Dark Elves

A couple weeks ago the new Dark Elves were released, and I've played a few games with it. With that freshness in mind, like to share my thoughts on the changes and then put together a list!

Lord Balewind & Co. advances at the head of his army for what will probably be the
last time in a long time. Given that his precious Executioner's axe was confiscated by
the state, I can't see him being that useful on foot. 

Firstly, the changes to the army-wide special rules take a little bit of thought to understand completely. Eternal Hatred has been mostly replaced by Always Strikes First (ASF) and Murderous Prowess (MP), which allows Elves to reroll failed to wound rolls of 1 (only in close combat). This has a few caveats. In general, our beloved Druchii will still be striking first, except against High Elves (against whom we have regained the traditional Hatred). However, against some opponents the newly upgraded Elves lose the reroll to hit that came from universal hatred - although against most foes the Druchii reroll to hit every round, not just the first. Therefore, more Dark Elf attacks will be hitting, and more wounding, than any other troops of comparable strength or weapon skill. The operative phrase is "comparable strength", as much of the Dark Elf core is still at a measly strength 3, meaning that they will not really get past the majority of enemy endurance or through their armour. There is still no halberd options for our basic infantry meaning that most Dark Elf infantry blocks will come from the Special sections of the army list rather than the Core.

Moving on, then, to some unit analysis. As I've mentioned, the Core units look terribly weak next to the Special; an Executioner (costing the same as last edition) is only a point more than a corsair or witch elf, despite having strength 6 attacks and killing blow. It doesn't seem reasonable, on first glance, to sacrifice such killing power for a (somewhat improved) 4+ armour save or a bucket of poisoned attacks, considering that the former does not really cost any more than the latter two. The new spear- or sword-elves are similarly outclassed; although they are the cheapest troops the Dark Elves can field they are too expensive to justify, just as in the last editions, in units smaller than horde size. Given that any army needs a minimum of 25% Core, what then can we take to fill out such a requirement?

In the old days usually Dark Riders and Crossbow elves were mandatory for almost every army, and it seems only more the case now than ever before. The riders themselves got a substantial boost with the new rules, both in terms of ASF/MP and in that they now with shields cost exactly the same as they did before without them, but they critically don't lose fast cavalry. Secondly, and more importantly in many cases, the Dark Steed itself grants their riders Fast Cavalry, MEANING THAT CHARACTERS CAN JOIN UNITS OF RIDERS WITHOUT PENALTY. Its hard to overstate the beauty of such a seemingly minor adjustment. This provides the potential for an excellent escort for capering Sorceresses, or grants a small, unimposing and supremely mobile unit the capacity to deliver incredible damage with the help of a minor noble.
But, a minimum unit of such riders, armed and armoured properly, costs a mere 100 points, meaning that five or six such units are needed to fill out the requisite Core section. Perhaps a little bit of overkill, although such an army could certainly work well given that characters can join them at will, and that our elite infantry are so badass.
Instead, Darkshards, the new trademark-able crossbow-elves, still have a decent role to play. Despite a bump in points these killers are still more than useful as utility units - a small group of 10 or 12 can deliver enough firepower to wipe out opposing chaff of a vulnerable nature, or combine volleys to start chopping down enemy ranks, an important first step in any shattering charge.

That is to say, Dark Elves strike first, but when being struck back they tend to die quickly - its important to try to win the combat before the charge even happens, because a small stroke of bad luck can end all of your inspired manoeuvring. That all being said, strength 3 once again limits their potency against large blocks and monstrous stuff. This is why the special and rare choices need to bring high strength attacks to the table. The core seems mostly to be useful as the throwaway units, delaying your enemy and killing far more than they ought to. Thus, a few units each of Dark Riders and Dark Shards seems the best option for core, unless of course one plans on taking a horde of warriors (exceptional with Mind Razor, but more on magic later).

I've already mentioned the Executioners, so I'll come back to them. As I've said, on first glance they seem to be some of the best shock troops imaginable on 20mm bases. ASF cancels out their great weapons' ASLast, while MP means that something like 35/36 hits will wound opposing infantry and critically go through their armour. Even characters can't really stand up to a round of expertly timed killing strikes. The great loss with these guys is that they no longer reroll to hit, and will also be striking in initiative order; given their average Elven speed, they will not be capable of, for example, destroying Chaos warriors before getting butchered themselves. This is still a far cry from last edition, when in order to counter-act their last striky-ness one had to field a large block in order to ensure a suitably devastating counter-attack. Today, even smallish units can make their mark on the battlefield, without taking up too many points or too much space.

