High Elf Magic combos

One of the things I'm struggling with in terms of the new book is how to make best use of the Loremaster & the other magic options.  When I heard the LM was a L2 mage my assumption was that he would be a Hero choice, not realistic I know but there you go.  As a Lord his base cost is 230pts which makes him an expensive L2 despite his access to all 8 Signature Spells, it also makes my usual practice of leading a High Elf army with a L4 Archmage a questionable proposition.  Then there's the need for a Dispel Scroll caddy, typically a L2, and of course my desire to take a Dragon Mage for the hell of it. So what to do - assuming all lists are aimed at 2400pts?

The 'Keep it the same but add the new bits' list
Archmage - 285pts
w. Level 4, High Magic, Book of Hoeth, Golden Crown
Mage - 170pts
w. Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Fury

The 'Lets use the guy holding the Octopus' list
Archmage - 285pts
w. Level 4, High Magic, Book of Hoeth, Golden Crown

Loremaster - 305pts
w. Dispel Scroll, Armour of Caledor

The 'Who needs 4 levels list'
Loremaster - 315pts
w. Dispell Scroll, Armour of Caledor, Golden Crown
Mage - 150pts
w. Level 2, High Magic, Ring of Fury, Dragon Bane Gem

The 'Lets max it out list'
The Everqueen - 350pts
w. High Magic, Lore of Life
Archmage - 250pts
w. Level 4, High Magic, Earthing Rod
Mage - 145pts
w. Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Fury, Lore of Life

After working through lots of lists the L4 Archmage with Book and Crown seems to be the optimum build for getting the most points efficient character, others might disagree.  Taking the Loremaster though means having to trade off between:

• Using a Lord choice as your scroll caddy.
• Effectively doubling the amount of points I would normally spend on casters by using him with a L4.
• Losing two magic levels by running the Loremaster solo with 1 or 2 L2's.  
• Spending points on casters that could be spent on combat units.

Its a dilemma as I would prefer to take the Level 4/LM combo but if you do thats 230-300pts that you lose from your other choices effectively a single combat unit and when HE only really get 2-3 combat units outside of core at 2400pts thats a big call.

So maybe you just go Loremaster solo with a Scroll and thats it or the Archmage/Everqueen solo without a scroll caddy - and do you really need a caddy when you have the Banner of the World Dragon?

More High Elf lists - planning for next WHFB tournie

Another night where rather than get some work done I decide to make another collection of lists from the new High Elf book, which by the way gets better everytime you read it.  This time I'm working toward a goal "Horned Gobbo VI" on 22nd/23rd June down in Wellington another of Pete Dunn's 2400pt extravaganzas.

Now the list I end up taking depends on three things:

1. Getting the all important spousal approval to attend the event :) 
2. Getting and painting my Everqueen model in time
3. Getting and paiting my Flamespyre Phoenix in time.

Assuming I get (1) then the others are entirely budget and postage dependent but I have worked out a couple of lists using only those models I currently own.  The two options I am going with are:


The everything gets here on time "Everqueen" List
Everqueen - 350pts
w. High Magic, Lore of Life
Level 2 - 170pts
w. Ring of Fury, Dispel Scroll, High Magic
Noble/BSB - 149pts
w. GW, Armor of Caledor
40 x Spears - 400pts
w. Full command, Banner of Eternal Flame
16 x Archers - 170pts
w. Musician
16 x Archers - 170pts
w. Musician 
5 x Reavers - 95pts
w. Musician, Bows instead of Spears
27 x White Lions - 431pts
w. Full command, Banner of the World Dragon
10 x Swordmasters - 140pts
w. Musician
Eagle - 50pts
Eagle - 50pts
Flamespyre - 225pts

Total 2,400pts

I had to reduce the size of the White Lions here to fit under the comp. rules 450pt max unit size cap unfortunately.  Very core heavy list as you can see and it relies heavily on my ability to deploy effectively, get the White Lions into favourable combats and ensure my magic phase works to my advantage.  Everqueen + High magic + Lore of Life give you a lot of awesome buffs e.g. she grants 5+WS to her unit, High Magic buffs that by +1 up to a max of 3+ etc.  Not sure about the small unit of Swordmasters but we'll see.

