Editing 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.

==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 doesnt 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.

==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 [[Warhammer/Tactics/Daemons of Chaos| 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.

==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:''' 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:''' Basic magic missile. Augmenting isn't as strong as it used to be.
#'''Apotheosis:''' Heals a single model, which helps a character, but not so much his unit. Either way, the model now has Fear.
#'''Hand of Glory:''' Improve M/WS/BS/I by +d3, with augment improving all of them at once.
#'''Walk Between Worlds:''' 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.
#'''Tempest:''' 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.
#'''Arcane Unforging:''' 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.
#'''Fiery Invocation:''' 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 to get a 6++ parry against any units they beat in initiative.

*'''Martial Prowess:''' Radically altered from prior editions. Now instead of allowing extra ranks to fight, this lets High Elves re-roll 1s to hit.

*'''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 Piercing 1 on them. How nice.
===Vaul's Forge===
*'''Blade of Leaping Gold:''' Your sword grants three extra attacks, and all 6s to wound ignore armour. All in all a decent sword.
*'''The Reaver Bow:''' Longbow with S5 Piercing 1. For 30 points, this is quite good for an archer prince.

*'''Shield of the Merwyrm:'''  ̶S̶h̶i̶e̶l̶d̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶4̶+̶+̶ ̶P̶a̶r̶r̶y̶.̶ ̶2̶5̶ ̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶q̶u̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶n̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶i̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶s̶u̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶r̶m̶o̶u̶r̶ With the addition of Elven Grace and mundane shields still getting a ward save when paried 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:''' Medium armour that gives a footslogger scout and strider.

*'''Golden Crown of Atrazar:''' Gives a single 2++ ward against the first hit suffered before breaking. 

*'''Moranion's Wayshard:''' Gives ambusher and hands it to a 30-man unit of spearmen/archers/warriors that the wearer joins.
*'''Gem of Sunfire:''' Single-use gift that adds +1 to wound with all attacks and flaming attacks.
*'''Khaine's Ring of Fury:''' Bound PL3 Soul Quench. Pretty handy so back up a cmage who picked Drain Magic or another lore altogether.
*'''Cloak of Beards:''' 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.

*'''Book of Hoeth:''' Re-roll a single die that doesn't roll a 6 during casting/dispel checks. Overcosted at 60 points.

*'''Banner of the World Dragon:''' The old classic has been worked over. While it retains the aura of stubborn for dragons, it loses the 2++ ward against spells for magic resist 5, a means to protect it from things that aren't missiles.

==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:''' Tyrion is an very expensive close combat beast, and that's what you want him to be. Between WS9, I10, 4 attacks, S7 (4 base +3 from Sunfang, and a magical Flaming Attack at that) that re-roll to hit, the ability to counter when rolling a 6 on ward saves, and a single-use breath weapon, he can pretty much wreck an entire unit on his own and with his 2+ armor, 4+ ward, and Magic Resistance (2) he will just not die (and even if he does, the engagement necklace from the Everqueen means one 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 last wound is slightly more vulnerable). However, he's kinda stuck in the role of the hammer, and at that level of points you can 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. Weiging in at 410 points, he'll eat up a big chunk of your Lords points, but with the changes due to the End Times, you can now field him and the Everqueen in a 2000 pt game (and hopefully they don't start banging mid-game). 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:''' 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 lets 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:''' The Everqueen is back people, 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 female status 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. Her 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.

* '''Alith Anar, the Shadow King:''' 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.

* '''Elatharion the Grim, Warden of Tor Yvresse:''' 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.

*'''Imrik, Dragon Prince of Caledor:''' 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 armour-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:''' 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:''' 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.

* '''Caradryan, Captain of the Phoenix Guard:''' 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 ride 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. 

* '''Korhil, Captain of the White Lions:''' Korhil's main advantages are as follows: He's cheap (but 10 points costlier in 8th) and he's Stubborn a 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.

*'''Selafyn, Hawk of the Annulii:''' 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.

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

* '''Prince:''' 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:''' 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:''' 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 defense as a level 4 Archmage, so he'll probably only see the field in big games.

*'''Lord of Aenarion:''' Can't be the General. These are your elite weapon masters, 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:''' 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:''' 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:''' 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:''' 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:''' A hero for the High elves who allows his 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:''' You get a new wizard that's got +1 I over the mage, but also includes a 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:''' Forces a unit to test Ld or slap itself in the face.
:#'''The Writhing Mists:''' Gives a unit a constant -1 to hit them.
:#'''Mistress of the Deep:''' 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 when they charge. However, they're about as fragile as eagles and perhaps even moreso with only two wounds. However, you have M10 and you can put yourself in the tanks of silver helms or dragon knights.

*'''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 means 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 15 points more, which if you're taking one you probably should.

*'''Griffon:''' Useable by Princes and Nobles. 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 195 points. The only difference being the Sun Dragon has one more wound... and a flame attack... and a 3+ AS which makes Dragons durable where Griffons are saveless. Still, Dragons don't have ASF or Devastating Charge, plus Griffons have a +1 Strength on the turn they 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, Archmages, Nobles, or Mages. 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. With a unit of 3 though you can replace any Reavers, Shadow Warriors, and Eagle-riding Lords or Heroes. Still, there's complex strategies that can make great use of them, like 2v2 and scenario games. 

*'''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 70 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.

*'''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, but don't take it. His main power is buffing your troops and he's good at it. Not a terrible choice though if you really want to buzz enemies without worrying too much about terrain checks or being shot at. Putting him on one 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 two crew members, meaning you're only getting the shooting attack of one crewman, and the Sea Helm if you spend the 4 points to give him a bow, or outfit him with a Reaver Bow (the only way to really make this a remotely viable option). If you want a Skycutter, take it as a <s>Rare choice</s> (hilariously they're a special choice now, go elves!), not a mount.

