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Loptin
11-13-2011, 05:12 AM
Hey Everyone,
I have been playing fantasy for a while now and have an orcs and goblins army, I have around 2,500 points worth of guys but am looking to start something a little different.

I want something completely different from Orcs & Goblins and do not want an army that relies on humongous hordes (skaven).

The obvious answer to this would be ogres, but for some reason I just don't really like them.

I also want an army that can compete well. My main opponents will be dwarfs and high elves. The dwarf player is VERY competitive so I would like an army that would be able to beat him.

I kind of would like an army that is quick and has deadly shooting, complete opposite from my orcs.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Loptin

Wildeybeast
11-13-2011, 07:12 AM
Well, you can beat any other really, as they all fairly well balanced. There are a couple which suffered a bit form the changes to 8th ed, namely Wood Elves and Bretonnians. However, if you want an army that is quick and good at shooting it has to be WE.
The benefits: all units can move and shoot without penalty, making their fast cav very useful, if overpriced. Glade guard longbows are S4 at short range. Treemen and Treekin are rock hard in combat. Some nice magic item combos to play with.

The problems: Some units are now uttelry useless like wardancers, so don't bother with them, whilst a lot of others add very little to your army. They are still winnable, providing you build them in a certain way which is lots of glade guard and plenty of forest spirits. Stick to big blocks of archers, backed up by dryads, treekin and treemen, with lore of life and beasts to augment your troops. It requires a bit of practice and some experimentation to get a list that works, but they are worth it.
The other good news is that they are rumoured to be fairly high on the priority list for getting a new army book, so they may well get a bunch of new stuff in the next year or so.

Superkid7
11-13-2011, 08:11 AM
I'm starting up a daemon army and would totally recommend checking them out, there's all sorts of cool shiz you could do with them, especially if your group allows you to take in some of the stuff from the Storm of Chaos demons list that diddnt make it to the new book. Theyre fairly balanced, imo, and making a mono god list is pretty challenging and rewarding!

Dont-Be-Haten
11-13-2011, 09:13 AM
Hey Loptin!

A Small Elite Army that is good at shooting, Well my initial thoughts on all of this is, Unfortunatelly 8th edition really encourages hordes or at least big solid blocks of models for steadfast. And with the way charges are made now, you really don't get as much from shooting over the course of the game like you used to.

So, your friends are playing High Elves and Dwarfs, best shooting are Wood Elves, High Elves, Dwarfs, Powderpire (black powder empire), and Dark Elves.

Since you're going to be playing against high elves and dwarfs I will not comment on them, and since Wood Elves were explained well, I'll leave that out also.

Empire Gunlines are a pretty simple tactic. If you've never played them before you field your pistol/riflemen infront of a black of halberds that have detachment squads. You shoot your opponent until they are in charge range, and then when they charge you flee forcing them to run into the halberds and be counter charged by the detachments, It's a pretty old albeit very useful tactic. The army can field some great warmachines, and in 8th templates are the way to go! but The mortar, cannon, and the all mighty Steam Tank are fantastic war machines and deal a serious load of damage. Not to mention Empire Fast Cav are possibly the best Fast Cav on the table right now; being able to shoot 3 strength 4 amour piercing bullets apiece if they don't move (usually you use their vangaurd ability to move them into shooting range before the game starts) Or they shoot one shot a piece if they do march. The only down side to this army is that they are all BS 3. Not to mention their Warrior priests give whatever unit they join hatred towards all enemies (or it is a spell I can't remember). your biggest fear with this army is the Great Eagles your opponent can field to hunt down your cannons and the miners that can take these out with the dwarfs.

Dark Elves have some serious punch to their repeater crossbows, they are strength 4 armour piercing, and they volly 3 shots per unit. Also, almost every unit in the dark elf army may take rpc for a small amount of points. Black Ark Corsairs are very fast and are a solid shock troop. Assassins are great character killers, and dark elves have some of the absolute strongest offensive magic currently out. They can field the all powerful War Hydras, which are a huge pain to deal with, and for the points you are looking at fielding two to three of them (especially if your opponent isn't fielding any flame attacks). Their Hags and Wych elves are also quite good. The best thing about the repeater crossbow is the fact that for their points you can equip them to almost any unit (such as your warband *skirmisher/scouts*) and get them close enough into range and have them basically be a throwaway unit to get rid of your opponents warmachines. With 8th's rules allowing to wound T7 at S3 you just have to get 3 6s and boom they are gone.