The going with what I have oh thats pretty list
Archmage - 285pts
w. Level 4, High Magic, Book of Hoeth, Golden Crown  
Mage - 170pts
w. Dispel Scroll, Ring of Fury, Level 2, Beasts
Noble - 270pts
w. Griffon, Swiftsense, Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield, Reaver Bow, Lion Cloak, Halberd
Noble/BSB - 145pts
w. Barded Steed, Dragon Armour, Sword of Might, Charmed Shield, Ironcurse Icon
35 x Spears - 350pts
w. Full command, Gleaming Pennant
16 x Archers - 170pts
w. Musician
5 x Reavers - 95pts
w. Musician, Bows instead of Spears
5 x Reavers - 95pts
w. Musician, Bows instead of Spears
28 x White Lions - 404pts
w. Full command, Banner of Eternal Flame
8 x Dragon Princes - 312pts
w. Full command, Banner of the World Dragon
Eagle - 50pts
Eagle - 50pts

TOTAL  2,396pts

No Flamespyre and no Everqueen and I'm going for slightly more mobility here with the Dragon Prince bus, that I'd run 3x3, and the Griffon.  Noble on Griffon has a 2+ AS or 0+/1+ vs. shooting and the Reaver bow is a nice little addition.   BSB has 2+ AS, 6+ WS (2+ WS vs. flaming) and 2+ vs. first wound.  While Dragon Princes are only S3 in turns after they charge the Signature spell from Lore of Beasts should help that.  High Magic on the Archmage also gives buffs and helps out units.  

In the typical comp. system High Elves can take units of upto 550pts in size vs. the 450pt max set for everyone else to reflect their elite status.  This changed as a result of the new book which is fair given that it will take time to figure out what it does.  But it does mean that I can't field the block of 50 x Spears that I wanted to.         

In terms of the 600pt core requirement for 2400pt lists I am still figuring out a combo that works for me.  The one in the 2nd list seems pretty good but still comes in at 705pts or 105 more than necessary. Also considered 3 blocks of Archers @ 170pts & one lot of Reavers which totals 605 but I really like Spears and plan to take them in every army.

In non-gaming news our house is on the market and fingers crossed it sells quickly and we can get into the new house we put an offer on last week... while having more space for the kids is fantastic the new place also has..... a big space for a gaming room and small painting/study room so I can finally (hopefully) get a table permanently set up and start collecting some terrain. 

Alith Anar the Shadow King & WIP new HE colour scheme

I've had this model in my collection right from the word go one of the first I acquired when I started wargaming back in 2008 but until last night I had never tried painting him.  But the new HE book gave me the inspiration I needed and Ill probably try using him in the odd list as well.  Also worked on a Reaver and Dragon Prince model testing out how the new colour scheme would look on them.

For the test models I concentrated only on figuring out where to put the green and blue areas and getting the right shade on each.  So far it hasn't worked out that well and looks horribly rough.

 

 

 

 

Starting to think I might just leave everyone purple as honestly repainting everything is going to be a bit of a pain and I'm struggling to get the new scheme to work properly.  It looks great on Dwarfs but not so much on the High Elves.  I'll finish off the two test models to see what they look like and the IOB Swordmasters but I thats about it - as far as the rest of my collection goes Ill concentrate on fixing the basing by redoing all of the snow and tidying up some of the painting on a few models.

Alith Anar with a future Everqueen - well my Princess really

High Elf Army Lists - the joys of a new book

As would be expected I've spent a lot of time since Wednesday coming up with new High Elf army lists from the new book all with the intent of re-creating my 2400pt Tournament list to make best use of the new toys.  The new book creates a huge number of dilemmas though.  The new characters and units are fantastic and the changes to the core necessitate some serious re-thinking about the role of the that traditional High Elf unit the Spears.  Online discussion is already leaning heavily toward the end of Spears as a staple of High Elf armies with the majority of lists making use of Reavers and Silver Helm buses as core.

I have a couple of issues with this (1) its too early to say that Spears are redundant and I don't for a second believe they are, (2) I have a lot of Spears, (3) I don't have any Silver Helms, having junked my models ages ago, (4) Not planning on buying any Silver Helms, as I dont like the models and (5) I really like Spears.  But I've come up with a  lot of lists and in nearly everyone Spears hardly mention :(  and its been a lot harder than I thought.  

