Warhammer Army Project/High Elves

High Elves: Warhammer Army Project, 9th Edition Tactica

(had copied pasted the 8th ed page to save time on the framework)

Created by Mathias Eliasson, this project was a homebrew attempt at giving many of the units, nations, and factions that never got Armybooks of their own (and those left behind and never got one in 8th Edition) such a thing.

It should also be noted that Eliasson is constantly updating his work, so don't expect this page to stay current forever. If anyone wishes to actually update this page and the items that need it, later on, go ahead.

Why Play High Elves

Because you like Elves. And winning. High Elves win a lot. They have a BRUTAL magic phase, solid infantry choices, a variety of savage monstrous mounts and a solid shooting phase.

Don't think they're a cinch to play though, they're not THAT overpowered. Low Toughness, light armor and high cost units means that they have to be played well. But if you play them properly you will utterly destroy the competition. An army for people who like gorgeous models and want to play a tactically fulfilling army without being hideously underpowered, especially now that you've lost universal access to ASF.

An army, in short, for the exact kind of people who like Warhammer Fantasy.

Notable Differences from Vanilla 8th

• Almost all of your core choices are more expensive and ALL of your army lost ASF and Fight in Extra Rank (except Spearmen).
• Phoenix Guard moved to Rare.
• Most of your units have a slightly higher armor save than previously.
• Dragon Armor doesn't give that 6++ Ward.
• Eagle Claw moved to special.
• Shield of Merwyrm, Banner of World Dragon, and Reaver Bow are less exploitative.
• Slight nerf to Alarielle and Teclis.
• White Lion has gotten better monster slayers and line holders

Lore of High Magic

Attribute: Shield of Saphery: Grants a 6++ ward (Add +1 to current ones) save that improves the more you cast. Considering how aggressive elves are with magic, expect this to come into play a lot.

• Signature: Drain Magic: (7/14) You can dispel all remains in play spells on one unit as well as end any other spells in effect on them. It's your welcome utility weapon.
• Signature: Soul Quench: (8/12) Basic magic missile. 18", 2D6 Strength 4Hits. Augmenting isn't as strong as it used to be but will still deal 1d6 more hits.

1. Apotheosis: (5/10) Heals a single model, which helps a character, but not so much his unit. Either way, the model now has Fear.
2. Hand of Glory: (5/10) Improve M/WS/BS/I by +d3, with augmenting improving all of them at once.
3. Walk Between Worlds: (8/16) Gives one unengaged unit Ethereal and then moves them forward, which is pretty sweet if you need to move a unit someplace and don't give a damn how.
4. Tempest: (12+) Magical artillery that can really cripple flyers. If they're wounded, they now take -1 to hit with anything, so they have a chance to fail any attack.
5. Arcane Unforging: (13+) See that army of super-armoured character? Cast this and see them all take a wound as their good saves betray them and one random magical item possibly shatter. Easily the way to ruin a game.
6. Fiery Invocation: (19+) Constant S4 flaming attacks on one unit. How is this not the way to obliterate regens and undead?

Army Rules

• Elven Grace: Allows High Elves not mounted to get a 6++ parry against any units they beat in initiative. on all foot troops and characters.

• Martial Prowess: Radically altered from prior editions. Now instead of allowing extra ranks to fight, this lets High Elves re-roll 1s to hit.
  • making each attack wound is important to Low model count elves, so getting more dice through the first barrier is good.

• Valour of Ages: When fighting their dark cousins, High Elves counter their hatred with re-rolling failed panic tests and immunity (fear).
  • It's a nice rule, who hasn't lost that one critical morale test in a game before? I would, however, say that hatred is superior. Valour of ages, unfortunately, does not allow re-rolls of failed break tests, but you're going to field a BSB anyways, and he already has panic, fear, and terror covered. Still, your vanguard and scouts or anything else not in the BSB-bubble can benefit.

• Lileath's Blessing: A bonus of +1 to dispels rather than casting High Magic. This...drastically reduces the power of High Magic but helps you with breaking other spells.

Equipment

• Ithilmar Barding: Your special barding doesn't rob your steeds of any movement. Huzzah.
• Elven bows and Longbows: Your bows all have Armour Piercing (1) on them. How nice.

Vaul's Forge

• Blade of Leaping Gold: 55pts. Your sword grants three extra attacks, and all 6s to wound ignore armour. All in all a decent sword. 15pt upgrade to the Sword of Bloodshed. Tough sell when elves need more strength.

• The Reaver Bow: 30pts. Longbow with S5 Piercing 1. For 30 points, this is quite good for an archer prince. 5 points more expensive and now constantly hits at str 5. No longer able to cheese with a Potion of Strength.

• Shield of the Merwyrm: 25pts. Shield, Gain Parry(4+). Due to general rule changes, everyone's favorite BSB combo went from blue-chip to useless. With the addition of Elven Grace and mundane shields still getting a ward save when paired with magic weapons, this item is terribad. Stick with an enchanted shield and talisman of protection for a +4 Parry most of the time, +6 Ward all the time, and +2 Armor on foot with Heavy/Dragon Armor.

• Shadow Armour: 25pts. Only works on foot, Medium armour that gives a footslogger scout and strider. Did you want your Mounted Noble to be one-elf destruction? Strider is nice in itself, but unless you're going with Shadow Warriors he'll be on his own if you use Scout.

• Golden Crown of Atrazar: 20pts. Gives a single 2++ ward against the first hit suffered before it breaks which also ignore Killing Blow or Multiple Wounds. Nice way to spend points as it essentially buys you another wound during a duel between character killers.

• Moranion's Wayshard: 25pts. Model on foot only, Gives ambusher and hands it to a 30-man unit of spearmen/archers/warriors that the wearer joins. A unit that can hold its own behind enemy lines? Yes, please.

• Gem of Sunfire: 15pts. A single-use gift that adds +1 to wound with all attacks and spells with flaming attacks.

• Khaine's Ring of Fury: 35pts. Bound PL3 Soul Quench. Pretty handy so back up a mage who picked Drain Magic or another lore altogether. Soul Quench as a bound spell with 3 to cast. The best thing about this is the Ward save you get at the end, but a cheap magic missile is good too. 5 points more than 8e for the bearer to have +1 to hit and wound on all his/her(and mount's) FLAMING missile, close combat, and spells. Mandatory on a Dragonmage, otherwise pass.

• Cloak of Beards: 15pts. Gives fear, while dwarfs are terrified of it while also hating the wearer. On top of this all, the wearer has a chance to break any magical items they're b2b with. 15 points to cause Fear is brilliant. Against Dwarfs it causes Terror instead and blows up their magic items, but gives them Hatred against you. With the removal of Ancestral Grudge rolls this has become less of a no brainer as the Dawi aren't going to hate your Lord 100% of the time and your Characters 66% of the time.

• Book of Hoeth: 60pts. Re-roll a single die that doesn't roll a 6 during casting/dispel checks. Overcosted at 60 points. 60 points to re-roll one dice for casting and dispel attempts that are not 6s. Gives you an even greater magic edge than in 8e as miscast are from double ones, making this an auto include for your favorite Archmage.

• Banner of the World Dragon: 40pts. The old classic has been worked over. While it retains the 12" aura of stubborn for dragons, it loses the 2++ ward against spells for Magic Resistance 5, a means to protect the unit from things that aren't missiles. 10 points cheaper and trades the cheese +2 ward against magical for Magic Resistance (5). Still an auto-include but people other than Ogres & O&Gs will finally play with you.

Expansion Magic Items

Items from editions passed. Considering High Elves already have some of the better magic items of any armies, this just adds to the cheese.

Weapons

• Sword of Ages: 60pts. For +1 to hit, +2 Strength and +1 attack. Expensive but provides some insane offensive bonuses. Try to protect your prince with armour, or buffs.
• Blade of the Phoenix: 50pts. Ignores armour saves. Once per game you can trigger it like a ghetto Slayer of Kings and gain ASF and +D6 attacks. Better than the BRB equivalent.
• Blade of Darting Steel: 25pts. Grants ASF and +1 to hit.
• The White Sword: 30pts. This great weapon can only be used on foot, but it lets you ignore the initiative penalty and gain killing blow. Nice.
• Sword of Hoeth: 30pts. All hits wound automatically, though this does not impact armor saves. Half the cost of 6th and 7th but still dogshit.
• Dragonblade Lance: 20pts. Lance. On charge hits a file of enemies like a hitting bolt thrower.
• Bow of Tor Alessi: 10pts. Elven Longbow with Quick to fire and reroll failed hits.