*'''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 come 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 2pts 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. Can get light or medium armour for 1/2 or 1pt respectively.

* '''Spearmen:''' Elves with spears. Costing 2pts more than 8th edition, they can still fight in an extra rank. 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/monsterous 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. Can take a magic standard worth 25 pts.

*'''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. 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:''' Lothern Sea Guard got the most love of your infantry Core choices this edition. Costing only 1pt 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 the 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 a 24 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 4.5pts 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 they're 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 and only lost spears. And have a total of 5 upgrade options: shields, barding and medium armour for 1.5pts each, 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 armoured, great weapon wielding, missile swatting, 2 attacks each, WS as high as most Lords elves, all while not suffering ANY I penalties for great weapons. These changes, ontop of Phoenix Guard's "upgrade" to Rare makes this unit have a real spot in the High Elf 9th edition roster. Compared to 8th they have a marginally better save, lost fight in extra rank for 3pts. That is all.

* '''White Lions of Chrace:''' 
Unnaturally strong, uncharacteristically axe wielding elves. Costing 2pts more than 8th, gaining a point in Ld, the chance to not strike first against rank and file and losing fight in extra rank. Still stubborn to the man, in an edition where steadfast is no as strong and easier to break.  
**With their loss of ASF, they gain two different options for their axes: When charged, they can hold and get a 6++ parry, they inflict ASL on an enemy they charge, and in regular combat against monstrous types, they gain HKB on their first turn.

* '''White Lion Chariot:''' 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 join 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 and taking out annoyances like Spirit Hosts. 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 amazons are closing in. This is the strongest shooting unit in-game, the Phoenix Guard of PEWPEW. They have flaming magical arrows that hit at S4 d all with BS 5. Volley Fire is an option as well. For 16 Points this is a deal and they can shoot out of 3+ rows and reduce everything in 30 inches to a burning pile of whatever. When coupled with a Handmaiden giving them fast shooting they are even better, because running without penalty to shoot is always a boon. 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. 

* '''Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower:''' An alternative answer for high toughness and 2+ armour saves if you haven't brought along White Lions. It seemed to miss the memo of bolt thrower price reductions that Dwarfs and O&Gs, got still at 70 points. 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 are 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). Either put them in horde formation or 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). 

* '''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:''' 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 75 points and with bows would cost 90 points, a group of 5 Silver Helms would cost 120, 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 ASF and Armor Piercing. A unit of Shadow Warriors can fulfill it's role to an extent as well, but Eagle is still preferred. 

*'''Lothern Skycutter:''' 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:''' 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:''' 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. Causes Terror, which is great. Its chilling aura is insane. It bestows ASL, but more importantly, it also gives -1S to all UNITS in base contact. For all intents and purposes (almost) it has T7 in combat and if it assists another elven unit that unit will experience the joy of Pseudo T4... an insanely good monster. 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:''' 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 can throw one S7 attack at I1.

==Regiments of Renown==

==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 the more elite units, Should Other covert Dark elf kits or find 3d party elfs.

===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==
===Vaul's Forge===

'''Magic Weapons:''' (you can't buy them)

* ''The Blade of Leaping Gold:'' 15pts cheaper than Vanilla, still useless. 10pt upgrade to the Sword of Bloodshed that ignores armor saves on 6's to Wound. Tough sell when elves need more strength. 

* ''The Reaver Bow:'' 5 points more expensive and now constantly hits at str 5. Removes the cheese of combining it with a Potion of Strength for potentially 3 str 7 shots from your Noble or Prince.

'''Magic Armour:'''

* ''Shadow Armour:'' Same as 8e. Only works on foot, this gives a 5+ armour and gives you Scouts and Strider for 25 points. Strider is nice in itself, but unless you're going with Shadow Warriors he'll be on his own if you use Scouts.

* ''Shield of the Merwyrm:'' Due to a 10pt cost increase and general rule changes, everyone's favorite BSB combo went from blue chip to useless. With regular shields allowing a parry save when paired with magic weapons now and Elven Grace your Noble will have a +5 parry save against anyone below I6- all for the price of a standard shield.
  
'''Talismans:'''

* ''Golden Crown of Atrazar:'' Doubled in point cost. Still a 2+ Ward against the first wound suffered. Nice way to spend ten points as it essentially buys you another wound if you lack a save.

'''Enchanted Items:''' 

* ''Moranion's Wayshard:''  ̶5̶0̶  25 points for Ambushers that is also applied to a unit of up to 30 Spearmen or Archers that the model is in. A unit that can hold its own behind enemy lines? Yes please.

* ''Khaine's Ring of Fury:'' Soul Quench as a bound spell with 3 to cast for  ̶2̶5̶ 20 points. The best thing about this is the Ward save you get at the end, but a cheap magic missile is good too.

* ''Khaine's Ring of Fury:'' 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:''  ̶1̶0̶  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.
'''Arcane Items:''' 

* ''Book of Hoeth:''  ̶5̶5̶  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.

'''Magic Banners:'''

* ''Banner of the World Dragon:'' 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.

===Rulebook Items===

'''Magic Weapons:''' 
* ''Giant Blade:'' 45 points is a lot, but +3 Strength is something great for a High Elf damage dealer. 

* ''Sword of Bloodshed:'' Just like Blade of Leaping Gold, it's just doubling up on a strength. 45 

* ''Obsidian Blade:'' 40 points to ignore armor, great for tailoring your list but as a list you intend to stick to through thick and thin you don't want it.

