Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Dark Elves

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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 absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

Generic Characters

Note: While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army. NOTE: No Master or Highborn's Armor Save should EVER be below 4+. It costs less than 10 points to give them Heavy Armor and Sea Dragon Cloak which instantly gives them a leg up on 99 percent of most enemy heroes and lords.

• Highborn: Your workaday combat lord. He's cheap and effective and can be highly nasty when given the right equipment. A fun combination is Cold One, Armor of Living Death, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak and Pendent of Khaeleth, which makes him nigh-unkillable (low S attacks will get repelled on the 1+ armor save, high strength will get knocked out by the silly-ward). There are many equipment options that will be covered in the equipment section. Overall, he's cheap with some good stats (WS7 and I8 is nothing to sneer at) and he can be quite effective in the right circumstances. Just don't put him in fights he can't win.
• Supreme Sorceress: Supreme Sorceresses (and Sorceresses for that matter) excel at one thing: Blasting the almighty crap out of everything. You can fling absurd amounts of dice around if you're unafraid of miscasts and have access to some impressively destructive Lores. The Dark Elves signature Lore consists of almost nothing but ways to blast the shit out of people. Aside from that, Fire can be fun and Death is good for some targeted hero killing. Bringing a Level 4 Supreme Sorceress will almost always pay off.
• Sorceress: Sorceresses are cheap and effective. Level 1s can bring a small effective spell to the table (Notable Dark Magic's signature spell is one that shooting heavy armies HATE!) and bringing a level 2 could provide valuable support when things go tits up for your Supreme Sorceress. Not as powerful as a Supreme but well worth taking.
• Master: Masters are among the best cost for ability heroes in the game. He has no special abilities beyond Hatred, but his WS and I make him powerful for a hero and did we mention he's only 80 points and can ride a fucking MANTICORE? Yeah, this guy can hit 'em where it hurts for cheap. Also the better option for a BSB.
• Death Hag: Death Hags cost 10 points more than a master for 2 hand weapons, Frenzy, Poisoned Attacks aaaand...the loss of any kind of saves beyond a 5+ for 30 points. Not batting 1000 here. And the gifts of Khaine do not compare well to the Magic Items.
  • Cauldron of Blood: If you're taking a Death Hag for any other reason than to take this motherfucker, than you're an idiot. 110 points for a model that can wreck anyone's day within 24 inches and makes all Khaite models stubborn within 12. Perfect for a defensive army.
• Assassin: Assassin's are not heroes but there's no better place to put them, so deal with it. Assassin's when kitted out right, can end the life of any Hero and most Lords. It's frankly ABSURD WS and I mean that it can put the whammy on anyone dumb enough to get into close combat with it. And here's the kicker, because of the Hidden rule, people don't know if they're getting into combat with it. We'll talk about setups later during the magic item discussion, just remember that Assassins often end up on suicide detail. Oh and don't forget to write down what unit it's in, or people will accuse you of cheating.

• • Mount Options:
    • Dark Steed: The cheapest option, but not really worth it. M9 will put him out away from the rest of the army, who might need his LD10 bubble.
    • Cold One: The traditional mount of a Highborn/Master and with good reason. M7 is quite reasonable, stupidity is unlikely to cause problems at LD9 and S4 and +2 to armor saves are always nice. If you want a mounted hero without shelling out for a big expensive mount, this is where to go.
    • Dark Pegasus: Pegasi are in an awkward position in this book. If you want a flying mount, there are better places to go that don't get killed whenever a unit of Longbow armed humans or up gets it in their head that that Dark Elf bearing down on them doesn't mean them any good. But with T4 and only 3 wounds, pretty much any concentrated shooting can take them out and they don't really have the power to make up for that.
    • Manticore: Don't have the points for a Black Dragon, but want something big and scary? Then come on down to Beastmaster's Manticore Emporium. The inbetween option and a damned good one at that. If you want people to cry cheese, try mounting your Master on one of these.
    • Black Dragon: A middle tier Dragon (better than Sun Dragons and Manticores but not as good as Star Dragons and Greater Daemons) who's effectiveness is often linked to how good the rider is. A powerful mount, perhaps a tiny bit overpriced, but worthwhile. We will cover what items to take and not take later, but a remember that your Dragon is huge and scary, so it will be getting shot at by everyone who doesn't want to see it crashing into their lines. Keep it out of sight of cannons.