7th Ed. Army of the Month: Dark Elves

Welcome all to the first installment of:

Army of the month!

We will be discussing a new army every month. Units, items, tactics, combo’s; it’s all going to be in here.
The setup of this chain of threads will be as follows:

I will do my very best to post the start here. It can be a bit long so beware. Then, the mayhem starts
Everybody can simply join in; give their personal tactics; experiences and criticise eachother (in a constructive way).
Arguments on why that tactics isn’t that good at all, or why that unit is so good after all!
(Alternatively, the start of it is discussed here: http://www.lustria-online.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3472&start=10 . You can also leave your feedback in there.)
I will update my own post (or make a new one) with all the thoughts everybody else brings in, and is usefull. That way, everybody has it’s own piece in it.

This month’s instalment will have it’s attention pointed to:
*drum roll*

…

Dark elves!

Yes, the druchii. Vicious little bunch, but nothing we can’t defeat. Right?

Let’s get going then.

 

Dark Elves

1. Army overall
2. Units
3. Items
4. Characters
5. Potential army lists
6. Tactics

That will be the setup for the staring post. So, starting with

1. Army overall

Some key features about the Dark Elves (or Druchii, Delves, DE). They all have hatred. Which allows them to re-roll misses in the first round of combat. That makes them very reliable in that first round, no more rubber lances!
It also means they always have to pursuit/overrun. So you can pull them out of position.

They are elves. Elves are expensive troops. Elves have only a toughness of 3. Which makes them vulnerable to virtually anything.

Some units are ‘khainites’. This simply means they cannot be joined by non-khainite characters, and have limited acces to magical equipment.

Dark elves have a lot of different army setups. Which can vary to Monster rush, to magical gunline, to balanced, to all cavalry. And back again. They have some very dangerous death-stars. And solid leadership.
The infantry blocks are backed up by faster heavy cavalry, shooting in the form of Reapers and fast support with harpies and dark riders. This makes for a dangerous army indeed.

That was the first impression of the Delves, let’s continue with the units.

2. Units

Core:
Dark elf spears
Corsairs
Harpies (do not count to minimal core)
Dark Riders
Repeater Crossbowmen (or, RXB for short)

Special:
Shades
Black guard
Executioners
Witch Elves
Cold one knights
Cold one chariot

Rare:
War Hydra
Reaper Bolt Thrower (or, RBT for short)

Spears
Let’s get started with your basic dark elf. The spear-elf. Comes in very cheap, only a point more than a skink. Above average movement, pretty high weapon skill, low toughness, low strength, high initiative, and solid leadership. Not a bad deal!
The spearelves have their uses. But they are simply out-classed by the ‘elites’. Spears add bulk to the army. 25 with FC (full command) come in at around 190 points. They can take a magical banner worth up to 25 points.
This gives your enemy a big block of troops, with good SCR (standard combat resolution) and a decent number of attacks, to think about. Blocks of infantry are always strong, because of their rank bonus. This is also the case for spearelves.
They are also used (more often) as fodder. Either for themselves, or for the enemy.
10 of them are quite annoying, as units of fast cavalry will die to the spear+hatred combo. This unit can deny ranks, claim table quarters and do all kinds of annoying stuff. But with movement 5, that is somewhat limited. A unit of 10 is considered to be fodder for the enemy (us!). It is usually not really worth the effort to kill them.
They are also put to good use for power dice. That’s right: power dice. The item part will come later on, but in short: A sorceress with an item (Sacrificial dagger) can kill a model in her unit to gain extra power dice whilst attempting to cast the spell.
Given the cheapness of the spearelves; that can be a lot of dice!

All in all. Spearelves are not something you should worry about. They are simply basic elves, who can be shot, magicced and beaten to death in various (sometimes humorous) ways. Our saurus warriors will cleave through them. As do any of our combat units.
As always, all forms of skinks should try and avoid combat. Including the basic spear elf.

Corsairs
Not a lot to say about them, in my case, they can shoot. Get into combat, and have a neat little trick when he pursues you. And that’s about it. I have simply not enough experience/information to talk about these, so I’ll pass that to somebody else!
Next!

Harpies
Small units of fliers. Come in at 55 points for 5 (which is also their minimal unit size). Skirmish and can fly. Which means they are pretty cheap, for elves, and thus are usefull for a thousand things. Their only merit is their low leadership, so terror and fear are hard to overcome for them on their own.
Screening, war machine hunting, march blocking, redirecting and killing small stuff. Basically anything our own terradons do after they dropped their rocks.
The harpies are core, but do not count towards the minimum of core units required. You will always see spearelves, dark riders, corsairs or RXB.
But since harpies are core, you can see many small units of them. 55 points for a unit that is very annoying and fast is a great deal for any DE general.

