# High Elves Disruption Units



## forestreverie (Sep 10, 2009)

Any High Elf Players got any suggestions on which units work better at disruption? 

I'm looking at either 2 Units of Ellyrian Reavers or 2 Units of Shadow Warriors.

I'm ruling out Great Eagles atm because my Rare choices are filled with Bolt Throwers (As far as I can see in 7th edition, you can't take 2 for one rare slot any more, correct me if I'm wrong though.) 

The rest of the army consists of:

1 Mounted Prince

1 Noble with Battle Standard (not sure whether to put him on a steed yet)
2 Level 2 Mages

40 Archers
40 Spearmen
(or 80 Lothern Sea Guard )

5 Dragon Princes
2 x 8 Silver Helms (Reduced to units of 7 if i take Reavers)

2 Repeater Bolt Throwers



With the Shadow Warriors or Reavers, this comes to a little over 2500pts.

Tactics wise on a very basic level, against shooty armies, I'll send the cavalry round a flank and advance with the infantry in the centre, whilst weakening any enemy combat units with magic and shooting, and against fighty armies, I'll run my cavalry out of sight in flank/rear charging positions and sit back and try to cause as much damage as possible at range, forcing the enemy units to get into combat, only to be flank/rear charged (and hopefully broken!).

Therefore the Reavers or Shadow Warriors are essential to neutralise any pesky units which will mess up these plans (skirmishers and wizards most likely), as well as general march blocking, war machine hunting etc. 

So, what are the Pros and Cons, and which do you guys prefer?

Any comments on any of this would be a great help, so thanks!


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

I'm voting for Shadow warriors. Fast cavalry is very handy to have occasionally, but for taking out warmachines, and causing panic and disarray in his ranks first turn, you can't go past scouting units, while the cavalry would be only lining up on turn 2 or 3, at best. 

The only problem with them is that your opponents might get used to them, and start using skirmishers to keep a watch out behind his lines and using units to block likely places you'll scout them to, so if you're playing the same guys all the time, it miiiight be better to try the cavalry. Maybe.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

I go the other war- a fast cav unit that can move 18" and still shoot is very useful... ok the reaver shooting isnt gonna do anything much but they also have a decent charge- keep them over US5 and they can break the ranks of any combat you have going (get the timing right and you might be able to pursue through into a 2nd unit in the same turn)...

The shadow warriors are much more lethal- their damage output is better but they are less manouverable and wont be able to support other units in combat nearly so well


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## jigplums (Dec 15, 2006)

btw high elves get double the amount of rare choices in the latest book, so if you want you can add in eagles.
i used to like shadow warriors, and then the dark elves got there new book and shades are so much better i can no longer bring myself to use them


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

eagles are great march blockers and that'll distract some people but they are rarely going to manage to do much of anything... having said that I would would certainly take eagles in most HE armies, reavers/shadow warriors are a mebbe but eagles are pretty much a must.


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## forestreverie (Sep 10, 2009)

So they do, Thanks jigplums, I didn't realise that, only noticed the Specials.

I tend to think more in terms of static combat resolution than damage output when selecting a unit, so I would be leaning towards the Reavers, but with any luck the Silver Helms will have the enemy's flanks covered.

Modelwise I definitely prefer the Shadow Warriors.

Thanks for the comments guys, also, anyone with stories of successes or failures using these units would be great too!


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

I would tend to stay away from the silverhelms (says he having just made an army list using them)- for the main battleline units I would add those few extra points and use dragon princes, for a cheap unit to throw into the flank of an ongoing fight silverhelms arent bad but since thats all they are actually good at I would prefer the reavers (who are cheaper and can get on with other tasks when they dont have the chance to flank)- especially since there inst a lot of differnce between 5S4 5S3 attacks from the reavers and 5-6S5 5S3 attacks from the silverhelms (though return casualities could be higher).


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

As a note - split the Silver helms into 3 units of 5, IMHO. You get no benefit for 3 models - ranks are now in 5's, rather than 4's.

For supporting units - Pussy Wagons. Seriously. Nothing will cause the same amount of fear as Lion Chariots - I remember the effect Nurgle Hordes of Chaos Chariots did (back in 6th, before Mortals, and individual Army Books), and Fear Causing S5 units (or 6 in your case) with T5 and 4 wounds, Impact hits as well is devastating.


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## forestreverie (Sep 10, 2009)

tim/Steve - My army is based on 2 battalion boxes so I have Silver Helms aplenty, also Ellyrian Reavers are expensive... I might mix some bits and order the Wood Elf Elven Steeds though to make them into Reavers rather than buying new ones.

Vaz - If you look at any army list I make you'll see that I find it nearly impossible to take odd numbers of units, I know its weird, like army list OCD or something, but only characters and centrepiece units come in ones for me... for everything else; if its worth taking, its worth taking 2.


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## crocodilesoldier (Aug 29, 2008)

Reavers everytime. Put a muscian into the unit to bennefit from the +1 rally. Get a mage on a steed armed with the ring of fury to join them to really annoy your opponents.


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## crocodilesoldier (Aug 29, 2008)

I would hedge your bets and go for one of each.

As scouts have exciting set-up rules (tho quite random as it relies heavily on terrain) these can cause early disruption on your oponent ( redirecting charges, shooting war machines/ lone mages and march blocking.
So in defence of this having a unit of fast cavalry with its 360 degree line of site can stop your oponent using scouts in your deployment zone. As well as irritaing your opponent later in the game with it's cheeking rally shoot rule.
Neither scouts or fast cavalry for the High Elf are espeacialy great and other armies do have superior versions. But these are the only ones we get.

Don't bother with the champ upgrade on the shadow warriors and only give the Reavers a muscian. Ultimatley these units are expendable so best not to give too many points away.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Cant remember the last time I used any shadow warriors. My reavers do very well indeed though they are principally just a guard for a mounted mage (silver wand, ring of fury and Lv2 fire mage- tries to outflank and then march block and burning head everything that moves).
I cant say that its the reavers that limit enemy skirmishers- bolt throwers have 360 LoS and are normally set up with good sight lines. If the enemy are bringing skirmishers they'll need a wood to hide them in.

Have to say that my current disruption unit of choice is either the great eagle or the tiranoc mage. The first is cheap and effective (everyone I play hates my eagles) while I send 2 tiranoc chariots with mages on up a flank: they either sit off and cast magic, play hide and seek with nasty things like bloodthirsters (running out of LoS arcs or behind terrain) or just charge into enemy flanks (yay for US5 chariots). They just love block units: I hit a unit of ~30 saurus with my 2 chariots and even without flaming sword of rhuin (great combo) I did 2D6 impact which was plenty to stop attacks back and break the unit.
Not really a traditional unit but it suits me very well- any US5 chariot that can charge 18" is going to seriously mess up the enemy's advance plans.


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## Durzod (Nov 24, 2009)

Hmmmm, hadn't thought of the mage chariots. Nice one. On the whole I prefer fast cavalry every time. They're great for leading frenzied troops on a merry chase with their
"Charge me, flee, rally,move up so you have to charge me again" routine. I,too, only give them a musician so they get the rally bonus. But for sheer annoyance you can't beat eagles. They're cheap (especially if you like paired units) fast and maneuverable.


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