# WHFB April Overview - High Elves



## Hespithe (Dec 26, 2006)

So, do you think you have the High Elves mastered? Are you their No.1 enemy yet? Or, like me, do you quake in fear every time someone in a white skirt stares at you...?

The new High Elves AB has brought a lot of conflict to new and veteran gamers alike with the addition of the so-called 'Always Strikes First' rule. Combined with the option to have multiple Dragons in a 'typical' tourney list, as well as reduced requirements for troops and expanded special options, the High Elves have become a very unique and competitive force. 

Is there a weakness? Am I to despair forever? Share you wisdom, lest I fail at life!


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## maximus2467 (Jun 14, 2007)

i'm a high elves player myself and yes they kick arse in combat but they're very frail and if they don't kill the first rank then theyre gonna be losing men so take bigger units with a larger frontage, my biggest pain is empire black powder stuff it simply reduces my armour save to nothing and don't get me started on the war altar!


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## Hespithe (Dec 26, 2006)

Which units do you feel are really 'core' to the army? Which units can you do without in a tourney setup?


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

they are a real struggle for ogre players to beat as with always strikes first and ogres poor ws its hard to do enough damage to the bigger units plus their manouverability and miissile fire are the ogres biggest weakness. they don't cope well with leabelchers or toothcracker though.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Dawrven range tends to thin out the ranks, whether traditional or black powder.

Chaos Units with their high strength, ws, toughness, and particularly armour on their warriors will allow them to deal with all but the Swordmasters and White Lions, their higher Leadership usually beating them, in addition to costing less. if you can thin them out with greater amounts of Blue Fire, Red Fire, Green Fire or, hopefully, Violet Fire(?), sending that pesky dragon prince off into the Wastes.

Dragons hit hard against almost everything, and with Fly moves can ignore speed bumps. Having something hold it in combat (a tasty morsel of a flanking unit of Marauder Horsemen?), and then follow it up with a chariot, Chosen or another unit of Marauder, then if you take out that bloody dragon (hitting and wounding on 4's remember, while the enemy can only save on a 6+) then fingers crossed it's out of the game, leaving that solitary Prince something for your Chosen Knights to wash their mounts feet in. (Why do the horses always kill more than your bloody knights when you pay for chosen, but do nothing, such as rolling snake eyes for pursuit when you don't?).


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## maxtangent (Jan 31, 2008)

In tourney play that str 3 missile fire becomes pretty useless. Anything with even T4 will only get wounded on a 5-6 and any decent armor save means those pricey archers may be able to screen Bolt Throwers but not much else.

The Seaguard are even pricier, have a shorter range and the contrary abilities of bow fire and fight in 3 ranks. Trying to get full value out of these is pretty tough. Even with 3 ranks, high T and strong armored opponents means very few wounds. If you are looking for combat resolution, Spearmen do the job and I think they are the only cost effective core unit in a tourney.

Why they are called Spearmen and not Spearelves is beyond me - these units were fighting wars and spreading civilization when men were still trying to figure out how to make a fire.


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## swntzu (Dec 25, 2007)

Say it out loud. Spearelves sounds rubbish. That's probably why they changed it for this 7th edition book.

I take archers just to fill up my core requirements really. RBTs can do what they do much better.

What about discussing the elite infantry choices? I use a block of phoenix guard with my spearmen to form a solid centre. White lions are pretty handy in combat and can endure a good deal of shooting. Swordmasters seem a bit fragile but hit like a ton of bricks.


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

Personally i dont think the allways strikes first rule makes much of a difference tbh. The elves have such high I that you're only missing out on striking first when charging. If you play against high elves regularly, well, its a tough decision. Great weapons look a good idea, since you're always striking last, hand weapon and shield and the associated bonuses looks even better to me because it'll help you survive longer. No one has trouble wounding elves anyway. 

I agree with maximus that, as a HElf player, the threat of shooting, especially S4 like crossbows and handguns is a horrifying prospect, especially against an army with few core troops, and lots that are extremely expensive.

I think the biggest change the new book could bring is the reduced core requirement. It makes for the possibility of quite a skewed army. If you look closely however, I dont think much has really changed, since the movement of silver helms to special also needs to be noted. Whether your opponent's silver helms are now special rather than core means very little, if he/she/it still fields them (and many do) they reduced core limit is meaningless, as he/she?/it has used up their extra special slot.

As for the elite infantry units, I prefer phoenix guard because of a) the models, b) they cause fear. A large unit of these can prove a real backbone for the army.

I think the intrigue at court rule has gone (someone confirm please) which means the elves are less likely to run than in the past. I can't remember if their +1 to DISPELL has also gone.

I think the best way to combat the HElfs is with either ranged firepower, or outnumbering them, both in terms of number of units, as well as in unit strength. Neither of which is a difficult prospect for most armies. Ido agree though that ogres would appear to be hit hardest by lack of rank bonus and speed of asuryan.

Thanks for reading the rambling (if you get this far!)

Editted to remove my monumental cockup as discussed below.


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## swntzu (Dec 25, 2007)

Just to confirm, intrigue at court has gone (I don't know whose idea this crap rule was in the first place) and I don't know if they ever had +1 to cast. Anyway, they now have +1 to dispel.


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

Oh crap, I knew it was +1 to dispell, its the DE that have +1 to cast, and like an idiot i wrotethe wrong one down. Cheers swntzu, guess they still have the +1 dispell then.


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## maximus2467 (Jun 14, 2007)

for core i take one unit of 21 spearmen and a unit of 10 archers though if i had the points i'd take two units of 21 spearmen. i found in previous games that a 21 strong unit of spearmen with full command, banner of ellyrion,a bsb in the unit with banner of arcane protection and great weapon works very well, my opponents found it very hard to shift


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## swntzu (Dec 25, 2007)

High Elves, along with several other armies, have received a FAQs.

Major points include:

- Caradryan's Phoenix Bladde being given the halberd rule.

- Dragon Armour's effects being confirmed (This also means that Star Dragons can be immune to *all* flaming attacks).

- Tyrion has a 0+ armour save.

- Casting Drain Magic after casting a RiP spell means that it becomes harder for your opponent to dispel the RiP spell.

- Lion Cloaks have no effect at all against magic missiles or any other kind of magic attack.


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