How will Eldar work with Dark Eldar?

Fast Attack option yes?!

Now that we've seen some rules floating around, we can get a better idea of what we want in our armies.  First thing's first:  Who will be the primary army and who will be secondary?  I honestly think the amount of lances and poison weaponry available to the Dark Eldar will make them a better primary army.  Eldar, because they bring in a lot of specialized and powerful support options, will be a better secondary.

With that said, I plan on rocking a Dark Eldar primary and Eldar secondary force.  Let me know what you guys will be running and why!

Who will lead this primary army?  Probably a cheap Succubus because I've been running with one for quite some time now.  I will probably be looking at cheaper lanceboat options because I want to run a Wraithknight in my army.  The model is quite nice, it's basically a mini-Titan and I'm hoping the rules are great.  So what does this mean really?  Well.. that means most of the anti-tank work will be left for my Heavy Support Ravagers and the Wraithknight.  This kind of rags on the need for Wyches and instead, more lances will be added for support.

My train of thought right now is:  Drop the Wyches, or just limit them to 1 for CC and tank.  Close combat has taken a bit of a hit in this new shoot-tastic edition and I want to be able to maximize my shooting.  Shooting in general works better with Psychic powers, and now with a Farseer to work alongside my Dark Eldar, I want to be able to utilize his abilities as much as possible.  According to the rumors, Eldar powers will no longer specially state Eldar units.

So what does this look like in the end of the day?
Wyches are out.
Cheaper Lanceboats to make up for troop choices.
We're looking at a lot of 130 point 5-warrior, Blaster, Raiders, and maybe other stuff.
Let's take 2 full gunboats for now because I want to be able to utilize their firepower in combination with Doom, Guide or Prescience or whatever.

Let's work with this as the skeleton:

HQ:
Succubus (Agonizer/BP, Haywire) = 105

TROOPS:
5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130
5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130
5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130
10x Warriors (Raider NS/SR, Blaster, SC) = 195
9x Wyches (Raider NS, Hekatrix/VB, Haywires) = 195

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS) = 115
Ravager (NS) = 115
Ravager (NS) = 115

Depending on how powerful the Wraithknight is at making up for my AP or AT needs, we're looking at roughly 770 points to play with in a 2k point game.

That should be enough to buy a Farseer on a bike + some scoring Eldar Jetbikes as troops, and a Wraithknight at least.  Depending on the points of all of this, I'll be able to take one of those new Eldar Crimson Hunters for AA duties in Fast Attack.

What about you guys?  What you plan on doing with your Dark Eldar/Eldar force?

PS - Baron, Wraithguard, new Conceal.  Tempting.. yes?

Some Eldar rules rumors!

Eldar Wraithknight!

Here are some of the rules floating around the web:


via Dakka Dakka 5-21-2013
- From what I saw all the non Wraith infantry have the run/shoot shoot/run ability (the rule was called Battle something). Avengers definitely do (from the report) and Rangers definitely do (from tiny printed profile in the WD) as well. Not sure if its just for Shuriken weapons (Rangers do have Pistols I guess).

- It looks likes all Eldar have the 'Ancient Foe' special rule, no idea what this does but I suspect its something like Hatred Daemons of Slaneesh (don't think it was Necron related as the report was against Crons) since all Eldar appear to have it (including the Wraith units).

- There are 14 Eldar specific psychic powers from 2 different charts, Runes of Battle and Runes of Fate. However it looks like several of the powers are 2 in 1, i.e they have a buff mode and a debuff mode, so there are actually HEAPS of powers. I.e the Primaris for Battle is Conceal/Reveal (as a single card/roll etc), Conceal gives you Shrouded and Reveal removes Shrouded from an enemy. The 1 on the Battle Chart was Destructor/Renew(?), Destructor being the same as before with Soul Blaze added and Renew allowing you to restore a wound to a friendy model within range (18" I think). Primaris for Runes of Fate was Guide, which is now 24" range but is otherwise the exact same as before. Very surprising to see this as aside from the range it is far worse than the Divination Primaris (although I guess you could take both and effectively Guide two units). The 1 on the Fate Chart was a terrible Focuses Witchfire power. Fortune and Doom are still options (the Farseer in the report had them) and appear to have the same effects.

- The Avatar has Fleet. Also one of the psychic powers increases your movement speed/charge range somehow

More Eldar pictures!

Looks like Latios and Latias.

Check it out guys!

Rumors: Eldar pictures emerge!

Book cover!

And here they are...
Thanks to the BoLS lounge!

Wraithknight

There's also a Iyanden supplement coming.. which is really cool because that means they might do supplements for other armies as well.  Black Templars onto Space Marines?

High Elves: Another Perspective

Put 'em up, shut 'em down.

What perspective might this be?  From the other side of the table of course!  Played a few games recently against High Elves with my VC and I must say:  Don't take monster mash lists.

