Dark Elves Army List, 2000 points, need advice

[sidstyler]

Arguleon lead me here, seems like as good a place as any to get some help with my Dark Elves list.

Haven't quite gotten it filled out though, I've never played WHF before and I'm not sure I really know what I'm doing, I'm basically taking models based on looks (and the crossbowmen just seemed like a good idea since I had no shooty units). It's pretty similar to the list in White Dwarf since that's really the only thing I have to go by.

I'm not looking for a very competitive list, I want something balanced that I can take on anyone with, though I suspect I'll be playing Brettonians and Daemons a lot. I also love the new hydra and the cold one models are awesome. I like the corsairs too, though I don't know if it's a good idea going corsair heavy.

I don't have a rulebook yet either (though I may pick one up today, either that or more models), so I don't know if I'm allowed to take duplicate Sea Serpent standards, for instance. Anyway, here's the list.

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Lords and Heroes
Dreadlord
Total: 254 points
Heavy Armor, Shield, Cold One, Ring of Darkness, Hydra Blade

Sorceress
Total: 185 points
Level 2 Wizard, hand weapon, Darkstar Cloak, Dispel Scroll

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Core
Black Ark Corsairs
Total: 150 points
10 Corsairs with Reaver, Musician, and Standard Bearer with Sea Serpent Standard

Black Ark Corsairs
Total: 150 points
10 Corsairs with Reaver, Musician, and Standard Bearer with Sea Serpent Standard

Dark Elf Warriors
Total: 155 points
20 warriors with spears and shields, Lordling, Musician, Standard Bearer

Dark Elf Repeater Crossbowmen
Total: 170 points
15 crossbowmen, Guardmaster, Musician, Standard Bearer

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Special
Cold One Knights
Total: 190 points
5 knights, Dreadnight with Null Talisman, Musician, Standard Bearer

Cold One Knights
Total: 190 points
5 knights, Dreadnight with Null Talisman, Musician, Standard Bearer

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Rare
War Hydra
Total: 175 points

Army Total: 1619

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[Arguleon Veq]

Well, if you want a balanced list your next stop is a Reaper Bolt Thrower, only 100 points for some nice extra fire-power. If you want more power though, get a second Hydra they are one of the best things in the list.

Drop the Crossbowmen to 10-12 with no Command or Shields. That just gives up easy VP's, if anything just take a Musician.

Combine those corsairs into 1 unit, 1 unit of 20 with that Standard [only 1 per army of anything special like that] makes for a fairly formidable unit.

Give one unit of Knights the Standard of Slaughter, the other the cheap 3d6 Ld one [the one that your Lord will join].

Assassins are lethal, stick one with the Spears.

I think you are missing out by not taking the Pendant of Khaleath but I guess you want to use that cool Dreadlord model? The Ring to keep his unit alive? I would go with;

Heavy Armour,
Cold One,
Sword of Battle [+1 Attack],
Sea Dragon Cloak,
Potion of Strength [for 5 S7 Attacks when you need it],
Ring of Darkness.

so we have;

Lord; 285
Heavy Armour,
Cold One,
Sword of Battle [+1 Attack],
Sea Dragon Cloak [for a 1+ Save],
Potion of Strength [for 5 S7 Attacks when you need it],
Ring of Darkness,
Null Talisman.

12 Crossbows; 120

19 Corsairs; 240 [Joined by Master]
Full Command, Standard of the Serpent.

19 Spears; 148 [Joined by Sorceress + Assassin]
Shields,
Full Command.

- Assassin; Extra Hand Weapon, Dark Venom; 106

5 Knights; 225
Full Command,
Standard of Slaughter,
Null Talisman.

5 Knights; 215
Full Command,
Banner of Cold Blood,
Ring of Hotek.

- Joined by Lord

Hydra; 175

So that takes us to - 1514.

Im guessing your not bothered about going magic heavy, in that case focus on defense, thats why i put the ring of Hotek on one of your Knight Champions. Take this set up for defense.

Sorceress; 150
2 Dispel Scrolls.

Just put her with the Spears.

Master;
Great Weapon,
Seal of Ghrond,
Heavy Armour,
Sea Dragon Cloak.

That guy is for alittle extra dispel dice and some high strength punch for your corsairs, i would use the Executioner Champion with a Spare Sea Dragon cloak from your Corsair box.

So with 4 Dispel Dice, Magic Res on your two hard hitting units and the Ring of Hotek making enemy miscats easy and 2 Dispel Scrolls, you have some fairly decent magic defense.

This leaves you 214 Points to play with. You could have;

2 Bolt Throwers [goes with the Corsair theme] OR
Another Hydra [they are AWESOME],
2 Chariots [goes with the Cold One theme],
1 Bolt Thrower + 1 Chariot [for a nice mix],
5 Dark Riders with Shields + Musician is only 97 Points.

Any mixture of those will work fine really. Dark Riders + Bolt Thrower. Chariot + Bolt Thrower. Its all decent stuff and fills out your list nicely. Just go with whatever you like the look of most for that.

Hope this helped.

[sidstyler]

I figured that was the case with the standard, but I couldn't find anything in the army book limiting it to one per army. Speaking of which I didn't get the rulebook today, but got about $40 worth of paint and glue...pff.

But yeah, I did intend for that lord to join one of the knights, and the ring sounds too good to pass up. So I take it the ring's bonus applies to the unit he's with as well then?

I thought about an assassin originally, I like the models a lot.

As for the hydra, I think I'll stick with one to start and get a couple of bolt throwers. The hydra is a cool model though, I'd definately have to get another one eventually.

And I was wondering what kind of model I could use for a master, the executioners didn't really cross my mind.