High Elves in 8th - Strategy

Now that you have an army, what do you do with it?  Let's go over my unit bucket really quickly and I'll go over the various strategies I plan on doing with them.  Keep in mind that there's a ton of units that'll have all kinds of great expectations, but these will probably fade once the games start rolling in.  Units such as Sword Masters, Lothern Sea Guard and Ellyrion Reavers all look pretty good on paper, but nothing says what works and what doesn't than spamming games.

Let's go over my units:

Teclis - Between Banner of Sorcery and the Moonstaff of Lileath, Teclis can generate an average of 11/12 Power Dice for himself at the beginning of every turn.  What you do with this is strictly up to you.  For me, the general options are:  Throw a giant spell like Purple Sun of Xereus out, full blown with 6-7 dice because even if you roll double 6s, you ignore your first miscast.  Once that thing hits the table, it will cause absolute havoc for your opponent.  You can also choose to cast more cautiously, throwing 3 dice at medium cost spells and up to 4-5 for high cost ones.  With an average roll, you should be able to IF these spells without dropping your concentration or anything else too drastic.  Just keep in mind you always have that Scroll of Hoeth in your inventory and use it when it matters.  Also keep in mind that just because Teclis is awesome at casting, doesn't mean you have to sit in the unit and cast without fear.  He is still the most fragile mage in the game with T2 and 3W with no saves of any kind.  Don't be afraid to run him out of the unit and cast some support spells because keeping him alive means absolutely everything if your army is focused on him.

Archmage [Book of Ashur or Hoeth] - For 330 points, the Lv.4 with Book of Ashur is now one of the best buys in the book.  The fact that the mage gets +6 to dispel before any dice are thrown is just gigantic.  That, combined with the fact that he also gets +5 to cast means that most low-medium spells are cast much easier.  Since you can now switch out spells for anything that rolls a double when you're randoming spells, getting the spells you need is much more reliable for a Lv.4.  The Book of Hoeth on the Archmage is also a pretty solid buy.  Having IF on any doubles as long as you reach the casting value lets you break through magical defenses if you throw enough dice at it.  Just be mindful of what spells you're trying to cast and always cast the big ones first if you can.  Casting a lower level spell and having the chance to lose concentration and not being able to cast anything else is bad.

Mages (Lv.1 or 2) - One of the reasons for having a supporting mage is to cast spells once/if the Archmage loses his concentration.  The Lv.2 can pick up the slack and cast some spells from his support tree.  A good example of a supporting caster mage is a Lv.2 with Seerstaff of Saphery.  Being able to pick the exact spells you want is absolutely vital on low level caster.  For example, a Lv.2 support can pick up Glimmering Robes and Enchanted Blades from the metal tree and be an awesome buff mage.  If you're looking for someone cheaper that adds something to the army, you can go with a Lv.1 Beast lore mage that carries the Annulian Crystal.  The +1S and +1T basic spell is a great buff to your army and doesn't cost much to cast.  The Annulian Crystal just adds a lot to the army since it takes away your opponents' PD and gives you an extra DD to dispel.  This happens every turn so it's almost always a good investment.

BSB (Mounted or on Foot) - If you're going for the mounted version of the BSB, make sure you put him in a big unit of Dragon Princes.  The reason why is because you'll have a hell of a lot of leadership tests to make per game and you don't want him dying under any circumstance.  If you're mounted, you can only be in a mounted unit to get that LOS! rule because they have to be the same unit type.  Helm of Fortune/GP on your mounted dude and Armor of Caledor/GP if you're playing footsies.  There's absolutely no incentive to bring magical banners unless you're tailoring for anti-magic (Banner of World Dragon) or feel like bringing your nicely painted Battle Banner.  Dragon Princes should be doing enough damage on the charge that the +D6 extra is no longer mandatory, and the fact that magical banners take away from your precious save.  BSBs are now a vital part of your army and you want to keep them alive at all costs.  Survival before anything else!

Korhil and Caradyan - I've always liked these two guys and I like them more in this edition.  Korhil has I7 with ASF on a +2S Killing Blow weapon.  If you're going first and re-rolling to hits, Korhil is going to be a challenge monster.  Also keep in mind that when he's in a challenge, he's going to be just fine if he kills his intended target.  If he doesn't or your opponent refuses with the Champion, Korhil might get face stomped by return attacks.  Be very careful where you put him because the last thing you want is for him to die and not get his points back.  The best place to put him is on the corner of your unit so you can minimize the amount of attacks back from a standard 5x5 unit.  Also, feel free to put him in a unit where you can constantly buff the units survivability.  I find that to be the most reliable way of keeping him alive.  Korhil also makes a unit Stubborn, so having him in a unit of Phoenix Guard will make sure they stay in the fight as long as he's alive.  As for Caradryan, he's just awesome.  175 points is a very generous amount to pay for a dude with ASF S5 flaming attacks that deal D3 wounds (most likely to cavalry+ sized units).  Dead or alive, he's dangerous to your enemy and that lovely MR3 will give White Lions the 4+ ward save from hostile magic.

30x LSG/Spears in Full Command - I think Full Command is always worth it now.  The Musician gives you free reforms and the Standard is always great for adding combat res.  The 30x LSG should be shooting whenever they can, whether in 10x3 or 5x6 formation.  The banner that I recommend for them is either the War Banner or the Banner of Eternal Flame.  Flaming attacks on everything they got is just amazing.. being able to lob flaming arrows or attacking with flaming spears.  If you shoot in 5x6 formation, they get less shots than the 10x3 formation, but you will never get caught with your pants down should those silly Dwarves roll boxcars on the charge.  Always remember that one of your core units can take a 25 point magical banner.  The best place to put that banner is on a good unit that can reliably hold the lines.  As for what buffs you should take to compliment these guys, go through the spells I listed below and use your imagination.  Keep in mind that Spears and LSG get 4 ranks to attack because of Martial Prowess.

White Lions, Phoenix Guard, Sword Masters - These guys are the bread and butter of our army.  At 2500 points, we should be running min core (625 points is 30x LSG and 20x Spearmen) and as many of these guys as possible.  Phoenix Guard got much better because of all the spells that can buff their durability, plus the fact that they have 2 ranks to attack now at I6 ASF.  White Lions with ASF GW with re-rolls and S6 makes sure the heaviest armor gets cleaved to death before they can swing, and Sword Masters are paper Elves with giant scissors whenever they touch the enemy.  Just make sure you understand that these 3 units have very different functionality:  Phoenix Guard holds the line, White Lions break armor, Sword Masters murder infantry.  Banner wise, you can go with the Standard of Blades for Armor Piercing, +1 Movement for a cheap banner, and Standard of Balance is always good.  Just keep in mind that with enemies being able to step up and kill our elite infantry now, we must adapt and conquer with our magic and not rely solely on kills.  I will list some examples of how you can use magic to better your foes:

• Shield of Saphery - Dirt cheap, gives our Sword Masters and White Lions a 5+ Ward save.  Phoenix Guard need not apply.
• Enchanted Blades of Aiban - Allows Sword Masters to hit most things on 2+ with re-rolls to hit and S5 Armor Piercing.  S6 AP on White Lions absolutely murders any type of heavy cavalry.
• Glimmering Robes - Gives our elites a 3+ armor save because of the 5+ scaly skin.  Gives White Lions a laughable 1+ save vs. shooting.
• Flesh to Stone - +2-4 Toughness on Elves is insane.  Prevents all types of damage from shooting, to magic, to close combat.
• Enfeebling Foe and Withering Hex - Debuffs on your enemy that takes away from their S (prevents damage on you) or their T (which increases your damage on them).
• Pha's Illumination and Speed of Light - WS10 from SoL means that WS4 troops hit you on 5s.  Pha's Illumination is a cheap way to negate damage as it decreases the chance of your unit getting hit by 1.  Both of these stack, so you can make a unit close to unhittable.
• Soulblight - This makes enemy units -1S and -1T, which is basically both the Shadow spells combined into one.  Slightly higher to cast, but the principle remains the same:  Prevents damage on you and increases damage on them.
• Wyssan's Wildform - Gives the unit +1S and +1T for a basic spell.  Probably the best buff for the cost in the game and I can take it on a puny level 1.  Worth it every time.
• Flaming Swords of Rhuin - Gives you flaming attacks and makes you wound at +1 is just amazing.  This means you wound things on 5s instead of 6s and makes regen monsters like Hydras and Grave Guard with Drakenhof that much easier to kill.