So I kept things simple and took my last High Elf tournament list and modified it to fit the new book, adjusting for points changes and removing/replacing magic items.  In building this and the other lists I have three goals in mind:

• Making optimum use of the units/models I currently own.
• Sticking close to my play style.
• and most importantly of all Fielding a list/models that I'll enjoy using.

The last goal does mean that I frequently field armies that are not optimal or close to the prevailing meta - but honestly who cares. 

How my last HE Tournament List changes with the new book

Old Book		New Book
Archmage - L4, Dispel Scroll, Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command	360	Archmage - L4, Golden Crown, Book of Hoeth	285
Noble - BSB, Armour of Caledor, GW, Guardian Phoenix	168	Noble - BSB, Armour of Caledor, GW	149
Mage - L2, Annulian Crystal	175	Mage - L2, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Fury	170
39 x Spears - Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame	386	35 x Spears - Full command, Banner of Eternal Flame	355
14 x Archers - Musician	159	16 x Archers - Musician	170
13 x Archers - Musician	148	16 x Archers - Musician	170
28 x White Lions - Full command, Standard of Discipline	470	28 x White Lions - Full command, Banner of the World Dragon	444
14 x Swordmasters - Musician	216	12 x Swordmasters - Musician	166
14 x Swordmasters - Musician	216	12 x Swordmasters - Musician	166
Eagle	50	Eagle	50
Eagle	50	Eagle	50
		Flamespyre Phoenix	225
	2398		2400

The new book makes an immediate impact on my old tournament list allowing me to add the Flamespyre Phoenix (the first new unit Ill buy) and 5 of the new/modified magical items:

• Book of Hoeth - ok its not quite as nasty as it used to be, but re-rolling 1 dice is pretty good pity you can't do it to 6's to avoid miscasting.
• Ring of Fury - 2d6 S4 is pretty good and much better than the Ruby Ring as a bound item.
• Golden Crown - cheaper version of the Opal Amulet with a better save 2+ vs. 4+
• Armour of Caledor - same as before but with the 6+ WS giving your GW noble an effective PS
• Banner of the World Dragon - just awesome

But this list isn't exactly scary for a lot of people and it doesn't include all the toys I could take or make best use of the changes to the core composition.  So I also came up with these.

The pretty lady list
Everqueen - 350pts
Mage - 155pts
w. L2, Scroll, Golden Crown
Noble - 149 pts
w. BSB, Armour of Caledor, GW
Noble - 290pts
w. Griffon, Swiftsense, Dragon Armour, Enchanted Shield, Luck Stone, Sword of Might, Ring of Khaine 
16 x Archers - 170pts
w. Musician
14 x Archers - 150pts
w. Musician
14 x Archers - 150pts
w. Musician
5 x Reavers - 95pts
w. Musician, Bows instead of Spears
5 x Reavers - 95pts
w. Musician, Bows instead of Spears
28 x White Lions - 444pts
w. Full command, Banner of the World Dragon
Flamespyre Phoenix - 225pts
Eagle - 60pts
w. Swiftsense
Eagle - 60pts
w. Swiftsense

TOTAL 2,393

Only one combat block but lots of chaff and fast movers to annoy people and the Griffon will be fun.  Magic is also pretty strong and with the Everqueen & BSB in the White Lions with the Dragon Banner that unit isnt going anywhere in a hurry with 2+WS vs. magical and (base) 5+WS vs. non-magical.

Look at the pretty birdy list
Noble - 271pts
w. Griffon, Swiftsense, Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield, Reaver Bow, Halberd, Luckstone
Noble - 317pts
w. Griffon, Swiftsense, Sword of Might, Shield, Golden Crown, Dragon Armour, Dawnstone
Dragon Mage - 385pts
w. Level 2, Dragon Armour, Gem of Sunfire, Ironcurse Icon
Mage - 170pts
w. Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Fury
15 x Archers - 160pts
w. Musician
15 x Archers - 160pts
w. Musician
15 x Archers - 160pts
w. Musician
5 x Reavers - 95pts
w. Musician, Bows instead of Spears
5 x Reavers - 95pts
w. Musician, Bows instead of Spears
Sky-cutter - 120pts
w. Bolt-Thrower
Sky-cutter - 120pts
w. Bolt-Thrower
Eagle - 60pts
w. Swiftsense
Eagle - 60pts
w. Swiftsense
Flamespyre Phoenix - 225pts

TOTAL 2,398

I have to admit this is a hits and giggles list and would be something for a fun night at my club as I don't see myself buying the new Skycutters - but another IOB Griffon would be cool as the models are awesome.  Absolutely no melee combat power here at all with the exception of the Griffons and the Dragon - so would require me to play a lot better than I usually do.

