# Questions about Dark Elves



## Raptors8th (Jul 3, 2009)

Hey, just a few questions from someone who's looking to getting a DE army:

1. On the GW site it says that the battalion comes with 16 crossbowmen and 12 spearmen. Since these are both from the same kit, I was wondering if it comes with the parts to make them _all_ one or the other.

2. When you're building a list, do you have to specify where your assassin goes or can you choose which unit to put him in at the start of each game?

3. And when you're building a list do you have to specify which lore your caster will be using or can you choose a lore at the start of the battle?

+rep for answers.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

1- no idea

2- write it down at the start of each game (dont tell the opposition- you write it down so they cant accuse you of changing your mind when he appears).

3- if you can take multiple lores then you can choose at the start of each and every battle. I occasionally go with a very magic heavy HE list- it allows me to change lores at the start of each game to make teh best use of my magic, just about the easiest way of 'tailoring' lists without actually tailoring the list


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## Farseer Darvaleth (Nov 15, 2009)

1. I would guess they wouldn't allow you to cheat it by making all of one unit but I'm not sure, but GW staff should be happy to help there.

2. Choose at the start of the battle, although you have to stick to it, you can't just say "I swear he was always there!" so it's best to write it down secretly. (Take three assassins with Manbane Poison, Rune of Khaine and extra hand weapon!!! 5-7 attacks all wounding on 3+ and with WS10 probably hitting on 3+ too!)

3. You can choose your lore at the start when you roll for what spells you get. I would go with the Dark Magic every time as it has a host of awesome spells, not to mention Power of Darkness (which gives you power dice to unleash the nastier spells). On that note, take a unit of ten spearmen with no upgrades (or fifteen spearmen or more, but ten to save points) and put a Sorcererss in the unit with Sacrificial Dagger and Tome of Furion. The Tome gives you an extra spell, very handy, and the Dagger allows you extra power dice to use on said spells. Also, spearmen are realitvely cheap to sacrifice *hence no upgrades*(Don't go sacrificing Black Guard!). Put an assassin there to challenge nasty enemies when the sorceress has nowhere to hide, but don't accidentally sacrifice the last spearmen! (Killing the assassin in the process!)

What you asked for and a bit extra just 'cause I'm random.:grin:


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## Raptors8th (Jul 3, 2009)

Okay, thanks for the answers. Has anyone here actually gotten a DE battalion who can answer that question?


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

1 - There are apparently only 12 shields in the battalion box, limiting the number of warriors with spear/shield that you can make, but all the other components are there.

Still, you only need a single extra warriors box to turn that into a decent unit of warriors and 2x10 man units of crossbowmen. Or find a DE player who has lots of crossbow men, and ask to buy his shields off him - you could get lucky.

Hope that helps


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

maddermax said:


> ...1 - There are apparently only 12 shields in the battalion box, limiting the number of warriors with spear/shield that you can make....


The add on skulls for the DE shields are large enough to look like a shield, so you could make 24 shields from 12 shield sprues.


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## Asmodeun (Apr 26, 2009)

Plus some spare ones from the cold one knights.


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## Captain Stillios (Mar 8, 2009)

I got 20 shields with my battalion...

Oh and farseer, dont forget Hand of Khaine for those things with to much armour and attacks


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## Masked Jackal (Dec 16, 2009)

Captain Stillios said:


> I got 20 shields with my battalion...


Then there was a packaging error, it's only supposed to come with 3 sprues of 4 shields each.


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## jigplums (Dec 15, 2006)

im sure i got more shield than that too. my mate got a battalion for christmas so if he gets round to building it soon i'll ask him


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## Drax (Sep 19, 2007)

if its only the shields you need more of, then you are able to get a few varieties of Dark Elf shields as bits packs on the GW site:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat1300240&rootCatGameStyle=


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## Inquisitor Aurelius (Jun 9, 2008)

Farseer Darvaleth said:


> [...] a Sorceress in the unit with Sacrificial Dagger and Tome of Furion.


Very much illegal; she can't have two Arcane Items.

The Dagger in a unit of bog-standard Spearmen does seem to be a popular choice, though. Adding the Pearl of Infinite Bleakness is also quite handy if you foresee the need to sacrifice a lot of them, or if there's likely to be a Terror-causing unit running around the backfield.


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