New DE Player looking for Help

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Shucklelvx
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New DE Player looking for Help

Post by Shucklelvx »

I played Beasts/Mortals of Chaos for a long time, but the recent changes to Chaos have turned the army into something I dont enjoy as much as before. During my "travels" as Chaos, I picked up a few Dark Elves, looking to slowly build a second army. Now, however, im working on offloading my Chaos and picking up alot of Dark Elves to get them running faster then I had intended. So, heres my question:

What does a new player need to know?

When I first played beasts I thought "Oh, heres my core unit" *Buy buy buy build build build*, but once I got into the army, I realized I had built the units all wrong for effective play, and had to tear about half of them apart (Who knew you wanted more of the little guys?!) So im hopping to avoid any dumb mistakes like that this time around.

Im also looking to see whats most effective. What units are critical to DE tactics? What should I look into picking up first? As it stands, I have 2 units of Warriors, 2 old Corsairs, 2 old Executioners, a sorceress, and a sorceress on a cold one. One units is built fully with Spears and a full Command, the other, 4 models are built with spears.

Any suggestions or insights would be amazing, thanks ^_^
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Gorenut
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Post by Gorenut »

Thats the beauty of Dark Elves... the entire army list is pretty decent. There is a pretty good usage for pretty much everything in the list (though certain wargear is questionable). That is one thing that was hard for me to get used to when i first got the army.. there were so many things I wanted to fit in.. but just couldn't find the room. I recommend you look through the army list.. see which units you think are interesting. Then possibly theme the army. After that.. look through the tactics section of this site and you'll find so much good advice in there (this is definitely one of the better Warhammer sites out there). After you think you've mustered a force you like.. compile an army list and present it in the army list section. I find I get better results that way.
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Mr. tibbs
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Post by Mr. tibbs »

yeah, pick a them fast. Otherwise, you'll be buying up all sorts of shiny stuff and not have a cohesive army.

Playing Dark Elves involves tough choices for what to omit, especially now that there are so many affordable plastics. Based on what you've got, I'd recommend building up those spears and getting some Cold One Knights and bolt throwers. Good defensive army with magic and shooting. Executioners could be a fun addition, too--and great for flanking big armored things that your spears have caught.

In the end, though, Gorenut has it right: Read the book and find out what you like. Once you know that, compose your army accordingly. You may not have the most effective army, but you WILL have a lot of fun collecting and painting it, which is more than I can say for a lot of guys that just build lists to game the system and milk whatever advantages they can out of an AB.
Damnedscorpio
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Post by Damnedscorpio »

I would have to say read the book myself. My motto differnt strokes for differnent folks so it really depends what you like. I personally like the fast hard hitting type. In that note look at the hydra and cold one knights
new dark elves have been great to me prepare for the cold one charge
Shucklelvx
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Post by Shucklelvx »

Thanks guys!! From my bits/chaos models, I have also cobbled together a unit of 5 Dark Riders and a Bolt Thrower and im excited to give these guys a go!
Damnedscorpio
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Post by Damnedscorpio »

bolt trowers are always a great choice. good luck, let the hatred burn on. Not from the bolt thrower of course. I am telling you try the hydra with regeneration it is very reliable.
new dark elves have been great to me prepare for the cold one charge
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Dark knight
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Post by Dark knight »

What kind of army do you want to run? There are many possibilities and telling something about your playstyle would help us to help you.

The Black Guard is great if you like to have infantry units. Give it the asf banner and you have an anvil unit that hits very hard and with itp and stubborn will stand against anything (usually anyway :P )

Dark Riders. They are always useful, they can fill many tasks and they actually hit quite hard with hatred. Harpies are another great unit now that they are core. Both can march block, hunt mages and warmachines. Harpies are cheaper while Dark Riders can pick up RxBs and are better flankers. I don't think I will ever make an army that doesn't have at least 1 unit of Harpies and Dark Riders.

Both Hydra and RBT are great, but you should decide how you want to play before buying them, since they have very different jobs.
Victor simic
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Post by Victor simic »

All above sugestions are good.

The only thing I`d add is to get at least one or two boxes of Warriors modeled as Rxb Warriors. Whether you field one unit of ten, two units of ten, three units of ten, one unit of twenty, or whatever, you can`t go wrong with Rxb Warriors. Put Shields on them, and you have one of the most versatile units in the game. Armour Save 4+ in CC with Hand Weapon and Shield, AND 2 shots per turn with Armour piercing Rxbs at Strength 4. That`s awesome in my book.

Oh, and get at least one Hydra (preferably two). At 175 pts. for a Regenerating, Fire Breathing (at the Strength of its remaining wounds - upto Strength 7 !), hard hitting, move-as-a-skirmisher (no penalty through woods and other difficult terrain), Teror causing...you can`t go wrong. Opponents will hate and fear your Hydra guaranteed.

Black Guard with the Standard of Hag Graef (unit always strikes first) are becoming a bit of a no-brainer in most Dark Elf armies currently. But I`ve got `em. Who wouldn`t ? The other must have in most Dark Elf armies I`ve seen lately, is the Pendant of Kaeleth (reverse Ward Save - wearer gets a Ward save avoiding taking a Wound by rolling his opponents Strength or UNDER on D6...if you get hit with a S5 or greater hit, you only lose a Wound if you roll a `6`!) on your General. With a 1+ Armour Save from say the Armour of Darkness, combined with the Pendant, it makes your General almost unkillable in CC. I`ve had opponents seriously disbelieve that I can do this in games, but it`s the truth.

Basically all units and Characters are viable in the current book. As previous posters have said, read the book thoroughly and decide what kind of army appeals to you. Massed infantry full of Spears, Rxb`s, elite Black Guard, supported by RBT`s, and infiltrating Great Weapon armed Shades; all Cavalry with loads of Dark Riders (with Shields as an option they can be Medium Cavalry now), Cold One Knights, and Chariots ?; Monster mash with Dragonlord, Manticore Master, Dark Pegasus, Cold Ones galore, two Hydras, and flocks of Harpies ?; Khainite theme with hordes of Witch Elves, Executioners, Assassins and Hags ?; or a mix of the above ?

That`s the trouble with the new Druchii, were spoilt for choice. There are endless effective configurations. Just decide what you really love the feel of and field them. You`ll always have more fun playing with the units you like the background and look of. If your purely competetive, trawl the Army List and Tactics Forums and get some tips from the resident experts.

Naggarothi unto death.
Be happy, and ye shall be wise
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Livefromnaggaroth
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Post by Livefromnaggaroth »

Just decide what theme you want and then get the corresponding core choices. It's been said: there aren't really wrong choices in the DE list.

You need two core choices, so it's probably best to get two different choices.

Getting a character is also a must of course, don't forget to decide what unit (if any) he's fitting into. That master is probably going to be a lot more effective in a unit of warriors than prancing around solo on a cold one.
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