Plunge Taken: Starting WFB High Elves, looking for input

[Kevin48220]

Okay, I finally hit the 'crap or get off the pot' point and said to myself, "This is stupid. Just find a spot to start at, and start."

So, I went to a favorite local game store, and determined on the way that I would be fine with starting with one of the following: High Elves, Dark Elves, or Lizardmen. I love the look and feel of the Dark Elves, from what I've seen in their book; Lizardmen are dinosaurs riding on dinosaurs = awesome; and high elves are just plain cool. I'd also played them from the Island of Blood starter, and had a good time with them.

My plan was to see what army book or books they had used, and if one of them was there, that's where I'd start, period. I really thought about what Learn2Eel said about starting with elves on a different thread (and thanks again for that, L2E), but I really like the look and tone of the elves, so...I decided that if a steeper learning curve comes with that, so be it.

And, what do I find? A copy of the High Elves army book, used, at a very reasonable price. So that and a battalion box went home with me. Several hours and a nice score on Ebay later, I've got a good start on an army. I've got my core troops filled in quite well at this point--lots of spearmen, archers, and some seaguard. I've got pieces to use for my heroes and lords. Those are not issues.

What I'm wondering about is:

--What named characters are 'must haves' or 'must avoids'? (or, is that even the case?)
--Any thoughts on which special and rare units are desirable?

And, most importantly:

--I'm thinking of going with a more earth-toned, almost desert-like look for the paint scheme. I've been wanting to do a scheme with browns and reds for a while, and I'm tempted to go that way with these high elves, like they are from a more desolate or barren part of the elven homeland. I would be concerned about that being too far away from the general tone of the background of the race for it to work (I haven't totally read the army book cover to cover yet, starting that today)--is that workable?

[Wildeybeast]

I can only advise from the point of playing against high elves, but here are my thoughts. You can go with any colours you like really. Just make them the personal colours of some local noble and you are sorted. They tend to go for brighter colours, but there is quite a lot of variety in high elf uniforms.

As for the special characters, I'd recommend checking with your opponents before using them. Although they are a legitimate part of the army, some people can be a bit funny about facing them. If the he ones are like the other 8th ed books, then they should be well balanced so it comes down to personal preference really.

As for special and rare, start with eagles. They are so useful as charge diverters, you really need to take at least one of them in every game. Beyond that, sword masters and white lions are always good choices.

[captjagged]

I saw some really cool autumn color High Elves a while back, with a Korhil done up in browns and reds. It was a really striking departure from the usual blue, made quite an impression. (Sadly, I didn't bookmark it, so I can't point to them, but I'm sure examples are out there.)

The new army book actually gives a lot of different color choices for the various regions, so the next choice would be basing. Some elves on a desert base would be pretty cool, I think, can't wait to see what you come up with!

[Kevin48220]

I was looking at those. There's quite a range in the color choices, so I'll have to look it all over pretty carefully before I decide.

the desert thing would be really swanky, though. I was thinking bone whites, tans and reds, and desert/sand yellows. Bronze and brass, and some silvery metals. Base them with desert-type sand, maybe some bleached-out skulls and stuff.

[War Painter]

Welcome to my favorite system. I hope that color scheme works out and I'd love to see the results if and when you finish some.

[Kevin48220]

Thanks! The lot I picked up has a lot of models already put together and primed. So I figure I'll designate a few as the test models for the paint scheme, and see if I can pull it off. If it doesn't work, I'll go more traditional and tweak it a bit to make it my own.

I really did enjoy the WFB when I played the IOB games, and I know that's just scratching the surface.

[Mr Mystery]

Welcome to the wonderful world of square bashing!

As for test models...they can usually be hidden up the back of a regiment, so nothing need go to waste!

[Kevin48220]

I'm looking forward to...getting bashed until I know my book and the rules pretty well!

Test models are always fun, and I do keep them as 'orphan' models. They sometimes get stripped and redone, or they just stay in the painting kit, for various experimental purposes. I like to think of the rest of the army laughing at them for being picked for paint duty: "Ha, ha, ha. You scratched the Warlord's helmet, now you are a paint scheme tester."

I'm also thinking about conversions. The lot I picked up has a ton of spearmen in it, so I'm considering taking the spearmen from the battalion box and converting them into Phoenix Guard or White Lions, if I can get the right bits. I need to look at the models a bit more closely to see if that would work, though.

[Heatray]

The HE in Fantasy are a hard-hitting, tactical force that needs to be played carefully or it will just get smashed like Toughness 3 always does. That being said, it is a very rewarding force that has an answer for everything.
You've got one of the best core units in the game in the form of Spearelves; ranking them 5x30 is usually your best bet and you can get at least 2 of those formations in a 2250pt match. Such a block would give you 16 attacks on the charge or 21 attacks if you get charged. With rerolls to hit 9 times out of 10.

Your specialist troops are where you really make your money though, and each of the big three has a very specific role to fill. Phoenix Guard are a bodyguard for an Archmage, pure and simple. A big unit of PG simply will not die, barring special circumstances (Dreaded 13th being one). Swordmasters are an absolute meatgrinder of a unit, and a small unit of 10-15 will very easily win its points back if you protect it. White Lions are monster killers and they are very good at what they do. The only downside to these special choices is that only PG get rerolls from ASF.

As far as special characters, none of them are really broken. Teclis got toned down HARD from the last book; he's still a good caster, but nowhere near as broken he used to be. Tyrion is a solid combat lord, but he's a little expensive. Alith Anar is a bolt thrower on legs and really good and killing knights and high-toughness models, but again he's a little expensive. The real gem of the characters is Alarielle. She's stupidly good, even for her pricetag, because casting Lore of Life at +8 before dice is ridiculous. Again, she's expensive, but you wont find a better lord-level support caster for a 2250pt game. Toughness 7 PG with a 4+ Regen save, anyone?
In all honesty you can make an excellent character out of any of the vanilla options in the book, though. An now that you can mount an Archmage on a Star Dragon, you really don't need another lord choice.

HE can look good in just about any paint scheme. Each of the realms of Ulthuan has their own colors, but if you want to put a personal touch on your elves then more power to you. Its very easy to make elves look good (they are elves, after all) nowadays, especially with all the inks and special effects paints available.

Have fun and happy hunting!

[Kevin48220]

Heatray, thank you for your comments. That T3 is (IMO) just one of those things that says you just can't have it all. I like the mobility and speed of HE, when I played them, and what looked like a great spread of options from the book. I figure that no matter what I picked, I'd have some challenges; if I took Lizardmen, figure that they're tougher to kill, but they have to be because their initiative is generally low. So it balances, maybe; Toughness is lower, but they have a better than average chance of reducing the number of attacks that are returned to them.

Thanks also for your comments on the specialist troops and special characters. Much appreciated.