Armour

• Armour of Protection: 45pts. Medium armor that grants a 4++ Ward, which is a bit too expensive.
• Golden Shield: 30pts. A really snazzy shield. Enemies are forced to re-roll their good hit rolls.
• Temakador's Gauntlets: 30pts. This isn't armor, but it grants a 6+ Save (like a helmet?) and a 5++ Ward against anything beyond S4. I...guess this is your last line of defense, but in that case you'd be better off with a better Ward.
• Helm of Fortune: 30pts. A helmet that re-rolls armor saves.
• Dragonscale Shield: 25pts. This shield gives a 6++ Ward save, which is decent enough for the cost.
• Armour of Heroes: 15pts. This heavy armor forces enemies to make a Ld check before hitting you, which is great for rebuffing chaff mobs.
• Wyrmscale Armour of the Deep: 10pts. This heavy armor grants Aquatic (Niche) and Immunity to Flaming Attacks, which is way more useful and saves you the need for a Dragonbane Gem.
• Armour of Stars: 10pts. Infantry only. It's a bit weird to force this on infantry only, but this lets the bearer teleport 3d6" in a random direction upon getting wounded. Issue with this is that random movement can fuck you over, especially since it can toss your unit off the table.

Talismans

• Pinion of the Phoenix: 60pts. model on foot only. First off: HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK THAT PRICE! That said, you're getting a big boost from it. Aside from the 5++ Ward, your unit will cheat death once per game, restoring them to max wounds and then dealing an S5 flaming hit to all models within base contact.
• Vambraces of Defence: 60pts. Expensive as shit. And for only a 4++ ward and re-rolling armor saves? PASS.
• Loremaster's Cloak: 30pts. Grants a 3++ Ward against missiles, which is pretty fine, especially if you intend to be at the forefront.
• Guardian Phoenix: 30pts. A 5++ Ward and immunity(flaming attacks). ? For this price? NOPE.
• Sacred Incense: 25pts. Missile attacks take -1 to hit the bearer, which is pretty neat.
• Talisman of Saphery: 20pts. Want to slap Archaon while nerfing his Slayer of Kings? Want to laugh at Karl Franz as he throws that dwarf-made hammer? This thing lets you negate any magical weapons in base contact with the bearer.
• Amulet of Fire: 10pts. This grants both Immunities to Flaming Attacks and Magic Resist 1, making this a bit of a bargain.

Arcane Items

• Annulian Crystal: 50pts. Lets you rob a dispel die from the enemy and add it into your pool during the magic phase, in case you really wanna assert your magic superiority.
• Sigil of Asuryan: 50pts. You gain a juiced-up Destroy Magic Scroll. gives you 6 die to mess with, these can't combine with your normal dispel pool, while also Mind crushing the spell from the caster's mind.
• Vortex Shard: 30pts. On the opposite end of the magic phase, this is a single-use item that lets you rob up to d6 channeling die from your opponent's hand during their magic phase.
• Seerstaff of Saphery: 10pts. Your wizard picks one more spell.
• Starwood Staff: 25pts. Your wizard adds +1 to casting and reroll one failed channeling roll per turn, which offsets the changes to the Blessing of Lileath.
• Trickster's Pendant: 20pts. Whenever an enemy wizard miscasts, you can use this to re-roll that miscast roll in the event that you want them to really suffer.
• Staff of Solidity: 25pts. Negates your wizard's first miscast, which you'll want. You have an army with powerful mages and you want them to work at all costs.
• Jewel of the Dusk: 20pts. A cheap item, but it gives the bearer and only the bearer an extra die to cast with.
• Ring of Corin: 40pts. A bound PL5 spell with Arcane Unforging.
• Silver Wand: 10pts. This item's of more value to your lesser wizards, who might appreciate being able to pick one spell from a level they wouldn't be normally allowed to pick.

Enchanted Items

• Null Stone: 50pts. An incredibly costly gamble. This makes all models in BSB of the bearer unable to use ANY magical items, including your own. Only use this if you're sure that this is worth the risk of being an artillery/gunline magnet.
• Folariath's Robe: 40pts. On foot only. This grants Ethereal, which might be of value to someone like a Lord of Aenarion, who fares better solo.
• Radiant Gem of Hoeth: 50pts. Turns the bearer into a level 1 wizard of High Magic, which is totally cash money.
• Pendant of Vengeance: 35pts. Only bring this against Dwarf armies with an Anvil of Doom. Whenever that anvil casts successfully (barring miscasts), you can force them to re-roll.
• Skeinsliver: 25pts. This gives you a +1 to determine if you go first.
• Blessed Tome: 25pts. The bearer gains an Inspiring Presence aura of 6", or boost's the general's Aura by 6". Definitely useful in either case.
• Amulet of Light: 20pts. This grants the bearer Magical Attacks, which is pretty okay. It also forces enemies to re-roll Ward rolls of 6+, making it annoying for Daemons.
• Amulet of the Purifying Flame: 15pts. Make your unit an anti-mage bunker! Any spells targeting the bearer or their unit take -3 to cast, which WILL fuck over metal casters.
• Gem of Courage: 10pts. A single-use item, letting the bearer's unit gain Empire-style Leadership checks.
• Talisman of Loec: 15pts. A single-turn ability to fuck over anyone your model fights in melee. You re-roll all hit and wound rolls, they re-roll all saves, and at the end of the turn, you suffer half your remaining wound (rounding up), no ifs, ands or buts.

Standards

• Banner of Sorcery: 50pts. Adds +d3 die to your casting pool each magic phase. Because even our flags need to assert our magical superiority.
• Standard of Balance: 45pts. This forces the bearer and anyone in base contact with them to lose Immunity to Psychology, but it also negates Frenzy and Rage. A bit of a gamble, but it has uses - especially when fighting Beastmen or Khorne.
• Banner of Ellyrion: 25pts. Cavalry only. This gives the unit Strider and lets them re-roll pursuit. Fabulous.
• Lion Standard: 10pts. Provides Immunity to Terror.

Unit Analysis

Lords & Heroes

Named Characters

Note: Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

• Tyrion, the Defender of Ulthuan: 485pts. Tyrion is a very expensive close combat beast, and that's what you want him to be. Between WS9, I10, 5 attacks, S7 (4 base +3 from Sunfang, and magical Flaming Attacks at that) that re-roll to hit, the ability to counter when rolling a 6 on Parry saves, and a single-use breath weapon, he can pretty much wreck an entire unit on his own and with his 1+ armor, 4+ ward, and Magic Resistance (2) he will just not die (and even if he does, the engagement necklace from the Everqueen means the wound that would kill him is negated on a 2+, essentially giving him +1 wound or a one-time immunity to killing blow. He loses his magic resistance after use, meaning that the last wound is slightly more vulnerable). However, he's kinda stuck in the role of the hammer, and for his cost, you could take someone on a Dragon and he can't do TOO much that a tricked out Prince couldn't do just as well for less (that dragon can't join a unit though, which makes Tyrion worth considering far more than he was in 7th edition). The addition of the Lord of Aenarion's curse also means that you need to take great care when he's attached to a unit. He's fun, but competitive lists tend to prefer generic options or the Everqueen. Something of note is that he can join a unit of Silver Helms or Dragon Princes which really ruins someones day in larger games (remember that now with Silver Helms being core, your anvil can suddenly drop onto the heads of the enemy rather than just hold them in place in an all cavalry list). His super-horse also has +1 M,WS,S,I, and A. Weighing in at 485 points, he'll eat up a big chunk of your Lord's allotment. One final change to him in this edition: he no longer HAS to be General of the army he's in, but if he is his inspiring presence has a range of 18". If your strategy is wedge Tyrion in your enemy's ass while a mage hides in a bunker and faps to the scene, you might wanna keep him as a minion but if your whole strategy is to run your enemy down with a wall of equine death he should be the one in charge.

