Once I finally scrape an army together, my main opponent will be my boyfriend, who will probably play Dark Elves (which I find ironic, because of how often the two armies tussle according to the army book). So, what are some good strategies/unit combinations to use against them, specifically in low-point armies? What I would really like would be to have an army that's a good balance against them, so that games will often be pretty close (which, in my opinion, makes it way more fun). However, it won't hurt to know what to do in case I'm in the mood for some good ole arse-kicking. Thoughts?
How many points we talkin? DEs have a good advantage over Lizzies in low point games due to they're units being so cheap compared to us and you wont have the benefit of awesome magic in games to low. I mean points aside i can tell you a few things that are great vs. DEs in general: Salamanders: Awesome vs pretty much everyone but GREAT against the Druchii since most DE units are toughness 3 you can pretty much kill loads of them with some nice templates and since they negative armor by 3 you can count on them not getting armor saves Skink Skirmishers: For killing his monsters like the ever cheap and terrible Hydra, poison IMO isnt ideal because the Hydra still gets its saves but dump enough shots into it and you can usually kill it if he brings two thats rough but as long as you put some wounds on them it can make them easier to kill if they combat you and of course poison is ideal for killing the cauldron of blood The thing is with DEs nothing in theyre army is really terrible everything can be deadly in one way or another, remember to choose your mach-ups wisely DEs units are best when they support each other the best way to beat them is to single out units for attack, use your sallies to widdle down his combat units before engaging. Especially when it comes to units like Executioners, Blackguard, & Witch Elves which are all nasty in melee and can kill Saurus relatively fast. If your taking a Slann id go for Lore of Light against them it helps us in the departments we lack Initiative & Weapon Skill and believe me Saurus going before elves and hitting them on 3s in combat make all the difference sometimes. Theres some stuff i can give you! Im sure theres far more but i dont play against DEs to much, so im sure others on here have way more experience vs them
Thanks for the tips! To start off we will probably be doing some 500 point games (using all manner of cardboard proxying... D for the sake of learning, and then escalate some from there. So I take it I'm at a disadvantage from the get-go xD
Once you get to the point of having hydras, you should have a character with the burning blade of chotec to handle it. At 500 points, for the general I would recommend a skink priest with the ruby ring of ruin. That would give you a lot of magic for a mere 90 points. The signature spell of Heavens (or Harmonic Convergence or the Curse of the Midnight Wind) can let you partially nullify the Dark Elves superior weapon skill and the ring can let you blast things from a distance. If you want to go without magic, a Scar Veteran with few if any magical items should be a good unit (Gamblers Armor or Armor of Fortune would , you even need a halberd or great weapon since S5 is the maximum you need on anything the Dark Elves have that can fit in a 500 point list. I would recommend a Salamander because they are probably the best thing on our list and are especially good versus Dark Elves. The following link from the Tactica Index may have help. http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/maximizing-the-value-of-salamanders.8907/ I would reccomend a unit of skink skirmishers. Maneuvering skirmishers is the bread and butter of LM strategy so you might as well start practicing now (and they can serve as protection for your skink priest). Spend everything you have left on Saurus Warriors. If you keep the Dark Elves off your flank you should be able to be okay, particularly if your Sauri's opponent gets hit by an Iceshard Blizzard.
Awesome, again thanks for the tips. Pretty close to what I was aiming towards as it was for a 500 point army. Question is, should I use points on giving the Saurus spears? I'm thinking yes (since I'm a huge fan of spears in general), but I'm not really sure.
There is a lot of debate on hand weapons versus spears. It all really gets down to personal preference. Short answer: if you want spears take spears. I wouldn't field spears in blocks of less than 20 though. Once your block gets knocked down to 15 Sauri, every single casualty you suffer hurts your ability to attack back.
I know I always do. But I personally don't care about winning much, I just like rolling lots of dice.
But even if you get down to less than 15, you are still getting more hits than you would be with hand weapons. >:3 xD I think I agree! I will probably go with spears, if for no other reason than I have already started modelling them with spears and it will bother the heck out of me if I have to say "Those are actually hand weapons... yeah."
I prefer HW but spears have their use in larger blocks against weaker infantry where parry isn't as big a deal.
Hmm... Which would be better, Ruby Ring of Ruin or Rod of the Storm? They cost the same, but I'm thinking that Urannon's Thunderbolt might be better. Then I would pretty much always take Blizzard on the priest. Hrm... Nevermind, that was stupid. The Rod is one use only. Doh!
just make sure you remember how squishy skink priests are. as the general is worth 100 extra points to kill, he'll be hunted hard.
On the subject of Saurus with spears if your playing a BIG game i love making a horde block of 40 with spears in prolonged combat you get lots of attacks its great! I mean sure you dont get the parry save from the HWs but sometimes i like to go alittle more offensive.