# Dark Elves Army Building HELP



## AzraelJahannam (Jun 28, 2008)

Sooo... My Girlfriend and I are starting a joint dark elves army together. I am a 40K purist who only just recently began looking into the arcane world of Warhammer Fantasy, and my girlfriend is a complete stranger to Games Workshop in general (I converted/perverted one!!! ahahahahaaaa *cough cough*).

We just started building our army, and are looking to build a force around the idea of a young (a mere 200 years old) Commander and a young Aspiring Sorceress who have formed an uneasy alliance in a quest to claim a powerful daemonic artifact indicated to be hidden deep in the chaos wastes by an ancient tomb that the young Commander came into possession of after slaughtering a roving warband of chaos. This artifact is said to potentially allow those who unlock its potential to rise to daemonic stature, and achieve immortality (oh those deliciously selfish dark elves...). The catch is it requires sacrifices... Immense amounts of them, 1,105 to be exact, so the army is both searching for the artifact, as well as capturing potential sacrifices along the way. The Commander has the general army/raiding force required to fuel the expedition, and he seeks the artifact because he is well aware of even an elves eventual mortality and seeks to circumvent it, as well as gain unimaginable power. The Sorceress possesses the developed sorcery required to unlock said artifact, as well as the support of an underground slaaneshi pleasure cult (represented by witch elves) which she has been fostering in secret and is planning to use in the ritual of unlocking the tomb as priestesses/additional sacrifices if needed, and desires to both unlock the potential insight into the use of chaos forces to magnify her powers, as well as avoid the unpleasant fate many centuries from now of having to retain her youth through the use of the blood rituals and spending the better part of each year as a shriveled old hag.

Now as this is a long range crusading force, there are certain units we are restricting as they would be unavailable and incapable of keeping pace with the ever moving army. Thus we are not going to be taking 

Dark Elf Warriors (They are generally defending the black arcs and are made up of the general populace of the Dark Elf cities and are ill equipped for long crusades in foreign lands.) 

We are excluding Harpies, as they generally remain closer to the dark elf cities. 

We will not include Executioners as they are too heavily armored without mounts and so are liable to fall behind. 

We are not taking Black Guard as they are the lapdogs of Malekith and Morathi and can't be trusted as this artifact is intended to be kept by the two conspirers themselves, and not be submitted to the glutenous rulers.

We will not be dragging along a giant cauldron of blood as a) the withc elves are actually slaaneshi cultists, and b) the army isn't dragging around a giant cauldron full of blood.

And we will not be taking war hydra as they are too high maintenance and unpredictable for long voyages.

So this leaves us with 

the two HQ, a master and a sorceress

Corsairs and dark riders for core (corsairs cause they're always going on long raids, and dark riders because they are invaluable for keeping up with the army and scouting ahead for signs of the artifact as well as keeping a lookout for danger.)

Assassins(Keeping the army from deserting, and keeping order in the ranks, as well as capable of easily keeping pace with the army and toughing it out.)

Witch elves(cultists), Shades(because they're used to being away from civilization and roughing it), Cold One knights (they're mounted so can keep up with the army despite their heavy armor and the riders are hardy and so can tough it out on the long marches), and Cold One Chariots (same reasons as the knights) for special.

Reaper Bolt Throwers(They're light so can be taken along in chariots etc, and give the army the much needed long range support) as Rare.


So I have yet to purchase the HQ, but we are considering mounting them both on dark pegasi to demonstrate their mobility on the march, and to be able to get them where they're needed on the field of battle. 

And we have purchased 2 boxes of corsairs, though we don't have to use them all or could combine them into one large squad. 

And otherwise have bought nothing as we are contemplating what to add next, but that is where all of you warhammer veterans come in. We are in dire need of help as we are exceptionally new at this, so any advice on how to go about building our army is welcome.

Firstly, from experience, what are the best ways to outfit corsairs from experience? two cc weapons? swap one for a hand bow? or line the front with 2 cc weapons and make the rear ranks cc and hand bow?

Secondly, would a dark rider squad be useful for flanking? if so, then should I be coming with repeaters to harass the enemy with or should I just be concentrating on trying to get flank charges and using them as cheap bait?

