[Archive] Tactics vs Dark Elves

cd007:

Hi guys, I’ll be playing my first game in 9 years soon (yes it really has been that long), under the new rules. Or at least they’re new to me.

Anyway, I’m going up against potentially 2000, or 2500 points of Dark Elves.

I’ll post my roster eventually, but in the mean time, are there any specific peices of advice I need to be adhering to?

I’m flexible with troop choices as I should have most of them so post what you like! I’ll be using the Tamurkhan rules hence the requirement for this post, and not using the 6th Ed one.

I have absolutely no idea how he’s going to load out, apart from the fact that he has a Hydra…

Grimbold Blackhammer:

Dark Elves are one of if not THE most flexible army in the game. You could face a monster-mash, a gunline, hordes of troops, an all-cavalry army, high-magic, low magic, no magic, etc scenario so advice is going to be very generic.

That being said, expect at least a single Hydra. And a (likely) flying unkillable Dreadlord which has become popular lately. He’ll expect to be crossing the board to you so it wouldn’t surprise me if he brings a fast army (I would!). Beyond that, who knows…

Elves HATE HATE HATE templates and that’s where we excel. And aside from their Sorceresses throwing all their dice at the Mindrazor spell (which they all do…), they are going to have a hard time getting through our armour. Bring high toughness stuff. And lastly, I know of no other army that can bring as many killing blow attacks to the table as a Dark Elf army so get some ward saves on your characters!

Good luck!!

Grimbold Blackhammer

cd007:

Thank you Grimbold,

I know what you mean with regards to flexibility, they have a very, very large options set.

Am I wise to take 3 magma cannons, or 2 magma cannons and a unit of centaurs… or 2 magma cannons and a death shrieker?

Also what is this ‘unkillable dreadlord’…?

ViLe:

save points and take 3 rockets. Big templates vs soft t3 hordes and S8 vs flying stuff and hydras. Then you should have some room for Centaurs too.

Also what is this ‘unkillable dreadlord’…?
normaly 1+ or 2+ armor and the pendant ward save… he makes a strenght test on the S the wound was inflicted.

I would take care of a tank hero…

Master on a pegasus with cloak of hag greaf and dawnstone. This guy will have a 1+ rr and will half all strenght in shooting. So even rockets hit him just with S4.

cd007:

3 Rockets would use up 3 of my special slots and Bull Centaurs are a special too :frowning:

Blackspine:

3 Rockets would use up 3 of my special slots and Bull Centaurs are a special too :(

cd007
That's last edition, hombre.

Now we have %'s. I belive it's 50% of your army may be special.


The unkillable dreadlord is a PITA. Hold him up with BCs ore HGs. His bane is low str shots.

90% of the time, he has the dragonhelm. so a 2+ v flaming.

Usually set up like this

Dreadlord:
Pegasus (now makes him t4 :~ )
Heavy armor, Sea dragon cloak (1+ armor and 2+ v shooting), Pendant of Kaleth (the 'reverse ward save') Dragon Helm, and whatever the hell else you want.
Full cheese is the Crown of command. ld 10, unkillable, stubborn.

The spell from LoH with 2d6 hits, - his t, and wound on 4+ can wipe him out. It has NO strength value assigned, and thus, he does not get a ward save.
BOOM. eat it Dark Elves


I wouldn't make the IG flaming, as he could charge them easily. (but blunderbusses will tear them apart)

Target the Blackguard and Witch Elves first with yoru templates. Take them out asap.

Protect your WMs. DE have dark riders, easily one of the best (if not THE best) fast cav in the game. They also have shades, and can hit most things (ranged) on a 2+

cd007:

Jesus christ; why am I not playing Dark Elves? Lol. Thanks for the heads up on the new rules - is this pdf’d anywhere/available online? Its all new to me!

Thanks, btw.

Yodrin:

Dont forget their harpies, great WM hunters

frogbear:

Wow. DE sound pretty tough.

I would go blunderbuss’ and warmachines for the damage.

Hobgobs and wolfriders to delay his advance.

Nurion:

I think the the key to winning vs DE is to keep your K’daai Destroyer away from his unkillable character and getting rid of his lvl 4 shadowcaster asap. One of the things that will realy hurt his lvl 4 is your templates. You can easily pick of most of his bunker with a few well placed DS or magma cannon shots. Combine that with Doom and Darkness and he might run of the table in round 1 if you can get it trough. Allso, if you can reduce his bunker to under 25% of starting strenght and get them to panic with the lvl 4 inside, then i don’t think they will rally. Fleeing wizards can’t cast or dispel. The Doom and Darkness+ hell cannon vs his pegasus character can allso work wonders! With deathsnipes you could allso snipe them both due to your LD10 and their low T/S.