• Teclis, the Loremaster of Hoeth: 460pts. All those lifeline steroid pills must be getting to him, he got nerfed again. He is still a powerful mage because he can either know all spells in High Magic or have one spell (of your choice) from each normal Lore. The Moon Staff now gives an extra die to cast and dispel with but has a one-use power that either let you add an extra die to each cast attempt from him for a turn OR negate a miscast from him, but this robs all the benefits of the staff. The scroll he carries is still nice, letting him dispel an enemy spell as well as having a D6 roll-off against the mage who cast the spell, with a win resulting in them losing that spell for the rest of the game. Despite his awesome sword, he is still a cripple of an elf with no save to speak of so at least cram him into something that won't see cc and can protect him at the same time (this is even harder now that Teclis inherited the Lord of Aenarion's curse like his brother). The War Crown of Saphery, which used to grant him an additional wizard level making him one of the four Level 5 wizard options in the game, now lets him re-roll all randomized die on spells (i.e. 2d6 hits in 2d6"). All together Teclis has gone from being mandatory in a "best possible" High Elf list to being an expensive character who's return on his points is questionable. Still, he's not terrible and is great for picking spells now that the magic item that used to let you do that is gone from the game. If you are using Storm of Magic rules, Teclis is still the powerhouse he once was and is just as facerollingly unfair as before.

• Alarielle the Radiant: 385pts. The Everqueen is here, and she is a Lord level wizard who can choose how many of her four spells are rolled from High Magic, Life Magic, and Light Magic. Mostly a defensive character, she uses her status as god-queen of the elves to make her unit protective of her to the point that they are immune to Fear and Terror (which is fair play if you ask me) and all her units' attacks count as magical while her Handmaidens become unbreakable. Also, she heals one friendly character within 12" for 1 wound each round during the movement phase, but needs to target anyone else if available before herself since she's nice and all. She and her unit get a 5+ ward save against non-magical attacks too, which is jolly decent of her. She also has a nifty little passive called Chaos Bane since her very existence makes Daemons take SAN checks (so the Everqueen is more or less the God-Emperor of Fantasy in all the ways Sigmar isn't) which means that during the beginning of her Magic Phase before you roll for winds, every unit with the Daemonic rule within 12" of her takes D6 hits at strength 4 calculated as per shooting. Seems nice, but it comes with the drawback that she casts at a -D3 to any spells since Daemons give her a sad. She's got a one-use item called the Stave of Avelorn which lets her cast a spell a second time regardless of whether she bummed it up or not. Finally, taking her gives Nobles, Lothern Sea Helms, and Handmaidens of the Everqueen special options. The Noble or Lothern Sea Helm you would use as your Battle Standard Bearer (which you are always going to have) can take the Banner of Avelorn for 40 points, which gives you +4 on every cast of Life and Light magic that targets the unit the Banner is in (that last part if very important, remember it when deciding where the BSB will march) which is very nice if you're looking to get off two of the best defensive/counter lores without losing many power dice each casting. The Handmaiden can take the Horn of Isha, which is a one-use item used at the start of the Movement Phase that gives all the models in the unit that used it a +1 To Hit bonus on shooting or melee (so one turn of those arrows from the amazons get a little bit pointier) for 50 points. With all the rules the Queen is toting, she is High Elves' new Teclis but on defense rather than offense. She's also right alongside Teclis in Storm of Magic overpowering. Keep in mind she's not a /win overpowered goddess. Lists that use the Everqueen should have one giant horde to stick her in with multiple wound characters in it. Even a unit of Spearmen with the Everqueen can be buffed to Phoenix Guard levels on the cheap. Everqueen lists are vulnerable to flank charges, however, so keep that in mind if you decide your Special choice should be the Alarielle horde. A Sea Helm in the unit with her will solve that issue pretty quickly, however.

• Elatharion the Grim, Warden of Tor Yvresse: 475pts. He's nice but perhaps too expensive for his own good, especially now that he's no longer available on foot. Hatred (Orcs & Goblins) isn't very useful unless you will actually be playing against them. He's also a Level 2 caster who can grab any lore from the Rulebook (Beasts and Death work well), but that's a job you generally want to split between combat Lords and Wizards (never mind that, for his cost, you can grab a Prince AND a level 2 Mage, with 35 points left for equipment before Eltharion becomes the cheaper pick). He can also ride his enhanced personal Griffon Stormwing and get a free lance. Stormwing has stats exceeding a Sun Dragon and has a 5++ Ward Save Eltharion's helmet grants him (How the fuck does that work? Magic. Elf magic.) but has no Scaly Skin which is a big deal when a Sun Dragon is only 40 points more. He's really a good enough Lord who's mostly overshadowed by how much you're paying for him and how other choices crunch better. On the plus side, his badass sword (+2 strength, no armor saves allowed), badass helmet (6+/5++ save with re-rolls on Ld checks), and finally the badass medallion (gives Magic Resistance (1) and his spells) make him an easier pill to swallow if you're going for a themed list.

• Alith Anar, the Shadow King: 250pts. Alith used to be overshadowed by the other Lord-level choices available, but this edition has him in his own role and if it's what you need he's perfect. He's got a glorious bow granted to him by a goddess (functions as a Bolt Thrower that he can shoot even if he moves and practically ignores Armor saves) and has a nice statline. Hatred isn't as useful, but against Dark Elves it's always nice to put just a little more pain on them; speaking of, if you know you will be fighting Dark Elves he's Khaine's gift (one without drawbacks!) to elfkind due to his ranged attack causing -1LD to Dark Elf units he hits until the end of the phase. Since Bow of the Seafarer was removed in 8th edition you can no longer kit out a Prince to be a better shooty lord, so Alith has taken on that role entirely by himself and as a result a more viable option in competitive lists. Alith causes a -1 To Hit for whatever tries to shoot a unit he's joined, and the unit also has Swiftstride so think about where you're putting him (advancing wave of White Lions that you just CANNOT shoot is nice, as is Shadow Warriors you can't catch). Keep in mind that if you deploy him outside of your deployment zone you may want someone else to be your general, otherwise his inspiring presence is wasted for half the game.

• Imrik, Dragon Prince of Caledor: 575pts. So here's a big fucker with a lot to give. Right off the bat, you see an elf on top of a star dragon, then you find that this dragon will hate anyone who wounds its owner and Imrik himself will stop all dragons from fighting him. Then the guy himself has a magical armor-negating lance that adds S+3 on the charge, a suit of 2+/6++ armour with immunity to fire, and a single-use item that lets the entire army re-roll rally and psychology checks for a turn.

• Belannaer the wise: 405pts. The second-best wizard who's not a cripple. While he's only a level 3 loremaster, he has a more respectable statline with proper combat options. Charging him requires a re-roll on distance, all attacks are at -1 strength, and his sword negates mundane armour with a single-use boost to his attacks. As a wizard, he's adding a die to one spell he casts each turn and he has the Book of the Phoenix, which gives him one of three big boosts (Explode upon dying and then be reborn, auto-cast one spell, or turn him into a hulking S8).

• Aislinn the Sea Lord: 240/345pts. He's your special Sea Helm with some extra tricks. On top of all the Sea Helm's tricks, he also lets his bolt throwers and sea guard make one shot at the beginning of the game. Like Alith Anar, he also has his own bolt thrower, though he only gets River Strider and armour. Do not stick him on a Skycutter, as he doesn't allow any upgrades for it and that makes the thing just bad.

• Korhil, Captain of the White Lions: 150/250pts. Korhil's main advantages are as follows: He's cheap (but 10 points costlier in 8th) and he's Stubborn and thus grants this to any unit he joins. Those two reasons are reason enough to take him, especially if you want to dump him in a large Spearmen unit. He lacks the White Lions' axe tricks, but with his weapon being a pair with S+2 and KB, he's not hurting much. He's reasonably killy on his own merits with S4, with +2 strength from his magic weapon, with Killing Blow, with ASF, with an extra hand weapon. Pelt got a slight buff, granting +1 close combat and +2 shooting to his armor, but now immune to poison. Not someone who will turn the game around, but he certainly helps if your strategy is an elfhorde and you didn't bring along Alarielle. See his bio in the fluff section for themed lists, basically, he can show up anywhere High Elves are as long as the Phoenix King approves of whatever your army is doing. NEVER FORGET his axe DOESN'T have ASL unlike white lions, so you still get your re-rolls. Korhil may also be mounted on a Lion Chariot, upping his Armour Save by +1 and making the chariot stubborn and a very deadly force on the charge. Plus, the chariot does not have to take a dangerous terrain test when moving through a forest, which is quite huge for a chariot.