Harpies are dangerous to our skinks, because skinks will die to anything. And harpies don’t. Harpies are tough to shoot at, because they are fast; they will not get into shooting range easily. And because they are skirmishers; they are harder to shoot at. Usually, it’s not worth shooting at them, because the ‘real’ elves are worth a lot more points.
Magic Missiles work great to get rid of them.
Harpies will never get into close combat with any of your combat troops, because any single one of your saurii can and will rip harpies apart.

Dark Riders
One of the staples of the dark elf army. Be very surprised if your opponent brought none. A pretty usual setup is 2 units of dark riders, and 2 units of harpies.
Dark riders are fast cavalry. So they can do the feigned flee very well, race through gaps in your lines and simply be anywhere when needed. As do any fast cavalry
They can shoot with Repeater Crossbows as well, so they will add in the occasional wound with shooting.
Expect them to come in units of 5, with musician and RXB. That’s a pretty normal setup, which comes in and just under 120 points. Sometimes, they carry no RXB. And more rarely, they have no musician.
On the charge, these guys have 5 WS4 attacks (with hatred!) and S4 (spears). So they can do a pretty dangerous flank charge on light units (Skrox). And ofcourse, the horses; we all know that horses are more dangerous than their riders now, don’t we?

Dark riders are very worth it to shoot at. As they are fragile and expensive troops. But are also very annoying if left unchecked. As said, their meagre armour save and low toughness is something we like to exploit. Unfortunately, they are often out of range of stuff; as they are fast. We do have one neat trick to get rid of them. Terradons!
Dropping rocks on dark riders will devastate the unit. Add in the additional javelin, skink fire, magic missile. And you will surely kill them. Don’t be scared to do so!

Repeater Crossbowmen
Basic ‘line shooter’ of the Druchii. The repeater crossbow is a potent weapon. As it fires 2 S3 AP shots. So 10 of RXB fire 20 shots every turn. They have BS4, but get penalty’s for their multi-fire. Still, 20 shots is a lot!
10 of them with shields come in at 120 points. And are surprisingly tough. 10 WS4 S3 attacks with hatred allows them to see of many fragile support units. Skinks will get slaughtered if they get into CC with them. Terradons should to a little better, but are quite expensive to take out the RXB.
Repeater Crossbows are also a good place for a sorceress to seek protection. Staying back of the main threats, they are relatively safe. Any mage hunters will get shot or magicced away (at least, that’s the idea).

Let’s keep going with the special units the dark elves can bring.
For a reminder that’s:
Shades
Black guard
Executioners
Witch Elves
Cold one knights
Cold one chariot

Starting with:
Shades
The scouts of the druchii army. Skirmishers, scouts. Armed with RXB’s (and high BS) and usually with GW or AHW. Minimum unit size is 5, but are often seen as 7.
Shades are dangerous, because they shoot accurate. They can also pack a punch with those great weapons (and remember: hatred makes them dangerous in the first round. Read: charge).
Fortunately for us; we have the perfect counter for shades.
Terradons! Again, dropping rocks is the perfect counter. No armour save, T3, high cost and low model count just asks for to be targeted by terradons…
If you lack terradons, or have already dropped your rocks, the other obvious counter is magic missiles. Shades simply have no staying power whatsoever, make good use of that.
If left unchecked, they can kill salamanders in combat or with shooting. They will fire 10-14 accurate shots at your saurus warriors every turn and are simply very strong. So, hunt them down!

Black guard
Ah, the dread of every player. Black guard are stubborn, ITP, have eternal hatred as their special rules. So they always reroll misses in combat and are notoriously tough to break.
Their stats are also pretty impressive; WS5, S4, A2, I6 and Ld9 are the important stats. As with all elves, T3.
The banner of Hag Grief is the absolute most popular setup for these bad boys. 15-10 black guard+banner of Hag Grief is such a strong combination. It will give you: 10 ASF (on I6, so faster than High elves!) attacks, with eternal hatred at S4.
Boo.
If you do manage to win combat, they will simply stick around for the next round. Every single time. And the unit mentioned above only costs around 260-300 points. That’s quite the unit!
We don’t have much to counter that, but as always: magic missiles shred elves apart. Flank charges even might see you lose. So it is probably best to avoid this unit altogether. The Warspear-Steg is able to leave it’s mark. But even that won’t kill all 20 of them!
Black guard are a threat to every unit (yes, temple guard will die to them) and even every army. Such is the strength of the Black Guard (or, BG for short). Either ignore, or blast apart. Remember: ITP makes it impossible for him to flee as a reaction. And they always have to pursue. Use that to your advantage!

