I'm sure most of you have see the changes now imminent for the High Elves, posted on the Hero's Gaming Blog a couple days ago. For those who haven't, or would like a recap, here's a breakdown of the changes: Until we get our new book (in August?), we're going to have to come up with some ideas for facing this stuff. I find the Banner of World Dragon and the Arcane Unforging spell particularly stomach wrenching...indeed, the High Magic deck sounds like it will be quite devastating, making up for many of the HE's weaknesses. I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread so we could accumulate our knowledge and experiences against this new threat. Consider this a placeholder for now, but if you have any thoughts or ideas, please feel free to jump in!
Most of the old Tactica still applies, especially part two: http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/high-elf-tactica-detailed.9112/ Here's a few minor comments before I get a my hands on an army book and write a new Tactica up (probably June or July) Knights and chariots should be blocked with Skroxigor. The S6 hits will do fine at can opening and the Skinks will absorb all the hits. Against non-horsey units, Skroxigor are probably not a good idea. For the most part, you should go Saurus heavy. Elves go before us anyway so the Initiative 1 isn’t a big deal. Sure they High Elves hit a lot but the Saurus hits count more. I think High Elves may be one of the few armies where taking Razorondons is a good idea. Our Skink shooting and Salamanders will do a number on elves if they aren’t killed by Eagles or Fast Cavalry. Razordons are pretty much ONLY good for killing fast cavalry and fast cavalry equivalents and I expect Reavers to become very popular very fast. A stand and shoot followed by some Strength 5 attacks ought to handle most mobile light units. The UAF (Ulthuan Air Force) is going to be controlling the skies of the Warhammer world. There are four flying units. HE characters can ride three kinds of dragons, griffons, eagles, two kinds of phoenixes, and one kind of flying chariot. If only there was a magical lore that we had extensive access to that did extra damage to flyers…. I think Lore of Light should be our go-to Lore against the new High Elves. It’s got two spells that can cancel out ASF for the Elves and a spell that partially bypasses Ward saves.
As far as Banner of the World Dragon goes, Hexes and Augments are you friends. As is Dwellers Below. That 2+ ward save doesn't do anything for attribute tests. At this point I'm not sure what will actually work in practice. I'm sure I'll have some ideas after I play a few games with my new Elves.
Yeah, the BotWD sucks for Deamon period as well as most Skaven shooting. However, for an all comers list, it shouldn't make a HUGE difference. Elf Deathstars are generally a bad idea, so most people won't risk a huge portion of their army that way. In regard to Demons specifically though, which is more bent, a 2+ save against magic attacks or army wide magic attacks? In regard to etherials, they should't have trouble avoiding the banner carrying unit. A Higher State Slanm won't have any special issues either, unless he has magic weapons of course.
Not necessarily. In my area's meta, large blocks of white lions are an everyday occurance. White lions no longer have free rerolls from their super-asf, however they how hit in an extra rank and are cheaper. So 21 white llions in a 7x3 all get to attack and kill about 10 saurus per turn. A horde pf 40 white lions would delete entire units of saurus or temple guard before we can respond I think saurus match up well against many of their other units, however swordmasters, frost phoenix, phoenix guard, and lions will win the combat if we dont win the buff/hex phase. My big concern is that between maiden guard and the flame phoenix, our skirmishers and especially our salamanders are going to be in trouble. Salamanders are our best answer for nasty blocks of infantry, but ithe maidens have S4 24" shots at BS5 which is going to hurt. The flamespyre phoenix and skinks will be in a race to see who kills each other first
Razordons might be worth considering against HE to help combat Maidens and flamespyres. EDIT: on second thought, forget I said that. I had forgotten that Razors had a 12" range.
And even if we do win, they can just use that spell from High Magic that erases all affecting spells from the unit. Of course this can only take place when it's the High Elf player's turn, but still it halves the effect time. Quite nasty.
here's an article as well: http://www.highelves.net/a-first-look-at-warhammer-8th-edition-high-elves-tactics/
I think that links to a 2010 article about 8th edition and high elves. http://lkhero.blogspot.ca/ has some good reviews info and battle reports about the new high elves.
HERO's blog is a good resource for HE info at this point. He put a lot of effort into making as much available as early as possible. He is a very active member of the Ulthuan.net forum and has some good insight into how things work from a game design context.