Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Host of the Phoenix King

The Host of the Phoenix King is one of three Elven special armies released as part of The End Times. Specifically, the Host of the Phoenix King refers to the "loyalist" faction, comprised of High Elves and Dark Elves who choose to swear loyalty when Malekith is declared the true Phoenix King of the High Elves and an enraged Tyrion draws the Widowmaker to become the Avatar of Khaine, supplemented by Wood Elves.

Canonically, this army defeats the Aestyrion, a splinter faction led by Tyrion and based on those High and Dark Elves refusing to accept Malekith's new rule, and the two hosts are amalgamated to form the Host of the Eternity King.

Special Rules

All units in a Host of the Phoenix King replace Murderous Prowess with Martial Prowess and replace Forest Stalker with Forest Strider and Martial Prowess.

Unit Analysis

Special Characters

• Malekith, the Phoenix King

Loses a wound and attack compared to his Eternity King version, and his sword is D3 wounds flaming instead of D3+1. He also is a regular level 4 with access to dark and fire magic and loses the miscast protection. A decent choice who gets really good if you play Khaine magic (which you're supposed to be doing, if using this list), since he essentially gets lore master for both lores. Will eventually get murdered in 1 on 1 combat with Tyrion Avatar of Khaine since his weapons flaming attacks will make it almost useless against Tyrion with his fireborn rule; but Malekith's immunity to Multi-Wound means it'll take 2-3 rounds for Tyrion to finish him off.

• Imrik, Crown Prince of Caledor

Amounts to basically an unusually hard hitting dragon, especially when charging. Has decent protection in the form of T7, W10, 3+/5++ and the Fireborn rule (2++ vs flaming attacks) but like most dragons, is somewhat vulnerable to artillery. If you're facing an Empire or Dwarf gunline, you may want to consider Malekith instead (since he has that 2+ ward against non-magical hits, and immunity to Multi-Wound). Otherwise, Imrik is a great combat monkey, just point him at the enemy and let him thrash. He also has a special rule that gives enemy monsters -1 to hit him, which makes him potentially useful against these new End Times monster characters (they'll usually be hitting him on 5+). Keep him far far away from Tyrion Avatar of Khaine or even Karl Franz Ascended (he hits on 5+, but he auto-wounds, ignores armor, and each that gets through the 5+ ward will hurt real bad).

• Alarielle, Avatar of Isha

Slightly more expensive than her standard High Elf version, but quite a bit better. She's a level 4 wizard with 25 spells, still carries the Stave and Star, and her anti-Daemon bubble no longer has negative side effects. She loses the Shieldstone, but it is replaced by a change to her Boon of Isha that grants a 5+ ward to all friendly units around her (including herself) as well as immunity to Fear/Terror. Her Touch is considerably better too, now wounding Forces of Destruction units on 2+ with Multiple Wound D6 instead of Heroic Killing Blow. In short, she was a pretty good support caster before, she's an even better one here (and her Eternity King version better still).

• Teclis

The ultimate frail wizard, he's somewhat expensive to field, has virtually no protection from damage, and is almost certain to die if hit by Dwellers or a similar spell. If you are ok with taking the risk, he has potential to be an unbelievable caster- using the new magic rules, he's a level 5 wizard and knows a hefty 64 spells (or he can have Loremaster: High Magic, but 64 spells seems far more advantageous...). Just watch out for enemy Life wizards and let him blast stuff.

• Durthu

A suped-up, expensive Treeman Ancient who trades most of his spellcasting potential (he's still a level 1 Beast wizard) for better combat stats and an interesting shooting attack (2D6 short-ranged, low strength, killing blow hits).

• Araloth

A mediocre combat character who's designed to be fielded on his own... which is suicide even if he wasn't mediocre in combat. He has a pet hawk that functions as a free autohit on a nearby enemy character, doing a special killing blow that rips out eyeballs (giving a hefty penalty to WS and I... but interestingly, not to BS) instead of killing the target. Still, totally not worth it.

• Caradryan
• Drycha

A somewhat expensive (for a Hero) level 2 Shadow wizard who is also basically a super-Dryad, so she's decent in combat; she also gets better in combat as she gets hurt (but loses that bonus if she gets healed). She also has a special rule that lets you do a special ambush if you have forests and unit(s) of Dryads. The problem? You're not guaranteed that there will be a forest, and Dryads don't fare well in the Elf Hosts (it's not that they're bad, they just don't gain the special Elfy rules). There are probably better ways to get a level 2 Wizard or a combat-oriented character in your army.

• Naestra & Arahan
• Hellebron

The very definition of a "glass hammer", she can dish out a ridiculous 8-10 WS7, S10 attacks with Always Strike First each turn (plus she S4 auto-stabs anyone who rolls a 1 to hit her in melee), but only has T3, W3 and no saves to protect her unless you put her on a Cauldron of Blood (which is actually not a terrible idea, although you won't get the boost from Strength of Khaine, since nobody in this army gets Murderous Prowess). She's expensive (500 if she's mounted on the Cauldron!), but if she can survive long enough to swing, it'll cause some butthurt.

• Alith Anar

Basically an elf scout with a bolt thrower and great aim. If he joins a unit, he makes them harder to shoot, and it stacks with Skirmishing; plus the unit gets Swiftstride. Consider joining him to a unit of Waywatchers or even Deepwood Scouts, and enjoy the carnage. Just be wary of magic missiles and pie plates (Alith has a 4+ ward, but the unit won't- and after one volley, they will probably become a magnet for your opponent's hatred).

• Shadowblade

The super assassin, he'll probably give you one fantastic round to try to kill an enemy character (and he has a pretty good chance of success unless it's something like a nearly invincible Tzeentch Chaos Lord), and then die since he's not well protected (just a 5+ ward, T3 and W2). Losing Murderous Prowess kind of hurts him, since he'll be stuck with any 1s he rolls to wound in that one fantastic round.

Lords

• Dreadlord
• High Beastmaster
• Black Ark Fleetmaster
• Supreme Sorceress
• Prince
• Archmage
• Loremaster of Hoeth
• Anointed of Asuryan
• Glade Lord
• Spellweaver
• Treeman Ancient

Heroes

• Sorceress
• Master
• Death Hag
• Khainite Assassin
• Lothern Sea Helm
• Noble
• Mage
• Dragon Mage of Caledor
• Glade Captain
• Spellslinger
• Shadowdancer
• Waystalker
• Branchstrider

Core Units

• Dreadspears
• Bleakswords
• Darkshards
• Black Ark Corsair
• Spearmen
• Archers
• Lothern Sea Guard
• Silver Helms
• Ellyrian Reavers
• Glade Guard
• Dryads
• Glade Riders
• Eternal Guard

Special Units

• Cold One Knights
• Cold One Chariot
• Reaper Bolt Thrower
• Lion Chariot of Chrace
• White Lions of Chrace
• Swordmasters of Hoeth
• Shadow Warriors
• Lothern Skyrunner
• Tiranoc Chariot
• Black Guard of Naggarond
• Dragon Princes of Caledor
• Wildwood Rangers
• Wardancers
• Tree Kin
• Deepwood Scouts
• Warhawk Riders
• Sisters of the Thorn
• Wild Riders

Rare Units

• Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
• Great Eagles
• Flamespyre Phoenix
• Frostheart Phoenix
• Sisters of Avelorn
• Waywatchers
• Treeman