Executioners
More elite infantry! These druchii strike with great weapons. So they will strike last, but hard. They also have killing blow and are Khainites.
If Executioners get the charge (or have the banner of Hag Grief for ASF!) expect carnage. They haven’t got the volume of attacks that BG have, but the attacks that do come through; hit very hard. S6+killing blow means that even our heroes have to watch it. A beheaded scar-vet isn’t all that impressive anymore…
Although powerfull, Executioners (or Exes for short) are outclassed by BG. I think exes gain the most benefit from the cauldron of blood (which is still to come).
Exes are a bit of a glass cannon; because they are fragile but hit so darn hard. BG are the blunt weapon, while Exes are the rapier.

Exes are a threat to any unit of the lizardmen, because of their immense hitting power. However, in prolonged combat, spear saurus should be able to tackle them. Stegadons will have to stay clear though, as multiple S6 attacks can chop it apart. As said, heroes need to watch it for the lucky killing blow. Our SCOR should also evade this unit (unless you can charge a small unit), S6 will kill our expensive cavalry.

Witch Elves
These ladies are crazy. No really, they are frenzied. They also have poisoned weapons, but only strike at S3. Also, witch elves (or WE, NOT to be confused with Wood Elves) are khainites.
Witch elves pump out crazy amounts of attacks, which is also their greatest strength. They lack the true hitting power of Exes, and can be dragged across the battlefield because of their frenzy. Remember, frenzy means they are also ITP; so cannot flee.
Witch elves have no armour at all, so are easily dwindled in numbers.
Which elves are cool, but not all to powerfull. And, as most units, are outclassed by Black Guard.

Witch Elves are a threat to Skrox units, because this unit is pretty able to kill every skink in the unit! Masses of S3 attacks are dangerous, but our spear saurus can deal with it. Also, stegadons and SCOR should be able to burst through the ladies. Any form of skinks can lead them around the battlefield, frenzy allows us to do that.

Cold one knights
The dark elf heavy cavalry. Good armour, S6 on the charge (lance), fast and: stupid!
The absence of Cold-Blooded makes stupid a lot worse. A Ld8 stupid check is failed way more often than a Ld8 cold-blooded stupid check.
Cold one knights (or, CoK for short) hit hard on the charge. A unit of 6 strikes hard. And the risk of rubber lances is very low! They also have a good armour save, so S4 has trouble of actually killing.

CoK are to be treated as any unit of heavy cavalry, only that this one has stupidity!
This means that skinks can redirect, Sala’s can kill a lot (only T3!), and stegadons will plough through them.
CoK threaten any unit, because they are fast and hard-hitting. Use your skinks to prevent them from hitting anything important!

Cold one Chariot (or CoC for short)
A pretty rare sight on the field nowadays. A chariot takes a special slot on his own (no more 2 for 1), so are often passed. M7, stupid, very tough, fear and ofcourse: impact hits. Tough to get rid of, bar S7, and hard hitting on the charge.
If you do see a chariot; poison it! Skink fire works surprisingly well. And try not to let it hit small units (even saurii will have a hard time facing it). Charging it with skinks/sala’s/terradons works surprisingly well. Flank bonus+outnumbering (or rear+outnumber) makes up for the odd wound. As the Cold Ones cannot fight if you flank/rear them. If you do lose, be sure to let him pursue into terrain; and remind of taking the D6 S6 hits! Chariots aren’t that good off-road…

Chariots are only threatening to small (/depleted) units of saurus warriors. And ofcourse, skinks. We have counters in the form of skinks and S7 carnosaur! Our scar-veterans should also do well.

Let’s finish the unit part by going to the rare department.

