Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Warscrolls Compendium/Exiles

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Your Dark Elves in the Age of Sigmar rules, who you play because you're a resident of /d/

Rules are here [1]

NOTE: Now the "Exiles" faction has been divided into various sub-factions, and only the "Dark Elves" have the Exiles keyword. This means that, unless you play with the old warscrolls, it's no longer possible to make a Dark Elves army with sinergy for all its units. You'll have to center your army around one of the sub-factions, of use various or them operating autonomously from each other. Hopefully each sub-faction will be extended and given more support in the future. But, as said, unless you go for the older warscrolls, a truly sinergetic Dark Elves army no longer seems possible.

Dark Elves

Malekith, The Witch King

Still the King. He's fast, very resilent and powerful in combat. He's a two spells/unbind a turn Wizard, and with his unique spell he heals himself. Couple that with his "halve wounds suffered" ability, and he can wreak a lot of havoc while still being nigh-unkillable. His Command Ability is Absolute Power: If Malekith the Witch King uses this ability, Exiles units from your army do not need to take battleshock tests if they are within 20" of him in the battleshock phase. Even if you use the old warscrolls this is not a very strong ability, because Exiles have very high Bravery anyway, but it can be useful. All in all, he's one of the single most powerful models of the game, and a great addition to any army.

Malus Darkblade

His Command Ability is The Tyrant of Hag Graef: If Malus Darkblade uses this ability, then until your next hero phase you can re-roll battleshock tests for Exiles units from your army that are within 14" of him in the battleshock phase. That's a pretty weak ability, but he also can double his Warpsword attacks, at the cost of dealing D3 mortal wounds to a friendly unit within 2" when getting 1's to hit. That gives you 9 attacks total, and he's tough enough (4+ Save, 6 wounds) to go solo if needs be. All of that, with his 10" Move, gives you a very good Hero for lone hunts of war machines/wizards/shooty units/support units; alternatively, he can add a lot of punch to a unit of cavalry. He's merely a powerful Cavalry Hero, but that's good enough if you use him well.

Dreadlord

His Command Ability is Cruel Tyrant: If a Dreadlord uses this ability, select an Exiles unit within 14". Until your next hero phase you can re-roll all failed wound rolls for that unit in the combat phase. If you use the old Warscrolls, or just agree with your opponent to give all the "World-That-Was-Dark-Elves" the Exiles keyword, then he's very good and has some nice combos with some units. He's also pretty survivable if you give him a shield, and makes your other Exiles skip Battleshock if some unit failed the test close to him. If you're playing with the Exiles keyword, he's one of the better Generals around, otherwise he's only a decent combat Hero.

Dreadlord on Cold One

His Command Ability is Single-minded Hunting Beasts: If a Dreadlord on a Cold One uses this ability, select a unit of Cold One Knights or Cold One Chariots within 14". Until your next hero phase you can re-roll any of the dice when determining that unit’s charge distance and add 1 to wound rolls for that unit’s Ferocious Jaws. Pretty much all that has been said of the Dreadlord applies to him, but he's specialized in Cavalry armies, and even in these he's no powerhorse. Unless you use A LOT of Cold Ones/Drakespawn Knights, pass.

Lokhir Fellheart

His Command Ability is Take Them Alive!: If Lokhir Fellheart uses this ability, those under his command redouble their efforts to take prisoners until your next hero phase. Until then, roll a dice each time an enemy model flees whilst within 6" of Lokhir Fellheart, a Black Ark Fleetmaster or unit of Black Ark Corsairs from your army; on a 4 or more another model flees from that unit, captured by Lokhir’s Corsairs and destined for the slave pits. That can be useful in the right army (a Corsair one), but there's much better Command Abilities out there. He also heals one wound a turn, is well protected and can pile in over other units to kill Heros, but he's not powerful enough in melee to be truly threatening. Overall pretty unfocused and mediocre, sorry.

Hellebron

Her Command Ability is Orgy of Slaughter: If Hellebron uses this ability, pick an Exiles unit within 14”. That unit is gripped by a bloody frenzy and can be chosen to pile in and attack twice that turn instead of only once. That is undoubtly the single most powerful Command Ability Dark Elves have to offer; her loss is probably the most serious blow Dark Elves have suffered with the sub-factions sundering, and the absence of the Exiles keyword. If you use her, remember she's pretty vulnerable, so don't risk her in combat. Even if you don't give all your army the Exiles keyword she can be quite brutal, if only by making Malekith/Malus or even Shades attack twice a turn.