Here's the list I've been running:

2498
13 deploys

LORDS:
Lv.4 Vampire Lord = 553
Lore of Vampires
Quickblood, Red Fury, Beguile
Heavy Armor, Shield, Barded Nightmare
ToPreservation, Ogre Blade, OTS

HEROES:
Lv.2 Vampire = 228
Lore of Death
Aura of Dark Majesty
Heavy Armor, Lance, Barded Nightmare
Enchanted Shield, Scroll, PoFools

CORE:
40x Zombies (Standard) = 125
37x Ghouls (Ghast) = 380
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40

SPECIAL:
12x Black Knights (FC, BoSwiftness) = 357
5x Hexwraith = 150
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45

RARE:
Terrorgheist = 225
Terrorgheist = 225

Having played very little with my VC in the new edition, I'm enjoy my VC quite a bit despite the rust build up.  One of the strangest things I've found with the new HE book is that people tend to gravitate towards the new and shiny.  Of course Frosthearts are great, but I don't think people should be running lists with minimal magic protection, a bunch of Frosthearts, and that silly Anointed running a Frostheart as well.  That's just way too much points investment with very little gain.  I honestly don't feel that Frosthearts at meant to be used as killy units.  They don't do jack shit in combat res compared to a lot of the other meanies out there, and their damage potential to points ratio is outright pitiful.

A lot of people don't realize that Frosthearts are not designed to be killy units.  They're a really strong support element for the High Elf army, and that's the key thing.  They're meant to be played with other elements in the book that takes advantage of the bonuses they provide.  Frosthearts are defensive, denial units, designed to be used in support with the rest of the army.  Alone, they're just bad for the points.  When you compare them to something like a Hellpit, Hydra or Chimera, they just fall flat in terms of expectations.

What else have I found out?  Monster mash lists run into really bad match-ups vs. a list like mine.  I out deploy their list every time; cavstars and Silver Helms just get baited around all day with good chaff, and the Anointed on Frostheart is just trash for his points.  For a lord hovering around the ~500 mark, the guy puts out no damage.  Three S6 attacks is hardly anything to write home about, especially when the bird has a max of 5 attacks on a good day and will frequently hover around 4.  Once the "damage" is dealt, you add up the points and notice that you killed nowhere close to the amount you paid for with the lord.

I'm jumping around a bit so I'll highlight the key weaknesses of the monster-mash list.

• The VC list I have above has 13 drops.  The typical monster-mash list I've seen runs with Dragon Prince buses, Anointed on Frostheart, Lv.2 Mage, 2x Frosthearts, and Silver Helms/Reavers for core.  Let me tell you something right now:  The current style of HE Monster-mash will get out-deployed, out-manuevered, and outplayed if you're a capable general.  I just re-direct all day, force my own combat scenarios and force the HE army to fight my rock solid units.  My VC Lord obliterates Phoenixes, caring not for your ASL and -1S because I just power spells through your weakling Lv.2.  Your other birds just eats tarpit after tarpit and I'll just scream to death any other unit not carrying BotWD.  A couple of days ago, I just looked at a bunch of Silver Helms and they disappeared from the battlefield.
• That's another thing:  Magic superiority.  God honestly, I don't know if monster-mash can survive with cannons and strong magic on the battlefield.  As if cannons aren't enough, a Lv.2 just can't compete with a Lv.4 in terms of casting potential.  I have better dice management, more spells to through and you're not going to stop all my spells regardless of how hard you try.  I understand that no other faction can throw out damage and cast spells like VC, but I find a solo Lv.2 to be outmatched completely in very circumstance in this match-up.
• Overall damage:  You don't have a lot of units that can hit hard and break lines.  A big unit of Dragon Princes will always see a bunch of re-directs, undead fodder, tarpits, followed by a flank-charge or rear-charge from my Lord's bus + Terrorgheists.  Once you accurately scale the amount of damage Dragon Princes can do, you realize that their subsequent rounds in combat are meaningless.  This is why you need to run characters in Dragon Princes and not run around flying in giant stupid birds.  A Frostheart's damage potential cannot and will not bail you out of combat once your DP bus has run its course.  The best way I can describe HE cavalry is this:  They're meant to be precision-based combat res generators.  They hit hard as hell in the first round of combat, but they're wet noodles in the subsequent rounds.
• I walk away this week with 3 wins and a draw vs. HE monster-mash.  I don't know why people insist on playing these kind of lists because it's just not good.  Frostheart's don't do enough damage, cavalry lists might seem like fun until they realize any unit not carrying the BotWD will just get blended/screamed to death, and these lists suck hard vs. Steadfast/Undead tarpits because they don't generate enough damage themselves.  Sure, they negate a lot of damage, but if they don't get themselves out of there they're completely worthless, and easy to gank/kill.

TLDR:  Don't run monster-mash with HE.  Stick to the basics; mixed army, combined arms, and a balanced approach.

I have a guide on Ulthuan.net

This guy looks cool, let's go with that.

I've been getting a lot of Emails asking if I have a consolidated knowledge pool floating around somewhere.

The answer is yes! and it's located on Ulthuan.net.  Clicky.  On this site, you will find many other army blogs because the generals that play them all play quite differently for the most part.  I'm just one of those generals.