• Caradryan, Captain of the Phoenix Guard: 170/420pts. Caradryan is a good fighting hero that got 5 points cheaper in 8th. Mark of Asuryan was changed from dealing D6 no armour save wounds to the single model that killed him to instead dealing D3 no armour save wounds to the unit or the same to a single enemy in a challenge (so his aftermath special ability has been halved in exchange for it being able to affect the unit when he carks it outside of a challenge). His magic weapon is FANTASTIC against trolls and other regenerating monsters due to having Flaming Attacks, it also causes Multiple Wounds (D3) against anything. He himself is not too expensive, especially since he discourages tricked out Lords/Heroes from coming after him due to his dying ability. Not the greatest Hero in the world, but really fun and a god-tier bodyguard. Also, has the option to now riding a named Frostheart Phoenix, Ashtari. Costs 10 points more than a generic but with an additional attack and is thus a GREAT option. Combine that with his dying ability and you've essentially got a flying tank that weakens things around it carrying a nuke (one that doesn't hurt your own men), and it's on a dead man's trigger.

• Selafyn, Hawk of the Annulii: 150pts. A legendary beast tamer. He's none too special, with a 4+/5++ save and a weapon that wounds monsters, MB, and mc units on a 2+ that makes him ideal on taking down big boys.

• Eltharion, Swordmaster of Hoeth: 220pts. Eltharion before he was recorded to be the Grim, having a hate boner for Dark Elves in addition to Greenskins. He is a swordmaster in light armour, able to take a unit of Swordmasters as a Core and makes the ones he is with stubborn but he and the unit suffer Berserk Rage. in battle he can do some sick Jedi backflips to reposition himself to get into away from base contact with a model in an enemy unit, even jumping into another engaged friendly or flanking solo from the back (Useful way to attack characters that are avoiding him or run from better melee heroes). He changes stances to fit the situation, either can only get hit on 6s pared with his 5+ dodge, or be offensive with +1 hit and ignore parry, +2S, or +2 A.

• Finubar the Seafarer, Phoenix King of Ulthuan: 350pts. the current Phoenix King. A line holder support character, being immune to fire and ward of 5+. His unit is -1 to hit by missiles, Unbreadakble, and all within 6" are stubborn. He is someone your would use if you don't want your front line to run away, even has a bound spell that inflicts S5 Flaming MW(D3) hits to models in base content.

• Althran Stormrider: 210/365pts. is from the Island of Blood. He is a straightforward prince, in adtion to standard magic weapons and ward, he can once per game he can give himself Devastating Charge during the start of the phase and a 6" aura of +1 to hit at the start of any close combat phase to units with Martial Prowess. Has the Option for personal Griffon for additional mobility. Overall he is a support hero that gives High elfs units around him a burst in melee

• Thaindal, King of Tiranoc: 255pts. Prince on T5 Scythe chariot pulled by 4 horses. Armed with a polearm that Ignores armour, inflicting fear that becomes Terror to Warbeasts and any mounted unit type.

• Hallar the Swordmaster: 155pts. straight forward fighty hero that dual wields. attacks a little more, hit first, wounds on 2+, and has 1 ap.

• Gilead & Fithvael, Last of Tor Anrok: 240pts. (170 for Gilead, 70 for Fithvael). Archer lord and friend. lightly geared with a longbow. He can become a melee monster for only one turn, so time it right. Is the main weakness is having a chance of stalling or running away if you fail his routine Leadership test.

• Phytrion, Chosen of Tor Yvresse: 120pts. Noble that Gets D3 reroll for himself, and defensive with shield, heavy armour, Ward(5+), and -1 to hit by Forces of Destruction in melee.

• Salendor, Lord of Tor Achare: 270pts. Melee blender Prince that's also a Lv2 High Magic caster.

• Liandra Athinol: 425pts. She could be seen as a discount Imrik, she is noble on Moondragon being very defenses -1 to hit, and -1 strength from enemy attacks

Generic Characters

Note: While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

• Prince: 125pts. Princes personify everything about the High Elves: Fast as hell, kickass in close combat, can take a variety of special stuff, about as hard as wet tissue. Be sure to give this guy an armor or ward save, or else he will get his ass killed. Aside from that, he's a brutal close combat Lord (WS7, I8) and properly kitted out there's very little this guy can't kill. Dragon Armor lol's at flaming attacks and breath weapons but is now 5 points. As an alternative to Dragon Armor, you can take a Lion Cloak alongside the Heavy Armor for just 6 points, giving your Prince a 3+ armor save against shooting. Look for the variety of killy options down in the magic weapons.

• Archmage: 185/220pts. A fantastic caster. Access to all 8 Lores, plus High Magic, means he can literally be designed to do whatever you want, though the preferred option in an unclear situation is Lore of Life. Like with the Prince, he has access to some of the best magic equipment in the game. High Elves are good at magic, and this guy proves it.

• Loremaster of Hoeth: 230pts. A new Lord choice and mostly the same as a Swordmaster. But is also a level 2 Mage with ALL 8 Signature Spells from the Core Lores. This gives him great diversity, and he is also not bad in combat (but frail, as he only has a 4+ armour save). Think about it: the Signature Spells are nowhere near bad (ok, most of them are not) and you're getting all of them! Three magic missiles, a direct damage spell, two augments and two hexes. Having all of the lore attributes at your fingertips is useful, like casting Spirit Leech to get more power dice from killing someone. He gets to take as much magic gear as the Archmage and Prince does, meaning you pick how you want to use him and kit him out like one or the other. Also, Deflect Shots for a 6+ ward against non-magical non-template ranged attacks. He's a pretty solid choice, but he costs a metric ton to bring to the table and he's not as good on defensive dispelling and mounts options (having non) as an Archmage, so he'll probably only see the field in big games.

• Lord of Aenarion: 185pts. Can't be the General. These are your ultimate weapon masters even when compared to princes, each with an insane WS8 I9 and get Frenzy and Hatred (Destruction). However, this comes at some costs: For starters, they have to test Ld every turn they're with a friendly unit or start whacking anyone in b2b with them, and he only gets a 3++ ward when he's at his last wound. At best, send him in like a kamikaze unit to wipe off elites and monsters.

• Anointed of Asuryan: 160pts. The Anointed is a Hero choice Phoenix Guard member with magic resistance and option to ride a Phoenix (no one else can, other than Caradryan who is his named counterpart) but is never general while Caradryan isn't bound to this law. Since he already has a 4++ Ward save with heavy armour and a halberd he needs nearly no equipment at all. When he rides a Flamespyre Phoenix it will return from the dead more often and will even ease the burden on the Phoenix in case of shooting (since he will absorb a few hits). Much, much, MUCH more importantly, he gives everyone in any unit he joins Immune to Psychology and a re-roll of 1s on ward saves, which makes him really good in big units of Spearmen, White Lions and the like. On foot, he's a better option than the Prince. In terms of mounts, you take the Anointed if you want one of the Phoenixes (I would say go with the Flamespyre) and the Prince if you want the Dragons.

• Noble: 60pts. A great fighter for his points, but if you have the points you really should be taking a Prince (who's only 65 points more). The main reason you take a Noble is that he can be a BSB or if you're low on points (either overall or in the Lord choices) in which case, he'll serve. He's best as a BSB and you DEFINITELY want a BSB. In 8th with Lothern Sea Helms also being an option as a Battle Standard Bearer there are now conceivable lists where you might not take a Noble. As a nice little bonus for those who are low on points, the armor types (Heavy, Dragon, and Lion Cloak) are cheaper on a Noble than a Prince.

• Mage: 85pts. Unlike the Noble vs. Prince the difference in points between the Mage and Archmage is big that you might want a Mage instead, he can do everything the Archmage can but at level two. If you're in the mood it's always nice to have a backup Mage with different lore to deal with situations your Archmage can't. Never a bad idea.

• Dragon Mage: 325pts. That's right, we even have HEROES riding Dragons. The Dragon is fairly squishy (for a Dragon) and the model as a whole runs on the pricy side, but the Hero Level Dragon and the sheer power of the Mage on top make up for a lot of that. Flaming Sword of Rhuin is actually worthwhile in this edition and the Mage himself can put out an incredible amount of firepower. Note that you should never ever use the actual amount of dice you need; Figure out how much you need and then take one less, it'll give you more mileage. It can be a game-breaker at lower points but tends to get irrelevant once it becomes possible to grab a Prince on Star Dragon. Also, beware as they can only take the Lore of Fire. As Dragon Mages now have access to Dragon Armour, they have access to Magic Armour. Dragon Mage Dragon Armour + Enchanted shield makes for a 2+ Wizard, and if you've got a squishy wave of elven melee doom and a Dragon Mage advancing on a position, your opponent is just picking size or numbers for what dick will end up in his ass.