* ''Ogre Blade:'' +2 Strength, 30 points. Take if it you already took the Giant Blade or if you need those 15 points for something else.

* ''Sword of Strife:'' +2 attacks, 30 points. Once again, you don't need more attacks you need stronger ones. 

* ''Fencer's Blades:'' WS 10 for 35 points, but you can't use a shield with it. The Prince has a WS7, and thus this isn't that great when you could bump up his Strength or even his Attacks. Noble and Sea Helm have WS6, better but still not good. Handmaiden shouldn't be in close combat, but in theory if she gets there her WS5 can benefit from this (Reaver Bow should be on her instead of course). Some people have suggested sticking these on a Mage or Archmage since they can't use shields anyway and this can get them out of trouble, but that's debatable. It might be worth it on a Dragon Mage, since they usually end up in combat.

* ''Sword of Anti-Heroes:'' There should be a Mary Sue joke here, but let's go straight into the stats. +1 STR and +1 Attack for each character in base contact with the bearer and his unit. Could be good, could be great in a tailored list.

* ''Spellthieving Sword:'' For each wound a caster receives from this weapon, they lose a random spell. Generally speaking facing a wizard in close combat means a dead wizard. That being said, if you can manage to get into it with a named character (especially the likes of Morathi or Malekith) you could put some pain on them. Problem generally is that most casters who can't kill in one turn (such as Vampires, Chaos Warriors or Ogre Kingdom casters) you are going to want more strength or attacks or more survivability against. Even if this does work there's no guarantee you get a spell that matters.

* ''Sword of Swift Slaying:'' Grants Always Strikes First. Yeah. Because that's what High Elves are lacking alright.

* ''Sword of Battle:'' +1 Attack for 20 points, keep scrolling.

* ''Berserker Sword:'' Bearer has Frenzy and cannot lose it. Extra attack and Immune to Psychology. Neither of which are things High Elves need. Keep scrolling.

* ''Sword of Might:'' +1 Strength close combat for 20 points and you can use a shield, it's nice. Personally, I'd just pay a few points for a Halberd instead. Unless you REALLY need the magical attacks.

* ''Gold Sigil Sword:'' Makes your attacks 10 Initiative in close combat. Keep scrolling.

* ''Sword of Striking:'' +1 to hit. Fairly nice, but Strength is still better.

* ''Biting Blade:'' Armor piercing. 10 points. Inferior to Strength, not bad though.

* ''Relic Sword:'' Attacks with it always wound on a 5+ unless the result needed was lower. Not worth your time.

* ''Shrieking Blade:'' Bearer causes Fear. It's not bad, useless for anyone in a Phoenix Guard bunker, but it's nice as an anti-horde measure.

* ''Tormentor Sword:'' Grants Stupidity to a monster or character hit by it. Only really useful against armies loaded up on those options, so it's a tailoring list option that's questionable otherwise. 5 points to spend if you've got it though.

* ''Warrior Bane:'' Whatever gets hit by it loses an Attack to a minimum of one. 5 points, great for tailoring against other Elves.

'''Magic Armour:''' 

* ''Armour of Destiny:'' Heavy Armor with 4+ Ward Save. It's like it came straight from our list. It's okay, not mandatory, but not a bad selection.

* ''Trickster's Helm:'' +1 Armor, and any wound made against the bearer has to be rerolled. Stick it on someone designed to just not fucking die, make him stand in front of Alarielle so she can heal a wound every turn, and you've proxied Tyrion on foot. 

* ''Armour of Silvered Steel:'' 2+ Armor Save, cannot be improved by any means. 25 points. Best way to improve an Anoited of Asuryan's already high survivability. Otherwise, 2+ can be achieved with an Enchanted Shield and Mundane Heavy Armour for only 12/13pts.

* ''Armour of Fortune:'' Medium Armor with a 5+ Ward Save. 15 points cheaper than the Armour of Destiny. Shield and Elven Grace will get you a 5++ in close combat most of the time anyway, Pass.

* ''Helm of Discord:'' +1 Armor, and any enemy character in base contact must pass a Leadership roll or be stunned and is automatically hit. Turns your character into a challenge god. Nice if that's your plan (or if challenges are your fear).

* ''Glittering Scales:'' Light Armor, causes -1 to hit the wearer in close combat. Surprisingly good. 

* ''Shield of Ptolos:'' +1 Save against being shot. Pair it with the Lion Cloak and you have nothing to fear from ranged combat. Not bad if you think you'll face it.

* ''Spellshield:'' Magic Resistance (1). Nifty. Not 20 points nifty, but not terrible.

* ''Gambler's Armor:'' Medium Armor with 6+ Ward Save. 15 points. Same as Armour of Fortune. 

* ''Dragonhelm:'' +1 Armor, +2 Ward against Flaming attacks. If you took the Lion Cloak but still want the fire resist, here you go.

* ''Enchanted Shield:'' It's a shield, it grants 2 armor instead of the 1 armor a normal shield gives. 10 points. It's a great option. 

* ''Charmed Shield:'' One use, first hit you take can be discounted on a 2+. Not bad, not great. 

'''Talismans:''' 

* ''Talisman of Preservation:'' 4+ Ward Save. Very nice option, but it limits your offensive choices due to it's 45 point cost.

* ''Obsidian Lodestone:'' Magic Resistance (3). For when the Banner of the World Dragon just isn't enough. (If you take Banner of Avelorn instead, this is far more worth considering.)

* ''Talisman of Endurance:'' 5+ Ward Save. Still okay.

* ''Obsidian Amulet:'' Magic Resistance (2). Eh, not bad. Not great either.