In other words, kill his characters asap and bring a lvl 4 death!

That’s my tip :slight_smile:

Or you could pray that he won’t get pits of shades and/or mindrazor :stuck_out_tongue:

Blackspine:

Jesus christ; why am I not playing Dark Elves?

cd007
Then you're just another power gamer.
Dark Elves' days are numbered. They're still very potent, but in a comped enviroment they get smashed playing all the other 'tooled out' armies.

Most all comers lists are built with answers to the things DE bring.

DE have some of the most fun versatile lists, I had a DE army for a while and tried to make fun cav/ monster lists work. The hate they bring is incredible, as most people know them as 'that army'.

Mindrazor-sac dagger is all too common. It makes any unit 300% better.
if they take shadow, you're in for a rough ride.

good luck!

Grimbold Blackhammer:

Dark Elves are tough but I’d rather face them than Skaven, Daemons, Ogres, or Lizards. Elves at least are T3 and ST4 on a good day. Elves are a paper tiger - they can dish it out but they sure can’t take the hits back. Elves melt against all forms of K’daii and lose in battles of attrition against anything unless backed up by magic. I can handle Dark Elves. Slanns, ogre-deathstars, greater daemons, and an unlimited supply of “you don’t get armour saves against that” war machines just make me cry.

Grimbold Blackhammer

cd007:

Thanks for the input so far guys, im overwhelmed! This forums awesome. I’ll post my army list next week - so far im thinking a khan on a wolf in a unit of raiders (take ot his crews/hold up any fast cav), 3 deathshriekers and a magma cannon, potentially may take BC instead of one of the DS rockets. Then 2 daemonsmiths, a dread quake cannon and a large blunderbuss unit for core? (30 troops?)

Animatone:

Carmine dragon the flying dread lord if you are seriously concerned about it (no strength on the dragon attack = no saves, just wounds!). Go big or go home on the rest, large tough durable units horde style has worked for me in the past with a Castellan! Other then that I agree with Blackhammer, D-elves are seriously so variable that you’ll never know what your going up against until your saking your head after the game going “what the hell just happened?”. I totally hate going up against them, but love the army fluff too much ot hold it against people who play them… even the flying dreadlord.

Good luck!

frogbear:

I'll post my army list next week - so far im thinking a khan on a wolf in a unit of raiders (take ot his crews/hold up any fast cav),

cd007
Why would you do this? Purely for the Leadership? If so, just for the animosity?

Important question I have is does the hobgob khan have fast cav?
If not, does the unit lose Fast cav?

Khan gains a Look Out Sir roll if within 3" of the raiders unit so why include him in?

Khan + raiders = 1 unit to redirect, attack etc
Seperate Khan and Wolf Raiders = 2 units to redirect, attack etc

Interested to understand in case I am missing something from my lists

cd007:

Hi Frogbear,

Essentially that’s my plan - run him alongside, and potentially hit with the wolf raiders first for their +1 to combat, and then charge in the khan on a flank in the next turn, or continue onwards towards war machines! The Khan is not fast cav. Whats so good about the fast cav rule anyway, by the way? Everyone seems to love it?

frogbear:

Oh man. For so many reasons:

Vanguard: 12" move before battle starts

Can reform as many times as it wants even on a march - they can literally fit through anywhere

They can flee and then after their rally, can reform and then move as normal in the normal move phase (yes they can march again and shoot!)

And they can shoot even after marching

They are really useful for misdirecting enemy charges.

cd007:

Didnt know about the reform, interesting. On another note he plays with a lvl 4 wizard as his lord and not a dreadlord. I did however think of a few ways to prevent the dreadlords unkillable skills comimg to the fore. Thefirst one being the base spell from the lore of metal. Capable of inflicting 2d6 wounds if you power it up, it has no strength value assiged so no ward save, no armour saves allowed, amd wounds on te value of their armour save - likely a 1 or 2+…bye bye dreadlord?

ViLe:

hum my dark elves already got dusty… my first army nearly every modell is well painted. But here in germany, most of the WHFB players are whiny little girls and so dark elves are comped to death… No fun to play and no reall variation in army lists possible, same with demons. :frowning:
I feel like CD will end up in the same way because a lot of players are crying about them now…

As far as i can remember these whole restriction crap started after the demons got their own army book.

Vogon:

To be honest Hydra are not a problem against Chaos Dwarfs. We have so many fire based attacks that the regen doesn�?Tt even get a look in.

I played Dark Elves for years but moved on when Battle for Skull pass (7th Ed?) came out after all the whining and bandwagon jumping that happened when they became the new �?ounbeatable army�?� and never went back. I still have of my old army but it�?Ts not seen the light of day in years.

Cheers

Vogon