11-12x Dragon Princes in Full Command - Cavalry in general has decreased in value, but these particular knights are still good.  The reasons is this:  WS5 I6 and 2 attacks with ASF each means that I get to re-roll all my hits and inflict a lot more damage than regular knights.  Dragon Armor is always good because it protects me from the likes of Metal and Fire; something that other knights fear greatly.  They're also one of the better buys in the book because they're only 30ppm and has good damage potential.  Their charge range is now a random value between 11 and 20, which averages out at 15.5".  That's not that bad but poor dice can always wreck your day.  As for Banners, Banner of Ellyrion is still a good choice because we'll get the Strider USR and will therefore ignore dangerous terrain checks.

Lion Chariots - Since Chariots can charge through terrain more reliably (just don't roll a 1), we gain much more maneuverability on how we setup our charges and counter-charges.  The White Lions are also S6 on top because Great Weapons no longer get decreased in S when mounted.  Fear isn't as good, but the War Lions themselves are still excellent killers at WS5, 2 attacks each at S5 I4.  Impact hits are always lovely and S7 cannot instant kill the chariots anymore.  Keep in mind that the Beast Lore gets a bonus when casting on Dragon Princes and the Chariots.. so something like +1S and +1T can get cast at very cost effective prices and turn these guys into real killers.

There we go.  I didn't bother covering the rest of the units because I feel that we need serious playtesting with them.  Once July 10th rolls around, I'll be spamming games all over the place to get a feel of the new edition and what High Elves have to offer.  I'm pretty excited overall - we seem to have it pretty good.  Magic, will definitely be one of the things that'll decide the battle for High Elves.  There's too many things going for it and I think HE players need to incorporate it in every list they play.  Just like the previous editions, High Elves will require tactical precision to pull off the big win.  With less brute force Dragons and Battle Banner deathstars on the field, victory will lie with those who seek it; and I will be the first to find it.

High Elves in 8th - Making a list

With 8th Ed. on our doorstep, we must prepare ourselves for the trials of fire ahead.  The absolute worst thing you can do when going into a new edition is to march forward blindly and seeing where fate takes you.  I don't know about you guys, but I don't like it when my Elves die.  In fact, it offends me because it's my fault they're dying.  The entire point of spending ridiculous amounts of time taking them out of their cases and putting them on the table is to kill some face, and I intend on doing that to the fullest.

Now, I already listed the units that I think will be superior in 8th Ed in my previous articles.  I don't want to go over and explain everything all over again, but I will for the sake of time (and memory) write them all down here.  Just like my competitive Blood Angels unit bucket, I also have a competitive HE bucket.  It looks something like this:

Teclis
Archmage, Book of Ashur [or Hoeth, depending on lore]
Korhil
Caradryan
BSB, either on foot or mounted, with a good amount of protection
Prince, Star Dragon, Great Weapon, AoC, Vambraces, in larger games
Lv.1 Mage with Annulian Crystal
Lv.2 Mage with Seerstaff of Saphery
30x Spears in FC
30x LSG in FC
24x Phoenix Guard in 6x4 in FC
24x White Lions in 6x4 in FC
11-12x Dragon Princes in 6x2 in FC (varied size depends on BSB)
Lion Chariots
Great Eagles


Here are some of the units I want some solid playtesting with:

Ellyrion Reavers - Vanguard and harassment sounds tempting.
Sword Masters - T3 5+ saves with the enemy stepping up and I'm not Stubborn is bad news.
Repeater Bolt Throwers - 2W, no randomization and wounding on 6s worries me.

And here are the units that are so terrible I erased them from my head:

Silver Helms - Dragon Princes are better in every, single, possible, way for the price.
Shadow Warriors - With the new Skirmish rules in effect, even less reason to take them.

Alright, now that I my bucket, let's build some lists for the hell of it.  For now, I'll build 2 lists; one at 2000 points and one at 2500.  I heard from reliable sources that the games will be 2500 for Throne of Skulls, but 2k just seems like a much easier number to work with.  Regardless, it doesn't really matter.  Since High Elves have to invest in 500/625 points of core, they are no longer the "elite" army that they were in last edition.  Keep in mind that I'm going to use the standard army construction limits until the FAQ says otherwise.

Now let's take a look at my first list!

1999
Lv.4 Archmage (Book of Ashur) = 330
Noble (BSB, GW, Armor of Caledor, Guardian Phoenix) = 168
Caradryan = 175
22x LSG (FC, Banner of Eternal Flame) = 321
20x Spears (FC) = 205
20x Phoenix Guard (FC, Standard of Blades) = 375
23x White Lions (FC) = 375
Great Eagle = 50

The BSB is pretty much mandatory now in all army lists now.  The option to re-roll all leadership checks is absolutely vital when taking any test.  I gave mine the best possible armor saves while being on foot: 2+/5++ with a Great Weapon is as good as you're gong to get.  My 526 points of Core takes me into the 25% zone and provides me with mixed shooting and Spears.  My two big special units consists of Phoenix Guard and White Lions.  Caradryan will sit comfortably in the White Lion squad for that wonderful 4+ ward vs magic and provide them with a little bit of fear.  The BSB will sit inside the Phoenix Guard with my Archmage and they'll be the center of my army.  Standard of Blades on the Phoenix Guard gives them Armor Piercing (might take a Banner of Sorcery, needs testing) attacks and Banner of Eternal Flames makes all my LSG's attacks count as flaming.  Even though I'm still undecided to what magic lore I'm going to take with my Archmage, I'm mostly leaning towards Lore of Metal and Shadow.  My metagame around here is fairly mixed but two armies standout like a sore thumb:  Skaven and Warriors of Chaos.  While the Lore of Metal is great for WoC, Skaven, not so much.  I would much rather take another lore vs. them.  I guess if anyone's going to shoot me, I can just Glimmering Robes all my White Lions and give them a ridiculous 1+ save vs. shooting.  Seeing 4 fat blocks of Elven infantry on the field would make anyone proud.. although I'm not really digging the lack of Dragon Princes or fast attack.

2498
Teclis = 475
Noble (BSB, GW, Armor of Caledor, Guardian Phoenix) = 168
Caradryan = 175
30x LSG (FC, Banner of Eternal Flame) = 425
20x Spearmen (FC) = 205
20x Phoenix Guard (FC, Banner of Sorcery) = 380
24x White Lions (FC) = 390
2x Lion Chariots = 280

At 2500 points, I upgraded my Lv.4 to High Loremaster Teclis and increased the number of units by just a tad.  The 625 point lock on my core is really killing the way I played the game last edition (min core, max specials), but I think this change was for the better.  30x LSG in a 5x6 formation with Banner of Eternal Flame, support Spears and 2x Lion Chariots for some good ol' face-eating, counter-charging action.  The S6 on the White Lions even when they're mounted really kicks some ass.  20x Phoenix Guard like before, but I decided to go with Banner of Sorcery just for Teclis because it should give him at least an average of 11 PD to unleash every turn.  The White Lions are always amazing in their 6x4 formation and Caradryan will make sure the unit is well protected.

The biggest things to note here is the lack of serious shooting on my part.  I'm not entirely sure how it'll work out for me because I enjoy having a few Eagles and RBTs in my army.  It just feels a lot safer with them around.  Too bad the 625 points in core chokes my former "elite" army to death in terms of points spent.  I wonder if the errata will lift some of these restrictions for us?  Our entire army book in 7th was designed around the fact we had 1 less min core than everyone else so we can max out on specials and rares.  I mean that's why the book was 0-2 core, 0-6 specials and 0-4 rares right?  I'm dying to see that damn FAQ.  If I get too pissed off, I'm just going to Purple Sun people in the face with Teclis repeatedly.

Comments, questions, concerns, your-list-sucks, or post your own lists, it doesn't matter.  Let me know what you plan on doing with your army in 8th.

High Elves in 8th - Magic, Part 2

Since I've gotten a lot of responses from other gaming forums on my articles on High Elves and Magic, I guess I'll write a Part 2.  Keep in mind that this time, I'll go over the rest of the lores (and High Magic) except for Fire and Heavens.  The reason why is because I feel that there are just better lores out there.  Fire can be easily replaced with High Magic for a larger array of supporting and potentially dangerous spells and Heavens is just random all over the place.  Relying on the enemy or yourself to roll a certain way for the spells to gain effect is just mediocre.  Not to mention that the comet is a big fat "Eh.." in 8th because everything moves quite readily and its the other spells don't do enough damage for my liking.

The first lore that I'll cover today is the Lore of Light.


Lore of Light - The Wind of Hysh
Special Bonus: Exorcism. If targeted on a undead or daemonic unit, spells from the lore of light deal an additional D6 hits.