• Sea Helm: 55pts. A hero for the High elves who allows his Sea Guard unit to, after passing a leadership test, reform directly after they were charged as long as they elected to hold. This means no more easily flanking your units, this - for measly 55 Points - becomes really important. He can also be a Battle Standard Bearer if you're taking him anyway and don't want to bother with the Noble. Be careful using the Sea Helm as your BSB as he does not have the defensive options that the Noble has. A BSB Noble can get heavy armor and a shield, not to mention dragon armor and the lion cloak, a noble can get 4+/6++ easily without using any magic items. The Sea Helm, however, has Medium armor and a shield, that is all. If you're taking a BSB Sea Helm, give him a mundane standard and pump his defenses with his magic item allowance. But seeing as any special ranked unit (aka any unit you want to put him in barring a 50-block of spearmen) has a magic standard allowance of at least 50 points (banner of the world dragon costs 50 points), this isn't much of a problem.

• Mistweaver: 85pts. You get a new wizard that's got +1 I over the mage, but also includes brand new lore that's exclusive to this model. All of it involves illusions and ways to derail an opponent's attack.
  • Signature: Illusory Assault: CV 7+, Forces a unit to test Ld or slap itself in the face.

1. The Writhing Mists: CV 7+, Gives a unit a constant -1 to hit them.
2. Mistress of the Deep: CV 9+, Summons an odd monstrosity that can force enemies to shoot them rather than an intended unit. However, this is all subject to psychology.

Mounts

• Elven Steed: It's a horse, it goes fast and makes them the tiniest bit less killable. Available for Princes, Archmages, Nobles, Mages, and Lords of Aenarion. Since Ithilmar Barding stops subtracting from movement, you should probably always upgrade to Ithilmar Barding. It adds armor save and DOES NOT make the M9 steed any slower, so there's no reason not to pay a few measly points for that. Indeed, the Princes and Lords can only buy barded steeds.

• Pegasus: Exclusive to Princes and Nobles. Your horse is slightly slower, but it does get to fly. Shame there isn't anyone to accompany them.

• Unicorn: Exclusive to Mages. A super-fast horse with magical attacks and magic resist 2. To add to their usefulness, they also have +1 S on their impact hit. However, they're about as fragile as eagles and perhaps even more providing not extra wounds to even the mage. However, you have M10 and you can put yourself in the tanks of silver helms or dragon knights.

• Great Eagle: Usable by Princes, Archmages, and Nobles. Eagles are the halfway point between Horses and Monsters and are generally not worth their time. T4 and 3 wounds mean they crumble when a shooting unit so much as looks at them funny. Still, if you're in a weird mood, they're cheap at 65 points. They have mainly found their niche in war machine harassment, targeting crew members who thought they were safely behind the battlelines, though they are still uncommon and not often used. You can, however, put a Noble with the Reaver Bow on one of these for a fast, shooty unit that has an extra wound, or an Archmage to get on your opponent's flank and vortex him back to the stone age. Also, a Great Eagle is your only chance of getting a T4 character. For a better Eagle, you have to spend 10 points more, which if you're taking one you probably should.

• Griffon: Useable by only Princes, they are the discount dragon. The good news they're cheaper than Sun Dragons (150 points vs 235), but with upgrades to make the Griffon viable it comes to a grand total of 155 points. The only difference being the Sun Dragon has one more wound... and a flame Breath... and Natural armour (3+). which makes Dragons durable where Griffons provide no additional protection above a Great Eagle's besides having 4 wounds. Still, Dragons don't have high initiative or Devastating Charge. It's iffy, but offensive lists requiring a nice hard flank to something that isn't a horde have a need for a well geared Prince on a Griffon. Not to mention that neat Island of Blood mini has just been gathering dust on your shelf...

• Tiranoc Chariot: Option for Princes and Nobles. Not a good option really, there's potential in that it crunches better than an Eagle for a Reaver Bow war machine hunter, but still iffy. Still, there are complex strategies that can make great use of them, like 2v2 and scenario games.

• Lion Chariot: available on Princes and Nobles wearing a Lion Cloak. turn Tiranoc into a proper melee chariot, pulled by S5 Lions and gives you Stubbornand fear. Crash and Brake!!. Also, being acomied by a guy with a Woodsman's Axe, enemies you charge are ASL. Also because combined models work despite the strange wording, he get an additional Parry (6+) if you get charged.

• Sun Dragon: Option for Princes and Archmages. The mini-Dragon. Still a Dragon, still kick-ass. Good for if you're short on points since the 65 point upgrade from Sun to a Moon Dragon matters.

• Moon Dragon: The medium Dragon, same power level as most Dragons in the game. A good all-around choice, Granting rider Hitghened Durability Along with the usual Troop killing Breath attack.

• Star Dragon: The highest tier of Dragon and probably the most brutal Monstrous Mount in the game. With WS7, S7, T7 7 wounds, 6 attacks, a Strength 4 breath weapon and a 3+ armour save, this guy, with a properly tricked out rider, can probably rip the head off of anything stupid enough to get in its way without tipping the odds. It can tear apart almost anything. Giants, K'daii Destroyers, and other dragons will all be killed if faced by a Star Dragon. Beware the I2 though and be aware that everyone and their dog will be gunning for it. Don't let it get bogged down in a head on collision with a large unit; yes it probably can't do any real damage to the Star Dragon, but it'll be stuck there all game and probably get flanked. Have him charge down small units, flank big units in conjunction with a frontal assault, hunt down enemy monsters. Unless it gets hit by a cannonball, something is going to die when a Star Dragon gets involved. WORD OF WARNING: Some combat Lords from melee-heavy armies (Warriors of Chaos, Ogres, Daemons, Bretonnia etc) have weapons and gifts and things that are designed to bring down dragons, and a Bretonnian Lord with a Sword of Swiftstride and Heroic Killing Blow can cut the head off a Star Dragon before it can lift a claw.

• Lothern Skycutter: Your mount option for the Sea Helm and the Sea Helm alone. what if the Tiranoc Chariot had another crew member, S4 on steeds, and could fly. Putting him on one also gives it a 4++ Ward Save against shooting, and allows you to reroll dangerous terrain tests. Taking a second Sea Helm and putting him on one replaces one of the crew members, meaning you're getting the shooting attack of two crewmen, and the Sea Helm if you spend the 4 points to give him a bow, or outfit him with a Reaver Bow. It's better protected than a Noble on Great eagle before factoring in Magic items, being Just as durable as that Heavy armor noble, having a +1 more wound than an eagle. Now a cost-effective single back row harasser.

• Flamespyre Phoenix: So finally the High Elves get their coverbeast to play. It's flaming hot, doesn't fear fire, and comes with average stats for a Monster. It only has a 5+ ward save, but this is more than a Giant or a Dragon has against cannons. It gets stronger with better winds of magic (albeit on a chance of 1/9 it get's weaker) and can make flying attacks like the chaosmantas, even more so with all of its attacks being magical. Since it's a Phoenix it can be reborn by rolling a dice at the end of the turn it was killed, on a 6 it comes back with D3+2 wounds, on 3 to 5 it blows up and you can try again at the end of the next turn (can be your opponents turn), with a roll of 1 or 2 the Pheonix is dead. When it's ridden by an Anointed, (the only mount he can ride, and the only one that can ride it) the roll has a +1 modifier which is beautiful. It lacks the power to really take out a big unit on its own but can take out war machines and kill off survivors. With an Anointed it gets powerful enough to flank units and at least have a chance, so this is how you want to take it.

• Frostheart Phoenix: Frostheart Phoenixes are great to have, but putting an Anointed on one doesn't really do anything for it besides get him into combat and waste his unit buffing so if you're taking one, take one as a Rare option.

Core Units

• Archers: Infantry with high WS, BS and I with Elven Bows and no armour. Cost 12ppm, 2 more than 8th and lost fight in extra rank and ASF. Gained armour piercing, Elven Grace, as well as multiple shots (2) when not moving. Pound for pound, they can outshoot other races cheaper bows. Can get light or medium armour for 1/2 or 1pt respectively.

• Spearmen: Elves with spears. Costing 11ppm, 2pts more than 8th edition, they can still fight in an extra rank for 4 ranks of fighting. Gained medium armour, so still a strong unit. With the edition wide buff to spears, you do not want to be charging this unit head-on with cav/monstrous troops. Take a unit of 30 for 330pts, in a 6 wide 5 deep formation for 24 (25 w/champion) attacks, and requires 7 wounds until you lose attacks.

