Best magic lore when facing HE?

[Venomblades]

Hi guys, got a 2400 game against HE tuesday, and just wondering what lore is best?

I currently field a lot of infantry, so would life or metal serve me well? I'm also thinking of dark magic as they are only T3 elves.

Thanks.

[Phierlihy]

Life is a VERY solid choice and likely the best. Dwellers Below just crushes elves and the Banner of the World Dragon doesn't protect against it. Plus bringing back your own troops and healing your monsters is just awesome. It's hard to go wrong with the Lore of Life.

[marcopollo]

+1 to Phierlihy. Life is pretty darn good against elves. 6 dice dwellers on his big banner of the world dragon unit all day. Also, high elf drain magic stops any of your buffs/hexes on his turn, so damage spells are more effective over the entire turn. You can't drain magic a fireball.

[Venomblades]

Thanks guys. Going with life 100%!

Now, I've only used it once, so how does one use life effectively?

[Phierlihy]

Throw up Throne of Vines early - your opponent will either waste dice to dispel it or you become virtually immune to miscasts. Then throw six dice at Dwellers Below. Regrow troops as needed. Never underestimate the staying power of +4T elves!

[marcopollo]

Lifebloom -- the lore attribute -- has a fairly short range (12"). So you need to keep the SS close to the things you want to benefit. This typically works in three ways.

1) If the army is very fast and mobile, then put her on a steed and give her a body guard unit like 5 warlocks or DR. This way she can support those units the best. This does put her more in harms way so make sure she has the appropriate gear.

2a) If the army is mostly infantry and you plan to have her on foot. Provide a bunker unit of bleakswords for her to stay in. This can keep her safe from fighting as she is in the back of the main line.

2b) Same as above, but you are using two towers or a bloodwrack shrine. If you orgainze your ranks and file properly then she can hide in the second rank while command models park themselves in the front rank. This keeps her safe from fighting and lets her be close to the action. This is best used with Blackguard or corsairs (IMO). If you want, you might like to put her in the Cauldron witch unit. She is vulnerable to getting backstabbed by her own witches, but if you use the combo below, you can make an argument to negate this drawback.

Combo: The witch std bearer takes the banner of eternal flame, and the SS takes the dragon bane gem. This gives her 2++ against flaming and it can be argued that the witches backstabs are indeed flaming. It is a bit cheesy but arguable. Moreover, with the caudron unit, you typically want the unit to have a wide frontage, so your SS will wind up in the front rank unless you deathstar the unit with other character to fill up the front. But then you miss out on the beauty of the deadly witches.