Lore of Light has always been the lore that saved us from the damnation that is undead and daemons.  Exorcism is testament to such claims.  The extra d6 might not seem like much, but once you go down the tree and look at its other spells, you'll see that it compliments them perfectly.  The only thing that puts me off a little about this particular attribute is that it only benefits you vs. undead and daemons and no one else.

Basic Spell: Shem's Burning Gaze: Magic Missile. D6 S4 hits to a unit within 24", causing flaming attacks. The scaled up version is 48" range and S 6.

For dirt cheap, you get 2d6 S4 missiles vs undead and daemons and it negates their regeneration.  Really craps all over the Drakenhof Banner and other forms of regen.  48" and S6 is also pretty solid because it can reach across the map and hit like a truck.  Not convinced that this is cost effective vs anything else outside of the undead and daemons.

1: Pha's Protection: Unit Buff. Affects one friendly unit within 12", all to hit rolls against this unit have a -1 modifier. All auto-attacks or auto-hits have to roll a 4+ or are wasted. May be extended to all units in 12"

Great against units with higher weapon skill than you.  Anything that prevents them from hitting makes your units more survivable.  Auto-attacks like slam attacks from big bad monsters and Destroyer of Eternities have to make a 4+ or miss all together.  Keep in mind this also applies to temple weapons or indirect weapons such as Stone Throwers, breath weapons and cannons.  It's a great way to keep you alive when facing these type of things as well as keeping you alive in close combat.

2: Speed of Light: Unit Buff. Choose one unit within 24". It has Weapon Skill 10 and Initiative 10.

Now here's a good spell.  At first you might think High Elves don't need I10 or WS10.  Let me ask you this:  Would you like to hit everything in the game on 3s (save a Bloodthirster)?  Would you like them to hit you on 5s?  (WS4 and below)  And how does it feel to win combat every time vs. I6 Black Guard?  These are the things that come into effect when you cast Speed of Light on one of your units.  WS10 not only allows you to hit more frequently, but it makes hitting you a nightmare.  Stack this ontop of Pha's Protection and just laugh at WS3-4 troops needing 6s to hit your Elves in close combat.  This also makes superior fighters such as heroes and lords hit regular troops on a 4 rather than 3.  Saves you casualties all around for dirt cheap.

3: Light of Battle: Unit Buff. Rally 1 fleeing unit. Targeted unit automatically passes all Leadership tests until casters next magic phase.

Not only does this rally the unit it targets, but basically ensures your unit is unbreakable.  Passing all leadership tests means it's not going anywhere vs. anything.  If you need something to stay and hold the line while the rest of your units move into a game winning position, this is the spell to cast.  Don't forget about this spell!  It makes the impossible possible.  Scenario:  Your Spears are going to get murdered this turn but you need them to hold at all costs.  Next turn, you flank charge and kill everything that's stuck in combat with them.  This is the only spell in the game that makes that happen.

4: Net of Amyntok: Hex. 24" range. Targeted enemy unit has to pass a Strength test for each action they want to take (move, shoot, cast spells, pursue, flee, strike in cc, etc.) If they fail they may not perform the intended action and suffer D6 S4 hits instead. Lasts until casters next magic phase. 48" range scaled up.

Imagine casting this on something like Daemonettes.  Everytime they do something they have a 50% chance of taking 2d6 S4 hits in the face.  Imagine again that you're casting on Dark Riders, a unit of Spearmen who are cannon fodder for that daggered Lv.4, or any unit that relies on actively moving and preforming actions (like 90% of the skirmishers and light cav in the game).  Remember to keep an eye on enemy Elves with their Lv.4 Archmage sitting there ready to cast next turn.  Yeah, this spell is for them.  Enjoy.

5: Banishment: Direct Damage. 12" range. Deals 2D6 S4 hits, against which all successful Ward saves must be re-rolled. For each wizard other than the caster using the lore of light within 12", the strength is increased by 1. 48" range scaled up.

Now this spell just get silly vs. Daemons.  If you take something like a Lv.1 Caddy, a Noble with Radiant Gem and a Lv.4 with Book of Ashur, you're looking at 3d6 S6 hits at the target unit with re-rolls to ward saves.  This spell is also quite excellent against enemy Phoenix Guard since they're mainly reliant on their 4+ wards.  Quite situational and quite fluffy, but in all, your bread and butter vs. the daemonic hordes.

6: Birona's Timewarp: Unit Buff. Targeted friendly unit doubles its movement characteristic, increases its Attacks by 1 and gains the ASF special rule until casters next magic phase. The scaled up version is for all friendly units within 12"

We love his spell.. not because of its default spell, but because we have Teclis and the Book of Hoeth that can make its boosted effects happen!  Everything within 12" gets ASF (including our Eagles, Lions and Dragons), everything gets an extra attack and everything doubles its movement.  Our basic infantry charges an average of 17".  Our Dragon Princes will happily charge 23" and deliver an insane amount of attacks.  Our entire army is fast as lightning, buck as hell and re-rolls to hit with ASF.  And thus it shall be written:  On this day, I got wiped off the board because my opponent's entire army charged me from across the table.  Have fun with this one.

Man.. that was fun.  Now onto the Lore of Death!

Lore of Death - The Wind of Shyish
Special Bonus: Life leeching. For each casualty caused by lore of death spells, roll a D6. On a roll of 5+ you are granted an additional power dice.

The more you kill, the more chances you'll have at casting more spells.  Works best with Purple Sun because the kills that thing generates can potentially make up for its casting cost entirely plus more.

Basic Spell: Spirit Leech. Direct damage, 12" range. Nominate a model. Caster and Target roll 1D6 and add their unmodified leadership. For each point the caster's result exceeds the targets result it suffers 1 wound with no armour save allowed. The scaled up version has an increased range.

This is pretty much Mind War in Fantasy.  You and the other dude roll off basically.  Winner takes all.

1: Aspect of the Dreadknight. Unit Buff, 24 " range. Targeted unit causes fear. Caster may decide to make it cause Terror for a higher casting value.

Not as powerful as it was last edition, but since it's extremely cheap, you can cast it on something like Dragon Princes and charge them towards the enemy.  Feel free to cast this on anything if you have enough dice left for it.  Having some fear is better than no fear.  Now I'm not sure if casting this on another unit that already has Fear will cause them to cause Terror.  7th Ed. had the spell that worked in the same way but I forgot what the 8th Ed one said exactly.  Does anyone know?  If that's the case, it would be great on something like Phoenix Guard.

2: Caress of Laniph. Direct damage, 12" range. Nominate 1 target model. Roll 2D6 and subtract the target's Strength. The result equals the number of hits the target takes, wounding on 4+ and ignoring armour saves. The scaled up version is range 24".

A cheap method of picking off enemy BSBs, heroes or even Lords.  Something like this can easily ruin Teclis' day or kill any Elf hero with good enough rolling.  The 4+ wounds is quite a gamble, but it's cheap enough that you can snipe that Ring of Hotek or any other model that's causing you some grief.  Things like Standard Bearers come to mind.. or anything that's expensive really.

3: Soulblight. Hex, 24 " range. Targeted unit suffers a -1 strength and toughness. The scaled up version is ALL enemy units within 24". Lasts 1 turn.

Not only does this make the enemy unit susceptible to your attacks but it also makes them incapable of dealing damage.  Since this spell has a pretty fair price and good range, it should be cast on any unit that you feel can need a debuff.  When in doubt, go crazy and nerf his entire army.  This is a very solid debuff and there's almost no circumstance that's holding you back from weakening him.

4: Doom and Darkness. Hex. Remains in play, 24 " range. Targeted unit suffers -3 Leadership. The scaled up version is 48" range.

Since RIP stays in play and allows you to cast afterwards, all RIP spells have gotten better.  Doom and Darkness is one of those spells where you cast as soon as you can and force him to dispel.  -3 Leadership is absolutely huge.  Fear checks (Aspect of the Dreadknight anyone?), Panic tests, break tests, Spirit Leech.. the list goes on.  This is one of those spells that your opponent will be wise to get rid of if he knows what's good for him.

5: Fate of Bjuna. Direct damage, 12" range. Nominate 1 model. Roll 2D6 and substract the target's toughness. The result equals the number of hits the target suffers, wounding on 2+ and ignoring Armour saves. Should the target survive, it suffers stupidity for the rest of the game.

You get this off on Teclis and he's done basically.  This is basically the same as Caress but a hell of a lot deadlier.  With this spell, you can essentially pick off 2 key models a turn between Fate and Caress.  Stupidity for the rest of the game is also extremely annoying.  If he's effected by Doom and Darkness, it'll be quite hysterical when your opponents most powerful Wizard won't be able to get his spells off (assuming he survives) or attempts to solo your army on foot.