Beastmaster on Manticore

Weak for a Monster both in offence and defence, his mobility is his only good stat. He's nothing special, use him if you like him, but he'll never do anything particularly useful. That's it.

Dark elves harpies

Weak and with horribly low Bravery (3), but very very fast. Use them to hunt weak and isolated models, but remember that even the weakest shooting will make them flee in droves.

Master with Battle Standard

He lets you reroll 1's to Wound for Exiles within 8", or 16" if he plants the Standard. That's a pretty weak ability for a Standard-Bearer, but if you position him well so he can affects two or more units, then he can be useful. He can also kill your general and gain his Command Ability, but that will rarely be useful. Overall semi-decent.

Morathi

A 2 spells/unbound Wizard, with an improved Arcane Bolt as unique spell. She gets +1 to cast, and enemies get -1 to hit her in combat. The best thing about her is her huge 16" Move; also, with her 4+ Save and -1 to hit penalty, if she uses Mystic Shield on herself she can tarpit things without Rend all day long. Great as a suppport Wizard, she can be very good running here and there killing enemy things and helping friendly things win combats.

Reaper Bolt Thrower

Artillery with decent Range and lots of hits (12), but each one deals low Damage at low Rend (both 1). Very useful against hordes, not so much against Heros/Monsters/elite units. Wound rolls of 6+ inflicts double damage, so it comboes with Dreadlord. A useful unit, if you play to its strenghts.

Shadowblade

An improved Assassin that is truly a nightmare against Heros. He'll kill every one of them, except those at full wounds with very high Saves, and he even explodes if he dies! Hugely useful, he's very good at what he does, use him well. Note that, unlike the normal Assassin, you don't have to note where he hides or anything; he just pops up anywhere within 1" of one or your Exiles units!

Sorceress on Cold One

A Cavalry Sorceress, with perhaps the worst unique spell of the game (it's usually weaker than Arcane Bolt). But she can kill a nearby friendly model to get +2 to cast, and she gets better mobility and Save than normal Sorceress, so she can be very useful. Just ignore her spell.

Shades

Shooty ninjas with very bad Save, but it gets great if they're in cover. And to do just that, you can set them up anywhere on the battlefield at the start of the game! They only get 16" range, but each of them shoots two times. The great thing about them is that they also get two decent melee attacks each. Park them in cover, shoot enemy units to death, and them let them come at you: with 4 effective attacks in combat(you also shoot when you're in combat, remember), they can be really dangerous. Even if the only availble cover it's too far away from the enemy they're still good, because they create a "kill zone" where the opponent knows his units can't linger(they'll get shoot to death by a very difficult to remove unit), letting you dictate, or at least affect, your enemy's movement, always a good thing. Great unit, be smart with scenery placement(if you're not doing it at random) when using them.

Darkling Covens

Dreadspears

Your usual murderous spearelves. Basic infantry stats, two-rank attacks because of 2" spear range, and re-roll saves of 1 and 2 in combat. They also get bonuses to hit with 20+ models, and if they didn't move last turn. Not bad, not great, but as defensive units (because they're better it they don't move) they can be good, specially in cover. Useful to do the 300 thing and guard some narrow pass between two impassable pieces of terrain.

Bleakswords

Like Dreadspears but with swords. Better base To Hit roll, but no extra bonuses. Each hit of 6+ gets you a new attack, and with 20+ models instead you get it on 5+, so they make 1/3 extra attacks, which generates new attacks. If you manage to give them +1 to hit with something they can be good, but they'll never be truly killy. Like it usually happened in real life with soldiers equipped with swords, they aren't particularly great at anything, but also not particularly bad at anything. In offence or defence they'll do the job, but don't expect marvels of them.

Darkshards

Dakka Dark Elves. They make 2 attacks each with their crossbows, and get +1 to hit when having 20+ models and not in combat. But their range of 16" is too low, even taking into account that they shoot twice. Also, the re-roll they get to their 5+ Save is only in combat, where you don't want them to be. Overall, inferior to the range units of other factions. You can only make them shine by using them to shoot already engaged enemy units, but a shooty unit should be able to do that and also, you know, attack things far away.

Executioners

Elves whose hobby is killing people in interesting ways. At last a truly good unit. Elite stats (7 Bravery, 4+ Save), and they get each 2 3+/3+/-/1 attacks. But the brutal thing about them is that, with a 6+ to hit, they eviscerate the enemy and instead they deal TWO mortal wounds. Yes, they get the same ability as Stormcast's Retributors. That makes them truly terrifying against things with high Saves: a unit of ten will make, on average, six mortal wounds in addition to the rest of their attacks. They're good against anything, but don't waste them on non-elite things, and try to protect them if you can.