• Warriors: In the event that you wanted cheap elven swordsmen and mabey also skirmishers, these guys will fill your need. If you need core chaff, leave them with shields for parry (gaining a 5++ ward in most infantry grinds). If you need them to be all attack, you can hand them off-handed weapons, if you want protection, buy more armour.

• Lothern Sea Guard: Combining Archers and Spearmen into one unit. Lothern Sea Guard got the most love of your infantry Core choices this edition. Costing 14ppm, 2pt more than 8th edition. Losing fight in extra rank, gaining medium armour, armour piercing on bows, and elven grace. They went from being 22% and 10% more expensive than Spearmen and Archers to 18% and 8% more respectively. Taking only these in core is significantly stronger than in 8th.

• Silver Helms: Armoured lance shield cav with Elf stats. Same stats as Spearmen, but they have a Movement score of 9 compared to the 5 of Spearmen. Silver Helms have a 2+ save vs Spearmen's +4. Finally, Spearmen are only 11 points, whereas Silver Helms are 22 points. Is that worth it? If you want your core to be offensive, yes, but no. First, with the changes to Reavers, you can upgrade them to be a Silver Helm that's 3pts cheaper and only gives up 1 armour and 1 S on the charge. Secondly, they are best in one rank, to get as many impact hits and horse attacks as possible. But, if your going to do that you might as well spend 5 more points for Dragon Princes to get an extra A and WS. Thirdly, High Elves have a multitude of strong offensive options in Special Choices- SwordMasters, White Lions, and Shadow Warriors, while their only none-core defensive option is Phoenix Guard. In 9th edition, leave the Silver Helms at home.

• Reaver Knights: Fast cavalry elves with movement 9. H-O-L-Y shit. As if this unit wasn't already strong. 2pts cheaper for a 14pts base and only temporarily dropped spears. Have a total of 5 upgrade options: Ithilmar barding and medium armour for 1.5pts each, Shields for 1pt, spears for 1pt, and bows for 3pts. This unit put Silver Helms and Great Eagles out of business.

Special Units

While your Core units are used to create the core (ha) of your army, this is where you get the guys who do most of the damage. Don't be afraid to shamelessly spend absurd amounts of points (in fact, the full limit you can usually) in your special choices. If you need something dead, and you're not in a big enough game to bring a Star Dragon, this is where you look.

• Swordmasters of Hoeth: 16pts for Heavily armored, great weapon-wielding, missile swatting, 2 attacks each, WS on par with most elven Lords, all while not suffering ANY I penalties from great weapons, but they only hit harder then halberds for only one combat round. These changes, on top of Phoenix Guard's "upgrade" to Rare make this unit have a real spot in the High Elf 9th edition roster. Compared to 8th they have a marginally better save, but lost fight in extra rank for 3pts. That is all. Hold Best damage-dealing infantry you have right now.

• White Lions of Chrace: Uncharacteristically and Unnaturally strong, S4, ax-wielding elves. Costing 2 more points than 8th for 15ppm, became Ld9 but lost ASF and Fight in Extra Rank. Still stubborn to the man, in an edition where steadfast is not as strong and easier to break. Although not as Quick with a Great weapon, they are now better monster Hunters with their additional abilities: gain 6++ parry when charged; inflict ASL on an enemy they charge; gain HKB on their first turn fighting a monstrous unit type. Makes them good at their job at running at dragons and Mornfangs to decapitate them, while Surviving until help arrives if they get charged first.

• White Lion Chariot: 110pts. This is what Tiranoc Chariots suffer when compared to. With 2 S4 crew that hit at S6, 4 S5 Lion attacks and an extra armor save, White Lion Chariots are pretty brutal when they hit right. As with all Chariots, if you're playing defensively they won't help much, but they really work fantastically on the charge. Each one costs 110 points, down 10 points from 8th edition.

• Tiranoc Chariot: These aren't bad on their own terms but when compared to the other major option for Chariots, which is better in nearly every applicable way other than not having a ranged attack, Tiranoc Chariots get a thumbs down. Still, Tiranoc Chariots aren't bad and if you're in the mood for a cheap chariot (70 points), this is for you. They are very adaptable with longbows, spears, and very good movement. Apparently, nobody has noticed that you can take these in units of 1+. Well, you can take these in units of three, so they're not that bad compared to the other chariots in the army. Note that a character on a chariot still joins a unit of Tiranoc chariots.

• Dragon Princes of Caledor: Dragon Princes hit harder than any unit has a right to with two attacks and while heavy cavalry has generally fallen out of favor these guys remain popular due to the ubiquity of flaming attacks and breath weapons (and they're back to being immune to the former). Therefore, if your Daemons of Chaos opponent likes Tzeentch and its flaming attacks (Warpflame, Anon, not Flaming anymore), take these guys and see him cry. If you're playing a defensive list, they're probably not worth your time, but offensive lists can generally find a place for them. On the charge, there's not much that can hit harder, and while they're no Blood Knights they can certainly keep going in melee. Still, stick with prodding the enemy flank as your goal with them.

• Shadow Warriors: Previously, Shadow Warriors were the Elven equivalent of Beastmen. As of recent times however they are better shots than archers while only being 3 points more, and get Scouting and Skirmish so they have become useful at War Machine hunting, many give them AHW or Sheild for more CC or defense. Put a Noble with Shadow Armour and The Reaver Bow in the unit to give them that little extra firepower cheaply. Throw Alith Anar in with them and you've got Elven Vietcong. Generally speaking, Shadow Warriors still don't have much of a place in your army. Reavers are better at putting the hurt on enemies and getting away, and Special is not the category you really want to put ranged options into. Still, a HUGE horde of Spearmen taking up your Core and Phoenix's eating up your Rare slots leave Shadow Warriors as your Special of choice to still get a ranged attack.

• Sisters of Avelorn: The Amazon are closing in. This is the strongest shooting unit in-game, the Phoenix Guard of PEWPEW. They have WS5, S4, AP(1) Flamming magical arrows. For 18 Points this is a deal and they can shoot out of 3+ rows and reduce everything in 24 inches to a pincushion of whatever. Still, they are only as tough as normal archers so don't expect them to take much punishment. Protect them with Spearmen, Phoenix Guard, White Lions, or keep them out of harm's way and fire ahead of the Silver Helms.
  • got nerfed to be non-physical attacks, though this is only a problem against things you don't want to shoot at like elite Chaos Dwarfs and that solo character that know you were using Sisters of Avelorn that day.

• Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower: 60pts. An alternative answer for high toughness and 2+ armour saves if you haven't brought along White Lions. Specializes in impailing monsters and rows of armor troops, or fire multiple shots to thin the less armored variety. When that memo of bolt thrower price reductions that everyone got, the Eagle Claw's Uniqueness gave it only a 10 point reduction. She still has two wounds. T7(!) can offset a lot of that though, and combined with Archers they can cause a lot of damage, or with Lothern Seaguard to pump out some hits and be ready for when the enemy reaches you. They're more resistant to shooting than Eagles and can probably cause more damage long-term. Not a great unit, but if you're in the mood, they don't generally hurt. Concentrate fire to bring down big things like monsters and characters, volley fire to eliminate enemy chaff, and infantry blocks.

Rare Units

• Phoenix Guard: Moved to Rare- Phoenix Guard is not only the best unit in the High Elf army but they had been probably in the top 3 best units of the game. 16 points for WS5, S3 (S4 because of halberds), I6, LD9, Fear causing, Heavy Armored. Wait that doesn't sound good? Oh, they also have a 4+ Ward Save, standard. Yeah, there you go. These guys can get hit in the face by a cannonball and just shrug it off, and they've got enough killing power to actually give back. Be sure to give them a solid bit of static CR, because LD9 does not make them immune to failing their break test (BSB works well and will be difficult to kill inside that unit). Make them very deep to take away steadfast. There is no High Elf army that doesn't have room for these lads (other than the full cavalry list).
  • Moved to Rare has hurt them as you can only take one in any game with less than 3000pts. They are still effective as a big deathstar anvil.

• Handmaidens of the Everqueen: Now remade into the elites of elite Sisters. They now possess spears (And fight in an extra rank) and have Quick to Fire to make their shooting even better. Can take a Horn of Isha, which you should take any time you aren't taking the Reaver Bow. If you take the Banner of Avelorn, you can make a Life or Light Mage's day as you seriously buff their casting while the Alarielle still lives.