6: The Purple Sun of Xereus.  Remains in play. The Purple Sun is a magical vortex which uses the small round template. Once the template is placed, the player then nominates the direction in which the Purple Sun will move. To determine how many inches the template moves, roll the artillery dice & multiply the result by 3. Any model touched by the template must pass an initiative test or be slain outright with no saves of any kind allowed. If the result on the artillery dice is a misfire, center the template on the caster and roll the scatter dice and a D6. The template moves the number of inches equal to the result of the D6, in the direction shown on the scatter dice (if you roll a Hit, use the little arrow shown on the Hit symbol). In either event, in subsequent turns the Purple Sun moves in a random direction and moves a number of inches equal to the roll of an artillery dice. If a Misfire is rolled in subsequent turns, the Purple Sun collapses in on itself and is removed. A particularly brave wizard can infuse the Purple Sun of Xereus with even more power, so that it uses the large round template instead. If he does so, the casting value is 25+.

Quite possibly the most complicated spell ever written.  One of those spells that Teclis will love and your opponents' will hate.  You get this off, throw it their way and watch the sweat beads start pouring.  It will rampage through his entire army and turn everything into amethyst statues.  Lizardman, Dwarves, any army with low initiative will absolutely cower at the thought of such a thing.  Large template, go big or go home type of spell.  Good thing for us that our entire army fails on a 6.. but even still, you don't want too many models taking these kind of tests.  Simply put:  If you have I3 and lower and this thing is coming towards you, you have better make some above average rolls.

Next, we take a look at the Lore of Beasts:

Lore of Beasts - The Wind of Ghur
Special Bonus: Wildheart. If targeted on cavalry, beasts, monstrous cavalry, monstrous beasts (razorgor, giant eagles etc), chariots, Monsters, or any unit from WA: Beastmen, the wizard gains an additional + 1 to cast.

If you have a good amount of beast-type units in your army (Eagles, Lion Chariots, Dragon Princes), this attribute makes it so you can get those spells off reliably.  Keep in mind that if you take a Book of Ashur on your Archmage, he can get a +6 to cast on your Dragon Princes or HIS Dragons.  Keep this in mind at all times!

Basic Spell: Wyssans Wildform: Unit Buff. +1 Strength and Toughness. Scaled up version 24" range.

Beautiful spell.  This is a spell worthy of a Lv.1 Mage even if his sole purpose is to cast this.  +1S and +1T gives you the offensive and defensive value needed to deal and sustain damage.  There's nothing else to say.  Being the basic spell, this is extremely rewarding.  Play this in combination with a Lv.4 Archmage using something like Lore of Metal or Shadow to deal ridiculous amounts of damage to units you wouldn't otherwise touch.

1. Flock of Doom: Magic Missile. 24" range. Deals 2D6 S2 hits. Scaled up version 48" range.

Terribad.  Quite possibly the worst spell I've ever seen.  Was this copied incorrectly lol? Switch for the basic as soon as you can.

2. Pann's Impenetrable Pelt: Character/ Caster Buff. 12 " Range. May be targeted on any character, or the wizard himself. Target gains +3 toughness. May be expanded to affect all friendly characters within 12 ".

If your army runs a Prince or Noble on foot that's a combat winner, this spell will make him even more of a winner.  Can you imagine a T6 Korhil slashing faces and laughing at others while they try to damage him?  I don't even want to think about the nightmares you'll cause people by putting this on Caradryan.  As if that guy needed 3 extra toughness to be a nuisance.

3. Amber Spear: Magic Missile. 24 " range. Resolved like the hit from a bolt thrower. May be boosted to gain S10 and causing D6 wounds.

Remember when you could use Beast Cowers and stop a Dragon dead in its tracks?  How about you just kill the Dragon outright with S10 and D6 wounds stead?  This spell gives you the ability to do so if you wanted.  More on the lines of Hunter's Spear but gives you that extra flexibility of more damage if you wanted.

4. Curse of Anrahir: Hex. 36" range. Targeted unit suffers -1 to hit (melee and ranged). Targeted unit treats any terrain as dangerous terrain, and suffers a wound on a roll of 1 and 2, not only 1. Scaled up version 72" range.

Good when used on a map with a healthy amount of terrain as it's likely to stop cavalry attempts to charge through terrain dead in its tracks.  The same applies to Chariots who would rather not risk d6 wounds on a 1/3 chance.  The -1 to hit that applies to both melee and ranged and its excellent 36" of reach is just wonderful.  One of those spells that disrupts all kinds of stuff at long range and force your opponents' into preforming actions he would otherwise not.

5. Savage beast of Horros: Character Buff. 12" range. Targeted friendly Character gains +3 attacks and +3 Strength until the start of the next magic phase. May be expanded to affect all friendly characters within 12".

You cast it, your combat characters go insane and start smashing faces.  As if the T6 Korhil wasn't bad enough before, imagine him now with S9 Killing Blow and 6 attacks with re-rolls to hit.  Things get quite ridiculous when you have Korhil taking skulls on the left side of your army and a Prince with White Sword doing the same on the right.  This spell is good if you have multiple characters in your army that you want to see rip face.

6. Transformation of Kadon. Character Buff. Remains in Play. The caster BECOMES the creature, not summoned on any board edge etc. Transforms the Caster into 1 of three lesser Creatures.  Can be boosted to become a larger, more powerful creature.


Becomes the Hydra (similar to DE one), Black Dragon (with Moon Dragon Stats), or a Manticore on one casting roll.  Becomes the Greater Fire Dragon or Mountain Chimera when boosted.


Mountain Chimera
S7 T7 W10, Fly, 4D6 attacks! Mage has to be on foot.


Greater Fire Dragon
WS8 S8 T8 W8 A8 Ld9, breathweapon S5, scaly skin 2+, terror, fly. mage has to be on foot.


Any lost Wounds are transferred to the new form (so, if the dragon lost 3 wounds, and the wizard is than transformed back, he would be most probably dead).  The Character may not use any wargear nor does he have any benefit from it, and may not cast any spells at the time. He keeps all his special rules, though. So a High Elf would transform into a ASF Chimera for instance.

The big bad spell that everyone's talking about.  Oh hey!  Let's take a Wizard with an Energy Scroll and throw 7 dice down on turn 1 to turn him into a giant Dragon!  This spell is quite.. erm.. breathtaking.  I mean, just look at the stats of the Mountain Chimera and the Greater Fire Dragon.  If you want Teclis or a Level 4 to turn into a 600+ point Dragon, then sure go ahead and do it!  Just keep in mind that those type of creatures are more likely to die now because of all the instant death stuff, TLoS, everything wounds on 6s, and indirect cannons that deal d6 wounds and require no guess range.  Also keep in mind that if you fly your arrogant self up the field and get dispelled out of dragon form, then it'll be lol times for you.  Use with caution!

Lastly, we look at the High Elves' lore of High Magic.  Keep in mind that I'm assuming that the casting values did not change and everything is what it is in the army book.  No balance changes or any alterations of any kind except with new 8th Ed. rules.

High Magic
Drain Magic (7+):  Casing values of all spells are raised by 3 for each level of Drain Magic cast.  Lasts until the caster's next Magic phase.

A great finisher to your magic round as its extremely cheap and affordable to get off.  This makes casting for all wizards on the table more difficult.  You can stack it if you wish, but one casting is often enough to force an extra die being cast.

1. Shield of Saphery (5+):  18", even in close combat.  The unit has a 5+ Ward until the caster's next Magic phase.

Good extension and price on this spell makes it always a good choice.  Keep in mind that 5+ ward also stacks with MR now, so a unit with Banner of Arcane Protection receives a 3+ ward vs. magic missiles and direct damage.  And just like any other spell that provides another layer of protection, casting this on units in combat can save a third of your dudes.

2. Curse of Arrow Attraction (6+):  24", cast onto an enemy unit.  Any missile fire directed at the unit in the Shooting phase may re-roll failed rolls to hit.

People call this edition the gunline edition for some wild reason.  Maybe that's because all the partials are gone and everything wounds on 6s no matter what.  In either case, we have access to Longbows, Shortbows and Repeater Bolt Throwers.  At 24" and a 6+ to cast, this spell makes the unit you want to shoot deader.  There's no other explanation.

