The 9th Age/Tactics/Highborn Elves

The fair use The 9th Age expy of the High Elves of Warhammer Fantasy.

Tactics

The Tactics are current as of version .205.1

Army Rules

Martial Discipline Discipline tests (not break or panic tests though) are subject to a minimized roll (roll one extra dice and remove the highest). Even though you can't use it for break tests, it does apply for rally tests, so it is very likely your elves will return to the fight after they flee for any reason. This rule makes it easy to set up favorable charges by being able to consistently rally after a flee reaction.

Master of Spellcrafting Spells cast by models with this rule have their Casting Value reduced by 1. Effectively a +1 to all casting rolls, does not affect bound spells.

Valiant Model is immune to fear (woo hoo), if more than half the unit has Valiant the unit is immune to panic tests caused by terror. Again, high leadership elves, but can save your ass against a monster in a pinch.

Unit Analysis

Characters

High Prince Incredibly killy big boi. You'll want one to kick ass and take names. Because of his high offensive skill and lightning reflexes you'll be hitting other lord level characters on 2+. You will need to dip into his special equipment and honors to keep him alive (he only gets a 4+/6++ with mundane equipment, 2+/6++ with a horse). If you have 5 points to spare, give him a bow. He has the maximum possible to-hit in the game and being able to ping off wounds at 30" when he otherwise isn't doing anything else is totally worth it.

Commander The kid brother of the prince. One less attack and slightly worse offensive/defensive skill (will still hit same priced characters on 2+). You'll probably be taking one as BSB. Has the same survival problems as the prince.

Mage The elves are good at magic and this guy proves it. He is an Adept by default and with Master of Spellcrafting he functionally has a +1 to cast all non-bound spells. Can choose from Cosmology, Divination, or Pyromancy. You'll want at least one to be a buff buddy with Cosmology and the Hereditary spell. After that, if you want a dakka boy on Pyromancy, go for it.

Hereditary Spell

Favor of Meladys Lasts one turn. When successfully cast, add a veil token to your pool. When a friendly unit within 18" loses a wound, discard a veil token to ignore the wound (this is done before special saves). Multiple wounds instead reduce the amount by 1. Rank and File models ignore 2 wounds per veil token. Maximum of 2 veil tokens may be discarded per phase in this manner. Characters and Gigantic models may only ignore 1 wound per phase in this manner. This spell is what makes your elves survivable. Always have this spell in your arsenal somewhere.

Honours

High Prince and Commander Honours

Master of Canreig Tower Makes your boi a spell boi. They get a large spell selection from 5 different paths (alchemy, cosmology, druidism, shamanism, and witchcraft) but can only take spell 1 from each. Commander knows 3 spells, Prince knows 5. They also get Sword Sworn so they can throw down with a great weapon. A flexible choice and is a must have for many tournament lists.

High Warden of the Flame You're taking this honour for the 4++. Fearless, flaming attacks, and magic resistance (1) are nice but not why you take this. Got a price drop in 205, still expensive, but if your planning on footslogging your general this honour is pretty good.

Fleet Officer nope. Only has two benefits, Cover Volley (can stand and shoot when a nearby ally is charged) and +1 to the roll for choosing deployment zones. He also give your guys minimized panic tests, if he's the general or BSB and they are within range (what a EoS marshal can do with an order for half the points). The only way you might field this honour is if you put him on a sky sloop. He gets +2 to hit with the sky reaper, but it's a large investment just to have an annoying dakka chariot.

Royal Huntsman The model gains lions fur (+1 armor, +2 vs shooting weapons) and gives the unit he's in Valiant. Gets multiple wounds (2) against big models. A great choice for a footslogging general and easily one of the better honours. Can be put on a lion chariot for some shock value.

Queen's Cavalier The bearer gains devastating charge (+1 attack and fear) but that's not why you take this hounour. You take this honour to shove 2 big dragons into your army instead of 1.

Queen's Companion Gives your boi 3 shots and the choice for moonlight arrows (str4 ap1 flaming) or scout+fae Miasma. Best choice for a dakka prince/commander.

Mage Honours

Asfad Scholar Wizard Master only. Increases the range of all spells by 6" (3" for aura spells) and gains Drain Magic as a bound spell. Let's your mage do his job without having to get up close and personal.

Order of the Fiery Heart Changes your path selection to Pyromancy or Alchemy. Also give your mage options for heavy armor and dragon mounts. When you want your mage up close and personal.

Character Mounts

Elven Horse You know it, you love it. A surprisingly fast mount with +2 armor and better agility than most core choices for other armies.

Giant Eagle Same speed as horse with less armor and more attacks. If you want it, take it in the special section.