* ''Dawnstone:'' Reroll failed Armor Saves. That 1+ to hit on your Prince? Yep. Now they're going to have to get snakeeyes to hurt him. Oh fuck this is so worth the points it hurts.

* ''Opal Amulet:'' One time 2+ Ward Save. Can be viable.

* ''Obsidian Trinket:'' Magic Resistance (1). Still not bad, still not good.

* ''Talisman of Protection:'' 6+ Ward Save. Not bad as a way of finishing off those last 15 points.

* ''Seed of Rebirth:'' Grants Regeneration 6+. Make sure to combine with Dragon Armour.

* ''Dragonbane Gem:'' Can take Dragon Armour for the same cost and not eat into your magic allowance.

* ''Luckstone:'' Reroll a single failed Armor or Ward Save. 5 points, not a bad place to spend them either.

'''Magic Standards:''' 

* ''Rampager's Standard:'' Reroll your charge distance dice if you want. Stick it on cavalry.

* ''Wailing Banner:'' Unit causes Terror. Emulate Phoenix Guard on your non-Phoenix Guard. Pretty good.

* ''Ranger's Standard:'' Grants Strider. Ignore dangerous terrain. March your horde wall of death across the map with impunity. A nice choice.

* ''Razor Standard:'' Grants Armor Piercing. Put it on Special choices. Swordmasters in close combat under this are beyond description. 

* ''War Banner:'' +1 Combat Resolution. Normally you want to avoid getting stuck in a fight all game, but if that's the plan here's a way to bump up your victory chances. 

* ''Banner of Swiftness:'' +1 Movement. There's better choices, really if you want movement you should be rolling for Walk Between Worlds from the lore of High Magic, getting a 1+ Ward Save while you're at it and putting a better flag over your unit. 

* ''Lichborne Pennant:'' Magic Resistance (1). Not bad for a mage bunker.

* ''Standard of Discipline:'' +1 Leadership, but disregard the general's inspiring presence. Do you really need Leadership 10 on anything? If Alith Anar is your general and he bites it this can help, but really it's not worth it.

* ''Banner of Eternal Flame:'' Just like most armies, feel free to take this and stick it wherever you want (except Sisters of Avelorn, since they already have it's effects). 

* ''Gleaming Pennant:'' One use, reroll failed Leadership test. Why are you failing Leadership? Maybe tailored against an undead army, otherwise no.

* ''Scarecrow Banner:'' Causes Fear on Flying enemies. 5 points, not bad. Tailored list only, but that moment that a giant dragon <s>runs shrieking from a scarecrow on top of a flag being woven around by a spearman you know you've experienced the joys of Warhammer Fantasy.</S> (Most Dragons cause Terror, all cause Fear at the very least, leaving your Fear-causing unit to instead take a Fear test.) Useful against anything smart enough to Fly but not insane enough to cause Fear (Mostly just eagles then?) 

'''Arcane Items:''' 

* ''Book of Ashur:'' 60 points for +1 to cast and dispel rolls. If you were playing a VERY large game and your entire strategy was magic and stalling for magic to work, you might use this. As it is it's a mon'keigh's bad transcribing of the Book of Hoeth. 

* ''Feedback Scroll:'' Instead of a dispel attempt, you can use this one-use item to roll a dice for each power dice used to cast it. Each one that's a 5+ causes a wound that can't be saved. Great for a tailored list, and worth considering otherwise to take out an opponent's only caster and let you work the winds unopposed.

* ''Scroll of Leeching:'' Instead of a dispel use this one-use to add dispel dice equal to the number used to cast the spell.  Great against armies with LOTS of casters (like other High Elf armies). Not a standard gear choice however. Feedback scroll is more useful in many scenarios.

* ''Sivejir's Hex Scroll :'' One use, replaces dispel. Enemy wizard rolls a d6, must get their level or lower (so a level 1 mage needs a 1 to resist, a 3 mage needs a 1-3 to resist, Teclis only suffers a 6 roll) or they turn into a frog. They can't cast spells as a frog, all magic items stop working, all stats except wounds become 1. Each turn roll a d6, roll of a 4-6 and the mage becomes a biped again. VERY fun item, and a surprising thing for such a thing is that it's actually pretty good if you save it for when you can kill that mage in close combat.

* ''Power Scroll:'' According to FAQ it now halves the casting value of one spell, no boosting allowed. Could be fun when you two-dice dwellers or purple sun if the winds are low or your opponent didn't think those last two dices were dangerous.

* ''Wand of Jet:'' One use, increases a casting result by d6 after you're done rolling. This can help cause a IF and miscast too.  It's an extra magic dice in the bank for when you need it, and not bad but there's better options for getting more magic juice.

* ''Forbidden Rod:'' One use, add d6 more dice to your magic at the beginning of your magic phase, but the user takes d3 wounds with no armour saves. But... Banner of the World Dragon protects. (Anyone with the Arcane Items page in front of them probably won't let that slide. I know I wouldn't.) 

* ''Trickster's Shard:'' One use, start of magic phase. If an enemy mage tries to dispel a spell, you roll a d6 and on a 5 or 6 they take one wound. Not great really. It can be useful sort of if you're rolling a lot of augments at once (turn 1 Walk Between Worlds on everything makes this viable). At 25 points though, it's kind of a waste.

* ''Earthing Rod:'' One use, reroll the result on the miscast table once. Obviously you don't want this if you're running Banner of the World Dragon. Otherwise it's not bad if you're gonna be blasting away with your Archmage.

* ''Dispel Scroll:'' 25 points, auto dispel the enemy spell unless it's an Irresistible Force spell. All armies consider this to be a staple, but it's a bit less important for us since there's other options.