Rare:
War Hydra
Reaper Bolt Thrower (RBT)

Starting with the Hydra.
War Hydra
M6, lots of attacks, S5, W5?, T5, 4+ armor save and regeneration. Moves like a skirmisher, so is agile and can move through woods easily. Did I mention it causes terror? No, well it does. Breath weapon with strength equal to it’s wounds (so Starting at S5, and when you wound it; the breath weapon goes down in strength)
Threatens any unit we bring to the field. The mass of attacks (with hatred!) at pretty high strength is threatening on it’s own. Add to the fact that it is tough to wound, let alone kill. And causes terror! You must have heard is somewhere, this beast is ridiculously cheap: 175 points.
Will hide in the woods, so your great cannon (if we’d have one!) cannot see it. Only a handful of counters we have:
Scar-vet on CO with BBoC. No armour save and no more regeneration save will put in the wound or 2. Make sure to make this guy your BSB, as terror+outnumber vs 1 wound+fear=autobreak.
Blade of Realities+Oldblood. The leadership of the Hydra isn’t that high, so you should be able to kill it outright.
Beast Cowers+Slann. Outmagic him, and freeze his hydra in place. This only works if you see it! And if it hides in the woods; you’re screwed.
Kill the handlers. Normally, you cannot attack the handlers, because they stand beside the Hydra. But if you charge in with, say, skinks in the front (declare them first) and Terradons in the flank/rear (declare them second/later). His hydra+handlers will face your skinks, and your terradons will be able to attack handlers. This tactic isn’t that popular, as it is very hard to pull of. You need 2 units, who need to pass 2 terror checks. You have to charge the hydra, you have to kill both handlers, you have to hope the beast fails his monster test and sits still. Otherwise; it’s still dangerous. If you are very desperate, or cocky, go for it!

Otherwise, try to avoid or annoy it away. The hydra also has hatred, so has to pursue your skinks. Unfortunately, it moves as a skirmishers. So will quickly be back.
If your opponent brings 2…well…cry

Reaper Bolt Thrower
Can be bought 2 for 1. So 2 RBT’s in 1 rare slot. It’s a good all-round war machine. Burst of 6, or 1 big bolt. Basic anti-war machine tactics work here. So terradons are very good. Also, put some chameleon skinks in front of it (that’s right, about 1”) and watch his bolts miss!
Then shoot/charge him.
Only 2 crewmembers make it vulnerable. But any War Machine is vulnerable…

Not much to say, but to watch your stegadons! Remember to screen important units (and remember; you cannot screen steggies…). Simply take them out, as after 6 turns; they will have done quite the damage.

That wraps it up for the unit section. Next part is about characters. Scroll down for more!







3. Items

Only the most important items will be placed here. The ones you really need to look out for.
Starting with the top 3:
Ring of Hotek (RoH)
Pendant of Khaeleth (PoK)
Banner of Hag Grief (BoHG)

The Ring of Hotek is such a strong anti-magic item, that it can stop whole phases on it’s own. If you have a caster withing 12” of the ringt, you automatically miscast on any double.
If you dare to cast with 3 dice, you have a 44% chance of miscasting! You do not want to cast a spell with 4 dice if the ring is nearby, it is not funny anymore.
The RoH can be placed on a unit champion or a character. When a champion has it, go and kill him. It will be hard, but worth it if you have a slann. If on a character, well. Try and kill him, but it will be very hard to do so. A good general will not get his ring be picked off.
You can always try
This item is in the top 3 because it is simply so insane, that for 25 points; you can stop a slann.

Then, the Pendant of Khaeleth. It offers it’s wearer a ‘reverse ward’. Higher strength -> better ward! An immensely good protective item, so good; that it can be found in nearly any list. Masters like to wear it and it will be the only protection (along a decent armour save) whilst having a good offence as well!
Look it up if you like, then read all the hate about this item. You will have such a hard time beating the wearer of the PoK. So, beat his unit instead! If you manage to do that…
If a master with PoK is inside a unit of BG with the BoHG; you’re screwed. Even more if that master does NOT have the PoK, but the ring instead. Add in a champion with ASF and a magical weapon that strikes at S6; and it’s bonus time!

Banner of Hag Grief. Such a staple in the army. Black guard’s best friend. BG+BoGH+BSB nearby/in the unit with ring/Pendant…
I think you get the picture. A true deathstar indeed.