3. Courage of Aenarion (8+):  12" bubble.  All friendly units required to take a Break test counts as Stubborn.

With Stubborn being king under the 8th Ed. BSB rules, you are now almost guaranteed that your army will not break.  Rolling for your general's leadership with a BSB's re-roll regardless of ranks makes it so your army's staying in place.  Great spell, cheap to cast and with no such thing as outnumber + fear, you're sure to fight to the last man.

4. Fury of Khaine (8+):  24" range.  2d6 S4 magic missiles.

What more is there to say?  It costs 8+ and you're getting a Lv.2 Fireball equiv from the new book.  You don't cause fire damage, but you'll auto-hit and kill a good amount of fast cav and skirmishers each time.  Throw 2 dice at it because you don't ever want spells lower than 8+ cause a loss of concentration on your big caster.

5. Flames of the Phoenix (11+):  24" RIP.  Each model in the unit takes a S3 hit immediately.  If the spell is still in play at the start of the caster's next Magic phase, each model takes a S4.  The strength increases by 1 each turn until dispelled or the unit is dead.  All wounds inflicted are flaming attacks.

I've always loved this spell.  It is the hallmark of our High Magic and 8th Edition only made it better.  Since we can now cast whatever the hell we want after Flames is cast, the spell will not go away unless someone throws PD or DD at it.  No one wants to see their armies crumble in flames (except for us), and this spell makes sure your opponents DD are well spent.

6. Vaul's Unmaking (12+):  24", can be cast in close combat.  The owner of the unit reveals all magic items in the unit.  The caster then chooses one of them to be nullified.  The item loses all its magical properties and become mundane versions of its type.

This is the only spell in the entire game now that can strip any magical item from someone.  24", can be cast in combat is just amazing.  Drakenhof pissing you off?  What about that Runefang?  Or maybe even that epically epic Gal Maraz?  Vaul's Unmaking cares not for how legendary your item is, once cast, consider it gone.  The Emepror Karl Franz can enjoy swinging a blunt mallet for the remainder of the game.

High Elves in 8th - Magic, Part 1

In the new 8th Edition, Magic has completely changed in the way it works, how it plays and which certain spells will effect the outcome of the game.  Good thing for High Elves, we can take every single lore in the BRB ontop of our High Magic.  For the purposes of this post, I'm going to go over only 3 of the 8 lores in the new book.  I feel that these lores will enhance the needs of the High Elf army the most.

First, let me post the 3 lores and what they do and how we'll use them.  My comments will be the non-colored:

Lore of Metal - The Wind of Chamon

Attribute: Metalshifting. Direct damage spells from the lore of metal have no strength value. Instead the unmodified armour save of the target is the required roll to wound. No armor saves allowed.

This basically means that if someone has a 2+ save, you will wound them on a 2+.  If they have a 5+ save, you'll only wound them on a 5+, no armor saves allowed.  This is extremely dangerous for the heavily armored units that S3 High Elves normally have trouble against.  This is the reason why Metal compliments High Elves so much.

Basic Spell: Searing Doom: Magic Missile. D6 flaming hits, 24" range. No armor saves allowed. Increased to 2D6 hits when boosted.

You can no longer snipe the BSB or another model like last edition.  Instead, you get to affect d6 or 2d6 models in the unit depending on the cast level.  The smaller version of this spell is really easy to get off because its a basic spell, and the more powered up version is basically Spirit of the Forge.

1. Plague of Rust: Hex. 24" range. Target gets permanent, cumulative -1 to armour saves, 48" range scaled up.

Cheap hex from good range that nukes the target with a -1 permanent armor save.  This is the spell that you would use on something like Dwarf Warriors, which are in that middle gap of average armor.  Heavy armor + shield gives you a 4+ save and this spell will make them 5+.  A lot easier to kill once they reach combat with our spears.  Don't bother using this spell on something like knights unless they already reached combat.  Nuke them with Searing Doom and use Plague of Rust once they're tarpitted to bypass their heavy armor.

2. Enchanted Blades of Aiban: Unit Buff range 24". One unit gets +1 to hit and armour piercing magical attacks until start of next turn. Applies to both shooting and close combat. Can be extended to 48" range scaled up.

This spell is amazing.  Throw this on our Spears and we're basically looking at 21 attacks that hit on 3s with re-rolls and ASF, and have armor piercing.  You factor this in with something like Plague of Rust and all of a sudden your opponent is taking a -2 modifier from Elves!  Not to mention this spell is really easy to get off and it'll drastically increase the number of enemy armored units you kill in combat.  Fantastic buff, arguably one of the best spells in the lore.

3. Glittering Robe: Unit Buff range 12", one unit is affected, can be expanded to all units within 12" at higher level. Unit gains a 5+ Scaly Skin save for one turn. 

This is another great spell.  Seeing a trend here?  Glittering Robe basically gives your unit a 5+ scaly skin that stacks on top of the other armor bonuses you have.  So your Sword Masters are only wearing Heavy Armor?  Put this on them and all of a sudden they have 3+ armor saves.  Spears and LSG become 3+ too.  Put this on White Lions and they get a 1+ armor save vs. shooting (Lion Cloaks).  A great armor buff that augments your weaker armor and can be cast from anywhere as long as your Wizard is in LoS and range.

4. Gehenna's Golden Hounds: Direct damage, range 12" which can be extended to 24" scaled up. A single enemy model (can be a character) suffers D6 hits. Characters can use "Look Out Sir!" to save them, rolling once for each hit. 

Trash.  Don't bother.  The only thing this is good for is switching out to Searing Doom.

5. Transmutation of Lead: Hex with a range of 24. Target gets -1 WS, BS and armour save for one turn. Range 48" scaled up. 

The greater of the two Hex spells that reduces armor and WS for a turn.  How will this work with the other spells you wonder?  Say you already had Plague of Rust on a unit from previous rounds and you just cast Enchanted Blades on your Spears.  You then cast this Hex which further reduces their armor save by one AND reduces their WS.  If you're fighting WS4 units with your Spears, they suddenly turn into WS3.  This means your Spears would normally hit on 3s, but with Enchanted Blades you hit on 2s with re-rolls with they have -3 armor (-1 from before, you have armor piercing and this is a further -1).  All of a sudden, your opponents' "better" units are losing in combat with Spear Elves thanks to your Magic.  Bravo!

6. Final Transmutation: Direct Damage. 18" range. The target is turned to gold; each model in the unit is removed from play on a 5+ (6+ if the model has multiple wounds). The secondary effect forces all units within 12" of the original target to test for stupidity at the start of their turn. 24" range scaled up.

Oooo.. shiny things.  It's pretty difficult to snipe off a character with this since you need 6s, but on a 5+, you remove the enemy model from play.  No exceptions (no wards, regens, anything).  This is good on something like enemy Phoenix Guard or a impossibly difficult unit with MR.  But doesn't MR give you a ward save vs. direct damage?  Yeah it does, but too bad this ignores all saves of any kind.  Your models are simply removed from the table.  Thanks.

Next, let's move onto the Lore of Life!

Lore of Life - The Wind of Ghyran

Special Bonus: Lifebloom. Every time the caster successfully casts a spell from the Lore of Life he can restore a wound to one model within 12”

Most of these spells are pretty easy to get off, so you'll heal someone in your army everytime you get it off.  Great if you have a multi-wound character or Dragon to keep 'em trucking.

Basic Spell: Earth Blood: Wizard and unit gets regeneration 5+ for one turn.

Your basic spell gives one of your units 5+ regen, which is pretty much equal to ward saves outside of flaming attacks.  Imagine you take this Lore on one of your mages (a big mage) and a supporting High Magic Lv.1-2.  You can have this and Shield of Saphery running on 2 different units other than your Phoenix Guard, so your entire army has a 5+ save in addition to what they have.  That's pretty awesome.

1: Awakening of the Wood: Magic missile. 1d6 str4 hit to a unit within 18" of a wood. Or 2d6 strength 5 hits to a unit partially or wholly within it. 

Since there's so much terrain on the map now, this can cause some serious problems to those in or nearby trees on the map.  Keep in mind that this only effects the trees/forests/woods (hence the wood part) and is thereby useless in a heavily urbanized map.

2: Flesh to Stone: Unit Buff. +2 Toughness to one unit within 12”. 

Toughness 5 Elves.  Is there anything else that should be said?

3: Throne of Vines: Caster Buff. If this is successfully cast it increases the effect of other lore of life spells made by the caster: 

Ignore miscasts on 2+.

