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Dark Elves Tactics - The evil & cruel Druchii will slice
everyone to pieces.
Advanced Tactics
By Archeonicus,
Edited by The Mordheimer.
PDF at
Downloads!
About the author:
Archeonicus is a living relic when it comes to gaming. Years of
knowledge, experience and love for the game have made him a great
Mordheim player. While he is the unofficial European Mordheim Champion,
he still is a humble avid player. If you visit the Netherlands or play
at the EuroGT, feel free to challenge him and take his title home! Many
thanks for all his kind words and collaborations!
WebMaster's Note: In my humble opinion,
Dark Elves (as well as all other elven warbands) need to be revised.
Their stats, while apparently seem to be at par with WHFB and their
story lines, are way to high. While compared to mere humans, an average
elf may be faster or more skill with the blade or bow, their stats are
so high that there is little room to grow. Even among elven warbands
their distinction between each other is minimal - for not saying not
existing. One of the elven types must be faster
than the others, or more skilled with the blade or bow. Differences like
this are clearly stated among humans. Reiklanders are stronger;
Marienburgers are more skilled at range combat; Middenheimers are plain
average but have greater resources so they compensate with higher
quality gear; Averlanders are scouts, etc. This overpowering warbands
create great conflict on campaigns. Understanding that those who
adventure in Mordheim are "wanna-be's", warriors who are starting on
their path to glory, one could expect this races to also "mold" closer
to average stats.
To balance their incredible stats (like hitting most
opponents on 3+, only missing a climb on a natural 6, etc) the designers
have reduced their maximum numbers, high jack each unit cost, among
other things. While this creates a sense of fairness, on the long run it
fails miserably... either crippling the warband terribly or allowing it
to become god-like. Hopefully, this warbands would be re-designed in a
near future for everyone's enjoyment.
My opinions have created very heated discussions in
multiple forums. I do like elven warbands, but they do not seemed quite
finished (unlike the Dwarves, who are quite balanced) and someone should
attempt to re-design them. Seeing that the Shadow Warriors had been
removed from the Official List by Games Workshop, it seemed clear to me that I'm up
to something. Please
email
you comments... we want to hear from you!
I.Characters: Knowing the Gang
Highborn
This is your leader. Apart from
the nice stats of M5, Ld9 and I6 there is that they also have WS5. I
know he is expensive, but he is mandatory and can be a great asset
especially in HtH. Give him a sword and he will almost always hit on 3+.
Fellblades
The champions are the Fellblades.
While they only have Ld8 (yeah right) but for the rest are the same as
the Highborn. Great fighters! These even have to, because they are not
allowed to use missile weapons. Why that is not that big a deal will be
discussed later.
Beastmaster
What can I say; he is a steal.
Starts with only 8 XP (lowest of all heroes) and has the cool whip. Of
course he can get and rent some nice doggies, but that is something to
be careful about. Especially if you want to use him effectively in a
Druchii warband. Though the whips have changed for the Sisters (see
FAQ for details) they officially did not
amend this one. To be fair would mean be playing to the new rules.
Sorceress
She is a bit of a dual sword.
While all her spells are useful, though tactics vary accordingly, she is
somewhat expensive. Mostly I treat her as a warrior, which can do
something extra.
Corsairs
These are your henchmen of choice.
For a measly 5 gc extra (compared to the other henchmen, the Shades) you
get WS4, BS4 and the ability to wear a Sea-Dragon cloak. Although you
probably need most of the money for normal members and equipment, they
are at least as good as many heroes (a 60 gc Mercenary Captain has only
one ability higher (T4) and the rest are equal or lower) of other
warbands.
Shades
The “cheap henchmen option”, cost
5 gc less. In recent discussions it became clear that before editing by
fanatic they had BS4 instead of the current BS3, which explains why
their cost was set so high, yet nobody revise their cost.
Cold One Beasthounds
Fear causing doggies... see below.
II.Starting Tips:
So how would
you begin with a warband, what is important to look at when you start?
If
possible buy as much heroes as possible! They are the
guys that actually bring in the money, after a battle. The money… I cannot
stress that enough! In one-time-only games
that fact does not matter, so then there is more room for experimenting.
III. Warband
Types:
So now you
know something about the characters and about important starter points. Now
let’s get to the warband designing. Of course there are a lot of options, but
often they come down to the following three types of warbands.
The "fluff" warband
The warband which has a
lot of goodies such as Repeating Crossbows and Dark Elf Blades. With starting
500 gc, you can have the following goodies (no pun intended) warband:
Highborn with
Dark Elf blade and repeating crossbow
2 Fellblades with
Dark Elf blades
Beastmaster with
lash and repeating crossbow
Sorceress with
Dark Elf blade
2 Corsairs with
swords
Possibly you could give
the Sorceress a normal sword and loose one repeating crossbow, so you have the
cash for one Sea Dragon Cloak. You have 7 members in this warband and shooty
does not seem to quite work for a DE warband. So mostly HtH is the way.