Dragon Princes Hooo
Everqueen - 350pts
Mage - 170pts
w. Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Fury
Noble - 144pts
w. Dragon Armour, Barded Steed, Enchanted Shield, Sword of Might, Dawnstone
Noble - 149pts
w. BSB, Armour of Caledor, GW
15 x Archers - 160pts
w. Musician
15 x Archers - 160pts
w. Musician
10 x Archers - 110pts
w. Musician
5 x Reavers - 95pts
w. Musician, Bows instead of Spears
5 x Reavers - 95pts
w. Musician, Bows instead of Spears
20 x Swordmasters - 300pts
w. Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame
9 x Dragon Princes - 341pts
w. Full Command, Banner of the World Dragon
Eagle - 50pts
Eagle - 50pts
Flamespyre Phoenix - 225pts

TOTAL   2,399

Could take White Lions instead of Swordmasters giving the Everqueen and BSB a stubborn unit to hide in.  Only have one mounted HE Noble at the moment so restricted there, although the old metal DP Champion is a good stand in for one - but model wise its BSB on foot only.

Still more options than these but after working on these and a host of other lists I have realised that whatever I do I will be fielding the following to some degree:

• Flamespyre Phoenix - simply too good not to include it.
• White Lion block - at 444pts for 28 + the Dragon banner its a solid unit
• An extra character - new armour options/changes make Nobles more survivable and I want to field the Griffon.
• Adding Reavers in somewhere 

For events that allow Special characters the Everqueen will also be getting an outing as she is just fantastic (and I can use my AoW female mage to proxy for her until the real model arrives).  She also makes Spears more survivable as if you stick her with a unit of them they gain a 5+WS and everytime she successfully casts High Magic it goes up by +1 to a max of 3+.  Yes they're Spears but buffed and with a WS they are a lot better than anything else of a similar stat line.

Thanks GW, new High Elf colour scheme & need help with 30k Word Bearers

First up big props to GW Australia for some excellent customer service. A new High Elf army book is already on its way out to me to replace the damaged one I recieved the other day, and I get to keep the damaged one which saves me the cost of returning it. Thanks GW thats awesome.

First run with the new High Elves will hopefully be in a fortnights time, and then again (if I can get a leave pass) at my next WHFB tournament Horned Rat VI. As stated Im using the new book as an incentive for stripping, repainting and rebasing my entire High Elf collection. The new paint scheme will mirror that of my Dwarfs - Ultramarine Blue, Goblin Green & Scab Red. Luckily I have A LOT of unpainted High Elves to practice on starting with 10 IOB Swordmasters.

The new scheme a WIP and still pretty messy

 

Current look is provided for comparison purposes and for showing the major differences between the IOB Swordmasters and the metal ones.  While I prefer the old metal White Lions and Phoenix Guard the IOB Swordmasters, Griffon & Reavers are fantastic - Seaguard not so much.

The old scheme soon to be replaced

 

Still have a fair bit to do on them but I'm liking the look so far - keeping it darker than with my Dwarfs.  Worked out a simple way of painting the gold areas - Vomit Brown, Dwarf Bronze and then Devlan Mud Wash (sorry still using the old names).  Basing wise Ill be stocking up on Flower tufts like those below - but in brighter colours - and no more snow.

I'm also facing a bit of a problem with my Horus Heresy 30k Word Bearers.  I managed to get my Forgeworld MkIII/MkIV Astartes looking pretty good with a nice dull look to them.  But I forgot to write down the process I used and have been struggling to replicate it.  You can see what I mean in the pictures below of a MkIII Astartes painted in January and the Chaos Terminator Lord I finished last night.

Basically the red areas on the Terminator Lord and a few GW MkVII armoured Astartes I've also started is too bright and doesnt have the same dusty/dull look.  Both models have had Moana Vale dullcoat/sealant applied to them but there is something I'm missing.

Any thoughts, ideas and comments are most welcome.