That thread isn't necessarily indicative of High Elf opinion as a whole. A lot of HE players are very pleased with it.

I wouldn't underestimate magic. Irresistible Force is always an option, and if you lure the Dwarf player's scrolls in the opening turns with Pit of Shades or other major threats, then that leaves the door wide open for crucial hexes/augments in combat. The Sacrificial Dagger means we can easily chal...

SS level 4 w/ channeling staff (shadow magic) S level 2 with dispel scroll (dark magic) Master (BSB) ASF for the banner (to be deployed with executioners) 29 Corsairs (frenzied with extra hand weapon) full command 26 Corsairs (No banner) full command extra hand weapon 20 Black Guard Full command (R...

And how are you going to get all of this in a 2500pts list? Also, no Black Guards?? It isn't too difficult? You might not be able to double up on both Pegasus characters comfortably, but it all still fits easily into 2500. This is especially true if you utilize Mindrazor Corsairs to fill out your C...

30 Shades is great for taking out shooting units though, as well as warmachines. Since 6s to Wound reliably kill a wound off a warmachine, it's not tough to deploy lots of Shades within range of a warmachine line and then simply shoot all the crew to death. Otherwise, there aren't too many armies th...

Two Hydras is good, but vulnerable. If you run into Empire or Dwarves, or someone who can force through a Pit of Shades, Purple Sun or Crack's Call with reliability, or the Brass Orb, or someone with reliable Poison/Flaming shooting (or, in the case of Tomb Kings, Poisoned Flaming shooting) then the...

8th edition isn't about completely shutting things down anymore; it's about taking damage, and giving it back to a stronger degree. Step up, fighting in multiple ranks, no partial hits for templates, Winds of Magic rolls, these were all designed to enforce the idea that yeah, your guys will get hurt...

These units exist as points denial for a reason; there really isn't a good way to get points from them, short of pulling off a big combined charge. The nice thing about Tzeentch Warriors is that they don't hit particularly hard, but all that can be changed with the Warshrines. If the Warshrines are ...

Kaleth Stinson's got it right. Other effective options I've seen in person include a Tomb King with Mask in a Tomb Guard unit (halberds). I've also seen blocks of 6 Necro Knights used to good effect, but 4 is probably just as decent a choice. For chariots, 3-6 models per unit seems pretty ideal and ...

Your list looks a lot like a 7th edition Wood Elf list, and unfortunately those aren't terribly effective anymore. Bigger tends to be better, and while it's okay to keep your shooting units in smaller sizes, your Dryad, Wardancer and especially Treekin units will benefit from being doubled in size i...

The problem with going character-heavy in 8th edition is that a single character isn't likely to inflict enough wounds to overcome an enemy unit. But if you take a 200 point pegasus character, and buy the equivalent number of Witch Elves, then those Witch Elves probably are likely to kill what you s...

I also like Dark, but I can see the value of metal as well. The value of Dark is that it's got ultra-cheap casting values, but a good combination of utility and direct damage. The utility creates redundancy with Shadows, which is a good thing if you're really trying to force spells through. As an ex...

Both Lizardmen and Empire have a fair amount of modeling variety, unit variety, and painting opportunities. Empire can be extensively converted (large plastic range, tons of bitz) and painted in a variety of provincial colors to really create an interesting hobby opportunity. Lizardmen have less of ...

Great data, useful information, nice graphs. Obviously we're seeing Witch Elves perform quite well in most circumstances, with Black Guard being a pretty middle-of-the-road option which performs alright versus all opponents but doesn't excel either. I think the natural killing power of WE/Execs shin...

Agreed with Calisson regarding the subjective interpretation of "Spirit of the Game". I don't use the conga line, I don't think very highly of it, and I don't think very highly of players who do use it. However, it's their army list, their box of toy soldiers, and if they're not breaking t...

That said, I dont think its a viable tactic. Your wasting too many points for not enough gain iMO. Holding up a unit for two rounds of combat (which is only one of your opponents turns) isnt worth the 65 points you spend on 5 BG. Take harpies and flee from charges, that will take a unit out of the ...

Sure, it's very possible for the list to be competitive. The internet focuses a lot on one argument; in this case, it's that dragons are too vulnerable to warmachines. Yes, that's true. However, that's only an issue if you actually run into warmachines, and if they actually hit. If you build your Dr...

I think the Cold One Knights are actually the more competitive unit at this point in the game, especially if you support them with a Cauldron and Banner of Hag Graef. The major reason they're so effective is because the only warmachine out there that poses a major threat to them is the Organ Gun, wh...

I see bolt throwers function well at taking out high points-per-wound, T3 targets. They're quite nice versus all flavors of Elves, scouting units, and fast cavalry. They can apply quite a bit of pressure when used in tandem with a good repeater crossbow presence, and specialized shooting attacks lik...

Boosting Miasma is great as well. Weapon Skill reductions can be very decisive in combat, and you can really see the difference between hitting on a 4+ versus hitting on a 3+ when both sides are rolling lots of dice (as Elves tend to do.) Similarly, being hit by Swordmasters on a 3+ re-rollable, and...

I agree with Dark as well. Virtually every spell in there is highly effective, and some of them are real game changers if they're cast against the right target units.

Witch Elves are brilliant. My group's been playing more and more 3k games (enough points for me to add 30 Witch Elves with Banner of Murder to my standard list) and they always perform incredibly. I've been so pleased that I may actually drop my Black Guard entirely in favor of Witch Elves at all po...

Well, Dragon Princes is a societal label amongst High Elf culture. It denotes that they're from Caledor, and that they're Caledorian nobility, even though they don't literally ride dragons. I think the name "Cold One Knights" isn't quite as literal as it might seem. Sure, they're knights w...

The Hydra's breath weapon is definitely a combat attack when it's used in assault, but isn't allocated in the same way as other combat attacks. Instead, think of it as functioning similar to chariot impact hits or Thunderstomp, where the damage is allocated to the broader unit rather than to specifi...

Black Guard with Banner of Hag Graef are a decent choice also, since that allows the Dreadlord to access ASF without having to rely on a Death Hag. A few solid kills with his High Initiative will get his Blood Armor leveled up reasonably quickly, and he can provide some hard-hitting punch that compl...