Some Honorable mentions:
If you're wanting a small elite army, that is competitive, Daemons of Chaos are extremely good. They don't really have a lot ranged attacks but you make up for that in the magic phase. The Flying Circus tactic isn't as good as it used to be with the way warmachines act now, but their magic is still very very good. And their CC phase is above, above average. Juggernauts and Bloodletters are extremely potent. And they have the resiliency to weather ranged attacks.

Unless you just want a horde of Marauders...Warriors of Chaos are the same way (I really love vikings, and that's what WoCs essentially are.) They are an extremely close combat army though, and their lords must accept all challenges. But the Chaos Mages have chaos armour and the different racial lores you can take stand out. The Hellcannon is not really a warmachine persay, it is actually a monster that will eventually get into combat.

It all depends on your play style for real, and what you hope to accomplish! xD

-DBH

Atrocity
11-13-2011, 10:06 AM
When looking at your. Criteria, Dark Elves were my first thought.

Lord Azaghul
11-16-2011, 04:00 PM
Actually, if you want something fun and different - Go for Lizards. The have solid magic (slann, skinks), good fighters (saraus and krock warriors) Good WG killers (skinks) good block killers (sallies) And huge beasties.

Fair warning though, a good dwarf player will be hard to beat no matter what you play. Dwarves are currently an underpowered book - so if he's constantly winning - he knows what he's doing!

Kaiserdean
03-07-2012, 02:30 PM
I think the elite lists are what you may be looking for...

I think the dark and high elves are a lot of fun to paint and they both have lists that can be adapted to suit your play style. They can have stabby blocks of troops, fast shooty units, reliable war machines, and both can be used with a minimum of magic but can really get nasty with magic lists.

Azazel
03-08-2012, 09:47 AM
I think you ought to consider Azaghul's suggesting. lizardmen have great shooting (skins and salamanders), combat, magic (slanns are probably the best wizard in the game) and big monsters (who doesn't like a big monster?). There again, if this doesn't interest you, then you would be good with Dark Elves. Trust me, as a High Elves player myself, facing HE vs. HE is incredibly boring. Dark Elves can be extremely fast. A buddy of mine ran an army with all black rides core (fast cav), cavalry and hydras and his army was brutal and fast! and against Dwafs, if you get across the table fast (black riders or even a pegasus to fly across the table) then their shooting becomes useless....

LordMcSpank
03-09-2012, 03:09 PM
Dark elves are a lot of fun to play. I used to have 3 fantasy armies (DE, TK and Ogres) but the wife made me get rid of one of them, and the Elves were on the short end of the stick.

Probably one of the best features of the Dark Elves is that you can really build the army to however you want to play them. They generally have 2-3 different units that can each be used to attack a problem in a different way. Reading tactic specific forums about Dark Elves will give you a great baseline to start collecting your army and the direction that you want to eventually take it.

Stepfan
03-16-2012, 11:41 AM
Dark or Wood Elves have the best shooting, with Wood Elves being generally more maneuverable/speedy. They're the two armies I play the most.

Dark Elves do tend to rely on CC to win the game, whereas Wood Elves are an army that can use shooting to kill units. Wood Elves however tend to be a tad expensive in 8th so run very low model count.

Also a repeater crossbow is S3 with Armour Piercing and Multiple Shots(2), range equal to a normal bow. So ignore the stats by Don't-BE-Haten.

Jerseyboy381
03-25-2012, 12:56 PM
I agree that Lizardmen are a good choice. You've got some interesting shooting with Skinks, can play the monsterhammer game with the big nasties. Cold Ones are an often overlooked cavalry, Saurus Warriors are decent except for the poor initiative and the Slann are 31 flavors of awesome.

T-ORK-amada
03-25-2012, 03:46 PM
I concur that lizards are a great army, completely opposite of Orcs. Cold Blooded for leadership makes them rock hard and they can do something great in every phase.