Black Guard

A little underwhelming for elite bodyguards, but still good. Great stats, and two 2" range 3+/3+/-1/1 attacks, which is no joke, I tell you. They also re-roll 1's to hit. They're almost unbreakable and fight in two ranks, so they're powerful and versatile. Even the smallest bonus to their attacks will turn them into mincemeats, but as it is, Darking Covens have no way of doing this, let's wait and hope.

Sorceress

Much better than she seems. A basic 1 spell/unbind Wizard, with awful Save, but you can kill one Darkling Coven at 3" to give her +2 to cast for the turn. Her usefulness lays in her unique spell, which at 7+ to cast, deals a unit at 16" a mortal wound, and gives it -1 to hit rolls until your next Hero phase. This can be better(mortal wound aside) than using Mystic Shield on one of your units, because it will turn off abilities of the unit that make something on a hit roll of 6+. Also it's better if you are attacking a big unit with some of yours, because it will affect all of its attacks, even if it splits them between your units. To top it off, if you sacrifice one of your models, you cast it on 5+, and the sacrifice will be offset because of the mortal wound you deal to the unit, very nice. Just be wary that you'll have to take Battleshock for the unit with the sacrified model, because all losses count.

Sorceress on Black Dragon

A Dragon with worse melee stats than usual and, sadly, only 5+ Save. She has the same "sacrifice" ability of the basic Sorceress, and a unique spell that, on 6+, makes you roll 6 dice and deals a mortal wound to a unit within 18" each time you get lower than the best To Hit value of that unit. So, to elite unit with 3+ to hit you only deal an average 2 mortal wounds, like a more difficult to cast Arcane Bolt, but to basic unit with 4+ to hit you deal an average 3 mortal wounds, making it quite useful. All in all, not a great unit, but not terrible either.(combo that spell with word of pain like a proper druchii.)

Daughters of Khaine

Witch Aelves

With a bit of support, these crazy bitches can get awesome. High Bravery, almost cavalry Move (7"), and no Save at all (being half-naked only gets you so far). But each one of them makes two attacks, or three with a Daughters of Khaine Hero at 14". Also they reroll 1's to hit, or all of them with 20+ models. With a nearby Cauldron of Blood, 20 witches in two rows of 10 can make 60 3+/3+/-/1 attacks, rerolling hits, rerolling 1's to wound, with a 5+ invul save, taking no Battleshock tests. Sure, you'll never get that wonder setup, but even with only a couple of bonuses they get very dangerous. They're excellent glass cannons, but don't get (too) obsessed with them, because your opponent will shoot/otherwise mess with them (or the Cauldron) and make them suffer lots of losses before they get into combat. So, make them the center of your army if you want, but always have a backup plan, or Khaine will exsanguinate you or something.

Sisters of Slaughter

Cool-as-hell sadistic masked bikini-clad female elven gladiators. Two attacks each at 2" range (they're whips), so they fight in two ranks and throw lots of attacks. The bikinis only give them 6+ Save, but you add 2 to their Save rolls while on combat, so they get a very good 4+ Save. And now their awesome gimmick: while in combat, with a 6+ Save roll, on a 4+ (half of the time) you deal a mortal wound to the opponent. Read the two abilites again: in combat, against things without Rend, they save 50% of the wounds inflicted on them, then return 25% of them in the form of mortal wounds. Use Mystic Shield on them to ignore -1 Rend, or to up the numbers to 66% saves and 33% mortal wounds. Obviously they're ultra-powerful in combat, because units MUST either attack in combat or retreat (after you whip them, that is). Of course your opponent will try to return them to hell via shooting before they reach combat, but that is why you use them with a Cauldron of Blood that protects them, and Witch Elves that make an even more priority target, isn't that right? Awesome models and awesome fighters, if you use them well.

Death Hag

A fast and fragile super Witch Aelf. You can use her as a suicide combat Hero, or, much better, as support for the rest of your Witch Elves. Yes, the Cauldron of Blood is a hundred times better, but you can use the Hag as fail-safe or backup giver of buffers, in case your Cauldron gets nuked. Decent enough, but she probably won't see the end of the battle.