Also keep in mind that a lot of Ulthuan.net plays under ETC restrictions whereas I play uncomped or with very little comp.  Be aware of this at all times when browsing because it'll change the way your lists are constructed significantly.

One more thing -- Is there any more High Elf stuff you want to see from me in particular?  Thanks!

Here's my latest army list.  I'm really excited to give the new Sisters a go!

Shadow vs. High Magic

Shadow is best.

After my disappointing trial of High Magic over the last 4 games, I'm seriously thinking of switching back to Shadow.  Here is why:

Miasma - Better than Hand of Glory: Why? Because vs. your WS5 on WS3 units, the spell automatically means they hit you on 5s. With Hand of Glory, you're looking for WS7, which needs a +2 to WS. A third of the time, the spell won't even do anything defensively. Vs. WS4, it's even more apparent. Their WS4 vs. your WS8 changes nothing; your WS5 vs. their WS2 means something.  vs. WS5 like Chaos Warriors, a Miasma for 3 means you're hitting on 3s and them on 5s.

Enfeeble - ALWAYS good and stacks with Phoenix. We have nothing like this to compare in the High Magic lore. Wounding you on 5s and even 6s means the world of difference; keeping your armor save even in most cases. You can cast this into combat.

Withering - White Loins are S6 vs. everything, normally wounding on 2s. However, vs. beefier targets which our army already has an inherent weakness to, reduced Toughness means more wounds gets through and often times that's enough. Every combat unit benefits from lowered Toughness and every shooting unit does too.  Again, you can cast this in combat.

All three of these benefits the Elven race more than any other lore. All 3 of which can be cast in combat and all 3 of these will be useful in all phases of the game. Not so much with High Magic.  We're not even counting the usefulness of the must-stop Mindrazor on ASF Elves at this point.

Let's get off the WS3 S3 troops for a second and think about the wider picture. What I used above was just an example of how much more effective Miasma is compared to Hand of Glory.

• vs. WS5 Warriors, Miasma wins hands down. You can bring them down to WS2, allowing you to hit on 3s, them on 5s. Hand of Glory doesn't even have that option.
• vs. the WoC/Ogres matchup, Enfeeble will allow you to stay in the fight and minimize damage. It stacks with Phoenix; which is an integral part of our warmachine now.
• vs. any fatties, Chimeras, or T5 chariots, or other monsters, you need Withering to do the damage and force wounds that you otherwise wouldn't be able to accomplish.
• vs. any of the bigger guys who are by design, more difficult to deal with our army, Shadow fills in the gaps like it always does since the 8th Ed. book was released. High Magic does not offer this at all.

New test case:
You're in combat with Chaos Warriors. What are you going to do? Hand of Glory over Miasma? Withering over, wait.. that's it. The rest of the lore has magic missiles, direct damage and a heal spell on one model that might not even been wounded or is in the combat. What are you going to do now? Move something with Walk Between Worlds? Combat is what determines the outcome of GAMES, and takes the WIN.

Again, all of these are combat friendly, used in every phase of the game. Shit, you can compliment your S4 Maidens shooting even more if have Withering in the army.  And best of all, all of these are raises and eyebrow in the dispel phase rather than them just staring at your 6-dice Hand of Glory because you have nothing else to cast.  Shadow is useful in combat and don't eat up a lot of dice, allowing you to min-max your magic phase as long as you have Book of Hoeth.  We just don't have that many PD to throw now.  Book of Hoeth makes Pit and Skillrazor easier to cast as well, and we all know how much our opponents fear ASF + Mindrazor.

If you look at a Lv.4 with Book with Shadow, here are some numbers..

Miasma - You can 1-dice this most of the time, or push for 10+ needing a 6 on 2-dice to cast at 89% chance.
Enfeebling - At 10+, you need 2 dice for 89% chance to push.
Withering - At 13+, you need 3 dice for 89.5% chance to push.
Pit of Shades - At 14+, you have 3 dice at 82.47% or 4 dice for 96.69%
the big boy Mindrazor, at 18+, sees 4 dice at 76.22%, or 5 dice for 93.80%

When you compare this specifically to High Magic, the ONLY spell you should be comparing to is Hand of Glory, because it is the only spell that can change the outcome of the current fight (or rather, the fight that you immediately want to change). What would you rather have? 4 spells that can change the outcome of a battle and be able to at least cast them, or hold onto 3 of your DD/MM spells while you only cast Hand of Glory because you can't do anything else. Not to mention the result of casting is relatively the same result value as you would Miasma. People saying Shadow is more expensive than High Magic is a fact, but if you compare the numbers of how much it takes them to cast to their impact on the battlefield, you'll see each spell has significantly better value in a game based around close combat.

If you want Drain Magic, just take a support caster: Lv.1-2, take your pick and default to Drain if you don't pull Hand of Glory. You can also cover your ethereal bases by defaulting to Soul Quench.  That eliminates the last part of the argument to take High Magic over Shadow.  For next game I plan on taking Shadow/Heavens just to play around.

Lv.4 with Book, Shadow
Lv.1-2 with Scroll, Heavens

That's my layout from now on.  Period.