Earthblood is 4+ 

Awakening of the Wood is +1S

Flesh to Stone is +4T

Regrowth restores d6+1

Shield of thorns is S4

Now this is the spell that everyone's talking about.  When you get this spell off (and it's cheap, like 8+), it remains in play and your caster is forever augmented by its effects.  Not only do you get to ignore miscasts on a 2+ now, all your other spells are increased in effectiveness.  Awakening of the Wood gets really angry, Flesh to Stone becomes +4T instead of +2T (wtf T7 Elves really?) and everything else gets a boost.  This should be cast on turn 1 and upheld as long as you can.  It's really that good.

4: Shield of Thorns: Unit Buff. Remains in play, friendly unit does 2d6 str3 hits on a enemy unit engaged in combat with it during the magic phase. 18" range.

Unit buff, Remains in play.  Cast this on a unit that's going to be seeing combat and you're going to be generating a lot more kills.  Good spell, should be used on any infantry that's capable of holding the line.  White Lions come in mind with their Stubborn.

5: Regrowth. Unit Buff. One unit regains D3+1 wounds/models, just like invocation (champ first, then musician/standard, then rank and file. Characters are selected separately) Cavalry take 2 wounds to heal. 12" range.

Now everyone gets to be undead!  You can respawn your own dudes with this ability and it'll make killing Phoenix Guard much more painful.  With Throne of Vines, you can bring back D6+1 models a turn, so that's at least 2 Phoenix Guard per turn.  Also remember that when this spell goes off, Lifebloom also procs so you can multi-heal characters if they're in the same unit.  Very useful when bringing back a near-dead fighting Prince, or someone who has just used the Talisman of Loec.

6: The Dwellers Below: Direct Damage. All models in an enemy unit within 12" take a strength test or die with no saves allowed.

Now this is funny.  Imagine the weirdest and vilest things you can think of popping out of the ground and dragging your ass to hell.  That's pretty much what this spell is.  Cast this on a unit like enemy Phoenix Guard, Black Guard, you name it.  Anything that's S3 will FEAR this spell so much it'll be ridiculous.  Strength test or die means that S3 lords and heroes will regret ever being in a unit that they thought can keep them safe.  Remember:  No saves of any kind.  Once you fail, you're dead.

Lastly, we'll look at the Lore of Shadow:

Lore of Shadow - The Wind of Ulgu

Attribute: Smoke and mirrors. After the wizard successfully casts a spell, he may switch places with another friendly character of the same unit type within 18".

Basically allows you to play hop-scotch with one of your other characters in the army.  With so many hexes at your disposal, you can easily prevent enemies from ganking your Wizard while maintaining his debuffs on the opposing army.

Basic Spell: Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma: Pick one enemy unit within 18 inches. Reduce one of their WS, BS , I or M of your choice by D3. The scaled up version reduces all of the above (roll the D3 only once).

The basic spell is very good because it gives you a lot of options.  Nerfing their ability to move, shoot and attack back increases your tactical diversity while decreasing his.  At first you might wonder if reducing a units' Initiative is worth it because our entire army is already I5 and ASF, but keep reading and you'll see why this will be worth it.  The scaled up version is for units that do all 3; Wood Elves come to mind.

1. Steed of Shadows: Character buff. One friendly character within 12" can make a flying move as if in the remaining moves phase.

Not really interested in this spell.  I guess it's good if you want to catapult Korhil into your opponents General or something.  In fact, that would be pretty funny.

2. Enfeebling Foe: Hex. Pick an enemy unit within 18" (powered up at +3 to cast 36") reduce their Strength by D3. Remains In Play.  To a minimum of 1.

A hex that RIPs is extremely strong against units that rely on strength to their damage.  Anything holding Great Weapons or have naturally high strength (like Trolls/Monsters) will take a serious hit to their combat potential.  Any unit carrying great weapons or have a high strength value typically strike after you, giving you the ability to dispatch them without fear of significant retaliation.

3. Withering: Hex. As above but T rather than S and 3 higher to cast.

I think this hex is a lot stronger for someone like Elves.  Since we typically need 4s or 5s to wound most things, reducing someones toughness is absolutely huge.  It allows us to wound a lot easier and with our relatively high WS, I, ASF and ranks, we'll get in plenty of wounds that'll dispatch the high T, low armor hordes a lot easier (Black Orks for example).

4. Penumbral Pendulum: Direct Damage. Draw a line 6D6" from the caster (multiplied by 2 for the powered up version) everyone touched by it must pass an I test or suffer a S10 hit D3 wounds.

This is pretty funny.  Imagine a giant Pendulum swinging through the enemy ranks and whoever fails at dodgeball gets hit in the face.  S10, D3 wounds means that anyone hit by it is taking a ward save or potentially dying.  This spell is pretty medicore because of the random range, but you can always use it to swing indirectly in the direction of an enemy character if he's ever missing his LOS! rule or something.

5. Pit of Shades: Magical Vortex. Place a small template within 24" of the caster then scatter D6". Enemies must pass an I test or be removed from play if touched. The scaled up version uses the large template and scatters 2D6".

So remember that basic spell that reduces I?  Most people would let that go thinking it'll last for a turn and he's not in combat.  Pit of Shades makes them think again if they know about it, or teach them a lesson they'll never forget if they don't.  Imagine your Elves get their I reduced to 2 from 5 because you rolled a 3 for the d3.  Now you drop a Pit of Shades on them and Elves are dying on a 3+.  Against armies like Dwarves or Lizardman, you're basically telling them to pass on a 1 or die.  With no partials now, if this thing rolls a hit, that entire unit is falling to their DOOM! (and yes, the capitalized DOOM is in the rulebook).  Another one of those you fail, you lose kind of spells.  Notice a trend here again? haha.

6. Okkam's Mindrazor: Okkam's Mindrazor is an augment spell with a range of 18" and lasts until the start of the caster's next magic phase.  Models in the target unit use their Leadership instead of Strength when rolling to wound with all close combat attacks whilst the spell remains in effect (any strength bonuses from weapons are ignored).  The Wizard can choose to extend the range of this spell to 36". If he does so, the casting value of Okkam's Mindrazor is increased to 21+.

I've recently been notified that this spell does count armor modifiers when using the strength value.  This spell just went from pretty solid to wtf amazing.  S8 Spears and S9 Dragon Princes will maul most things in combat through sheer amount of wounds and will completely dominate things like T5 or T6 units that you would never be able to touch.  Sure, you won't get the bonus from lances or great weapons, but the raw strength value of Ld. 8 and 9 is -5 and -6.  21 WS4 I5 ASF attacks at S8 and re-rolls before any of those get to swing will pretty much destroy anything it touches.

If you guys want to add in your own lores and how it pertains to High Elves in the new edition, feel free to comment below.  Likewise, if you feel I was wrong about any of the above, or have your own ideas on how those spells can be used, please comment.

High Elves in 8th - Units

First thing is first:  The entire way armies are constructed have changed.  Even though there's no official statement saying that High Elves ignore any type of restrictions, there is an official statement saying that these rules trump everything else:

25% Max Lords (Including mounts)
25% Max Heroes
25% Min Core
50% Max Specials
25% Max Rare

You must take a minimum of 3 units, not including characters.
No 3 of the same type of Specials.
No 2 of the same type of Rares.
These numbers increase when games reach 3000 points.

With this in mind, let's go over and look at our unit choices in 8th Ed.


Core:
30x Spearmen with Full Command (5x6) = 295
30x Lothren Sea Guard with Full Command (10x3 to shoot, 5x6 to fight) = 415

How come no archers?  Because I don't like archers.  The only reason why I took archers last edition was to fill that 0-2 min core requirement.  In 8th Ed, models with the ASF rule get to strike first before their opponents just like last Ed.  In addition to this, if your Initiative is equal or higher than your opponent, you can re-roll to hit in all phases of combat.  This is another reason archers died for me and Spearmen/LSG is in.  Even though our Spears are 9ppm and our LSG are 13ppm, our Spears fight an in an extra rank more than normal spears thanks to Martial Prowess.  This means that in a 5x6 formation of 30, you get 4 ranks of Spears to fight back and 10 extra bodies to pull.  Since everything fights strictly in initiative order now, 21 S3 spear attacks at I5 with ASF and re-rolls to hit before most opponents strike is definitely something to write home about.  The LSG pretty much function as both Spear and Archer and you definitely pay the points for it.  You start off the game by shooting in 2 ranks + 5 (half of every other rank for Volley) for a total of 25 shots in a 10x3 formation.  When the opponents get closer, you reform into a 5x6 "fighting spears" formation.  Charging, not charging, it doesn't really matter, you always go by initiative and fight in 4 ranks of pointy goodness.