Griffon 1" slower than the horse and no armor bonus, but with 3 more attacks, devastating charge, and lightning reflexes. Take it on a character to hunt wizards and warmachines, or just take out some punks on a flank charge.

Young Dragon Baby dragon, still a dragon. Is listed as large cavalry so gives your character +1 armor. If you want your character tankier, take the young dragon, if you want it killier, take the griffon.

Dragon Your big boy dragon. Is the same dragon listing as most other army's dragons.

Ancient Dragon Hot damn. This monster will trash other big models, but watch out for its large base size. You're going to be sinking a lot of points to get this puppy on the table and it can get bogged down by a lot of models and other monsters.

Reaver Chariot When you want a horse but two of them. Boosts your character to resilience 4, so can be a surprisingly tanky option.

Lion Chariot Still moves 8" and has lions pulling it. 2 of them!. Thats 4 attacks before you even get to the crew of the thing. Can only be mounted by a character with the Royal Huntsman honour.

Sky Sloop Only mountable by a character with the Fleet Officer honour. You get the 1+ to hit with the sky reaper, but it's not worth all the points it takes to get one. Just take it in the Naval Ordinance Section.

Core

Citizen Spears Your cheapest unit. Base size of 20 and cost of 12/model (16/model for more). With fight in extra rank and lightning reflexes you'll be trashing other core units with even minimum sized units. Hordes of Citizen Spears are scary powerhouses (max size 50 models).

Highborn Lancers Dropped in price for 205, now only 240 for the base 5 and 40/model for any past that. If your running an aggressive list, or even just need some extra units to clog charge lanes, these beefy boys have you covered.

Core + Queen's Bows

The following units counts towards both categories, keep that in mind if you want Queen's Guard or Grey Watchers.

Citizen Archers 18/model for some great archers. 30" range and 3+ to hit. Take as many as you like and they will make their points back. They only have light armor, so don't expect them to do to much in melee, but they have a decent offensive/defensive skill and lightning reflexes means they can hold their own against some common flankers.

Sea Guard Where to start with these. Essentially Citizen Spears + Bows, but they lose fight in extra rank and gain some other odd special rules and +1 defensive skill. They have Steady Aim (can shoot from the third rank and no penalties for stand and shoot) and Cover Volley (can stand and shoot at units charging nearby allied units). So they have the possibility to be very scary, but you have to play around it. The issue is they cost 22/model. For 20 Sea Guard you can get 20 Citizen Spears AND 10 Citizen Archers. Not a bad model, but costs too much for what they do no longer! Sea Guard got a huge point drop in .205, now they are a rather point efficient model. Still not as stabby as a spear elf or as good range as an archer, but they can do both and that alone makes them worth the cost.

Elein Reavers Add bows if you want them. Without bow's they're just worse Lancers that take up your queen's bows allowance too.

Queen's Bows

Queen's Guard The best shooting unit in the game bar none. Why they have a 20 model per army cap. They have 2+ to hit with str4 ap1 flaming arrows. You can give them spears if you want to make them scarier to charge. If you're taking them it's worth the 1 point/model.

Grey Watchers Where Queen's Guard are your balls out damage, Grey Watchers are your support archers. When a unit is hit (not wounded) by Grey Watchers, they must take a resilience test for each hit. If they fail any of those resilience tests, that unit suffers -1 to hit (shooting and close combat) for 1 turn. Dakka a unit to discourage a charge or make it more difficult to deal with your reavers. If your playing them behind your front line, take shields for survivability. If your scouting them, take paired weapons and rush them at the enemy war machines or mage bunkers. Fae Miasma makes them surprisingly tanky in close combat.

Special

Sword Masters A minimum sized unit of these is throwing out 10 str4 ap1 attacks (11 with a champion). Their Offensive skill and Sword Sworn means they'll be hitting most units on 2+. These are your horde busters, they'll eat through enemy units before they can even attack. They only have heavy armor, so don't expect them to take much in return.

Lion Guard They throw out str6 ap3 attacks with multiple wounds (2) against beasts and large/gigantic models (but not large infantry). They have valiant to so they won't run if they get charged by a monster and become stubborn if a high prince general is rolling with them. Your jack-of-all-trades unit, will do reasonably well against whatever you throw them at. They will dunk on monsters.

Flame Wardens The tank option. They have 4++ and fight in extra rank. A minimum sized unit of them can take whatever your opponent throws at them and be able to give some back in return.

Knights of Ryma Like hitting them with a truck. Devastating charge (+1 attack) means on the charge a minimum sized unit throws out 10 str6 ap3 attacks (11 with a champion). They can keep going in melee, only str4 ap1, but you should plan on breaking enemies with the charge. Also 2+/6++ heavy cavalry. Hot damn.