* ''Power Stone:'' One use. Used prior to casting a spell, adds two more bonus dice out of thin air to the attempt. Great for if you got a shit winds roll a turn you really need to crank out a spell.

* ''Sceptre of Stability:'' Misspelled name, one us item to increase a dispel result by d6 after you've rolled. Pretty neat for 15 points against another big magic army.

* ''Channeling Staff:'' Bearer adds +1 to every channeling attempt. Can net you more power dice, but not a big use item.  Still, 15 points isn't much to spend for that kind of thing.

* ''Scroll of Shielding:'' One use, replaces dispel to grant a single target a 4+ Ward Save against wounds caused by the spell. Great for protecting something high priority like an Archmage or a Prince on a Dragon.

* ''Staff of Sorcery (FAQ'ed)'': Bearer adds +1 to every dispel attempt for 35pts. Only worth taking on a level 2 or level 4 mage, costs the same as a wizard level but "only" adds +1 to your dispel attempts. Still, dispelling with +5 can really shut down a magic phase. Likewise, if you're mainly after countermagic, level 2 mage plus Staff of Sorcery saves you 30pts from a level 3 mage (and leaves your Lords allowance for a Prince on Dragon).

'''Enchanted Items:'''

* ''Wizarding Hat:'' Wearer becomes a level 2 Wizard who can use a random spell lore. They also have stupidity. This is great for armies with crap magic options, but for us you want to split the magic/killing roles between two characters and at the cost for the hat you could just take a level 2 mage. But if you really want a wizard on a Star Dragon for some strange ass reason...

* ''Fozzrik's Fold Fortress:'' 100 points, so your entire magic item allotment for a Lord. After deployment zones are agreed but before armies are deployed you can put a Watchtower (or similar building agreed upon by both players as appropriate, but must be the same basic size as the Watchtower) in your deployment zone. This MAKES a defensive list with Sisters of Avelorn holding it. For any other troop type it's not great. But in games with objectives, you might be able to argue your opponent into letting you count this as an objective from turn one. Take it if you base your strategy around it.

* ''Arabyan Carpet:'' Infantry or monstrous infantry (no you can't let your horse ride). Has the Fly rule, cannot join units. At 50 points you may as well just mount up on an Eagle or Gryphon. 

* ''Crown of Command :'' 35 points to grant Stubborn and thus grant it to a unit the wearer joins. You should probably nut up and bring Korhil instead, but if you already are and want a second unit to be Stubborn it's not bad.

* ''Healing Potion:'' One use to drink at the start of your turn, recover d6 wounds. Since you have very few characters with enough wounds to make it useful, you should rely on the Lore of Life attribute to heal instead. Or bring Alarielle.

* ''Featherfoe Torc:'' Flying creatures and riders must reroll to hit you and your unit in close combat. Take it in a tailored list against the likes of Malekith or other High Elves. 

* ''Ruby Ring of Ruin:'' Bound spell with Fireball. Take the High Elf magic item version of it if you're going to bother since it does pretty much the same thing and will give the users unit a ward save. 

* ''Terrifying Mask of EEE!:'' Wearer causes Terror, but nobody can use their leadership but themself. Since most High Elves have almost max LD and some characters have the same, there's no downside. Great at discouraging people from fucking with a unit that can't deal in melee or you don't want to keep in melee (Sticking this on a Lothern Sea Helm among Core is pretty great, or ANYONE running with Lothern Seaguard since this can win an extra turn of shooting for them).

* ''Potion of Strength:'' One use, used at the start of any players turn. +3 Strength for the turn, great for a BRUTAL combat phase. Take on a Prince, Noble, or anyone with the Reaver Bow. 

* ''Potion of Toughness:'' One use, start of any player's turn to grant +3 Toughness. This is more for an Archmage or Mage stuck in close combat, or a Prince who's going into a suicide charge.

* ''The Other Trickster's Shard:'' All Ward Save rolls have to be rerolled in base contact, both friend and foe. Since Ward Saves are common to us, it can be a detriment. Still good if you don't have one however. 

* ''Ironcurse Icon:'' 5 points for 6+ Ward against war machines for the bearer and their unit. Not great, but it's only 5 points so there's no real threat to taking it and it CAN come in handy.

* ''Potion of Foolhardiness:'' One use, start of turn.  Gets Immune to Psychology and Devastating Charge for a turn. 5 points for a very fucking hard charge, this has potential in a cavalry list. 

* ''Potion of Speed:'' One use, start of turn. +3 Initiative. Cheap, but WHEN THE FUCK WILL YOU NEED A HIGHER INITIATIVE?

==Magic==
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 Tactics===
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 <S>Brettonian</S> 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.

==Tactics==

'''Knowing your Enemy'''

The first piece of advice I have for newer players is knowing your enemy. There is nothing more important than this piece right here. You look across the table and you see a bunch of units you don't know, you already know this game is going to head into disaster. Very few players have the ability to asset threat, damage and power on the fly so its best you go into battles prepared. Key units like the Skaven Doomwheel, the Bloodthirster or the horde unit of Khorne Marauders with Great Weapons, all of these are important pieces on the battlefield. The best thing to do in these situations is to point across the table and ask. If the player you're playing with is a gentleman, and it's a friendly game, I hope he can tell you what each unit does. In a tournament setting, forget about it. Fantasy already takes a day and a half to set up, so it's best you do your research ahead of time.

Think of it like this: Every game you play is a test of skill and generalship. Any good general takes the time to learn about his enemy and so should you. That's why I buy every army book GW prints. Not only is it superb shitter material, but it's also valuable information on what kind of ridiculous combos, units or special characters that might show up on the battlefield.