• Great Eagle: 50pts. Used to be the only chaff the High Elf army had, but now you've got Reavers and Silver Helms as options in this respect as well. At a mere 50 points, it's easy to field a couple of eagles in any game higher than 1500. These guys are still the champions of war machine hunting, redirecting, and mage hunting, but they die easier than Silver Helms and it's hard to argue with the Reavers having a ranged attack on top of that role so the primary use of the Great Eagle is now to do the same role but save points (a group of 5 Reavers without bows would cost 70 points and with bows would cost 85 points, a group of 5 Silver Helms would cost 110, and all 3 choices fulfill the same role to different capacities). With T4 and W3, they're kinda survivable but don't expect them to survive through the end of the game. They are the ultimate sacrificial units in the chaff slot, and can usually slow down other units and kill at least their points worth, with their two S4 attacks coupled with optional Armor Piercing(1). A unit of Shadow Warriors can fulfill its role to an extent as well, but Eagle is still preferred.

• Lothern Skycutter: 100/125pts. It's a flying Tiranoc chariot with an extra crewman but each one has a bow compared to the longbow of the Tiranoc. The Roc (not an Eagle, a Roc) hits harder and has an extra attack, and all this comes at only 25 more points than the Chariot. But that's not why you take a Lothern Skycutter. Three words: Flying Bolt Throwers! It's a 25 point upgrade to have one of the crewmen it, and it's what you're looking for in this choice. Unlike the regular Bolt Thrower, however, this one is a bit different. For one, there's only one type of fire, a single bolt which has half the range of an ordinary Bolt Thrower with 1 Strength less, same D3 wounds and ignoring armor saves, BUT can be fired whether it moves or not. It's beautiful, isn't it? While your Eagles and/or Shadow Warriors have things stuck on the enemy's side of the map, just park out of range of a charge and make them bleed. Unfortunately with moving and only a range of 24 (and therefore at long range when over 12 inches) odds are you're gonna need a 5+ to hit, so you might not get as much mileage out of that Bolt Thrower as you want. Consider carefully. Note that if you're gonna take a single Tiranoc Chariot, you might consider a Bolt Thrower-less Skycutter, if you can find 25 points. For those points, you get 1 more crewman (and thus 1 more spear attack/bow shot) 1 higher armor, plus 2WS and 1S on your mount. Probably worth those points.

• Flamespyre Phoenix: 225pts. If you're taking the Flamespyre Phoenix, you should really scroll up and read the section for it as a mount for an Anointed of Asuryan. That's really how you want to play it, otherwise, the Frostheart is what you are looking for.
  • Alternate Opinion: Taking an Anointed on a Flamespyre Phoenix is actually a massive waste of the Anointed. You are paying an extra 210 points for a rider who is completely useless when the Phoenix is doing flyby burning, which is how you should usually be using it. An Anointed isn't gonna help the Phoenix fight anything except stuff the Phoenix is already qualified to fight, so you're basically paying those 210 points (plus any magic items you want to give him) to get +1 to his resurrection rolls. Never mind that A: when the Phoenix bites it so does the Anointed, B: you're wasting the Anointed ability to grand a 6++ and ItP to a unit, and C: it means that the 225 points for the Phoenix come from Lord choices instead of Rare, which is bad because you need your Lord points. Just take the Flamespyre alone and concentrate on the flyby and charging smaller units.

• Frostheart Phoenix: 260pts. When you get old, you get cold more often it seems, this is especially true if you were a fricking blazing Phoenix since you become a freezing Phoenix. It is tougher and stronger than its younger version but can't drop napalm and loses its "I'll be back" ability. So it costs a fraction more and if you want to have your monster stay alive instead of maybe coming back to life this is your choice. It has 5+ natural armor, which is decent. It Causes Terror, which is great. Ice Attack and Blizzard Aura lets it bestow ASL and it lowers enemy Strength by 1. Although it can pull chaff duty, that's really not where you want it unless you're just looking for more time to fill the enemy with arrows and bolts. Frosthearts should be with your main force, hitting whatever needs to be weakened the most after it's already in a fight with your anvil force.

• Merwyrm: 205pts. You now have a sea dragon that's about as strong as a sun dragon. Though it lacks flight or fire breath, it does have a 4+ regen and throws an extra S7 attack at I1. The Merwyrm is very durable in addition to not competing with the often tight character allowance. Will smash-up loads of simple Rank and file dudes while taking a lot back. Also helps you have lore of Life and High.

Building Your Army

Buying Your Army

The key to getting a nice cheap army is the Island of Blood. For one hundred dollars, (OR 55€) you get a decent number of elves, and some Skaven as well that can either be painted and glued to the base underneath your elves's feet or simply re-auctioned to a Skaven player. Did I mention the rulebook, templates, and artillery dice? Buy two of these treasure troves, then sell the Skaven packaged with the rulebook. With that alone, you can probably recover the costs of the boxes. After that, you get 20 Lothern Sea Guard, 20 Swordmasters, 10 Reavers, 2 Mages, and 2 Princes on Griffons (but those can also be run as Princes or Nobles on Eagles or even as just a regular Great Eagle if that's how you're going to go about it). That's the perfect start to any high elf army. After that, start browsing ebay. Search Warhammer High Elves by ending soonest, crunch the numbers so you know Games Workshop's price per model, then factor in shipping. Figure out what you can proxy (High Elf Island of Blood Mage+Spearman/Lothern Seaguard Arm holding the spear with a computer printout of a flag glued to it=Noble bearing a Battle Standard for example). Remember if there's something decent you need with a shipping price you're not thrilled over ($3 for a Korhil mini, but with $4 shipping making it not too great a deal) to check in the seller's other auctions, so you can net a combined shipping discount (that $4 shipping feels much better when you're getting a dragon for $20 and some Eldar you can greenstuff to look medieval for $2 along with said Korhil). With patience, you can assemble a High Elf army at a fraction of the price buying new would have cost, and you can even get some of the nifty old metal minis to be proud of!

With GW Shelving all but most of the elite units, you should start covert Dark elf kits for your linemen or find 3d party elfs.

If you don't share the same high elf inflexibility, Lumineth Realm-Lords can also scratch your itch for High elves if you like that Higher Fantasy aesthetics.

Army Composition

A High Elf army must either be defensive or offensive, having a mix between the two means that your opponent is only ever facing half of your army at any one time. The good news is, however, that once the focus of your army has been chosen there is still a lot to choose from and a lot to tinker with. Whichever approach you take you need to think about what you are going to do if the enemy has the same plan, or at least refuses to do what you want. While your awesome defensive army with lethal flank charges and such might be awesome when your opponent foolishly charges his whole army towards your block of spearmen, if you're playing against a dwarf gunline who's plan is to just never move then you're going to have problems. All lists need to have a plan for handling war machines (which are to be expected from every opponent) and some number of units to help you control the enemy movement. A few great eagles and a unit of reavers can find a place in almost any army for exactly this reason. Yes, your army needs to be focused but it also needs to be realistic. You need to be able to get some units out on the flanks to clog up charge lanes or divert shooting while your combat dudes jog across the board. If you don't do this then even the best defensive list will get outmaneuvered and the best offensive list will get pulled out of position by enemy chaff. You don't want to spend a lot of points on these units, but they need to be there unless you have an extremely good reason not to have them.

Magic Items tactics

High elves are a very good faction with high Ld, WS, and Initiative. Just focuses only on attack, strength, armour, wards, and Get back ASF(for better hit rerolls) then your good. Other than that give your wizards some magic boosters.

Magic tactics

The new High Magic is probably one of the most aggressive lores in the entire game now, Soul Quench makes Fireball lovers cry. Fiery Convocation is, in a game version promoting the use of hordes, extremely powerful; except against ogres and full knight Brets (giving Bretonnians at least one advantage in the modern game) and once it's been cast, your opponent will probably need to abort his next magic phase to dispel it if he cares about his burning minions. High Magic also has Apotheosis, which heals a wound and grants Fear to the target making your badasses into glorious bastards. Walk Between Worlds makes a unit Ethereal and get 10 more inches of movement to deliver a unit directly wherever it needs to be. Hand of Glory is a nice augment, Arcane Unforging is anti-character in the best way, and finally Drain Magic lets you undo whatever spells your opponent is using to manipulate the field of battle (goodbye undead augments).

For the rest of the lores, usual stuff applies. Lore of Life is a consistent favorite (nothing like watching those 5 Phoenix Guard he worked so hard to kill get back up) as is Lore of Shadow. High Elves aren't really set up for offensive Magic outside Dragon Mages so you should generally go with support spells to protect your expensive units, rather than offensive spells.

