Bolt Throwers. And remember that the multiple shot rule means only a -2 Armour save!

High Elves are supposed to be the best magic users around (With the possible exception of the Slann!) - so it should be a tough army to beat magically and a strong point.

It will come down to good generalship in the end - using the strengths that you have and playing on the enemies weakness. If you get that right then the victory will be yours!

Rob

[Jade Phoenix]

I agree completely with rob, you cant get any more bolt throwers now than you could before and 9 out of 10 times with the old list elves would strike first because of initiative, so only the charge turn is affected by this new rule.

Also even 3 ranks of spears striking first is unlikely to make any difference when heavy shock cavalry such as khorne chosen charge you, 4+ to hit 5+ to wound and they have a 1+ save, so maybe 2 or 3 wounds are caused which should then be saved, the knights then hit on 3's and kill on 2's with probably more attacks than the 3 ranks of spears even had.

I think having strikes first will encourage high elf players to play more aggressively and rely on bolt throwers and bows a lot less than in previous years.

[Pils]

Oh my when i read that i almost peed a little :D

First off Chaos Knights arn't going to die from a spear, how can you honestly be scared of somthing strength three when you and a one pluss armour save.

The only thing chaos knights would need to look out for is tricky magic spells or possibly white lions due to the strength six attacks.

You chaos players don't have to worry about elves in combat, you're just as good if not better

[Dan]

That's not completely true. I never worried about elves in combat before, ever. Even the elite troops would die at the hands of basic warriors. But with the speed of Asuryan rule and enhanced stats your are now a cornered fox that can fight back, and hurt, rather than just a little puppy we could kick all day.

Like Rob has said it just requires a change of tactics; frontal assaults will be coastly now (not good in an army whose troops cost 2 to 3 times more than their equivelants in other books) but like Pils said we still have better weapons, armour and staying power than the elves. The best thing though is the point Carl made: fewer bolt throwers!!! THANK TZEENTCH!

It has made the army a much scarier thing now though. The magic is stronger than ever, and the shooting just as potent, yet now the safety of combat isn't even an option. This is no longer the army of a dying, fragile race, it is an army of veterans that have been defending the old world since the time of the Old Ones. The stat boosts have turned swordmasters, dragon princes, phoenix guard, etc from the havoc causes they were into sheer monsters. And the lion chariots? they are harder than chaos ones! Why can't we have beasts pulling ours!? And how many dragons can you fit in an army now? One causes enough problems, I don't want to be coming across the 3-5 you could reasonably put in the army now!