Other items that are worth noting:
Sacrificial dagger: kill an own model to add 1 power die to the attempt of casting a spell. This can cause miscasts or IF. Sorceress+dagger in big unit of warriors. Very potent.
Potion of Strenght: 1 use only, grants the user of this item +2 strenght for a round of combat. Can be handy after the charge. And a dreadlord with potion wipes the floor with chariots…
Armour of Eternal servitude: Regeneration to the bearer
Seal of Grond
Lifetaker
Blood Armour
Manbane
Cloak of Twilight

I need some help on these last items, to determine what they do. I only know they are pretty good




4. Characters
The character of the dark elf army will be discussed here. Special characters are not in here.
Lords:
Dreadlord
Supreme Sorceress

Heroes:
Master
Sorceress
Death Hag
Assasin

Lords:
The most powerfull characters of any army, and very true in the dark elf army.

Dreadlord:
A normal elf at first sight. Nothing overly good, his Ld10 is very good though. It’s the options that make him so good. He can ride a vast amount of mounts, and choose from a very large amount of strong magic items.
A dragon lord with Caledor’s bane, potion of strength and Pendent of Khaeleth. Strong offence, and the PoK offers good defense too. Very strong vs lizardmen, as we get no scaly skin armour save against Caledor’s bane!
Dark Steed (supporting) lord. Lord on foot with blood armour. Lord on Manticore
Lord with Executioner’s axe to kill big nasties. All sorts of combinations.
Usually, he manages to get good offence and defense. PoK has a big part in the latter.

Supreme Sorceress:
A note on the druchii sorceresses (lord level and hero level). They can use any amount of power dice to attempt casting a spell. They have a special spell, cast on 4+ that allows them to generate 1d3 extra power dice that phase. Any dice generated this way which are not used -> a wound to the caster of that spell, no saves.
They have their own lore, the dark lore, and can use shadow, death and fire from the main 8 in the rulebook.

The Supreme sorceress is a lvl 4 wizard, with some options. She can ride a Pegasus, dark steed or cold one. Although the latter isn’t used at all (stupidity!). combined with a lvl 2 sorceress with the dagger, a big amount of power dice can be generated.
The dark lore is a strong lore IMO. Magic missiles at S5, dominion and other nasties. Read it before you start the game, it will give you an impression.
Supreme Sorceress is to be treated as any offensive Lvl 4 caster. Hunt down if possible, otherwise shut down big nasty spells and let through the other. Becalming cogitation is always very good.

Hero level characters of the delves are treated here:
Master (also known as Noble, A 6th ed. Leftover)
Can fulfil lots of roles. Can be mounted on dark steed, dark Pegasus, cold one, chariot and a manticore. Add to that all the strong magic items, and you have yourselves a winner.
Strong hero, but without PoK they are outclassed by our own Scar-vets. T3 is a pretty big downside, but the item/mount options make up for it.

Sorceress:
Basic Lvl 1 caddy. Or lvl 2 caster. Some good spells in the dark lore, and the extra delf spel to generate even more PD. It is always worth to try and take out enemy wizards, no protection (bar the unit she is with), T3 and 2 wounds is very tempting.
There is one cool setup for a caddy; a Lvl 2 with scroll and extra spell. And she will simply attempt to cast 1 spell with 4 dice every turn. Hoping for IF on a big spell. And she makes for a good caddy. This is called ‘the golfer’. Otherwise, basic caster. Can choose the same lores as the supreme sorceress.

Death Hag:
Khainite. No armour. Can choose items from the temple of khaine. So poisons and the like. She can also carry the BSB, so the BoHG can also be used with Exes or Witch Elves.
As an added option; she can bring the Cauldron of blood. With the cauldron the can give a Delf unit withing 12” one of the following: 5+ ward vs missiles, +1 attack or stubborn for a round. With the cauldron, I believe she has a 4+ ward to boot. It’s not worth shooting at the cauldron. Nor is getting into CC with it, as the death hag hits very hard!

Assasin:
Technically not a character, but I still put him here. The assassin can be revealed any time, but is hidden at the start of the battle.
There are some different builds on him:
R&F killer. 6+ attacks striking at S4-6.
Character killer: Killing blow+lots of attacks
Chariot killer: S7 rending stars for insta chariot busting. These also hurt on you stegadons.
Hybrids. Most common is Manbane+Rune of Khaine+AHW.
An Assassin has ASF with I10 at all times. So will kill something before you can strike. However, he has no protection at all so is vulnerable if he does not kill.
Unfortunately, with lots of attacks at good strength+hatred it is hard not to kill something…

Those were the characters, I’m sure there will be lot’s I did not mention. But, I’m no robot!

