High Elves - What're your opinions one month in?

[pgarfunkle]

I was wondering what folks opinions on the new army book were one month or so in?

My regular opponent plays with High Elves but we haven't managed to get a game in for a while and I wondered what people who had played with the army thought of them since the release?

[Learn2Eel]

They are a fun, well-balanced army. Nothing more, nothing less. It has fantastic internal balance with only one magic item ruining their chances for "best balanced Warhammer Fantasy" army book in my opinion - the infamous Banner of the World Dragon. Truly, aside from maybe the Space Marine codex, it is easily Ward's best work. About the only thing they really struggle against is massed monsters/monstrous cavalry as they lack war machines other than Repeater Bolt Throwers.

[Chronowraith]

They are a fun, well-balanced army. Nothing more, nothing less. It has fantastic internal balance with only one magic item ruining their chances for "best balanced Warhammer Fantasy" army book in my opinion - the infamous Banner of the World Dragon. Truly, aside from maybe the Space Marine codex, it is easily Ward's best work. About the only thing they really struggle against is massed monsters/monstrous cavalry as they lack war machines other than Repeater Bolt Throwers.

Agreed. They are an extremely well balanced army and proof that Matt Ward knows how to write a Fantasy Army Book.

While they certainly lack war machines, I wouldn't say they struggle with monsters/monstrous cav. Several of the best units in the book have great weapons at initiative. Throw in fighting in extra ranks and in my experience they chew through monsters pretty admirably. Nonetheless, they certainly don't have EZ-MODE cannons like many other races.

[Kirsten]

I am absolutely loving them so far, had a few games, one convincing win over dwarfs, one close defeat against wood elves. I really don't see the fuss about the banner of the world dragon. handy enough if you know you are going to be facing a magic heavy army, but it is hardly game breaking. I am not sold on the bolt throwers personally, though I did mistakenly think they were strength 5, not 6. For the price of a few bolt throwers though I think I would rather have some sisters of avelorn, BS5 and S4 make them far more useful in my opinion. Monsters can be an issue, the game I lost my opponent had a treeman and a lord on a dragon, and I failed to wound them over and over again. Mainly it was down to rolls, both targets survived far more shots than they should have, and the treeman clung to one wound and killed nine sea guard in one round. But they can be a real issue if you can't get a decent line of sight. dragons obviously are going to charge you by and large, not the other way round, and between all their different forms of attacks they can take out a unit on their own before you get much chance to respond.
The biggest problem the elves have is with any attack that you can't actually prevent, like the anvil of doom which doesn't need range, line of sight etc. and just causes 2d6 hits, or the beastmen special character that can wound enemies with a big radius. light armoured expensive elves can't really afford to take those kinds of hits.

[Chronowraith]

With Banner of the World Dragon I've found it's well worth it's points but not for the traditional reasons. Sure, it will protect from Fireballs, and other harmful spells, but it's biggest use is to protect against miscasts. All of those miscast results are magic and thus the BotWD gives HE the best defense against those wounds (other effects still apply unfortunately). Of course, I run a HE light council with Alarial, so most of my mages are in the same unit and protected, but it's still very useful for the point cost.

I agree about the Sisters... they are pretty amazing although I wish they could have their own banner.

[Kirsten]

yeah, I would be interested to see whether or not that use of the banner gets FAQd for or against.

[pgarfunkle]

Hi folks thanks for all the responses, I'm looking forward to face off against them!

What are your favourite units so far, not specifically the toughest or most competitive but those which are the most fun or entertaining you have found?

I love the phoenixes and the look of the sky chariot and since I cannot field them look forward to shooting them down, as many times as necessary it sounds like where the phoenix are concerned lol

[Learn2Eel]

I only had one game using her but I found Alarielle to be quite fun. Her sheer number of special rules confounded my opponents, and the fact that she wiped out a 400-500+ point unit entirely on the first turn makes her an automatic inclusion in my annual hobby Hall of Fame The only other units I can think of having such an impact in their debut game for me were my Heldrake, my Defiler, my Hive Tyrants and my Tervigons.

On that (unrelated) note, they achieved this by doing the following;
1) The Heldrake single-handedly wiped out three entire Tactical Squads if memory serves correctly. Quite the introduction.
2) The Defiler destroyed a Land Raider Crusader, ripped an Emperor's Champion apart, and reaved half a squad of Sword Brethren.
3) My first flying Hive Tyrant started off in a 500 point game and, with its pair of brain leech devourers, annihilated well over half the enemy force*.
3) The Tervigons (all three of them in varying combinations) dominated each game they played in right from the get go. It almost doesn't matter what else I bring.

*That game was funny. My opponent had Scout Bikers, Scouts, and that Forge World character that makes Lightning Claw Assault Terminators troops followed by such a squad. At 500 points, I brought a Tervigon, a brood of Termagants, and a flying Hive Tyrant kitted out. I will say with respect that my opponent never once complained or gave up!

[LeeW]

i want to face these new elves with my warriors of chaos army just to see how they deal with 6 skullcrushers and a lord in the same unit, not many units out there that have killed this unit as of yet (only been wiped out twice i think and that was by an over powered tomb kings army with 6 wizards in a 2400pt game(i don't field sorcerors as my army is khorne))

[Kirsten]

couple of bolthrowers will sort them out