How to beat Highelf Sword Masters

[Killerk]

if it is 90 SM, then its simple.
Use unkillable lord (suborn) to hold them in place, by parking in front of them, at an extreme angle. Next turn hit their flank with preferably 2 chariots, to maximize them, and then corner a large spear unit, to brake steadfast. You should kill the unit with a fraction of the points it is worth.

[Setomidor]

If they are really 90 they will have the Banner of World Dragon for sure (give and take the points). Just divert that unit and kill anything else.

[Calisson]

Won't "anything else" be 90 Lothern Sea Guard?

[Setomidor]

Won't "anything else" be 90 Lothern Sea Guard?

Hopefully yeah, that's very easy points to grab.

[Omnichron]

90 SM?! Jeez... well, very easy!

- Doom & Darkness
- Kill something close by
- Let him fail his panic and run off the table



Who'd have everything in such a unit anyways? It would be quite easy to avoid the unit and take out the few points left from the rest of the army.

[Vulcan]

Why fight them straight up?

They are T3 and 5+ save. They are BEGGING to be shot to pieces with concentrated Repeater Crossbow fire. 40 shots -> 20 hits -> 10 wounds -> 8ish dead Swordmasters. Repeat with shades, dark riders, and chariot crews. A couple rounds of that and those 40 Swordmasters will be more like 15 Swordmasters... facing your block of 20-30 Witches or Corsairs. Splat.

[Lorddrittz]

Swordmasters are no longer as good as in the HE previous book because they no longer get their re-rolls to hit and being I5 will strike after our Witch Elves, BG, and CoK.

If there have been 90 SM's the points investment is almost half the HE army. So take out all the troops protecting the SM's flanks while shooting the SM's down for a few turns, and feeding the SM's chaff.

You should then be able to get some flank charges off on the SM's and win the combat.

Cast a small spell at the SM's (if closed lists) to see if they have the BoTWD. If they do then Dwellers, Pit of Shades, Final Transmutation, Purple Sun them off the table.

I would be more scared of a unit of 90 White Lions harder to shoot off the table.

[Lostshadow]

Here's an idea:

Lol 4 metal wizard
Pendent of khaleh
Earthing rod

Throw all your dice at final transmutation, killing at the worst half of the unit before it reaches you

You will get miscasts, but the pendent will give you a good save against them and if you roll to the warp use the earthing rod

This spell doesn't allow ward saves, by the time they reach you their numbers will be more manageable and there's also the chance any characters will die from it as well

[Phierlihy]

Lostshadow, you might want to check your math. On an average roll a Final Transmutation spell will kill a third of a unit, less if it is made up or multi-wound models. Not sure where you're getting "at worst half of the unit" from.

[Lostshadow]

Yeah on average a third per turn

If you use troops like harpies and dark riders to slow them, you will get at least 3-4 turns before the sword masters reach close combat

If on turn 1 you cast boosted at 36"
Kill 1 third on average ( which is 30 out of 90)

They march 10" forwards , now lets say that makes them 26" away if you deploy right

Cast again ( remember your throwing all your dice)

1 third of the remaining 60 is 20, leaving 40 alive ( half of the starting number)

Turn 3 they march again, now try are 16" away, deploy harpies ect to redirect them

Cast again before they charge, 40 remain and on average 1 third die which is 13, leaving 27

We can assume you might fail once to cast, still that would AT WORST take away 40 of them

Which part of my maths is wrong?

[Phierlihy]

Um..yes it is true that if you cast enough of any spell at the enemy, he's bound to take some losses. But any plan that requires throwing six+ dice at a spell to win is a bad plan. Requiring it to be done every round is a really bad plan. I'd rather just Flame Cage them and be done with it.

[Vulcan]

Just use a Dragon, it will wear down 40 Swordmaster by itself if you can use the Breath before combat to thin his ranks.

I have a slightly different math. Round 1:
- You charge with the Dragon.
- He challenges with a champion. You must accept.
- Your lord kills him with 2.2 wounds.
- The dragon doesn't get to fight.
- You lose combat by 1.

Round 2:
- He resurrects the champion with magic, challenges with the champion
- You lose combat by 2.

Be careful of such tricks. They work.. ridiculously well

Yep. And your dragonlord pins his unit down for you to line up flank charges on both sides with which to crush them. Splat.

[Rabidnid]

He has now switched to running them in units of 90....

Help please

Wait, what? he is running a cube of 90 SM? Its not like it is good for anything, the best he is going to get is 50 S-5 attacks frontally and he will get that with 40 - 60 if he wants to allow for casualties. there is a build doing the rounds with 3x 30 strong hordes of white lions, but that actually works pretty well.

Assuming he has BotWD in the unit your magic is going to be limited to miasma then pit, final transmutation, or miasma then purple sun. Showers of crossbow bolts and enfeebling foe should work as well. DE have a vastly stronger magic phase, so just burn the unit away with ridiculous spells. just getting off the boosted miasma every turn will keep him from doing much all game.

[Cobra]

I would jump with joy if I saw my HE opponent put down a unit of 90 sword masters so many spell options to kill them easy to kill with shooting or if you didnt bring the right tools to do so redirect or avoid them the whole game. I would roll my eyes a bit to see it but it really shouldnt be too hard to deal with.

[Phierlihy]

A block of 90 Swordmasters is an unkillable Dreadlord's dream!