Specials:
20x Phoenix Guard with Full Command (5x4) = 330
20x White Lions with Full Command (5x4) = 330
11x Dragon Princes with Full Command (6x2) = 380
Lion Chariot, Sword Masters, Ellyrion Reavers

Now we before we start, there's a pretty serious discussion going on on various gaming forums about the ruling of Great Weapons in the new edition and High Elves' ASF.  The rule in 8th basically says that if your unit has both a Great Weapon with Always Strike Last on a model with Always Strike First, then the two special rules (ASL/ASF) cancel eachother out and you strike at initiative.  How does this work with the Speed of Asuryan rule that applies to all High Elves?  The army book states that models with this rule have the Always Strike First rule regardless of what weapon they're carrying.  Do High Elves completely ignore the ASL/ASF rule from the BRB and follow ASF regardless of what weapon they're using?  For now, I'll go with the 8th Ed. rulebook and pretend that White Lions strike at normal I5.

First, Phoenix Guard and Dragon Princes got pretty amazing this edition.  The reason why is because they're both I6 and using weapons that are not great weapons.  Phoenix Guard will ASF in 2 ranks with re-rolls to hit.  That's 11 hits at WS5 with re-rolls to hit.  Take that new magic standard that gives the unit Armor Piercing and you've got yourself a fierce, durable unit that can stay in there because of their 4+ ward.  If you really want to get fancy, throw in Korhil to add some killing power and make the unit Stubborn.  Be careful though, with units being able to strike back always, Korhil will be a pretty big target for your opponent.  Another good option for Phoenix Guard is the Banner of Arcane Protection.  MR2 and 4+ ward stacks onto each other for the purposes of anti-magic missiles and direct damage for a lovely 2+ ward save.

If the slow killing power of Phoenix Guard isn't good enough for you, try some Dragon Princes.  WS5, I6 and 2 attacks a piece at S5 and re-rolls guarantee things will die in combat when they hit.  Since the riders in the back rank can also fight once they reach combat, the combat power of the unit goes up considerably.  Let's say you have a BSB with a Lance in the unit of 11 (he's in the front) and charge a unit at speed 8 + 3d6 pick the highest 2.  When you hit, you're hitting with 20 S5 (3 of them at S6) attacks that will strike first and re-roll to hit.  If you have the Warbanner on your cavalry, and you should because cavalry can now charge through terrain with no penalty to speed, you're looking at +3 to combat res before the bodies start flying.  Banner of Ellyrion is good.. and was a staple to most Dragon Prince builds in the past, but until they give them the 'Strider' rule or make it so they ignore terrain completely, I'll stick with the extra combat res.

Next, we have White Lions.  Even with Great Weapons and no errata, they're still I5 WS5 Elves that have S6 weapons.  Stubborn got hell of a lot better in 8th Ed. and the Woodsman rule will probably turn into Strider.  The new Stubborn basically says that units with Stubborn are Steadfast regardless of ranks when making break tests.  Steadfast is a new rule that allows units to use their normal leadership when taking break tests (this includes using the general's leadership).  Another thing about White Lions is that since all units can fight in 2 ranks, 11 WS5 S6 attacks hitting you before you swing is going to hurt.  A lot.  If everything goes our way (the High Elf way), then we'll also have ASF and will get re-rolls to hit with Great Weapons.  Until that is so, I'll take White Lions over Sword Masters any day.  Whether you like it or not, the High Elf army simply can't afford to lose 15ppm infantry to something like Goblins because they can just step up and attack.  The entire design of High Elves last edition was to use their superior speed and weapons to cut down enemies before they can strike back and maul them.  In 8th Ed and the introduction to stepping up, Elves can still dish out damage, but they'll be taking a lot more damage in return.  In terms of cost effectiveness, this doesn't go our way unless we win combat.

Just a quick blurb on Lion Chariots and Ellyrion Reavers.  Chariots changed a good amount since last edition.  S7 no longer instantly kills chariots and chariots no longer get slowed by difficult terrain.  Instead, they now take dangerous terrain checks and if you roll a 1, you take D6 wounds with no armor saves.  Regardless, the Lion Chariot is still dangerous.  The White Lions are top are now S6 because mounted Great Weapons don't lose any of their deadliness and 4 WS5 S5 Lion attacks that cause Fear is still vicious as ever.  Ellyrion Reavers can use Vanguard movement because they're fast cav and can reform any time during their movement.  Vanguard basically allows them to make a Scout move in 40K in Fantasy.  Before the game begins, they can go ahead and make a free 12+ move.  You can possibly get a first turn charge if you so desired in some lucky cases.  I probably won't do anything that extreme because I'll probably use them to setup a flank/rear charge.

Rares:
RBTs and Eagles.. what a selection!

I am no longer comfortable with RBTs.  The reason why is because of these things:  There's no more randomization when hitting warmachines and crew, anything can wound anything on a roll of 6 and our RBT only have 2 dudes.  When someone aims at our RBTs, they simply aim at our warmachine and fire into it.  Because we only have 2 dudes, the Warmachine only has 2 wounds at T7.  If we get wounded twice by something like a S3 bow or something, our WM is dead, period.  That kind of sucks.

Eagles are still good though!  Being able to march block units and redirect charges, Eagles have always been pretty good for 50 points.  Having an Eagle redirect the enemy by landing in front of them on an angle and forcing them to either charge you (you would flee) and expose their flank, or attempt to charge another target's too far away and fail.  The thing about 8th is that when you want to charge a unit and it flees, you can opt to charge another target if you pass a leadership roll.  If you place an Eagle right in front of a unit, he has to either go around or do one of those things above.  Either one is not that great for your opponent, and that's what you need to do to make his life miserable.  Another use for the Eagle is to use him to charge a fleeing unit.  Say you have a big bad deathstar unit that's going to charge one of his units.  He's not going to stay and get their teeth kicked in, he's going to run.  As soon as they run, declare a charge with your Eagle at his fleeing unit.  If you catch him, he's gone.  Just like that.

High Elves in 8th - Lords and Heroes

So 8th Ed brings a lot of new things. The entire game has changed and thus, my unit selection has to go through intensive revision in order to stay competitive. I'll start with Lords and Heroes since I want to cover everything over the next couple of days.

Archmage builds:
Lv.4, Annulian Crystal = 300
Lv.4, Book of Ashur (new item) = 330

The reason why these two will work is because they're relatively cheap and have specific purposes. The Silver Wand and Seerstaff is no longer a good choice for Archmages because of the way magic selection works. I still roll 4 dice randomly pick spells, but for each double I roll I get to pick the spell instead of re-rolling to see what I get. Chances to me to get the one or two spells I really want is pretty high already. Another reason not to take these two items is because I can only take one Arcane item and both Annulian Crystal and Book of Ashur are superior choices. This also means that dispel scrolls cannot be taken if the Archmage already has an arcane item.  Book of Hoeth will be covered later so I purposely left it out here.

I'll go ahead right now and explain to you why I think these two configurations is the way to do it. Annulian Crystal takes 1 PD from him and gives me 1 DD. This gives be a better chance to defend against his magic because he rolls 2d6 for power dice during his magic phase and I get the highest for dispel dice. By taking away one of his PD for an extra DD, I nerf his magic and buff my defense. The Book of Ashur is a fantastic choice because it's basically Starwood Staff and Staff of Sorcery on one item. For 10 points less and the fact they're both arcane items, this is as good as it gets. My Lv.4 Archmage now has +1 to cast and +1 to dispel. This gives me magic offense with +5 to cast and +6 to dispel because of High Elves' innate +1 and this item. Beautiful.

Mage builds:
Lv.2 Mage, Seerstaff of Saphery = 165
Lv.1 Mage, Annulian Crystal = 140
Lv.1 Mage, Jewel of Dusk = 115

The Lv.2 and the Seerstaff is self-explaintory. You have a Mage with 2 spells that you can choose from any lore in Warhammer. This is a pretty solid investment. The Lv.1 Mages are there as magical defense and magic offense. The crystal's purpose is already explained above.. which gives you more long term usability than say a single dispel scroll. As for the Lv.1 with Jewel of Dusk, this item is much better than the new item, Channeling Rod that gives the bearer +1 to channel an additional energy or dispel. You don't want to ever rely on channeling to give you an extra DD, you want absolutes and results. The Jewel of Dusk is simply +1 PD to your power pool and the Annulian Crystal jacks him and supplies you with an extra DD.  You can always just take a Lv.1 with High Magic and give him a scroll if you want as well.