5. Potential Army lists

Characters:

Dreadlord (general):
SDC, Executioner's Axe, Blood Armour
/->BG unit/

Master (BSB)
SDC, Shield, Heavy Armour, Pair of Repeater Handbows, Dark Steed
Army Standard, PoK, Sword of Might
/->Warrior unit/

Sorceress
Lvl2, Dispel Scroll, Dispel Scroll
/->RXB unit or a forest/

Assassin (171pts.)
AHW, Rending Stars, Manbane, Cloak of Twillight
/->Shades/

Core:

Warriors x 25 (215pts.)
FC, Shields, Warbanner

RXB's x 10 (120pts.)
Musician, Champion, Shields\

Dark Riders x 5 (117pts.)
Musician, RXB

Dark Riders x 5 (117pts.)
Musician, RXB.

Harpies x 5 (55pts.)

Harpies x 5 (55pts.)

Special:

Black Guard x14 (260pts.)
Champion, Std. Bearer, Standard of Hag Graef, Soulrender

Shades x8 (144pts.)
GW

Rare:

War Hydra (175pts.)

RBT (100pts.)

RBT (100pts.)

A balanced list. Can me modified easily: drop the dreadlord for a master and add more black guard.
Or: drop the dreadlord for another sorceress with sacrificial dagger and more black guard/warriors/RXB.


Very nasty lists could be:
Level 4 Supreme Sorceress on Dark Pegasus - Black Staff, Pendant of Khaeleth
Level 2 Sorceress - Sacrificial Dagger, Pearl of Infinite Bleakness

Assassin - Extra Hand Weapon, Touch of Death, Rune of Khaine,
Black Lotus

30 Warriors - Spears, Shields, Full Command, War Banner

10 Repeater Crossbowmen - Shields, Musician
10 Repeater Crossbowmen - Shields, Musician

5 Dark Riders - Repeater Crossbows, Musician
5 Dark Riders - Repeater Crossbows, Musician

5 Harpies
5 Harpies

9 Shades - Bloodshade, Great Weapons

5 Cold One Knights

2 Reaper Bolt Throwers

Evade+shoot/magic. Not fun to play against, at all. But very effective in what it does.

Other lists will be edited in when I find (or you guys notify me) of good example lists.

7. Tactics

Some of the tactics the druchii can pull off. Things to watch out for and other stuff.

Hydra tactics:
The hydra moves like a skirmishers at 6”. It also has a breath weapon which can rack up kill quite nicely. So, it can move 12” out of LOS from your saurii and then flame them.
It is now threatening the flank of you saurus warriors and also threatens to simply move along your lines and wreak havoc.
Be aware of Hydras not charging, but dancing around your block and flaming you.
There isn’t much you can do about it, but setup properly. You could try a beast cowers, but there’s still 5 more turns to play.

Magic:

Chillwind prevents your skinks from shooting for a turn. Which is manageable. It also might kill some skinks. But if those skinks were about to fire on a unit of dark riders at close range…it does hurt.
What’s really dangerous is word of pain and dominion. Those can just turn the game around. Word of pain cast into combat swings the odds heavily in favour of the druchii. And Dominion can stop your stegadon from moving (read: charging) for a turn. Very dangerous and the situation requires the right dispelling.
Black horror is very nasty, and should be dispelled if possible. Too dangerous to let through, as it will kill of a lot of saurus warriors.
Doombolt is powerfull, but should only be dispelled when really necessary. Basicly, a higher strength magic missile.

Be aware of the enemy mages’ position, which spells they know and your own dispelling capabilities. As Dark magic can weigh a heavy toll on you!

Classic hammer&anvil

Black guard are stubborn+ITP+Ld9. Just expect them to hold, at any time. It is then a matter (for the DE player) to charge you in the flank with a chariot, CoK, or any unit really.
25 warriors+shield+FC+warbanner are also quite likely to hold against your saurus spears. Not throughout the battle, but for 1-3 combat rounds; they will hold. Again, the countercharge is easy once your stuck in close combat.

Skink hunt
When facing druchii, skink hunting season has opened. Especially for harpies. The flying skirmishing nature of harpies allows them to charge skink skirmishers easily and dispatch them. Your skinks are one of your most valuable troops in terms of gaming, and it is worth it to try and protect them.
Your skinks are very effective at taking out dark riders with their blowpipes. And they can pull units of out position to great effect.
Harpies are also willing to charge a salamander, to prevent is from shooting his expensive black guard, although your sala is pretty sure to win that combat. It will prevent him from shooting for a turn, which could be enough on the delf part.

