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8th Ed. Dark elves/Bretonians need help

Discussion in 'Lizardmen & Saurian Ancients Tactics' started by Fancyninja321, Apr 3, 2015.

  1. Fancyninja321
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    Fancyninja321 New Member

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    Hey everyone I have never played against dark elves or bretonians and there is fantasy player at my local gaming store who playes both, any tips and tactics that Could help me whenever I play against btw I know when he plays his dark elves with one big block of crossbows also runs a block of spearman and some wizard with some magic items that makes her invulnerable and basically runs her up and prays she blows up from miss casting, doesn't care he loses spearman but as long as the enemy suffers more, agian any tips and tactics for going against these two armies
     
  2. rottedtoad
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    rottedtoad New Member

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    Key things to know:

    Bretonnia:

    Brets typically will let you go first. If they do so, they get the Blessing of the Lady, a 6+ ward to their knights and it becomes 5+ for S5 and better. Except for their characters, the knights are never better than a 2+, so S4, S4 armour piercing, or S5+ can do a lot of damage to them.

    They have a banner that can add 'd6" to their a unit's first charge. So be careful, you might think you are far enough away, but still get charged! They also have a horn that can prevent you from flying for a turn. One of their lords can take a vow that gives them heroic killing blow on all their attacks. So if you see a lord going for a steg or a carno, beware!

    Their trebuchets are S5, so make sure to kill them with chameleon skinks or whatever very quickly. And last, they get ranks for 3 models wide with cav, instead of 5, and can attack with all models on the sides... so getting charged by a lance can be very dangerous unless your units are buffed. Either redirect his lances to get flank charges or make sure to cast combat buffs on units that might get charged!


    Dark Elves:

    Dark Elves are definitely one of the strongest books in the game. Very few models/units that are poor choices, but some definitely stand out:

    Witch Elves. Core unit, pretty cheap, 3 attacks each, with poison, ASF, rerolling 1s to wound. With a cauldron, they are even worse, rerolling all failed to wounds and getting a 5++ ward save. BUT, they are frenzied, so you can move them all around the board with skink units and make sure it never sees combat.

    Warlocks. One of the most undercosted units in the game. Level 2 caster unit with soulblight and doombolt, two really good spells. S4, poison, ASF, and a 4+ ward to boot! Definitely a unit to kill quickly with skinks.

    Pegasus hero (or dark steed heroes). With just mundane items, these characters can get 1+ armour saves, making them very durable for cheap. Some nasty magical items can make these guys really nasty.

    But it seems like your opponent focuses more on xbows and spears. Just remember that the Dark Elves all have ASF at a high I so they'll get rerolls in combat with you. Arcane unforging can help destroy some of those nasty DE items, either on pegasus heroes or that caster. I'm not sure what 'invulnerable' thing you are talking about, because nothing exactly like that exists in the Dark Elf book or the main rulebook. DE casters can take a sacrificial dagger that lets them sacrifice models in a unit for a chance to get additional power dice to cast a spell. There is a cloak that gives a character a 3+ ward against all ranged attacks, shooting, magic, etc, but NO protection against close combat. There is also a ring that gives the unit magic resistance 3 and causes the opponent to have a miscast if you roll double 1s when casting spells at or near the ring holder. But neither of these are particularly invulnerable although they do afford pretty good protection.

    Remember that DEs are BS4, so at long range they hit you on 4s, but they have a multiple shots (2) so that's 5s, and if you have skirmishers, that's 6s. And at S3, they shouldn't do a a lot of damage to your skirmishers. And as long as they don't take shadow, your blocks can fight toe-to-toe with the spearelves... but if he is running a lot of spearelves, then there might be a good chance of shadow, and that could be scary!

    Hope that helps, please ask me to clarify if anything doesn't make sense.
     
  3. Fancyninja321
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    Fancyninja321 New Member

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    Hey thx for the help the invulnerable thing I was talking I still don't know what it's called but if I remember correctly increases the ward save by 1 or 2 and since I'm still new to fantasy what does ASF mean, and the INVUNERABLE item wasn't meant for close combat it was just meant to keep the caster alive when the caster miss castes and hopefully blows up, inorder to kill off most of unit in close combat with even if it means the spear men But I'm pretty sure it's the cloak and agian thx for the tips and everything I should be mindful of
     
  4. rottedtoad
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    rottedtoad New Member

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    Hey, sorry about the abbreviation; ASF means Always Strikes First. The DE can strike before anyone else (all elves have that) and if their Initiative is higher than their opponents, they get to reroll failed to hits. That's pretty much always going to be happening against LM =(

    I've looked back through the DE book, they have nothing that would protect the caster from miscasts. The cloak certainly does not do that, it only protects against shooting attacks or spells, and miscasts are not those (It clarified that in the erratas for the BRB). If it is the cloak, your opponent is misusing the item.

    They do have the Gem of Spite-this item allows the DE caster to do a single Strength 6 hit on every enemy wizard within 12" whenever the caster miscasts. But it gives no protection from the miscasts. You can discard a dispel dice and you won't take the hit! If they miscast, they will probably lose dice anyway, so you are fine just discarding dispel dice.

    Any ward save will protect from the less bad miscasts, but unless you are within a couple inches of his caster, you won't be hurt by his miscasts. And he cannot protect himself from the bad ones. If his strategy is actually built around trying to hurt you with his miscasts, he's either foolishly brash or misunderstanding the rules!
     
  5. Fancyninja321
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    Fancyninja321 New Member

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    Thx for info hopefully when I go to my local gaming store this weekend I'll find out what he was talking about
     
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  6. DrMad
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    DrMad Member

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    I guess he was talking about the Doomfire Warlocks? The like to run right in the center of the battlefield and 6 dice bubble (boosted) Soulblight (-1S and -1T for all enemy units within 24") actually hoping for the irresistable force , as you can't dispell then and they just take d3 wounds and have their 4++ ward against them. Or they do the same with boosted Doombolt (18" range, 4d6 S5 hits).
     
  7. Fancyninja321
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    Fancyninja321 New Member

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    yes that's what it is thx for the reply now all I need to worry about is tomb kings
     
  8. NIGHTBRINGER
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    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Tomb Kings are a cake walk in comparison to Dark Elves. No worries.
     

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