Cauldron of Blood

Oh boy. This chariot POWERED BY BLOODLUST has lots of very useful abilities: a bubble that grants 6+ invul save to Daughters of Khaine (5+ to Witch Aelves), reroll 1's to Wound for itself or close Witches, one dispell a turn, and +1 to wound for a close Daughters of Khaine unit. But the great one is its Command Ability: you get to attack twice with a Daughters' unit at 14", easily one of the best Command Abilites for any army. The Cauldron is good enough in combat, and his save-after-the-save affects itself, so it's also pretty resilient, but its downside is that it's relatively slow (6" at full health). This thing makes Witches brutal, but can improve any and all Daughters of Khaine armies, and it's great even without being the General (but why would you that?). Center your army around it, but don't depend too much on it if the opponent has good artillery/shooting/magic, because it's very big and slow, and its protections aren't foolproof.

Bloodwrack Shrine

Sorry, the comparison with the Cauldron of Blood is unavoidable, and the Shrine loses by a mile. It still have its uses, not as a supporting machine like the Cauldron, but as a suicide super-chariot. It's not bad at melee and can deal crazy amounts of mortal wounds if you take it to the thick of the fight, but it's very slow and fragile, so perhaps it'll never get there. The worst thing about it is that its model can also be assembled as the infinitely stronger Cauldron, so you'll only use it if you like it and are playing strictly for fun. But even in that case, make a Cauldron and take the Bloodwrack Medusae alone, that way you'll have fun AND victories.

Bloodwrack Medusae

It's not a Monster, it's not a Hero, what the hell is this? She's a goddess, I tell you. The Medusae is lame at melee and papier-mache fragile, but it's very fast and, more importantly, has the same shooting attack as the Bloodwrack Shrine. For those of you who don't know what that is, she stares at a unit at 10" or less, then that very instant (no hit or wound bullshit) 1/3 of ALL its models fall to the ground bleeding by every orifice they have(well, unless they're multi-wound, but even in that case she's good). And this means that, if you park this beauty behind your already engaged units, or otherwise outside danger, she deals such a number of mortal wounds every turn that even Daemons and Undead will start fleeing fast. So, protect her and make her stare at units with 10+ models, and she's a goddess.

Doomfire Warlocks

Quite possibly the best non-unique offensive Wizard of the game. Huge Move of 14", 2 wounds at 5+ Save and four attacks each, so they're decent in combat. Then you read their unique spell: DOOMBOLT, which is an Arcane Bolt that instead deals D6 mortal wounds if the casting unit is 5-9 models, or 6 mortal wounds if the casting unit is 10+ models. Yes, SIX FUCKING MORTAL WOUNDS, quite worthy of the prefix DOOM. What were they thinking? They get +1 to cast with 10+ models. Keep them at their minimum 5 size so you can cast lots of DOOMBOLTS on several targets or pile them together to make one strong magical attack. Either way, make them run each turn (they can cast the DOOMBOLT even if they do, it's no shooting attack). Another tactic is to park them close to a Cauldron of Blood to get an extra 6+ save, then bolt things from behind your infantry units (because they're cavalry they're pretty tall, so you'll always have Line of Sight). They're unfair, yes, but if you're playing Dark Elves you're supposed to be a bad person anyway, so have fun.

Order Serpentis

Drakespawn Knights (aka Cold One Knights)

Tough heavy cavalry. Slower than light cavalry but still pretty fast (10" Move, reroll a dice when charging). They make three decent attacks each, and are more damaging if they charge, nice, but not specially threatening. But the thing that sets them apart is that they get a 4+ Save (at 2 wounds), re-rolling 1s, or 1s and 2s in combat (so a virtual 3+ Save). They have many uses, but they're specially good at winning attrition fights with their great Saves. But most of all, they're elves mounting dinosaurs, and that's reason enough to take them.

Drakespawn Chariots (aka Cold One Chariots)

A dinosaur-pulled chariot with six decent melee attacks, and four lame and close-ranged missile attacks. Also, it deals (more or less) a mortal wound each time it charges. The best thing you can do with this is to keep it close to your main infantry line (or try to shoot some things, but its mediocre 10" Move and its low shoot range will make it difficult), then, the turn they get to combat, shoot the enemy and charge it. Do that and, with the help of the unit you were supporting, you can cause lots of wounds to the enemy that turn and trigger a bigger battleshock. Because it's tough, it can survive to do it all over again. Useful and mean, but nothing really special.