The main problem with much of the Dark Elf infantry is that, because they die quickly, they tend to break fairly often. Even the cheapest (Dreadspears/Bleakswords), or most heavily armoured (Corsairs) with a 4+ save tend to be fewer in number than any of their ranked up enemies. They also tend to attract artillery barrages - something like a Hellcannon or lightning cannon can really tear a hole in your line. For this reason they almost never retain steadfast after the clash, and instead, as soon as they start losing combat they tend to run - even if supported by the general or his BSB they will get chewed out by anything scarier than goblins if they can't kill enough of them to deny the attacks back.

The obvious remedy to this is to make them stubborn or unbreakable - that's what you need the Old Guard for. Being some of the most expensive rank infantry on 20mm bases (they still cost less than they did back in 6th), Blackguard manage at once to dish out enormous damage compared to the regulars, and make up for their die-y-ness by being Stubborn on leadership 9. Give them a banner of discipline and they wont be running any time soon. In fact, they are probably my favourite infantry in the whole game, just for their ruthlessness and utter reliability. It is rather a shame that, under the new rules, the 25 pt magic allowance is only to be used on magic weapons, rather than the plethora of protective items I usually chose to allocate to my elite champions (Ironcurse icon + MR1 turned a challenge-taker into an actual leader).

This last consideration also applies to the Cold One Knights - again, some of the most effective non-monstrous shock cavalry in the Warhammer world. WS5, I6 and ASF, with S4, lances and Murderous Prowess; these tin-men can annihilate most things they are aimed at. Unfortunately, due to steadfastedness, they can't simply smash through any formation that's been drawn up deeply. Instead, such units ought to be whittled down by missiles, or flanked, or torn apart by monsters that they are unlikely to wound back. Their mounts also got an incremental buff, bringing them in line with the lizard-men's 2 attacks per dinosaur. Cool.

Directly in line with the shooty-shooty are the reaper bolt throwers. These guys got reduced down to the high elf price, which makes them much more viable. Whereas a battery of two would have set you back 200 points in the old days, today its a much more manageable 140. This is actually about the cost of 10 Darkshards with a musician, putting it into a bit of perspective - in the last book, two RBTs would have cost about 16 crossbows, or about 25 warriors. Again, the trick with these has always been to concentrate fire - with the new rules for large targets meaning that a shot doesn't get the +1 to hit against monsters, having a second bolt is almost mandatory.
Their long range provides a decent firebase, but one must be careful about leaving them unprotected: the rest of the army moves fairly quickly and although Dark Elf chaff is awesome, there are some generals who may be too aggressive with them and abandon the war machines.

Speaking of chaff, Dark Elves have access to some of the most incredible skirmishers I can think of. Now, nobody really enjoys taking Shades, mostly because they are expensive and smell of piss and wilderness. But actually, I'm always entertained by their performance - usually they do well or at least piss my opponent off. They die to most stuff, but there are two paths, in my mind, that they can take. Firstly, a relatively large number (say 10 or 12) with great weapons costs quite a few points, but with ASL they benefit greatly from the strength boost. This means they can usually deal with enemy chaff (either by bolt or blade) but usually they can also wound or finish off a wounded monster, chariot or other horror as well. The other role is the classic hunter: a smaller (5) unit can chew through war machines or chaff.
However, I'm pretty sure much of the internet would agree with me on this next one. Harpies are almost always useful, which makes me a bit ashamed that I own none. Some of the most useful chaff in the game. Done.

Actually, this seems to be quite a long post already, so ill leave it at that and bring out the rest of my commentary in later installments. But to tide you over, here're a few closeups of some recently painted dark riders - these were made long before the new models which should be coming out in November.

Made from the Glade Riders and Dark Elf Warrior boxes, as well as a hefty does of green stuff, these guys actually make me really proud about my Druchii army. Happy hunting, fellas.