Thirdly, Is an assassin hidden in the ranks as useful as it sounds? or to try placing it in an enemy unit?

Fourthly, witch elves, should I be fielding in large squads and using them to cut apart light infantry? Or should I be using smaller squads to support my core corsair units and using them for counter charges?

Fifthly, What is the general tactical application of cold ones? arrow soakers and steamrollers? how should I be equipping them?

Sixthly, are Chariots worth the points cost? do they get the same bang for their buck?

Seventhly, should I be bothering with shades? if so, how do I equip and plan to use them?

Eighthly, is it just me or are bolt throwers freaking awesome? Should I be fielding them in pairs? Are they they the chaos knight/blood knight/grail knight/(insert expensive unit) shishcabobers that they appear to be to me?

Ninethly, Any general suggestions and aid would be wonderful for how to structure our army.

All thoughts, criticisms, advice, insults, snide remarks, and animal noises are welcome!

PLEASE HELP US OH DARK ELVES VETERANS!!!!!!


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## Grik (Jul 28, 2008)

I love your idea. But I do think you should take a unit or two of Dark Elf Warriors. Spears are invaluable, especially in Elven hands. And I think this would work well as you're only taking a unit or 2 -so 20-40 Warriors- not a whole city legion. And I think Witch Elves are the servants of Morathi also if I remember correctly. And if they are would you really want them along to report back to Morathi once you get back to Naggaroth, since you know, you are are trying to keep this artifact for yourselves. I'd input a little more as I'm a Fantasy Veteran, but I don't play Dark Elves, so I'll let the Dark Elf players chime in with better advice.:biggrin:


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## AzraelJahannam (Jun 28, 2008)

Thanks! Yeah, we might have to reconsider the possible inclusion of some warriors, some good food for thought.... Any more help is eagerly appreciated!


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## Grik (Jul 28, 2008)

Oh yes! I almost forgot the best piece of advice to be given. Before you buy anything make an army list! It will save you money in the long run as you won't be buying models you later decide you don't want. And I would pick up Army Builder if you don't have it already. It is invaluable for quick fixes or unit changes instead of a pad of paper and a pen. Make a basic list once you get an idea of what you want to do and stick to it when you buy your models. Buy only the models you require to finish that list to start with, you can always buy and add more units at a later date. Of course if you find someone selling a ton of Dark Elves for cheap, I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up. I mean paying $100-200 for $500-600 worth of Dark Elf stuff is a no brainer! :biggrin:


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## AzraelJahannam (Jun 28, 2008)

Most definitely will be setting up a list, just not sure right now what to include in it, hence the insanely long plea for help, eheh. And will definitely pick up a used force if it has enough stuff worth grabbing for a decent price. And I've been looking into the army builder, it sounds like an interesting prospect, a friend of mine has it, however I've done pretty well without it with my 40K (paper and calculator), but then again, might be more useful in fantasy. Thanks for the advice!


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## Grik (Jul 28, 2008)

Army Builder is useful all around. And for a one time fee of $40 for a lifetime of use it's well worth it. Well until they come out with Army Builder 4 of course. :laugh: I've had Army Builder 3 since it came out and it has been well worth it. It is so much easier to load it up and load up your saved roster to dick around with it, and have the points costs calculated instantly for you, then to do it on a pad and paper. Don't get me wrong you still have to use a pad and paper to do the new codexes and army books for a month or maybe two months after they come out while the people that make the Army Builder files are making the file for that army. It saves you a ton of time, and work. Well worth it.


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## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

Remember, a few units of warriors could be consider "crew". They are simply dragged into the battles to make up numbers. Just to give you a bit of variety. If you need harpies, you could call them furies of slannesh. They are fast enough to keep up and they could be enslaved by the sorceress to give them more infomation about the artefact.


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

I am going to move this to Tactics since it isn't an armylist as such and has lots of tactics questions

I'm by no means an expert with DE, but I agree that if you could work in some warriors it would help your army a lot, perhaps just call them guards that look after captured sacrifices? You are correct that the bolt throwers are fantastically useful, particularly since you aren't taking Hydras.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

I once made a similar list with the idea of very few monsters, due to their High Maintenence, and wanted it to be a city guard. It performed Okayish, but missed out on a bit of oomph, but the 4 Bolt Throwers soon changed Horde and Heavy Armour opponents minds.

