Re-visiting my High Elves...again?

Archnomad got my Fantasy bug tickled again. Now I know 8th has it's issues (magic?, terrain and mission rules...) but I think it's a lot better than the days of "my hero trumps your army." That being said I certainly agree with certain circumstances like what Nomad expands upon here... Anyway, he's tickled the bug again and those Island of Blood minis are crying out to be used. So first off, peer pressure Archnomad into posting some Fantasy stuff :). He's not fond of 8th currently but he certainly knows his stuff.

So. My previous High Elf list was this; very MSU based and all about getting into combat and putting Chariots into the corners or squads held in place by cavalry (seem familiar?). Problem here is lots of money needed to buy stuff and I think there are some issues with the list. Certainly fixable but since I want Fantasy to be more 'laid-back', I don't want to drop tons of cash into it. Anyway, with Archnomad's help another list was developed. This list looks to take advantage of HE magic (Hi Teclis) whilst using their very strong special units to maximise survivability against magic and shooting. Using decent shooting and effective magic, the High Elf units are able to move across the table and poke stuff in combat. Well that's the plan... Let's see how we go. I was aiming to do this list at 2000 but moved it up to 2250...hope tournaments work at that level around here!

Armies in 8th: Magic Part 12: High Magic

High Elves have some of the most varied access to Magic in Warhammer Fantasy. Not only do they have their own Lore (High Magic) but they can utilise any of the Lores from the main rulebook. That’s a whopping nine potential Lores on which to draw from. Add in any High Elf army with a Mage gets a +1 dispel bonus and some exceptional characters (Teclis) and magic items (Book of Hoeth, Banner of Sorcery) and High Elves are one of the most potent and capable armies in terms of magical defense. One major flaw with High Elf magic offense is the minimal number of extra power dice they can create. Whilst Banner of Sorcery and Teclics can generate 2D3 extra dice, unlike other armies like Dark Elves or Tzneetch Daemons, High Elf magic isn’t too great at continuously producing power dice. However, the Lore itself is generally pretty cheap and High Elves can create a wide variety of combos since they can access every major Lore from the rulebook.

So let’s take a look at High Magic. As said before, the spells are generally pretty cheap which is good and as would be expected of the Lore that spawned all other Lores (in the rulebook at least), High Magic does a little bit of everything rather than specialising in one specific area. Oddly this is great for many a High Elf army as the spells fit quite well into what a HE army needs. Another bonus is any High Elf spell-caster who picks High Magic gets a free bonus spell; Drain Magic.

Island of Blood Review

Yup, that's nearly 3 Island of Blood boxes worth of High Elves (missing 2 Princes on Griffons and a Mage) all nicely assembled and destined to be grey for a long time. Looks pretty spiffy if I don't say so myself! So let's get down to what I think of the box as a whole and I'll chuck up a trial list using just the models available for a list which can play against Vinsanity's Skaven.

Models: fantastic

Without a doubt, these are some of the most detailed and fine looking models Games Workshop has produced. Whilst they are obviously limited in posability thanks to their snap together simplicity, the individual detail is jaw-dropping. These guys will always look great on the battlefield.

Sprues: Average

Which brings us to the sprues themselves. The snap together featuers are nice and simple (especially for new people) but the sprues were very spread out and having heads for one model on a different sprue, can be very annoying. I think Vince has some of my bits still. Clipping some of the models off was also always going to cause damage. The mage and spearmen bits were often attached at the weakest point when they didn't need to be. Consequently, there is some damage on my models which I'd prefer not to have (obviously). They still fit into a pretty small box considering what you are getting but the spearmen bits and mage really annoy me (different sprues is really only problematic when you swap).

New High Elf Mini Pics

Several weeks back GW sent out a newsletter stating new HE minis were on the way. This combined with Island of Blood (my order is in BTW! Thanks Wayland <3) and the new 8th edition rule-set is one of the biggest reasons I'm getting into Fantasy. Thanks to scouring the interwebs and the forums (which are actually useful for rumors if not tactics), I've found some pretty pictures and potential prices :O. The rumors indicate there are four new plastic boxed sets (one being a new battlion) which includes Dragon Princes, White Lions and Phoenix Guard. Bye bye Metals! There are also two metal blisters but who knows what they are going to be... The boxed sets seem to include fully customisable minis including full commands with the Princes getting 5 models and the infantry models grabbing 10 a piece. Certainly better than what's out there now and at better prices.

Island of Blood: Pre-orders

Well I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about this by now but shush! Here are some more pics of the boxed set (including 2 armies) from the Games Workshop site and the lovely information that these babies are up for pre-order! Yay. Now I need to discuss with Vinsanity if we really want to grab 2 boxes and split the sets. Anyway, the sets look amazing painted up and multiplied times 2 though the High Elves do look incredibly small...and with the rumors floating about that the HE battalion boxes may change and no longer include Silver Helms...I might be getting some of those soon, too.

