Rork wrote:I was under the impression that was the objective in designing the elves in this edition. I think that horde armies will always be a problem for any elite army, but the RXB is an excellent weapon for the task...
Only against T3 no armoured opponents, and you and I know that it's not going to happen very often...Also, I think that "elite army" means that the army will be small, fast, and hard hitting, but above all, it will be reliable and versatile. You know, these two things are not fulfilled by the DE army list as is now.
And against the heavy armoured brigade, you have black horror and dominion - two very, very nasty spells (the second one really annoys my Chaos knights...).
First, you have to get these spells, then you have to get to cast them. Relying on dices (sp?) to do the "tactics" (or the fickle ways of magic) doesn't sound like good advice to me.
Singling them out does mean that your "better" units will not be getting the attention. But KB does have it's uses against 1 wound models - especially those with a high armour save. Get these boys into a unit of knights and the fun begins!
Do you really think they'll get into combat? I've never seen them get into combat (against high AS troops) when the enemy had a slightest idea of their abilities. The heavy armor would help them make their job; as is, they've never paid their points back, not in my battles.
That's interesting. Chariots always seem to be panned by a lot of people, as the knights are "better" - it's good to see this.
Not really. The truth is that most people just own the knights since the previous version, while COCs are "new models" and they haven't been thoroughly playtested. When they realize that they can have 3 chariots for the price of just one 10-men COK unit, you'll see some changes. And they AUTOHIT!!! 1D6+1 attacks each! Really, COKs are just rather stupid to be fielded, when compared to COCs. And if you place a BSB with banner of murder, you get additional charge range, or if you choose banner of salughter, then you get to charge against BIG enemy blocks and still get to win with a single chariot. Tsk. So much fun....
Now, I think skirmishers and fast cavalry *always* achieve their objectives. These guys generally go war machine hunting, so your opponent has two options:
Ignore them, and have your war machines killed.
Kill them by diverting firepower to take them on.
In my mind they always do what they should, because either way, something is not shooting at the really nasty stuff in your army.
Not true. When I field my DR or harpies, the enemy will always be fielding his bowmen/handgunners/whatever in front of them, so they are able to kill this threat. And (before you point it out) I may not be able to hold back, because I may be interested in deploying them first so I can "unbalance" my opponent's deployment...That's the only purpose I can really think of DR, other than fast redeployment. About harpies, it is more of a question of taste. A single unit of bowmen can break them by killing just one harpy. In average, if you take a unit worth less than 9 models, killng two in a single turn will earn him back all the points of the whole unit, since at Ld6, they're very likely to flee the battle after that.
Still, I field them because I painted a unit of 8, and they were so well painted that I'd feel stupid if I didn't field them!
I have actually written a BR in the BR section, if you'd like to read it, so you can know how I play. After reading it, just tell me what can theis kind of army do that any other army cannot do better. As you'll be able to see, I resorted to every little trick I can think of to beat my opponent, but these tactics or tricks I did use are by no means out of reach of ANY other army. In fact, there are a lot of armies that can do just the same much better.
As a final point, I think you said that "using a unit does not make it balanced is confusing" in another post. It means just that if you have to pay a lot of points to get done the same thing that the rest of the armies can do for far less points, then it is nonsense.
A simple example: I find COKs unusable, for some reasons; first, they are unreliable due to stupidity (and this does has costed me the battles sometimes), and second, in order to get to make use of fear as you suggest, I'd have to take 10 COKs, more or less, given the actual size of most hordes's standard units. Still, all I'd get if I got to make them flee, would be to have a unit worth 300+ points stranded in the middle of the battlefield, with at least two enemy units within charge range in the next turn, hence unit lost, or likely. So, I can resort to small COKs units, so I don't cause them to flee, just to hit on 6, but then I can do much better with the chariot and for less points. The point? Leave COKs at home, they're not good for anything.
Back to topic:
Some good units: Witch Elves; I just cannot leave home without them, in fact, I just can't win battles without them. I need a reliable hard hitting unit, and this one is the only one that fulfills as is due. About this, and frenzy: You can control the frenzy of the witch elves by just placing a shade/rxbmen unit in front of them until two turns before you decide you want to charge with them. Since most of the charges in infantry units take place in the 3rd turn, you can prevent fast cavalry from making them charge with thhis simple tactic, and then taking care of that cavalry with your dark riders. In fact, I did use this tactic in my battle report, too.
Spearmen are very good to draw the enemy's charges towards them instead of towards corsairs; the enemy usually ignores them, leaving you with tasty flank charges...Or you make them flee as a charge reaction, wasting less points than a corsair unit costs, then charge with your second line (or shoot them as a result)...
That's it for now, I think.
Watch your steps, my friend, for your way up is almost as fast as your way down, at the whim of the Witch King