Reaver Chariot Come in units up to 4. If you wanted Elein reavers but didn't want them to eat up Queen's Bows, take these.

Lion Chariot Use them as the shock cavalry against monsters. A nutty amount of str5 ap2 and str6 ap3 attacks for one model. Take one and clog charge lanes with it.

Giant Eagle Comes in units up to 5. Fly the same speed as your horses. Use them as chaff instead of Reavers if you want them.

Naval Ordinance

Sea Guard Reaper Can fire as a shots 1 str 3(6) ap 10 multiple wounds (d3) bolt thrower or a shots 6 str 4 ap 2 volley gun. Incredibly flexible warmachine at a very low price. Take a few if you have points to spare.

Sky Sloop Has the Sky Reaper, a shots 4 str 5 ap 2 volley gun on a fast flying chariot. Use it to harass unit, but the points could be better spent elsewhere.

Ancient Allies

The category your dragons and griffons come out of, but also includes the

Phoenix The statline of your baby dragon, as fast as a giant eagle. Come in Fire or Frost flavors and they have options for a warden to ride it. The warden doesn't add much in attacks or defense, but the phoenix has a better chance of passing its rebirth roll with a warden on top.

• Fire: Your woodchipper. It gains grind attacks and sweeping attacks, meaning whatever it does it is burning bad guys. With grind attacks and stomps it is slapping out 4+2d6 attacks every round in melee.
• Frost: Your anvil. It gained Supernal in .205, so this bird will not run no matter how combat goes. Use its speed to run into a unit and hold it into place for a support charge. Be aware that with the unbreakability of supernal, it also gained unstable, so it's losing HP in place of running for the hills. You can use the hereditary spell to block the HP loss from unstable, so make sure you have a mage to support the frosty if you want it to live to the end of turn 6.

Magic Items

Weapon Enchantments

Nova Flare Lance only, Devastating Charge (+1 attack), divine attacks, magical attacks, and lethal strike. Can be used once to pretend your charging even if you aren't, lets you apply all devastating charge effects in the middle of a fight. Can save your ass if your prince gets charged and is scary in its own right, but you could probably find a better use for the points.

Sliver of the Blazing Dawn Spear only, makes it kickass. +1 str, +2 ap, and each successful to hit causes inflicts 2 hits instead of 1. A very scary weapon but will use the entirety of your commanders magic allowance.

Elu's Heartwood Longbow only, 3 shots, +1 str +1 ap. Pretty expensive, but makes a great dakka prince. The Queen's Companion Honour is arguably better value.

Armour Enchantments

Gleaming Robe Mage light armor only. Makes your mage 6+/3++ and slightly better survivability for some miscasts. You have better, cheaper options.

Protection of Dorac Only for models on foot and heavy armor. +2 armor and defensive skill is nothing to sneeze at, pretty good for your high warden of the flame.

Star Metal Alloy shield only. The first time the bearers model suffers wounds with multiple wounds, half the multiple wounds. Great for a dragon rider or other monster mounted model.

Daemon's Bane What it says on the tin. +2 armor vs magical attacks can also be nice for a duelist (other characters will probably have magical attacks from their weapons). Don't count on it to do much, but it is only 20 points.

Banner Enchantments

Navigator's Standard Rank and File models in the unit gain distracting during the first round of combat against models in its front facing. Always take this standard. On your deathstar of spearelves it will make them that much more survivable.

Banner of Becalming Cannot be taken by core units. Take a Veil token from your enemy during their magic phase. Can deny your opponent another magic dice and can save you a wound with your hereditary spell.

War Banner of Ryma Can be taken twice. Rank and File models in the unit gain devastating charge (+1 str) and infantry gain (+1 advance) as well. depends on who you're fighting, but other banners are better investments.

Artefacts

Book of Meladys Dominant, wizard only. Once per magic phase, you may reroll one dice during a casting roll. Great for your mages or canrieg tower boi to get spells off more consistently.

Ring of the Pearl Throne When in close combat, choose a model in base contact with the bearer, choose one piece of special equipment they have, it doesn't work as long as you're in base contact. Can be powerful depending on what your opponent is running, but there are better options. Now only 90 points, but still difficult to make it work.

Diadem of Protection +2 to aegis save, max 4++. Overpriced, but is worth it on large models.

Amethyst Crystal +1 to all dispel rolls your army makes. Expensive at 70 points, but can give you that edge in the magic phases.

Glittering Lacquer Cavalry models only. The bearer gains hard target. Great for that griffon or young dragon so they don't get shot to pieces while they distraction carnifex at the enemy.