# Amateur HE player needs some advice!



## Xabre (Dec 20, 2006)

So once upon a time I decided to get into WHFB, after playing* 40k for years. I was enthralled by the idea of a full cavalry force, and at the time, the previous Elf rule book had Silver Helms as Core. By the time I got around to starting my force the new Elf line was coming out, and it was capped with the Prince/Mage on Dragon, and I was sold. I absolutely adore Dragons. The new rulebook came out, relegating three different cavalry units all to Special, which confounded me, but I figured I'd slot in a single squad of support archers or some such, and go to town. Who cared! I could field Dragon Princes and Dragon MAGES, and have these huge creatures faster in smaller games and in more quantity in larger games. Two Dragons in 2000! YAY!

..... And then 8th edition came out. Now a dragon that I could have (poorly) fielded in under 1000 points can't see the light of day in less than 1500, and even then bare bones. Of course, with the changes to the Lore of Magic and Flaming Sword, the Dragon Mage as a cheap combatant on a beast is actually less viable, but it's still nice to have a fireball platform before ripping things up in close combat with a Sun Dragon. 

But everything has changed now. I built an army that really was designed for my vanity, so I could run those beautiful dragons (I bought 3, 2 as mages for that double DM list, and one as a fully kitted Prince). I have 20 Dragon Princes. I have 4 of the old Dragonmaster Drake pewter models, which I use as Giant Eagles. I even use 40k Chaos gun muzzles (the dragon head) instead of the eagle on the one RBT I own.

But I'm really not sure what to do with my elves at this point. I always wanted to work with the heavy cavalry theme, especially the Dragon Princes over the Silver Helms. Footmen just bog me down, but if given the choice, I'd go archers over spear men, because the range seemed more useful when the rest of my army was playing Hammer w/ no real anvil. If anyone can give me some advice, I'd be much appreciated. 

Here's what I own right now... if anyone can suggest where to fill in some holes....


High Elf Mage on Dragon
High Elf Mage on Dragon
High Elf Prince on Dragon
High Elf Lord on Horseback
High Elf Standard Bearer on foot
High Elf Mage on foot
High Elf Mage on Horseback
1 RBT
20 Dragon Princes
4 'Giant Eagles' (look like drakes).
1 Lion Chariot
Archers (I have no idea how many. A box comes in 16, I think I may have purchased a few extras to be able to make a full 20 in 2 10-man blocks).
Spearmen (The same. I'm thinking 16 of those).
14 Phoenix Guard (full command. I bought 10, had issues with the molds, GW sent me a free command box, bringing me up to 15, but still had mold issues, so one simply never could be built. Or was it because of having 2 drummers? This was when it was pewter).
Caradryan
My old 2000 point list was not very competitive, but to me it LOOKED amazing on the field; 4 5-man blocks of princes, 2 Draogn Mages, 4 Drakes, an RBT, and 2 10-man archer blocks peppering the field. But that's utterly out the window now.


So if anyone can throw some advice my way, that'd be great. Just something to help me get back into the game, knowing my preferences and utterly pathetic style.





*_note: I say 'playing' when I really was at a very casual level. I love building the models and painting them, doing some minor conversions here and there as I go, but I was lucky to play every few months. Since moving to Florida at the end of 2010, I haven't played 40k or Fantasy since, but I still design my armies assuming a game at any moment._


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## Creon (Mar 5, 2009)

Well, Sea Guard and Swordmasters are the strength of the current codex, as well as, I hate to say it, Teclis. 

But to rebuild part of what you have into a new paradigm

Prince on Sun Dragon, Warrior Bane, Armor of Celador, Talisman of Preservation

Dragon Mage on Sun dragon, Talisman of Endurance, Dispell Scroll

Noble BSB on Barded Steed, Enchanted Shield, Guardian Phoenix, Amulet of Light

36 Sea Guard w/shield, Full command with the War Banner (you really need one good heavy ranked unit, and Sea Guard are some of the best in the game)

10 Archers, standard (small unit, basically there to be another banner)

9 Dragon Princes, Standard, Musician. BSB goes here.

30 Phoenix Guard, Full command. (I'd prefer Sword Masters, but you have Phoenix Guard)

2495 of 2500 points, which is a normal game in 8th Ed.


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## The Dog Boy (Oct 6, 2011)

Never fear, Xabre. You can still field an excellent army around several current army strategies and maintain the flavor you want, but you will find that you will struggle to fit all of your dragons in no matter what.

Just off the top of my head I would suggest that you make a "tarpit" with the spearmen, use the eagles to redirect and delay enemy units, and rely on a couple small archer units, a couple Dragon Prince units and the dragons to flank whatever blocks the spearmen get stuck in with.

Check out these threads:
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=35047
This is a MSU army thread, but without any dragons,
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=35318
which is a thread that features an army centered around Star Dragon mounted characters, and finally
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=33584
which features an army centered around a "cavalry bus" to deliver mounted characters, but again has no dragons.

Your model collection would appear to favor a unique combination of these basic types and I hope that you will find inspiration there!


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