'''Understanding Your Army'''

I almost think that knowing your enemy and understanding your army works hand in hand. If you think about it, you spend all this time making up your army list and for what? Each army list is designed to accomplish a certain thing on the battlefield. Playing for fun is one thing, but you're also playing so your troops are victorious. This is why army design is crucial and how you can make the best out of your army composition.

Keep in mind that this is not advice on how to min-max your army, it's about making your army work for you. As a general of any given army, you must find a medium where you're comfortable with the units you've taken, and you understand fully how they work. The best way to do this is by assigning battlefield roles. Take Sword Masters for example, what do they do best? They generate CR by ripping up lowly troops in combat but they die as fast as a swift breeze. What's the job of Spearmen? Or Skavenslaves? To hold the line and await reinforcements, using their superior numbers and ranks to tie the enemy down.

To be a successful general, you must know your units like the back of your hand. Understand each unit's functionality and purpose, but most importantly, understand why you put them in your army in the first place.

The greatest threat to most units in a High-elf army is long combats, if you cannot break a unit you will need to minimize the amount of damage they can do back to you in the following turns. Remember your troops hit rather hard but tend to die very easily.

'''Deployment'''

I've seen many games where games are lost on deployment alone. Picture for a second that your opponent puts down a unit of heavily armored Chaos Knights after you put your White Lions down far away from them. If those White Lions were your only defense against heavy armor, then I'd say you're in a world of shit once those Knights come crashing on your flank.

That's why you see players taking units whose sole purpose is to give them an edge in deployment. Some might be good enough to be used as re-directors or warmachine hunters too. These units are also known as chaff. Chaff is important because it allows you put these units down anywhere you want for the most part. They pretty much always go in the same place or have outrageous movement speed that they can relocate and not be troublesome for the movement of your army. Eagles can be used as chaff, Sabretusks and Fellbats for example, all can act as chaff for your army.

The key to deployment is matching your opponent's units pound for pound. You don't want to put down a unit that doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell against another unit he put down right off the top. Your unit must have support, or is capable of holding the line against whatever he puts down or your side is just going to fold. The best example is the Knights scenario I presented above. You want to be able to match your opponent in deployment, or be superior to him in deployment. I call these "drops". If your army has greater or equal to the number of drops he has (total # of units he can put down during deployment), you're in a good place. This minimizes on the chance your army will be out-deployed. The person with more chaff will have more chaff that he can put down, forcing you to put down your last unit of White Lions so he can purposely drop a power unit on your flank. Unless your army is designed to fight uphill battles, you should never let this happen.

If you know you're going to be out-deployed, you should analyze which units on his side you don't want in your flanks and deploy your answers last. This is where knowing your enemy comes into place.

'''Analyzing The Threats'''

To be successful on the battlefield and during deployment, you must first analyze threat. You must understand which units on the other side of the table can cause you most harm. This is huge. Keep in mind that army scale does not equate to the harm they can cause in combat. The best example of this is a giant unit of Skaveslaves vs. a small unit of Sword Masters. The craziest thing to assume is that the unit of Skavenslaves is going to do a lot of damage on the battlefield. Sure, there's a whole bunch of them, but their fighting prowess equates to dried fish where your Sword Masters preform like a hot knife through butter.

One of the things that 8th Ed. has going for it is big creatures. If it's a big monster on the other side of the table, this is probably worrisome. If a unit is carrying Great Weapons, it's probably going to do a lot of damage. If a unit is carrying Great Weapons and is in horde formation, it's probably something you should deploy smartly against because that thing is going to fuck your shit up if you play dumb. The most pronounced threats on the battlefield are normally the ones your opponent has heroes and lords going into it. It's either going to be a caster bunker, or a frontline unit that'll do solid bits of damage.

Remember what I said about battlefield roles? Your opponent does the same thing with his army. He knows what his frontline units are, which ones do the most damage and which ones are designed to hold the line. You know his primary sources of damage and these are the ones that should be generating the highest amount of threat in your mind. You might run into scenarios where certain units don't want to be in combat at all. These are often caster bunkers or vulnerable Magelords who would hate to have an Eagle pick out his eyes. Knowing the weak points of his army can prove to be a great advantage to you during deployment and when you're playing the game. Again, understanding how the opposing army works helps greatly here.

'''Understanding Favorable Scenarios'''

Hesitation can lose you a game, but so can your ability to underestimate your troops.

Here are some examples:
A scary dragon on the battlefield is not so scary when you shoot him with a billion arrows.
Knights actually do quite poorly against White Lions.
A small unit of Sword Masters into the side of Skavenslaves really fucks up their shit.
A Spearmen unit, given enough ranks can hold a charge from most, if not all, point equivalent units in the game.

A lot of this might seem like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many times players second guess themselves on the battlefield. Know your army, know what each unit is designed to do (which is surprisingly easy for High Elves because everyone's so specialized), and know which scenarios go in your favor on the battlefield when paired up against any given opponent.

At the end of the day, you should always apply a unit's actual battlefield role to do battle. You should always be thinking: The only reason I'm bringing X unit is to fight against Y units. In a game of rock-paper-scissors and random surprise Mindrazors; it still works in your favor when you know what counters what.

'''Predicting Combat'''

This is definitely more in the lines of advanced players, but after so many battles, players start seeing the same numbers. A unit of 7x2 Sword Masters hits a unit of Skavenslaves. Aside from a ton of rats dying horribly, how many Sword Masters did you lose and how much CR did you generate? What about Spears? Even if you didn't charge but was instead charged by a unit of Empire Halberdiers, how many Spearmen died and how much CR did you generate via kills, ranks and standard? What about that beefy lord-class character sitting in a relatively weaker unit? I bet he can do some serious work. I'm not saying go out there and mathhammer the life out of everything in the game, but you should have an idea how your units will perform on the battlefield.