Therefore the Dark Elf blades instead of repeating crossbows and possibly the
cloak is a way to go. No Cold ones because you will often loose someone in HtH.
In this small warband everyone must pull their weight and if your Beastmaster is
killed you loose to much at once (I saw it happen to often, even to me: I lost
him first battle (killed), “luckily” he had no doggies.)
Pro: You have good
HtH fighters with clubs that parry and give +1 on the critical! Con: Only 7 characters (low rout number: 2 models.) Very expensive too;
cheapest are the Fellblades/Corsairs. They cost 60/45 equipped.
Strategy: Try to
keep the heavy hitters in front. Fellblades and the Highborn, probably the
Sorceress too (depends on the spell) together with the Corsairs. Keep the
Beastmaster back, he is good in taking out Knock Down and Stunned characters
with his lash, and he could use that repeating crossbow. It is to note that
until the Beastlash is officially revised it may not even be worth taking the
lash at all… If your are heavily outnumbered, try to hit the weaklings in your
initial attack, so you have the best chance to take out (KD, St, or Out Of Action) as much
as possible to even the odds for next round.
The "maxed out" warband
With as much elves as
possible, with maybe 1 or 2 DE-blades (500 GC).
Highborn with
Dark Elf blade
2 Fellblades with
axes
Beastmaster with
lash (to good)
Sorceress with
axe.
5 Corsairs with
axes
You start with 10
characters (now why didn’t I think of this at the start of the campaign… :-),
which are all good fighters!
Pro: acceptable
number of characters (who are a bit cheaper ;-), which can fight! Con: No parries.
Strategy: This
time you can even out the odds better when in HtH, even against 20 skaven… :-)
Caution still is necessary.
The "risky" warband
This is in fact not as risky as you would think, apart from
the fact that you might loose 70 GC after the first couple of battles… (500GC)
Pro: Still 9 characters, one that is awfully good and
comes with his own repeating crossbow,
Dark Elf blade
and poison… Con: If you do not manage the upkeep of 20 gc you loose an expensive
character. This is also the case if he gets killed, which is 1/3rd of the time
he goes Out Of Action. Remember he has only one wound.
Strategy: This is HtH with a knack. Most people do not
expect a T4 elf that hits with S5.
Range Dark Elves?
Why not go shooty, or start with more
repeating crossbow?
Well… they are too expensive with 35 GC a pop - although AB gives them if you
start for 25… what gives? If you want to have 4 shooters, you loose 100 (140)
gc. OK they can shoot twice if they want. But even at BS4, long range and cover
will only make you hit at 5+, 6+ if you moved. So you quickly decide for one
shot for hitting better. But often you leave some shooters behind, thus
weakening you HtH-capability. Only making yourself more vulnerable.
The Doggie Issue
Although Cold one Beasthounds are only 30 gc, they run away if
the Beastmaster dies. They have S4, T4 and cause Fear, you say. I say
they are stupid. They are a good buy, no doubt. But the chance to loose them.
Calculate: You have to loose the Beastmaster to loose the doggies. Let’s
say you have only one. Beastmaster with lash: 55GC, doggie 30. So it costs you
85 GC only to replace them. You may consider yourself lucky if you have that
kind of money. 4 heroes left, means max 24 in the dice, which is only 4 shards (IIRC),
which amount you max 70 GC… do the math…
Money is as always the problem with expensive characters… :-)
IV.Dark
Elf Magic:
Doombolt: A bolt of pure dark energy strikes its target
for a S5 hit. 18"R. Armor saves apply. If the target is wounded, the next
closest model at -1S than the previous hit. The bolt will keep leaping until
there are no more targets or at S1. Each Model can only be hit once per turn
and may take a normal armor save. Difficulty (x9) OK, this is the one every
one says and they are almost correct, if there was not one spell which is
more useful in my eyes. This spell is the ultimate shooter for the
sorceress. Not a bad range, sorcery and Mindfocus keep it easy. So no
problematic use anywhere… :-)
Word of Pain: Victim must pass a Ld test to charge into
Hand to Hand. Victim must reroll all successful hand to hand or missile
attacks and all to wound rolls. R12". Lasts until next Dark Elf recovery
phase. Difficulty (x8) This is one of those nifty little spells, which can
help you a lot. It looks a bit like sorcerer’s curse of the skaven, but has
the added bonus of the Ld-test to charge. That is why the difficulty is 8.
This can neutralize the most effective opponent, though mostly HtH
characters. Which is of course very nice.
Soul Stealer: Sorceress makes a to hit roll against a
model in base contact. If successful, the model suffers a wound with no
armor save. The sorceress adds one Wound until the end of the battle. Cannot
have greater than W+1. Difficulty (x9) The high difficulty makes it a bit
hard, but the fact that your sorceress needs to be in BtB contact makes it
very traitorous. In HtH orientated warbands that can be good. Just do not
fear to loose you characters.