War Hydra

Any boy or girl will be happy with a War Hydra. Strong melee (not Dragon-strong, though), but also great if short-ranged (9") shooting attacks. It's slow, but can charge rolling three dice and discarding one (you take a mortal wound on triples). And now the awesome part: it regenerates 3 wounds in your Hero phases, which at 12 wounds and 4+ can make it unkillable. And remember that healing is even more important for Monsters, because they get weaker when damaged. This thing will probably destroy any unit with its (ranged and melee, at full health) 16 attacks, but instead you can toast with the ranged attacks a nearby unit, if you think it's needed. This thing is crazy powerful and your opponent knows it, so make your priority to destroy his war machines before they can blow your Hydra; even if it takes some damage the first turns, it'll regenerate and still be useful later, so it's one of the better Monsters even against artillery.

Dreadlord on Black Dragon

His Command Ability is: Do Not Disappoint Me: If a Dreadlord on Black Dragon uses this ability, pick an Exiles unit from your army within 12". You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for that unit until your next hero phase. Furthermore, before that unit takes a battleshock test, roll four dice. If the total result is greater than the distance in inches between that unit and the Dreadlord, it does not need to take the battleshock test. Other than that, he's mounted on a (as always) very fast and powerful Dragon, and he's no slouch in combat himself. You can give him paired weapons or lance to deal more damage, or a crossbow to be shooty, but usually the best option is the shield to make him live longer and use his Comnand Ability again and again. He's an awesome General no matter how you use him. Man, Order Serpentis is a pretty spoiled Dark Elves sub-faction, only Daughters of Khaine gets it better.

Scourge Privateers

Black Ark Fleetmaster

His Command Ability is At Them, You Curs!: If a Black Ark Fleetmaster uses this ability, pick one Exiles unit within 14". Until your next hero phase you can re-roll all failed hit rolls for that unit. If you picked a unit of Black Ark Corsairs, you can reroll failed hit rolls of 1 or 2 for that unit instead. Other than that, he's a pretty basic combat Hero.

Black Ark Corsairs

They get either two very short-ranged (9") attacks, or two melee attacks, one of them pretty weak (4+/5+/-/1). They make one more enemy model flee on a 1/6 chance, and get +1 to hit rolls with 20+ models. With a Black Ark Fleetmaster's support they can be decent, you can even say good, but even with that they don't have anything that sets them apart from other basic infantry. Use them only if you like enslavering pirates.

Scourgerunner Chariots

A dakka chariot, who hasn't got a lot going for itself. Better against Monsters, but not by much. Its shooting is pretty weak and short ranged, and its melee isn't anything to talk home about. Because the unit can have any number of models, you can make units of one that become their own leaders, and thus gain +1 to hit in the Shooting phase, which makes them kind of useful. But that will make them worse in melee, because you take one turn to attack with each one of them, while if they all were a lone unit they'll all attack at the same time. Be as it may, it's a pretty mediocre unit.

Kharibdyss

A decent Monster, but nothing more than that. It's slow for a Monster, but can charge with three dice (at the risk of suffering a mortal wound on triples), discarding the lowest. Has more of less the same power in melee as a Dragon, kind of less. In the Hero phase it can sustract -1 from the Bravery of a unit at 10", that's moderately useful. Each time it slays a model with its Fanged Tentacles, it regains a Wound on a 1/6 chance; only against single-wound models with low saves will you regain a Wound each turn with some reliability. All in all, as always with Scourge Privateers, a very generic and mediocre model.

Shadowblades

Assassin

You hide him in a unit, then at the start of ANY combat phase you set him up within 1" of the unit, and after that you can pile in and attack. With 6 3+/3+/-/1 attacks he can add some punch to a weak unit, but he's specially nasty against Heros, because his Damage goes up to D3 then. Still, that could be not enough to destroy the Hero, so pile in some more models from the hiding unit to finish him off. He's pretty good because of the flexibility and impredictability he brings to your army, and also can make your opponent become paranoid and second guess himself. Hide him in some of these fast and nimble cavalry/flying units, and you can get him anywhere and surprise kill any support model/unit your opponent has placed far away, thinking it safe. Very useful, and remember he can hide in ANY unit, regardless of the army he is in. Assassins in my Gnoblars? Is more likely than you'll think.

Dark Riders

Dakka cavalry. Very fast, and they make more enemy models flee. They get three shooting attacks each, but at 5+/4+/-/1 they won't do much damage. Their melee is weak, but they get re-rolls to 1's and 2's of their 5+ Save in combat, so against things with no Rend and/or weak Save they can be decent. The plan is to use their great mobility to position them where they'll annoy your opponent most, shoot something if you are close (they only get 16" range, lame), then charge it. Their fastness makes them somewhat useful, but they'll never be stars.