The battlefield is a pretty unpredictable place, especially when shit like magic is involved. However, successful players have a good idea of what to expect when they throw their units into combat. For the most part, players only throw their units into combat they can win. This is why predicting combat outcomes are so important. A unit of Spearmen charging a horde unit of Marauders w/ Great Weapons in the front might not be the best choice alone, but what if you plan your magic phase to get Withering off on the unit? What if you decide to combo charge with your Spears and Sword Masters on the flank so you can use your magic elsewhere? The combat res generated from the combined charge "should" win you combat.

You see how predicting combat drastically changes the way you play the game? By assessing the battlefield and seeing the game on a larger level, you are able to make plays ahead of time. The key to being a successful general is being able to see multiple instances of this at once and analyzing which ones generate the highest amount of success with the lowest number of risk. Your ability to capitalize on this is what will take you from good, to great.

'''Lesser of Two Evils'''

Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made in order for victory for be secured. Sometimes, you just have to choose. Imagine yourself in a scenario where no matter what you do, something bad is going to happen to your army. This might be a loss of a flank, a loss of a key unit or letting a horrible spell go through. If your opponent plays it right, there should be scenarios where all of these happen at the same time. Take note here for a second about what I just said. A well-played game of Warhammer is when you make your opponent sweat over the choices he has to make. No matter what choice he makes, something bad should happen to his army. That's when you know you've made a good play.

If you have to choose, always go with the play that'll guarantee you the greatest chance of victory in subsequent rounds. This is a lot harder than it looks because you have to first let that flank fall, or that unit be destroyed so you can strike back in a manner most decisive. This is why predicting combat and understanding favorable scenarios is important. In a situation like this, always put yourself in the opponent's shoes. Think from his perspective and predict what he would do after he successfully pulled off a big play. Predict what he does and counter it to the best of your advantage. Think to yourself: If he wins big on combat there and I flee, will he pursue or will he reform? If he pursues, do I have anything that can hit him in the flank or catch him in a bad spot? If he reforms, do I have anything that can strike decisively and win combat on that unit next turn?

Don't get yourself caught up in the moment. Understand that the 300 odd points of Spearmen you just fed your opponent can equate to you combo-charging his General's bunker and send it into the oblivion, then it's well worth it. If sacrifice has to be made, it has to make its points back and more. If not, then the sacrifice is not worth it.

'''Magic Superiority'''

The first thing to understand is that a small advantage is still an advantage. This is how you should analyze the winds of magic. A successful magic phase is all about analyzing which spells your opponent can afford to let go and which spells he can't. With an Lv.4 Wizard, you have access to a good amount of viable spells. The spells your opponent can let go are often the spells you want to take advantage of. That's when why you draw a big winds round, you cast moderately but still vital spells that plink at his dispel dice. These should be all moderately dangerous to the outcome of the fight in question (which will be his main focus).

Use smaller castings of hexes and augments, because a slight advantage (what he sees, and analyzes as less important), is still an advantage (huge for High Elves). A clever mage will be able to feint the significance of a fight and get off multiple spells a turn. If your opponent lets it all go because he's anticipating Mindrazor, that's his problem because now his unit is now -WS, -T and you ASF with a better combat result. Mindrazor isn't even needed at this point. If he throws dice trying to dispel your other hexes, that's less dice he has available when you actually do throw down the MR. This goes hand in hand with what I said about anticipating combat results. How badly your troops need your magic will save a lot of unneeded dice.

Redirecting focus: Say you have a unit engaged in combat and you anticipate a victory, or at least a draw result. You concentrate magic on another area of the battlefield that your opponent isn't focused on. This breaks his concentration and draws a big cloud of WTF? over his head. This happens when you see something crucial your opponent doesn't, as often times or not, players get tunnel-visioned in the combat they're in but don't grasp the wider vision of the battlefield. Hexing incoming Knights on your turn with -WS or -S will make much more of a difference than watching Sword Masters narrowly win combat vs. a flanking unit of Clanrats.

'''Baiting and Feinting'''

Fleeing from a battlefield is not always a sign of cowardice. It can also be used to bait an opponent out of position or force him into a position he doesn't want to be in. The best example of this could be a unit of Spears fleeing from a charge of Bretonnian Knights. God knows you don't to take that charge in the face so you opt to flee with your Spearmen. He now has two choices: Take a Ld. test to charge something else, or roll for the Spears. Say that you have a unit of White Lions or Sword Masters next to the Spears. Does he really want to re-direct into the Lions or SM? Or does he want to risk the charge and risk exposing his flank to the Lions?

You see what you just did here? A simple flee can put your opponent in a rock and a hard place (especially if the charge is long). Both scenarios equally suck for him so he might opt to charge at all. This is also good for you because it gives you the chance to charge his Knights next turn! And if he doesn't opt to charge, your Spears will still be there to assist in the main battle. Warhammer can be a game of cat and mouse, so it's best to know all the options available to you before you commit. If you plan on charging something, know all the possible reactions your opponent can take before investing. You don't want to be in the same shoes as the above player.

'''Eagles are an Elves' Best Friend'''

I've said it once and I'll say it again: Eagles are 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 you 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.

'''Counter-charges and Flanking'''

Sometimes, the good ol' hammer and anvil is something even the experienced players forget. The concept of a counter-charge is simple: Unit #1 is a unit that can take hits - in the case of High Elves, a giant block of Spears with Steadfast CR up the ass. This is known as the anvil. Unit #2 is a unit that hits hard as fuck but dies to a soft breeze. Sword Masters are an popular choice for a hammer. Your opponent charges your Spearmen because it's the only viable target and you hold knowing that your Sword Masters (who are conveniently placed on your flank), will have a flank charge next round. Magic is invested in keeping the Spearmen alive and steadfast while the Sword Masters charge their flank next turn. Heads start rolling and combat heavily swings your way, winning you the day.