Flamesword: One weapon within 6" becomes engulfed in
black flames. The weapon strikes with a S+2 and ignores armor saves. Lasts
until next Dark Elf shooting Phase. Difficulty (x8) This one I think is a
small Gem in these spells, even better that the Doombolt. Your Sorceress can
be spared from HtH and yet use it herself and S+2 is nothing to sneeze at,
especially for elves. The no armor save is a very small bonus. The
difficulty is maybe a bit high, but not inaccessible. :-)
Deathspasm: Closest enemy model within 6" must roll on
the injury chart. Sorceress is Knocked Down. Difficulty (x10) I can see that
this is difficult for Multiwound characters, but Difficulty 10… Not a bad
spell at all although very short range and you cannot choose the target.
This often means you get easily into HtH, or you will use it on your close
combat opponent. Jump up is almost a must for this spell or you only get to
use it once…. Because you can only use it in your turn… :-) My sorceress has
the spell and Mind Focus skill, which helps, but she used it twice and got
taken Out Of Action twice. Not withstanding a lot of countermeasures…
Witch Flight: The character may flight up to 12” in any
direction. If this move gets her into base-to-base contact she counts as
charging. Difficulty (x7) This one has already deserved its merits in other
spell lists, so no real explaining necessary. Apart from the fact that a
sorceress is WS4/BS4, I6, Ld8, which already makes her a good warrior. So do
not be afraid to pick of those lonely snipers, or dangerous characters
hiding behind shield troops.
V. Advancing:
Fey Quickness: The
character can avoid melee or missile _attacks_ on a roll of 6. If the model
also has Step aside or Dodge, this will increase to a 4+ in the relevant
area. This is a nice skill but not a first one you should select. If you
already have Step aside (or dodge) then this is very nice indeed. Just think
a 4+ unmodifiable save… (Small remark: it says avoiding attacks, but Step
aside avoids… wounds.)
Fury of Khaine: The
Dark Elf may make a 4" follow up move if he takes all of his opponents Out Of Action. If he comes into contact with another enemy model this starts a
new combat. This new combat takes place in the following turn in which the
Dark Elf counts as charging. No following up in the opponent's turn. A see
this as the perfect skill for an accomplished fighter, preferably the
assassin, or Fellblades with multiple attacks, S4 and Dark Elf blades. So
yet again this is not a first choice. Especially the follow up move can be
tricky as it can cause you to leave the umbrella of your warband. I mean the
protective area, in which members can assist each other. The not following
through in the Opponent’s turn is somewhat restrictive too.
Infiltration: The
hero is always deployed last, anywhere on the table out of sight of the
enemy. If both players can infiltrate, roll a D6 - the lowest sets up first.
This is actually not that good a skill for small warbands. Although the
skill is good, DE are actually a HtH warband that can shoot too. Thus
leaving one fighter out (a hero of all) is not a very smart thing to do.
Infiltrators do also have a shorter lifespan as the rest of the warband it
seems.
Master of Poisons: If
the Dark Elf doesn't search for rare items after the battle he may make D3-1
doses of Dark Venom. This poison must be used in the next battle and cannot
be sold or traded to other warbands as the Dark Elves guard the secret of
their poisons very carefully. I must say this is my absolute favourite
skill. If you roll 3+ on the D6, then you just earned yourself at least 32
GC. Not to mention some elf that can hit with S+1 on a weapon. My own hero
that has the skill for 3 rounds now generated 6 potions up till now… Wow!
Especially if you face a lot of T4 opponents.
Powerful Build: Hero
may take Strength Skills. What can I say, if you got a good HtH fighter in
development this is nice, but in fact it is an advance wasted. Because it
does noting except opening a new skill list. Though it could be handy if
some fighter earns two advances and you roll skills for both.
Traditional skills have
their merits too of course. Step aside, which works nice with the Fey quickness.
Combat master, If you get that Dark venom and you need some extra attacks. For
shooting only Eagle eyes and trickshooter spring to mind. Speed skills are
actual al very handy, even jump up is more handy then most think. More on that
later. Of course lightning reflexes need no explaining. :-)
I will not go to deep
into the academic skills, as those are more campaign skills. And that needs
testing for every one itself, as people tend do differ a lot which skills are
useful. My personal favourites are:
Wyrdstone Hunter,
which might earn you that extra needed shard, or double.
Haggle, which earns
you at least 2 GC and the most 12 GC, every exploration.
Now the special ones,
which are really useful for Dark Elves :-)
Strike to Injure:
When using Dark Elf blades this means no more Knockdowns.
Web of Steel: When
using Dark Elf blades this means no more of the lower Critical Wounds, and
2/3rd of a chance to get the worst Critical wound.
Jump Up: When the
sorceress get that nasty spell that makes her Knocked down, this is a must.
Warband's Tactics Development Progression
1.0 Initial document submission.
Designer Notes
If anyone has any other ideas or
suggestion,
please
email us.
We will be more than happy to include them!