Prince builds:
Prince as DP, Dragon Helm (new item), Vambraces of Defense, Lance = 257
Prince as DP, Helm of Fortune, Guardian Phoenix, Blade of Sea Gold = 276
Prince on Foot, Armor of Caledor, Vambraces of Defense, GW = 242
Prince on Foot, Armor of Caledor, Guardian Phoenix, White Sword, Talisman of Loec = 250

I went with 2 types of build for each type of Prince; both offensively and defensively. The ones with Vambraces are obviously defensive.. with the first DP on the barded elven steed having a 1+ re-rollable, immune to fire and a 4+ ward. He's also sitting with 35 points that you can add a weapon to. The Prince on foot is going with a 2+ re-rollable and 4+ ward with a humble Great Weapon. As for the offensive princes, the first one has a Helm of Fortune which gives him a re-rollable 1+ armor save and 5+ ward. The Blade of Sea Gold ignores armor saves and is great for punching holes in something like enemy knights. Since ASF with higher or equal I gets to strike first and re-roll hits, WS7 and I7 with ASF just became a little better at hitting his target. The only thing that slightly nerfs weapons that ignore armor saves is the fact that parry bonus now gives the unit 6+ ward in close combat. Things brings us up to next Prince setup.. which is a popular setup from 7th for those that like to play their princes on foot. The 2+/5++ save is pretty meager, but the White Sword and Talisman is a hero-killer. With +2 strength and KB, re-rolls to hit because of the new ASF rules and the talisman to force your opponents to re-roll his successful ward saves, the White Sword Price is a challenge machine.

***Notice I didn't include any Star Dragon builds? That's because the cost to play them is in 2500 point games. Since we don't know what's going to be the "popular" points to play at yet, I'm going to just make builds for 2k. Besides, the Star Dragon build with Armor of Caledor and Vambraces of Defense will hardly change.***

Noble builds:
Noble as DP, BSB, Battle Banner, Lance = 218
Noble as DP, BSB, Helm of Fortune, Guardian Phoenix, Lance = 188
Noble on Foot, BSB, Armor of Caledor, Guardian Phoenix, GW = 168

Notice a trend here? I don't take the noble other than BSB purposes. If I want combat potential, I look at Caradryan and Korhil because they're both better choices for the cost. I'll explain why in a bit. So anyways, the noble on the horses have a 2+ save with the Battle Banner and a 1+ re-rollable, 5+ ward without. The survivability here is absolutely huge. If you don't take magical banners, your noble will be a hell of a lot more survivable. In 8th Ed, the BSB is a HUGE player in how things turn out. That's because the BSB allows re-rolls of ALL leadership related tests within 12" of it. If your general is in range, you're using his leadership and re-rolling any failed tests. Another thing that makes me sad is that the noble on the horse cannot really join infantry units (unit type) and feel safe. Sure, ranged attacks like Bolt Throwers, magic missiles, bows and guns go into the unit, but indirect weapons such as Stone Throwers or Cannons or something that's magical template will be able to hit him with confidence. But what about Look Out Sir! you say? When models are the same unit type and in a unit, characters get a 2+ Look Out Sir. If he's on a horse, this is reduced to a 4+. I don't know about you guys.. but that doesn't give me confidence in knowing that my Battle Banner can be sniped out from under me. That's a BSB, a character and a 80 point banner to lose in one cannon shot.

Special Characters:
Teclis
Korhil
Caradryan

I'll only cover 3 special characters because I either have little experience playing the others, or think they suck. It's probably because I think they suck that I have little experience playing them. For example, I'll start with Tyrion really quick: He's the fastest elf at I10, has WS9 and rides a M10 mount. That's nice. Last edition, he had a 0+ armor save, 4+ ward and 4+ regen. This Ed, the max armor save he can have is 1+ and he can only make a ward or regen roll, not both. Sure, the MR2 and S7 is nice.. but not 400 points nice. Maybe if they re-do some of his rules in the FAQ, put him on a normal cavalry sized base and errata the fact he has regen and ward, we can look at him again.

As for Alith, Eltharion and Dragon Mages, I don't think they're worth their points. Alith just doesn't add enough combat potential, Eltharion and Stormwing is poor man's version of Prince on Star Dragon and Dragon Mages are overpriced for what they do.

Well, first thing's first. Let's talk about Teclis and he offers us in 8th Ed. First, his price makes him playable at 2k points because of the 25% rule. Since all casters pull from the same pool and Teclis generates +D3 power and dispel dice every turn, this helps immensely. Teclis was a greedy little bastard to begin with when it comes to magic, so this works heavily in our favor. In 8th, you'll only see 1-2 casters in most lists simply because the bonus to cast and dispel much more important on big casters. Annulian Crystal, move aside. +D3 possible dispel dice per turn with his +5 innate dispel is huge. To make things even better, Teclis still has his uber forget scroll when no other Archmage can take a arcane item and a dispel scroll. Now comes the big winner: Teclis scores IF on any doubles and his Warhelm of Saphery dispels his first miscast every turn. Now how magic works in 8th Ed is that when you IF, you lose control and miscast. Also when you IF, it doesn't matter if you hit the casting value or not, the spell will go off regardless. So let's say you want to cast the 20+ version of the uber Beast spell and turn yourself into the Dragon. Now you can on a roll of 1,1 and 2 if you throw 3 dice at it. If you lose control because you throw double 6s, good for you. The spell still goes off but the warhelm prevents the miscast. See where I'm going with this? Either the Book of Hoeth and Teclis need a errata or they're going to be absolutely hated. The fact that the entry for BoH and Teclis both state that IF goes off on any doubles on "any successful casting roll" means that by RAW, they must hit the 20+ need to cast.. but then again, the BRB specifically states that IF causes the spell to go off whether or not it hits the casting value or not. We will definitely need a errata on this one!

Now that Teclis is done, let's talk briefly about Korhil and Caradryan. Both of them haven't really changed since last edition except for two main rules: Stubborn and MR3. Stubborn now gives the unit Steadfast regardless or not he has more ranks. What Steadfast is (new USR) is that any unit with more ranks than the enemy will always take a leadership test without combat modifiers when making a break test. This means that you can use the BRB and your general's leadership as well. So basically, Stubborn just got better. Good for Korhil, and the fact that he still has that lovely S6 Killing Blow.. that only got better because he gets to re-roll to hit because of ASF and I7. Caradryan's MR3 no longer gives units dispel dice vs. magical attacks, but now gives them a 6+ ward save for each level of MR. MR1 will give units without a ward save a 6+ and MR3 will give them a 4+ ward vs. magical attacks. This includes missiles or direct damage attacks.. not buffs or hexes. The cool thing about this is that it also stacks with the Phoenix Guard's natural 4+ ward, so Caradryan in a unit with PG will have a 1+ (or 2+, I don't know if it's capped) ward vs. magic. Besides, I'd probably just stick them with a Banner of Arcane Protection if I wanted MR. You know what's funny? Korhil works better with Phoenix Guard and Caradryan works better with White Lions. It's true. White Lions with a 3+ vs. shooting and 4+ ward vs. magic is pretty damn good and Korhil's Stubborn makes Phoenix Guard even more annoying. Not to mention both character and their units have Stubborn and the two dudes add damage and killing potential.

Blasted Heath Campaign

Here is where I'll record all my league games.

6-8-10 - WIN
25pts eCaine vs. pKreoss in Kill Box
The game was pretty much hit and run with eCaine picking off choir boys with Magic Bullets.  Eventually, my ATGM pushes the Revenger that was blocking LoS to Kreoss of the way with Thunderbolt shots and Caine follows up with 10 shots to Kreoss' face.

6-15-10 - WIN

35pts Siege vs. eThagrosh in Fight Club

Siege and Defenders kill the Carnivean on Breach round and does heavy damage to his Typhon.  Shredders, Soldier and the Raek puts heavy damage on the Stormclad on his Feat round but he stays in the fight.  Next round, the Stormclad fights back with full focus and kills the Nephilim Soldier and puts heavy damage on the Shredders.  The left most Defender sees melee and kills the Raek.  His next turn kills the Stormclad and Thagrosh leaves the Defender with 6 damage boxes but the Shredders are out of melee.  On my turn, I was able to aim, shoot and boost to destroy the rest of his warbeasts  for the game.

6-22-10 - WIN

35pts eCaine vs. Ravyn in Caster Kill

Didn't get to play scenario so we just played caster kill for this game.  I forgot to move eCaine further away from the MHSF and they get in range to shoot.  Caine survives the barrage from the under-strength squad with 7 boxes.  Next turn, I punish with Ol'Rowdy charging Ravyn and using Tremor.  I knock her down with a boosted attack roll and Caine goes to town with 10 shots and Overkill.