Quick question for everyone though, do you know if everything in the Battalion box for HE is plastic? I will assume so as I haven't come across a boxed set like that from GW with metals but all I keep hearing about on Warseer is complaints of metal horses. Mind you my source for this is Warseer... So  here are the pictures! I'd be curious to know how many people are starting 8th edition because of this boxed set! It really is a wonderful starter kit and this combined with the fact the new rule set seems a lot more balanced and it's gotten me into the game. Not as seriously as 40k but here I am burning more moneys!

Enjoy the pics!

Fantasy High Elf lists! 2250

Still catching up on some e-mails but I thought I'd do a more personal post today! So the other day I thought I'd attempt to put together some HE lists scaling up from 2250 to 3000 (2250 = Aussie tourney size, 3000 = size Vince and I want to play at) just to get an idea of how to build lists, what I want and how I want to play my HE, etc. I also looked at the Lores of Magic from the Fantasy BRB so will be writing a review post on them later but most likely after my Blood Rodeo How To. So, let's get cracking.

Now most of you should know I got into Fantasy because of magic. Dur. It's awesome. So I'm going to limit myself somewhat and have two mages, no discussion I'm afraid. Whilst I'll go into this further with my review of the Magical Lores I've gone for High Magic on my Lv4 Archmage and Metal Magic on my Lv2 Mage. I'll explain more as we get into the meat of this article. I'm also a fan of the look of the Lothern Sea Guard but they are too expensive on the table but I can replce an Archer squad with these guys to actually get closer to the 25% requirement for Core without losing too much overall from the army so I've gone for a squad of these. The added flexibility to accept a charge is also nice. Otherwise I want as much shooting as possible to support my cavalry and chariot styled army list. I love the look of Lion Chariots and Dragon Princes but I think these guys are going to be few and far between in my list rather than the norm with Tiraonic and Silver Helms the mainstay of my army. I'd like to use the pretty Reaver models from Island of Blood but unlikely, maybe can convert some into Silver Helms/Dragon Princes though!

Comparison: High Elf Silver Helms, Dragon Princes & Ellyrian Reavers

Well I’ve been painting madly and am not going to finish all the Gants. Some will just be your basic 3 colors if that but I’ll have all the models in the army list done (just need to finish off a T-Fex, Tervigon and touch up the Hive Guard & Raveners). And my back is killing me, I need to stop imitating the curved carapace of the Tyranids and sit up straight when I paint. So here I am rambling on and you’d actually like a post, right? Well ignore this paragraph then and read on my stalwart pink army (aka: readers)!

So back to the Fantasy posts. I’ve noticed a bit on some blogs, BoLS and Warseer that there are some strong opinions for Dragon Princes over Silver Helms in the High Elf codex (strong as in “you’re an idiot if you take Silver Helms! Why would you take Silver Helms when there are Dragon Princes? I mean come one! Dragon Princes). I may have edited so you could actually understand the English... Let’s see if I can do an analysis on not only these units but Ellyrian Reavers as well (that’s all of the HE Calvary options).

High Elves: New models!

This from GW's newsletter forwarded to me by BroLo:

"The High Elves are the noblest of races, the remnant of a once-mighty civilisation that spanned the globe. The titanic destruction unleashed by the Daemons of Chaos and the monstrous betrayal of the Dark Elves left their nation a shadow of its former might and glory, and yet the High Elves fight on. For millennia they have stood sentinel against the depredations of Chaos, thwarting the machinations of the Dark Gods over and again, and though their population has dwindled, the skill and determination of their armies remains steadfast.

In battle, the armies of the High Elves are a glorious sight to behold. Ranks of elite soldiers clad in unspotted white and glittering silver stand against the dark tide of the Forces of Destruction. With a mystical grace and agility that is incomparable to the lumpen, slothful gestures of lesser mortals, they cleave through the foe with spear and blade - their skill and speed a match for any foe. Volleys of white-fletched arrows are sent slashing into the foe, accompanied by the heavier, deadlier shots of the Eagle Claw Bolt Throwers, which can punch through even the thickest armour. Powerful High Elf Mages direct the ebb and flow of the Winds of Magic to smite the foe with incandescent flames, or protect their allies with the dazzling power of Asuryan, the king of the Elven gods.

Kirby's thoughts on Fantasy [8th]: Part 2

Well I've read all the rules at least once now and am looking a bit more specifically at High Elves so I'll be further my initial thoughts on what Fantasy is like and the differences to 5th edition 40k whilst also highlighting some things about High Elves. This will be so amazing for all of you as it shows my logic of learning a gaming system and choosing an army without any prior knowledge and I hope might be helpful for a lot of people who pick up either system or a new army. So terrain is a lot more in-depth and interactive in Fantasy than 40k, and I mean a lot more and it is also a lot more 'clear' (though 25% is pretty damn clear) on how much terrain should be out there. This can make for some one-sided battles perhaps for armies like Wood Elves which I assume excel in heavily terrained (new word) battles. Cover also works a lot differently from 40k where negative To Hit modifiers are applied to shooting. Whilst this might seem like shooting isn't that reliable, from what I can garner if you appropriately use small units to block charges and get a lot of long-ranged shooting backed up by Magic & War Machines, shooting can still be very potent but really needs screening IMO and with panic bubble effects, this can make your whole army flee. Not good.