Flanking is also quite simple: Place something that has good threat range on the far sides of your army and use them as CR generators. I normally like using Dragon Princes for this type of role. Put 5 of these guys down on a wide-flank and they can be used to reliably add CR to any combat mid-field. Flanking can also be used to bypass some of your opponents' attention to hit warmachines and other units chilling in their backfield. Lastly, flanking is also good for having additional CR in combat. An Eagle charging from the far flank gives you 2 CR for just having the balls to be there. It's pretty much free CR.

'''Winning combat, now what?'''

So now that you've won combat, you have to think about what to do next. Unfortunately, most players think about this step immediately after the combat resolves. I want you to take a step back and think about what can happen even before you charge. If you charge now, and win a victory over your opponent, can you overrun into an important caster bunker in back? Does your opponent have anything that can crush your overrun if you choose to do so? Is your unit stretched too far and out of range of your BSB? Is he out of his BSB? If you push the advantage, will your advantage be negated if he engages the rest of your army while your best unit is out of position? Winning combat is important for sure, but what happens after is even more important. You must be in a favorable situation to benefit from it: The result of a successful charge should net you more success in the subsequent turns than harm.

Keep in mind that you don't have to keep going after you wiped out a unit. Check to see if the unit has been mauled enough that the only way he can rally is if he rolls double 1s. Sometimes the position you're in begs you to combat reform and stay still. If you commit anymore, you might go from crushing victory to outright defeat. Never lose sight of the bigger picture and don't over extend yourself. Unless you're Stubborn, or have a unit that's incapable of losing combined charges in the next round of combat, it's best to wait for the rest of your army. You want to be in magic support range, you want to be in BSB range and you want to be in support charge range of other units. Don't forget this.

Another thing to keep in mind is Line of Sight. If your unit can surge forward enough after winning combat that'll take him out of LoS (and thus enemy charges), this is a great advantage. It allows you to drive deep in the enemy lines and force him to turn around or suffer a rear charge from you in the subsequent turns. This also allows your main force to advance and catch him in a vice. Surely this is a good thing as even the most lackwit of generals know that enemy forces running in their backfield is bad.

'''Lost combat, now what?'''

So your beautiful charge turned into a crushing defeat, what now? Obviously, this means your unit will be running back to your lines like a whipped dog. Don't worry, you can now look into the future and analyze why you lost combat and how you can regain the momentum in the next phase of the game. Maybe something completely unpredictable happened in the magic phase that killed your opportunities in combat? This is the single biggest factor in how combats can sway. This is also something I want you to remember: Magic can greatly skew the outcome of any combat you're invested in. Think about this before you charge, and understand what magic lores he has that can shift momentum in his favor. In order for you to succeed in combat, you must dispel the magic he will use to turn combat in his favor. This is not negotiable.

After losing combat, you need to analyze several things:

Did he Overrun? If so, are you in a position where you can take advantage of his over-extension?
Did he Combat Reform? If so, are you able to counter-attack next turn?
What made you lose combat? Was it some beefy character or was it magic that turned the tides?
How do you not lose combat again? Neutralize the beefy character (or avoid him completely) and dispel the magic that sways combat his way.
Is your fleeing unit useless? Treat the game as if you're 1 down, but don't forget about the fleeing unit. Even if he's below 25%, you can still test for double 1s.

'''When ahead, stay ahead'''

The philosophy behind this concept is simple: Don't do anything stupid that'll throw away your lead. What happens most of the time when players start winning is they start playing careless. This is a sure way to lose your lead and put you behind in a game where you're almost guaranteed to win. A great example of this would be killing your opponent's Dragon Lord and 1-2 Hydras with your Warmachines first turn before they even get to do anything and still managing to lose the game. I don't know how this happens, but players get lost the ecstasy of great plays (or luck) and think now that the main threats are gone that the game is in their hands. This is the wrong way to approach a lead.

The more appropriate way to take advantage of a lead is to think: How do I get further ahead? You want to be in a position where your next step is to eliminate any and all possible ways the opponent can swing the game around. You put yourself in his position and you think to yourself: I just lost my Dragon Lord and my Hydras, so what can I do now to walk away from the table like a man? Once you think about the situation from your opponent's mindset, you counter it and deny him of it. With no victory options in sight, your opponent will have no choice but to fold. 

'''Post-game Analysis'''

Now that the game is won (or lost), you can look back and see what you can do to improve. Human beings are meant to improve; we're a race of learners and adapters. No matter how badly you just massacred your opponent or how crushing your defeat, there's always something to take away from the game. The most important part here is that you must learn from your game to improve. If you won the game, think about the scenarios you could have done better. If you lost the game, think about why you lost and which units caused the most problems. Think about all the topics that were covered above. There must be something you could have done better in the never-ending list of becoming a better general.

It's important that you discuss the game with your opponent. Talk about how the battle could have gone differently if you did this, or that. How his game could have changed if he did this, or that. Not only does this give you a better perspective on the game (and your opponent's army), but also the player you're playing against. Share your thoughts with your opponent and let him share his with yours. Criticism and advice should be taken with an open mind. It helps broaden your perspective on other general's opinions and makes you a better-rounded player overall.
== External Links ==
[http://warhammerarmiesproject.blogspot.com The Project's website]

{{Warhammer Army Project}}
[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Warhammer Homebrew]]
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