An important thing to remember is that you should not be building your list around using magic to support this or that unit, you should be putting magic into your list in order to augment the units that are already good. T7 Swordmasters might be awesome, but imagine how awesome that would be on a unit that doesn't need the support to be that good. Plus there are always factors that might get in the way of you casting a spell when you need to, so don't take a unit assuming you can make it better by augmenting it with magic; Take a unit that's already awesome without the magic.

Magic Lores

In this section, I'll list the multiple ways to use specific Lores in conjunction with our units. Some Lores of Magic are flexible and unique, while some are more focused on specific strategies and units to make them work. Either way, you'll find use of them here. In the modern game buffs and hexes are generally the order of the day, offering a lot of value for the dice invested. Especially for high elves who have incredibly powerful units, buffs can send your dudes into the stratosphere. Direct damage spells are still worthwhile but the really powerful ones have either short range, are only effective against specific units or have high casting cost so you need to pick lores that your mages can realistically get good mileage out of depending where you put them and what you expect them to achieve and don't just think in terms of getting the mage a high body count. While getting fifteen kills with dwellers is really cool, something much more boring like +1T for a big block of spearmen can have a much more lasting impact in the game by blunting the enemy charge and allowing you to set up your flank charges and you opponent is much less likely to go all in dispelling a minor augment.

There are two styles of magic that exist for High Elves in my opinion: Balanced and Specific.

Balanced Lores provide buffs and hexes that cover a large area of High Elf weaknesses. These lores include High Magic, Lore of Metal, Shadow, and Light. Specific Lores depend on certain army builds to bring out their true potential. These Lores include Life, Death and Beasts. I'll explain more below.

High Magic - Balanced

This is a very balanced lore that's designed to assist the High Elves take on any foe. With TWO signature spells this is very versatile. The biggest spell: Fiery Convocation, burns down entire hordes if left unchecked and Arcane Unforging is a direct damage that wounds like a Metal Lore spell but also randomly destroys a magic item on 2+; use this on Banner of Barrows, Flag of Blood Keep, Ghal Maraz ect cetera. Walk Between World makes a unit move 10/20 inches as if Ethereal in the Remaining Move Phase, good for putting a Phoenix behind enemy lines. Oh, and did we mention the Lore Attribute of High Magic? +1 to your Ward save for the Mage and unit every time a spell is successfully cast. YOUR FREAKIN WARD SAVE! This means that a Level 4 Wizard running High Magic can grant most units at least a 5+ during each magic phase and you only need one spell to give Phoenix Guard the magical 3+. March them across the field and watch your opponent cry as everything and their dog tries to kill it with only 3-4 casualties a turn.

Lore of Shadow - Balanced

Our most powerful lore in my opinion. It's almost as if this Lore was designed with High Elves in mind because it complements our army perfectly: 1. Elite troops with high WS and I can be dealt with Miasma. 2. High strength can be robbed of their power with Enfeeble. 3. High toughness units can be dispatched easier with Withering on them. 4. Expensive, multi-wound models with low initiative can be destroyed with Pit of Shades.

I highly recommend this Lore as your go to lore for balanced play.

Lore of Light - Balanced

This is another very balanced Lore and very powerful against the Undead and also Daemons now that their stinking Standard of Sundering is finally out of the game. So yeah, TK, VC and DoC hate this lore. Army-wide Pha's Illumination and Speed of Light makes your entire army back to ASF and -1 to hit. This gives you fantastic combat potential and great protection vs. melee and shooting alike. Timewarp also allows your entire to surge forward and get into combat insanely early. Once they're in combat, the army-wide buffs allow you to win combat and take less casualties. All your units will hit things on 3s with re-rolls and you'll most likely be hit on 6s.

If you decide to go Light, having a Lv.1 Wizard with Light is also suggested. This gives you the ability to inflict fantastic damage with Burning Gaze and Banishment for very low casting values. As for most balanced Lores, feel free to take whatever.

Lore of Metal - Balanced

This Lore gives you the power to break through armored units as they were butter. If you knew you were going against an army with multiple, heavily-armored targets such as Brettonian Bretonnian Knights, this Lore is fantastic. Another great thing about Lore of Metal is the army-wide 5+ Scaly Skin. This makes your Spearmen pack on a 2+ armor save. Sword Masters and Phoenix Guard also share that lovely 2+. With this in mind, I want to talk about a very specific spell and army-build:

A large unit of Sword Masters with Enchanted Blades of Aiban absolutely annihilate things in combat. WS6 with +1 to hit means you'll most of the game on 2s. With, re-rolls from Martial Prowess and Armor Piercing S5, you'll walk through troops and elites alike. Even Spearmen with Enchanted Blades plow through units like they were butter. Give it a try, I promise good results.

Lore of Death - Specific

For this Lore, you mainly want to focus on the destructive capabilities of character sniping. These spells allow you to pick out BSBs, Generals and other important targets that could ruin the opposing army. VC Generals, TK Hierophants, Bretonnian BSBs, the list goes on. It goes without saying that the army-wide -1S and T allow your troops to inflict more damage and take less in return. Lastly, we have Purple Sun. That thing just embarrasses Lizardmen, certain undead armies and Dwarfs. And Ogre Kingdoms.

Lore of Life - Specific

I really like this Lore and I almost placed it in the balanced section, but I want to highlight some key builds that I like a lot. For one, Dwellers is a no brainer for most players: It picks off characters, completely wrecks enemies with Elf-stats and destroys entire units of Skaven. Throw dice at a large target with low S and watch it disappear from the game: Cheesy archer spam builds beware! This, is a very defensive Lore for the most part. You have Regen, protection from Miscast, and awesome +4 Toughness to any unit of choice. Which unit in particular?

A giant unit of Sword Masters with T7 and Regen can mow through most units in the game. They are already incredibly powerful in close combat because of WS6, S5 and 2A, but now give them the T7 and Regen and things just get ridiculous. Use a small Phoenix Guard bunker with a Life Mage and Book, and spam these spells on a giant horde of SM w/ Standard of Balance and Amulet of Light. People will most certainly hate you.

Lore of Beasts - Specific

If the base unit spell for +1S +1T, the +3T to all characters in 12" is also pretty awesome. Unlike the Lore of Life though, this Lore focuses a lot on damage from characters than defense. Don't get me wrong, Curse of Anraheir can still hex someone down to -1 to hit. Combine this with tough Elven warriors and things look a lot brighter. Take what you would normally take and spam Wyssan's Wildform on everything. Then walk up a bunch of Princes and Nobles with +S magic weapons and hit Savage Beast of Horrors. Can you imagine the amount of carnage you can inflict with multiple characters wielding +3S and +3 attacks? I'm not sure how effective it'll be, but it'll sure make my Prince a little scarier. Or take Korhil, put him on a Lion Chariot, cast the Beast on him, chuck him at whatever and RAPETRAIN IT! Believe me, I've done this before.

Mist Magic - Specific:

New and reserved to one Hero wizard. They do a lot for your army in terms of protection. Illusory Assault turns those low Ld hoard on them themselves, and Writhing Mist and Mistress of the Deep will protect you fragile units.

Tactics

suiside Eagles are an Elves' Best Friend

I've said it once and I'll say it again: Eagles is my MVP. First off, they are probably one of the most annoying pieces of chaff ever. They're great in the deployment phase when you can just put one down and stare into your opponent's soul. They're great ingame because they can fly boldly into your opponent's charge lanes and take one from the team; forcing them to charge them and re-position. Eagles buy you time, buy your movement and allow you to re-position your army while the Eagle re-positions your opponents. They allow you to chase down enemy chaff or flankers, help pressure warmachines and provide you with flank and rear charge CR should they survive mid-game. They act primarily as re-directors (a Frenzied unit's worst nightmare) and are the true workhorse of most High Elf armies.

External Links

The Project's website

Warhammer Army Project Tactics Articles
General Tactics	About 9th edition Magic Items Magic Tips Regiments of Renown
Forces of Order	Albion Amazons Bretonnia Cathay Cult of Ulric Dwarf Empire Estalia Halflings High Elves Kingdoms of Ind Kislev Lizardmen Nippon Wood Elves
Forces of Destruction	Beastmen Chaos Dwarfs Daemons of Chaos Dark Elves Orcs & Goblins Skaven Vampire Counts Warriors of Chaos Zombie Pirates of the Vampire Coast
Unaligned	Araby Dogs Of War Hobgoblins Norse Ogre Kingdoms Pirates of Sartosa Tomb Kings