Hatred and pulling.
Dark elves always HAVE to pursue. If you charge your small expendable (and cheap) unit in the rear/flank of a unit; they have to pursue at all times. Thus, your depleted unit of skirmishers could prove itself useful by charging the flank of his warriors.
Using this tactic, you can ‘pull’ units out of position. And gain an advantage in the board positioning.

Any other tactics will be edited in later on.

For now, this is the end of the Army of the Month: Dark Elves!

There will be some more posts reserved for running some numbers and/or more editing from stuff that the community brings.
So, let is begin!

The Hunted

 

*Reserved Post*

This space will be later on used for editing stuff in. Summaries, numbers and the like.

The Hunted

 

*Reserved Post*

This space will be later on used for editing stuff in. Summaries, numbers and the like.

The Hunted

 

*Reserved Post*

This space will be later on used for editing stuff in. Summaries, numbers and the like.

The Hunted

 

Dark Elf "Cold one Cavalry"

should read Cold one Knights.

EDIT:

OK you got it fixed

all in all it is a great article.

 

Skink Skirmishers are great for bringing down Hydras!

 

I disagree.

The skirmishers do not have enough time to shoot at it. And they will have to get very close.
The hydra will likely be hiding in woods, even if that's not true the skinks will find it hard to really damage the beast.
20 shots at long range+multi shot+large target=5+ to hit.
that's 3x a six, and 3x a five. Let's say he needs to make 4 saves: 4+ armor save and a 4+ regeneration save. That only deals 1 wound.
In his turn, he will fire his breath weapon. Or will charge you (you will flee). Either way, you've only dealt 1 wound.

That's pretty nice, but you need to do 4 more wounds to actually bring it down. And that's the whole problem, you might deal the odd wound with magic, and with shooting. But then it still lives!
So, IMO skink skirmishers are great for dealing the odd wound to a hydra. But killing it? no, not so much.

(I'll edit stuff after more posts, that's why I have some space reserved! So all comments will be read and analysed. Then the after-editing starts.)

The Hunted

 

I typically throw 2 units of skinks at the hydra for 40 shots per turn. Usually end up killing the hydra by turn 5 and if he wants to waste his energy killing my 70 point unit with his hydra, then they've done their job. Keep them spaced out well (one inch apart) so the breath weapon can't hit more than a handful. If he charges, definitely flee.

40 shots should do 2 wounds per turn, 3 if you're a little above average with rolling. If he wants to hide in the woods, let him... he can't hurt you from there!

 

Very good article! I really enjoyed reading it and it definitely helped me with some of the tactics I do not know.

Here is my input:

Seal of Ghrond: Adds one dice to the dispel pool
Lifetaker: Repeater crossbow with range 30", S4, MSx3, and always hits on a 2+ regardless of modifiers.
Blood Armour: Heavy Armour, for every unsaved would inflicted in close combat the saved is improved by one point to a maximum of 1+.
Manbane: Counts Strength as one higher than their targets, up to a Strength of 6.
Cloak of Twilight: Bound spell, level 3, contains Steed of Shadows.

This being said, the aforemention Rending Stars and Manbane equal instant death for chariots.

I also would like to add the Shadestar. This is basically and huge amount of Shades with a selection of characters in them that can just run around the field killing a unit a turn with repeater crossbows and are crazy in close combat. Not easy to shoot or magic because they usually have MR and possibly the Ring of Darkness. Basically near impossible to kill. To combat this, I would take a 40 strong units of Terradons, with Tiktaq'to and a couple of Skink Chiefs and drop rocks on them.

A sneaky tactic to take out the PoK if the bearer is not in a unit is the Crown of Taidron. 3D6 S1 hits can do some damage on T3 models. Pit of Shades might also get a lucky Hydra.

Also, I think the Level 2 Sorceress with the Sacrifical Dagger and Pearl of Infinite Bleakness can put out a good magic phase by herself. With Power of Darkness, she can be casting all her spells at three dice, than sacrificing a spear to throw on more dice at the spell, usually getting it off and at a high level. In low level point games and even in some high ones, that can be a very dangerous combination.

On screening Stegadons, it is possible. If you have two Stegadons, as most Lizardmen players do, turn one perpendicular to the other to shield the more important one. That can shield if from the nasty bolt throwers and if you do that every turn, at least one Stegadon should make it across the board intact.

I think the best way to take care of the Hydra is to magic it with flaming spells. That negates its regeneration save and if you can take a couple wounds off of it, then the BBoC Scar-Veteran can charge in and hopefully take off it other two wounds.