There is no need to limit yourself to certain unit, because the existing fluff doesn't suit them. Hell, I have a Hordes of Chaos army, using Bloodletters as Chosen, because the path from Warrior sounds like "The Price Is Right", and you either become a Chosen, for the chance to become a Daemon, or you can have a Steed.

I love Black Guard, and are the one thing in the Dark Elf army that is a semblance of an Anchor unit. They don't look fantastic, but try putting on someone like Kouran (I've found that Unbreakable Black Guard are worth the Expenditure in none Monster armies).

As I said, there's no reason as to why you can't change the background of a unit so that it suits yours. Dark Elf Warriors, although they are militia, could be a standing army.

Crusades generally aren't the way with Dark Elves, as they tend to only make coastal raids. If they go inland, the Corsairs will need some support - i.e. Spear blocks to hold a charge, as the enemies have usually had time to muster a counter army.

Questions answered - 

Firstly, from experience, what are the best ways to outfit corsairs from experience? two cc weapons? swap one for a hand bow? or line the front with 2 cc weapons and make the rear ranks cc and hand bow?

When purchasing upgrades, they must be bought for each and every model in a unit. For handbows, I'd say what are you planning to do? Use them as an Anchor (Bad idea) or as an attacking force? If the latter, then 2HW, if anchor (bad idea), then Handbows. Crossbowmen are far better than anything else at range. Just modify the Background of them to be hardline campaigners.

Secondly, would a dark rider squad be useful for flanking? if so, then should I be coming with repeaters to harass the enemy with or should I just be concentrating on trying to get flank charges and using them as cheap bait?

Yes, and Yes, and Yes. Repeaters are good, as Elven BS means that you're hitting usually on a 4, and with 2 shots, you're hitting enemy infantry on with 5 shots, wounding with 2-3. A couple of turns/two units of shooting, and they've lost a rank. Definately worth it. Don't bother with Command, other than a Musician.

Thirdly, Is an assassin hidden in the ranks as useful as it sounds? or to try placing it in an enemy unit?

Hide it in your unit. Put it in a ranked Warrior unit - experienced players will second guess that they'll be in the cheap 60pts warrior units/Crossbowmen, rather than the 4 ranks, 28 strong warrior unit/Unbreakable Black Guard. I'll explain the thinking if you want. Just ask ;D

Fourthly, witch elves, should I be fielding in large squads and using them to cut apart light infantry? Or should I be using smaller squads to support my core corsair units and using them for counter charges?

Well Corsairs should be a counter charge unit to Warriors, and Witch Elves should be a shock hammer unit against Hordes. I don't like them too much. Anti-horde, with 2Hand Weapons, no Armour, and Toughness 3? Corsairs and Spearmen do a better job, either for attacking or defending. Maybe you don't get 3 attacks. But at least you don't get shot to shit.

Fifthly, What is the general tactical application of cold ones? arrow soakers and steamrollers? how should I be equipping them?

Too expensive to field a second rank, so perhaps maximums of 5 or 6. Just have them with a Full Command. Maybe have the Champion with a Null Talisman, so stuff like Quagmire don't kill you.

Sixthly, are Chariots worth the points cost? do they get the same bang for their buck?

Not too keen on them, personally. The Riders don't do enough damage, and combined with Stupidity, too slow. Stick with Corsairs for Flankers.

Seventhly, should I be bothering with shades? if so, how do I equip and plan to use them?

Smallish units (8-10), with Great Weapons. maybe consider putting an assassin in as a real oomph.

Eighthly, is it just me or are bolt throwers freaking awesome? Should I be fielding them in pairs? Are they they the chaos knight/blood knight/grail knight/(insert expensive unit) shishcabobers that they appear to be to me?

They're good. So good I have the most I can in 2000pts.


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## AzraelJahannam (Jun 28, 2008)

Thank you all for your excellent advice, I think I'll write up a trial list and then I can have it shot up until I come up with something worth spending money on. Special thanks to Vaz for answering all of my newbish questions. Time to get typing, eheh.


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