Alternatively, you can bait it with your Slann ( WHAT!! ). Let me explain, with an "ethereal" solo Slann if the Hydra charges, it cannot damage the Slann. Then with BSB and the War Banner, the Hydra loses combat! Hopefully it breaks, but if it does not, then there is always the next turn. You can also charge you Slann into it, in hopes of breaking it on its LD6 (5 for the break test). This tactic is actually not risky at all, because the Slann cannot be harmed, and without support units, the Hydra will eventually break.

Witch Elves are not extremely scary against Lizardmen because our T4 troops should manage to sustain few casualties and the spear Saurus should destroy them in return. Executioners, although they hit hard, they only have one attack, so the spear Saurus should win against them again. I am going to argue that the Cold One Chariot can indeed do lots of damage to smaller units of Saurus. Against units of 12 strong, the impact hits can do a ton of damage. Although without a character, the Chariot will inevitably break, with a character the Chariot can dish out enough damage to break units of Saurus in sustained combat.

Thank you Hunted for the article! I hope my input helps (I might add more later once I have another read-through).

 

"Beast Cowers+Slann. Outmagic him, and freeze his hydra in place. This only works if you see it! And if it hides in the woods; you’re screwed."

Beast Cowers does not need line of sight, so you can conceivably keep it pinned in the woods.

 

Caviat: If the Hydra is in the woods it's not attacking your troops, this is a good thing. I'll never bawk at a player which wants to hide his powerful unit in a woods. At only 175 points it's not gonna be worth that much VP at the end anyways.

I've seen a DE player use the MSU tactic to great effect. He'd flood the field with about eight to ten units of five or six DR w/ musicians and banners. Get three or four charges off on a single unit and the havoc would rain down. He'd also have a surprising amount of shooting!

The only army I've seen used this to great effect is Wood Elves (me) and Empire (also me but that was in the past). Beware the MSU tactic!

 

I agree, let it hide in the woods.

 

Wow you sure went all out with this one! Great work. I have only skimmed it so far, but when I am procrastinating at uni I will give it a thorough read.

 

Great replies guys . This is turning out great!

I guess we have different views on Hydras, I'll edit it in later on. I don't trust a Hydra in the woods, even if it sticks there for 4 turns, in the last 2 turns it can easily destroy 175+ points of your troops. Failing that, the Hydra in the woods is holding that board area for his own...

Xlontiqu

Remarks are in quote, in red, if you look closely.

That's edit stuff straight of the bat.

I did my best. Although there are simple faults in it. And, ofcourse, a lot of people have different views on things/disagree with it.
No problem, I'll edit (or the moderators ) stuff in after a while to make it more complete.

If I find the time, I'll try to run some numbers. That way you can expect what a chariot actually does to a unit of 12 saurus spears.

Glad we're al working on it

The Hunted

 

Yeah and it is definitely important to consider all the different opinions because as we all know, warhammer is a rather variable game and what works for one person may not work for another. When editing in extra info and opposing views (nothing wrong with having different opinions if both have been tried, let people try them both and make up their own mind) remember to credit the author. I think in the sticky I will also post a list of significant contributors, but of course everyone who posts is a contributor and is helping to make LO an even better place!

 

Ofcourse captain

Although this week will not be much editing or adding anything; as I have a big tentam coming up. And I find my uni a tad more important than my 'work' here .
I'll try to edit everything in over the course of the following weeks, and maybe add some numbers in the process. I'll use my reserve posts for that, so if you check those out every once a while and give your opinions on that. It'll turn out great!

The Hunted

 

its a great article indeed! but i think we should have another paragraf on tactics againts them

 

One thing that I've recently been trying to do when facing Hydra's (and other things as well) is to chip away.

It's true that 2 units of Skink Skirmishers won't kill a Hydra in a single volley but they do reduce it's Breath Weapons strength. This makes the "dancing/breathing" Hydra much less terrible for your Saurus Blocks (if you do run blocks).

This combined with a wound getting through from fireball or a BBoC w/ BSB charge more intimidating.

The point was made that you don't want to use too many resources on a hydra and that's true. It is admittedly only 175 pts but it plays as a more valuable model and in my opinion should be treated as such by us.

At the end of the day though, Hydra's can be rough to handle.

 

Lets keep this thread on the Dark Elves and leave discussion about the overall idea in forum suggestions. I'll split out the relevant posts, so look for them in forum suggestions along with my reply.